The collapsed and broken desk, the wall splattered with blood, and the knife marks left on the floor and wall.
Wu Lan squatted on the ground and carefully looked at the traces left behind.
There once was a fierce, but not too fierce, battle in this office.
The people who attacked here were very strong, but the owner of this office was not without the ability to fight back.
"We haven't touched the scene here."
A calm voice sounded behind Wu Lan, coming from West, the person in charge of Moonlight in Newland.
"Thank you,"
Wu Lan stood up and nodded. She glanced at West, "You really didn't see anyone leave here?"
She knew very well that Moonlight must have arranged for someone to monitor the entrance of the branch of the institute.
"At least not as far as we can see."
West replied calmly.
"Um,"
Wu Lan nodded slightly. She took a step forward and stopped in front of the broken desk. "Do you have any clues over there?"
"No,"
West shook his head, "Actually, we are also very curious about how the 'things' or people who attacked here did all this. What information your people may have left in the information, but you know, All your computers are automatically encrypted without any operation, and it is impossible for me to remove the hard drive of your computer to crack it."
"Okay, let's leave it to us."
Wu Lan smiled and nodded, "Sorry to trouble you."
This sentence is a farewell to guests.
She didn't believe that Yueguang hadn't considered cracking these hard drives. After all, this branch stored a lot of internal information of the institute.
If the institute hadn't discovered it quickly and she had arrived quickly, these hard drives would have been cracked, copied and then installed back.
Wu Lan did not come alone this time, but also brought with her the staff of the institute that she had temporarily transferred.
These staff are currently using authority verification equipment to unlock the locked computers and access the data inside, in order to resume the work of this branch as soon as possible in a short period of time.
This process may involve recovering confidential documents, and it may not be appropriate for Moonlight's people to stay here.
"fine,"
West also smiled and waved his hand, "It is our responsibility to maintain the peace of Newland. If you have any questions, please contact us at any time."
The subtext of this sentence is to tell Wu Lan that this is Yueguang's territory, and they will not give up monitoring this area.
Both of them understood the meaning of each other's words and said goodbye to each other with a smile.
Wu Lan sent West out of the door before returning to the hall outside the office.
Looking at the busy staff in the hall, Wu Lan leaned against the door of the office and fell into thought.
Does West really know nothing?
Is it because I don’t know, or because I don’t want to say it? Or maybe it can’t be said?
Is the force that caused the disappearance of everyone in the branch really some kind of 'weird phenomenon'?
If it is not a strange phenomenon but man-made, why choose a branch of the institute?
Doesn't the other party know that this will attract the attention of the institute, even the eyes of many B-level people?
Judging from the actions of the other party, if it is really man-made, it is some kind of force lurking in the dark. They are operating within Yueguang's sphere of influence and rashly provoke another big force.
Do you want to muddy the waters and fish in troubled waters?
But with the current state of the institute and Moonlight, it is impossible for a conflict to break out.
Or is there a reason why we have to choose the research institute branch?
Thinking, Wu Lan walked into the office again.
She glanced up at the ceiling.
The light was broken. It was already dark, and the entire office relied on a temporary emergency light source hanging from the ceiling.
The lighting in this building is good, she has been here in the afternoon, and the office hall outside has a good view even if the lights are not turned on during the day.
Now they speculate that the time of the 'attack' occurred yesterday morning, when everyone was at work.
Why would an attack during the day destroy the lights?
Was it an accidental destruction? Or deliberate destruction?
Wu Lan walked step by step to the broken desk. Some of the desk's original drawers were broken, revealing the torn documents inside, while the remaining intact ones were pulled out.
According to Moonlight, these drawers were like this when they came in, and they tried to preserve the scene as much as possible.
It was clear that the drawers had been rummaged through, but no additional fingerprints were left at the scene.
Wu Lan glanced at the drawer in front of her, but she did not stop at the drawer. Instead, she reached under the tabletop on one side of the desk.
