Chapter 28 – Lockdown

Su Fengzhou got back to Pingcheng the very same day.

The Seventh Squad had always moved fast. By that evening, research institutes in a few nearby cities, Ningcheng included, had already received fresh instructions from the Infection Control Department: start large-scale screening and testing on the latest batches collected from the blood banks.

No question about it, the workload was terrifying.

But the researchers were used to emergencies like this. They slid into work mode right away. With local hospitals coordinating, testing quickly started running properly.

While the rear was thrown into an insanely busy pace, the front-line Investigation Department wasn’t sitting around either.

After hearing what Su Fengzhou reported, the higher-ups clearly understood how serious it was. They immediately ramped up monitoring across every district in Pingcheng.

Luckily, they’d acted in time. The moment deployment kicked off, they uncovered several new alienated individuals in different locations, each one from a different district.

There were no clear warning signs, no obvious pattern to when or where these alienated individuals showed up, which made everything that came after a lot harder for every department involved.

So in the end, the mass testing results from the research institutes became the most closely watched thing, and the biggest possible breakthrough.

Ji Song had come to Ningcheng partly for personal reasons in the first place. Now that things had gotten even more complicated, he decided to stay for the time being.

Having someone as authoritative as him overseeing things also steadied everyone’s nerves, and work across the board went a lot smoother.

As for Ying Xize, he didn’t go back to his rental apartment at all over the next few days. He simply lived at the institute, running mass blood sample tests with the others.

Ningcheng wasn’t that far from Pingcheng, and for now, things there were still relatively stable. At least, in the blood samples from the last few days, they hadn’t found any abnormalities.

Pingcheng, on the other hand, was getting more and more tense.

After the first two small “incidents,” new ones kept cropping up one after another. Just looking at yesterday’s number of regional “incidents,” it had jumped again by quite a bit.

That left the Pingcheng government no choice but to ask nearby cities for help, especially for front-line units like the Investigation Department, which had already sent over several waves of reinforcements in batches.

To get the whole-city screening done as quickly as possible, the research institute also hurriedly organized people to head over and support them.

Ying Xize needed to see Ji Song anyway, so he signed up right away and took the chance to hitch a convenient ride.

Yu Qingyi, the one who’d gone into the cavern with him before, was on the volunteer list too.

The two of them volunteering for duty two times in a row had their coworkers at the institute looking at them with straight-up admiration.

Ying Xize didn’t plan on explaining anything. Before leaving, he still made time to go back to his rental place and pack.

He’d only finished and was about to head out when he ran into the landlord, who’d come by to collect rent.

The landlord was an elderly man, probably in his sixties or seventies. People said his kids worked out of town all year, so they’d arranged for him to rent out this apartment, both to keep him occupied and to make sure he had a steady income.

The old landlord liked going out for walks when he had nothing going on, and in the evenings, he’d join the aunties in the complex for plaza dancing. His health was still pretty solid.

He also knew Ying Xize didn’t like noise, so he was really considerate and never bothered him for no reason. Most of the time, they only saw each other once a month, which was when it was time to collect rent.

After the transfer came through, the old landlord put his phone back in his pocket, looking satisfied. His eyes flicked over the suitcase Ying Xize was dragging, and he smiled. “Xiao Ying, heading out?”

Ying Xize nodded. “Mhm. Going to Pingcheng for a few days. Work trip.”

“Pingcheng, ah? That place hasn’t been very peaceful lately.” The old man clearly watched the news every day, and he had a pretty good handle on what was going on around the area. “Car accidents, people going missing… don’t blame me for nagging, but with a face as good-looking as yours, you’ve gotta be careful and protect yourself, alright?”

Regular people, like the old landlord, usually only heard the version of things that had already been filtered and covered up by the government.

It was probably because there’d been way too many alienated individuals popping up in Pingcheng these past few days, and the officials couldn’t keep making up excuses fast enough. So they slapped together a “serial disappearance” story instead. Who would’ve thought it’d blow up and draw nationwide attention? Whether that counted as a screw-up that backfired or not… was hard to say.

Ying Xize didn’t actually get this kind of blunt, simple kindness very often. Maybe it was because the old landlord’s kids were all away. Even though they hadn’t met that many times, the landlord always treated him like his own kid, always tacking on a few extra words of concern. Without even realizing it, Ying Xize had started treating the old man warmly in return.

Right then, the corners of his mouth lifted a little, a gentle smile showing. “I know. I’ll be careful and stay safe.”

“Alright then, go on. Don’t miss your bus.” The old landlord smiled back, clasped his hands behind his back, and slowly headed inside.

His own place was right downstairs from Ying Xize’s.

…

That afternoon, everyone assigned as reinforcements for Pingcheng gathered at the research institute entrance, then got on the buses one after another.

Compared to the last time they went to the cavern, the main work this round was in the rear, focused on the blood sample testing project. The risk was basically close to zero, so the overall vibe was a lot more relaxed.

