75: New clues

Lu Jianchuan rode his police motorcycle, searching alone through all the abandoned factories, warehouses, and underground air-raid shelters marked on the map.

He meticulously combed through these dim, dust-filled places, not overlooking a single trace.

However, apart from occasionally startling rats and swirling dust, he found nothing. Those remote-controlled limbs and hidden head seemed to have evaporated, leaving no clues behind.

After a full day of running around, it wasn't until nightfall that he dragged his exhausted body back to the Police Station.

"Nothing. I've checked every conceivable hiding spot I could think of. All clean, no signs of recent activity." He frowned deeply. "Could our line of reasoning be wrong? Or... is he hiding somewhere I'd never even think to look?"

Lu Jianchuan thought to himself.

"Xiao Lu, where did you go this afternoon? I couldn't find you anywhere." Just then, Old Zhang walked over and casually asked.

Lu Jianchuan's heart tightened, but his expression remained unchanged. He waved the folder in his hand. "I went to the archives room to check some old case files, see if there were any similar cases for reference." He skillfully avoided a direct answer and turned the question around. "Any progress on your end?"

Old Zhang didn't suspect a thing. He sighed heavily and slumped into a chair. "No. We've questioned everyone we could, reviewed the surveillance footage repeatedly. That guy's vanished off the face of the earth. His social circle is simple, no real enemies. It's downright bizarre!"

At that moment, the sound of a news broadcast from a colleague's computer in the office caught their attention. The local TV station was airing a finance and technology news segment, the screen displaying a brand new, grand building with a futuristic design.

"...The 'Qiming Future Medical Center', funded by the city's renowned entrepreneur and chairman of the Hongyuan Group, Mr. Lu Jianguo, will officially open next week."

The female anchor's voice came through clearly. "Our reporter was granted early access. The center has introduced multiple world-class technologies and is particularly renowned for its 'Deep Life Support Pods'.

"Reportedly, this equipment can provide critically ill patients with fully enclosed, sterile, temperature and humidity-controlled life support with automated nutrient delivery for up to several months, significantly improving treatment success rates. It is one of the most Advanced Systems in the country..."

The news footage cut to a close-up of a sleek, silver, enclosed medical pod with a futuristic, streamlined design, its indicator lights glowing faintly.

Fully enclosed... sterile... temperature and humidity-controlled... automated nutrient delivery... life support... These keywords, combined with The Forger's mention of a "brain surviving requires a safe environment," clicked together in Lu Jianchuan's mind like cold, perfectly fitting puzzle pieces!

What does a brain, separated from its body, extremely fragile yet needing to remain active, need most? Isn't it precisely such an 'Advanced container' that can replace bodily functions and provide a perfect living environment? Those abandoned factories and warehouses could only offer concealment; they could never provide such precise, stable life-support conditions!

"He... he couldn't really have..." Lu Jianchuan muttered unconsciously, but was immediately shocked by the boldness and madness of the idea. "Impossible, right? The place is too high-profile, brand new, security must be tight..."

Reason told him it was too risky, bordering on foolish. But putting himself in the other's shoes—if he were Wu Meng, reduced to just a head, struggling on the edge of life and death—facing a top-tier medical pod offering an almost "perfect" environment, would he be willing to take a tremendous risk and gamble? This ultimate temptation might be enough to drive a desperate mind to make the most irrational choice!

As soon as his shift ended, Lu Jianchuan quickly changed out of his police uniform in the station's locker room, putting on an inconspicuous dark gray hoodie and sweatpants. He stuffed essential gear and a small high-powered flashlight into his backpack, took a deep breath, and blended into the evening rush-hour crowd.

He didn't head directly for the much-publicized 'Qiming Future Medical Center'. Instead, he first took a bus to a commercial plaza one block away. After weaving through the crowd for a while, confirming nothing was amiss, he then walked towards the medical center.

As he got closer, the pure white, highly futuristic building he'd seen on the news came into view. It looked like a finely polished gem, somewhat out of place with its surroundings. Although not officially open for business yet, the entire building was brightly lit, clearly undergoing final debugging and preparation work.

Lu Jianchuan didn't approach the main entrance. He chose a café at the base of an office building across the street, sat by the window, ordered the cheapest drink, and fixed his sharp gaze on the medical center opposite.

The security situation was even tighter than he had anticipated.

