164: Attract attention

“This mountain of corpses has been artificially arranged into a special symbol!”

“What happened here was definitely not done by ordinary Awakened Ones; this is a heinous cult incident!”

Ye Qindong said in a deep voice.

It looked like a sacrificial event, a cult's sacrificial event.

He had once worked at the United Nations, and at that time, he had handled a cult incident abroad.

That was a true cult matter, unlike the money-grubbing ones in China; they sacrificed living people to their so-called True God.

But the cult incident he encountered back then truly paled in comparison to what was before him now.

“A symbol?”

Upon hearing this, his teammates also gathered around, looking at the scene before them, and they too understood.

“There are cultists in China, and many Awakened Ones must have appeared among them. Judging from the number of Infected here, there must be very powerful Awakened Ones among them.”

Ye Qindong said.

The group immediately began taking photos for documentation. However, the angle from the ground was limited, so they had to call for a drone to take pictures.

After a while, a drone flew over, took photos, and uploaded them to the command center.

“Let’s go!”

Ye Qindong immediately led his team to withdraw.

The sheer number of Infected corpses here made him wary; if they encountered the cultists, their small group could be wiped out.

The photos here caused a sensation in the command center.

The officer in charge of this operation looked relatively young, only around fifty years old, with an imposing demeanor that commanded respect without anger, and an extremely powerful Aura.

But at this moment, as he looked at the photos transmitted by the drone, his eyes couldn't help but tremble.

“Who did this? It’s absolutely insane!”

“Do… do these people still have any humanity?!”

Many officers exclaimed in shock.

“Ordinary people absolutely couldn't do these things; it must be Awakened Ones!”

“This must be reported to the higher-ups. Control over Awakened Ones must be strengthened!”

Inside the command room, everyone's faces turned pale.

Countless corpses were artificially twisted and arranged to form a bizarre and evil symbol. That eerie Aura almost rushed out, making the fear in people's hearts surge like a tide, almost suffocating them.

Such a scene was truly challenging the limits of human sanity.

“These people are lawless!”

Commander Hao glared, his face turning red, clearly in a fit of extreme rage.

Although, at first glance, most of those sacrificed were Infected, the people who could do such a thing...

Perhaps in their eyes, there was no difference between the Infected and humans.

If there was a difference, it was only which was easier to target.

Most importantly, the current attitude of the higher-ups towards the Infected was to avoid killing them as much as possible, awaiting the research of an antidote.

At his level, he already knew that the higher-ups had performed surgeries on some Infected, removing the Parasite from their brains, thereby allowing the Infected to temporarily return to normal.

Although very quickly, the Parasite breeding inside the patient's body sensed this and rapidly re-entered the brain, turning the recovered person back into an Infected.

But this brief recovery gave everyone hope.

The Parasite' infestation did not cause severe damage to the body; they primarily fed on blood sugar.

The aggressive behavior of the Infected was also due to the Parasite' reproductive instinct.

In fact, it was rare for Infected to extensively devour the flesh and blood of ordinary people.

The aggressive behavior of the Infected was more often due to reproductive instinct; they rarely continued to attack once the target was confirmed to be Infected.

It was for this reason that the higher-ups did not act immediately, waiting a few days before beginning to rescue survivors, all for the optimal action plan.

This also meant that Shangqing City would remain under siege until a drug targeting the Parasite was developed.

Currently, due to a certain Mysterious Organization spreading Parasite everywhere, the major global powers had already formed an Alliance to research drugs against Parasite.

This was a rare Alliance in all of history.

With such power, developing a drug for Parasite was certainly possible.

It just needed time.

Therefore, he was so enraged.

Because these people would all return to normal in the near future.

“My command: dispatch drones, ensure power supply continues in Shangqing City. I will personally escort these cultists to the capital!”

Commander Hao issued the order with a cold tone.

Following Commander Hao's order, drones began to take off, flying into Shangqing City.

At the same time, all surveillance in Shangqing City was taken over by artificial intelligence, which could issue warnings for similar scenes.

Due to technical issues, the artificial intelligence could not yet distinguish between Infected attacking humans and the evil sacrificial events of cultists.

So it served two purposes: it could both search for cultists and discover survivors.

Besides Ye Qindong, subsequently, various teams sent out to search for survivors successively discovered similar bizarre symbols formed by Infected corpses.

There was even one instance of a bizarre symbol formed by human corpses, though only one case, with only eight bodies. However, these bodies were very strange; they had become mummified.

These eight bodies were even transported to the command center, where military doctors were studying them.

“How was this done? There are no external injuries.”

Even the military doctors were baffled, and it even made them think of the extraordinary abilities of Mutated Creatures.

As more sacrificial sites with corpses were discovered, the matter here was even reported to the capital.

The events here shocked the higher-ups, leading to National Security taking over responsibility and initiating discussions on the management of Awakened Ones.

With the capabilities of National Security, it was naturally discovered that a few days prior, in Shengmen Town, near Shangqing City, the same cult sacrificial event had occurred.

In that incident, both cultists were Awakened Ones, and their methods were cruel and bloody.

This made the people at National Security complain. The already powerful Mutated Creatures, the Mysterious Organization, and foreign forces were enough for them to worry about, and now there was a cult.

Moreover, this cult was definitely not simple. A cult organization capable of killing nearly a thousand Infected must have considerable strength.

They continued to review national data and finally confirmed that the first appearance of this mysterious symbol was in Shengmen Town; there were no records of it before then.

Based on the cult's modus operandi, they guessed that this cult organization must have emerged recently.

And Shangqing City was very likely the origin and base of this cult organization.

They immediately issued a warning, systematically monitoring all people from Shangqing City who had not left through their channels.

Once people from Shangqing City who had not left through their means purchased transportation tickets, checked into hotels, etc., they would be immediately notified... at the foot of a large mountain somewhere.

Song Sheng stood on the head of a giant beast over thirty meters long, his brows slightly furrowed as he listened to the news from the bureau.

It was a giant bear, as massive as a small mountain, with fur as hard as steel needles, and sharp, strong canines in its huge mouth that could tear through steel.

But now, it lay on the ground, lifeless, with Song Sheng stepping on its head.

“Lin Fei and Chen Xu’s parents are dead?”

Song Sheng's brows furrowed, and his expression grew increasingly grim after hearing the detailed account of the incident.

He had a high regard for Lin Fei, believing he might usher in a new era.

But now, he had a bad premonition.

Especially since the state had intervened in this matter and failed.

Sometimes, anger and sorrow can make people lose their minds.

“The cult organization in Shangqing City?”

Song Sheng's brows furrowed even tighter as he heard the latter part.

He had spent a few days in Shangqing City but hadn't detected any fluctuations of the god particle.

At his level, he could clearly perceive the god particle fluctuations within other living organisms around him.

That is to say, if an Awakened One existed in his vicinity, they generally couldn't hide from him.

Unless that person was very strong, stronger than him!

“Send it over.”

Song Sheng said.

Soon, Song Sheng's phone received confidential photos.

He looked at them, his gaze sharpening, and a killing intent flashed in his eyes.

“Truly, all sorts of demons and monsters are coming out.”

“Since you dare to show your face, be prepared to lose your head!”

Song Sheng's face broke into a smile, but it was a cold one.

“Shangqing City.”

Song Sheng muttered the name.

Both the first special Mutated Creature to attract attention, the Giant Octopus, and Lin Fei, who had a special connection to the Giant Octopus, originated from Shangqing City.

Now, such a cult organization had emerged from Shangqing City.

This made him a little superstitious; was there something special about Shangqing City?