Investigation Merger

Xia Tianhuo originally planned to have dinner with Lao Xia, Xiang Kun, and Zhao Feng Wang De'an today, and then probe them during the meal so that Lao Xia could secretly analyze the situation. It just so happens that the two of them had expressed their desire to interview Xiang Kun, Yang the Third, and Tang Baona last night to understand their experiences on the passenger plane yesterday. With Lao Xia added to the mix, they certainly wouldn't mind.

He had already called Lao Xia and arranged to have lunch with Xiang Kun in town when Zhao Feng called again in the morning to say that he had a new interview assignment and had to go to Jianzhou Airport, so he couldn't have lunch with them.

That reason is understandable. The hottest news right now is naturally the previous passenger plane incident—not only did the passenger plane land safely, but the little girl who appeared and stood on the wing during the incident also made this news event extremely popular and discussed.

Whether it's interviewing the three passengers, Xiang Kun, Tang Baona, and Yang Zhen'er, or choosing to conduct interviews at Jianzhou Airport, it's all perfectly normal for a journalist.

But the problem is, Xia Tianhuo already has some conclusions in his mind. These two brothers, Lao Zhao and Old Wang, are probably not just ordinary reporters or media workers. Even if they were indeed police officers before, and that resume is true, it doesn't mean that their current identities and purposes are genuine.

Last night, the two brothers clearly showed interest in what they said to him, as well as in Xiang Kun, Yang the Third, and Nana. But today they suddenly changed their plans and stood him up. There must be some special circumstances.

After thinking for a moment, Xia Tianhuo called to inquire about the hotel where Zhao and Wang were staying. Upon learning that they were no longer in their room, he also set off for Jianzhou Airport.

He wasn't sure if the two would actually go to Jianzhou Airport, nor was he sure if he could find them even if they did. In any case, he just wanted to try his luck and peek around.

Unexpectedly, when he arrived at Jianzhou Airport and looked around, he actually saw Zhao Feng and Wang De'an in the airport's office area.

Not only did I see them, but I also saw two other familiar faces.

When Zhao Feng and Wang De'an received their mission instructions last night, they knew that they would be meeting up with a survey team that Wushu Mountain had come over for today. The specific tasks would be arranged by the leader of that survey team, and they would be responsible for cooperating. They knew nothing about that survey team.

Today, following instructions, I got into a Toyota Hiace at the hotel entrance. Only after seeing who was inside did I realize with a start that the investigation team they were going to work with was actually the same team that Mi Qiao and Zhou Rui were in.

When they were searching for the clues given by the "eight-armed monster in the dream" in Purple Huan Mountain, they encountered Mi Qiao, Zhou Rui, Ye Chong, and Gao Shu. They even checked their ID cards. After descending the mountain, they contacted the branch office to stop them and brought them to the station for questioning.

Of course, it was on that occasion that people from "Shenxing Technology" and the "Non-Normal Biology Research Center" behind it approached Zhao Feng and Wang De'an, and eventually, at the invitation of the mysterious Old He, they joined his department and began to wholeheartedly investigate the existence of the "Eight-Armed Eight-Eyed Illusion".

"Ms. Chen, Mr. Zhou, Mr. Ye, Brother Gao, Long Time No See." Zhao Feng and Wang De'an greeted each person in the car with smiles and handshakes.

Seeing the two of them, Mi Qiao and the others weren't surprised, because they had seen the basic information of the two they were going to cooperate with today last night, and knew that these two had also joined "Shenxing Technology". Although they didn't know why the company wanted to recruit them, why they had joined, or why they had been sent to join their investigation team, they had no choice since it was an arrangement from above.

After a brief exchange of pleasantries, Zhou Rui smiled and introduced Fang Pingfang and Li Shiping, two members who had not appeared at Purple Huan Mountain before.

"Dr. Fang, please guide us on the next task. If there's anything you need us to do, please don't hesitate to ask. Although we're still new and haven't done many investigations yet, we have quite a bit of experience due to our previous professions, so we should be able to lend a hand," Zhao Feng said with a smile to Fang Pingfang.

Upon learning that the female PhD, who appeared to have slightly dark skin and a somewhat androgynous demeanor, was in charge of leading their team, Zhao Feng felt a slight sense of relief. Although he had enjoyed working with the researchers and investigators from "Shenxing Technology" during his previous investigations in Myanmar and other places—they were generally task-oriented and focused on the facts without any troublesome interpersonal issues or unpleasant incidents—he couldn't be sure if this was the typical style of everyone at "Shenxing Technology" or if they were simply lucky.

