Chapter 80: Feeling of Unease

On the wide road, the bloody smell and gunpowder smoke mixed together, drilling into the nostrils.

Su Chang's mangled corpse lay not far away, eyes wide open in death, staring at the pitch-black night sky.

Inside the vehicle, apart from suppressed breathing, there was no other sound.

Several local officers turned deathly pale, gazing at the bloodstain outside the vehicle, their stomachs churning.

They had seen many crime scenes, but none had ever delivered such a powerful mental shock.

In a deathly silence.

Qin Zhixia regained her voice, calm to the point of having no warmth.

"Get out, check the surrounding area, confirm safety."

She pushed open the car door and was the first to step out.

Her ponytail traced a neat arc in the night wind, the exoskeleton on her right knee glowing a faint blue under the vehicle lights.

The remaining two Investigation Bureau agents, Youling and the ever-silent petite woman, also got out of the car.

They did not go to look at Su Chang's corpse; instead, maintaining a professional bearing, they formed a triangular formation, watching the surrounding dark alleys.

After a few minutes, they confirmed that those weird dummies had truly retreated.

Qin Zhixia gave orders into the communicator.

"Retrieve the corpses, clean up the scene."

"We're heading back to the City Bureau."

The command vehicle merged back into traffic, but the atmosphere inside was even more solemn than before.

Dong Lin City Bureau's temporary command center.

As soon as Qin Zhixia sat down, she looked over at Youling, who was fiddling with the equipment nearby.

"Pull up all the surveillance footage from that road segment just now."

"I want to see how they appeared and how they disappeared."

Youling nodded.

Su Chang's death caused his usual listless and rakish demeanor to contract somewhat.

A few minutes later, more than a dozen split-screen panels filled the entire main display.

In the footage, the convoy drove smoothly along the road, everything normal.

The next second, less than a hundred meters ahead of the convoy, accompanied by the image filling with noise and blurring distortion, a wall composed of fifty or sixty dummies sprang into existence out of nowhere.

No warning, no process.

It was as if a frame had been cut from the video; they simply stood there abruptly.

And after Su Chang's death, they retreated into the dark alleys on either side, disappearing from the surveillance footage without a trace.

The cameras deep in the alleys captured nothing.

They seemed to have evaporated into the air.

Qin Zhixia said nothing.

She merely stared silently at the surveillance footage, the gravity in her eyes turning into a deeper sense of helplessness.

Ghost Wall warps space, the Suffocating Ghost Girl commands the signal.

As for this Smiling Dummy, it completely disregards physical laws, appearing out of thin air.

She remained silent for a moment, then suddenly spoke.

"Youling, pull up Su Chang's file."

Youling startled for a moment, not understanding, but still carried out the order immediately.

The encrypted file was retrieved.

On the screen, beside Su Chang's arrogant face, his achievements were listed, and... the crimes hidden beneath those achievements.

Taking advantage of the mission, he violated a female informant, afterward disposing of her as missing.

During an overseas mission, he massacred civilians.

Abusing his authority, he provided protection for a criminal syndicate and took huge bribes.

One after another, item after item, shocking to behold.

Qin Zhixia viewed all the records in silence.

Then she exhaled a long breath.

That breath carried away the last trace of confusion in her heart, as well as some ineffable heaviness.

Fortunately.

The rules did not exceed expectations.

It only kills those who deserve to die.

Federal Weird Investigation Bureau headquarters.

In the cold, solemn corridor, only Qin Zhixia's steady footsteps could be heard.

In Wei Gong's office.

The Bureau's highest official listened calmly to Qin Zhixia's report.

Qin Zhixia had previously handed over the containment box holding Wang Ni's "dummyfied" sample to the Research Department; now she straightened her back, her voice clear and cold:

"Report to Wei Gong, the Dong Lin City mission is complete."

"Based on current intelligence, here is a summary of the Smiling Dummy's patterns."

"First, it can, through direct contact, assimilate humans into new dummy individuals, possessing proliferative traits."

"Second, attacks launched against dummies can be transferred onto the attacker."

"Third, it can ignore physical rules, appearing and disappearing out of thin air, only manifesting when its killing pattern is triggered; otherwise it cannot be captured."

"Fourth, and also the most important point," Qin Zhixia paused, lowered her eyes to stare directly at Lord Wei, "It only acts against 'criminals', and the killing pattern so far has only affected criminals. The Smiling Dummy differs from the previous Weird; it is not for revenge, but rather seems to be executing a fixed program. Therefore, we cannot devise targeted countermeasures by tracing the dead."

"It is regrettable that during the containment mission, Agent Su Chang unfortunately died in the line of duty; as Captain, I cannot escape responsibility."

The office was silent.

Lord Wei crossed his ten fingers, placed them on the table, and his deep gaze swept over Qin Zhixia's face.

After a long while, he finally spoke slowly.

"Su Chang disobeyed; his death is self‑inflicted."

"The Investigation Bureau does not need to pay for stupidity, but will learn the lesson."

His tone was calm, without any ripple, as if merely stating a trivial matter.

"You did well, Zhixia. You kept your composure amid the chaos and brought back the most important Intelligence and samples."

"From today onward, I appoint you as the head of the Smiling Dummy Countermeasure Team."

"Since the Smiling Dummy cannot be eradicated, we will adopt long‑term measures to contain it. Your mission is to monitor the meme propagation of the Smiling Dummy and find a way to limit it."

"Yes!" Qin Zhixia stood at attention and saluted, her gaze firm.

"Go then." Lord Wei waved his hand.

Qin Zhixia nodded solemnly, turned, and left the office.

In the corridor, her steps were swift as wind, her eyes flashing.

...... the head of the countermeasure team?

Very good.

One step closer to the Shepherd's objective.

Qin Zhixia's stride grew ever more steady and resolute.

The door closed.

Lord Wei leaned back, resting his body against the wide chair back.

He picked up the three thin files on the table.

Qin Zhixia, code name 'Mei'.

Xu Shangdong, code name 'Ghost'.

Su Chang, code name 'Rock', has died in the line of duty.

He looked at the arrogant face on Su Chang's file, his fingers lightly tapping the tabletop.

Dealing with this kind of Weird that cannot be solved by force, a frontline operative as capable as Su Chang is actually of little use.

It seems that for this countermeasure team, retaining technical talents like Ghost, plus a few peripheral staff, is sufficient.

At the moment he made the decision,

a strange sense of dissonance suddenly rose from his heart.

It was like the final puzzle piece, clearly placed correctly, yet the whole picture still felt off.

What is it?

What did he overlook?

Lord Wei furrowed his brows, trying to grasp the fleeting thought.

Is it about the Smiling Dummy's Rules? Qin Zhixia's summary was already comprehensive.

So what exactly is it?

This dissonance came quickly and vanished just as fast.

After a few seconds, it completely dissipated, leaving no trace.

Lord Wei thought for a moment, then shook his head, attributing it to fatigue from recent high‑intensity work.

He tossed Su Chang's file into the shredder, then pressed the internal phone:

"Have the Research Department personnel, with Highest Priority Order, begin analyzing the sample immediately."