Jiang City Branch of the Eerie Investigation Bureau, fifth underground level.
Cold white lights cast the containment area in the grim glow of an operating room. Inside a fully transparent containment chamber in the core area, dark-blue electronic patterns flowed across the glass, projecting icy holographic data:
[Eerie Name: Life Register] [Type: Item] [Danger Level: E(?)] [Notes: Indicates the life status of registered individuals. Red text signifies life; black text signifies death. It shares an origin with the "Death Register" (Danger Level A, capable of killing a registered individual within one minute), but has yet to display any harmful effects toward humans, and no contamination leakage has been observed.]
At the center of the containment chamber lay an ancient book with frayed, yellowed edges. The open page was densely covered in investigators' names, reminiscent of the legendary Registers of Life and Death.
The names "Fei Zhenqi" and "Ning Xu" were written at the very bottom, newly added in a blood-red hue that formed a strange, stark contrast with the dozen or so pitch-black names above them.
Mu Dongxu stubbed out his cigarette in a spittoon already piled high with ash. Beside him, Liao Bingchen casually unwrapped his twenty-fifth piece of gum and popped it into his mouth.
Ever since they had lost contact with Ning Xu and Fei Zhenqi, the two had each dragged over a chair and sat here. They had been keeping this futile vigil outside the containment chamber for two days now—this was the only "battlefield" they were allowed to access.
After the news of the final Instance was confirmed, Fu Jue, Shao Qingmin, and a group of people from headquarters had taken complete control of the Jiang City Branch's affairs. All investigators originally from Jiang City had been placed on a temporary review list.