Chapter 70: Chapter 70 Sudden and Unexpected
Editor: Noodletown Translations
(Volume One is about to reach its climax. Please leave a review and recommend the book!)
Black quickly gathered the relevant surveillance, reviewing the monitoring bureau’s video from the past three days at a speed thousands of times faster than a human. The two men in police uniforms were still chatting away, completely unaware of the sudden surge in their database traffic, but thanks to data being erased in a consistent pattern within the alarm threshold, no firewall was triggered.
This was already the seventh street Mu Fan had turned into. The buildings were relatively sparse here, as it was a recreational area with a focus on scenery, so there weren’t as many streets. He could finally get a clear view of the mountain. Mu Fan looked up; it was a gentle slope, green stretching across the mountain. There weren’t any buildings visible on it, so in this picturesque city district surrounded by mountains, it wasn’t very eye-catching.
At that moment, Black’s voice suddenly came through his earpiece, “Mu Fan, something seems off.”
“What is it?” Mu Fan surveyed his surroundings and found nothing out of the ordinary. He was the outsider in this city district, so everyone seemed like locals to him. He walked with a natural ease, striving not to give anything away. But clearly, he was overthinking it. No one would pay attention to a young man strolling through the city, not particularly strong or with a criminal history. Someone who looked sharp like him was perfectly normal.
“An update from the city surveillance bureau just arrived, indicating an unusual increase in recent foot traffic. I’ve collected some keywords and discovered that the number of tourists has shown signs of rising over the past three days.” Black’s words left Mu Fan puzzled. Wasn’t the appearance of tourists in this beautiful city normal?
“Moreover, the video shows that there are very few female tourists, mostly male, with ages ranging from young adults to middle-aged, and fewer children. Just five minutes ago, I detected thirteen incidents of littering.” Mu Fan still didn’t quite understand, so he casually glanced around.
There was a small group nearby, and the people indeed seemed robust, with bulging travel bags on their backs. On the other side of the street, this group came into Mu Fan’s view. So, Mu Fan casually said, “I see tourists over here too. Doesn’t that include me?”
“They randomly litter, and this phenomenon has been increasing over the past three days. Without more detailed data collection, I need your help in making a judgment.” Black’s voice piqued Mu Fan’s interest. With no other anomalies at the moment, he decided to head back to the street entrance and take a look.
There were many pedestrians, and no one noticed the young man. Mu Fan also saw scattered tourists, taking photos and posing with keen interest, marveling at certain grand houses or hurriedly passing by deserted alleys.
No obvious anomalies yet, Mu Fan walked and looked around, spotting a few patrol officers nearby. It was a short distance to the group of tourists. He could see them clearly now; as Black said, they seemed around thirty years old, all male.
But you couldn’t jump to conclusions about anomalies just based on that. Mu Fan’s eyes narrowed as he noticed a man in a baseball cap casually tossing aside a bag of snacks he’d barely started eating, unnoticed by anyone as it fell behind his companion’s back.
No, Mu Fan’s intuition told him that the snack bag, based on its arc in flight, contained something heavier. He decided to go over and take a closer look.
The group stopped and played, exchanging friendly greetings when passing a patrol officer. Mu Fan also noticed a little boy chasing a running pet dog toward the street. The dog darted past the group’s feet, and the boy passed behind the adults.
The tourists didn’t take any further action, seeing it was just a child, and there was no more random littering.
But then the unexpected happened! The little boy’s mother rushed out in a panic, fearing for her child’s safety, and suddenly collided with a tourist carrying a shoulder bag. The tourist held a pack of snacks, which flew out of his hands in the unexpected collision!
Clang! The sound of metal striking the ground drew the attention of a nearby patrol officer.
Mu Fan’s sharp eyes clearly saw a round black iron disc fall to the ground, the source of the sound.
“Mu Fan, be careful!” Black’s voice suddenly grew urgent.
“Damn it!” the leader of the tour group suddenly turned back and shouted angrily.
“Alert!” the patrol officer yelled loudly, pointing his carbine at the tourist upon seeing the black iron disc.
Then Mu Fan’s sense of danger surged. He noticed the group’s hands reaching into the bags on their backs, instantly understanding their anomaly. The crisis made him retreat, and in the blink of an eye, five bullet holes appeared where he had stood.
“Rat-a-tat-tat!” The sudden burst of gunfire caught the attention of a woman who turned to apologize, only to see the patrol officer riddled with bullets, his exploding head splattering brain matter and blood on her. The person then grinned wickedly and pulled the trigger at her!
“Ah!!” A sharp scream echoed through the street, as the scattered crowd panicked, shouting for help. In seconds, the street descended into chaos.
“Damn it! The boss won’t spare you! Advance the plan!” the tour group’s leader shouted furiously into his wrist before pressing a button on his pocket.
“Boom!” The street they had just passed exploded into flames, the air rippling. Surrounding buildings were uprooted, massive stones bursting into the air. Violent tremors and enormous explosions followed, hurling Mu Fan from his hiding spot in an alley and crashing him to the ground.
“Mu Fan! Mu Fan! Mu Fan, say something!” Black called desperately, his voice filled with urgency.
“I…” Mu Fan recovered from the ringing in his ears after a few seconds.
“Boom!” “Boom boom!” Deafening explosions erupted on all the streets, even mushroom clouds rising from the central area, cutting off Mu Fan’s words.
“… all right!” Mu Fan shook his head vigorously, finally gritting his teeth to stand and leaning against the narrow alley wall, alone in the deserted place.
“Mu Fan, those people have appeared!! They used shortwave communications, and those pieces of garbage are remote-controlled high explosive bombs! I can’t believe I was fooled by such a low-level method! Damn it!” Black’s furious voice echoed, unable to tolerate such a basic mistake. Yet now, the previous issues made sense.
“Tell me quickly, the warehouse!” Mu Fan’s head throbbed, but he noticed the madly shooting group advancing toward him. He had to leave quickly! So many guns, so many guns, and waves of crisis filled him. Physical strength seemed insignificant against firearms!
But before leaving, he had to deal with the three armed men rushing in his direction.
Crunch! Mu Fan clenched his fists.
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P.S.: Thank you to reader “Yesterday’s Beauty” for the 100 coin reward! Thank you to readers “Meow 52” and “Gentleman, Big Cannon” for the 10 coin reward!