Elder Xue has disappeared!
The news, once it spread, was like a bombshell, shocking the highest levels of government. Coupled with the continuous occurrence of "black fog locking villages" and even "black fog locking towns," not only were the local people who heard the news filled with fear, but even most high-ranking officials felt insecure.
At this time, some irresponsible media outlets even put forward 'doomsday theories,' which completely ignited the controversy.
It was the same high-rise conference room, but this time, one person was missing.
An elderly man who was once very influential!
The lieutenant general who had been discussing things with Elder Xue that day looked much more wrinkled and had more hair on his forehead compared to a few days prior. Elder Xue had been his friend for over thirty years, and based on the intelligence he had gathered, it seemed his chances of survival were slim.
When he heard that Elder Xue had insisted on entering the black fog two days ago, he smiled broadly. He knew his old comrade-in-arms too well. He had been through thick and thin with him over the decades, seen all kinds of storms, and killed countless people on the battlefield!
When it comes to courage, Elder Xue is second to none, but this time...
"Old Xue, how am I supposed to explain this to your family and descendants!" Rubbing his aching temples, the old soldier slammed his hand heavily on the table again.
"They're all those old fogies from the research institute. I gave them a strict order long ago: no one is allowed to enter the black fog without permission. They've been smart all their lives, how come they've become so senile in their old age?"
No one in the room could answer this question.
Silence!
After a long while, the old soldier finally raised his head and asked with a hint of hope in his voice, "Did you send anyone to search, even... even just to find a corpse?"
A senior colonel stood up, looking troubled. "We've already sent in hundreds of men, and... I admit it's my fault. That area is under my jurisdiction, and I'm willing to take full responsibility!"
Responsible?
Who Elder Xue? Can you afford to offend him?
The old soldier ultimately didn't say anything; he seemed to have aged more than ten years, and his former imposing presence was completely gone.
"Notify Elder Xue's family!"
The Xue Family Compound.
Located in the capital's controlled area, this place is the residence of important leaders, but at this moment, it is filled with solemnity.
Xue Yan looked at the large group of people in her house who were crying their hearts out, her face expressionless. But those who knew her well knew that at this moment, this young girl was filled with bitterness.
Xue Tianqing, also known as Elder Xue, is her grandfather.
"Swallow, cry if you want to, don't hold it in. Your grandfather spent his whole life on the battlefield, but in the end, he died without a trace. I have already reported this to the Chairman, and he must give the Xue Family an explanation!" Xue Yan's mother, a graceful noblewoman, was sobbing uncontrollably.
After glancing at her mother, Xue Yan remained silent and walked alone to the old general who was her grandfather's closest friend. It was this old general who had relayed the message back to her.
"We haven't even seen my grandfather's body yet, so why are you saying he's dead?"
The words weren't spoken loudly, but they stunned everyone.
Given the Xue Family's status and power, they naturally knew about the strange black mist. Anyone who entered the mist had never returned alive; this was common knowledge, not just to them.
Xue Tianqing entered the black mist; could things possibly turn out well?
It's been two days already. Without food or water, given the old man's constitution, he can't possibly keep going.
"Child... don't be too sad, we've done our best!"
The middle-aged man choked up, thinking that his old comrade-in-arms had passed away and he could do nothing about it. This feeling was worse than being killed.
However, Xue Yan's next words startled him.
"Where is that place? Take me there!"
The intermittent crying stopped abruptly, and everyone stared at Xue Yan with horrified eyes. Although this child had always been somewhat withdrawn and liked to play with knives and guns, especially sharp daggers, this time, it wasn't just playing.
That was a terrifying black mist capable of swallowing hundreds of soldiers, so Xue Yan was immediately overwhelmed by words of comfort and dissuasion.
Shaking her head, Xue Yan finally managed to shake off the group of people and then walked out of the courtyard alone. Her grandfather had always doted on her since she was little. Although there were many children in the family, Xue Yan could tell that her grandfather loved her the most.
