Back at work, his mind was still on the sudden incident from the afternoon. After evening fell, Song Wuli returned to the company; there was still overtime to be done. However, everyone in the company was a bit distracted, and no one felt like working.
This time, the international attention was high. Both the local television station and Liang Tai’s live room had broadcast the event, giving it wide reach. They too were all heatedly discussing the afternoon’s happenings.
Especially after the recent “Barber Man” incident, both Busan City and Tokyo had witnessed the anomaly in the sky, and many people were also concerned about Yiri City and the Three Sisters of Gold, Silver, and Red.
It was only natural for the Wenan Group to discuss this during overtime. Everyone worked while passionately debating the Three Sisters of Gold, Silver, and Red.
Xiao Liu slowly tapped at his keyboard:
“It’s only been a few months since they debuted, right? Feels more thrilling than decades. If only they’d debuted earlier, maybe fewer people would have died before.”
Xiao Zhao also felt a bit sentimental.
The newcomers Chang Yong and Chang Kaihuai were also chatting, the two of them being closer in their relationship.
“I went in the afternoon too, it was damn spectacular.” Chang Kaihuai was referring to the place where the public welfare organization was distributing supplies.
“I thought you were posting images from the internet, you actually went? Then you didn’t get anything?” Chang Yong looked at the phone he handed over and examined the footage.
It was indeed filmed at the scene of the incident.
Dense crowds of people, lined up in perfect order, bowing or applauding right there.
“You didn’t go ask for a photo or autograph?” Chang Yong asked.
“No, someone like Yin Lin is really busy, so I didn’t want to bother her,” Chang Kaihuai replied. “Besides, there were too many people, and I couldn’t get to the front. Felt like it would take forever, so I came back.”
“Damn, you’re that rational? If it were me, I wouldn’t be so rational. I’d at least queue up until I got a photo.”
“Come on, don’t make it so cringe. Apparently she’s still injured, her body hasn’t recovered, so she can’t stay active for long.”
At that, Chang Kaihuai suddenly glanced at Song Wuli.
Noticing that the kid had shot a look his way after mentioning injuries, Old Song was startled, his heart pounding fiercely. He quickly pretended to work, unable to help but let out a few soft coughs.
“Team Leader Song, come to think of it, you were injured too. Has your injury been getting better lately?” Chang Kaihuai showed concern for him.
“Not bad. By the way, does Greta know about what happened this afternoon?”
Song Wuli abruptly steered the conversation off in a completely different direction.
Chang Kaihuai didn’t notice, and answered: “Yeah, she knows. Check the work group chat.”
Right on cue, Greta, working remotely, sent over new documents, a few drafts about foreign NPCs, written quite perfectly, full of passion. She seemed to have gotten carried away while writing, the text brimming with emotion.
What happened on her end to get her so hyped up?
Old Song took a look at the work group chat and saw that since the afternoon, Greta had been chatting with Chang Yong, Chang Kaihuai, and the others.
The two of them had enthusiastically shared the scene of the “Ten Thousand Thanks.” Initially, they thought Chang Kaihuai had posted images from the internet, but it turned out he was actually there in person.
Greta couldn’t help but ask a lot of questions in the work group chat, very concerned about the afternoon’s events.
She only regretted not being there, unable to witness that awe-inspiring scene firsthand.
“Where’s Lita? She’s acting like she’s left Yiri City entirely. It can’t be that she’s too busy to show up, right?”
After reading their conversation, Song Wuli took the chance to ask about Greta.
At this hour, Greta seemed to be working as well and replied quickly.
She sent a photo, showing the suburb near the border area.
It was indeed far from the urban area, so it was only natural that coming back to the city wasn’t convenient.
Except… why would Greta take a long leave of absence to go to the border?
He was a bit curious, but didn’t press further; that was her own business. Old Song felt that his personal relationship with Greta wasn’t close enough to ask about such private matters.
Looking at the drafts Greta had written, there was a certain flavor of frontier customs, a touch of exotic charm.
Snapping back to attention, Song Wuli continued working, listening in on their conversation as he did, enjoying it.
That evening, he didn’t stay at the company and went home instead.
He took a taxi back and even left a tip.
He went to eat fried dumplings, only to find that the small eatery was offering free food all day, so anyone could eat whatever they wanted.
All they had to do was shout a slogan, the classic one.
At first, they thought Old Man Song Wuli would be too embarrassed to shout it, so they told him to just do it half-heartedly.
But he shouted “Star-Piercing” louder than anyone else, making all the other customers laugh.
As he finished his fried dumplings and was about to leave, something at the corner of his eye caught his attention: a surveillance camera.
Old Song stroked his chin in thought and went to the owner to ask for the footage. Getting the surveillance from two days ago was no trouble at all, and he copied it into his phone.
Walking back, Old Song turned much more serious. When he got near his home, he spotted another small supermarket with a surveillance camera, so he bought some items, exchanged pleasantries, and obtained the footage from the previous two days there as well.
Back home, he first reported his safety in the Three Sisters Group chat.
Then he went to shower, careful not to scrub his body too hard. He was covered in injuries, and it hurt terribly, so he could only wipe himself gently.
After showering, he just wore his underwear and got to work, watching the surveillance replays.
He did a rough pass first and found nothing.
No obviously suspicious person appeared at the fried dumpling shop, and the small supermarket didn’t capture anything obviously suspicious either.
Song Wuli carefully recalled the details of the attack he had suffered two days ago, mentally replaying the sound of the other party’s footsteps, guessing their weight, and recalling the smell at the time, trying to figure out what scent had masked their body odor.
He also recalled the specific time of the attack and calculated when the other party would have entered the room.
Soon, he had a rough guess.
So he adjusted the surveillance to that time period and slowed it down to 5x speed, watching carefully.
His eyes locked onto the screen.
Suddenly, something passed by before his eyes.
He rewound a few seconds, slowed it to 10x speed, and zoomed in on the part of the sky in the footage.
At the small supermarket, he saw a very blurry dark figure crossing the night sky, visible for only a few frames.
He couldn’t make out the figure’s build, as it was just a few pixels, too far away and too blurry.
So… the one who had sneaked in here that day was a magical girl with flight abilities?
It wasn’t the tall woman in the tight suit who had come to retrieve the Heavy Gravity Pearl; a later break-in attack was also very possible.
No, not necessarily.
That woman could also be a magical girl.
After transforming, a break-in attack was very possible too.
Song Wuli thought of Huang Yi and Magical Girl Wanzi; maybe they could help with the investigation?
Unfortunately, his relationship with them wasn’t close enough to reveal such private matters.
That’s it!
Song Wuli picked up his phone and opened Huang Yi’s chat.
Silver Lin:
“A friend of mine wants to ask if you have any forensic methods to investigate where those bank robbers came from? Or where they might be fleeing to?”
Though nothing was said outright, everything was implied.
Huang Yi didn’t call him out on it either, and shared some simple investigation techniques.
Either conduct interviews or check surveillance cameras.
By pinpointing the different locations where the bank robbers appeared at different times, you could trace their origin.
The more data points you gathered, the higher the accuracy of the pursuit.