207: Chapter 207 The Child Is Lost?

The clothing store's line, "The system understands data better, but I understand whether you look like yourself better," was like a pebble dropped into the lake of the entire livestream.

It didn't cause an explosion.

It caused ripples.

Even the bullet comments stopped flying wildly with "WTF" and "Awesome" like they were at the beginning; instead, there were many more people actually watching seriously.

By this time, the night in Chengbei District had completely unfolded.

The lighting system of the entire commercial street switched to night mode. It wasn't glaring, nor was it dim; it was like a thin layer of warm mist, gently lifting up the road, the crowds, the shop signs, and the Robot units all together.

The indicator lights for the roadside patrol modules lit up in inconspicuous places.

In the distance, several mechanical police dogs were more dispersed than before, crouching low and slowly patrolling their respective responsible areas.

Chen Shuyu held up her phone, walking forward while continuing the previous topic.

"Actually, what's truly impressive about Chengbei District isn't these shops."

"It's the interconnected system behind the entire street."

As she spoke, she was just about to steer the conversation toward the "Urban Central Brain," when a woman's tearful voice suddenly came from ahead.

"Lele!"

"Lele!"

The voice wasn't particularly loud, but because of the obvious trembling panic, it instantly grabbed the attention of everyone around.

The camera panned over.

A young woman was rushing out from the entrance of a dessert shop. Her hair was a bit messy, her face was pale, and she was clutching a phone and tissues she hadn't had time to put down.

She looked around, her voice trembling.

"Where is my son?!"

"He was just here… He was just here!"

Several people nearby immediately gathered around.

"What's wrong?"

"How old is the child?"

"Don't panic, don't panic, tell us clearly first."

The woman was so anxious that her eyes were red, and her speech was completely incoherent.

"He's, he's five years old, blue jacket, small white shoes. I just lowered my head to pay, took some tissues, and answered a phone call, and when I turned back, he was gone…"

"He was just standing next to me…"

As soon as she said this, the bullet comments in the livestream, which had still been discussing intelligent shopping guides and human-machine division of labor, instantly went quiet for a beat.

Immediately after, they started scrolling rapidly.

"WTF, a child is lost?"

"This is the scariest thing in a place like this!"

"Don't say it, my heart is already in my throat."

"The golden three minutes!!"

Almost at the same moment the woman's voice fell, the guidance Robot closest to her slid over.

It didn't suddenly cut in front of her face, nor did it emit any harsh alert sounds. It just stopped about one step away from the woman, and the screen on its chest instantly switched from the navigation menu to a gentle cartoon interface.

A round little whale appeared against a light blue background, its tail swaying gently.

"Hello, please do not panic."

"I am currently assisting you in finding your child."

The woman seemed to have been pulled back to a bit of sanity by this steady voice; her breathing was rapid, but she still instinctively looked at it.

The Robot continued to ask:

"May I ask the child's age?"

"Five years old…"

"Gender?"

"Boy."

"Color of the top?"

"Blue, blue jacket…"

"Color of the bottom?"

"Off-white pants."

"Is he wearing a hat?"

"No."

"Was the last location you saw him at the entrance of the dessert shop behind you?"

The woman nodded immediately.

"Yes! That's the place!"

"Information recorded."

"Please stay where you are and do not move around extensively."

"The system is conducting a joint search."

Meanwhile, in the upper right corner of the livestream screen, a semi-transparent icon that hadn't been there before quietly lit up.

[Urban Central Brain · Initial Version]

[Child Lost Emergency Protocol Initiated]

Su Qingxue looked at the icon, her eyes slightly narrowing.

Chen Shuyu was also clearly stunned for a moment, then reacted, lowering her voice and saying to the camera:

"This is the Urban Central Brain Initial Version that Lu Li mentioned before."

"It's not a concept, not a PPT; it's the interconnected system that is already running now."

Just as she finished saying this, the "silent change" of the entire commercial street began.

Not far away, the mechanical police dogs that had been patrolling in a scattered manner switched their paths almost at the same time.

One, two, four, six—they didn't swarm over in a chaotic bunch.

Instead, it was as if an invisible hand had gently nudged a chessboard from above.

At every major passage exit, in groups of two, they quickly occupied their positions.

Auxiliary roads, corners, mall connections, and the outer edges of parking channels were all simultaneously filled.

The movements were astonishingly fast.

Yet, the scene wasn't chaotic at all.

Because none of the mechanical police dogs used pouncing motions; instead, they crouched, turned, moved laterally, and stood still, like a silently closing net.

They didn't interfere with the passage of ordinary people, yet they precisely blocked all "possible exit paths" one step ahead.

In the livestream, a large number of viewers immediately noticed that something wasn't right.

"Wait, isn't this a bit too big of a fuss?"

"This isn't just a normal search, right?"

"Did the system determine there's an abnormality?"

"I've got goosebumps…"

Meanwhile, various streetlamp nodes, shop exterior cameras, and public surveillance viewpoints in the district were simultaneously accessed in the background.

In the mall's central control room, the flow of people from three minutes ago began to be automatically backtracked.

Image samples matching the "physical characteristics of a young boy" were quickly screened out and then rapidly excluded.

And what was most hair-raising was that the system wasn't just looking for "a lone young boy."

It was also screening for another type of high-risk combination—abnormal adult + suspected child disguised and leaving.

The broadcasting system of the nearby mall had also switched to standby mode.

But it didn't start broadcasting immediately.

Because once there really was a high-risk target present, rashly broadcasting might instead provoke the other party to accelerate their departure.

This entire set of interconnections was quiet to the point of being terrifying.

But it was precisely because of this silence that it appeared even more mature.

President Trump stared at the screen, the trace of disdain that had originally remained at the corners of his mouth having completely vanished.

He certainly understood what this set of things meant.

This wasn't just about having a few more Robots.

This was an urban reaction.

It was a direct leap from the old model of "humans discover problems, report them layer by layer, and then handle them layer by layer" to a new model of "the system organizes resources and intercepts risks a step ahead."

He didn't speak.

He just sat up a bit straighter, his body, which had originally been leaning against the back of the chair, having done so unconsciously.

And in the livestream footage, the twist that truly made everyone's scalp tingle appeared at this moment.

On the tracking interface of the Urban Central Brain, a segment of footage was suddenly locked onto.

A child who looked like a "little girl" was being held in the arms of an old lady with graying hair, walking quickly toward the east exit.

The child was wearing a little pink jacket and a wig with a bow on their head.

At first glance, they really looked like a little girl.

But if you looked closely, you would find something wrong.

The child's shoulder width, leg shape, and posture while struggling matched the five-year-old boy described by the mother just now to a high degree.

And—that wig was obviously worn unnaturally.

It looked like it had been put on temporarily.

The livestream chat exploded instantly.

"WTF???"

"Is it really a human trafficker?!"

"Why does that little girl look so weird?!"

"A wig! Definitely a wig!"

"Oh my god, they wouldn't really kidnap a child during a livestream, would they?!"

Su Qingxue's breathing hitched slightly, and her fingers tightened subconsciously.

Chen Shuyu held her phone, a thin layer of chill rising on her back.

She had originally thought this was at most a system recovery after a normal missing person case.

But now that the footage had appeared, the words that popped into her mind first were the ones she had seen too many times in the news.

Trafficking.

Disguise.

Transfer.

Golden three minutes.