The sound of pounding on the door echoed through the stairwell. But this time, the door didn't shake precariously as it had before. After being reinforced, the doorframe felt as if it had been welded to the concrete wall. Each blow from outside only produced a dull, resonant thud that vibrated through the entire room. Especially with the high-strength carbon fiber membrane applied, the door seemed to have gained a layer of armor; it didn't even slightly deform.
Chen Yuan gritted his teeth. If only Tiedan weren't in the middle of an upgrade, he could at least see what was out there.
Just like last time, after a long period of banging, the noise outside gradually faded.
Chen Yuan hurried to the window and looked down. He saw a dark figure emerge from the stairwell and immediately dash across to the opposite building. A few minutes later, a loud pounding noise came from the building opposite, followed by a piercing scream.
"It's the third floor!!!"
"Tiedan, check the situation on the third floor!"
「Acknowledged, Master. Three active objects detected. Temperature of one object: zero.」
Hiss...
Chen Yuan sucked in a sharp, cold breath. He knew what that meant. The two people across the way were finished.
Sure enough, the screams didn't last long before the building opposite fell silent again.
Chen Yuan stood at the window, his eyes locked on the building. After a moment, he spoke again. "Tiedan, scan the third floor opposite again."
「Acknowledged, Master. Three moving objects detected on the opposite side.」
Huh???
Chen Yuan froze, and then a thought struck him. "The temperature!"
「Report: The temperature of all three objects is zero.」
Hiss...
Chen Yuan couldn't help but draw in another sharp breath. "What in the world are these things..." he whispered, an uncontrollable tremor running through him.
Two living, breathing people had just been turned into moving objects with a body temperature of zero. What in the hell had happened inside that room?!
An ominous premonition flashed through his mind, making him feel that this world had gone completely insane.
"Tiedan, keep an eye on the building opposite. If they come out, call me immediately."
「Roger.」
Tiedan lifted its head, its sensors locked motionlessly on the building.
Chen Yuan, meanwhile, returned to the sofa, his mind in turmoil. Could the low temperatures cause genetic mutations? He scratched his head. That didn't seem right. Based on his knowledge, weren't those kinds of mutations usually caused by viruses? At least, that's how it always happened in the movies.
But regardless, it had happened. What he had to do now was face the crisis head-on. In other words, the greatest threat to him now wasn't the extreme cold, but those things outside.
Time passed slowly. An hour later, Chen Yuan went to the warehouse. He saw Tiedan, now with a mechanical arm attached to its back, and lifted it from the platform. After adding new fuel, he sent it out the door.
He sat on the sofa, put on the headset, and picked up the controller. He was going to see for himself what those things were.
With a gentle nudge of the joystick, Tiedan began to walk downstairs. From the fifth floor to the first, it passed through the single-lane alley and arrived below the opposite building. Chen Yuan watched through Tiedan's camera, his breathing unconsciously growing heavy. He swallowed hard and continued to manipulate the controls.
Receiving the signal, Tiedan began to climb the stairs. First floor... second floor... third floor.
Chen Yuan saw the broken security door, and his heart leaped into his throat. Even though he wasn't there in person, the scene of the crime was right across from his own home.
With a light push of the joystick, Tiedan stepped with extreme slowness over the threshold. The searchlight on its head illuminated the entire room as if it were day. As far as the eye could see, the place was a complete mess. There was half-eaten bread and a half-empty carton of milk, frozen and overturned on the floor. The chaotic environment made Chen Yuan frown. The family across the way hadn't stockpiled many supplies. If that was the case, why hide at home? Wouldn't the camp have been a better choice? Of course, it was too late for such thoughts now.
Tiedan's four legs landed softly, nimbly avoiding the debris on the floor as it headed towards the bedroom. It was a two-bedroom apartment, and both bedroom doors were open. He found no clues in the living room, so he piloted Tiedan toward the bedroom on the left.
Hhhh... hhhh...
Through the microphone in his headset, Chen Yuan clearly heard a low growl, emanating from deep within a throat.
He steadied his nerves. Tiedan entered the room.
Under a messy pile of clothes, something seemed to be moving, rhythmically rising and falling.
He moved the joystick, controlling the industrial mechanical arm on Tiedan's back. The arm had a three-section structure and could extend to a length of two meters, with a pincer-like metal part at the end. Chen Yuan operated the arm, carefully pinching the clothes on top of the object and tossing them aside, one layer at a time.
As the clothes were peeled away, the thing underneath was gradually revealed. But before Chen Yuan could get a clear look, the thing suddenly erupted, bursting out and rushing towards the exit. The image in the camera flashed by in an instant; he couldn't see it clearly at all.
「Master, the object has moved. It is very fast!」
Chen Yuan immediately ripped off his headset and rushed to the window. He saw three dark figures burst out of the opposite building. After a few quick turns, they disappeared deeper into the alley.
"Fuck, they ran away!" Chen Yuan cursed under his breath, feeling a pang of frustration. He had been so close to uncovering the truth, only to come up empty at the last moment. What annoyed him most was that he hadn't upgraded the recording function, so he couldn't check the playback.
Helpless, he could only have Tiedan leave the room and head into the alley. He looked down the alley and saw that the once-thick snow had been trampled, leaving three human-shaped troughs. Chen Yuan thought for a moment, then decided to have Tiedan follow them.
The four mechanical legs moved quickly, following the narrow, cleared path forward. After several twists and turns, it arrived at a street on the other side of the residential area. The searchlight swept across, revealing three sets of tracks heading in different directions.
Chen Yuan closed his eyes and thought. Two of the tracks led towards the city center. But the third... it seemed to be heading towards the Xingyao Shopping Mall.
Could they have gone to the Fenghuo Squad's base?
Although he had no particular feelings for the squad, that woman, Jiang Nan, seemed like a decent person. Now that this had happened, he felt he had to go and check it out. It wasn't about personal feelings; it was that if an entire squad was taken out, his own resource gathering in this area would become much more troublesome.
Tiedan followed the tracks in the snow, running quickly for half an hour until it reached the outskirts of the Xingyao Shopping Mall. This was a relatively large mall. In Chen Yuan's memory, it was a comprehensive shopping center with a large supermarket on the basement level.
Unfortunately, the tracks on the ground had become a chaotic mess. He didn't know which ones belonged to the creatures.
He controlled Tiedan to circle the entire perimeter of the mall, finally locking his sights on the truck loading and unloading entrance. It was a ramp leading down to the second basement level, a sunken parking garage. The wooden barricade at the entrance had been destroyed.
Chen Yuan frowned and continued to pilot Tiedan forward. As it entered, he realized something was wrong. A scream came through the headset, but it didn't last long before it was replaced by a cacophony of noise.
Chen Yuan switched off Tiedan's lights. Using the faint light within the ramp, he crept deeper inside.
As he slowly reached the second basement level, he saw them: a crowd of people. They seemed to be gathered around something, arguing intensely.