A guard post was set up at the main entrance, where two burly security guards in black uniforms stood meticulously, their eyes constantly scanning approaching pedestrians and vehicles. All personnel and vehicles entering or exiting needed to show identification and register.

The building's perimeter was surrounded by a not-so-short electronic fence, clearly equipped with 360-degree surveillance cameras with no blind spots above, their lenses slowly rotating, red indicator lights blinking.

And that was just what was visible. Relying on his professional instincts, Lu Jianchuan could vaguely sense some hidden security measures—possible motion sensors behind certain windows, and perhaps vibration monitoring Systems laid in the ground. The security level here was on par with that of some important financial institutions.

Could a "head" that had lost its body and could only rely on remote-controlled limbs really have the ability to breach such tight security, infiltrate the place, and occupy one of the most top-tier medical pods?

It sounded more like a fantasy.

Yet, the chill brought by The Forger's intel and that eerie surveillance footage lingered in his heart. What if... Wu Meng wasn't relying on his own strength, but his "limbs" had infiltrated in some hard-to-detect way—perhaps disguised as maintenance parts, exploiting blind spots in transport vehicles? Or, was there an inside man?

He had to go in and confirm. A frontal assault was impossible. The only way was to find a flaw in the security, or... disguise himself as relevant personnel and sneak in.

Lu Jianchuan silently drank his now lukewarm coffee, his mind racing as he examined every potentially exploitable detail—garbage collection vehicles, shift changes of the security team, the work schedule of external cleaning staff... As night deepened and pedestrians on the street grew sparse, Lu Jianchuan left the café. He patiently prowled the area around the medical center and finally found an old building site slated for demolition, one block away from the center. The fencing here was damaged, the interior piled with construction debris, pitch-black and utterly deserted.

He agilely climbed over the broken fence, ventured deep into the construction site, and crouched behind a collapsed wall. The spot was well-concealed, yet through gaps between buildings, he could vaguely see the brightly lit white medical center in the distance.

He took a deep breath of the cool night air, calming his slightly accelerated heartbeat. Then, he suddenly raised his left arm, holding it horizontally in front of him. With his right index and middle fingers pressed together, in a firm and swift motion, he traced the mysterious patterns on the armband towards the center, finally pressing accurately and firmly on the crimson gem that seemed condensed from blood!

Vmm—

A low hum, vibrating as if directly within the depths of his Soul! Not loud, but carrying a profound sense of a lifeform leaping to a higher level.

Silvery-white biomaterial fluid instantly surged out from all his pores, from beneath his skin!

It no longer violently burst through his clothes. Instead, like an intelligent lifeform, it swiftly "consumed" and "decomposed" his hoodie and sweatpants, perfectly Fusing them into its own flowing structure.

Arm guards, leg guards, chest plate... A streamlined helmet extended upward from his neck, covering his head. The visor suddenly lit up, its azure-blue light like two cold stars, dispelling the darkness of the construction site.

Transformation complete!

A powerful sense of strength filled his entire body, his senses amplified to the extreme. He slightly bent his knees, the muscle fibers beneath the leg armor instantly compressing, then erupting with astonishing force!

Thud! A soft, muffled sound. Only a shallow dent remained where he had been standing. The silver figure had already leapt like a ghost onto the roof of a nearby three-story old building. He raced silently across the uneven rooftops, his movements as fluid as the night itself, his azure-blue visor calmly scanning every detail of the medical center ahead.

He avoided all main roads and obvious light sources, moving like a silver fish through the city's shadows, rapidly closing in on his target. The tall electronic fence and omnipresent surveillance cameras were no longer insurmountable obstacles for him in this state.

On the roof of a low building closest to the medical center's outer fence, he stopped and crouched. His visor locked onto the rotation patterns of several surveillance cameras, calculating the brief gaps when their fields of vision intersected.

Now!

His figure surged forward again. Instead of climbing over, he forcefully pushed off the ground in front of the fence, his body almost parallel to the ground as he "glided" through the air like a silver lightning bolt skimming the earth. With pinpoint accuracy, he passed through the momentary blind spot where two camera views overlapped, landing silently on the lawn inside the medical center. He followed with a roll, concealing himself in the shadow of some ornamental shrubs.

The entire process happened in the blink of an eye, triggering no alarms.

He didn't act rashly. Instead, he heightened his senses to the extreme, capturing the finest vibrations and sounds in the air, and... any anomalous biological signals that didn't belong.

The exploration had begun.