29: Out-of-control wails

Lu Jianchuan kept in mind the final intelligence provided by "The Forger"—White Star had escaped and, unusually, fled into the city center, with its last signal disappearing in the Linjiang District.

He had no precise coordinates and could only rely on his police instincts and familiarity with the city, throwing himself into this brightly lit maze.

He avoided the surging crowds on the main roads, navigating through dimly lit back alleys between buildings, skirting past snack streets filled with the aroma of food, and circling the edges of squares packed with shared bicycles... His gaze swept like a searchlight over every possible hiding spot: abandoned corners, ventilation shafts, entrances to underground garages, any place large enough to conceal a massive body and relatively hidden.

The closer he got to the core commercial area of Linjiang District, an atmosphere of clamor completely opposite to his mission's purpose washed over him. On the massive electronic screens, promotional videos for the "White Star" Dream Ocean Night rolled by, the white figure swimming gracefully in artificial azure, forming a cruel contrast with the ferocious mutant in reality.

The square was packed shoulder to shoulder, with children's laughter, vendors' shouts, and stage music blending into a sea of joy.

His gaze finally locked onto the deep-blue building at the edge of the square, beyond the noisy crowd—the City Marine Culture Experience Center. That was the event organizer and the most likely place to have large aquatic facilities.

Lu Jianchuan inconspicuously circled to the employee passage area at the side and rear of the building. Here, it felt like a different world compared to the liveliness in front. Yet, even here, the noise from ahead couldn't be completely blocked out. A clear, amplified voice of the Event Host pierced through the walls, faintly audible:

"...Look how much our little friends love 'White Star'! It's the pride of our city!" followed by a wave of excited, tsunami-like cheers and screams from children. Another wave of sound came: "That's right, everyone, please support our lovely 'White Star,' and remember to buy our limited-edition plush toys!"

"White Star"! This name, along with the pure enthusiasm and affection it stirred outside, pierced Lu Jianchuan's nerves like fine needles. What flashed in his mind were the images from the phone video of it convulsing in pain under electric shocks, its desperate and frenzied gaze in the warehouse. This intense, stark contrast between light and darkness made his chest feel tight.

He found a slightly ajar side door used for transporting materials and slipped inside. The interior was a service corridor filled with pipes and wires, the air mixed with the smells of disinfectant and seawater. Right on the corridor wall was a brand-new, massive poster promoting this event.

On the poster, Zookeeper Zhao Yongqiang wore a standard, affable smile, his arm intimately draped over the shoulder of a cute cartoon image of a White Whale, with a prominent slogan beside it: "Best Friends and Partners—The Deep Bond Between Meritorious Zookeeper Zhao Yongqiang and 'White Star'!"

These hypocritical promotional words felt like a silent slap to reality's face. Lu Jianchuan felt a strong wave of nausea, quickly averting his gaze from the nauseating image, and accelerated deeper, following the sound of water and the scent of blood... He found a slightly ajar side door used for transporting materials and slipped inside. The interior was a service corridor filled with pipes and wires, the air mixed with the smells of disinfectant and seawater. Following the sound of water and the increasingly strong scent of the sea, he moved quickly and quietly through the maze-like corridors.

Finally, at a heavy fire door marked "Main Exhibition Hall—No Entry," he stopped. The scent of seawater from behind the door was strongest, along with a... suppressed panting sound, like that of a wounded beast.

He held his breath and pushed the door open a tiny crack.

Behind the door was a sizable artificial seawater pool, clearly used for special displays or isolation. Under the dim glow of a few emergency lights, the water appeared an unfathomable dark green, with some colorful floating balls and plastic corals prepared for the event floating on the surface, now looking like a messy offering.

And in the deepest shadows of the pool, pressed against the cold pool wall, crouched the massive white figure he had been desperately searching for.

It was White Star!

It was indeed here! It had found a place similar to its prison and hidden away.

But unlike its frenzied ferocity in the warehouse earlier, it now seemed unusually quiet, even... weak. Its massive body was half-submerged in the water, facing away from Lu Jianchuan's direction. On its left flank, where the thick gray-white armor should be, there was a noticeable, irregular dark-brown stain, with edges even slightly curled, revealing deeper tissue underneath. That was clearly a wound left by the powerful firepower of the Special Affairs Investigation Bureau. One of its hind limbs was also positioned awkwardly, as if it had difficulty moving.

It wasn't submerged at the bottom, just keeping its head and injured flank immersed in the cold seawater as much as possible, its massive tail fin occasionally flapping weakly, stirring faint ripples on the surface.

Its mutated melon no longer flashed with frenzied arcs of electricity, only a faint, flickering blue light like a candle in the wind, as if even maintaining this basic energy display was a struggle.

It seemed completely unaware of Lu Jianchuan's arrival, just staying quietly in the water, its massive body rising and falling weakly with each breath, as if licking its wounds in this fake, disinfectant-scented "seawater," gathering meager strength, or perhaps just feeling a hollow illusion of its homeland in despair.

Lu Jianchuan slowly closed the door, leaving only an almost invisible crack. He had found his target.

But this sight still shocked his perception. That monster, so frenzied and powerful in the warehouse, now crouched like a wounded beast driven to a corner, licking its wounds alone in this fake seawater. The obvious trauma and listless aura silently spoke of the struggles it had endured after escaping the warehouse.

A complex emotion churned in his heart—awareness of the abuse it had suffered, sorrow for this power twisted by human evil—but all of it was quickly overshadowed by a colder, harder resolve.

