Chapter 25: Eerie

Paris time: August 17, 1998.

Location: Chalan Dun Street, Paris.

Chalan Dun Street lies on the north bank of the Seine River, in the old city area of northeastern Paris, where most buildings are low-rise apartments constructed in the early twentieth century.

Although every aspect of this street is dilapidated, its relatively cheap rent still attracts a large number of foreign residents to rent here.

This also means the street's public safety is much worse than other Paris districts, and its crime rate remains high.

05:42.

The street is packed with many old-model vehicles, making the already narrow street even more congested, and the streetlights on the sidewalk have not yet gone out.

At alley entrances and street corners, many tattered-clothed homeless people can be seen, covered in clothing or newspapers.

Most of them lack legal visas, having gone bankrupt or lost work for various reasons, yet they prefer to stay in Paris rather than return to their war-torn, impoverished homeland.

At this moment.

Three black vans appeared on this street.

They were not fast, their engine noise was low, and they did not attract the attention of the street-side vagrants.

Soon, the three vans stopped in front of the door of a four-story apartment building numbered 26.

Illegal parking.

However, at this hour, most Paris police are still asleep at home, while the on-duty officers are drinking coffee and slacking off.

Unless it is an urgent criminal case, no police will come to this street before ten o'clock.

A 'Whoosh—' sound.

The right sliding door of the first van opened, and eight fully armed personnel poured out.

They wore uniform black combat gear, bulletproof vests, tactical belts, and mechanical exoskeletons, and sported the USS insignia 'octopus head' masks.

The two USS teams quickly opened distance, mutually covering as they approached the 26th apartment building, taking positions one in front and one behind at the main entrance.

The lead USS reported in a low voice: 'Sir, Alpha has reached the designated position; requesting approval to proceed.'

After a few seconds.

'Yes, sir, understood.' That USS gave a slight nod, ended the communication, and ordered his subordinates:

'Team A, follow me inside; Team B, provide support.'

After saying that, the USS's Team A entered the apartment first, with Team B closely following.

That USS was Han Ke, led by this 'Death God', heading the Alpha Squad to control or mitigate the first anomaly.

Inside the apartment, there was a light brown carpet, some peeling white walls, and warm lighting that flickered on and off…

In short, it was no different from the rundown apartments in horror movies.

Han Ke and the seven Alphas kept their distance, cautiously entering the building's first-floor lobby, with Team A guarding the left corridor and Team B the opposite.

From the moment the Alphas entered the lobby, they noticed something odd.

The security room on the left side of the lobby was empty, all the ground-floor room doors were open, and there were also some strange low noises…

'Screech—clack!'—like the sound of fingernails deliberately scraping a blackboard, or the cutting of knives and forks on empty plates.

The eerie atmosphere made Han Ke and the Alphas even more cautious, their grips on their guns tightening.

He observed for a moment.

Han Ke raised his left hand to signal calling off the split-up, instead having both teams check the left corridor together, with Team A in front and Team B covering from behind.

After giving the order, Han Ke and Team A quickly walked to the first open-door apartment, with Team B closely following to provide cover.

Standing at the far right of the door, Han Ke first signaled everyone to stand by, then he pulled out a small mirror from his left waist pouch to observe the interior.

Through the mirror, Han Ke saw a family of three sitting at the window-side dining table, 'having a meal'.

They were Middle Eastern, and their clothing was old; the couple were about thirty years old, and the girl was around ten.

However…

The couple's skin was deathly pale, their expressions vacant, holding knives and forks, mechanically making cutting motions on empty plates.

The grating sound came from here.

As for the little girl, she was curled up on the chair, looking terrified at her parents, with two tear tracks on her cheeks, her eyes red-rimmed as if she wanted to sleep but dared not.

Seeing this, Han Ke frowned beneath his mask, and even this 'Death God' who is usually unflappable felt a twinge of unease.

He adjusted the mirror's angle; there was no threat within his line of sight.

Immediately, Han Ke stowed the mirror and gestured that after three seconds, Team A would storm the first apartment to clear any possible threat and subdue the family of three.

Since acting would expose them, Han Ke also did not issue an order to stay silent, then he raised his left hand to begin the countdown…

Three,

Two,

One!

Upon counting to 'one', Han Ke re-gripped his gun with his left hand and charged into the apartment with Team A.

Team B also arrived at the front door, and when Team A cleared the room, Team B needed to watch for any movement in the hallway.

'Thud—thud!' In an instant, the heavy footsteps of combat boots echoed through the hallway, since the room had no carpet.

'Safe!'

'Safe!'

From inside came the muffled loud reports of two Alphas, due to the 'octopus' masks.

'Ah!!' and the little girl's voiceless scream.

As they stormed the room, Han Ke and one Alpha aimed their guns at the family of three, while the other two checked the bedroom and bathroom.

A small one-room, one-living-room apartment.

Within a few seconds, Team A confirmed there was no one else in the room.

"Raise your hands! Hear me?! Raise your hands and lie on the ground!" Alpha, standing to the left of Han Ke, shouted at the family of three.

He heard.

The terrified little girl, seeing the uncles rush into the house, behaved obediently like a police officer on TV, calmly raising her hands, leaving her seat, and then lying on the floor beside the dining table.

However, the girl's parents continued making incomprehensible cutting motions.

"Raise…"

"Enough." Seeing the couple not complying, the Alpha was about to keep shouting, but was softly interrupted by Han Ke.

Because the couple finally stopped the cutting motions and simultaneously turned their heads toward the Alpha.

!

That move made the Alpha shiver involuntarily.

But it was just a chill, not fear.

Roar! Roar!

Suddenly!

The couple let out deep roars, thrusting out their arms and leaping from their seats toward that A Erfa.

Clap! Clap! Clap!

Thump! Thump!

With the crisp staccato gunshots, the couple, who had gone "mad" for unknown reasons, were shot several times by Han Ke and the other A Erfas and fell heavily to the ground.

Papa! Mama!

Seeing her parents die a second time, the little girl, disregarding A Erfa's earlier order, scrambled and rolled from the floor to the two corpses and began wailing uncontrollably.

(End of Chapter)