Mental Pollution Investigation

Under Chen Jing's command, the entire investigation team immediately sprang into action.

Qin Ran, at this moment, was genuinely taken aback. He kept a wary eye on the three armed personnel, his gaze filled with deep apprehension. With his shrewdness and experience, he could tell these three fully armed soldiers were different from the desperate outlaws he'd seen outside the city, and also different from the Guard Department and patrol teams he usually dealt with within Satellite City.

He subtly signaled his subordinates with his eyes to stay put and wait.

When Lu Xin asked him about the location where he killed Cui Wang and disposed of the body, he answered immediately.

"Proceed with the investigation immediately, and bring Qin Ran along, in case he's concealing the truth."

Han Bing's voice came through the earpiece.

Hearing her words, Lu Xin immediately said to the armed personnel, "Get in the car."

Then he nodded at Qin Ran, "You come along too."

The armed personnel immediately got to work. One started the car, while the other two moved to stand behind Qin Ran.

Qin Ran glanced at the cold assault rifles in their hands, then turned to look at Lu Xin. He suddenly gritted his teeth. Whatever the man from the wilderness was thinking, he didn't say a word and simply got into the jeep with them.

As they drove to the front yard, the nominal manager rushed forward a few steps, calling out, "Boss..."

"You guys wait!"

Qin Ran shouted to them through the window.

The armed personnel in the car ignored Qin Ran and the Sifang Transportation Company's reaction, or rather, they paid them no mind at all.

Lu Xin also remained silent, as he hadn't received any prompts through his earpiece.

He could feel that the atmosphere had changed since the three investigation team members reported to him.

Although there were only three members in the investigation team, and Qin Ran had over ten times more subordinates from his company, judging by the swift efficiency of these three clearly high-intensity trained armed personnel and their live ammunition, if a conflict were to arise, Qin Ran's men would likely be no match for them. The gap between them was simply too obvious.

Qin Ran had certainly noticed this gap, which was why he was acting so meek now.

However, Lu Xin had a faint feeling that these three investigation team members seemed a little wary of him...

For example, the soldier who looked the youngest kept stealing glances at him when he wasn't paying attention.

But as soon as their eyes met, he would...

Lu Xin suddenly turned his head towards the window on his left. The young soldier by the window "swished" his head around.

He held his gun, sitting upright and properly!

The car drove towards the southern part of the city, an area with a large expanse of abandoned factory buildings and chaotic, winding paths. Waist-high weeds grew everywhere, along with haphazardly piled cement, dirt, and other debris. In the distance, one could see half-finished buildings and even tall iron frames that had rusted due to long abandonment. The entire area was desolate, with no human figures in sight.

The road was difficult to navigate, but the jeeps they were driving had been modified and were well-suited for such complex terrain.

"It's just ahead."

Qin Ran, from inside the car, pointed to a more specific location. He seemed a bit nervous, his words becoming somewhat more numerous without him realizing it. "They were trading right behind that dirt mound. That's also where I shot Old Cui. He looked like he'd had too much to drink at the time, but there was nothing else out of the ordinary... The place where I disposed of the body is behind that patch of grass; many wild dogs gather there."

"Recommend immediate mental power detection within a three-hundred-meter radius of these two locations."

Han Bing's voice came through the earpiece.

"Agreed."

Chen Jing followed up, "Although the appearance of a source of mental pollution is different from ordinary pollution incidents, there are still patterns to follow. The most important thing in dealing with mental pollution incidents is to find the source of the mental pollution. This source often begins with a violent mental fluctuation. When a person is killed, their mental fluctuations are intense, and most post-death mutation events start from this point."

"Of course, a small amount of data also indicates that some mutations are caused by stimulation of the corpse after death."

"..."

In fact, the three armed personnel in the car were also wearing earpieces and had heard the suggestions from the information analysis team.

Therefore, after getting out of the car, they merely glanced at Lu Xin for confirmation. Seeing that he had no objections, they proceeded with their actions.

Lu Xin knew this was an opportunity to learn and watched their movements intently.

They skillfully unloaded a black case from the car. After entering a password, they opened a complex lock. Inside the case was a silver, rectangular device resembling a satellite phone. Four metal pillars supported a ring, and there was an alarm device. It looked somewhat like a metal detector from old movies on television.

Then, one of them stayed put while the other two took out specialized helmets. They were round and thick, with transparent face shields. What surprised Lu Xin the most was that a large part of these helmets seemed to be made of a special type of glass.

"The instruments they are using are a simplified mental power detector, which has only recently begun to be used,"

Chen Jing continued to lecture Lu Xin over the channel. "Mental power is inherently invisible, or rather, ordinary people's mental power rarely affects instruments enough to be observed. However, some sources of pollution or mutated individuals, whose mental power exceeds a certain threshold, combined with some new materials from the Eclipse Research Institute, make detection a reality."

"However, these instruments are still in the research and testing phase. They can sense anomalies in mental energy, but the precision is insufficient."

"And the helmets they are wearing are a protective measure to prevent themselves from being affected by abnormal mental pollution. The documents I gave you earlier should have mentioned that glass is currently the best material we've found for isolating the transmission of the mental plague."

"..."

Lu Xin merely let out a low "Mm."

He didn't dare to say that he had actually focused his attention on the sections regarding salary and subsidies in those documents.

The detection of the two locations Qin Ran mentioned for killing Cui Wang and disposing of the body, as well as the surrounding environment, was completed quickly. The investigation team even found some suspected residual bone fragments of Cui Wang, but no abnormal mental power was detected.

"Are you sure you're talking about these two places?"

Lu Xin turned to Qin Ran and confirmed with him.

Qin Ran's face was terribly grim, a deep-seated fear hidden within. "This is about my life, do you think I'd lie?"

Lu Xin also felt that Qin Ran wasn't hiding anything, and he didn't doubt the investigation team's findings either. When he looked toward those two areas, he didn't detect anything unusual. It wasn't like before, at the cafe, or the first time he met Qin Ran, when he could clearly see what looked like mutated flesh, unmistakably abnormal monsters present.

This was when the importance of the information analysis team became clear.

Lu Xin asked directly, "What do we do?"

"If neither the death location nor the body disposal site shows any problems, we must consider other factors."

Corporal Han Bing analyzed calmly over the channel, "First, how were those people affected?"

"Every source of pollution has a certain range of contamination. Only by entering this range will one be affected."

"Based on the current data analysis, those people had no connection to each other and didn't know each other, yet they all became members of the 'Avengers.' This indicates that the routes they took before their deaths must have intersected..."

"The location of their intersection is very likely the origin of this pollution incident."

"I suggest organizing personnel to investigate the identities and pre-death routes of those 'Avengers'!"