Vansin watched the footage from the body camera on his laptop three more times.
Each time, it was the same content.
Blurry light, hurried footsteps.
Then that face covered in fangs filled the entire screen.
But with every viewing, something inside him grew heavier.
He closed the laptop.
Then he picked up the desk phone and dialed a number.
The phone rang twice before it was answered.
“Old Zhao.”
The voice on the other end belonged to Jiang Weimin, the Deputy Chief of the Municipal Bureau in charge of criminal investigation.
“Chief Jiang, there is something I must report to you in person.”
The other side of the line went quiet for a second.
“How big of a matter is it?”
“You’ll know once you see it; it’s hard to explain over the phone.”
“Then come over. I’m in my office.”
Forty minutes later, Vansin stood in Jiang Weimin’s office and placed the laptop on his desk.
“Chief Jiang, watch this footage first.”
Jiang Weimin was fifty-six years old and had spent his entire life in police work.
He had experienced all kinds of cases, and the expression on his face was always one of calm indifference.
He sat in his chair and began to watch, head bowed.
Twenty seconds.
Forty seconds.
One minute.
When the face filled with fangs appeared on the screen in a close-up shot, Jiang Weimin’s hand moved away from his teacup.
He didn’t speak, watching the entire clip to the end.
Then he looked up.
“I don’t know,” Vansin said.
“But it exists. It is in our city, and there is more than one.”
Jiang Weimin looked at him.
“More than one?”
Vansin brought up the surveillance screenshots from the nightclub and placed them next to the body camera footage.
“On the left is our target codenamed Butcher, red, claw-type, hiding in the Abandoned Cement Factory in the east of the city.”
“On the right is another target that appeared during the nightclub attack in the south of the city a week ago, dark gray, strength-type.”
“Two different appearances, different ability characteristics, but the transformation methods are highly similar.”
Jiang Weimin placed the two images together and compared them for a moment.
“Did your people search the Abandoned Cement Factory?”
“A four-man reconnaissance team was wounded by Butcher. All were sent to the hospital, with no fatalities.”
“Can this thing be taken down with a handgun?”
“No.” Vansin’s reply was blunt.
“Standard nine-millimeter handgun bullets are ineffective against its outer covering; they are simply absorbed upon impact.”
Jiang Weimin fell silent.
He was silent for a long time.
He stood up and walked to the window, watching the city outside with his hands behind his back for a while.
“Old Zhao, are you sure this isn’t something filmed in a studio?”
“Four people are in the hospital; the injuries are real. The body camera’s data chain is intact, the time code has no interruptions, and the device serial number matches our issuance records.”
Jiang Weimin turned around.
“What do you need?”
“Increase the special task force staffing, expand the search area, and deploy higher-level weaponry and equipment,” Vansin said.
“And there is one more thing.”
“Speak.”
“This matter needs to be reported to the Provincial Public Security Department to request cross-regional coordination.”
Jiang Weimin’s eyebrows twitched.
“You know what this means.”
“I know, but our municipal bureau’s existing resources cannot handle a target of this level. I need more professional forces.”
Jiang Weimin was silent for a dozen seconds.
“I will report this myself. Your special task force will be upgraded starting today. The staffing will be expanded to twenty people, and a tactical team will be pulled from the SWAT corps to assist you.”
He wrote a few words on the paper and signed it.
“I am setting the security clearance to S-Class. Apart from the special task force members and direct superiors, no one is allowed to access related information.”
“All surveillance footage, evidence, and reports involving these two targets must be encrypted. Paper documents must be locked up, and electronic documents must be stored offline.”
Vansin took the official document.
“Additionally,” Jiang Weimin added, “starting today, this case will no longer be called the Butcher case or the nightclub case. It will have a unified designation.”
He thought for a moment.
“Let’s call it Special Incident No. 0.”
Vansin nodded, folded the document, and put it into his pocket.
As he walked out of Jiang Weimin’s office, he looked back.
Jiang Weimin stood behind the desk, and for the first time, a crack appeared in the calm, indifferent expression on his face.
Vansin didn’t look for long and closed the door.
After returning to his office, the first thing he did was call Leon.
“From now on, all work related to Special Incident No. 0 must switch to the encrypted communication channel. Abandon the original channel.”
“Received. Anything else?”
“Arrange for people to monitor the perimeter of the Abandoned Cement Factory 24 hours a day. Do not send anyone inside again. Just watch, and record any comings and goings.”
“Understood.”
Vansin hung up the phone, sat in his chair, and stared at the two case files on the table that he had already flipped through countless times.
For the first time, the official forces truly realized what they were facing.
But Vansin knew that between realizing it and being able to handle it lay a gap even wider than he had anticipated.
If handguns couldn’t hurt it, what could they use to deal with it?
Rocket launchers?
Armored vehicles?
This was in a city, not on a battlefield.
Vansin opened the drawer, took out a pack of cigarettes, pulled one out, and put it in his mouth without lighting it.
The city outside the window was as normal as ever.