Zhou Lin

If space is infinite and the distribution of matter is sufficiently uniform over large dimensions, then even the most unlikely things must happen "somewhere."

According to this theory, there should be infinitely many planets with humans, and there may also be infinitely many people with the same appearance, name, and memory on those planets.

If countless regions the same size as our observable universe do exist, then any possible cosmic history will actually exist.

This is the so-called parallel universe theory.

The story we are about to see next takes place in a universe that is similar to, but different from, the universe we live in.

There, there is also a planet called "Earth"; that planet also has a population of billions and has an ancient history very similar to ours.

However, by the end of the 20th century, the historical direction of that earth diverged from that of our world.

A family named "Wittstock" emerged on this planet, abolished the concept of "country" and established a unified earth empire.

This empire had experienced glory, and like all dynasties, it gradually began to decay from within, and was eventually obliterated in the dust of history.

By 2102, taking "a certain incident" as an opportunity, the empire's rule collapsed overnight, and the era of the "Earth Federation" came.

In this way, more than a century passed.

Our story begins in 2218 under the rule of the Federation.

…………

2218, November 25, evening, 18:36.

A police motorcycle parked in front of a building in the suburbs of Linyi City.

After the car stopped, a young man with a height of about 1.8 meters and a strong body got out of the car. While looking at the door of the building in front of him, he had printed his fingerprints on the touch panel of the motorcycle. On the screen, the engine was turned off.

This man, named Che Wuchen, is a "federal security inspector."

Although the word "security" is included in his job title, the inspector is not a police officer, and he is not under the jurisdiction of the police station.

The inspector is a senior agent affiliated with the "FCPS (Federal Committee of Public Security)". In terms of "level", he is on the same level as deputy bureau-level police officers in most areas; and in terms of "authority" "In terms of the situation, the inspector has all kinds of powers to "act expediently".

In addition to cities directly under the federal government, inspectors can recruit the resources of the police and ordinary citizens in any city or region around the world to help solve cases. Anyone who fails to cooperate can be held accountable for "obstructing official business" afterwards.

At this moment, Che Wuchen commandeered a local police officer's motorcycle and came to this place.

Actually...he doesn't have to come, because the "case" in front of him is not his business.

A week ago, Che Wuchen had just concluded a several-year undercover operation and made great achievements. In order to reward him and provide him with a fixed process of "psychological evaluation" and "loyalty survey", Shangfeng arranged for him to return to his hometown and enjoy a month's paid vacation.

Che Wuchen naturally had no objection to this.

Today, he went to the psychologist designated by the organization for evaluation as scheduled. When he came out of the clinic, he happened to see a police officer writing a ticket for his car.

Che Wuchen knew that the parking meter must have expired, and he did not want to reveal his identity and embarrass the police officer, so he went over and had a casual chat with the police officer, hoping to cooperate with him to finish the official business and collect the ticket. Just leave.

Unexpectedly, at this moment, the police officer parked on the police motorcycle nearby and transmitted a communication. The general content was: A report has been received from the "Youth Behavior Correction Center" located at No. XX Road in the suburbs. A murder has occurred. The specific circumstances are unknown, and no one answered the call back. Please ask the nearby police officer XX to go and check as soon as possible.

This was obviously a directed communication sent to an individual, not a broadcast, as it specified which officer to go to.

However, after hearing this notification, the police officer's reaction was surprisingly calm. He just walked to the motorcycle, picked up the communicator, said "received", and then continued to copy the ticket slowly.

When Che Wuchen saw this, he was naturally a little confused; although he had not returned to his hometown for many years, the "Correction Center" was quite famous in the entire Long County, and Che Wuchen had visited it more than once. I've seen reports about it in the media.

So, out of curiosity, he took advantage of the conversation and asked a few more questions.

And the police officer's answer was: "Hi~ In that place, on average, the police are called at least once or twice a week. Each time, it sounds very serious, and they often say murder, but in fact, it's nothing at all. Every time It was reported by the little ghosts locked inside. As soon as they came into contact with a phone or mobile phone, they would call the police and scream for help.

"The police officers in our jurisdiction know what they are doing. Going there is just a formality; call the children who called the police for questioning. None of them were injured. They are still shouting for us to arrest people. Who should we arrest? Arrest them. Report a false police report? Go to their parents... We have tried this before. When their parents came, they said there was something wrong with their children. They damaged their brains by playing games online, so they sent them to the hospital for correction. They also told us not to believe the children... …”

When he said this, Che Wuchen had already reached into his jacket pocket, took out his "real ID", and interrupted, "Stop copying, the driver's license and license plate are all fake." He paused, and then He showed his FCPS agent ID to the other party and said, "This is the real one."

After the police officer saw the ID, he was stunned for five seconds before he hesitated and said: "Sir...sir!"

Just as he was about to stand at attention and salute, Che Wuchen raised his hand to stop him. In the next second, with a movement that was so fast that no one could see it, Che Wuchen took away the accessories from the policeman's holster in half a second. He turned around and walked towards the police motorcycle not far away: "I want to commandeer your car and gun now, thank you for your cooperation."

