23: Following the trail

Lu Jianchuan stood at the edge of the noisy police line outside the aquarium, his gaze passing over the bustling crowd toward the southeast—the direction of the "Quiet Sea" and the escape route pointed out by "The Forger." He had to act, but as a police officer, he couldn't just rush around like a headless fly.

He strode toward a municipal surveillance camera at a street corner facing the southeast intersection, pulled out his ID, and simultaneously pressed the walkie-talkie on his shoulder.

"Command Center, this is Officer Lu Jianchuan, badge number XXXXX, currently at the scene of the Ocean Miracle Pavilion. Requesting emergency technical support to retrieve all available surveillance footage from the main roads and surrounding side streets southeast of the pavilion, starting from the time of the incident until now. Focus on tracking large, high-speed moving targets."

His voice was calm and clear. A few minutes later, feedback came through his earpiece, mixed with static:

"Jianchuan, copy that. We've found something... it's a bit strange. Several cameras near the aquarium malfunctioned briefly at the time of the incident, as if affected by strong interference. However, a camera at an intersection leading to the Old Port District, about a kilometer away from you, captured a valid frame—there's a massive white shadow moving extremely fast, darting into the road toward the port district! The image is too blurry to identify its specific form, but it's definitely abnormal!"

Old Port District!

Lu Jianchuan’s eyes sharpened. That was a forgotten corner of the city, a complex maze of abandoned docks, warehouses, and mountains of scrap metal. More importantly, a wide but abandoned canal, like a failing blood vessel, meandered to connect it with the distant Quiet Sea. There was the space and cover needed for hiding, the water source it craved, and a vast amount of metal for its abilities to exploit, yet the silted-up riverbed prevented it from swimming directly into the sea. It was the final checkpoint on its road to freedom and the most suitable battlefield to intercept it!

"Copy that, the information is very useful. I'm heading toward the Old Port District immediately to investigate," Lu Jianchuan replied, already striding toward his police motorcycle.

The engine growled low as the motorcycle nimbly wove through traffic toward the increasingly desolate area. The closer he got to the Old Port District, the more dilapidated the surroundings became. Towering gantry cranes were rusted over like the skeletons of silent giants; the walls of abandoned warehouses were torn by vines, and the windows were nothing but dark, hollow frames.

He slowed down, his sharp gaze sweeping over every detail along the way like a searchlight. Tracking was not just following; it was interpreting the language of traces.

Soon, the traces began to speak.

First to enter his field of vision was a string of massive, deep footprints on the muddy road, bearing characteristics of webbing or claws. These were definitely not left by any known vehicle or animal; the weeds around the footprints were flattened in a radial pattern, clearly telling of the passerby's explosive power and startling speed.

Following the trail of footprints, he immediately noticed an even more shocking sight: a rusted metal lamppost by the roadside, as thick as an adult's waist, had an unnatural and startling bend in its middle, as if struck hard by an invisible giant hammer. Even more chilling was that at the twisted break, the metal showed a strange, tumor-like form, as if it had been momentarily melted by high heat and then rapidly cooled.

Lu Jianchuan stopped his motorcycle, knelt down, and lightly brushed the molten marks with his fingers. A strange, grainy roughness met his fingertips. His brow furrowed; this was no ordinary physical impact, but rather the result of a sudden release of some powerful energy.

He stood up and cast his gaze toward the end of the footprints—a massive complex of abandoned warehouses. The largest one had its giant sliding iron doors torn like paper by a naughty child; one door had completely jumped its track and lay on the ground, while the other was twisted and deformed, with a huge gap forced open.

In the air, besides the damp smell of mold and rust, there was a faint scent of ozone, like after a lightning strike during rain, and a trace of the briny fishiness belonging to the ocean.

All the clues, like invisible threads, pointed firmly toward that warehouse, which gaped like the maw of a giant beast.

Lu Jianchuan pushed his motorcycle behind a crumbling concrete wall to hide it, took a deep breath, and kept his breathing extremely light and slow. He crouched low, using the shadows of abandoned containers and mechanical wreckage as cover, silently approaching the warehouse entrance.

The closer he got, the more obvious the mixed scent of ozone and sea brine became. He peered inside through the gap in the torn metal door.

The interior of the warehouse was heart-stoppingly empty. Under the high dome, only a few rays of light struggled through holes, casting mottled spots on the dust- and oil-covered floor. At the deepest part of the warehouse, that massive presence stood with its back to him.

The mutated White Whale’s massive body, covered in thick grayish-white skin, was half-submerged in a murky puddle formed by roof leaks and broken pipes. The water wasn't deep, only reaching its powerful, mutated hind limbs, but it seemed to be the only comfort it could find at the moment. Its mutated back lines, lean and full of power, traced a silent and dangerous silhouette in the dim light. Its body rose and fell slightly with deep breaths, each breath carrying a suppressed calm, like the stillness before a storm.

Most striking was the direction it was facing.

Directly in front of it, a terrifying hole had been smashed into the warehouse's massive wall, as if forcibly torn by an invisible power. Through this opening, the wide but murky abandoned canal could be clearly seen less than a hundred meters away, its surface reflecting the broken images of the sky. And at the end of the canal, as far as the eye could see where the water met the sky, was an endless expanse of azure symbolizing ultimate freedom—the sea.

That was the home it had craved through countless pains, struggles, and sorrows.

It lay there quietly, back to the intruder, its massive head and melon—laden with electromagnetic power—facing the homeland it had risked everything to return to after breaking free from its cage. Warehouse shadows of decay, imprisonment, and reality were behind it; outside the hole were the flowing waterways and the light leading to freedom.

At this moment, it didn't seem like a monster, but more like a lonely and tragic pilgrim resting briefly on a long journey home.

Lu Jianchuan held his breath, shaken by the silent yet tension-filled scene before him. He gently pressed the cold armband on his left wrist. Battle was inevitable, but he was facing a Soul driven to desperation, longing for home.