Chapter 561: The Tool That Locks Monsters in a Cage

The alarm blared, making scalps go numb.

The red characters on Qin Zhixia's exoskeleton were still jumping.

A-level Weirdness reaction.

No one spoke in the ward.

Liang Wen lay on the ground, originally wanting to make a couple of cutting remarks, but seeing those black‑red fragments, he forced his words back down.

He feared that speaking would jinx it.

Su Ming crouched beside the scorched floor tiles, his hand hovering in midair, not touching.

His combat glove was already torn, with blood still on the fingertip.

But this time, he was more cautious than usual.

"Don't touch."

Jiang Yuan spoke.

His voice was hoarse.

Su Ming lifted his head to look at him.

Jiang Yuan still held the unconscious Zhou Ning in his arms.

The girl's face was streaked with tears, her breathing ragged, her fingers still clutching a strip torn from Qin Zhixia's combat uniform.

She hadn't woken.

That was actually a good thing.

Those who are awake have to carry more.

Jiang Yuan lowered his head and glanced at Zhou Ning.

What Zhou Ping finally entrusted was not a mission, not intelligence, nor a crown.

It was this girl.

This matter was more deadly than the fragments.

Jiang Yuan handed Zhou Ning back to Qin Zhixia's arms.

The motion was gentle.

Qin Zhixia caught her with one arm; her mechanical prosthetic was already scrapped, its interface still dripping blood.

She didn't ask why.

Jiang Yuan turned, taking off his blood‑stained tactical coat.

The coat bore the gray scorch marks left by Sai Men, as well as dark‑red stains splashed when Zhou Ping erupted.

He spread the coat out, pressing his palm to the ground.

Shadow seeped from between his fingers, crawling along the tiles toward those fragments.

Su Ming stepped back half a step.

"Are you sure you can contain it?"

"Not sure."

Jiang Yuan answered bluntly.

Liang Wen immediately raised his hand.

"I suggest that when in doubt, call logistics first, and leave professional matters to the professionals‑unlucky."

Su Ming glanced at him.

"Shut up, stop sucking up."

"This is me reasonably expressing the life‑or‑death plea of the endangered."

Liang Wen finished speaking and coughed up blood.

Qin Zhixia watched Jiang Yuan's back.

She knew well that Jiang Yuan was not reckless.

On the battlefield he had never been the first to gamble his life.

But now the fragments must be isolated immediately.

Zhou Ning was in the ward.

There were the seriously wounded.

And there were ordinary medical staff who could be contaminated at any moment by lingering rules.

If we waited for the professional containment box to arrive, who knows how many mishaps would occur—no one dares to guarantee it.

Jiang Yuan also knew that.

So he stepped up.

When shadow wrapped around the first fragment, the red lines on the floor flashed twice.

Veins bulged on Jiang Yuan's handback.

He did not retreat.

That was not an attack.

It was more like a kind of resistance.

The fragments do not consume physical matter, do not eat flesh and blood, nor touch the tiles.

They react only to shadow.

The shadow was pressed down and collapsed, then Jiang Yuan forcibly lifted it back up.

Jiang Yuan whispered, "Still pretty picky."

Su Ming stared at the data.

The A Ji reaction hasn't spread.

Qin Zhixia asked, "Is it stable?"

"Not stable," Su Ming said, "but it hasn't actively contaminated humans."

Liang Wen raised his hand with difficulty.

"Translate that—does it not eat vegetables, only eat Weird?"

Su Ming ignored him.

Jiang Yuan lifted several fragments with shadow, then wrapped them in a coat.

After the coat was closed, shadow coiled three times around the outer layer.

It finally became a fist-sized black bundle.

The red pattern glimmered through the fabric, then dimmed again.

The alarm value remained in the A Ji range, but did not climb further.

Jiang Yuan handed the black bundle to the arriving containment squad.

"Physical isolation, rule isolation, double sealing."

The containment Captain looked at the coat, his Adam's apple moving.

"Jiang Team, your coat... must be registered as a Weird contaminant."

Jiang Yuan gave him a glance.

