Chapter 90: Forbidden Objects (4th Update, Asking for Monthly Tickets)

With red wine down their throats and hot pot in their bellies, the five who had just experienced a life-or-death moment felt as if they had been reborn, raising their glasses with joy.

“Sister Kiki, has your ability really evolved?”

As soon as she put down her wine glass, Shasha couldn’t wait to ask.

Kiki nodded, a smug look on her face. “Thanks to someone, I can clearly feel that my ability has been upgraded!”

“No wonder you were so powerful.” Chen Sixuan’s eyes sparkled. “I haven’t even thanked you for saving me just now.”

“Why thank me, Sister Chen? You have no idea how many times you’ve saved everyone.” Kiki had a carefree expression. Her cunning gaze turned to Lin Xian. “Speaking of which, Lin Xian, aren’t you going to tell us where you disappeared to these past two days?”

Lin Xian smiled. “Don’t you know where I went?”

Hearing this, Kiki’s face turned red, and she said hastily, “I… I mean, how did you end up there?”

The others listened to their conversation, all looking bewildered.

Lin Xian took a deep breath, stood up, walked to the sofa, picked up the radio, and came back.

“If there’s no other explanation, then I was probably captured by this thing.”

“1542, the anomaly radio!”

Afterward, Lin Xian recounted what he had seen after the incident, but he only briefly mentioned the part about Kiki, saying that he had witnessed the process of Kiki’s corruption and his analysis of it.

Lin Xian’s account made the others’ faces change drastically.

“So that footstep sound really was you!” Shasha now looked as if she had just heard a horror story, frowning as she said, “So, Brother Lin, you killed me over there?”

Lin Xian was embarrassed. “That was purely a misunderstanding. That thing was just trying to destroy my mental defenses.”

At first, Lin Xian thought it was a supernatural event. Looking back now, it seemed that not only the night, but many unknown forces were also assailing the mental will of the survivors.

Shasha’s eyes lit up. “So Brother Lin still cares about me a lot. Seeing me get killed, you almost lost your mind, hehe.”

Lin Xian was stunned. Was this little girl’s focus really on that?

Beside them, Chen Sixuan had a look of lingering fear.

“So when I turned off that radio, it just so happened to alert you?”

Lin Xian nodded. “Yes, thanks to your reminder, and also that you were able to help me adjust the frequency through the lights. Otherwise, I definitely wouldn’t have been able to get out.”

“Smart, Lin Xian!” Kiki listened with great surprise. “You’re saying that after I fell unconscious, there was an invisible monster sucking my blood?”

“Yes.”

“Oh my…” Kiki shrank her neck in fear, her face turning green. “So disgusting…”

Lin Xian’s expression was grave at this moment. He looked at Dalou. “Dalou, do you remember what I said when we were escaping from Yuchi?”

Dalou nodded.

Lin Xian continued, “I was wondering at the time, whether it was sound or light, it could only attract zombies and ghouls. Why was it that when we alerted the anomalies, they were already right beside us?”

“And this time, being captured by this anomaly radio, I feel that some things may have been around us all along. It’s just that some only appear in the dark, while others require special methods to be seen…”

His words made the girls’ faces change slightly. Shasha couldn’t help but shiver, looking around fearfully.

“Oh my god, you’re saying those terrifying things might have been next to us all along?!”

“Yes.”

Lin Xian said in a deep voice.

As soon as he said this, everyone’s expression changed.

The analysis of the anomalies was all based on Lin Xian’s speculation. Although it couldn’t be completely confirmed, it served as a reminder to everyone.

At the same time, it made him even more cautious. And after this incident, Lin Xian realized the importance of another device.

The Aether Value Detector!

This thing could detect the special values produced by threats like anomalies and zombies. In a way, it was absolutely a world-saving discovery. From Lin Xian’s countless near-death experiences along the way, it was clear that if humanity wanted to preserve the spark of survival, being able to proactively avoid danger was extremely important. Otherwise, ten thousand lives wouldn’t be enough.

“I think I might know what this 1542 radio is!”

