60: manipulate

Watching that frail figure disappear around the street corner, Lu Jianchuan subconsciously touched the last energy bar left in his pocket, a feeling he couldn't quite name lingering in his heart.

"Still looking?" A warm, heavy hand patted his shoulder gently, the force neither light nor heavy. Old Zhang's voice, tinged with the knowing mockery of an experienced man, rang out beside his ear, interrupting his gaze. "Your eyes nearly followed her. What's this, Comrade Little Lu... falling for someone?"

Lu Jianchuan snapped back to reality, his cheeks slightly warm. He pulled a corner of his mouth into a wry smile. "Stop teasing me, Brother Zhang. I'm just... feeling a little emotional." He turned to look at Old Zhang, squinting slightly against the dazzling sunlight.

"I really didn't expect that in this day and age, in broad daylight, someone could actually collapse from hunger on the street. I always thought things like that were far away from us, only seen in the news."

"Heh, kid, you're still too young." Old Zhang pulled out a crumpled cigarette pack, popped one into his mouth, but didn't light it. He just habitually savored the taste, walking side-by-side with Lu Jianchuan toward the patrol car parked by the roadside, the tires making faint noises on the hot asphalt.

"These days, there are countless bizarre things happening. The surface looks calm, but underneath, who knows how much unimaginable hardship and absurdity is hiding."

He pulled open the car door, the old hinges emitting a "creak." "If you can think of it, it can happen these days. You'll get used to it once you see enough."

The two of them successively got into the car, which was stuffy from the sun, the leather seats radiating warmth.

Old Zhang skillfully inserted the key, and the engine let out a low rumble. Just as he was about to shift gears and conclude this routine patrol shift, the car radio unexpectedly burst forth with an extremely urgent call, shattering the brief silence inside the vehicle.

"Command Center calling all nearby units! Repeat, all nearby units! A vicious mass brawl has broken out on the commercial street outside the North Gate of Fenglin Garden Residential Area!

Estimated participants exceed ten people. The scene is extremely chaotic. Individuals have been spotted carrying weapons—repeat, carrying weapons! The situation is about to spiral out of control. Requesting emergency support! All nearby police forces are requested to proceed immediately! Repeat, urgent situation, proceed immediately!"

Old Zhang's hand, poised to shift gears, froze abruptly in mid-air, his knuckles turning slightly white from the exertion. He let out a heavy sigh, almost from the depths of his chest, the breath laden with deep exhaustion and irritation.

"Shit! What damn day is it today? Usually, we're so bored we could count sparrows, but today, we're swamped with nothing but trouble!"

While cursing under his breath, his body moved like a coiled spring, with a swiftness that belied his age—he decisively shoved the gear into drive, and his right hand slammed the siren switch. The piercing "woo-woo—woo-woo—" instantly tore through the street's clamor.

The patrol car's tires let out a brief, screeching friction sound. The vehicle sharply turned around, cutting aggressively into traffic like a startled fish, and sped toward the incident location. The scenery outside the window began to rapidly recede, blurring into blocks of color.

A few minutes later, the vehicle skidded to a violent stop, settling steadily at the North Gate of Fenglin Garden. Before it had fully halted, a wave of sound—a mixture of curses, cries, and impacts—washed over them.

The sight before them was more impactful than the cold description from the radio: about ten people, wearing vests, work clothes, or even pajamas, were chasing and attacking several frantically fleeing pedestrians and vendors trying to protect their stalls, their eyes bloodshot like irrational beasts.

Fists and feet landed mercilessly on flesh, making dull "thudding" sounds, occasionally interspersed with the crisp shattering of glass.

What was more alarming was that three or four of them were conspicuously wielding gleaming machetes and metal rods snatched from nearby stalls, swinging them wildly in the air, reflecting the dangerous sunlight. Their throats emitted inhuman, low "horking" growls, like cornered beasts.

"Police! Stop immediately! Hands on your head and squat!" Old Zhang and Lu Jianchuan pushed open the car doors almost simultaneously, rushing into the chaotic vortex like sharp knives, along with other colleagues who had arrived promptly. Lu Jianchuan could feel his adrenaline spiking, his heart pounding heavily and rapidly in his chest.

However, the reaction of this group of thugs completely defied common sense. They were deaf to the police's authoritative shouts and ignored the threatening batons pointed at them.

Their eyes were terrifyingly vacant, as if covered by a gray haze. There were no expressions on their faces—neither anger nor fear—only dead, silent numbness.

What was even more chilling was that the nearest thugs immediately switched targets, rushing toward Lu Jianchuan and Old Zhang with stiff yet incredibly swift movements, swinging their fists and the rods in their hands. Their Moves were disorganized, but they possessed a pure, destructive desire, as if they intended to take down their opponents at any cost.

