Chapter 172: Dark Boundless Realm 27
The woman with long black curly hair was named Li Wanran, who had researched footprint studies and was a second batch beta test player.
“Do they have disguises on their faces?” Song Tingshuan asked.
“Yes, they are very cautious,” Li Wanran replied. “The male appears to be about 1.85 meters tall, slender build, wearing a black tracksuit. The female is about 1.75 meters tall, with a proportionate figure, wearing a dark blue hoodie… um, definitely a girl.”
Song Tingshuan said, “Since they have disguises, how can you determine their age? The girl… the woman at the scene last night looked young?”
“Her walking posture and movements give it away, based on experience,” Li Wanran mentioned casually. “Did you not take footprint studies during university?”
“My focus was in investigation studies; I only understand the basics of footprint studies, just a layman…” Song Tingshuan felt a subtle sensation, as if being questioned by a teacher.
Li Wanran smiled, “I can tell. It’s quite unfamiliar; you still need to practice.”
Although Song Tingshuan studied related subjects, she did not pursue a career in this area after graduation, appearing somewhat naive compared to Li Wanran.
Li Wanran was summoned here for a reason; her extraordinary abilities were part of it, and her personal skills also contributed. By status, she could be considered Song Tingshuan’s superior, leading this investigation, and thus knew some of Song Tingshuan’s information.
Unfortunately, the mask hid her face, so lip-reading was impossible. Li Wanran silently observed the illusionary scene that only she could see.
She wore shoe covers and brought some tools to survey the scene. To avoid damaging any evidence, few people entered the factory; only a few armed personnel accompanied them for protection.
Li Wanran’s “Scene Retrospection” was merely an E-level ability, newly awakened just a week ago in the Second World. Its effects were very limited, and what she could see was quite vague, with restrictions on usage, best only employed at critical moments.
She squatted down with a flashlight, meticulously examining the traces on the floor.
“There are some small specks of dust on the ground, the dust is concentrated in those spots. When that man came in, it must have been raining heavily outside; the rain soaked his clothes, and droplets fell, creating these traces on the ground,” Li Wanran explained to Song Tingshuan as if teaching a class. “Thanks to that rain, he left footprints…”
Song Tingshuan took out her mobile phone to confirm the rain’s timing last night: “That must have been around midnight. It rained lightly from evening until eleven, then stopped after twelve-thirty. Only during that time was the rain heavier.”
“They didn’t arrive at the tobacco factory at the same time,” Li Wanran assessed. “Because there are no such water traces where the girl was standing. One person is dry, while the other is soaked… the girl must have arrived at the tobacco factory earlier.”
“It’s also possible the girl had a way to avoid the rain,” Song Tingshuan suggested. “With so many unique extraordinary abilities, her power could be water manipulation.”
Li Wanran replied, “That makes sense. We can’t perceive these traces through conventional thinking, nor can we rely entirely on experience.”
Li Wanran’s flashlight illuminated a faint footprint, but it was very shallow.
Her flashlight beam remained parallel to the ground, revealing a whole row of footprints. These footprints were hidden beneath a fine layer of dust; no one had been here for a long time, and the dust had accumulated to a point where footprints left would create nearly imperceptible indentations, less than a millimeter deep, easily overlooked unless observed closely.
This row of footprints led down the corridor on the first floor of the tobacco factory.
“These are the man’s footprints,” Song Tingshuan noted. “The shoe size is large, and the stride is also wide. I guess he weighs around one hundred and forty pounds?”
“About right,” Li Wanran scanned the area.
Carefully avoiding the row of footprints, Song Tingshuan asked curiously, “What about the other person? The girl? There’s only one row of footprints here…”
Li Wanran searched nearby and eventually discovered a faint set of footprints tucked away in a corner against the wall. Following these intermittent footprints, she noticed they maintained a subtle distance from the male player’s footprints, neither too close nor too far apart.
She pondered, “The girl and this man walked to the same place; it seems they share a common goal, but the girl and the man are keeping their guard… Their footprints are over two meters apart; if they knew each other well, they wouldn’t be that far apart.”
“Two players coincidentally met here. After a brief conversation, they decided to investigate this factory together?” Song Tingshuan theorized. “Logically, that would make sense.”
“Indeed,” Li Wanran stood up after examining the ground. “However, I suspect that male player is part of an organization.”
Her “Scene Retrospection” had limited time recovery; the images she could view were also restricted.
From her perspective, after the two players met, the male player received a phone call, said a brief sentence, and then began conversing with the other player… After their talk, the male player turned to leave, while the female player waited in place, not moving a muscle, until shortly after when the male player returned… and the scene retention ended there.
Was he on a call when he went out? If so, who was he talking to?
Who was he reporting to? Who was he seeking guidance from?
And the female player’s reaction seemed somewhat unusual; she calmly let that male player go out to make a call without even moving, just standing there waiting, which seemed quite daring. She seemed to have some confidence and trust in that male player… perhaps they had previously formed an alliance online, this being their first meeting offline…
Thinking deeper, the male player was part of an organization with teammates, while the female player was not; could the male player have come to recruit her? They crossed paths and connected, needing to report back to those who didn’t show up?
This line of reasoning seemed plausible.
After all, they reached a consensus within a short time, searching the tobacco factory together. If the other side were a completely unfamiliar player, Li Wanran would certainly not feel comfortable teaming up with them.
“On the forum, everyone has begun to band together,” Song Tingshuan remarked. “Players who can find this place couldn’t possibly be lone wolves; they must have an information source behind them… like that famous 233.”