She fumbled with her fingers for a while, found a small hidden button, and then gently pulled it.
Click—
A thin hidden compartment popped up, and inside was a not-so-thick investigation document.
The person in charge of the Newland branch of the institute is named Xia Ye. He is a cautious but strong-willed guy.
As an old friend for many years, Wu Lan knew the character and habits of her old friend very well, having visited ruins together, killed monsters together, and solved strange phenomena together.
Xia Ye likes to create this kind of secret compartment under the desktop, which is used to hide things that cannot be hidden in the safe.
This document may have been hidden by Xia Ye beforehand after sensing something was wrong.
Wu Lan thought about it and took out the document.
The content of the document appears to be an investigation report by a staff member of the institute branch.
Wu Lan flipped through it. It was an investigation report on an uncontrolled supernatural phenomenon that might exist in the city-state of Newland.
This book is the responsibility of the branch of the research institute. It collects information on some extraordinary phenomena and then reports them to the headquarters. Among them may be mixed the phenomenon of the opening of ruins, or the existence of some powerful extraordinary items.
In principle, this kind of information collection will not be particularly strict, and the branch will not get involved too deeply, otherwise it will arouse Moonlight's hostility.
The report in Wu Lan's hand probably conforms to this principle.
It only contains some simple survey information, and the core conclusion is:
In the past year, a large number of missing persons cases have occurred in the city-state of Newland, and the closer the timeline is to the present, the more people have disappeared. Even the families of some informants in the institute, and even the informants themselves, They are all suspected to be among these missing persons.
In fact, it was precisely because of the disappearance of these informants that Xia Ye noticed this strange phenomenon.
And from a geographical perspective, these missing people are not located in a few fixed areas, but are evenly distributed throughout the city-state.
Xia Ye believes that there is a high probability that there is a very strong strange phenomenon existing in Newland City State, and these missing people are preyed on by this strange phenomenon.
This report was marked just two days ago. Wu Lanshang checked the database of the institute and found no record of this report.
In other words, this report has not been uploaded yet.
According to Xia Ye's habit, this shows that she thinks this report is not the final version yet.
Is she still investigating? Did she have some 'extra' clues?
Did she leave this document here because she thought the attackers were connected to it?
However, this time the 'mysterious disappearance' situation of the institute branch is really very similar to the situation of the 'missing persons' mentioned in the document.
The investigation by the institute branch led to the attack by the mastermind?
"Witch Club,"
While he was thinking, a young man holding a tablet came in from the door, "The surveillance video has been analyzed."
"Let me see."
Wu Lan turned around and stretched out her hand.
These surveillance videos are installed in the institute's encrypted disk, and Moonlight does not have the ability to parse them.
The young man handed the tablet to Wu Lan.
Wu Lan lowered her head and looked at the screen on the computer. The first thing that caught her eye was the office hall full of staff, with people coming and going. The time displayed in the lower right corner of the monitor was 9:17 in the morning.
But then, in the next second, all the staff in the lobby, whether they were sitting on office chairs or walking between workstations, all disappeared from the screen in an instant.
It's like all the scenes with people in them were taken away and the scenes with no people in them were spliced directly into them.
Immediately after this scene, the entire scene went black and the camera was destroyed.
Wu Lan frowned slightly, dragged the video progress bar forward, and took another look at the video. The people in action disappeared from her eyes again.
This time, she lowered her head and glanced at the time in the lower right corner. It was nine seventeen minutes and sixteen seconds. The time moved smoothly and there was no trace of splicing.
How did you do it.
She held the tablet in her hand, rubbed her eyebrows, and then glanced at the young man beside her, "Go and do your work first. I will call you if necessary."
"good."
The young man nodded.
"Oh, wait a minute,"
Just when the young man turned around to leave, Wu Lan seemed to remember something. She said slowly, "Has your accommodation been arranged for tonight?"
