Chapter 150 - 147: The Glowing Building
「One day earlier.」
The Supernatural Research and Response Department had never stopped investigating the anonymous letter, nor had they abandoned any of the clues they had previously discovered.
The inexplicable destruction of records and the strange disappearance of evidence, far from halting the investigation, only made Kodell take the matter more seriously.
It was as if a Supernatural Power had been used to erase all the key information the sender had left behind.
But the stakes were too high; they had to persevere, no matter how difficult.
Fortunately, while it seemed all leads had gone cold, the lines of inquiry they had already pursued remained. They weren’t completely in the dark, but the workload had increased significantly.
However, with their energy and resources drained by the chaotic supernatural incidents occurring domestically, an investigation with no solid leads was naturally not a top priority.
The "Death Illusion Barrier" zone had been the primary focus of French research for some time.
The six-hour Curse law had yet to be broken, and countless experts and scholars in France were completely stumped. A few psychologists suggested it might be a form of patterned psychological conditioning, but their theories didn’t hold water.
In the end, it could only be attributed to the influence of a Supernatural Power beyond current human understanding.
Simply put, no valid conclusions were reached.
Compared to Hua Country’s Special Security Team, the pressure on France’s Supernatural Research and Response Department wasn’t as overwhelming, but their sense of urgency was far greater.
Kodell knew perfectly well that this lighter pressure wasn’t because they were fully prepared; it was entirely due to a lack of information and a poor understanding of the situation.
Indeed, in terms of countermeasures, overall understanding, and practical experience with the anomalous events, the French lagged far behind Hua Country and even the UK and US. They weren’t even aware of the existence of Evolvers.
Then again, no one was a fool. They understood the implications of the frequent maneuvers by certain other countries, which made them nervous. Their current relative peace could very well lead to exponentially worse consequences in the future.
Kodell was at his wit’s end over this. He had repeatedly proposed that they follow the lead of Hua Country and the United States, who had successively begun preparations for what they termed "next-generation civil defense" bases.
But France’s situation was different. For the past two years, the government budget had been stretched to its limit and its resource reserves were strained. It wasn’t that the higher-ups didn’t want to accomplish this in one fell swoop; they simply couldn’t. The only option was to siphon off resources, bit by bit, from less conspicuous corners.
To put it bluntly, the upper echelons of French politics still didn’t consider these anomalous events a threat to national stability. Domestic development and economic revitalization remained the top priorities.
Furthermore, the leadership believed they had already allocated sufficient resources to Kodell’s department.
This was a calculated move to avoid being penny-wise and pound-foolish, which was understandable in principle.
But after the "Flame Demon Incident" in Saint Louis, United States, the event immediately became a focal point for the world’s most well-informed nations, setting off an immeasurable chain reaction within their respective governments.
The situation changed overnight. Only then did the French leadership realize that their preparations had fallen out of the top tier—or, as the Americans would put it, the French had never been in the top tier to begin with.
Amidst this anxiety and torment, Kodell found himself thinking more than once about the mysterious entity who had sent the warning email.
He sometimes wondered.
’Was our intense investigation and surveillance a mistake? Is that what made them so cautious that they never appeared again?’
Just then, Kodell was sitting at his desk, reviewing an electronic report.
It concerned a strange case discovered in an Eastern Village. The patient, a homeless man, seemed to have developed an insatiable hunger, constantly looking for food and devouring anything edible he could find.
He had even committed the bizarre crime of breaking into a house to raid the refrigerator. The homeowner called the police, and responding officers managed to apprehend him.
During the arrest, four or five officers were unable to restrain him. It took four direct hits from an Electric Shock Gun to finally take him down.
He was only reviewing this report because of the recent "new pneumonia" incident in the United States, but for now, this case of insatiable hunger seemed to be an isolated one.
"Director! The team stationed in Lyon sent an update. They’ve traced where that batch of diving equipment was rented!"
Kodell was instantly energized.
"Did the trail go cold after that?"
"It’s not clear yet, but we’ve found the dive site. It wasn’t at the coast like we guessed, but at a reservoir. A team is already following up, and they’ll send a more detailed report tonight."
Kodell dialed his subordinate’s number directly. He couldn’t wait that long.
Over the phone, he quickly got the gist of what had happened.
