Work Priorities

"Where did their paths intersect?"

Hearing them, Lu Xin felt a slight jolt and asked, "How long will that take?"

After a brief pause, Corporal Han Bing replied over the channel, "It's still uncertain."

Lu Xin understood what she meant.

In High Wall City, especially in the satellite cities that served as buffers for Main City, the population was extremely complicated. Many people had entered High Wall City only recently and had yet to obtain permanent residency, and some had even snuck in. Not everyone's identity could be checked quickly. Besides, public facilities such as surveillance cameras had not been widely installed in the satellite cities.

This wasn't Main City. Apart from important areas such as the Administrative Hall and the Materials Department, there were either no cameras at all or the existing ones had broken down.

Lu Xin had no doubt about the Special Action Team's efficiency or capabilities.

But under these circumstances, determining the routes these people had taken before their deaths and finding where they had crossed paths in a short time would naturally be extremely troublesome.

After hesitating for a moment, he asked, "Isn't there any faster way?"

After a slight pause, he explained, "After all, tomorrow will be the eighth day. It's very likely that someone else will be infected."

The channel fell silent for a moment.

At that point, the three members of the investigation team also turned complicated gazes toward Lu Xin.

They understood his concern.

If the pattern of those who had previously sought revenge on Qin Ran was followed, one person had sought revenge on him on the first day, two on the second, and four on the fourth. Then tomorrow, there should be eight people seeking revenge on him. In fact, they might not even have to wait until tomorrow. Theoretically, after midnight tonight, eight new "Avengers" might appear.

That meant eight more innocent victims.

Such concern was perfectly normal. It was just somewhat unexpected to hear it from Lu Xin.

"I agree with Lu Xin."

After a while, Chen Jing's voice came through the channel. "Not because of whether we should save people. The work we do has always been about saving people. As long as we eliminate the Pollution Source, we'll save many people indirectly. That cannot become the focus of our work."

"The focus of our work, and our highest-priority objective, is to eliminate the Pollution Source. Always."

"I agree with him because efficiency is crucial when dealing with a Mental Pollution Source."

"If we thoroughly investigate the routes taken by those people before they were contaminated and compare them, it will take far too long."

"During that time, the Pollution Source might undergo an unforeseen mutation..."

"..."

After pausing briefly, she continued, "According to the information we have, since every contaminated 'Avenger' claimed to be seeking revenge on Qin Ran, and Cui Wang was the first 'Avenger,' Cui Wang must have had some connection to the Pollution Source. Even though no suspicious clues were found at either the place where he was killed or where his body was dumped, we cannot rule out the possibility that the true Pollution Source is nearby. In fact, that possibility is quite high."

"Let's first assume that the Pollution Source is in that area and analyze it from there."

"That abandoned industrial zone has no residents, and very few people pass through it. So, our focus doesn't have to be on where the intersection point is..."

"We can focus on which places near that area are more likely to have served as intersection points."

"..."

Lu Xin's eyes lit up slightly when he heard that.

Chen Jing's analysis had been somewhat beyond his expectations, but he liked her decisiveness.

"Yes!"

Han Bing's voice disappeared from the channel for a while. There was the sound of blueprints being unfolded, as if she were examining maps and documents. After a moment, she spoke again. "There are about four places near the abandoned industrial zone south of the city where people might converge."

"First, there's a fertilizer plant to the southwest, where about two hundred workers are employed. Normally, shuttle buses take the workers to and from work, but we can't rule out the possibility that some employees might walk home alone, passing near the abandoned industrial zone. Also, about three kilometers west of the abandoned industrial zone is a large garbage dump. Vagrants and beggars often gather there to rummage through the trash..."

"According to the records, some criminals also choose to conduct their dealings in that area!"

"..."

Lu Xin instinctively glanced at Qin Ran.

Qin Ran couldn't hear the voice coming through the channel. He was squatting off to the side, smoking, and looked baffled by Lu Xin's glance.

At that moment, Chen Jing had already made a decision. "Send these locations to the investigation team."

"Beep beep..."

Soon, the black screens on the arms of the three armed investigation team members lit up with a faint glow.

Lu Xin leaned over to look and saw that they displayed maps and markings covered in complicated lines.

He studied them carefully before recognizing that they showed the entire southern district of Satellite City No. 2, with several red dots marked on it.

"It's already been sent over?"

"Now that's high technology..."

He marveled inwardly. "But according to what the dean said, this kind of technology was commonplace before the Crimson Moon incident?"

"You can go and check each location now."

Chen Jing's voice rang through the channel, as if explaining things to Lu Xin. "Mental Pollution may seem chaotic and disordered, but as long as it exists, it will possess certain patterns and traits. Once we summarize those patterns and traits, we can clear it away at the lowest possible cost. A professor once said that when facing these insane phenomena, reason is humanity's only advantage."

Lu Xin was deeply impressed. "Who was that professor?"

Chen Jing was silent for a moment before saying, "You're focusing on the wrong thing."

Lu Xin's face flushed, and he replied, "Oh."

"Go straight, then turn left."

The jeep moved slowly through the desolate factory district in the southern part of the city. Night had already fallen, and heavy darkness enveloped the surroundings. Only a Crimson Moon hung in the sky, casting scarlet moonlight over the dead and chaotic city.

As the jeep's headlights tore through the dark-red night and illuminated the weeds and broken road beside them, Lu Xin and the others had reached the southern edge of the city, nearly at the High Wall. Every High Wall City was the same: the closer one got to the wall, the more desolate and sparsely populated it became. Apart from the City Patrol Army standing guard in watchtowers spaced three kilometers apart, there wasn't a single person in sight.

This was also the last location Lu Xin and the others had to investigate.

Contrary to what Lu Xin had imagined, investigating the contamination was not as exciting as he had expected. Instead, it was somewhat tedious. At every location, they stopped to conduct careful tests with their instruments, and only after repeatedly confirming that nothing was wrong did they head to the next place.

While the checks were underway, everyone's nerves were taut. They relaxed somewhat only after getting back into the vehicle.

Soon, the jeep entered the fourth suspicious location marked on the map. It was a construction site that had only been half completed. Some foundations had been laid long ago, but they were now overgrown with weeds.

Han Bing quietly explained over the channel, "After the situation inside the High Wall stabilized, there was a period when the population grew explosively. At the time, the Administrative Hall considered renovating this place and turning it into a mixed residential and industrial district. Unfortunately, the Technological Church paid a visit, causing an enormous loss of population in Satellite City No. 4. The surplus population was relocated there, and this place was abandoned."

"In fact, the entire southern district of Satellite City No. 2 is now reserve land awaiting development like this."

"It's said that the Administrative Hall's greatest dream is to have enough people to fill these places."

The jeep's headlights split open the darkness ahead, soon illuminating a shimmering expanse.

Lu Xin and the others got out of the vehicle, only to discover that this was actually a pond.

It should have been a large pit, but the terrain was too low, allowing rainwater to collect and forming a fairly large wild lake. Along the lakeshore, weeds rose to knee height. A narrow path that was almost invisible unless one looked closely ran past the lake and stretched all the way toward the urban district.

The instant he got out of the vehicle, Lu Xin realized that something was wrong.

Sister, who had disappeared to who knew where while he was in the vehicle, had appeared beside the lake.

She was crouching among the weeds by the water, her eyes shining as she stared intently into the lake.

Hearing Lu Xin get out of the vehicle, she suddenly turned around and said excitedly, "Brother, there's something fun here..."

"Something fun?"

Lu Xin's heart tightened slightly, and he hurried over.

He knew that Sister's sense of aesthetics differed from other people's. So, when she said something was fun...