Chapter 064: Investigation Mission - 1

“The possibility of disease has been ruled out, and now the residents are spreading rumors that this is a supernatural incident—‘Ghostly Touches’,” said Lofey, shaking her head, clearly dissatisfied with the assignment. “So LDH has requested that the Firebird Squad send personnel to investigate…”

“Maodan Village? Taoyuan Village? Tieting Village?” Drumstick interjected in confusion. “Seriously, who came up with these names? Are there really places like this in Jiangcheng?”

“Drumstick, the character for ‘Ting’ is written with three water radicals and the character for ‘Ding.’ It’s pronounced ‘Ting’.”

“These villages are all urban villages currently being demolished. Historically, they specialized in making unfinished earth bricks, selling pottery, charcoal, running kilns, and blacksmithing…”

“Because the Changnan cargo railway runs right through the middle of these villages, most of the residents have gradually moved away, and only a few still live there.”

After correcting Drumstick’s lack of attention to his studies, Lofey speculated, “Some residents suspect the developers are behind these incidents, trying to force them to relocate.”

“Would a developer really have the guts to go that far?”

“In just a week, there have already been more than twenty cases of unexplained comas!”

“Three people died after unsuccessful resuscitation, two became vegetative because they weren’t found in time, and five haven’t woken up yet!”

Drumstick shook his head. “That would be quite an operation. Which developer would be so utterly ruthless?”

“It’s such a large area, and it’s an F4-level dangerous assignment, yet they’re sending a rookie F-level trainee team like us?” Xia Youyou grumbled, glancing at the satellite imagery in the briefing. “Why do we always get stuck with these garbage jobs?”

“What can we do? We’re just rookies.”

“The main Firebird Squad is busy fighting for territory—they’re definitely not coming back for this kind of thankless patrol.”

Willy, rubbing his swollen palm, grumbled, “They don’t want to do it, so of course they dump it on us—the stay-behind rookie team!”

“Alright, that’s enough. We’re getting resources under the Firebird Squad’s name, so let’s not complain.”

“It’s not like we could complete a lucrative E-level assignment anyway, right?”

“And it’s not just us responsible for these five urban villages. Other stay-behind teams from different squads are involved as well. We only need to cover the Tieting Village area…”

Trying to soothe the disgruntled team, Lofey turned to Su Xiaoke and instructed, “Xiaoke, check if there have ever been any ‘explicit dimensional overlap points’ near the Changnan cargo station.”

“The Changnan cargo station did have an overlap point a year ago, but no anomaly was detected, and no dimensional creatures appeared,” Su Xiaoke reported. “According to LDH records, the overlap point was so brief that it vanished before the patrol team even arrived, so it caused no harm.”

As the seventh squad’s logistics officer, Su Xiaoke wore many hats—team medic, equipment tech, quartermaster, and intelligence officer—so she had already compiled and sent all relevant mission data to Lofey’s terminal before being asked.

“That means for this ‘Five Villages’ mission, theoretically, dimensional creatures shouldn’t appear.”

“Our greatest threat is likely to be native mutated creatures that have developed after being contaminated by X particles a year ago.”

“Although it’s classified as level 4 danger, that’s probably due to the sheer size of the search area and the likelihood of multiple mutated creatures. On paper, our seventh squad should be capable of handling it…”

After some thought, Lofey decided, “Jason and Maya are still recovering, so they’ll stay behind this time. I’ll go with Drumstick, Youyou, and Willy. Xiaoke, you’ll handle comms support. Let’s start getting ready.”

“No! I want to go!” Maya immediately sprang up, alarmed at being sidelined. “It’s just a sore foot, not a broken one!”

“I’m going too!” Jason began unwrapping his bandages. “I may not be fully recovered, but with such a large area to patrol, one more person can only help.”

Lofey glanced at Su Xiaoke, who nodded. “If it’s just to help patrol, it’s fine—as long as they don’t join any fights.”

With a sigh, Lofey acquiesced to the injured pair’s insistence. After all, the seventh squad was short-handed.

What surprised Bai Yuxi, though, was that Maya’s foot injury was still fresh, and Jason had been battered by that humanoid monster to the point that who knew how many of his bones had been broken. Was lying in bed for just a single day really enough to return to action?

Yet, those with extraordinary abilities could not be measured by ordinary standards. With miraculous “bio-energy nutrient fluids” and various supernatural treatments, perhaps it wasn’t so unbelievable that they recovered so quickly.

As the team bustled with preparations, Lofey noticed Bai Yuxi, who stood around, looking lost. After a moment’s hesitation, she turned to Su Xiaoke. “How’s Bai’s physical condition? Can he join us on the mission?”

“He’s probably in the best shape of his life right now—could wrestle a bull to death and not break a sweat,” Su Xiaoke replied, casting a subtle glance at Bai Yuxi’s bare, muscular back and C-cup chest, then grinned at Lofey. “What do you think of our new recruit?”

A faint blush tinged Lofey’s cheeks as she shot a playful glare at the smiling, ice-cool academic. Clearly, the girls had privately joked about the “bull in the field”—and understood its veiled meaning.

Letting new recruits participate in low-risk missions was routine for rookie squads in the supernormal world, helping them acclimate to its harsh realities. Lofey, curious about the true extent of the outrageously talented newcomer’s abilities, was about to invite Bai Yuxi to join.

But Su Xiaoke called Bai over first, producing his Nightmare-7 “Multidimensional Data-Integrated Combat Suit” and a supply pack.

The once-jet-black armor had been repainted in a dark digital camouflage, its contours altered—obviously, Su Xiaoke had made extensive modifications.