Chapter 22: Chapter 22: Anomalous Disturbances in the Corners of the Globe

By the time Huang Jiutian returned with the doctor, Qin Xiaoxia and Doudou were already back to normal.

"This is what you call a critical situation?"

Qin Xiaoxia’s attending physician, Qian Baoming, stared speechlessly at Qin Xiaoxia, who was munching on an apple. He then glanced over at Doudou, who was busy playing a video game.

Huang Jiutian opened and closed his mouth, but no words came out.

"It... it wasn’t like this a moment ago."

Qin Xiaoxia brandished the apple.

"Oh, Jiutian, Jiutian. All I have to do is put on a little act and you’re completely fooled. By the way, Doctor, since you’re here, can you give me a check-up and tell me when I can be discharged?"

Qian Baoming examined Qin Xiaoxia’s complexion.

"You seem to be recovering quite well. Your issue was mainly nutritional to begin with. As long as your nutrient levels are back up, being discharged should be straightforward."

Despite his words, the doctor still gave Qin Xiaoxia a check-up and had the accompanying nurse draw a blood sample.

"Doctor, how is he?"

In response to Huang Jiutian’s question, Qian Baoming suppressed a flicker of surprise.

"His recovery is remarkable. If the lab results come back normal, he can be discharged anytime."

"See? It was nothing serious to begin with."

The sudden improvement left Qin Xiaoxia in high spirits, and he couldn’t resist gloating a little.

...

However, when he received the hospital bill that afternoon, Qin Xiaoxia’s expression turned grim.

"I was just sleeping here for two goddamn days! Why is it over six thousand?"

"You have insurance. The actual amount you have to pay is less than two thousand."

Standing to the side, Doudou was even more indignant than Qin Xiaoxia.

"Do you know how many roasted chickens and ducks that is? How many lollipops and cakes you could buy with two thousand!"

Huang Jiutian, who was helping Qin Xiaoxia out of the hospital, looked speechlessly at the two of them. Meanwhile, Gou Junbao had already pulled the car up and was waiting outside the inpatient ward entrance.

"Hey, since you’re out of the hospital, how about I treat everyone to a big dinner tonight?"

Gou Junbao suggested to the others as they got into the car.

Qin Xiaoxia looked a lot thinner, but you couldn’t tell from his complexion that he had just recovered from a serious illness.

"I agree!"

"I agree!"

"I object!"

"Three to one! Jiutian, you’re outvoted!"

Doudou yelled in excitement.

"I want a Manchu-Han Imperial Feast! Just like the ones in the movies!"

However, this suggestion was promptly ignored by everyone else in the car.

Huang Jiutian felt utterly helpless. He’d thought Gou Junbao was the only normal one, but it turned out he was just as reckless.

Seeing Huang Jiutian looking a bit down, Gou Junbao turned around before driving off and gave him a friendly smile.

"Jiutian, Xiaoxia is as tough as a cockroach. Besides, I’m here, aren’t I? Even if you went home now, I could take good care of them."

Huang Jiutian sighed in resignation.

’It’s precisely because you’re here that I’m worried...’

When Huang Jiutian didn’t react to his words, Gou Junbao had a sudden "epiphany."

"Hey, Jiutian, just let bygones be bygones. Try to look on the bright side. No need to be so down."

Huang Jiutian shot him a strange look, thinking Gou Junbao was rambling incoherently.

"Forget it. If he doesn’t even care about himself, why should I be the one worrying?"

Qin Xiaoxia, who was snacking on some grapes he’d brought from his room, almost choked when he heard Gou Junbao’s words.

And upon hearing Huang Jiutian’s words, Gou Junbao looked startled. He only snapped out of it after seeing Qin Xiaoxia subtly clench his fist as a warning.

"If she doesn’t care then you... COUGH. Good on you, man! So magnanimous!"

Gou Junbao gave Huang Jiutian a thumbs-up.

"..."

’What is going on?’

"Go, go! What are you doing just blocking the entrance to the ward!"

Spurred on by Qin Xiaoxia’s "impatient" yelling from the back seat, Gou Junbao finally came to his senses and drove away from the hospital.

...

「Yue City Public Security Bureau Headquarters, Small Conference Room.」

The room was filled with people. In addition to the top brass from Yue City’s public security, there were even leaders from the provincial department.