He clearly knew that this sorrow and injury wouldn't erase its terrifying power or change the fact that it could cause massive casualties if it lost control. The current weakness was only temporary, and no one could bear the cost of letting it go.

The image of Uncle Li's sacrifice flashed through his mind, the heavy cost instantly dispelling all unnecessary sentimentality.

His eyes sharpened like knives again, all hesitation and distractions cast aside. He gently pressed the cold armband on his left wrist, feeling the power contained within.

Target confirmed, status: injured, location: relatively fixed.

What came next wasn't sympathizing with a dangerous deviant here, but figuring out how to use the current advantage to find a solution before it caused more destruction or attracted the Special Affairs Investigation Bureau, leading to a complete loss of control.

He took a deep breath, his brain calmly analyzing the environment, assessing the enemy's and his own state, making final preparations for the upcoming confrontation, perhaps the final round.

Lu Jianchuan leaned against the cold, rough wall, hiding completely in the shadows of the equipment, his mind operating at an unprecedented speed.

A direct confrontation was the worst option; he had to outsmart it. His gaze swept over the dim pool, over White Star's massive body rising and falling weakly from injury and exhaustion, and an idea gradually became clear.

It longed to return to the sea, longed for its kind. This was its most primal, strongest instinct, possibly even temporarily overpowering the fear and anger from human abuse. If he could simulate the call of its kind... This thought invigorated him. He immediately took out his phone, moving lightly and quickly to set it to silent mode, then began searching. His fingers slid rapidly across the cold screen—"White Whale," "contact calls," "mating calls," "gathering signals"... He needed to find the sound that best represented "belonging" and "calling."

Found it! A relatively pure audio recording from a research institution, mixing high-frequency White Whale calls and long whale songs. He carefully adjusted the phone's volume to a subtle level—loud enough to penetrate the water and space, clearly reaching White Star, yet as undetectable as possible by the noisy crowd in the square just a wall away.

He took a deep breath, aimed the phone's speaker toward the pool, and hovered his thumb over the play button. Success or failure hinged on this moment.

"Beep."

He pressed the play button.

Ethereal, melodious calls, carrying an indescribable sadness and longing, flowed from the phone's speaker, echoing faintly in this space filled with the smell of disinfectant and the hum of machines. This sound clashed with the cold, artificial surroundings, like a faint light from a distant homeland suddenly piercing the dead silence here.

In the pool, White Star's massive body, which had been still as a statue, jolted violently!

Its half-closed, mutated pupils, dulled by pain, snapped open wide, searching rapidly in the dimness. This sound... This sound directly pierced through the layers of anger and trauma wrapped around its core, touching the oldest, most indelible memory imprints deep in its Soul—the undercurrents beneath the ice, the long echoes of calls among its kind, the boundless freedom of the blue!

It let out a low, confused whimper, its massive head slowly turning toward the source of the sound. Its heavy, injured body stirred restlessly in the water, even trying to clumsily adjust its posture. The frenzied and desperate aura seemed to lessen slightly, replaced by a more primal, almost instinctual longing and confusion. It moved very slowly, tentatively, a little bit toward the direction where Lu Jianchuan was hiding.

It worked! Lu Jianchuan's heart almost leaped out of his chest. He suppressed his excitement tightly, preparing for the next step—trying to use the sound to guide it toward the entrance of the maintenance channel leading to the external water system.

However, fate bared its cruel fangs at this moment.

Almost as soon as White Star was attracted by the call of its kind, a sound amplified by the square's high-quality speakers, clear as if right next to the ear, rudely pierced through the walls and flooded in:

"...So, the success of our 'White Star' is inseparable from the meticulous care of our entire team." A slightly slick, smiling baritone voice rang out, highly recognizable for anyone familiar with the aquarium that had long dominated media coverage. "Especially our meritorious Zookeeper, Mr. Zhao Yongqiang, he's the best at getting it to 'cooperate,' haha..."

It was Zhao Yongqiang! The voice of that man who had stood by the pool countless times with an electric prod, wearing a sinister smile, inflicting extreme pain on it! This voice, along with that flippant tone, had long been etched like a poisonous thorn deep into White Star's nerves and marrow!

"Ooo—!!!"

In the exhibition hall, the ethereal whale song was instantly cut off as if by an invisible hand!

White Star's massive body first stiffened to the extreme, then erupted as if the heavens and earth were collapsing! The faint longing and confusion that had just surfaced were completely crushed and devoured by more violent, darker rage, fear, and deep-seated hatred!

That man's voice was like a red-hot branding iron, searing its deepest wound! The agony of electric shocks, the humiliation of imprisonment, countless desperate struggles... All the forcibly suppressed memories erupted like a volcano, along with physiological fear and hatred!

"Roar—!!!"

It let out a terrifying roar, torn and different from the whale song, filled with all its pain and desire for destruction! Its massive tail fin, with the force of ten thousand jun, slammed madly against the water, the waves it stirred crashing against the pool walls like a tsunami!

It no longer paid attention to the faint call from its "kind." Its crimson pupils locked onto the direction beyond the wall, from which that man's voice came!

Destroy! Destroy that voice! Destroy everything that brought pain!

Using its incredibly hard, mutated, and even more ferocious-looking melon, it aimed at the main wall of the exhibition hall where the sound and light came from, pouring all its strength, all its hatred into this charge. Like a sorrowful god of vengeance, with the will to crush everything, it launched a fierce charge!