Chapter 320: 316 Shadow-Devouring Insect

The Xuanmi Group held an emergency meeting internally to issue a notification regarding an Abnormal event that everyone had overlooked, and simultaneously initiated a discussion; the meeting members were from the Pig Group and Horse Group, which are part of the Zodiac Twelve Branches of the Xuanmi Group.

"Sleep Aid Video, I didn't expect the Abnormal factor to be here." The members of the two teams all wore grave expressions, and simultaneously felt a chill.

"Communication intelligence gathering is the module our Pig Group is responsible for; it is our Pig Group's dereliction of duty for failing to immediately verify this Abnormal factor." The team leader of the Pig Group, a man with a greasy but handsome and tall appearance, lowered his head, his gaze filled with guilt and resentment.

"Captain Zhu, this is not your fault. It is impossible for us to cover everything. Facing the Abnormal, we humans are inherently in a passive position. Before they are noticed by us, we have no ability to prevent them from harming human society, and even if we do notice them, we basically have no power to resist." The team leader of the Horse Group was a burly man; his two thick, heavy eyebrows were as delicate as a master's brushstrokes. Despite looking like a hulking brute, he had a pleasant, clear voice; just listening to his voice, one could never imagine his true appearance.

Captain Zhu Jingzhi understood that what Captain Ma You said was the truth, but his sense of responsibility made it impossible for him to remain calm. Such a statement could not comfort him; to him, it was sophistry and evasion, which only made him feel even more sinful.

The Xuanmi Group Leader, Wei Chengye, sat within the virtual projection between the two teams. He sat in his chair, his fingers interlaced and resting on his crossed thighs, and spoke calmly to break the chaotic state of mind of the two teams: "The situation has not yet developed to the worst point. We discovered this Abnormal event, whose final scope of influence is unknown, in its early stages of spread. Before things become serious, everything can still be handled.

Having a sense of responsibility is a good thing, but excessive responsibility is just a form of conceit and arrogance, and it is very obstructive."

Wei Chengye's words caused Zhu Jingzhi's expression to shift; after a look of shame and annoyance, there was another wave of guilt. He secretly clenched his fists, looked at the Group Leader in the projection, and stopped "putting on an act," waiting for the other party to issue orders.

Detecting Zhu Jingzhi's rapid mental adjustment, Wei Chengye nodded slightly, expressing his satisfaction calmly, and said: "This Abnormal event is very similar to the Videotape Incident from the past. We possess the emergency response methods and experience; you know what to do, Captain Zhu."

Upon hearing this, the Mysterious Investigators present all showed strange expressions, feeling anxious, their eyes serious.

The Videotape Incident was a Heaven-Level Abnormal event that occurred seven years ago, originating from the content of a cursed videotape that was accidentally spread across the internet via live streams and live stream recordings, causing a disaster for which the true number of deaths has yet to be tallied. Anyone who watched the content of the videotape would be tortured to death by a mysterious force on the seventh day after watching.

In this way, this Sleep Aid Video incident is indeed somewhat similar.

"Group Leader, since the events are so similar, could it be caused by the same Abnormal factor?" Ma You asked.

Wei Chengye shook his head, "In all likelihood, no. According to the description from that victim who has not yet been completely harmed by the Abnormal factor behind the Sleep Aid Video, it does not seem to be the power of a Blessing. He described that his consciousness had briefly followed the sound of the Sleep Aid Video to a Different Dimensional Space, where he saw a giant meat-mountain demon insect; the sounds recorded in the Sleep Aid Video all came from the sounds emitted by its physiological activities.

I suspect that those who have heard the sound will attract the attention of those meat-mountain demon insects, and their subsequent disappearance is likely due to those meat-mountain demon insects crossing dimensions to take them away, bringing them to the dimensional realm where they exist to be enjoyed as food."

"Group Leader, where is the informant now?" Ma You asked.

Wei Chengye knew what Ma You wanted to do and said bluntly: "I have already sent people to protect them in secret at the first opportunity. The informant feels that their time is short and does not want to be disturbed in their final moments. I made an agreement with them that they will not bring danger to others in the time remaining, and will try their best to avoid affecting others; they will stay obediently in their own home. I also indicated that I would respect their decision and would not actively disturb them, so they told me the information they knew."

Hearing this, Ma You nodded secretly and stopped asking about the informant, instead saying: "I wonder what insights the Group Leader has regarding the Abnormal creature described by the informant?"

"I had people check the global Abnormal factor shared database of anti-Abnormal creature organizations and found a legendary creature that exists in the indigenous civilization heritage of a small island on the Southern Continent: the Shadow-Devouring Insect. Shadow-Devouring Insects like to eat those creatures that perceive their existence. When a creature can notice their existence, they will simultaneously notice that creature, lock onto it as prey, and then slowly approach the other party until they tear through space and time to bring the prey back to their own survival dimension to enjoy the food." Wei Chengye said while sharing the data he had collected.

"The sound emitted by the Shadow-Devouring Insect's body carries a mysterious hypnotic ability; creatures that hear the sound will fall asleep because of it, and the Shadow-Devouring Insect also uses this to take away defenseless prey. The sounds they emit are easily discovered and heard by those with high inspiration or fragile spirits. Therefore, those Shadow-Devouring Insects specifically target those insomniacs who have heard that abnormal Sleep Aid Video. They will torture the prey's spirit until it is on the verge of collapse, as if the prey is even more delicious and tempting at this time. The local indigenous people like to use this legend to scare children who don't like to sleep; if it weren't for the historical documents that have truly recorded the Shadow-Devouring Insect, I'm afraid everyone would think it's just a fable."

After hearing the introduction of the Shadow-Devouring Insect, the Mysterious Investigators present all just felt it was peculiar, without any greater emotional fluctuation; those Abnormal creatures are strange and varied, with different abilities, and after seeing so many, they would not be so easily shocked.

"Although these Shadow-Devouring Insects are terrifying, I see that they don't seem to have as high an appearance frequency in this world as other Abnormal creatures, nor are there stories that describe them more accurately and vividly. They shouldn't appear in the human field of vision often, and humans shouldn't be the primary food in their diet." After flipping through the data shared by Wei Chengye for a while, Zhu Jingzhi frowned seriously, "Their harm is artificially caused and exacerbated. Now there is an anti-social element who is not afraid of death, who clearly knows of the existence of the Shadow-Devouring Insect, yet still records the hypnotic sounds of the Shadow-Devouring Insect and spreads them out like a Curse.

The top priority is for us to find the owner of the account that posted the Sleep Aid Video, to stop them from continuing to post those Sleep Aid Videos, and to prevent the influence of the Abnormal event from spreading further and escalating the situation."