Chapter 56: Chaotic Night

When the lights came back on in the Fourth Precinct, Batman had disappeared.

The laughter had stopped, and the infected person trapped in the sculpture had turned into a headless corpse, with blood still gushing from the severed neck.

After Chu Cheng operated Batman to leave the police station, he used the claw gun to fly to a hidden spot on top of a building.

Just as he thought it was time to log off and rest, an exclamation point suddenly popped up on the side of the screen.

Another mission?

Chu Cheng was a bit surprised.

It's really strange. Usually, when he starts going out in the evening, he might not get many missions all night, and they're usually ordinary tasks that don't pay much.

But tonight, the missions kept coming, and he encountered several crazy people who loved to laugh.

What's going on?

I've heard that peak times for getting orders with rideshare apps are during commutes and holidays, but I didn't know there was a peak period for vigilantes too.

This is actually good for Chu Cheng. The more experience he gets, the more points he earns.

And running into a lot of infected lunatics tonight meant more points, much more than dealing with ordinary gangsters.

Chu Cheng hesitated for a moment.

He felt like he was back in the days when he would lie in bed reading a novel, unable to stop even as the sky started to lighten.

He would think, "Just one more chapter," but every time he reached the end, he would click on the next page.

Now that he thinks about it, the author's chapters always end abruptly. It's like you're getting ready for the big moment, and then suddenly it just cuts off—so annoying.

Chu Cheng was young and inexperienced. If he wanted to catch the author, he might have to remote-control Batman to track him down and have a chat, or at least send him a handful of bat-darts.

Chu Cheng felt like he had been through high-intensity training for days. He was a bit tired, but staying up late once in a while wasn't a big deal.

He couldn't resist the lure of the big exclamation mark and decided to check it out.

It turned out to be a familiar situation.

A local gang went to a barbecue restaurant to collect protection fees, but suddenly, a laughing maniac burst in with a knife and started attacking everyone.

Fortunately, Batman, controlled by Chu Cheng, arrived quickly and dealt with the lunatic.

He also gave the gang members a good beating to make sure they wouldn't be causing trouble again. Another wave of points was added to his account.

It wasn't until dawn that the stream of exclamation marks finally stopped.

Chu Cheng, still cautious, controlled Batman for a while longer to make sure there were no new threats. Satisfied that everything was quiet, he logged off.

That night, Chu Cheng enjoyed earning some experience points, but it was a rough one for the Ninth Office of the Secret Service.

Earlier, they had been dealing with a suspected laughing infection and were on edge. Then, information kept coming in from the front line.

The frontline agents were running around, gathering information and handling sudden infection incidents.

Meanwhile, the team at headquarters stayed up all night, waiting for updates and holding meetings to analyze the situation.

They were all getting pretty jumpy. Seeing the word "laughing" now was like the World Security Council in the Marvel universe seeing S.H.I.E.L.D.'s monthly financial statements—pure stress.

Finally, at dawn, the bad news slowed down, and it seemed like the infectious disease called "laughter" had calmed down.

Suddenly, the door burst open, and Professor Miyazaki rushed in, looking eager. His expression hinted that there might be big news.

Everyone, who had just started to relax, tensed up again. Someone immediately asked, "Another incident?"

"No, we've made progress on finding the source of the infection."

Hearing this, everyone perked up.

Finding the source of the infection was crucial. Infected people couldn't be fully dealt with if the source wasn't identified.

"Have you found out who the source is?" Li Changcheng asked.

"No, we have suspects." Professor Miyazaki glanced around, looking serious. "You all know about the attack on the police, right?"

Everyone nodded. The incident at the Fourth Precinct Police Station was the worst one that night.

This made citizens wonder: If the police aren't safe, where are they?

"We checked the surveillance around the Fourth Precinct police station, scanned everyone who went in and out, and compared them with the Secret Service's database to see if any suspected infected people were there."

"And did you find anything?" someone asked.

"Yes. The analysts reported their findings to me five minutes ago, and I'll show you what I saw."

Professor Miyazaki connected to the big screen in the conference room. A blurry screenshot from the Fourth Precinct Police Department's surveillance camera appeared.

He stepped aside, took the remote, and pressed play.

Soon, everyone saw someone walk into the surveillance area and stop in the most visible spot. He paused, looked up, and seemed to grin at the camera.

It felt like a challenge.

Professor Miyazaki pressed pause, freezing the frame.

"Now, let's zoom in."

The image was zoomed in several times and processed for clarity. Finally, everyone could make out the face.

In the meeting room, everyone squinted at the screen, their expressions shifting to astonishment, disbelief, confusion, and suspicion.

Then, they all turned to Professor Miyazaki.

"Is this... could it be...?"

"Yes, as you can see, the facial recognition software gave the same answer."

Professor Miyazaki nodded seriously. "We believe that the person who entered the Fourth Precinct Police Station earlier tonight and left behind this provocative video... is our Agent Luo Yajun from the Ninth Division of the Special Service."