“Following past practice, I booked the Maple Leaf Hotel,”
The young man replied slowly, "This hotel has signed a contract with the research institute and can directly use the public account."
"Okay, thank you for your hard work,"
Wu Lan nodded,
"It should be,"
The young man nodded. He glanced at Wu Lan and made sure that Wu Lan had nothing else to do before turning and leaving.
Wu Lan lowered her head, staring at the tablet in her hand and the video that was being played repeatedly.
After a while, she raised her head and looked at the traces around her.
Why did Xia Ye have the chance to resist? The kind of thing that can directly make people 'disappear' can't work on relatively strong extraordinary beings? Or, what did Xia Ye discover?
She took out her mobile phone and retrieved the information that originally belonged to this branch and had just been unlocked by the institute staff and shared to the institute's cloud.
She searched through these materials. There were many clues collected about the 'Missing Case of Newland City State', and it was very messy. However, the comprehensive investigation report only had the one she had in hand, and there was no specially marked information.
While she was looking for information, the screen of the mobile phone in her hand flashed, and a caller ID appeared.
This phone number is not in the address book. It is an unknown call.
After thinking for a moment, she chose to answer the call.
"Hello,"
The voice over there was gentle and clear, "I'm Hao Yi."
"ah?"
Wu Lan was stunned.
"I have the institute's account and have sent you a message now."
The person on the phone seemed to anticipate her doubts and continued calmly.
Wu Lan quickly clicked on the institute's software, and sure enough, she saw a strange friend message from 'Hao Yi' in the private chat of the software, as well as a reminder to add a friend.
In the institute's software, users can send messages directly to each other without adding friends, but only by adding friends can they send files and large amounts of pictures.
At this time, Wu Lan also remembered that there were rumors that when the dean and Hao Yi were trading relic quotas, a separate authorized account was prepared for Hao Yi.
"Hello, what can I do for you?"
Wu Lan didn't know why this mysterious Class B was looking for her, but she hesitated and asked in a low voice. At the same time, she added 'Hao Yi' as a friend.
"I wonder if you would like to share the clues you obtained during today's investigation."
There was still a gentle and calm voice on the phone.
clue?
Wu Lan was stunned again, her brain working rapidly.
Strictly speaking, the clues she obtained here did not involve the secrets of the institute. The investigation report she wrote was also accessible to this boss.
Moreover, the institute's current main goal for 'Hao Yi' is to 'win over as much as possible' and 'enhance his favor', and the benefits of doing so are obvious.
In fact, if Hao Yi hadn't come over today and made a mistake, it would not have been so easy for her to conduct the investigation now.
Even if it is a real secret of the institute, she believes that as long as she applies to the dean, he will most likely be willing to share it. But for such secrets, 'Hao Yi' will go directly to the dean.
Although it was her first real contact with this 'B-level', she made a decision in just a split second, "Of course, it's my pleasure..."
Then she recounted her findings quickly and briefly.
The other person also listened to her story very carefully and responded from time to time to show that he was listening.
After she finished narrating everything, the other party fell into a brief silence, seeming to sort out what she had narrated.
Then she heard the other person ask, "I want to hear your analysis."
"I think the disappearance of the institute branch is most likely related to the disappearance case investigated by Ye Zi... Xia Ye,"
Wu Lan organized her words and continued,
"And I think that Xia Ye actually didn't master the particularly key information, or in other words, she mastered the key information, but she hasn't completely sorted it out yet.
"Because she is a particularly cautious person. If she had noticed the danger in advance, she would have taken adequate protection. Even if she was 'surprised' by a mysterious ability, she would not be able to be solved so easily, because from the battle in the office Judging from the traces, she may have noticed the 'weakness' of this ability.
"So on the whole, this 'attack' against the research institute branch is a 'raid' that is too 'advance' in theory. The other party is extremely cautious. After noticing Xia Ye's investigation, Xia Ye has not yet Before a clear threat was posed, the attack was launched immediately to nip the bud of danger.
