Chapter 90: Forbidden Object (4th Update, Requesting Monthly Votes)

Drinking red wine and eating hot pot, the five who had just survived a life-or-death moment now felt reborn, raising their cups in joy.

“Sis Kiki, has your ability really evolved?”

As soon as she put down her cup, Sasha couldn’t wait.

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

“No wonder it’s so powerful,” Chen Sixuan said, eyes gleaming. “I haven’t even thanked you for saving me just now.”

“Why thank me, Sister Chen? You don’t even know how many times you’ve saved all of us.” Kiki grinned carefree, her eyes flicking mischievously toward Lin Xian. “By the way, Lin Xian, aren’t you going to tell us where you disappeared these past two days?”

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

Kiki’s face flushed red. “I—I mean, how did you end up there?”

The others, listening to their exchange, looked utterly confused.

Lin Xian sighed, stood up, walked to the sofa, picked up the radio, and came back.

“If there’s no other explanation, I must have been captured by this thing.”

“1542, the Strange Radio!”

Then Lin Xian recounted everything he’d experienced after the incident, though he skimmed over his encounter with Kiki, merely saying he’d witnessed her descent into corruption and offered his analysis.

Lin Xian’s account left the others pale with shock.

“So those footsteps really were you!” Sasha, as if hearing a horror story, frowned. “So, Brother Lin, you killed me over there?”

Lin Xian winced. “That was a total misunderstanding. That thing was just trying to break my mental defenses.”

At first, Lin Xian thought it was a supernatural event, but looking back, it wasn’t just the darkness—many unknown forces seemed to be attacking survivors’ mental wills.

Sasha’s eyes lit up. “So Brother Lin really does care about me! Seeing me get killed nearly drove you insane, hehe.”

Lin Xian blinked. Was this really where her focus lay?

Beside him, Chen Sixuan looked shaken.

“So I turned off the radio, and that’s what reminded you?”

Lin Xian nodded. “Yes. Thanks to your hint—and that you helped me adjust the frequency with the lights. Otherwise, I’d never have gotten out.”

“Brilliant, Lin Xian!” Kiki exclaimed, wide-eyed. “You mean after I passed out, some invisible monster was sucking my blood?”

“Yes.”

“Oh my god…” Kiki shrank back, her face turning green. “That’s so disgusting…”

Lin Xian’s expression turned grave. He looked toward the building. “Building, remember what I said the day we escaped from Yuchicheng?”

The building nodded.

Lin Xian continued.

“Back then, I was puzzled—why did sound and light only attract zombies and ghouls, but when we disturbed the strange entities, they were already right beside us?”

“Now, after being captured by this strange radio, I realize something might have been around us all along—some only appear in darkness, others require special methods to detect…”

His words made the girls’ faces grow tense. Sasha shivered involuntarily, glancing fearfully around.

“Oh my god, you mean those terrifying things might’ve been right next to us all along?!”

“Yes.”

Lin Xian said grimly.

At these words, everyone turned pale.

All analysis of the strange entities stemmed from Lin Xian’s speculation—though not fully confirmed, it served as a vital warning.

It also made him more cautious, and this incident made him realize the importance of another device.

The Soul-Dampening Value Detector! This device could detect special values emitted by strange entities, zombies, and other threats. In a sense, it was a salvation-level discovery. From Lin Xian’s countless near-death experiences on this journey, it was clear: for humanity to preserve its survival spark, actively avoiding danger was crucial—otherwise, even a million lives wouldn’t be enough.

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

At the table, Kiki squinted at Lin Xian. “A strange phenomenon, but unrelated to psychics. Lin Xian, have you seen the early Angel Project files I gave you?”

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

“Not yet. I haven’t slept these past few days—how could I have time to look at this?”

Kiki snapped her fingers, grabbed the drive, and ran to Car #2, where she operated the computer, then returned with a portable screen.

“I think it’s this thing.”

“We’ve been fixated on psychic abilities and ignored these bizarre occurrences. Look.”

The portable screen displayed old Angel Project documents.

Lin Xian took it and read: “Investigation Report on Global Strange/Extraordinary Phenomena.”

This report came from a special division of the now-collapsed Federal Government’s Angel Project: the Special Item Investigation Department. Its files recorded numerous early-night strange phenomena, all sharing one common trait:

!

Each strange phenomenon was triggered by a specific object, all originally ordinary items from Blue Planet, which only began causing strange events after the Apocalypse Day—believed to have been tainted by some extraordinary force, becoming extraordinary objects.

The Angel Project called these items [Forbidden Objects], defined as “specific items capable of triggering localized or contagious strange/extrordinary phenomena.”

This early investigation report documented over a dozen bizarre strange/extrordinary phenomena, but only two had been confirmed and contained by the Angel Project.

Forbidden Object SIID-01: Big Ben

Discovery Location: Lisbon City, Big Ben Tower

Physical Characteristics: Original Lisbon Big Ben weighed 13.5 tons, clock face diameter 6.7 meters, hour hand 4.27 meters, minute hand 8.75 meters, pendulum weight 305 kg.

Investigation Progress:

July 9: First investigation—three experimental personnel died, communication lost.

July 10: Second investigation—two experimental personnel died, communication range confirmed at 300 meters.

July 11: Third investigation—three experimental personnel died; experimental animals introduced, rapid aging phenomenon observed, communication range expanded, causing deaths among perimeter personnel.

July 12: Fourth investigation—four experimental personnel died, …

Evaluation Characteristics: This forbidden object possesses the trait of accelerating aging in living organisms; the effect intensifies with movement speed, and weakens during nighttime.

Containment Condition: Arrange multiple experimental personnel without genetic disorders to enter hand-in-hand during nighttime, no running. Must grasp the hour hand before all containment personnel age to death.

Containment Department: Angel Project, Federal Lisbon City Branch.

Forbidden Object SIID-02: Taxi No. Mo-857404

Discovery Location: Longguo, Mo City

Physical Characteristics: Yellow-painted standard 4-seat taxi manufactured in 2057; driver’s seat contains a highly decomposed male corpse.

Investigation Progress:

July 25: First investigation—one experimental personnel vanished; report confirmed that after 02:12 at night, anyone waving for a ride in the city would disappear mysteriously, unobservable by bystanders.

July 26: Second investigation—one experimental personnel vanished; experiments conducted simultaneously at four city locations; personnel at point C (northwest) vanished, confirming this forbidden object appears at only one location.

July 27: Third investigation—nine experimental personnel vanished; survivor severely injured; survivor’s report…

Evaluation Characteristics: This forbidden object possesses the trait of long-range mobility; the farther the destination requested after boarding, the greater the cost. The sole survivor reported that a 13-kilometer trip required payment of half a kidney.

Containment Condition: Request a nearby destination; pay the cost to survive.

Containment Department: Angel Project, Federal Mo City Branch.

*ssss*

Kiki opened a can of cola, took a sip, and said to Lin Xian:

“Though the reports are few, after hearing you, I think that radio is likely one of these things too.”

New book launched—begging for monthly votes! Infinite Train, Soaring to the Skies!

Deeply grateful!

(End of Chapter)