Because she wanted to learn knife throwing, her family was against it. Only her grandfather not only found a master knife thrower in the country to teach her the skill, but also practiced with her. Whenever she accidentally cut her finger on a knife, the old man would first stroke her hair with heartache, and then scold her for being so careless.
That kind of grandfather, is he dead?
In the past, Xue Yan might not have been able to do anything, but things are different now.
Because she is a reincarnator.
The exact location where Grandpa disappeared can be found out by asking someone to investigate, but can I manage it all by myself?
Xue Yan wasn't without brains. The media had been reporting on the black fog these past few days. Although much information was being blocked, the government was losing control of the situation as more and more black fog appeared.
Moreover, the increasing number of doomsday theories online has completely turned this event into a hot topic, with many saying that there are zombies and monsters in the black fog.
But rumors aside, there's no doubt that something strange happened in that black fog.
Xue Yan immediately thought of finding help, but this time, it wasn't ordinary friends who could help.
A rich young master? Or the son of a military bigwig? To be honest, none of these people who have been pursuing her are reliable, and Xue Yan would never date them.
Who should we look for?
Suddenly, a figure appeared in her mind.
"Yes, if we contact him, there shouldn't be any problem!" Xue Yan thought for a moment, took out her phone from her pocket, and dialed a number.
Li Wei was currently browsing online reports about the black fog incident. He hadn't expected that this incident would cause such a huge stir.
With less than 20 days left until that mysterious countdown, the world has already undergone such a strange change. Suddenly, Li Wei felt that even in the real world, he no longer had the same sense of security as before.
The internet is the best place for people to discuss this topic, and similar websites have sprung up like mushrooms after rain.
What caught his attention was a website called 'Dark Apocalypse'. It was a new site that had been established for less than three days, but its click rate had already skyrocketed, surpassing some entertainment and portal websites. A simple search on a search engine would yield millions, or even tens of millions, of similar results.
Upon opening the website, Li Wei entered the discussion forum, where the sheer volume of posts astonished him. The forum was filled with doomsday themes, and of course, the Black Mist incident, fueled by netizens' speculation and exaggeration, had become the hottest topic.
Suddenly, a post caught Li Wei's attention.
"Please come in and take a look, 'Reincarnators'!"
Li Wei suddenly sat up in his chair. Who posted this? Could it be a reincarnator? Logically speaking, no reincarnator would publish information about Shadow Street to the public.
Of course, this possibility cannot be ruled out, after all, the secrets of Shadow Street will be exposed sooner or later.
Li Wei clicked on the post and began to read it carefully.
The person who posted this thread was a moderator named 'An Hei'. Li Wei only glanced at it briefly and knew that this moderator must know something. This thread was less of a discussion thread and more of a 'bait'.
"Reincarnators... a very unfamiliar name. You are a group of humans beyond our comprehension. You possess abilities beyond ordinary understanding and can continuously strengthen yourselves. Although I don't know where your power comes from, that doesn't prevent me from understanding this special group of beings... According to official secret files, the earliest batch of Reincarnators appeared a year ago. Yes, don't think others don't know of your existence. Our government, including governments of other countries, established secret departments for you Reincarnators a long time ago. You may think I'm making this up or talking nonsense, but it's all true... The best evidence is the recent 'black fog' incident. This is not something that can be done by human power. I believe some netizens with connections will know what I'm talking about..."
"... Two days ago, a friend of mine hacked into the US satellite network and captured some images. I'm sorry, I can't post these photos, but I can assure you that the content is absolutely shocking. If you're easily frightened, you might even wet your pants... Hehe. Also, there's some other information... some information that shouldn't be made public. I got the name 'Reincarnator' from this information. After typing so much, what I want to say is that if you, the reader of this post, are a Reincarnator, then I implore you to contact me. What I possess will definitely interest you. Believe me, you will definitely be very interested..."
"Of course, to those friends who are posing as reincarnators, I advise you not to meddle. Listen to me, as ordinary people, you should prepare yourselves for a dark future!"
At the end of the post is a contact number (QQ number; apparently, English subtitles are not allowed in the text, so 'QQ' is used instead).