“Not impossible,” Li Wanran said. “Let’s go on with our investigation.”
The situation changed on the next floor.
They followed the footprints up a staircase and found a pool of dried blood in the middle of the corridor.
Undoubtedly, this was a key location, worth Li Wanran using her “Scene Retrospection” once.
Li Wanran did not immediately activate her extraordinary ability; she took professional tools from her bag to collect the blood on the ground. After finishing the collection, she stood up to use her “Scene Retrospection.”
A vague shadow squatted beside the bloodstain, which, by its shape, resembled the male player who had stood at the bottom of the stairs.
He crouched down to observe for a while, then looked back towards the right— the girl stood in the darkness, arms crossed, watching him.
They exchanged a couple of sentences.
The male player stood up and continued walking forward… the girl followed.
The two vague shadows disappeared deep in the dark corridor.
“The bloodstain was there before last night; the two players were observing the blood on the ground,” Li Wanran said. “From their body language, the female player seemed indifferent to the blood, not surprised at all… rather, it was the male player…”
As she spoke, she attempted to use “Scene Retrospection” again to see further back in time, but it failed— the same location for “Scene Retrospection” could only be used once.
Ultimately, it was an E-level ability just awakened a week ago; this ability brought her convenience, but its defects were too significant. Fortunately, extraordinary abilities usually have room for growth, and in the future, this ability would serve greater roles and values.
Li Wanran conducted an examination and recorded her findings, finally saying, “Let’s move on.”
She glanced at the time; it was currently 23:25… almost midnight.
“There are thirty-five minutes left until midnight,” Song Tingshuan noted the time too, whispering a reminder, “Should we evacuate? Or…”
“We cannot be sure of the dangers here,” Li Wanran said, “Time-space distortion phenomena, as noted in the information, might occur. We must evacuate, and before we do, set up the monitoring equipment to confirm the situation.”
Their personnel had installed monitoring devices in many areas of the Old Industrial Zone to keep track of nearby movements.
Song Tingshuan nodded, setting down her backpack, which contained a high-definition camera, adjusting the device to night vision mode.
“Where’s a suitable place to install it?” she asked.
Today marked the first day of the Old Industrial Zone’s lockdown; to protect the scene and facilitate investigations, they could not install a large number of surveillance systems within this building, so they had to use other photographic tools as substitutes.
“We still have enough time; let’s move a little further,” Li Wanran suggested.
Faint footsteps echoed in the corridor, the armed personnel stood vigilantly, and both Li Wanran and Song Tingshuan remained cautious, needing to balance their investigation while staying alert.
Soon, another pool of blood appeared.
This time, the blood was extensive, covering a large area, and… the overall shape was humanoid, with distinguishable outlines of limbs and a torso.
Song Tingshuan gasped, her voice trembling, “A person!”
Her voice echoed in the empty factory, sounding somewhat eerie, and she quickly whispered in excitement, “The deceased heterogeneous blooded… Fang Zhi! Could it be him? Have we found the location of Fang Zhi’s death?”
“Highly likely,” Li Wanran signaled to Song Tingshuan, who quickly set up the camera equipment in the corner, adjusting its angle.
Li Wanran scanned the surroundings and used “Scene Retrospection.”
The vague figure reappeared…
The male player was still crouching down, observing the bloodstains, then stood up to talk with the girl… then suddenly, the male player pulled out a small knife from his pocket and made a cut on his own arm… the girl said something to him, and he nodded… they left the tobacco factory…
This wasn’t sufficient; there was too little useful information! She needed to see further back.
Li Wanran did not stop using Scene Retrospection; she maintained the activation of her ability to push the timeline forward… She could not interfere with time, only observe what had happened here.
It was the same girl! She reappeared!
She walked up to the pool of blood, took objects from her waist bag, dipped them in the blood on the ground, then collected them. Next, she pulled out a camera and stuck it to the wall with tape, checked the camera’s angle, and then left.
Time continued to move forward, and Li Wanran did not stop displaying those images.
In the next moment, her eyes widened as she saw chaotic black shadows, twisted tentacles appearing to dance on the wall, and a dark “door” silently opening, as though those tentacles wanted to squeeze through…
The terrifying, chaotic scene flickered and was gone in less than a second.
A drop of cold sweat fell from Li Wanran’s forehead; as she was about to close Scene Retrospection, she suddenly saw a deep blue vortex open before her, and out came… the girl.
She looked around, peeled the camera off the wall, and observed for a while, seemingly deep in thought…
The scene abruptly halted there.
Li Wanran staggered, almost losing her balance. Song Tingshuan hurried to support her, simultaneously saying, “It’s already eleven forty-five PM; we must go.”
“Okay…” Li Wanran swallowed the words she was about to express, her expression grave as she quickly left the tobacco factory with everyone.
Li Wanran and Song Tingshuan did not leave the tobacco factory too far; they entered an armed vehicle equipped with a monitor displaying footage captured by the camera inside the factory.
“This won’t do; we need to be further away,” Li Wanran felt a sense of vigilance after seeing the footage from Scene Retrospection. “Drive the vehicle away, let’s go now.”
The armed vehicle moved forward, and she anxiously checked the time, glancing at her watch repeatedly seven or eight times until midnight arrived.
A semi-transparent, glass-like material suddenly enveloped the tobacco factory, and Song Tingshuan rolled down the window to look over, just in time to witness this unbelievable scene.
At the same time, the footage on the monitor changed.
A “door” opened.
Twisted black shadows struggled to emerge, and unlike the scenes Li Wanran had recalled—those monsters really began to fight their way out of the door!