Zhao Ning, who had only just been released from the hospital, entered the room with two colleagues who had also been at the scene. They were led in by an officer from the municipal bureau.

"Ah, they’re here."

The chief of the municipal bureau personally rose from his seat.

"Comrade Xiaozhao, sorry to disturb your rest. A special envoy from above is here to understand the situation. Let me make the introductions..."

Following the chief’s introductions, several men in plain clothes also stood up, shaking hands with the three officers and giving brief self-introductions.

"Officer Zhao, we need to know the detailed circumstances of the incident, including any anomalies before or after it occurred."

The officers from the small local precinct had never seen such a display of authority from the central government. They were a bit stiff as they recounted the events once more.

As for the subsequent "fire," two of the three officers had passed out from toxic gas, while the third was blown off the roof of a building by the shockwave.

Fortunately, all three had been incredibly lucky. The two who had fainted from the poison entered a unique comatose state that, paradoxically, saved them from dying of asphyxiation. The officer thrown by the shockwave landed on a market stall’s awning and miraculously walked away with only scrapes.

The man in plain clothes leading the group rested his chin on one hand, pondering what he had just heard.

"Officer Zhao, from what I understand, you received a mysterious tip-off call before the incident, correct?"

Zhao Ning paused, then immediately recalled the reason he had been dispatched in the first place.

"That’s right. Someone called to report that a crowd was obstructing the river dredging and was about to catch and eat the contaminated fish. We went with the River Management Committee to maintain order."

"All right, we have what we need. Thank you."

After the three officers had left, the screensavers on the laptops in the room were deactivated.

The screens revealed the live video feeds of several high-ranking defense officials. It was clearly a video conference.

One of them nodded at Special Envoy Tao.

After receiving the signal, Tao turned on the conference room’s projector.

He began playing several video clips from the incident scene on a loop.

The footage was a compilation of clips from civilians’ phones and several security cameras along the river. He paused and replayed key moments several times.

Both the Yue City police and the higher-ups had already studied this video numerous times. So, despite the detailed review, it didn’t take long.

To the surprise of the Yue City officials, Special Envoy Tao then played several other videos, seemingly unrelated to the incident at hand.

Some were complete clips, others were just fragments. Most were chaotic and possessed a strange, unsettling quality.

Two segments were especially striking.

The first was likely filmed in the Middle East Region. A group of men who looked like Soldiers, their faces wrapped, were firing wildly at a mud-brick house. One combatant even set up an RPG and launched a rocket.

At the end of the video, some chunks of flesh-like material covered in black scales could be seen in a corner. These chunks were still writhing, and the Soldiers in the video looked terrified.

The second clip appeared to be from a frigid region. The landscape was covered in ice and snow, but in one specific spot, it was like a warm spring day in full bloom. A large patch of green vegetation stood in stark contrast to the surrounding bitter cold. A group of what looked like foreign university students were visibly excited in the video.

They were clearly thrilled, as if they had discovered an icy wonderland.

In the center of the "Ice and Snow Oasis," they filmed a beautiful plant. Even on video, its blossom appeared abnormally large.

Based on the language heard, the location was likely somewhere in Russia. The recording was stopped by the person filming after they had finished exploring and were leaving the oasis.

Everyone in the room was either a veteran detective or a forensics expert. They could clearly see from the flashes of the cheerful, selfie-style video that the group of students was now smaller by at least a third.

But the truly bizarre part was that the students were laughing and chattering about the amazing sight, planning to tell more people about it. They seemed completely unaware that their group was smaller or that anything was amiss, which made the viewers’ skin crawl.

While these videos played, the top brass of the Yue City police watched with particular intensity. They had clearly received some prior briefing.

After all the footage had been shown.

Special Envoy Tao, the man in charge, finally spoke.

"Looking at these comparisons, have our colleagues from Yue City and the Qiantang Province Hall noticed anything?"

"That fire... the one at the Qingzhen river channel. It was too sudden. It’s completely different from the situations in all these other videos."

The speaker was SWAT Captain Tian Zhuang.

"Exactly. We had no units that could have possibly reacted and initiated an attack in that short a time frame. That fire appeared all by itself!"

"And its appearance, in a single instant..."

Special Envoy Tao paused, then narrowed his eyes.

"Annihilated that alien creature."