Li Wei stared at the screen, lost in thought. It was a post that had been published five minutes ago, but it had already received thousands of clicks and was still increasing.
Who exactly is this "An Hei"? Is he really just a hacker who obtained top-secret information through theft, as he claims?
Or perhaps, someone with ulterior motives?
Or is she also a reincarnator?
Five minutes had passed since the post was published. Li Wei wasn't sure if he was the first reincarnator to see it, but Li Wei was quite interested in the top-secret information mentioned in the post.
Perhaps, this will unravel some of the mysteries surrounding the countdown!
Li Wei opened the QQ account, thought for a moment, and registered a new account. Then he added the account mentioned in the post. During the identity verification, Li Wei thought for a moment and wrote down the four numbers '1987'.
A response came quickly.
"Hello, may I ask who you are?" The other party typed a series of question marks.
Li Wei lightly rubbed his fingers on the keyboard and typed a few lines: "I'm very interested in your information. As for who I am, I believe you've already guessed. I have a piece of advice for you: delete that post immediately. You're playing with fire!"
After a long while, a message finally came back. "I believe you, Reincarnator No. 1987. But don't worry, no one can find my address online, including you. On the internet, we are 'God'!"
Stinky fart!
Li Wei snorted, "Do as you please. I've found you. So, what exactly do you hold in your hands?"
Li Wei held the arrogant hackers on the other end of the computer in utter contempt. Those computer hackers boasted that they were omnipotent on the internet, but their arrogance was bound to lead to their demise.
"Trust me, you'll definitely be interested. Of course, I'd prefer to talk in person. You're in S City, right? Hehe, even though you're using a proxy server, don't forget, we're top-tier hackers! Tomorrow at 3 PM, coffee shop on the basement floor of Wangfu Mall in S City, see you there!"
After this message was sent, the other party's profile picture turned gray.
That's pretty good!
Li Wei smiled slightly. He was also a skilled hacker. He had deliberately leaked the information about his location, allowing the other party to find it. Of course, the IP address and proxy server were modified and disguised by him; it was bait.
Normally, ordinary people can only access the internet through internet cafes, their homes, and their workplaces. But to access the internet, one must use an IP address. Li Wei first used a fake IP address to log into a proxy server. If the other party was skilled enough, they could definitely trace back to this IP address.
For an ordinary hacker, that would be the end of the story. But Li Wei never underestimated his opponents. If it were him, he could infiltrate the local internet service provider, find that IP address range in the address pool, and then, based on the time that the IP address was used online, find out which user was using it at that time.
Finally, by hacking into the service provider's user management system, the user's entire information, including name, address, and contact information, will be exposed.
Only a top-tier hacker could do that. Li Wei assumed the other party had this ability, and that they would definitely fall into Li Wei's trap because that IP address had been modified and disguised by him in the access service provider's user data system long ago.
The name and address are real, but they don't belong to Li Wei himself; they belong to a family in the neighborhood.
If the other party falls into this trap, they will definitely go to the address of that IP address user, which is the address of that household. All you have to do is wait and wait for them to come to you, and you can catch them.
Yes, it's them, and there's more than one person on the other side! You can tell from that line in the chat, "On the internet, we are 'God'!"
Of course, there's another possibility: the other party doesn't have that much ability and, as mentioned in the chat, only found out your city. In that case, you can just go to the meeting at 3 PM tomorrow.
Thinking of this, Li Wei breathed a sigh of relief, shut down the computer, and decided to prepare properly. After some thought, he wrote down some plans and steps in a document and saved it on a USB flash drive.
Just then, his phone suddenly rang.
Li Wei glanced at the number and a hint of doubt appeared on his face.
How could it be her?
What did this girl want from him? Considering all the possibilities, Li Wei answered the phone.
(Since there haven't been many recommendations and rewards, An Hei 've decided to release a long chapter of 4000+ words. Dear readers, the story will become even more exciting and original in the future. Therefore, I'm An Hei asking for votes and rewards again! Thank you! Oh, and there will be another chapter this afternoon... Please continue to support me if you like this book!)