"Something's wrong! Old Zhang, watch out!" Lu Jianchuan narrowly dodged a rod aimed at his temple, the rush of air stinging his cheek.

He seized the opponent's wrist, feeling the muscles there taut and hard as rock. Furthermore, there was absolutely none of the contraction or trembling that a normal person would exhibit when met with resistance.

On the other side, Old Zhang parried a descending machete with his baton. Sparks flew from the clash of metal, but the wielder merely shook his arm and swung the blade horizontally again, completely expressionless!

Other colleagues were also embroiled in similar bitter struggles. These thugs seemed devoid of pain receptors; being severely struck by batons on their joints and abdomen only caused their bodies to pause slightly before they tirelessly lunged again. The police had to rely on greater numbers to forcibly restrict their movement, using numerical superiority to tackle them one by one, twist their arms behind their backs, apply cold handcuffs, and forcefully disarm them.

Just as Lu Jianchuan was helping a colleague pin a heavily struggling strong man down from the side and behind, his palm pressed tightly against the man's arm skin to secure him. The instant they made contact—

[Consciousness Space]

[Warning! Abnormal biological signal contact detected! Signal characteristics do not match known life forms!] The System's electronic voice abruptly rang out, more urgent than ever before.

[Initiating deep contact analysis... Scanning neural current patterns...]

[Confirmed! Abnormal biological Parasite detected in the target individual's central nervous System! Morphological characteristics: microscopic, multi-limbed, structure similar to aquatic copepods, body length approximately 0.5 millimeters, heavily attached to the spinal cord and brainstem areas. Function inferred: continuously releasing specific neurotransmitters, interfering with and overriding the host's normal neural electrical signals, forcibly executing external compulsory physiological commands! host subjective consciousness has been completely suppressed!]

Han Chengyu's consciousness instantly tightened, as if pulled up by invisible strings. "A Parasite? Controlled like a Puppet by a bug? Can we trace the signal source backward? Where is the controller?"

[Deep scan in progress... Interference encountered. The Parasite's structure is highly specialized, only capable of receiving and executing unidirectional commands. It does not possess signal transmission or relay capabilities itself. The command source has either been actively cut off or is in a highly concealed state after the Parasite's activation, making real-time location impossible.]

[Currently confirmed: the central nervous Systems of all targets present exhibiting uniform, indiscriminate aggressive behavior and lacking pain and fear responses have been infected and controlled by similar Parasites.]

"So this wasn't a spontaneous mass incident at all, but an attack precisely manipulated by someone behind the scenes?" Han Chengyu felt a chill crawl up his non-existent spine. This kind of hidden, behind-the-scenes method was more unsettling than facing a monster directly.

"Unlike the monsters in the warehouse that had evolved savagely for survival, this... is a highly specialized biological weapon? Is it also one of the possible evolutionary paths of the evo factor?"

[Evolutionary path judgment: Highly specialized "Mental Domination" or "Group Control" pathway. This phenomenon further confirms the extreme diversity of evolutionary forms and the potential for artificial intervention under the context of the Great Upheaval. Threat Rank: High.]

The System analyzed calmly, data streams surging silently within the Consciousness Space. [Recommendation: Immediately archive this anomalous event and the Parasite's biological characteristic data, and establish an independent threat file. The existence of the behind-the-scenes manipulator, their true objective, and organizational affiliation are all currently unknown high-risk variables of the highest priority. Maintain extreme vigilance.]

Outside, Lu Jianchuan had just helped a colleague completely subdue the last thug, who was still struggling desperately and trying to ram his head into the ground even after being handcuffed.

He used his knee to firmly press down on the man's back, feeling the mechanical spasms and resisting strength emanating from the body beneath him, divorced from subjective consciousness. He deftly pulled out his handcuffs and securely locked the wrists that were still unconsciously clawing at the ground.

Having finished all this, he looked up, slightly panting, his gaze sweeping across the chaotic scene—the people pinned to the ground, still staring at the sky or the ground with vacant eyes, their limbs occasionally twitching nervously; the victims, still shaken, supporting each other and crying; and his colleagues, equally astonished and exhausted, maintaining order and calling for backup and ambulances.

A strong, cold sense of incongruity wrapped around his heart like a venomous snake. This feeling was completely different from facing the monster in the warehouse that roared and bit for survival. That was a raw, primal threat; what was before him now was a meticulously woven, inhuman malice that treated people as mere tools.

These people... didn't look like they were fighting themselves; they looked more like Puppets being manipulated by invisible strings, performing a bloody drama.

The shadow hidden behind today's sudden "riot" is likely far deeper and more dangerous than it appears on the surface. Is that unseen puppeteer standing in some unknown corner right now, coldly observing all this?