Wise looked at the car in front of him and quickly ruled out the idea that he had forgotten the lights. Even after turning them off, they kept flickering on their own.
That alone confirmed something was wrong. What confused him was that the vehicle had been repaired not too long ago.
When he said that, Qingyi, standing beside him, picked up on it right away. Zhu Yuan also spoke up, sounding concerned.
"Senior, what's wrong? You look like something's bothering you."
"Doesn't it feel strange to you? Everything that happened today seems connected somehow."
Hearing Qingyi say that, Wise snapped out of his thoughts, his expression slowly changing as things started to make sense.
"Exactly. They're all related to vehicles, and every single one of them experienced some kind of malfunction."
The grocery store truck, the small car that hit Bangboo at the custom shop, the video store's car now, and the Pegasos Logistics truck from earlier.
And if he counted the accident from a few days ago that nearly hit Belle, that made five incidents in total.
When it was mentioned, Belle shifted slightly, looking a bit uncomfortable.
"Uh, that one really wasn't on me. My phone malfunctioned back then, and I was completely focused on it, so I didn't notice the car at all."
Qingyi caught onto that detail immediately, her interest clearly sharpening. She turned toward Belle and began pressing her for more information about what exactly happened to her phone at the time.
Even though Belle seemed a little confused, she still described everything truthfully. Her phone had abruptly lost its signal, strange colorful lines appeared on the screen, and then it went back to normal not long after.
After hearing that, Zhu Yuan let out a quiet gasp of surprise and turned to look at Qingyi beside her, who now wore an unmistakable 'I knew it' expression.
"Senior, do you remember the driver mentioning that he was using his phone during the incident? If our guess is correct, something unusual must have happened then."
At that moment, Zhu Yuan became completely serious, entering a focused work mode, and Qingyi beside her mirrored that same intensity.
Recalling Give Change mentioning that he felt dizzy at the time, it became increasingly clear that all of this was connected.
Even so, the group knew they needed more information, so they chose to return the duck first.
Wise then questioned Gael about his condition during the incident, and just as expected, his phone had suddenly shut down too.
Noticing that Belle still looked confused, Wise spoke up to explain.
"Belle, I have a guess. All the incidents we've encountered recently might be linked to an EMP."
Belle paused, carefully processing his words. At that moment, Qingyi spoke up from behind him.
"If that's true, it would explain why all the devices failed at the same time. Wise, your guess is absolutely correct. Mr. Driver, have you ever heard of an EMP emitter, also known as an electromagnetic pulse emitter?"
"Hmm, no. What is that?" The man scratched his head, clearly not understanding.
"To put it simply, once activated, it disrupts all nearby electronic equipment. In mild cases, devices start malfunctioning. In severe cases, they are completely destroyed. Breaking through electronic locks with it would be effortless."
After hearing that, Gael stood there in shock. He looked over at Give Change beside him, his expression turning complicated as the situation finally became clear.
"So this Bangboo was a victim too, just like me, and someone else caused everything?"
"Yes, that's exactly what happened."
Zhu Yuan nodded in confirmation. Hearing this, Gael felt a wave of regret for blaming the innocent Bangboo.
He quickly apologized to Give Change, his tone sincere and remorseful. Give Change accepted the apology without hesitation, his kindness only deepening Gael's sense of guilt.
"Officers, have you figured out who did this? Is the person responsible already under arrest?"
Zhu Yuan shook her head slightly, yet her tone remained calm as she reassured them that the culprit would not get away.
Since the person behind everything had used the EMP emitter several times today, all that was left was to review the surveillance footage and track each incident one by one.
Not long after she finished speaking, she got a call from Public Security saying they had already found the culprit and were keeping a close watch on him.
Zhu Yuan immediately told her subordinates to move in and arrest him, but things were not that simple.
After noticing the people around him, the culprit quickly chose a direction to run. Coincidentally, it was the same direction where Zhu Yuan and her team were positioned.
As soon as they heard this, the two immediately sprang into action.
However, the criminal was extremely cunning. During the chase, he even grabbed a round, chubby cat and hurled it toward Zhu Yuan and Qingyi, who were in pursuit.
Zhu Yuan leapt aside, startled, leaving Qingyi the only one fast enough to catch it.
In a panic, the culprit activated the EMP emitter once again. The pulse hit Qingyi, forcing her to grunt softly as pain flickered across her face.
After narrowly avoiding a steel pipe that had rolled from a truck gone out of control at the roadside, Zhu Yuan immediately drew her pistol.
"Stop right there, criminal scum!" she ordered firmly.
But the threat barely fazed the criminal. Qingyi quickly threw the water bottle she held, hitting him squarely and causing him to stumble.
With no other options, the culprit turned a corner and vanished into the Hollow, without any anti-corruption gear.
A move that dumb was basically suicide.
Zhu Yuan and Qingyi stopped. Zhu Yuan decided to report to her superiors first, while Qingyi went to grab her tea bottle.
The siblings caught up at the same moment. With the Hollow ahead so dangerous, Zhu Yuan and Qingyi, as officers, couldn't let them follow.
They told Wise and Belle to head back and wait for news, then the they entered the Hollow in pursuit of the culprit.
Belle, of course, wasn't about to let it go, and she looked at Wise beside her with a determined expression.
"Brother, should we go in and take a look too?"
"Yes."
Not long after, in a room on the first floor of the video store, Wise had already finished preparing for the consciousness transfer.
"Belle, Zhu Yuan and Qingyi are already inside the Hollow. I'm sure they'll deal with the culprit properly, but I still want to settle things personally."
It wasn't often that Wise showed this kind of anger, and Belle couldn't hide her surprise.
"Wow, Brother, you look really mad."
"Of course I am. Because of that guy, you almost got hurt. I'm not just going to let him go!"
"Brother, you..."
The serious and domineering aura Wise carried at that moment made Belle feel a little shy, yet deeply touched.
Without realizing it, her gaze lingered on him, drawn in by his composed and handsome appearance.
As the thought crossed her mind, she swallowed lightly, a quiet idea taking root in her heart.
'Ah, my Brother cares about me so much. I have to make him happy. Later, I'll do that thing he'll love!'
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Here's an extra chapter as compensation for the 100 stones from last week. Also, I finally got Yixuan on my first try yesterday, since I missed her banner last time.
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