171: Night Exploration of Wutong Town

At four in the morning, the world was dark and silent. Hundreds of Public Security vehicles arrived at the entrance of Wutong Town.

Wutong Town, in front of them, was incredibly quiet in the dark. The Wutong trees at the entrance swayed gently in the night wind, like a terrifying, gaping maw waiting for the ignorant to arrive.

The branch chief of the Special Public Security Team also came to personally supervise. He was a man in his forties or fifties, wearing glasses, with a serious expression.

“Wutong Town only has this one exit connecting to the road. All other directions are wilderness and mountains.”

“Team One, you go to the left to stand by, in case they try to escape that way. Team Two, you go to the right to stand by. Team Three, you stand by where you are.”

“As for the back of Wutong Town, don't risk it in the middle of the night. That's real mountain forest.”

“According to current intelligence, the vast majority of Wutong Town's residents are members of a cult organization. So, the mission target is everyone in Wutong Town!”

“First, bring everyone back to the bureau for investigation. We will not wrongly accuse innocent residents.”

“Now, commence action! Remember, unless there is serious resistance, no firing of weapons is allowed!”

The branch chief said sternly.

They were not the Eagle Sauce Country; even when facing criminals and suspects, they were not allowed to fire their weapons unless absolutely necessary.

Every time a weapon was fired, a report had to be written afterwards.

It was also because of this responsible system that Public Security Officers in the country generally preferred not to use firearms during missions unless it was absolutely unavoidable.

“Yes!”

The many Special Public Security Officers quietly responded and began their actions.

When the First Brigade and Second Brigade reached their designated locations, the remaining seven brigades entered Wutong Town in the dark.

The entire Wutong Town was silent, without a single sound.

No one paid attention to it; at this time of night, in such a mountain town or village, complete silence was normal.

Such places were not like urban areas with rich nightlife, where many people had even reversed their day and night schedules.

Working at night and sleeping during the day.

Upon reaching the first house, several Special Public Security Officers stepped forward to knock on the door, while the other Special Public Security Officers continued forward, cooperating tacitly.

“Hello, we are Public Security Officers. We have some questions for you!”

The Special Public Security Officers knocked several times, but there was no response.

They exchanged glances, didn't wait any longer, picked up a battering ram, and directly smashed open the old wooden door with one blow.

Facing the pitch-black interior, they walked directly into the room and used their flashlights to examine the environment.

This was an old three-story residential building, quite old.

The first floor had ordinary cement flooring, and the walls were also cement, without any latex paint, artistic paint, or wallpaper tiles for decoration.

The furnishings were very simple: just an ordinary mountain village kitchen and a few dining tables and chairs. Other than that, there was nothing else.

In old houses like this, the first floor was generally only for cooking and eating, and the homeowners usually rested upstairs.

The Special Public Security Officers exchanged glances and walked up the stairs.

Soon, they passed through the dark staircase and arrived on the second floor. Both rooms were closed. The four of them exchanged glances and directly opened the doors.

The doors were not locked.

Strong flashlight beams shone in, and both rooms were empty.

Both rooms had beds and cabinets, which should have been the master bedrooms.

“No one?”

The men whispered, quickly running towards the third floor.

In old houses like this, there were only three floors at most, and suspects could escape by jumping out of windows.

In fact, such situations occurred frequently.

The four Special Public Security Officers quickly ran to the third floor and broke down the door.

The flashlights shone in, but it was empty, making them frown. Seeing the switch, they directly turned on the light.

Yellow light illuminated the dark room.

One room was a storage room, filled with miscellaneous items, but another room caught their attention.

This room was very tidy. Against one wall of the room, there was an old reddish-brown table. On the table was an incense burner with incense sticks burning, emitting wisps of sandalwood smoke.

And above the old table, a painting was hung, or rather, enshrined.

The painting was very blurry, with chaotic and distorted lines, making it impossible to discern what it depicted. It made people frown and instinctively feel disgusted.