If a team leader is difficult to communicate with, then the two new members will definitely have a tough time doing their jobs.

However, after exchanging a few words with Fang Pingfang, Zhao Feng quickly determined that she, like the members of the "Shenxing Technology" secret department they had previously contacted, was a person who prioritized tasks and was easy to get along with.

"Are you here specifically to investigate yesterday's flight, or did you have other missions?" After a few polite greetings, Fang Pingfang asked directly.

Generally speaking, if it's just a temporary collaboration, members of a secret department are not allowed to inquire about each other's previous missions or personal privacy. However, Mr. Liang's request this time was for them to investigate the Little Girl with Wings incident together while merging their respective ongoing missions, so Fang Pingfang naturally wanted to ask about their previous missions first.

"You've probably heard of the eight-armed giant illusion of Montamira, right? That's what we're investigating." This time, it was Wang De'an who answered.

Mi Qiao asked in surprise, "You're actually investigating that matter? And you're in the country now, does that mean the origin of that Eight-Armed Eight-Eyed Giant is in China?"

Wang De'an nodded. "Actually, long before what happened in Montamira, we already knew about this... uh, that similar illusion existed."

"Just as I expected! I knew that group illusion wasn't a coincidence; it appeared specifically to help our tourists," Zhou Rui said excitedly.

Although the Montamira incident wasn't within their team's investigation scope, and they hadn't received any relevant information from within "Shenxing Technology," the sheer volume of information about it had led to considerable private discussion among them. Zhou Rui was a staunch supporter of the theory that "the eight-armed giant is a superhero."

Zhao Feng took out the somewhat thick rugged tablet that "Shenxing Technology" had issued to him from his bag and handed it to Fang Pingfang: "The relevant information we've investigated and collected is all on this. You can take a look, and if you have any questions, you can ask us directly."

After Fang Pingfang took the tablet, Zhao Feng asked, "Dr. Fang, Ms. Chen, are you based in Wushu Mountain? Is there Research Base for our company there? Or are you here on a temporary assignment?"

Zhou Rui said, "We've been here for almost half a year. Officer Zhao, you used to be a police officer in Citong City, so you should have heard about the news in January about a tourist being hit by a raptor and falling off a cliff at Wushu Mountain, right? That was the first thing we investigated when we came here."

Zhao Feng laughed and said, "Just call me Lao Zhao. Old Wang and I aren't wearing police uniforms anymore, so it's not appropriate to call you 'Officer.' I have indeed heard about the incident you mentioned and have seen the related news reports. It seems that the higher-ups believe that the flock of birds that collided with the passenger plane and almost caused a crash is also related to the raptors that caused the tourists to fall off the cliff in that incident, so they transferred you here to investigate?"

Zhou Rui nodded. "You could say that, but we're investigating more than just that bird. As for the specifics... take a look at our notes. But I must warn you first, be prepared, don't be scared." As he spoke, he handed the tablet computer that Ye Chong had given him to Zhao Feng.

Zhao Feng laughed and said, "We've witnessed quite a few strange phenomena recently, so we're not so easily frightened."

Wang De'an said thoughtfully, "It seems that the reason we were sent here to investigate this incident is because of what some passengers said about the little girl who appeared outside the plane to protect them. The higher-ups think that the little girl and the Eight-Armed Eight-Eyed Giant of Montamira are the same kind of thing, a collective hallucination created by the passengers?"

"If she can appear on the wing of a passenger plane flying high in the sky, she's either an illusion or one of the 'species' we're investigating—they're all the same," Zhou Rui laughed. "However, it seems that both the Eight-Armed Eight-Eyed Giant of Montamira and the little girl on the wing are more like members of the 'lawful good' camp, either helping our tourists or the commercial airliner. On the other hand, those we're investigating... are basically 'chaotic evil,' which is more dangerous."

Mi Qiao couldn't help but complain, "'Lawful Good' and 'Chaotic Evil'? I think you're just 'Chaotic Confused'!"

Upon arriving at Jianzhou Airport, instead of entering the airport terminal like the other passengers, they headed from the parking lot towards the office area. Ye Chong had already contacted the relevant personnel investigating the accident through Old He's connections. They would directly participate in the investigation of this passenger plane accident and would have access to all relevant information and data.

