Kill on Sight

"Any luck? Did you find it?"

"No. The national library databases don't have this book, and we couldn't find any relevant terms online either. Your judgment was wrong."

"That's impossible. Based on his psychological profile and what he said, he was certain we could find the book. By all rights, it shouldn't be hard to find."

"Could it be that the information he gave us was wrong? Psychological profiles aren't foolproof..."

"Don't look down on my field. If you don't trust me, just say so!"

"Enough. Report to Captain Chu and tell him the book is a dead end."

"Sigh, all right."

Captain Chu soon learned the news. He looked at Old Ge's student expressionlessly, without the slightest sign of surprise.

"How is your teacher's research going?"

"It doesn't look promising. We checked the records and information on the instruments he'd used before, but we could only roughly determine that he seemed to be testing something related to high-energy physics and thermodynamics. We couldn't tell what he was actually testing."

"Keep at it. Let me know what support you need. I can help you contact the Academy of Engineering and your teacher's colleagues at the Chinese Academy of Sciences."

"Yes, sir! I do have some questions I need to ask."

"All right, write them down. I'll arrange it."

Captain Chu took the note and glanced at it, but his mind was elsewhere. He spaced out for a while before looking at it again. Written on it was Academician Tang of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, a high-energy physicist.

To be honest, he couldn't have persuaded the academician to come himself. But recently, inexplicable incidents had occurred frequently, attracting the attention of quite a few leading scientists. On top of that, his superiors took the matter seriously, so all they really had to do was notify these experts, and at the very least, curiosity would bring them over to see what was going on.

So he only had to make a phone call to report it, and the arrangements were made.

Afterward, Captain Chu drove back to his office and hurried over to the five-person think tank he had assembled.

"Oh, you're back? How are things with Old Ge's students?"

"No news. Things don't look promising right now." Captain Chu gritted his teeth. "If we have no other choice, I'll apply to the higher-ups for more experts."

"No." One of them stopped him. "You might not know this, but after testing it, we discovered that it really is as Xu Chen said. The words he spoke about Him all carry a mysterious power."

Another person continued, "All of us have learned things we shouldn't know, and some signs have already appeared."

Captain Chu looked over, puzzled. "What symptoms?"

The man shook his head. "I can't say. What I can tell you is that this information isn't so simple. If I had to put it into words, I'm afraid it has the same effect as His name, as Xu Chen described.

"It's an information plague spread by it."

Captain Chu's expression changed drastically. "This is bad. Xu Chen is still out there, and he..."

"Xu Chen won't spread it. He knows more, and he knows the consequences."

Only then did Captain Chu relax a little. "But can't you really tell me what the symptoms are? Nothing has seemed wrong these past few days."

"It's not exactly that... Mainly, I just can't be sure."

"What is it?"

"Have you noticed that you've been spacing out more and more easily lately?"

Captain Chu looked at him, thought for a moment, and nodded slightly. "There's been a lot going on lately, and the pressure's been high. I have been feeling a little mentally exhausted."

"Then, have you noticed that you've become somewhat indifferent lately?"

Captain Chu said in surprise, his voice stiff, "Indifferent? Have I been very indifferent lately?"

The other four all agreed.

"I ran psychological tests on the other four and found that all of us have experienced some degree of emotional blunting. Then I assessed you, and you were the most severe case. You were also the one who had the most exposure to the most original information. I predict that in the later stages, you might even become like a completely different person."

Captain Chu's expression finally changed, and he stared at the expert in horror.

"How could that be? You mean a change in personality?"

"Not just personality." The psychologist shook his head. "Personality is developed after birth and is closely related to a person's experiences. First, there are changes in temperament caused by physiological problems. We checked for those and found nothing abnormal. Second, there are changes in temperament caused by some experience."

"That doesn't make sense. I haven't done anything lately except my normal work."

"Exactly." The psychologist spoke patiently. "After I discovered that our personalities had changed, I hypnotized us and found that we seemed to have gained an extra memory."

"What memory?"

"There seemed to be some kind of creature performing a ritual, as well as the image of that supernatural creature Xu Chen described. But it's like trying to recall a dream; it isn't very clear. I feel it will get worse later, but I'm not sure."

"What will happen later?"

"Judging by this supernatural creature's abilities, perhaps killing us without anyone knowing, or replacing us with someone else, wouldn't be difficult for it?"

Captain Chu jumped up, pulled a sheet of paper over, and started writing.

"Captain, what are you writing?"

"An application."

"What kind of application?"

"An order. If I die, deal with Xu Chen too. He's too dangerous. If we make even the slightest mistake, we'll be beyond redemption."

The five experts in the room looked at one another, not knowing what to say.

Xu Chen, of course, had no idea that Captain Chu had turned around and put shackles on him that didn't yet exist. But even if he had known, he probably couldn't have done anything about it.

Still, this order would most likely come to nothing. Captain Chu wasn't really aiming to get an order against Xu Chen; he knew full well that this absurd order would most likely not be approved.

He was only making sure that if he died or something unexpected happened, the people investigating the matter could turn their attention to Xu Chen and put him under control.

After finishing the application, Captain Chu became lost again. This time, he truly didn't know what to do, and simply kept his hand on the application.

After more than a month of frantic work, he was still running around like a clown, and even now, after inexplicably falling victim to it, he still hadn't seen what the supernatural creature looked like.

He didn't even know its name.

"We haven't made any progress at all, and we've gotten ourselves into a mess. Tell me, have I actually been wasting my efforts all along? That supernatural creature must be feeling pretty pleased with itself right now, right?"

"Captain, what are you getting worked up about? Have you forgotten your duty?"

"I'd never dare forget!" Captain Chu retorted instinctively. "I'm just a little worried."

"Hmph. You're a soldier, so you always want to achieve your objective by honorable means and get it over with quickly. But how often do things in this world go the way you want?

"I'm a criminal investigator. I've seen plenty and caught my share of criminals who couldn't stand the light of day. What kind of trouble can something that hides its head and shows its face stir up?

"Besides, isn't the reason it won't show itself that it's afraid we'll catch Him and find out where He is? No matter how powerful this thing is, could he still be bouncing around like an athlete after taking a missile?"

At that, much of the worry faded from Captain Chu's face. "It's not that easy to get approval for a missile."

Then he fell silent, thinking about whether, if he encountered that supernatural creature, he would need to request a missile bombardment from the Second Artillery Corps.