Chapter 29 – Don’t be nervous, comrade. It won’t hurt.

All the support staff checked into the hotels that had been arranged for them, but the people in charge of receiving them never showed up. It was clear that the sudden lockdown order had taken many departments by surprise, leaving no time to respond properly.

Ying Xize stayed in his room, staring at the last message Su Fengzhou had sent.

With manpower stretched this thin, a team like Seventh Squad was bound to be pulled in as temporary reinforcements. They were probably buried in work right now.

But the real headache wasn’t the aberrants appearing out of nowhere. It was the regular citizens who didn’t fully understand how serious things were.

Just looking at the area around their hotel, the effects were obvious. The lockdown had sparked massive panic. People who had been at home or at work poured out of buildings in waves. From the window, the streets below were packed tight. Some argued loudly, some protested with visible frustration. Every face carried confusion and unease. Even though the traffic department had sent out all available personnel to keep things under control, the roads had still fallen into chaos.

Ying Xize leaned by the window, watching the mess below. He tried calling Ji Song, but there was no answer. Left with no choice, he dialed Xiang Jiayan instead.

This time, the call went straight to a busy tone.

Ying Xize paused, then realized Pingcheng had probably activated full signal control. Unless someone had a special external line, regular signals would only allow communication within the city.

Just then, his phone gave a faint vibration.

He looked down and saw a mass message sent by the Pingcheng government to all citizens.

[Due to the emergence of a special-type virus, Pingcheng has temporarily decided to enter lockdown. The city’s water and power supply remain stable, and food reserves are sufficient. Daily work and travel will not be impacted. Please remain calm and avoid unnecessary panic. In the next few days, testing stations will be set up across all districts. Citizens may choose any nearby site for testing at their convenience. Entry and exit restrictions will be lifted once the danger level is cleared. This testing is free of charge. Thank you for your cooperation.]

[Special notice: There has been an unusual increase in flying insects within the city. Please take proper precautions and watch out for insect bites.]

After that came several more messages, mostly listing the testing locations in each district of Pingcheng.

Ying Xize’s gaze stayed on the second message for a long while. A faint sense of unease rose in his chest, quietly reinforcing the bad feeling he’d had before.

Was everything really just because, as Su Fengzhou mentioned, a new aberrant had shown up in the neighboring city?

Or had there actually been a new path of aberrant infection all along?

No matter how you looked at it, one thing was clear. Something else must’ve shown up in the blood samples collected earlier from Pingcheng’s major hospitals.

The support team soon received their own task assignments.

When Ying Xize went down to the hotel lobby to gather, quite a few people were already there. After everyone arrived, they headed out together toward the nearest testing site to help out.

With traffic outside already in complete disarray, they decided to go on foot.

But the streets were flooded with people, making every step forward slow and difficult.

Only then did it really hit them how deep the panic ran among ordinary citizens. Being suddenly cut off from the outside world felt like it had snapped the last thread people in the internet era relied on. Even walking a short stretch, bits and pieces of conversation drifted over—confusion, complaints, anger… It was like every side of human nature had been laid bare, pressing straight against the fragile line that held one’s sanity together.

In the middle of all that chaos, the distant wail of sirens sounded especially sharp.

Ying Xize turned toward the noise, and at the edge of his vision, a familiar convoy of black cars sped past.

Seeing Seventh Squad here of all places made his chest tighten. The unease he’d been feeling sank deeper. Sure enough, in the next second, a scream broke out from the crowd ahead.

The people who had been venting by the roadside instantly turned restless. The flow of people in front surged wildly, crashing toward the support team.

Ying Xize noticed Yu Qingyi about to lose her footing and quickly reached out to steady her, but like everyone else, he was nearly dragged off balance by the wave of panicked bodies.

“There’s another aberrant.”

Someone near the front said it suddenly, and for a brief second, the already scattered team fell into a quiet, tense silence.

After that short pause, everyone silently came to the same conclusion.

They split into small groups of two or three, bracing themselves against the crushing crowd as they forced their way upstream toward where the “incident” had happened.

Yu Qingyi had twisted her ankle in the earlier collision. Ying Xize wanted to ask if she should head back to the hotel to rest, but when he saw the look on her face, he held his tongue.

As they drew closer, they finally caught a clear glimpse of the aberrant from afar.

