29: Chapter 29 Scientific Ghosts? Let You Taste the Iron Fist of High Technology!

The gazes of the surrounding villagers had shifted from initial awe to naked suspicion and mockery.

"What kind of expert is that? He doesn't even know as much as our boy, Su Che."

"Exactly. He brings some piece of junk here and makes a huge fuss, claiming there's nuclear radiation. Scared the heck out of us!"

"I think he's just a fraud!"

After finishing the call, Academician Ma listened to these stinging words. Accompanied by his equally ashen-faced assistants and so-called leaders, he climbed into the car in embarrassment amidst the villagers' pointing and whispering.

The black Audi sped away in a flash.

Captain Li Jun walked up to Su Che, watching the disappearing car.

"That old guy won't let this go easily."

Su Che shrugged.

"We'll take it as it comes."

That old guy really thinks I hid something in the back mountain, believing my Anti-gravity water pump was created using that thing.

But in reality, it's completely different. What kind of bullshit academician—that's all the capability he has!

...

At night.

The searchlights from the Engineering Battalion at the village entrance illuminated half the village as bright as day.

Su Che lay on his bed, tossing and turning, unable to sleep.

Academician Ma's final look made him feel very uncomfortable. That old man might be planning to stir up trouble in the back mountain.

He simply got up and dove into his workshop. Might as well keep busy.

He looked at the pile of rare treasures he had dragged into the workshop in the corner, then glanced at a pile of scattered sensors nearby. A thought emerged.

He picked up a wrench and a soldering iron and started tinkering.

...

In the two-story building next to Su Family Village, the atmosphere was heavy. Captain Li Jun was staring at the surveillance screens in front of him.

On the screens, nine feeds covered the main entrances of the back mountain with no blind spots.

"Beep—"

A faint alarm came from an inconspicuous device in the corner. The technical soldier in charge of monitoring stood up abruptly.

"Captain, we have a situation!"

Captain Li Jun lunged forward. On the screen, connected to the thermal imager, five blurry figures were climbing up the steepest ridge on the west side in a tactical formation, silent and stealthy.

"Zoom in!"

The image zoomed in, and the outlines of the five people became clear. They were all carrying professional mountaineering backpacks, holding various strange instruments, their movements agile and well-coordinated.

"The equipment is very professional, all military-grade outdoor gear." The technical soldier's voice was a bit tense. "These people are definitely not ordinary hikers!"

Captain Li Jun's face appeared even colder under the reflection of the screen. "Plan B... so that's what it is."

He picked up the walkie-talkie on the table.

"Group A, Group B, pay attention. There are five rats sneaking up from the western ridge."

"Don't alert them; let's see what they want to do."

Just as he was preparing to deploy further, the encrypted mobile phone on the table suddenly vibrated. It was an unfamiliar local number.

Captain Li Jun frowned and answered.

"Hello?"

"Manager Li, are you asleep yet?" Su Che's lazy voice came from the other end of the line.

Captain Li Jun was taken aback.

"How do you have this number?"

"General Zhang gave me the number. What I'm asking you now is, did thieves break into your backyard? The anti-theft device I just installed went off."

Captain Li Jun was completely dumbfounded.

Anti-theft device?

Their military-grade infrared and vibration sensors hadn't even alarmed yet, but Su Che's "anti-theft device" had gone off?

"You... how did you know?"

"Oh, it's very simple. I buried a few nearly scrapped pressure sensors at several intersections in the back mountain."

"I used a newly made quantum router network to create a data link."

"If someone steps on them, I get a notification here."

Su Che said it nonchalantly. Captain Li Jun felt his scalp tingle.

Using a few nearly scrapped pressure sensors to make a landmine warning system?

What the hell... what kind of brain circuit is that?

"Do you want to play something fun?" Su Che's voice on the other end carried a hint of excitement.

"What do you want to do?"

"Let them experience what a scientific haunting is."

...

In the dense forest on the western ridge, five black shadows were moving quickly under the cover of night.

The man in the lead, codenamed "Scorpion," was a retired special forces soldier with extensive experience.

He made a gesture, and the team stopped.

"Everyone pay attention, this place is a bit creepy."

"Boss, it's just a crappy mountain village, what could be creepy about it?" One team member said dismissively.

Just as he finished speaking.

A faint, shrill crying sound suddenly came from deep within the forest above them without any warning.

The sound was like a woman crying at midnight, sometimes far, sometimes near, appearing exceptionally eerie in the silent mountain forest.

"Holy shit! What is that sound?!" Several team members instantly bristled, subconsciously raising the tranquilizer guns in their hands.

"Don't fucking scare yourselves!" Scorpion growled, though a layer of cold sweat broke out on his forehead.

He turned on his night-vision goggles and looked in the direction the sound came from.

There was nothing.

Only pitch-black tree shadows swaying in the wind, like ghosts and monsters baring their fangs and brandishing their claws.

The crying continued.

Just then, the detector in another team member's hand suddenly started beeping like crazy.

"Boss! East! Thirty meters east! There's a strong energy reading!" Scorpion perked up.

"Go check it out!"

The five people crept over cautiously. But when they arrived, the detector's alarm stopped abruptly.

There was nothing there except for a bare rock.

"Damn it! Are they playing us?"

"Boss, look!" A team member pointed to the other side.

On the trunk of an old locust tree on the path they had come from, a line of crooked, large characters written in red fluorescent liquid had appeared out of nowhere.

"If you keep moving forward, you won't be able to go back."

A chill rose from the soles of the feet of the four mercenaries under Scorpion.

"Boss... this... this place, it really has ghosts!"

"Let's retreat! This job is too creepy!"

Scorpion looked at the line of words and listened to the woman's crying, which was getting closer, his expression changing repeatedly.

It wasn't that he hadn't seen dead people before, but he hadn't seen this kind of situation. He wasn't afraid, but his four subordinates had all turned into cowards.

But just as he was about to order a retreat, his peripheral vision caught a glimpse of what seemed to be a bit of grayish-white powder stuck in the crack of a rock not far away.

He walked over, picked up a bit with his fingers, and smelled it at the tip of his nose.

No smell.

He took out his portable miniature field strength meter and brought it closer.

"Beep!"

With a soft sound, the needle of the field strength meter deflected imperceptibly.

Scorpion suddenly looked up towards the direction of the mountaintop.

"Forget about those ghost tricks! It's all a smokescreen! Someone is playing us!"

He wiped the fluorescent words off the tree trunk, his voice turning fierce.

"The thing is in that direction!"

"Everyone buck up!"

"Even if the King of Hell himself is holding a party here today, you have to find that thing for me!"