Chapter 61: CVA-A-527 - "Startled Magpie"

[Level 5 clearance verified. The following activity log is invisible to other members.]

[Search content: Fan Yingshang]

[Found 0 results]

[Search content: Yingshang Fan]

[Found 0 results]

[Search content: Hazardous anomaly (Class: "Any (including neutralized entries)"; Containment site: "Sector Ten"; Age: "20-30 years old")]

[Found 798 results]

[Filtered out "humanoid" and "non-humanoid" entries]

[Found 213 results]

[Filtered out "files created earlier than 1662"]

[Found 34 results]

[Filtered out "non-Asian" and "male" entries]

[Found 15 results]

The number of anomalies contained by the Administration was horrifyingly large; it was unimaginable how much cruel cleanup work they had done just to keep the existence of anomalies hidden.

Shi Rang plunged into the first archive page in the queue, lingered for a moment in front of the attached photograph, and before fully processing the information, rushed onward to the next file without a moment's pause.

After eliminating several options through rapid reading, the remaining entries were all file records without photographs—four in total. Every single one of them shared external characteristics and traits strikingly similar to Yingshang.

With a heart full of hope, Shi Rang clicked into the first one.

[A handheld gaming console manufactured in 1640, when touched by an individual, will present...]

Not this one!

[Skin pigmentation exceeds 90% pure black...]

Not this one either!

[A corpse, deceased on the ██th of ██, 1507...]

Not this!

Shi Rang stopped before the final file, standing almost in despair before the "doorway" leading to it, and stepped inside carrying an equally intense mixture of hope and despair.

[CVA-B-9996 is an Asian female with long black hair, a slender build, and no obvious surface physical traits. The subject exhibits completely normal behavior in all aspects, possesses all human physiological needs, and displays no biological structural anomalies.]

Yes, exactly like her.

[Any manufactured objects with intricate structures directly touched by the subject (including electronic products, machinery, CVA-███, and CVA-███ and other mechanical hazardous anomalies) will fall into an inoperable state during contact, and return to normal after contact ceases.]

Perhaps, perhaps on that day when the situation was urgent...

[Local agents discovered the subject's existence through a massive amount of abnormal power outage reports, and contained her at her residence in ██ Community, ██ City, Sector Ten. B-9996's parents expressed complete ignorance of her anomalous properties...]

No.

None of them.

Shi Rang despairingly turned away from these useless records.

He began searching for humanoid items capable of inducing memory loss and absolute obedience, but the archives did not meticulously document every single victim of these detained individuals, and the activity ranges did not match up. The range of special objects capable of achieving such effects was simply too broad to investigate.

Perhaps the heavens took pity on him, for he actually found that bizarre bird attack.

[CVA-A-527 - "Startled Magpie"]

Containment Procedures: All CVA-A-527 specimens are to be contained at Site-397...

Description: CVA-A-527 is an anomalous passerine variant, biologically indistinguishable from standard counterpart species, with similar behavioral manifestations. When an A-527 specimen encounters strong external stimuli (usually triggered by human activity), all non-entity birds within its effect radius will be transformed into A-527-1. Birds that have previously undergone transformation can be affected by A-527's anomalous effects once more.

A-527-1 exhibits a high degree of hostility toward humans, launching attacks regardless of size disparity until death or exiting the effect radius.

Following the emergence of A-527-1, A-527 enters a sedated state lasting at least 12 hours.

The following conditions are known to cause A-527-1 to cease being affected:
A specific specimen among the most numerous birds in A-527-1 discovers the natural predator of its species;
A-527-1 fails to find any surviving humans;
The population of A-527-1 is reduced by more than half;
A-527-1 is obstructed by fixed buildings or other objects, preventing them from operating in flock formations.

Because A-527 is indistinguishable from ordinary passerines prior to the manifestation of its anomaly, its population is estimated to exceed ███ individuals.

Mobile Task Force Gamma-7 "There Are No Secrets Here, Right?" shall conduct round-the-clock searches for any "A-527-K" incidents published on the internet, eliminate public opinion by replacing source materials with AI-generated content and deleting information, and modify the cause of death for personnel killed in attacks to "wild animal attack." Any unrelated personnel aware of the A-527-K incident shall undergo administration of amnestics afterwards.

[Incident Log 527-K1]
May 28, 1601, Sector Nine ██ Nature Reserve, 2 fatalities, 5 individuals administered Class-A amnestics.

[Incident Log 527-K15]
July ██, 1601, Sector Twelve ██ Village, [Data Expunged].
Note: After the influence persisted for over 1 hour, A-527-1's anomalous properties were found to be capable of secondary transmission and cross-species propagation.
Following this incident, false papers regarding "avian rabies" were publicly published, and epidemic prevention guide manuals were compiled and distributed to official organs in major sectors for dissemination, in order to enhance public response capabilities to A-527-K incidents and reduce the risk of the Veil shattering.

