In a fleeting moment, a multitude of speculations raced through Jiang Ye's mind: water ghosts invading the city, neighborhood feuds, factory accidents, stray bullets, love triangles, or revenge killings.
"What exactly happened?" Jiang Ye asked.
"Those twenty people who left the town earlier!" Shi Zhizhi replied. "One returned, bringing back the bodies of the others!" Da Feng Novel Network.
Jiang Ye's eyes widened, as if struck by lightning.
Five minutes later, Jiang Ye rushed to the police station.
A crowd had gathered outside the police station: auxiliary police officers armed with guns, residents in slippers and pajamas who had come to watch the spectacle, all craning their necks to peer inside.
Jiang Ye pushed his way to the center of the crowd and saw the gruesome scene in the open space.
A base vehicle, unrecognizable, looked as if it had been bombed. All its windows were shattered, with triangular glass shards clinging to the corners. Three tires were blown out, their rubber ripped to shreds, revealing numerous knife marks. The vehicle's body also appeared to have been hacked at, its paint peeling off inch by inch, the exterior riddled with holes.
Shao Wan approached and saluted Jiang Ye. "Sir, the bodies are all in the vehicle."
Jiang Ye boarded the vehicle and looked inside from the doorway.
Dead bodies filled every inch of the floor, packed tightly like fish in a supermarket. There were men and women, of different skin colors, but all met a terrifying end. Some had bloody bite marks on their faces, their intestines coiled on the floor like snakes. The most gruesome corpses were more than half-eaten, their chests ripped open, ribs clearly visible.
"They must have died several days ago," the dark green corpse fluid flowed on the floor.
"Gnawed by water ghosts?" Jiang Ye asked.
"Yes," Shao Wan nodded, his face grim. "Twenty went out, nineteen are dead."
"And the one?"
"He's in the lounge on the second floor of the station. His mental state is very poor. We've handcuffed him for fear he might harm himself or others, and we're giving him water and food," Shao Wan said.
Jiang Ye exited the base vehicle, reeking of death, and headed straight for the second floor of the police station.
What was called a lounge was, in fact, an interrogation room.
The room was bare. The dark walls had a clock, and there was only a chair for the suspect and a small table for the officer taking the statement.
A wild-looking white man sat on the chair, his hair and beard grown long like Einstein's, matted with dried blood and mud, emitting the stench of a vagrant. A puddle of urine was still dripping from beneath the chair. His clothes were all torn to shreds, his body covered in wounds that had scabbed over, as if he had been subjected to severe torture.
His left hand was handcuffed to the leg of the table. Water and fries were placed on the small table in front of him. But he hadn't touched them; he was asleep, his head tilted.
Jiang Ye observed him for a few seconds without waking him, then turned and left the interrogation room.
"He must have just fallen asleep," Shao Wan explained in a low voice in the hallway. "When he first arrived, he was gasping for breath, drooling, and looked terrified of everyone, like he'd seen a ghost. He couldn't speak clearly, just a jumble of words. I suspect his mind might be a bit troubled; his eyes are already like those of a madman."
Shi Zhizhi also walked over and asked in a worried whisper, "How should we handle him?"
"First, have someone clear out the bodies from his base vehicle and burn them. Not cremating them could lead to infectious diseases," Jiang Ye instructed. "You guys take care of this old man for now. Let him sleep. When he wakes up, ask him what happened."
"Okay," Shi Zhizhi and Shao Wan replied in unison.
Jiang Ye, not wanting to bother further, went back to sleep.
At five in the morning, he woke up precisely on time.
After washing up and eating something, he headed straight to the police station.
A large crowd of onlookers was still gathered around the police station, their voices buzzing with discussion:
"I didn't expect them to all die so quickly."
"It scared me to death. Among the dead was my former neighbor. He even asked me to go with them, and now half his head has been gnawed off."
"It's fortunate we came here early; if we hadn't been in town, we would have died long ago."
"That old man is dead too, how tragic."
Jiang Ye parted the crowd and walked directly into the police station.
Shao Wan, wearing a butcher-like full-body leather suit, with many dirty stains on his pants, was writing something at a desk.
"Where is that old man?" Jiang Ye asked directly.
"He's dead," Shao Wan said. "He probably died last night. Everyone thought he was just sleeping, but he was actually dead. This morning, when I went to wake him, he was cold and stiff. When I pushed him, he fell to the ground, not moving at all."
"What was the cause of death?" Jiang Ye sighed.
"Injuries, you know. He was scratched all over by the water ghosts, and he was old. He just couldn't hold on any longer. We don't have a doctor here, so even if he survived, there's nothing we could do. Shao Wan put down his pen. The body was burned in the latter half of the night, and it's all done now. That base vehicle is parked in the open lot, idle."
"Alright," Jiang Ye nodded. "You worked overtime last night, right? Finish up and get some rest."
"Understood."
Jiang Ye returned to his own base vehicle and drafted a notice:
"【Notice】"
"【The twenty residents who previously left the town encountered a water ghost attack outside and have all died. We remind everyone to try their best not to stray from the populated areas, as the number of water ghosts remains high.】"
After posting the notice, Jiang Ye headed straight for the military factory.
First, he went to the factory for the shielding field bracelets.
The factory was located in the next town, separated by two ring-shaped craters, making it inaccessible to ordinary people. However, due to Jiang Ye's special status, as soon as he arrived, the soldiers guarding the drawbridge promptly operated the mechanism, and the steel drawbridge slowly lowered.
Jiang Ye crossed two drawbridges and entered the military factory for the shielding field bracelets.
The workers had just started their shifts, and the assembly line was running for the first time. A strange smell permeated the entire factory, similar to rubber and rust, but not quite.
Jiang Ye stood directly at the end of the assembly line, hands behind his back, waiting.
A moment later, the first finished bracelet appeared!
He picked it up and examined it. It was about the width of a banknote, pure silver, and felt heavy like a silver bangle. It was slightly large on his wrist, but fit just right, not falling off.
In the center of the bracelet was a round button. On the back of the button was a slot for the energy metal. The structure was as simple as it could be.
Jiang Ye reached into his pocket and took out a pea-sized piece of energy metal. After the bracelet factory was built, the Galaxy Mall unlocked the purchase of energy metal. A small piece cost eight thousand yuan, which was quite expensive.
He installed it, and the energy metal was immediately attracted to the slot, impossible to pry out. This was very similar to the mode of Isabella's artificial heart.
Jiang Ye gently pressed the switch. Instantly, he felt a slight stinging sensation like an electric shock, followed by a buzzing sound. A strange sensation enveloped his entire body, as if the surrounding air had turned into jelly.
At first, he was unaccustomed to it, but after more than ten seconds, he barely noticed it. However, during this process, he could vaguely feel a force wrapping around his body, like entering a calm swimming pool.
Jiang Ye clenched his fist and tried to punch his thigh.
The shielding field immediately appeared. The air on his thigh's surface instantly became gelatinous, visibly vibrating. His fist couldn't reach his thigh at all; it was blocked by the shielding field.
"Good!" Jiang Ye exclaimed with joy.
He took off the bracelet and placed it on the leg of a small stool nearby.
Visible air vibrations enveloped the entire stool within seconds, and the shielding field had formed.
Jiang Ye instantly pulled out his pistol and fired!