"Write it off."

Liang Wen lay on the ground and laughed.

"Did you hear? Jiang Team finally matured, learning to wildly test at the edge of public funds."

Qin Zhixia gave no reply.

She passed Zhou Ning back into Jiang Yuan's arms.

"You deliver it."

Jiang Yuan reached out and took it.

The girl was very light.

So light it was uncomfortable.

Zhou Ping fought to the end, and what remained was just this little weight.

Jiang Yuan held Zhou Ning securely, turned, and looked toward the Medical Team and security personnel who had arrived at the ward entrance.

"All personnel, obey the order."

His voice wasn't loud.

But the crowd tangled in the Corridor all stopped.

"Zhou Ning, transfer to the official highest-security medical zone."

"Three layers of lockdown en route; unauthorized personnel must stay five meters away, controlled first, then reviewed."

"Containment fragments must use the Headquarters' red corridor; no one may privately inspect, photograph, or upload to the internal system."

"I will escort personally."

The Medical Team leader was stunned for a beat.

"Jiang Team, your injury..."

Jiang Yuan lowered his head and glanced at the torn combat uniform across his chest.

Blood was still seeping.

"Can move."

Liang Wen raised his hand.

"I can't move; I request to be carried, the stretcher should be soft, preferably with a massage function."

Su Ming walked over and yanked his collar.

"Give logistics fewer Weird requests."

Liang Wen was dragged, teeth chattering.

"Su Ming, you man with no after‑sales service."

Qin Zhixia stayed beside Jiang Yuan.

She used her still functional right hand to support Zhou Ning's back.

The girl frowned, her lips moving.

It was unclear who she was calling.

Probably still brother.

Qin Zhixia offered no comfort.

Some words, saying them now is too light.

The elevator doors opened.

Jiang Yuan carried Zhou Ning inside.

As the door closed, he turned back to look at the charred patch in the center of the ward.

There was nothing left there.

But Zhou Ping's final entrustment still lingered in everyone's mind.

Jiang Yuan held Zhou Ning even tighter.

Federation Headquarters.

Level Nine underground.

Top-secret laboratory.

When the black-red fragments were delivered, it was already late night.

The whole passage was cleared.

Three Alloy Doors locked sequentially.

The access control system self-checks every ten seconds, and the on-duty guards have all been replaced with ordinary special forces without anomalous implants.

The reason is simple.

This thing specifically counters those who deal with the anomalous.

Whoever brings anomalous power near is just asking for trouble.

In the laboratory, behind thick bulletproof glass, seventeen researchers in sealed protective gear stood in two rows.

The lead researcher, an old man, was named He Chuan.

His hair was half-white, he held a record board, and on the back of his hand were marks from long-term glove wear.

He stared at the fragment in the isolation chamber, motionless for a long time.

The young assistant beside him whispered, "Director, shall we start?"

He Chuan pushed his goggles up.

"Start. Run the standard protocol first."

The deep scanner activated.

The first detection beam landed on the fragment's surface.

The curve on the screen had just appeared when it was swallowed by dark red data.

It wasn't that the values were off the charts.

It had stopped.

Everything had stopped.

The band didn't move.

The energy level didn't move.

Even the instrument's built-in error calibration stayed in place.

The young assistant froze.

"Director, is the equipment jammed?"

"Switch to number two."

Number two activated.

The result was the same.

Number three.

Same.

He Chuan put down the record board and personally walked to the control console.

"Switch to the anomalous rule probe."

The assistant hesitated.

"Director, that's for testing the activity of containment objects; it will activate lingering rules."

"The isolation chamber can hold."

He Chuan paused, then added, "If it can't hold, we won't even have time to write our wills."

The young assistant's mouth twitched.

This old man's deadpan humor has always been very underworld.

The rule probe extended into the isolation chamber.

The probe tip released low-intensity anomalous fluctuations.

The next second, the fragment's red lines lit up.

The probe's front end directly failed.

It wasn't a break, nor was it burnt out.

It just had no response.

The background log showed that segment of anomalous fluctuations was swallowed, leaving no return data.