"but,"
Wu Lan paused and said with some confusion, "What makes me a little strange is that if the other side is so cautious, it is impossible not to consider that the institute will send people to investigate afterwards. They don't seem to be afraid of 'investigation'? "
"Um,"
As she finished her analysis, the other person on the phone seemed to be lost in thought, and then after a brief pause, the other person suddenly asked, "Are you in the office now?"
Wu Lan: "Yes."
"Are the curtains closed?"
The other side continued to ask.
Wu Lan raised her head and looked forward. The closed curtains appeared in her field of vision.
"It's closed."
The curtains were stained with even spatters of blood, proving that they were closed at the time of the attack.
"Thank you, your intelligence and analysis are valuable."
The other person on the phone said slowly.
The two chatted for a few more words, agreed that Wu Lan would share the files he found, and then hung up the phone.
Wu Lan held the phone and glanced at the bloody surroundings again.
The narration she just had with 'Hao Yi' also made her reorganize all the clues.
She took a deep breath.
You want to see people when you are alive, and you want to see corpses when you die.
Even if it was the worst case scenario, she would take people home.
——
Newland City State·Vinland Island
He Ao slowly put down the phone in his hand and looked up at the bright moonlight in the sky.
He walked out of the alley where he was with his 'Lunke' appearance.
After walking a few dozen meters ahead and passing a few street corners, a small courtyard near the sea appeared in his sight.
This courtyard is the 'residence' of their boss that the red-haired man told He Ao.
"You came?"
At this time, the red-haired man who had been guarding the courtyard gate for who knows how long also saw He Ao, and he walked over quickly.
"the weather is nice today."
Feeling the breeze blowing on his face, He Ao glanced at the cloudless sky and said casually.
"Not bad...it's really good, it's really good."
The red-haired man glanced at the dagger He Ao was playing with, and carefully guided He Ao toward the yard.
As he said this, he didn't know if it was because he wanted to follow up with the sentence "It's really good", so he sighed to himself, "It's much better than yesterday's cloudy day where day and night couldn't be distinguished."
"Your boss is the confidant of deputy leader Liming?"
He Ao looked at the open courtyard door and asked thoughtfully.
"I don't know how we can keep up with the B-level deputy leader. I don't even know what that dragon looks like."
The red-haired man said carefully, "But our boss is a C-level strongman, and he can speak well around the deputy leader. He is not only a big shot in Dawn, but also..."
He got stuck at this point.
"then what?"
He Ao raised his head and glanced at him.
The red-haired man paused. This seemed to be something he couldn't say. He suppressed his face and turned red. "You will know later. Anyway, it is your blessing to follow our boss."
"It seems he has a lot of blessings."
He Ao smiled and walked into the courtyard gate with the red-haired man.
As soon as he entered the door, a strong smell of blood hit his face.
He Ao raised his head and looked at the scenery in the courtyard.
The first thing that caught his eye was a somewhat desolate garden. There was a tree near the door, but it was already dry. There were pure white roses planted in the flower bed near the door, and the buds that had not yet fully bloomed were stained with bright red blood stains.
"Lenk, you're here."
On the stone steps at the deepest part of the garden, there sat a middle-aged man with an ordinary face. He held a knife covered with blood in one hand, and slowly and carefully wiped the bright red knife with a white rag in his other hand. Bloodstains.
He was wearing some kind of gray clothing, and there were two people in gray clothing standing beside him on each side.
The bloody knife tip sank into the soft flower soil, and the pure white rose rippled slightly in the breeze.
He raised his head and stared at He Ao,
"Do you crave chaos?"
Something happened and I was delayed for a long time.
There should be nothing going on tomorrow, and it should be updated at noon (before 14:00 noon to be precise?).
It has been updating more than 5,000 times a day for many consecutive days (super brave).
Finally, ask for a ticket every day
(End of chapter)