[Incident Log 527-K5052]
April 15, 1662, Sector Ten ██ City Central Park, 1 injury, ██ individuals administered amnestics.
Note:
During this incident, A-527-1 rapidly terminated its aggressive behavior due to the intervention and handling of surrounding personnel, and the phenomenon did not spread widely.
23 hours after the incident, a Pan-Continental Alliance assessment team arrived first, cordoned off the site, and drove away the subsequently arrived members of Gamma-7, forcing the task force to shift to peripheral operations.
While attempting to capture and kill A-527, the Alliance assessment team provoked the entity, triggering a secondary incident. During the confrontation, they were attacked by unidentified armed forces utilizing anomalous items. A containment team conducting another containment operation in Yunling City arrived at the scene in time, cooperating with Gamma-7 to support the Alliance in suppressing the unidentified armed forces, killing 3 enemy combatants, though their bodies failed to be recovered.
Afterwards, the A-527 specimens at the scene were successfully contained.
For specific casualties, see this (jump link). Afterwards, over 5██ civilians received Class-A and Class-B amnestics, and all information records related to this incident were retroactively scrubbed.

-----------------

Unidentified armed forces.

The bird attack Greyhound encountered two years ago was an anomalous event. One day after the incident, besides the Alliance personnel, another unidentified armed force was lurking near Central Park, targeting the "Startled Magpie" specimens, ultimately triggering a three-way battle.

The use of anomalous items indicated that these unidentified armed forces knew about and commanded anomalies, and even maintained a force in Sector Ten—a capability that could not be underestimated.

Wait a minute...

Shi Rang knew of an organization that fit these characteristics extremely well:
The "third party" that handled the aftermath for him in the Yunling New District.

Both operated in Sector Ten, both understood the existence of anomalies, and both displayed an interest in anomalous items—back then it was the "Startled Magpie" incident, and this time it was the two pieces of containment intelligence stolen by Bjorn.

Could these two factions belong to the same force?

The Administration possessed means to erase memories; anomalous items could achieve the same results as well.

Did Shi Rang accidentally stumble into the crossfire line back then and get treated as a civilian by the Administration, or was he casually brushed aside like an insignificant bug by an unknown faction?

Yet afterwards, someone erased the memories of all knowledgeable parties, covering up the whereabouts of Yingshang who had been drawn into the incident... There were multiple possibilities for this as well—the Administration, the third party, and the Alliance.

Regardless of who covered up the truth, it was inextricably linked to her disappearance!

Shi Rang had a premonition that Yingshang was most likely still alive.

If she were dead, the conspirators would not need to go to such detailed and complex lengths to clean up after a dead person. Such elaborate fabrication and theft must be intended to cover up an even deeper secret.

This thought brought him a great deal of comfort, immediately followed by an even deeper surge of unease.

He hurriedly snuffed out those terrifying fantasies, forcing himself to continue thinking.

Why would Yingshang be at the center of the storm?

He was the person in the world most familiar with Yingshang. They had accompanied each other for many years, and each other's living habits and hobbies were clear to them as the back of their hand. He was certain that Yingshang showed no signs whatsoever of being out of the ordinary; she was an absolute ordinary person!

The gunshot at the end of the phone call echoed in his head once more, playing back like an audio clip, piercing through his mind over and over again.

Could it be that at a moment of crisis, she... manifested some kind of ability?

Just like how he suddenly awakened when facing the walking corpses?

Shi Rang continued his investigation along the bird attack incident, striving to extract more value from the Main Station.

He searched along the edges of the vast database, plunging into those trivial pieces of data that were not displayed on the pages, but merely piled up in the corners.

Found it.

He stopped within the space containing [Communication Device Trajectory Data].

Thanks to the characteristics of the Main Station, all communication devices connected to it possessed nearly eternal trajectory information. At this moment, he found their storage repository. Years of accumulated trajectory data wove an almost solid line on the world map, stacking up into a heavy block on the time scale. Shi Rang cautiously hid aside, letting the Main Station help retrieve the portion of data from Yunling City on April 15, 1662.

Results came back in seconds.

At the time of Yingshang's disappearance, there was only one device operating in Yunling City. It had originally been circling around the second ring road, and at around 17:00 in the afternoon, it suddenly headed straight for the park, engaging in Brownian motion there.

[Device Registration Name: Experimental Communication Device #451]

That was it.

Turns out this type of communicator was still in the testing phase back then, which explained why Yunling City was only equipped with one.

Shi Rang dragged out this string of names, brought it back to the registration page of all currently active communication devices, tossed it together with a search command into the database—one powerful enough to blow his brain apart—and awaited feedback.

No matter how magical the Main Station was, it was ultimately a programmed system. As long as it was given understandable commands and possessed sufficient authority, it was a remarkably convenient tool.

[Matching serial number found]

[Device Location: Sector Ten Eastern Border High Wall]

[Current Device Registration Name: Exclusive to Senior Research Specialist Sami (This is a personal communicator; anyone other than myself is strictly prohibited from using it)]

The holder had already changed?

Shi Rang couldn't wait to plunge into the communicator along the signal, only to return empty-handed shortly after.

Within the Main Station, what he could retrieve via network connection was merely recent data; information from two years ago had not been uploaded to the Main Station, so he couldn't read it!

Two years had passed; would the data inside the communicator be deleted or overwritten?

...No matter what, he had to personally access this device to take a look.

However, the Eastern Border High Wall was a border structure separating Sector Ten and the Second-to-Last Eastern District. It was heavily guarded with massive troop deployments, and without investigative authority, he couldn't get close at all.

Shi Rang pondered for a moment and came up with an idea.

He didn't need to go there himself.

He could make this Sami come actively looking for him instead.