The lab was quiet for two seconds.

Then everyone started typing furiously.

"Record, low-intensity rule fluctuations left no residue."

"Physical structure unchanged."

"Isolation chamber pressure normal."

"Human biological sample control group showed no response."

"Metal, ceramic, organic tissue, no response."

He Chuan stared at the screen, his breath skipping a beat.

He has studied the anomalous for so many years, seeing too many unreasonable things.

Those that eat people, alter memories, turn cities into monsters' stomachs.

But these few fragments before us are very strange.

It has no activity.

It has no desire to expand.

It has no infection trend.

It does not care about real matter.

But as soon as it touches a Strange Rule, it suppresses.

It suppresses cleanly.

Like a gate specially prepared for the Weird.

He Chuan does not like exaggerated judgments.

Researchers fear superiors the most.

Superiors easily get people killed.

But this time, his hand trembled a little.

It's not fear.

He is someone who has spent half a life doing containment research, and suddenly he has found a new path.

He suppressed his emotions.

"Reverse upward analysis."

The assistant looked up.

"Director, permissions insufficient."

"Use mine."

"Your permission also lacks one level."

He Chuan looked at him.

"Then let's use my retirement application to make up one level."

The assistant choked.

"This is not compliant."

"Now it's compliant."

He Chuan stuck his iris authorization onto the identifier.

At the same time, input three sections of red emergency code.

The system popped up a warning.

He didn't look, directly confirmed.

Reverse analysis initiated.

The fragments were sent into a deeper sealed chamber.

Eighteen sets of algorithms ran simultaneously.

Failure prompts kept popping up on the screen.

Once.

Ten times.

Thirty times.

Until the forty-seventh time, the data window finally spat out a line of conclusion.

He Chuan leaned in.

After reading the first time, he didn't speak.

After reading the second time, he took off his goggles and wiped the lenses with his sleeve.

While reading the third time, the assistant beside him couldn't hold back.

"Director, what exactly is it?"

He Chuan projected the report onto the main screen.

The core conclusion is very short.

The fragment's vital activity returned to zero.

Rule consciousness returned to zero.

Diffusion tendency returned to zero.

But it retains high-intensity Strange Rule suppression of inertia.

That inertia does not act on ordinary matter, does not act on bodily tissue, does not act on conventional energy.

Only toward Strange Rule does it devour and suppress.

No one moved in the lab.

The young assistant muttered: "Isn't this... anti-magic material?"

Another researcher immediately corrected: "Don't use game terms."

He Chuan, however, nodded.

"He's not wrong."

Everyone looked at him in unison.

He Chuan stared at those few fragments, his eyes full of bloodshot from years of staying up late.

"After the divine creation collapsed, it left behind an inert substance that only targets Strange Rules."

"It doesn't kill people, doesn't eat people, doesn't pollute reality."

"It only does one thing."

"Suppress the monster."

The assistant's throat went dry.

"What if we could replicate?"

He Chuan did not answer.

This problem is too big.

Replication succeeded, the containment system will be rewritten.

A Weird Controller who loses control can be shut down.

S Ji Weird Objects can be sealed.

Even those of higher rank will, for the first time, be touched by humanity's threshold.

He Chuan picked up the report.

The paper had just been printed, still warm.

His trembling became more noticeable.

The young assistant looked at him, then suddenly realized.

The director is not afraid.

The director is excited.

That kind of person, suppressed for too long, finally sees the excitement of a new tool added to the toolbox.

He Chuan walked to the red special line.

This line connects to only one person.

Director of the Federal Weird Investigation Bureau, Wei Gong.

He pressed the call button.

Three seconds later, the line connected.

There was no small talk on the other end.

"Speak."

He Chuan gripped the report, his fingertips pressing the paper until it wrinkled.

"Director."

He paused.

All the researchers in the lab were looking at him.

Inside the isolation chamber, the black-red fragments lay still.

They did not move.

Yet it raised the ceiling of humanity's containment system by a notch.

He Chuan spoke.

"We might have... found the lock that can lock monsters into a cage."