Mutant Beast

"Commissioner Xin, on July 23, we worked overtime at the Steam Locomotive Factory until late at night."

"At around midnight, I finished having a late-night meal with seven coworkers I knew, and we were about to head back to our rented rooms."

"Just as we were about to cross an alley, we suddenly heard screams."

"Instinctively, we wanted to turn around and avoid trouble. But before we could do anything, a blood-red monster charged out..."

In the hospital room, Lu Zhan gave a detailed account of what had happened to him that night.

Perhaps his head injury had yet to heal, or perhaps this was a side effect of his memories merging.

Every fragment Lu Zhan recalled felt like a piece of flesh being sliced off him.

"The monster was shrouded in a cloud of blood-red mist. It attacked Mike first, since he was walking at the front. Poor Mike's head went flying clean off."

"After Mike fell, Old John was next. I saw the monster devour his right arm with my own eyes."

Lu Zhan laid out every detail of the attack before Xin Ya.

To stay alive, he held nothing back in his account of that night.

Xin Ya, in turn, listened just as intently.

At the same time, the detailed information about the "massacre" kept running through her mind.

"On July 23, 1735 of the Divine Revelation Calendar, thirty-six trainees from Yero City's Third Armored Soldier Training Class went out for a group meal."

"At 12:34 a.m. on the twenty-fourth, the thirty-six trainees finished their meal and decided to take a shortcut back to base."

"As they passed a secluded alley, they sensed savage, chaotic life fluctuations."

"The next instant, an unknown creature attacked them."

"The attack left nineteen trainees dead and seventeen severely injured. As for innocent passersby caught up in it, there were no fewer than 107."

That was the truth of the "massacre," or rather, the full picture.

Poor Lu Zhan was merely one of the unlucky passersby caught up in it.

Yet that was all Xin Ya knew, too.

After all, she was a newcomer who had only just joined the Inspection Office, and her duties were limited to peripheral matters.

Such as "interrogating" witnesses.

Fortunately, only fifteen witnesses had survived. Otherwise, Xin Ya might have worked herself to death.

Lu Zhan was one of those fifteen "lucky ones."

Although he was the last to wake up, compared with the passersby who had already become cold corpses, he had still been fortunate amid the disaster.

"I was the last of the seven to be attacked. The blood-red monster ripped my belly open with one swipe of its claws and flung me high into the air."

"When I hit the ground, my skull cracked open, and I passed out."

"When I woke up, I was already here. Then you appeared in front of me."

Enduring the pain in his head, Lu Zhan finally finished recounting that night's events.

Xin Ya had not interrupted him once from beginning to end.

"Lu Zhan, you've done well!"

"According to our report from the scene, you haven't lied."

"But this alone isn't enough!"

"There are fourteen other survivors like you, but I'm only authorized to waive one person's medical fees."

"You'll need to contribute more to secure that spot."

"For example, why do you think the attacker was a mutant beast?"

Xin Ya's gaze suddenly sharpened, and she stared fixedly into Lu Zhan's eyes.

It was as though she wanted to look through them and see what was hidden in his mind.

"Why would the attacker be a mutant beast?"

"Isn't... isn't that obvious?"

"Huh?"

Faced with Xin Ya's questioning, Lu Zhan suddenly froze.

The attacker had been a mutant beast-that was what his predecessor had told him.

Or rather, that was the understanding contained in his predecessor's memories.

This world was exceedingly unusual. Human civilization dwelled in cities scattered across the wilderness.

The cities standing in the wilderness were like torches of civilization, proclaiming humanity's glory.

Yet powerful monsters lived in the wilderness alongside humans.

These creatures, which lived for destruction, often attacked human settlements, seeking to extinguish the torches of human civilization.

Twenty years ago, Wutu City had been destroyed by monsters.

Mutant beasts was another name for these monsters.

Rumor had it that the monsters in the wilderness had once been ordinary living creatures, but some unknown cause had mutated them, making them immensely powerful.

These monsters were usually bizarre and hideous, making them easy to recognize.

Although Yero City's considerable strength had kept it free from monster sieges for decades, everyone knew that mutant beasts existed.

Their existence was common knowledge.

As for why his predecessor had made that judgment, it was naturally because...

"How... how could this happen?"

"I remember seeing the attacker's true appearance clearly. It looked very much like the descriptions of mutant beasts in the legends."

"But why can't I remember it now?"

Only then did Lu Zhan realize that parts of his memory were missing.

Before this, he had not noticed anything at all.

Has something gone wrong with this guy's memory, too?

I've already interrogated fourteen survivors, and every one of them claimed to have encountered a legendary mutant beast.

But when asked to describe what it looked like, none of them could remember.

It isn't just these ordinary people, either. Even the trainees who awakened [life ripple] suffered memory disturbances after the attack.

They only remember scattered fragments, nowhere near enough to piece together the mutant beast's full appearance.

Watching Lu Zhan grow increasingly frantic, seemingly on the verge of madness, Xin Ya could not help feeling a flicker of disappointment.

The mutant beast seemed to possess some kind of curse. The harder the survivors forced themselves to remember, the more disturbed their mental state became.

Generally, though, even survivors who could not remember would not become as frantic as Lu Zhan.

Could it be because he had damaged his head in the fall?

"Lu Zhan, if you can't remember, don't force yourself."

"As for your medical fees, consider yourselves lucky. The massacre has caused such a stir that, as long as you keep your mouths shut, the Guarantee Center won't pursue you for payment."

In the end, Xin Ya's heart softened. She could not bear to drive a perfectly living person mad.

Her interrogation work was "unimportant" anyway. Otherwise, they would not have assigned a newcomer like her to handle it alone.

What the Inspection Office truly cared about was the seventeen severely injured survivors from the Armor Warrior Training Class.

According to the seventh established principle of life alchemy, once the life fluctuations of different living beings came into contact, the stronger party would inevitably affect the weaker one.

By measuring that influence, the Inspection Office could obtain detailed information about the mutant beast and locate it.

Compared with the faint life fluctuations of ordinary people, the Armor Warrior Training Class trainees had already awakened life ripple, making measurements easier.

As for these ordinary survivors, all they needed was a final screening to confirm that their genetic sequences had not been corrupted or altered.

"I remember!"

"Feelers-no, antennas!"

"Two mechanical antennas stood on top of that blood-red monster's head."

Just as Xin Ya was about to give up, Lu Zhan, who had been on the verge of a breakdown, suddenly returned to normal.

He had actually recalled a few details about the mutant beast, even if it was only a tiny fragment of an image.