Ying Xize sat in his seat, his body swaying slightly with the bus as it moved. His eyes stayed on the chat on his phone screen.

These past few days, talking with Su Fengzhou had been his main way of getting first-hand updates from the front lines.

Su Fengzhou: [Yesterday’s total number of new aberrants was 3. They showed up in Pingyang District, Chaoming District, and Konglu District, pretty much three completely different directions in Pingcheng.]

Ying Xize: [Have the tissue samples been tested? Any obvious one-way aberration reaction?]

Su Fengzhou: [I’m not really familiar with that side of things. I can only say, from the reports I’ve seen, it looks like the same reaction as your last experiment.]

Su Fengzhou: [So… that means it’s not looking good, right?]

Ying Xize: [I’m afraid it’s not just “not good.” It’s terrible.]

Su Fengzhou: […]

Su Fengzhou: [I’ll try to keep an eye on things here and let you know if anything changes. Later I’ll ask for the test reports, snap a photo, and send it over.]

Ying Xize: [No need. I’ll look at them myself when I get there.]

Su Fengzhou: [?]

Ying Xize: [I signed up for the support mission. I’m already on the way to Pingcheng. We should be getting off at the highway toll gate soon.]

Su Fengzhou: [Why do you have to stick your head into everything? If I didn’t know you, I’d seriously think you were some idealistic kid running on pure passion.]

Ying Xize: […I have to go.]

Su Fengzhou: [Wait—see if there’s somewhere nearby you can get off. It’s not too late to turn back.]

Ying Xize looked at that last message, his fingertips pausing over the screen like he was debating whether to reply. But before he could, his phone started ringing.

He checked the caller ID and picked up without a word, voice low. “What now?”

Su Fengzhou’s voice came through, basically repeating what he’d just texted. “Hurry up and see if there’s somewhere nearby you can get off. Don’t go into Pingcheng yet.”

Ying Xize glanced out the window. “Too late, I’m afraid. We just came off the highway exit.”

Su Fengzhou: “…We’re screwed.”

Ying Xize caught the slight weirdness in his tone and frowned. “What’s wrong?”

Su Fengzhou let out a long sigh. “All I can say is, your timing is seriously something. Pingcheng’s government just wrapped up a meeting and decided to issue a lockdown order. Even if you could talk the driver into turning around right now… with how fast a level-one alert spreads, it’s probably already too late even if you head back.”

Like he was proving his point, a line of police cars came tearing in, sirens blasting.

With a bunch of sharp tire screeches, the highway exit the bus had passed was switched straight into no-entry mode. Uniformed officers moved in right away, trying to keep order in the middle of chaos.

For the moment, the road into Pingcheng’s urban area was still relatively clear. The researchers, basically the last bus that managed to get into the city, were stunned for a beat. That uneasy feeling crept up fast, and murmurs started spreading through the bus.

Hearing the guesses floating around, Ying Xize asked Su Fengzhou directly, “What exactly happened?”

“You’re really not panicking at all.” Su Fengzhou clicked his tongue softly, sounding a little helpless. “But since it’s already like this, there’s nothing we can do. Basically, an aberrant has been found in a neighboring city. From their movements, it’s been confirmed that they came out of Pingcheng. They made this call to keep the situation contained, and if possible, dig out the root cause with the least impact.”

Ying Xize thought it over, then said, “It’d be best if it really can be resolved.”

“If it can’t, then we deal with it. There isn’t any other choice.” It sounded like someone was calling Su Fengzhou on his side. Before he hung up, he tossed out one more question. “Which hotel are your institute’s people staying at? I’ll come find you after I’m done here.”

Ying Xize replied, “Longlan Mingzhu.”

“I’ll contact you when the time comes.”

After the call ended, Ying Xize put his phone away and looked out the window.

From where he was sitting, he could see the toll station. In the distance, a Guide’s spiritual barrier had already risen—quiet and imposing.

And it wasn’t just at the toll gates for entering and leaving the city.

Before long, more spiritual barriers went up from different directions, one after another, shooting straight into the sky.

He couldn’t help suspecting that every Guide in Pingcheng had been called in. Right now, a huge protective barrier, built through countless people taking turns, passing it along like a relay, was slowly coming together. It stretched higher and higher, bit by bit, until it finally formed an enormous half-dome, sealing Pingcheng tightly inside.

In no time, the hashtag #PingchengLockdown rocketed to the top of the trending list.

But only the people inside the city knew this “lockdown” wasn’t meant to hold people in; it was meant to keep every living thing within Pingcheng’s boundaries contained.

If it wasn’t necessary, no one would’ve wanted to make a call like that.

It was obvious the situation already wasn’t looking good.

No, maybe it could get even worse.

Watching the protective barrier blanket the sky, Ying Xize thought calmly.