Too Many Reincarnators? I Bring the National Team to the Field - Chapter 87

Chapter 87

Sheng An shook her head and instructed Hao Jingye, “Send a message to the Information Department and the Investigation Department. Pull the records for Teacher Xu Jia’s recent movements and determine her current location.”

Since it was confirmed that she was also in the Lin’an Residential Complex, she had to be taken into consideration regardless of whether she was involved.

Not a single detail could be overlooked.

Hao Jingye executed the order immediately.

A short while later, Li Wanyun returned.

The remains were carried out by the captain and his men, covered with a white sheet. The expressions of everyone present were grim, and Li Wanyun’s face was slightly pale.

For someone like her, who had lived through the Apocalypse, to have such a reaction…

Sheng An walked over quickly and lifted the white sheet to inspect the body. Song Linwei turned his head away, unable to look, while Jiang Yu nearly gagged, her face turning white instantly.

Qi Lingwu stood beside Sheng An.

After observing for a moment, he said, “The victim is unrecognizable.”

Sheng An nodded and replaced the sheet. “Run a DNA test as soon as possible.”

Based on the shredded fabric and the state of the tissue, they could only determine the victim’s gender. It was impossible to distinguish their features or even estimate their age.

Zhang Kun felt sick. Suppressing his nausea, he asked, “Why would the killer be so brutal?”

Hao Jingye shook his head.

Li Wanyun let out a breath and spoke slowly. “This scene reminds me of something terrible. I can’t help but think of-”

She and Long Tianyu exchanged a glance, both seeing the complexity in each other’s eyes.

Then, they spoke in unison:

“Aberrants!”

Sheng An looked at them. “Does this method resemble the behavior of Aberrants?”

Li Wanyun shook her head, her expression solemn. “Aberrants don’t have a specific pattern of behavior. They are consumed by bloodlust; they are capable of anything. In my past life, there was no foolproof way to identify an Aberrant. Most of the time, we relied on intuition.”

Yu Feng frowned. He naturally knew what Aberrants were.

He had heard the term repeatedly from the Reborn Persons. They were beings even more terrifying than zombies, the greatest crisis of the Apocalypse.

“Only intuition? Then how do you guard against Aberrants?” Yu Feng asked, puzzled.

“There is no way to guard against them.” Li Wanyun licked her dry lips, her voice raspy. “No matter how well an Aberrant hides, they eventually lose control and kill. They kill many, many people.”

Wan Yuan sucked in a cold breath, his voice rising. “So, the way most people identify an Aberrant is through… blood?”

Identifying an Aberrant only after they had left a trail of blood.

How cruel.

He could almost imagine the future: wherever an Aberrant appeared, blood would soak the ground. In such a world, how much trust could remain between people?

Everyone would live in fear that the person waking up next to them might turn into an Aberrant and commit a massacre.

Superpower Users might have a chance at survival, but what about ordinary people?

Hao Jingye said, “Fortunately, we have Wu Buyu.”

He suddenly looked toward Wu Buyu, who was focused on listening to inner voices, and pressed, “His Mind Reading should be useful, right?”

“It’s useful,” Long Tianyu said with a bitter smile. “But there’s only one of him.”

The group fell into silence once more.

A looming sense of crisis felt like a giant hand gripping their hearts, sending their pulses into an irregular rhythm. A hollow sensation filled their chests as a chill spread from the soles of their feet to their scalps.

Sheng An lowered her eyes, her voice raspy.

“Li Wanyun, Long Tianyu… do you think an Aberrant did this?”

Her voice was very soft, as if it might scatter with the wind.

Li Wanyun shook her head. “I think it looks like their work.”

Long Tianyu, however, knit his brows. “But it shouldn’t be possible. Aberrants are beings born around meteor fragments after the meteorites descend.”

The meteorites were still floating in the sky. Where could a fragment have come from?
How could an Aberrant be born?

“Don’t meteorite fragments improve the abilities of Superpower Users?” Hao Jingye asked, confused.

Li Wanyun explained, “They can improve a Superpower User’s abilities, but in the second year of the Apocalypse, we discovered that meteorite fragments can also enhance the abilities of Aberrants. In places where there are meteorite fragments, the probability of Aberrants appearing is much higher.”

Sheng An lowered her eyelids, listening quietly.

Superpower Users and Aberrants.

It was like a game of chess, two sides in a faint standoff, black and white, fighting to the death for victory.

Sheng An raised her hand, and the captain ordered his men to take the body away.

The mind-reading inspections continued.

It lasted until half-past ten at night. As darkness fully set in, it finally came to an end.

Time ticked by, anxious and fast.

In this world, the hardest thing to control was time.

The inspections for everyone were finished.

Wu Buyu, looking pale, was helped over by Li Xin and Jiang Yu.

Wu Buyu shook his head. “Nothing. Everyone was normal-panic, fear, confusion, all sorts of emotions. I’ve confirmed carefully that none of these residents are involved in the murder.”

Sheng An poured him a cup of hot water and patted his shoulder. “Good work.”

This wasn’t unexpected.

Mind-reading was just a screening process; she had already guessed that the killer might not be in the lineup.

Wan Yuan looked up from his computer, his expression solemn. “Sister Sheng, there’s still someone inside the complex.”

On the screen in front of him, a signal was flashing within the residential area.

Hao Jingye’s phone vibrated.

He glanced down, then suddenly snapped his head up. “Sister Sheng, Xu Jia’s phone is localized inside the complex, but she isn’t with her phone. According to the surveillance footage from the Information Department, she never left the Lin’an Residential Complex!”

She never left the complex, and she didn’t take her phone…

Was she the killer hiding inside?

Or… a victim?

Sheng An glanced over at the residents gathered together to rest, then looked back at the pitch-black Lin’an Residential Complex. The residents were all outside, and very few lights were on inside the complex, making it look exceptionally dark.

“Long Tianyu, Wu Buyu, Gu Qiansheng, Ke Jiaxue, follow me in.” She touched the gun at her waist and turned to give orders.

The others nodded.

Li Wanyun asked, “Should Qi Dui, Li Xin, Liu Yue, and I come in too?”

They were also the heavy hitters of Group B.

Sheng An shook her head. “You stay here and protect the residents with the captain and his men. Qi Dui, look after everyone. Stay safe.”

Qi Lingwu didn’t say anything, only nodding.

The trust and communication between them required only a single look.

With that, Sheng An strode into the complex.

The others hurried to keep up.

All the lights in the complex were turned on, as if to strip the entire area of any hiding places in an instant.

“Sister Sheng, will the perpetrator be inside the complex?” Ke Jiaxue asked in a low voice.

Sheng An kept her eyes on the phone, walking toward the location where the signal was.

She replied, “Let’s search. We’ll go to the populated areas first, then to Ms. Xu’s house, and finally, we’ll check the scene…”

Gu Qiansheng’s expression was grim. “The moment I see someone, I’ll use Silence on them immediately. To still be hiding in the complex and refusing to come out even after hearing the broadcast-there’s a high probability they’re the killer.”

Wu Buyu nodded. “Right. I’ve read the minds of all the residents, and the only ones left are those still in the complex-”

Sheng An suddenly whipped her head toward him.

Her voice was raspy. “You’ve read the minds of *all* the residents?”

Wu Buyu scratched his head, bewildered. “Yeah.”

Like a bolt of lightning, something flashed through her mind, and she grabbed onto it.

Sheng An raised her voice. “Oh no!”

She turned around and began to sprint back.

“Long Tianyu, get me back there, fast!”