Chapter 196 - 195: Wanted Poster

Chapter 196: Chapter 195: Wanted Poster

’This must be recent news. If the lockdown had started earlier, Su Yuqing would have definitely told me.’

Annoyed at Huangfu Miaomiao’s slow pace, Feng Ling took out her own phone to search for information on Guangshan City.

Xu Yiming also took out his phone and started searching.

The first result on the search page was a wanted poster for an Alien Species, along with a screenshot from a supermarket’s checkout counter surveillance video.

The customer paying in the screenshot was marked with a red circle. Below it was the wanted poster issued by the Guangshan City Inspection Bureau:

Alien Species suspect: Dai Tianle, male, 16 years old, height 168cm, with a slightly dark complexion. Wears a straw hat or bandana, a gray graphic T-shirt, and denim shorts. We urge the public to actively provide clues. A reward of twenty thousand yuan will be given to any helpful citizen who provides accurate information.

A mere twenty thousand yuan was no longer enough to catch Feng Ling’s interest.

However, the wanted poster did capture her attention.

’I feel like I’ve seen this boy before. Although the memory is very faint, I can pretty much deduce that I saw him on Sanqing Mountain.’

’On Sanqing Mountain, she had encountered a monkey that could spit out horsehair worms. Before her accident, Ye Zheng had also killed an Alien Species that could spit out horsehair worms. The same culprit was likely behind both incidents.’

Li Qing had said that the Maze Administrator of Guangshan City discovered three Alien Species wandering nearby.

It seemed the Administrator wasn’t the only one who had spotted them; humans had too.

Today’s facial recognition technology was incredibly advanced. As long as the Supervision Bureau had retrieved the video from Ye Zheng’s phone, they should know what the Alien Species that attacked her looked like.

Using its facial features, they could find out its identity and bank transactions. Then, they could distribute the wanted poster to supermarkets, gas stations, and highway toll booths nationwide. Unless the Alien Species didn’t eat, drink, or do anything at all, there was no escaping the Sky Net.

After reading the news about the wanted poster, Xu Yiming grew worried. "Guangshan City is under a complete lockdown to catch this Alien Species. Other than vehicles transporting essential supplies, no outside vehicles are allowed into the city. Should we give Old Su a call and have him give the Guangshan Branch a heads-up?"

Feng Ling thought for a moment, then said, "We still have over ten hours on the road. Maybe by the time we get to Guangshan, they’ll have already caught the Alien Species and lifted the lockdown. We’ll see when we get there."

Xu Yiming hesitated. "Alright, we’ll see when we get there, then..."

He still felt uneasy and couldn’t help but ask Feng Ling, "Do you think Guangshan City handling it this way will push the Alien Species into a corner and make it suddenly go on a killing spree? The wanted poster only shows one, but maybe it has accomplices. What if they all go on a rampage through the streets to vent their anger? Can the Inspectors in Guangshan City handle it?"

’Xu Yiming is pretty sharp,’ Feng Ling thought. ’This Alien Species does indeed have accomplices.’

’As for why only one is on the wanted poster, it’s probably because facial recognition didn’t yield any conclusive results for the other two.’

"How many Inspectors does Guangshan City have right now?" Feng Ling asked.

"They originally had three, but one was killed in action, so there should be two left..." Xu Yiming frowned, trying to recall. "But I think I heard somewhere that Captain Han from Guangshan injured his arm. His combat effectiveness must be greatly reduced, right?"

"Captain Han?" Feng Ling immediately realized there was something special about that title. "Shouldn’t it be Deputy Captain Han?"

Xu Yiming explained, "The situation in Guangshan City is a bit special. Normally, an Inspection Bureau branch has a captain who is an administrative type and a deputy captain who is a combat type. But the captain of the Guangshan Branch was killed in an attack. Later, because they were short-staffed, Deputy Captain Han was promoted directly to captain. Besides handling internal administrative work, he also leads trainee Inspectors on hunts for Alien Species. He’s basically wearing multiple hats."

Feng Ling thought for a moment and replied, "The number of Inspectors is still too low."

"Yeah..." Xu Yiming sighed. "Actually, the number of Hunters is also very small. Two months ago, someone on the forums estimated that the total number of Card Holders in the whole country was less than 700. If you spread that out across every city, it’s an average of only 1.05 people per city. The number has probably increased since then, but not by much."

Feng Ling smiled. "You sure pay attention to a lot of information."

Hearing this, Xu Yiming smiled too. "It’s a habit. The forums are my home."

He paused, then asked Feng Ling in a low voice, "I don’t know if you feel this way, but after becoming a Card Holder, it feels like it’s hard to connect with normal people. No matter what we talk about, it’s like there’s a barrier between us..."

He sighed forlornly. "When I’m out working a normal job, it feels like I’m in a dream. It’s only after work, when I go on the forums and see those posts, that I feel like I actually exist and that my life is real."

"That’s normal. It’s like that in every professional circle. You can only find a sense of belonging and validation within your own group," Feng Ling said jokingly. "It looks like Hunters are starting to form their own circle now, too."

Xu Yiming seemed slightly relieved to hear that and nodded. "That’s true."

The group passed the time making small talk in the truck. Three hours later, it pulled into a service area for a short break, and then Xu Yiming took over driving.

Cao Hongyi wasn’t as talkative as Xu Yiming. After a few words, he leaned back on the sofa and fell asleep.

Huangfu Miaomiao got sleepy too and rested her head on Feng Ling’s lap to sleep.

Ye Zheng started to grow restless, likely because the sedative had worn off. Feng Ling felt bad, but had no choice but to give her a second dose of the sedative.

In the afternoon, the downpour stopped.

But they happened to be entering a region with heavy rainfall, so by evening, it started to rain again.

PITTER-PATTER, PITTER-PATTER.

WHOOSH, WHOOSH.

The tedious long journey made Feng Ling feel lethargic. Accompanied by the sound of the rain, sometimes gentle and sometimes heavy, she dozed off several times.

She wasn’t sure which time it was, but when she woke again, the truck had stopped.

She squinted and looked outside. The view from the air vent was very limited. It was pitch-black, and she could faintly hear people talking, but the sound of the rain made it hard to make out what they were saying.

Cao Hongyi knocked on the cargo door from outside. "Ms. Ling, they’ve set up a checkpoint on the Guangshan City outer ring road to inspect vehicles. I’ve already shown them my credentials from the Qingjiang Branch’s Special Attack Team, but they’re still insisting on searching the truck."

Feng Ling yawned and replied, "Then let them search."

The aluminum alloy cargo door was opened. Outside, rain was pouring down. Several strong flashlight beams cut through the dark night, making everyone inside shut their eyes at the same time.

An officer in a black raincoat jumped into the truck. Rainwater streamed down the edges of his coat. The officer’s face was also soaked, the fatigue in his eyes hard to hide.

In a rare moment of consideration, Feng Ling said, "This must be tough work."

The officer replied, his face stern, "It’s not. Thank you for cooperating with our work!"

With that, he bent down and opened the crate closest to the door—

The crate was filled with guns and ammunition.

The young officer sucked in a sharp breath, looking at Feng Ling in disbelief.

Feng Ling froze for a second. "Oh, this is..."

Before she could finish, the officer cut her off. "Don’t move! Nobody move!"

All the officers outside raised their guns and aimed them at the cargo compartment.

The officer immediately opened a second crate—

It was packed to the brim with hand grenades.

The officer was dumbfounded. ’So many weapons... Are they planning to lay siege to the city?!’

He immediately grabbed his walkie-talkie. "Get Captain Han! Get Captain Han! We’ve found a big one on the outer ring road!!!"