Chapter 56: Provocation

When the lights of the Fourth Sub-Bureau were restored, Batman had already disappeared without a trace. The laughter had ceased at some point, and the infected trapped in the sculpture had turned into a headless corpse. Horrifying blood continued to flow from the severed neck.

After Chu Cheng successfully operated Batman to leave the police station, he used the grappling gun to fly to an inconspicuous spot on top of a tall building. Just as he was thinking that it was time to go offline and rest, a exclamation mark suddenly appeared on the screen.

Another one?

Chu Cheng was somewhat surprised.

This was quite strange. Usually, he would wander around from evening till dawn and barely complete a few missions, and they were all ordinary tasks with little rewards. But tonight, the mission refresh rate was unusually high, and he encountered several laughing maniacs in succession.

What's going on?

Chu Cheng was puzzled.

It's commonly said that ride-hailing services have peak hours during commuting and holidays, but I've never heard of peak hours for "ride-hailing people." Of course, this was actually a good thing for Chu Cheng. After all, more experience came from causing trouble, and he would earn more points. Not to mention, he had encountered quite a few infected maniacs tonight. Even if they weren't bosses, they could be considered elite monsters, and the point rewards were much richer than those of ordinary thugs.

Chu Cheng hesitated for a moment.

He felt like he was back in the past, lying in bed reading novels, and as dawn approached, he couldn't stop reading chapter after chapter. He would think that the next chapter would be the last, but every time he turned to the end of a chapter, his hand would honestly continue to tap for the next page.

Thinking about it now, that damn author always ended the chapters abruptly. Finishing a chapter was like feeling that you were about to reach the climax, even taking off your pants, but then flipping to the next page, oh no, it's gone, and it's really annoying.

But back then, Chu Cheng was young and inexperienced. If it were today, he would make sure to catch that author and have a chat about life with him at his home using a remote-controlled Batman. At the very least, he would send him a pound of bat-shaped throwing knives by mail.

Chu Cheng felt that after these past few days of intense training with the game system, he had already developed resistance. Although he was a bit tired, it wasn't a big deal to stay up all night occasionally. So, in the end, he couldn't resist the temptation of that big exclamation mark and decided to take a look.

As a result, it was indeed a familiar situation.

Originally, it was a local gang demanding protection money from a barbecue restaurant, but suddenly, a laughing maniac burst in from outside and started slashing with a knife without saying a word.

Fortunately, Chu Cheng quickly controlled Batman, swiftly dealt with the maniac, settled the trouble, and even gave the group collecting protection fees a beating to ensure they wouldn't dare to cause trouble again. It was another wave of new points in his account.

It wasn't until the sky began to turn pale that the intermittent exclamation marks finally stopped.

Still not at ease, Chu Cheng toyed around with Batman for a while, making sure that no new experience packages were being generated, and then logged off.

Chu Cheng had earned points and experience hand over fist this night, but the situation at the Special Operations Section Nine was not looking good at all.

Earlier tonight, they had been tormented by the seemingly undead laughing infection source, leaving them a bit mentally overstimulated. Then, one after another, various relevant intelligence reports came from the front lines.

Frontline agents were running around, constantly collecting situation reports and handling sudden infection incidents in certain areas. Inside the mothership, a group of people had stayed up all night, analyzing and waiting for new updates from the frontline.

  Now, these people were truly experiencing some PTSD. At the mention of the word "laughing," it wouldn't be an exaggeration to say that their blood pressure skyrocketed, just like the World Security Council in the neighboring Marvel universe when they saw the monthly financial reports of S.H.I.E.L.D., or like members of the "Moonlight Clan" when they saw their previous month's credit card bill, with one thing in common—off-the-charts stress.

  Until dawn approached, the bad news finally ceased its relentless assault. It seemed that the infection source called "The Laugh" had finally stopped.

  The door suddenly opened, and Professor Miyazaki rushed in with an urgent expression and reaction, indicating that he might have brought significant news.

  The group, who had slightly relaxed, became tense again. Someone immediately asked, "Another one?"

  "No, there has been progress in the investigation of the infection source," Professor Miyazaki replied.

  Upon hearing this, everyone immediately perked up.

  The investigation of the infection source was undoubtedly of utmost importance. The infected were an endless threat, and if the source couldn't be identified, it would be meaningless no matter how many were eliminated.

  "Have you found out who the infection source is?" Li Changcheng asked.

  "No, we haven't confirmed that yet, only suspects," Professor Miyazaki said, glancing at the people present with a complex expression. "You all know about the attack on the Fourth Sub-Bureau by the Security Department earlier, right?"

  Everyone nodded. That was a given. The incident at the Fourth Sub-Bureau of the Security Department was the most severe among all the accidents tonight.

  Naturally, this raised questions for the citizens of Jiangdu City: If even the Security Department wasn't safe, then where in the city could be considered safe?

  "We reviewed the surveillance around the Security Department, scanned all the targets that entered and exited tonight, and matched the information with the intelligence database of Special Operations Section Nine, attempting to confirm if there were any suspected infected individuals," Professor Miyazaki explained.

  "And then, did you find anything?" someone asked.

  "Yes. Five minutes ago, the analysts in charge of this task reported their findings to me, and now I will show you what I saw."

  While speaking, Professor Miyazaki had already connected to the large screen in the conference room. The footage from the Security Department's surveillance cameras was projected onto the big screen, but due to the oversized display, it appeared particularly blurry.

  Stepping aside, Professor Miyazaki pressed the play button on the remote control.

  Soon, everyone saw a person entering the surveillance area and pausing in the most prominent part of the frame. He stopped, looked up, and stared in the direction of the screen for a while, as if grinning.

  As if provoking.

  Professor Miyazaki pressed the pause button, freezing the frame at that moment.

  "Now, I'll zoom in on the screen."

  As he spoke, the camera zoomed in several times, and with the help of image enhancement, the people in the conference room could finally make out who the person was through the blurry face.

  The people in the conference room squinted their eyes, staring at the face in the surveillance footage for a while, before gradually displaying expressions of astonishment, disbelief, confusion, and suspicion.

  Then, they all turned their questioning gaze toward Professor Miyazaki.

"Is this... Could it be?"

"Yes, as you have seen, the facial recognition software has also provided the same answer," Professor Miyazaki nodded.

  "We believe that the person who entered the Fourth Sub-Bureau of the Jiangdu Security Department earlier tonight and left behind this provocative footage is none other than our Special Operations Section Nine's Agent Luo Yajun."