“Enshrining a painting? What kind of painting is this? Some kind of ghost scribble?”

“Such a thing, and it can bewitch people like this?”

A Special Public Security Officer said.

“Let's go. According to intelligence, when the survivors escaped, these cultists were holding a worship service. Perhaps, they haven't finished yet.”

But at the very moment a Special Public Security Officer looked away, his blurry vision seemed to catch a faint shadow appearing within those twisted and chaotic lines.

In that instant, his heart skipped a beat, because this shadow seemed designed to express fear as much as possible, causing an unsettling feeling in one's heart.

“What's wrong?”

His teammates noticed the change in his expression.

“Nothing, I just noticed that this painting seems to depict some kind of monster, perhaps using psychological techniques to specifically evoke fear.”

The Special Public Security Officer shook his head.

“Is that so? Never mind, these pieces of evidence will have to be taken back anyway. Let's go check ahead first.”

As they spoke, they went downstairs, returned to the street, and ran forward to catch up with their teammates ahead.

After catching up with their teammates, they reported the findings of their investigation to the Brigade Leader.

Due to its sparse population, Wutong Town's streets were much wider than those of other mountain villages, about ten meters wide.

But in front of the numbers of the seven Special Public Security Brigades, they were already crowded.

The gates of several surrounding houses had already been forcibly broken open, and light emanated from within, indicating that Special Public Security Officers were already inside.

But without exception, there was no one inside.

The entire team continued to advance. Although their numbers were astonishing, their discipline was strict, and not much sound was emitted.

After passing through a street with no houses, another cluster of houses appeared before them.

The Special Public Security Officers moved out again, deftly breaking open doors and entering to search.

Unfortunately, there was still no one.

In this manner, they had searched over a hundred houses, but had not found a single person. The entire Wutong Town was as silent as a dead town.

“Still no one. Has the worship service not ended yet? If we continue forward, that should be the location where the service is being held.”

“Then let's have people spread out and surround them. Be careful, their numbers are large, and their psychology is twisted. If necessary, open fire.”

The Brigade Leaders discussed it for a moment, then waved their hands, instructing their respective teams to advance and surround them from both sides.

Soon, they arrived at a large open space.

But at this moment, it was already empty!

“What's going on?”

The Brigade Leader of the Fifth Brigade frowned and contacted his subordinates. They were encircling from the other side and hadn't seen anyone either.

Soon, all the Special Public Security Officers had converged here, forming a large circle, but they hadn't found anyone.

“Looking at the traces on the ground, they're still very fresh. They must have been here earlier.”

The Brigade Leader of the Sixth Brigade squatted down, shining his flashlight on the ground.

“Look here!”

Just then, a shout rang out.

Everyone walked over, and their gazes instantly trembled.

There, the bodies of a tiger, a man, and a woman had been artificially twisted and shaped into a bizarre symbol.

This scene was bloody and eerie, impacting their hearts.

“These lunatics!”

The pupils of the Brigade Leaders trembled slightly. After so many years of work, this was the first time they had witnessed such a scene.

“From the traces, they haven't been gone long. Pursue them!”

The Brigade Leaders roared.

“Chief, there's something here too!”

Just then, a voice rang out.

The Brigade Leaders remembered something and quickly walked over.

Indeed, there was also a bizarre symbol on the ground, composed of three human bodies, one of whom was very young, only in his early twenties.

“These beasts, do they have any humanity left?!”

After reporting the situation, the Brigade Leaders ordered the team to quickly attack and arrest all suspects!

The entire team fanned out, and many people were in the wilderness, but at this point, they couldn't care about anything else.

Midway, the Fifth Brigade led their men to the Wutong Town Public Security Office.

When he arrived in the darkness, he saw that at the entrance of the Public Security Office, there was also a bizarre symbol, composed of corpses, emitting a foul odor.