CHAPTER 47: CHAPTER 47: ANOMALOUS NODE

"This isn’t a big issue, I have channels." Yang Lian said, "Although the quality of the beacons might be inconsistent due to rushed production, as long as the failure doesn’t exceed thirty percent, it won’t affect the final detection results."

"Alright, this task is yours... by the way, have you asked those who returned if they have any valuable information?" Sun Hang mimicked Wang Xiyi’s posture, putting his legs up on the table in front of him.

Looking at these two unruly Hunters, the veins in Yang Lian’s temple pulsed twice but ultimately said nothing more: "The Federation Council representatives and the top figures from the Management Committee were directly escorted away; the Investigation Bureau could only interact with the lower-level accompanying staff... But there isn’t much difference. According to their descriptions, the time flow within the displaced area was inconsistent with normal spacetime; from when the anomaly occurred to everything returning to normal, only five hours passed from their perspective."

"Just five hours?" Sun Hang frowned. He always felt something wasn’t quite right, but he couldn’t pinpoint what was wrong.

"Yes, the reason they could detect the anomaly was because the live signal of the flower ceremony was cut off, followed by all network signals and radio communications being interrupted. The accompanying security personnel immediately activated the emergency response plan and dispatched a team to seek help from the outside while ensuring the officials’ safety." Yang Lian said.

"Was this team the twenty-seven people who didn’t return?" Sun Hang asked.

Yang Lian nodded and continued: "Those who stayed at the southern cemetery awaited the return of this team but instead greeted the second batch of rescue personnel from normal spacetime."

"Given the current situation, they can provide us with nearly zero valuable information." Wang Xiyi sighed helplessly, "Frankly speaking, it’s just another batch of missing people."

"Wait... I suddenly realized where the problem is!" Sun Hang suddenly stood up, "The anomaly wasn’t just a simple displacement between two spacetimes... otherwise, the time flow in the southern cemetery should match the real world!"

"What do you mean...?" Yang Lian looked at Sun Hang, filled with confusion.

"The first time-space displacement happened at seven in the evening, and these missing persons returned the next morning at ten, that’s a full fifteen-hour difference... this isn’t about time flowing faster or slower; rather, the southern cemetery that returned to our spacetime isn’t originally part of our spacetime."

"What are you talking about? I’m having trouble understanding?" Yang Lian’s confusion deepened, while one side Wang Xiyi suddenly became serious, dropping her long legs from the table.

"Suppose our current spacetime, when the first time-space displacement happened, is considered ’zero time.’ In that case, their return should be at ’fifteen hours’ in the real world, but for the southern cemetery and those missing persons, their time was ’five hours’... that means they don’t belong in our current spacetime, nothing has returned to normal!" Sun Hang’s speech quickened, "The southern cemetery is still an anomaly area, and those missing persons, each one can be considered an anomaly node! Quick! Notify Investigation Bureau and Public Security Bureau to gather all these missing people! Hurry!!"

"But each of those missing persons underwent thorough testing, and none of them showed the meme of the Deceit Virus, technically speaking..."

Yang Lian hadn’t finished speaking when Sun Hang cut him off: "They haven’t been infected by anything strange, how could they test positive for the Deceit Virus! But as long as they remain in this spacetime, each of them essentially becomes an anomaly time node. If the strange entity causing the time-space displacement attempts to attack our spacetime again, these missing persons will each become a fuse!"

"Is there evidence for your claim?" Yang Lian’s breath hitched, "I’ve worked at the Investigation Bureau for seven years, read countless files related to strange entities, but I’ve never heard of such a notion..."

"I told you you’ve read books so far up your ass, just answer me one question: has the Investigation Bureau ever encountered a strange entity with time-space displacement capabilities before?" Sun Hang impatiently retorted.

"But..."

"No buts, verifying Sun Hang’s theory is quite simple." Wang Xiyi picked up the phone hanging on the conference room wall, "Hello, Security? Have the recently returned missing persons come to Combat Conference Room One on the seventh floor, immediately! Right now! ... Don’t tell me questioning is over, if you won’t bring them, I’ll handle it myself!"

Shortly, two men and a woman were brought into the conference room, the woman being an administrative staff member from the institute, and the two men were field agents.

"Uh... didn’t you just ask us all this before?" The weary-looking female administrator yawned, "We’ve said everything we know; there’s truly nothing left to omit."

"I can attest." Said the Security Department head who brought them, "The person responsible for questioning asked each question over three times, and their responses were thorough with basically no discrepancies."

"I’m not asking about those." Wang Xiyi waved her hand, walking up to the trio, "You three look exhausted?"

"Having experienced this ordeal, and finally returning to the normal world, feeling fatigued is quite normal, isn’t it?" Yang Lian softly said.

"No, their fatigue is because of their biological clocks." Sun Hang shook his head, moved aside, opened the window, and asked them, "Tell me, is the sky outside dark?"

"It is, isn’t it?" The leading female administrator nodded naturally, "It’s already late... can we rest first?"

Outside the windows, the sun was high, the sky cloudless due to the Tyndall effect appearing an immaculate blue, a gray starling flapped its wings across the sky toward the commercial district.

Yang Lian and the Security Department head’s expressions froze.

Even though it was broad daylight, Yang Lian was overwhelmed by an eerie dread, as if something crawled up his spine, causing him to shiver involuntarily.

"What time is it now?" Sun Hang pointed at the electronic clock hanging on the wall.

The electronic clock displayed the time as 1:30 p.m.

"It’s 3:30 a.m." the female administrator said.

The conference room fell into a silence so profound one could hear a pin drop.