The mutation had clearly just taken place. It still carried traces of human features, but the compound eyes on its face were far too large, covering nearly three-quarters of it. The most striking part was the pair of thin, translucent wings beating against its back. Combined with the forelimbs that had sharpened into something almost blade-like, the whole thing looked like a fly blown up to an unnatural size.

In barely any time at all, the area had been cleared out. Some drivers who’d been stuck in traffic had already ditched their cars and run, leaving the whole place strangely quiet.

When Ningcheng’s research support team showed up, the first reaction from the Investigation Department officers holding the scene was to tell them to leave. It wasn’t until the team leader clarified who they were, and their identities were confirmed more than once, that they were allowed to stay, on the condition that they wait until the “incident” was dealt with before collecting live samples on site.

Ying Xize’s eyes landed on the backpack lying beside the alienated being.

The surface had been sliced open by a sharp forelimb. A corner of the hiking gear inside stuck out in a messy tangle. It wasn’t hard to imagine that minutes earlier, this young person had been happily getting ready to head out.

The response to the “incident” was quick. Even without turning around, he could sense the defensive barrier being set up behind him. The Guides tasked with adjusting the crowd’s memories had clearly started working nearby as well.

As for a low-level alienated being with a relatively mild degree of alienation, the regular members of the Investigation Department dealt with it smoothly, as if it were routine.

Ying Xize stood among the crowd, watching as the Investigation Department efficiently cleaned up and eliminated the alienated being. Then he lifted his gaze and looked toward something farther away.

As expected, it didn’t take long before he saw several members of Seventh Squad approaching from a distance. They were still holding their combat weapons, not yet put away. The blades made of special metal were streaked with blue-green blood.

“Is that…” Yu Qingyi seemed to have caught on as well.

Ying Xize watched Su Fengzhou hand things over to the Investigation Department lead nearby and calmly finished her thought. “This isn’t the only alienated being here.”

The area went completely quiet. The logistics personnel stationed in front of them still didn’t step aside.

After a moment, a new instruction came faintly through the communicator.

“Ah, ah, okay, got it. I’ll let them know.” The logistics staff member replied, then turned to the research team leader. “Um… the situation’s a bit more complicated now. Aside from collecting samples, we might need your help with alienation testing too.”

He paused, then added, “Everyone who was in this area earlier needs to be tested. All of us included.”

The young man handled it smoothly. By saying “us,” he included both the Investigation and Logistics teams on site, and at the same time subtly made it clear that the research team should run their own internal screening as well.

—

After testing all personnel who weren’t in protective suits, the research team also cooperated and completed their internal checks.

When they reached the designated area, they realized the entire panicked crowd had been forcibly gathered in a nearby square. Fear was still written all over their faces.

Temporary testing stations had already been set up at impressive speed.

From the efficiency alone, it was obvious Pingcheng had made the most thorough preparations possible for what was coming.

What surprised them even more was the method chosen for testing—blood draws.

This approach, long considered outdated because of how slow and labor-intensive it was, was now being brought back carefully.

Everyone who had come to support Pingcheng was a top researcher. Given everything that had happened so far, most of them had already formed a rough guess.

The once-reliable detection instruments had likely failed again.

In such a tense, fearful atmosphere, the Guides played a key role in steadying emotions and keeping things from spiraling further.

With all sides coordinating, the testing on-site officially began.

Yu Qingyi was assigned to the same group as Ying Xize. She had only swiftly sealed the first blood sample into a testing container. When she turned around, she saw Ying Xize standing there, seemingly lost in thought, and called out, “Researcher Ying?”

Ying Xize seemed to come back to himself. His eyes moved away from the syringe in his hand, and he took a slow breath to steady himself.

He closed his eyes, ready to focus on the work, when his hand suddenly felt lighter. The syringe had been taken from behind without warning.

Then Su Fengzhou’s voice came from beside him. “You handle the testing. I’ll take care of the blood draws.”

The tone was casual, almost natural. Ying Xize paused slightly. By the time he looked up, the tall figure was already standing in front of him.

It was obvious that Su Fengzhou had never done this kind of front-line service before. He’d probably never spoken to anyone in such deliberately softened tones either. Still, he tried to keep a friendly curve on his lips as he faced the crowd. “Don’t be nervous, comrade. It won’t hurt. Trust me, it’ll be over in a second.”

Ying Xize glanced at the young girl standing in front of the testing station. She had clearly only managed to brace herself, but after being met with Su Fengzhou’s stiff, almost forced smile, she began trembling even harder. “…”

Doesn’t this look like she’s about to cry?