Judging from the almost non-existent remains and the deliberately cleaned-up battlefield, it seems the fighting force wasn't forced to retreat?
The state of the camp left the two of them completely bewildered.
If the troops had won, then the field of broken equipment and the 'Sentinel II-Type' that had been practically one-shotted both pointed to a brutal, difficult battle.
But if the troops had been routed, the battlefield was almost completely devoid of bloodstains. They even had time to come back and pack up the camp, taking all their resources with them.
It was as if both sides had been fighting in a drill where they pulled their punches, resulting in nothing more than damaged equipment and zero casualties.
But even though they were baffled, one thing was certain: the vicious battle Zhu Yuan had been preparing to face was now off the table.
Yet Zhu Yuan couldn't bring herself to be happy. She checked the time. It was still a few minutes shy of the hour that man had mentioned. Had she still been too late?
"Don't lose heart, Little Zhu Yuan. It's okay if we're late."
Seeing Zhu Yuan looking so dejected, Qingyi placed her right hand behind her back, waggled the fingers of her left hand, and said with a relaxed expression:
"As the saying goes, 'a blessing in disguise.' Who knows, maybe we'll make an unexpected discovery."
Hearing Qingyi's advice, Zhu Yuan, who had been regretting not rushing here faster, let go of her frustration and pulled herself together.
"Senior Qingyi, let's continue exploring inside."
There was no useful intel left in the camp. Hopefully, the research institute, the main target mentioned in the tip, would have something.
Just as the two arrived at the entrance of the research institute, ready to investigate, a huge, bright red arrow popped vividly into view.
A meticulously wrapped intel package had been left there.
On top of it was a note: "Danger cleared. Safe to investigate."
Zhu Yuan and Qingyi glanced at each other, both seeing the utter confusion in the other's eyes.
But after a moment of hesitation, Zhu Yuan made up her mind, picked up the intel package, and began to flip through it.
A quick scan revealed that it was all there—all sorts of intelligence and proof of crimes, with every individual clearly annotated.
It was the real deal—pictures and all.
And the various experiments detailed within were truly beyond anything rookie officer Zhu Yuan could have imagined.
Beside her, Qingyi saw Zhu Yuan's expression turn grim after just a few pages. With her worldly experience, she immediately guessed the contents were anything but wholesome.
She quickly pushed the file down, diverting Zhu Yuan's attention.
"Little Zhu Yuan, time is of the essence. How about we head inside and search the place first?"
Zhu Yuan took a deep breath, forcibly suppressing the urge to read more, and nodded in agreement with Qingyi's suggestion.
"I'm fine, Senior Qingyi. Let's start the investigation."
As the iron gates slowly creaked open, the two stepped into the building constructed entirely of steel.
Qingyi held her three-section staff at the ready, while Zhu Yuan drew her service pistol and assumed a firing stance.
They both remained on high alert, wary of any potential enemies.
Even though the note said the danger had been cleared, it never hurt to be cautious.
And as Qingyi and Zhu Yuan found the first research lab, they saw it wasn't empty—it was just that people were lying all over the floor.
The sight of it made the two of them subconsciously think they'd stumbled upon a gruesome murder scene.
No, wait. Given the number of bodies, 'massacre' would be a more fitting word than 'murder'.
Seeing the scene, Zhu Yuan rushed into the lab and shakily lifted a young woman who had slumped over in her seat.
She gently lifted the white cloth covering the woman. The youthful face underneath revealed she was just an ordinary person, probably fresh out of university.
"Could… could it be because I was too late?!"
The saying goes: 'arrest the ringleader and sentence according to the crime.' What was the difference between an indiscriminate attack and a massacre?!
This wasn't some rebellion to be quashed with a simple grid coordinate!
But before Zhu Yuan could get carried away by her emotions, the warmth of the body in her hands made her freeze. Looking down more carefully, she discovered with some embarrassment that the woman was actually in perfectly fine condition.
Momentarily at a loss, Zhu Yuan turned her head to see Qingyi stifling a laugh. Realizing Qingyi must have known the truth all along with her scans, she felt a flush of annoyance, but in the next moment, she slowly let out a breath of relief.
No innocent people had died. That was the greatest blessing.
As for the people on the list, Zhu Yuan kicked them in the face with disgust.
As a police officer, Zhu Yuan was righteous, but never naive. When faced with the wicked, she showed no mercy.
For thieves and robbers, a swift kick that broke a bone was standard procedure.
And as for the city's notoriously vicious gangs, she had shot and killed more than a few of their members.
In this perilous city, the threat from humans was by no means limited to just the Ethereals.
However, as they continued on, searching more and more rooms, Zhu Yuan's amazement only grew.
What she found most unbelievable was that not a single person had died!
The occasional bullet holes on the walls indicated that the people here hadn't gone down without a fight, but the end result was the same.
Even if Public Security had deployed its entire force, they couldn't have guaranteed zero casualties, yet the person responsible for this had done it with ease.
"The person who did this… is incredibly strong."
The investigation revealed that the injuries were even dealt out according to the severity of each person's crimes, which truly opened Qingyi's eyes.
After all, having an elephant step on an ant with enough precision to only break its left leg was something that seemed impossible just thinking about it.
At least in Qingyi's view, not even she, an intelligent android, could pull that off.
"So, who do you think did it?"
Qingyi couldn't help but flash a teasing smile.
"Could it be that concerned citizen who called you? They pretty much handed you this achievement on a silver platter. Don't tell me they have a crush on you?"
Having grown somewhat resistant to Qingyi's daily teasing, Zhu Yuan replied with a sigh:
"What are you talking about, Senior Qingyi? I've never even met the person who called. How could they possibly have a crush on me? Maybe they just picked a random officer to report it to."
"You can't say that. Who says you can't fall for someone you've never met?"
"Ngh…"
Qingyi had backed her into a corner. But Zhu Yuan held no particular feelings for the informant; to her, he was just a source who had suddenly appeared out of nowhere.
And an untrustworthy one at that.
Since the other party was hiding their identity, there was no foundation for trust between them. Zhu Yuan had no idea what kind of person was on the other end of the line.
How could she possibly trust someone like that?
Even this investigation was something she had undertaken with the attitude of 'better to check and be wrong than to miss something important'.
Besides, all her energy was currently invested in her career as a police officer.
Things like romance… she had neither the time nor the inclination to even consider it.
______
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