"Du Cheng, Lou Haoyong." The team leader shouted into the walkie-talkie, "I'm Yan Li, the leader of the second investigation team. How's the situation on your side?"

There was no response from the other end of the walkie-talkie.

"Hello? Hello?" Mr. Yian's face suddenly turned grim, "Can you hear me? Hello? Du Cheng? Lou Haoyong?"

After a while, there was a "click" sound from the receiver, as if the walkie-talkie on the other end was picked up from the ground, and two seconds later, Wang Xiyi's voice came through: "This is 'Night Slayer', I am currently on the rooftop of building A of the Investigation Bureau, two security personnel have been confirmed dead."

The main surveillance room was immediately thrown into an uproar.

"How could this happen!?" The security personnel who had narrowly escaped looked pale, "In just a few minutes..."

...

The rooftop terrace of building A, Investigation Bureau.

Wang Xiyi turned over the two corpses for inspection, then spoke into the walkie-talkie: "Both of them have a hole drilled into the back of their heads; their brains have been entirely consumed, which should be the direct cause of their death. In addition, there is also some residue of mucus at the scene..."

Wang Xiyi touched a bit of the mucus with her fingertip, instantly feeling a strong sense of paralysis transmitting from the surface of her skin.

"This mucus has a very strong paralyzing effect; I estimate that the two must have been paralyzed by the mucus first, and then had their brains extracted by the paranormal creature in a state of complete incapacity to resist... its purpose in appearing here was to feed."

"Have you found any other traces?" Mr. Yian asked again.

"Not yet."

Wang Xiyi looked up towards building C — the structure of the Investigation Bureau building forms a "匚" shape, with the largest area occupying building A in the center, flanked by building B and building C, connected by overhead corridors, but the rooftop terraces are not interconnected.

There is a gap of nearly thirty meters between buildings A and C; assuming the paranormal creature could quietly cross this more than thirty-meter gap, and paralyze the two security personnel with mucus without them noticing... the mobility of this creature must have reached an extremely astonishing degree.

"Night Slayer, have you found any trace of the white shadow?" Mr. Yian's voice came through the walkie-talkie.

"No, even the memetic detection equipment I carry has not reacted," Wang Xiyi replied, "I have a feeling... that after completing its feeding, the creature has already left here."

"Could its purpose have been just to feed?" Mr. Yian's tone carried a trace of confusion, "If it was just to feed, why wasn't there any incident of residents being attacked near Shengshu Securities before... specially coming to our Investigation Bureau territory to feed, is it trying to provoke us?"

"Besides feeding, its other purpose should be intelligence gathering," Wang Xiyi turned over the heads of the corpses — the expressions of the two security personnel were extremely blank — the mucus paralyzed all their nerves, from the attack until their death, they probably felt no pain," in my opinion, the creature's purpose was not to consume their brain matter but the information existing in their memories... we should be grateful that the victims' rank was not too high, and they did not know much confidential information."

"You mean, the creature attacked them to obtain our intelligence?" Mr. Yian's eyes widened as he looked around at everyone in the main surveillance room, "it seems... the enemy we are facing this time possesses significant intelligence."

"My suggestion is to gather the high-level leaders and key personnel of the Management Committee, the research institute, and the Investigation Bureau into a safe place for protection... this time, the creature only attacked two security personnel, next time, it should select targets from the 'leader list' known by these security personnel."

...

...

Chunming City, "Useless" Tavern.

Sun Hang had just finished drinking that sugar-free version of butter beer when the researcher who couldn't pay previously approached him once again.

"Is there something you need?" Sun Hang glanced at him and asked.

"The situation with 'Overlord' is a bit special; Research Institute No. 1 has requested the Puppet Master to immediately return to headquarters to cooperate with subsequent research work," the researcher said.

"Is this yet another excuse conjured up to try and cheat the hostage away from me?"

"No, it's true." The researcher said with a bitter expression, "To modify a paranormal creature into the Puppet Master's paranormal equipment, its memetic frequency must be adjusted immediately, this process requires the Puppet Master himself to be present... otherwise, as time progresses, the sensation between the Puppet Master and the paranormal creature will weaken and eventually disappear completely."

"Really?" Sun Hang looked at Zhong Ling.

The latter nodded.

"Then may you trouble yourselves to bring me an equally ranked, quiet and docile hostage who won't run amok," Sun Hang said, "then I might consider it."

"Uh... Dubhe Tower means that your trial in the first segment is considered passed directly, so you no longer need a hostage anymore, and the Puppet Master can immediately rush back to Research Institute No. 1. As for the second segment of the trial, it will officially begin tomorrow."

"What about my identity identification code and personal account?" Sun Hang raised his wrist to look, the bracelet's screen had already returned to normal, and the sundial symbolizing the countdown for positioning was nowhere to be found.

"They have also been unfrozen." The researcher said.

"Will this second segment of the trial still be an urban survival game?" Sun Hang asked once again.

"Of course not!" The researcher shook his head repeatedly, "In the second segment of the trial, you will work together with several other batch-qualified trialists to overcome challenges — in this segment, regardless if it's Dubhe Tower or the Federation Government, they will stand by your side, providing essential assistance for you."

"So, it has changed from PVP to PVE?" Sun Hang rubbed the hair on the back of his head, "Could you divulge a little about the content of the second segment trial?"

"This..." The researcher immediately showed a difficult expression.

"Is it inconvenient? Inconvenient folks I just won't return huh?" Sun Hang threatened softly.

"Well... I only know that the trial site is not in the city..." The researcher said, "as for other information, please wait until tomorrow..."

"Give me your earphone." Sun Hang reached his hand out to him.

"Ah?" The researcher hadn't reacted yet when a few filaments already snatched the earphone he was wearing away.

Sun Hang put on the earphone and directly said, "Tell me, what is the content of the second segment of the trial?"

"How are you sure I would know?" A strange male voice came from the earphone.

"Just a guess." Sun Hang replied, "Besides, even if you don't know, there must be someone in Dubhe Tower who knows... then please trouble yourself to help me inquire."

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