A relevant local department had "coincidentally" discovered that part of their archival database had been breached. A file containing construction information for a reservoir on a tributary of the Rhône River was missing. It was unclear whether a hacker had accidentally deleted it or if it had vanished for some other reason.
Although the reservoir’s power plant wasn’t operational, it was still under surveillance.
A tentative search through the surveillance footage revealed something surprising in a wide-angle shot: a team had been camping near the reservoir for several days. They had diving equipment, and although the image wasn’t sharp, they could be seen frequently diving into the water.
The most well-known local group of that sort was the diving club in Lyon.
Suspecting a connection to the hackers, the police paid them a visit.
And just like that, someone at the diving club remembered that a group from another government department had previously investigated the whereabouts of that same equipment.
They immediately made a call to pass on this information.
Suddenly, the broken chain of information was connected once more.
...
At the reservoir on the tributary of the Rhône River, even though a long time had passed, the location of Philier’s group’s campsite was quickly identified by comparing it to the video footage.
The remains of their campfire were still visible as charcoal, with a few forgotten soda cans scattered around.
Vernix only hung up after finishing his report to Kodell.
By now, professional divers, fully geared up, were on standby at the water’s edge.
"Sir, the dive team is ready."
"Alright. Go down and see what you can find. Don’t overlook a single unusual spot."
With the order given, more than a dozen divers entered the water from different locations, descending in pairs to begin their search.
However, since they didn’t know what the mysterious group had been looking for, the search had no clear objective.
Due to the invasion of Asian carp in recent years, the reservoir was almost exclusively populated by Asian freshwater species like grass carp and silver carp. The French disliked these fish for their strong, gamey taste and numerous bones, so no one fished here. Divers often spotted huge fish, some as large as half a person’s body.
More than half an hour later, the first wave of divers had all come ashore. Their footage and reports focused on the abundant aquatic plants and large fish, though a few teams also mentioned some old, submerged buildings below.
A flash of insight struck Vernix; he suddenly felt these old buildings were a vital lead.
After a moment’s hesitation, he decided to report to Kodell at once.
At department headquarters in Paris, Kodell cradled the phone between his ear and shoulder, signing documents as he replied to his subordinate.
"Drain the reservoir! Drain every last drop, now!"
On the other end of the line, Vernix was stunned for a moment, then his mind caught up.
"Yes, Director. I’ll see to it immediately."
...
Since its construction in the 1960s, the reservoir on the tributary of the Rhône River had been drained to its bed only a handful of times, the last being for dam repairs seven or eight years ago.
"CREEEAK..."
"RUMBLE-RUMBLE-RUMBLE~~"
The heavy sluice gates slowly opened, and torrents of water gushed out. The downstream water level surged, and as the reservoir emptied, countless large fish were flushed out to wreak havoc on the river channel below.
The process took sixteen hours. It was now the next morning—the same morning Tao Xingzhi was finally catching his breath after three days of intense analysis, and Mumu was joyfully playing with a new phone.
The reservoir on the tributary of the Rhône River was drained dry.
A helicopter circled at low altitude, its rotor wash stirring the remaining puddles into a mass of rolling ripples.
"Over there! Head for that hollow!"
The helicopter banked and flew in the direction Vernix indicated.
Because it was situated in a low-lying area, far from the other structures that hadn’t collapsed, a residual pool of water had collected in the hollow.
A relatively tall and strangely shaped building stood amidst the shimmering water. The reflection of the sunlight made it particularly conspicuous from the air.
It was as if the building itself were glowing.
...
In the Hua Country Capital, Tao Xingzhi was taking a short nap in his office, restoring his energy.
"DRRRING-DRRRING-DRRRING~"
The ringing of his desk phone startled him awake.
"Hello, Tao Xingzhi speaking. Yes, right... What did you just say?"
Tao Xingzhi shot up from his chair.
"I’ll send people at once—no, I’ll go to France myself! Submit an official request for a visit immediately. Tell them that if they don’t agree, we’ll postpone the cooperation project. I have that authority now!"
’My gamble to keep a close watch on the email incident really paid off,’ he thought. ’To be fair, if our roles were reversed, I wouldn’t be so willing to share either!’
Hanging up the phone, Tao Xingzhi paced his office. Still feeling it wasn’t enough of a guarantee, he directly called the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. After that, he reported the intelligence—obtained through unofficial channels—to the Huannan Sea and requested that they apply pressure on the French authorities.
PS: The second Chapter for Friday!