74: clue

As Lu Jianchuan listened to his animated narration, all the previous clues—the disappearance of the fitness coach, the collective vanishing of stray dogs, and now this drug addict who had disappeared after a bizarre "explosion"—suddenly collided like cold shards of ice.

The fitness coach was physically strong. The stray dogs had a certain level of aggression. The drug addict had simple social relations; even if he went missing, it might not immediately attract attention.

These three seemingly unrelated cases of "disappearance" faintly pointed in the same direction: their targets were all living beings with some kind of "value." Was it kidnapping? Or something even more terrifying... some kind of evil act that required a continuous supply of "materials"?

He suppressed the chill in his heart, his face remaining expressionless. He simply waved his hand at the reporter who was immersed in his dreams, his tone carrying a trace of imperceptible warning: "Fine, I get it. I don't care if you want to chase news, but don't interfere with our investigation, and certainly don't get yourself killed just to dig up a story. There's nothing you want here, so leave quickly."

After sending away the reporter, who kept looking back and remained uncontrollably excited, Lu Jianchuan turned to Old Zhang. The two exchanged a look, both seeing the gravity in each other's eyes.

Old Zhang fished out a cigarette pack, popped one into his mouth without lighting it, and cursed vaguely, "Damn it, this matter... something feels off."

Lu Jianchuan nodded in silence. Ordinary disappearance cases would never involve such eerie and bloody serial clues. Behind these vanished lives, there must be a mastermind that defied common logic.

【Consciousness Space】

In the outside world, Lu Jianchuan was feeling uneasy due to a series of bizarre disappearances. Inside the Consciousness Space, Han Chengyu similarly felt the oppressive atmosphere of an approaching storm.

“System,” Han Chengyu focused his thoughts on the case of the drug addict's bizarre disappearance, “can you pull up the surveillance footage near that drug addict's residence? Especially... perspectives that might be overlooked by a conventional investigation.”

【Command confirmed. Retrieving all video recording devices connected to the public network around the target location... including traffic light cameras, shop security Systems, and... private dashcams and portable recording equipment used by professional informants.】

The System reported coldly as countless data streams flashed rapidly before Han Chengyu's "eyes." Most of the surveillance was either at the wrong angle, too low in resolution, or simply broken. The official cameras from the transportation department had not captured any suspicious figures entering or leaving the building.

【Retrieved one potentially relevant video. Source: A private user specializing in capturing traffic violations for rewards. Their device was inside a vehicle parked across the street from the target building on the night of the incident, recording continuously.】

【Performing super-resolution analysis and dynamic capture enhancement on the footage... Anomaly detected.】

The System projected a processed video clip into Han Chengyu's consciousness. The footage was from a high-angle perspective with low resolution, and because it was taken through a car window from a distance, it was somewhat blurry. It mainly faced the street, but the edge of the frame happened to include the entrance of the dark alleyway below the target building.

Around the time of the incident, the footage captured several fast-moving, inconspicuous small shadows flashing past the alleyway and disappearing into deeper darkness. They were extremely fast and would be almost ignored at normal playback speed.

【Target locked. Performing trajectory tracking and morphological analysis.】

The System extracted, enlarged, de-noised, and analyzed those few shadows frame by frame. Although the image was still crude, it was enough for Han Chengyu to see what they were—they weren't rats or cats at all!

They were... two independently moving, pale human palms with no arms attached! They used their finger bones to touch the ground, crawling rapidly along the shadows at the base of the wall like two giant spiders in an extremely eerie and swift manner, vanishing from the edge of the surveillance range in an instant!

Han Chengyu's consciousness felt a wave of coldness. This sight was far beyond imagination!

“Palms... moving on their own? And running so fast?” He was in disbelief, “Could it be that the drug addict wasn't blown to pieces, but... 'decomposed'? And then these parts 'ran' away on their own?”

【Cross-referencing based on existing visual evidence and the 'evo factor Out-of-Control Evolution' database.】 the System analyzed calmly.

【Hypothesis: The target individual (Wu Meng), due to unknown reasons (highly likely related to the components of the drugs ingested), experienced an extreme malignant mutation of the evo factor within his body, triggering a structural collapse.

However, his life core prompted certain body tissues to evolve independently, transforming into parasitic units with basic mobility and survival capabilities. This hypothesis has a high logical correlation with the scene's condition of 'blood-splattered walls but no corpse.'】

“So, it's not a simple disappearance or murder,” Han Chengyu's voice was heavy, “it's a human... who 'exploded' in his own home, and then parts of him 'came to life' and escaped on their own? What kind of hellish evolutionary direction is this!”

The System’s cold voice continued its analysis: 【Based on the high degree of coordination and clear purposefulness shown by the hands in the footage (rapidly fleeing the scene and hiding), it can be determined that their behavior is precisely directed by an Advanced neural center rather than low-level instincts. Combined with the disappearance of 'Wu Meng' himself, it is inferred that his primary consciousness (most likely his brain) survived the explosion and retained control over the detached limbs.】

Han Chengyu immediately grasped the key point: “So, that head is likely still alive and is remotely controlling its own hands and feet! I must tell Lu Jianchuan immediately!”

【Information auditing... Content does not directly violate core principles. Sending via encrypted channel.】

【Real World】

Lu Jianchuan, who was standing at the alley entrance with Old Zhang and struggling with the dead-end clues, felt the special faint vibration from the phone in his pocket. He calmly took out his phone and gave it a quick scan.

**.**: Urgent intelligence. Target Wu Meng may not be dead. Preliminary judgment: his brain survived the explosion and can remotely control detached limbs. His brain entity should be hidden in an extremely concealed and safe place. Finding his hiding spot may be the key to solving the serial disappearance cases.

Lu Jianchuan's pupils constricted slightly as he quickly put his phone away. This message was like the most critical piece of the puzzle, connecting the drug user's explosion, the mysterious appearing and disappearing palms, the strong missing persons, the vanished stray dogs... all these clues were now linked together!

A living brain, remotely controlling its own hands and feet to act... this appalling speculation perfectly explained all the illogical phenomena!

“Old Zhang,” Lu Jianchuan's voice remained calm, but his gaze had become as sharp as an eagle's, “I might need to take some time off to check some other clues.”

Old Zhang glanced at him, seemingly reading something from his tightened jawline. He didn't ask much and just nodded, “Go ahead, I've got things here. Be careful.”

Lu Jianchuan turned and walked away quickly, his mind racing.

A safe place... where would a head that has lost its body and can only rely on remote-controlled limbs to perceive and act consider the safest hiding spot?

It must be sufficiently concealed, sparsely populated, easy to hide in, and... convenient for those controlled limbs to move in and out.

His gaze subconsciously drifted toward the area on the city map marked as abandoned factories and old warehouses. That place was a dense network of pipes with a complex structure, dark and forgotten by most—the perfect location to hide such an existence that defied common sense.