Twenty seconds later, before the police officer could recover from the shock, Che Wuchen had already taken the police officer's gun and drove away on his motorcycle.

In less than ten minutes, he speeded all the way to the "Sunshine Youth Behavior Correction Center" located in the suburbs of Linyi City.

Just from the appearance of the building, it can be seen that this place has been open for many years: the white painted wall is already yellow with gray; the gate is still an electric iron fence from the last century. Moreover, the materials were rusted and discolored; even the wire mesh on the surrounding walls was rusted to dark brown.

However, the large-character signboard on the front of the building is relatively new and looks like it has just been replaced in recent years. The supporting facilities in the parking lot are also very advanced. From a distance, you can see several expensive cars parked inside. Nice car.

Che Wuchen stood at the gate observing for a few seconds, thinking for a few seconds, and then he walked straight in.

He did not communicate with the concierge because there was no one there and the door was open at this time.

Even ordinary people would feel somewhat abnormal when seeing such a situation... let alone an inspector like Che Wuchen.

Years of experience in handling cases and rigorous training are like two fingers. As soon as there is a dangerous smell nearby, they will immediately start to twist a clockwork called "alert", tightening Che Wuchen's nerves. .

Before entering the main entrance of the building, Che Wuchen's hand had already reached into the right pocket of his coat and held the gun he had taken from the previous police officer.

Federal police cars, guns, I-PEN and other ancillary equipment are all activated by fingerprints or iris, and electronic records are left every time they are used; in special or emergency situations, police officers can use the same equipment as their own , or the equipment of other police officers lower than you, but after using it, you must write a relevant report to explain the reason for use, and the original owner of the item needs to confirm it through a digital signature.

However, inspectors are not subject to this restriction. The fingerprints and iris of each federal security inspector can activate the public and private electronic devices of police officers below the deputy director level (including deputy director level) and all ordinary citizens. Although this will also leave records, these records can only be decoded internally by FCPS and are not disclosed to the outside world...it depends on the situation.

This is the meaning of "level" and "authority". In this highly information-based world under federal rule, these two things can be said to be the most important weights for establishing people's degree of freedom and self-worth in society. code.

scold--

When Che Wuchen arrived at the main entrance, the sensor door on the first floor of the building opened on its own. As the two door panels moved toward both sides, a corridor came into view.

The corridor itself is nothing special. The floor is paved with light-colored tiles, the walls are painted with two colors of paint: white at the top and light blue at the bottom. There are recessed fluorescent lamps in the ceiling, emitting white light.

But at this moment, the scene in the corridor was a little scary.

When Che Wuchen looked over at first glance, he saw three corpses, at least he initially judged them to be three.

The death state of those three people was - three heads fell into three pools of blood.

It is said to be blood water, but in fact it is not "water", it is more like a "slurry" thickened with gravy. To use a metaphor, it's probably like this - throw the whole living person together with the clothes into a wall-breaking food processor, first do a wave of "high-speed wall breaking", then a "middle-level whipping", and then "cook the outside and cook the inside". "Stew", in the end, you will get a pool of skin, muscles, fat, organs, bones, clothing fibers and other substances mixed together... a uniform, viscous, thick, and colorful stew.

"'Ability user'..." Che Wuchen only thought for a few seconds before making this judgment in his mind.

After all, he is also a senior agent of the federal government, and various high-tech weapons that far exceed civilian technology are nothing new to him. Although it can make people into such a mess... the Federation is not without it, but as far as he knows, the equipment is still in the research and development stage; besides, the size of the machine is so huge that it must be disassembled and separated. It needs to be packed into several containers to be transported, so it cannot be used here.

Therefore, he quickly ruled out the idea of ​​"using a device to kill people"; and naturally he would not accept the ridiculous assumption of "the murderer threw the three people into a giant wall-breaking machine, beat them up, and then sprinkled them into the corridor." considerate……

To sum up, the only method he can think of to make people become like this is undoubtedly "superpower".

"Huh..." After adjusting his breathing for a moment, Che Wuchen simply took out the gun from his pocket, held it flat in front of him, and walked into the main door.

As he advanced forward vigilantly, he thought: "The faults in the necks of the three people are all very flat. The murderer obviously left the head on purpose, but... why?"

Thinking of this, a chill suddenly rose in his heart.

Because, what immediately came to his mind were the following possibilities:

First, the murderer wanted the first person to come to the scene to immediately understand that these were dead people, not spilled miso soup or something else.

Secondly, the murderer may have left the head in order to make it easier for the police to identify the deceased; combined with the previous point, it shows that the murderer is not only not afraid of police intervention, but even has a tendency to play games with the police.

Thirdly, there is a possibility... The murderer had planned it from the beginning. Sooner or later, "someone who knows the existence of people with abilities" would intervene in this case, so he used this method to directly tell those like Che Wuchen Investigator - The person who committed the crime is a veteran in using abilities.