Chapter 86 – Searching for the Scene of the Incident

When Su Lifeng passed that neighbor’s door, he stopped, his expression turning a little melancholy.

In the current situation, people were probably vanishing from this world for no apparent reason every single day, never to appear again.

And while some people were still “alive,” all that remained of them was an empty shell…

“We interrupt with a piece of international news…”

When Su Lifeng returned home, only Su Lian was inside, along with an open computer. Clearly, she had been watching the news.

Su Lian had indeed followed his instructions and gone on a major shopping run. After Su Lifeng stepped through the door, he discovered there was almost no room left for him to move around.

Especially when he saw his lab bench piled high with daily necessities, Su Lifeng’s body instantly went stiff. He stood there staring at the words “Sufei1” on those gaudy packages, frozen in a long, silent daze…

“Brother, I heard something happened at the lab? Yushi-Jie and the others all went over.” Su Lian came up to him and asked worriedly.

“Uh…” Su Lifeng cast another complicated look at his lab bench before turning back and saying, “It’s nothing. They’ll handle it.”

“You don’t look so good. Are you feeling unwell somewhere? Are your wings okay?”

“No, everything’s fine… My chest just feels a little tight.”

“Then I’ll rub it for you!”

“It’s fine. I just need a moment of peace…”

Su Lifeng was busy dodging Su Lian’s persistent hands as she kept reaching for his chest when he suddenly heard a line from the news.

“The King of Siam and the prime minister, who were recently caught in a flood crisis, abruptly held a press conference and delivered public remarks… In view of the frequent natural disasters currently occurring, they also expressed a strong desire to convene an Asian prime ministers’ summit, so that the nations may support one another and overcome the present difficulties together…”

“Siam?” Su Lifeng’s heart stirred. He casually caught Su Lian by the head and pushed her aside, then walked over to the computer.

By then, the broadcast had already cut away from the anchor desk. A video of the King of Siam and the prime minister giving their speech had appeared on the screen.

Su Lifeng had once seen the two of them on the news. The King of Siam had already been an old man at death’s door, yet now he looked as if he were growing more vigorous the longer he lived.

“Regarding the disaster our nation is currently suffering… as well as the same hardships being endured by the people of other countries, I personally feel deep regret… and sorrow…”

Although the King of Siam was not speaking Chinese, Su Lifeng could still clearly hear the unnatural pauses in his delivery. Logically, someone like him should have delivered such a speech with deep feeling and vivid emotion. How could it sound so dry and mechanical…?

After a round of questions and answers, the news segment ended. Before that, however, the cameraman had given the King of Siam and the prime minister a close-up.

“Back to you, host.”

“All right. Thank you, Ye Fei.”

“Wait…” Su Lifeng suddenly reacted with sharp eyes and quick hands, grabbing the mouse and dragging the video back just a little.

It was the very end of that close-up… In that instant, the old king raised his eyelids and looked into the camera.

If that image were captured and posted online, quite a few people would probably scream in terror…

That extremely cold gaze, and the strange smile hidden within it, made it obvious that he had already been transformed into a Xenospecies.

What Su Lifeng felt was not so much fear as something else, something far deeper…

“Siam is finished.” Su Lifeng released the mouse, straightened up, and spoke slowly.

Sure enough, the cracks that had appeared in major cities in his Precognitive Vision had not been a coincidence at all.

The Xenospecies’ initial infiltration had already achieved some results. It had yet to stir up a major storm in a great nation like Huaxia, but that was only because taking control of such a massive entity was no easy task.

Huaxia had maintained a basic level of calm up to now, but from the moment Su Lifeng had been stopped for a sudden inspection on the road, he had understood.

The struggle between the government, the military, and the Xenospecies behind the scenes might already have reached an extremely intense stage.

But in a relatively closed-off small country like Siam, once the military leadership and national leaders were replaced by Xenospecies, then the entire population would be nothing more than a feast laid out on a platter.

Thinking about it that way, of the nearly eight billion people in the world today, how many were actually left? Eighty percent? Seventy? Or even fewer?

The more he thought about it, the more terrifying it became…

“Su Lian.” After pondering with a heavy expression for a while, Su Lifeng suddenly asked, “If I can remember certain features of a place, can you help me find out where it is?”

From the moment Su Lifeng had started watching the news, Su Lian had noticed that something was off about her brother’s expression. That was why she had given up on pouncing over to avenge herself for having her head pressed down and had instead stood quietly to the side. Hearing Su Lifeng’s question now, she froze for a second, then nodded seriously. “I can’t guarantee it, but I can do my best.”

“Good.”

Su Lifeng drew in a soft breath, then closed his eyes.

That Precognitive Vision surfaced once more in Su Lifeng’s mind.

He tried his best to recall the details in the scene, extracting every useful piece of information he could, enlarging it, enlarging it, then enlarging it again…

The clothes worn by the pedestrians by the road, the street signs nearby, the license plate of the car that had fallen into the ground fissure…

“No, I can’t make out the first half. I only know the end is 09A.”

Su Lifeng opened his eyes all at once, then quickly grabbed a pen and paper and began writing. “Most pedestrians were wearing two layers, but some were in short sleeves, which means the temperature wasn’t too cool. It should be around twenty degrees. There are quite a few cities in the country with that kind of weather right now. Most people’s skin tones were relatively fair, proving there isn’t much sunlight…”

“The last three characters of the plate are 09A. The street sign off to the side had the word ‘Construction’ on it, so it might be Construction Road, Construction Street, or Construction Avenue. As for the accent… everyone was screaming, so it’s hard to judge. But there was a building in the distance. I could vaguely make out a pointed roof. That isn’t exactly a highly distinctive feature, but combined with ‘Construction,’ there’s still a chance of identifying it…”

“There are too few clues.” Su Lifeng put down the pen and looked up at Su Lian.

Su Lian bit at her fingernail and thought for a moment. Then she suddenly looked up and smiled at Su Lifeng. “It really would be hard to find it quickly using current street-view photography and the like. Though if we absolutely had to, it would still be possible. But that method could still produce errors. The truly convenient and safe way is actually very simple…”

“What?”

“Put out a bounty through a social sharing app. A lot of people will join in even just for fun. As long as we ask them to upload local photos they think match, we’ll be able to narrow down the target very quickly.” Su Lian flicked her hair back and was already sitting down in front of the computer. As her nimble fingers tapped across the keyboard, she still did not forget to look back at Su Lifeng with contempt. “Learn something, bookworm.”

“…Keep it up.”

Footnote:

1. Sufei(苏菲): Sufei (Sofy) is a popular sanitary pad brand in China, similar to Always or Kotex.