As they arrived at the administration building and waited for the airport staff to pick them up, Zhao Feng suddenly paused, because he saw a tall man, over 1.9 meters tall, walking out of the parking lot—it was Xia Tianhuo, whom they had originally arranged to have lunch together that day.

This guy chased me all the way here?

"Mr. Xia, what are you doing here? Did you come with us?" Zhao Feng was quite surprised to see Xia Tianhuo approaching, but he smiled broadly and joked.

Xia Tianhuo picked up his phone and waved it, saying, "I'm here to pick up some airport documents and checked luggage for my cousin and her family." He then looked at a young man wearing glasses standing behind Zhao and Wang, and exclaimed in surprise, "Hey? You're... Mr. Zhou? And Brother Li, you're here too!"

"Ah, you were with Professor Li and the others in Chongyun Village that day?" Zhou Rui was also very surprised. He greeted Xia Tianhuo while looking at Zhao Feng with some confusion.

"Oh, we came to Haixi Province this time to interview Mr. Xia. We had arranged to have dinner with Mr. Xia today, but we had a last-minute mission here. I didn't expect to run into Mr. Xia here." Zhao Feng said with a smile. Since Xia Tianhuo knew Zhou Rui, he didn't mention his relationship with Zhou Rui, Mi Qiao, Fang Pingfang and others, so as not to say the wrong thing and give himself away. After all, the identity they agreed to this time might not be the same as the identity they had when they last met Xia Tianhuo.

On the way to the airport, Zhou Rui and the others had already read the investigation information of Zhao Feng and his team, and knew that Xia Tianhuo was the person involved in the earlier kidnapping incident in Myanmar and the sea monster incident, so they nodded, greeted each other, and exchanged pleasantries.

Soon, Zhao Feng, Fang Pingfang, and the others followed the airport staff into the administration building. Xia Tianhuo originally wanted to pretend to be one of their group and casually follow them in, but was stopped by the staff.

He wasn't embarrassed at all; he just smiled and said, holding his phone, that he thought the staff member was there to pick him up.

After Zhao Feng and the others went upstairs, they saw Xia Tianhuo on his phone downstairs in the sixth-floor corridor, seemingly contacting staff. He whispered to Wang De'an, "Check the passenger information we got yesterday and see Mr. Xiang, Ms. Yang, and Ms. Tang have checked any luggage."

Beside them, Fang Pingfang and Mi Qiao were also listening to Zhou Rui quietly recount how he met Xia Tianhuo in Chongyun Village.

"Chongyun Village... Chongyun Village... Could it be such a coincidence?" Fang Pingfang pondered.

Zhou Rui glanced up at the airport staff and, seeing that he was quite far ahead and couldn't hear them, whispered, "Dr. Fang, speaking of Chongyun Village, I suddenly remembered that a few months ago... a few days after I met Professor Li and Mr. Xia, wasn't there a 'paranormal event' in Chongyun Village? Two petty thieves went to steal building materials from a construction site in the village in the middle of the night, but encountered a 'paranormal event' and called the police to rescue them. The next day, didn't we go and collect a bunch of bird droppings to analyze, concluding that they had simply mistaken birds for people? But now, thinking back, their story... it seems they just saw a little girl in a white dress?"

"The incident of the fugitives being struck by lightning happened in Chongyun Mountain. Those two fugitives also entered the mountain from Chongyun Village first. It was the villagers of Chongyun Village who discovered their tracks..." Mi Qiao said thoughtfully.

Fang Pingfang nodded, indicating that she understood, but they didn't discuss the topic of "Chongyun Village" any further for the time being, because they had already arrived at a meeting room and met with investigators from the Civil Aviation Administration.

The black box of the passenger plane involved in the accident has been sealed according to procedure, awaiting access and analysis by investigators.

Because the passenger plane did not crash, although the fuselage was damaged by a flock of birds, the location of the black box was intact, so data retrieval did not encounter any difficulties.

The black box mainly consists of the "Flight Data Recorder (FDR)" and the "Cockpit Voice Recorder (CVR)". The former records various flight data of the aircraft, while the latter records the sounds inside the cockpit.

The FDR analysis will take some time, and the results won't be available so quickly, but the cockpit recordings can be listened to first.