At the dining table, Kiki squinted at Lin Xian. “An anomalous phenomenon, but it has nothing to do with metahumans. Lin Xian, have you read the early data on the Angel Project that I gave you?”

Lin Xian took out the small portable hard drive and frowned.

“Not yet. I haven’t even slept these past few days. Where would I find the time to look at this…”

Kiki snapped her fingers, picked up the hard drive, ran to Car 2, did some work on the computer, and then came back with a portable screen.

“I think it should be this thing.”

“We were so focused on metahumans before that we ignored all these strange things. Look.”

On the portable screen was a file from the early days of the Angel Project.

Lin Xian took it and looked. The file was titled “Investigation Report on Global Anomalous/Extraordinary Phenomena.”

This report came from a special department under the now-disbanded former federal government’s Angel Project (Special Item Investigation Department), fully named the [Special Item Investigation Department]. In this organization’s investigation report, many anomalous phenomena collected in the early days of the polar night were recorded, and these anomalous phenomena all had one thing in common:

That is, these anomalous phenomena were all found to be caused by a certain specific item, and these items were all originally existing items on Blue Star. It was only after Apocalypse Day that they began to cause anomalous events, and were believed to have been tainted by some special power, turning them into extraordinary objects.

This type of item was called a [Forbidden Object] by the Angel Project, referring to “a specific item capable of causing regional or contagious anomalous/extraordinary events.”

And in this early investigation report, more than a dozen bizarre and strange anomalous/extraordinary phenomena were collected, but only two were confirmed and contained by the Angel Project.

Forbidden Object SIID-01: Big Ben

Location of Discovery: Lisbon City, Big Ben Clock Tower

Appearance: The original Lisbon Big Ben weighs 13.5 tons, with a clock face diameter of 6.7 meters. The hour and minute hands are 4.27 and 8.75 meters long, respectively. The pendulum weighs 305 kilograms.

Investigation Progress:

July 9th, First Investigation, 3 experimental personnel deceased, investigation report communication lost.

July 10th, Second Investigation, 2 experimental personnel deceased, investigation report communication affected within a 300-meter radius, confirmed.

July 11th, Third Investigation, 3 experimental personnel deceased, investigation report sent experimental animals, rapid aging of life forms occurred, communication range increased, causing death of peripheral personnel.

July 12th, Fourth Investigation, 4 experimental personnel deceased, …

Assessed Characteristics: This forbidden object possesses the characteristic of aging life forms within a certain range. The characteristic is accelerated according to the movement speed of the life form. In the dark, this characteristic will slow down…

Containment Conditions: Arrange for multiple experimental personnel with no genetic diseases to enter hand-in-hand in the dark, without running. Before all containment personnel die of old age, grab the hour hand.

Containment Department: Angel Project Federal Lisbon City Branch.

Forbidden Object SIID-02: Mo-857404 Taxi

Location of Discovery: Dragon Country, Mo City

Appearance: A yellow-painted standard 4-seater taxi produced in 2057, with a highly decomposed male corpse in the driver’s seat.

Investigation Progress:

July 25th, First Investigation, 1 experimental personnel missing, investigation report confirmed that within the city limits, after 02:12 at night, hailing on the roadside will cause a bizarre disappearance, which cannot be observed by bystanders.

July 26th, Second Investigation, 1 experimental personnel missing, investigation report conducted experiments at 4 locations in the city simultaneously, personnel at point C (northwest) went missing, confirming that the forbidden object will only appear at 1 location.

July 27th, Third Investigation, 9 experimental personnel missing, investigation report survivor seriously injured, survivor reported…

Assessed Characteristics: This forbidden object possesses the characteristic of being able to move over a large area. The farther the requested destination after getting in the car, the greater the price to be paid. The only survivor reported that a 13-kilometer distance required payment of half a kidney.

Containment Conditions: Request a short-distance destination, survive after paying the price.

Containment Department: Angel Project Federal Mo City Branch.

Fizz~

Kiki opened a bottle of Coke and took a sip, saying to Lin Xian, “Although there aren’t many investigation reports, from what you’ve said, I think that radio is very likely to be this kind of thing.”