Hunter of Mysterious Creature-Chapter 445 - 67: Tampering and Intrusion_2

Aside from the shattered coffee table, the smashed TV wall, and the floor, nothing else in the living room was damaged.

"Not only that, I didn't notice any intention from you to intervene, nor did I provide any kind of response, neither affirmation nor denial." Yuri chimed in, "Sun Hang can vouch for me on this point." 𝒇𝓻𝓮𝓮𝙬𝙚𝒃𝒏𝓸𝙫𝒆𝙡.𝓬𝓸𝒎

"Indeed, you kept advising me to stop, but you didn't take any substantive action to prevent it." Sun Hang nodded, "But then again, both of us are under great suspicion right now, so we can't corroborate each other's claims."

Sun Hang glanced at the TV, the screen frozen on the final scene before the door burst open — "Sun Hang" gripping a hammer handle with both hands, the hammerhead downward, as if grinding bones into powder.

Yuri followed Sun Hang's gaze over and, in the next second, as if he had caught onto a crucial clue, turned to the intruding security personnel and asked hastily, "Did the surveillance footage you saw before match exactly what was shown on the containment screen?"

"Yes... but it also didn't seem quite the same." The captain hesitated, nodding slightly before quickly shaking his head.

"Was it or wasn't it?!" Yuri asked sternly — unlike the demeanor he showed towards Sun Hang, he was much harsher with his subordinates.

"Basically the same, but there's one difference..." the security captain said, "In this footage, there's no blood... whereas in the surveillance footage we saw, sir, your blood and flesh were splattered everywhere, nearly covering the entire room."

"Nearly covering the entire room..." Yuri glanced at the clean walls behind him, and for some reason, he felt a subtle pain throughout his body... as if he had indeed been bludgeoned into a pulp by Sun Hang with a hammer.

"Let me see the surveillance footage." Sun Hang set the hammer aside and walked up to the security captain.

"...Okay, okay." The security captain immediately complied.

As a "VIP" level figure, Sun Hang's current access level was even above Yuri's. Not to mention the captain of a small security team, even Yuri, his superior, had to obey Sun Hang's orders.

Of course, that is assuming Sun Hang hadn't just lost his mind as shown in the surveillance footage earlier.

The security captain removed the touchscreen terminal from his arm and handed it to Sun Hang.

The terminal screen displayed the surveillance footage divided into several sections. Sun Hang looked at the corner of the ceiling; the footage corresponded precisely to the cameras installed in the living room, showing everything, including Sun Hang, Yuri, and the security personnel, completely normal — no skulls, no flying blood and flesh.

But Sun Hang noticed that the angle of the footage displayed on the TV screen did not match any of the views captured by these cameras.

"You got something wrong, buddy." Sun Hang patted the shoulder of the security captain, saying.

The captain flinched, too nervous to ask what he had gotten wrong, watching Sun Hang with a tense expression, awaiting his "judgment."

"Take a closer look at the footage on the TV... its camera angle doesn't match any of these surveillance views."

The security captain's eyes widened instantly. He looked at the terminal, then at the TV, before finally raising his head to the spot both Sun Hang and Yuri had recently looked at.

It was the junction of the wall and the ceiling, where the plaster had yellowed slightly over time, but there was nothing else there.

"Per... perhaps the surveillance equipment malfunctioned!" the security captain said, "An anomaly has invaded our surveillance system! Sir, I request to immediately seal off the entire containment area, lower the partition walls, cut off all circuits and communication lines, and then use instruments to examine all the circuits, wires, and electronic devices in the containment area..."

"Hold on a second." Sun Hang waved his hand, "First, tell me how to play back this surveillance footage."

"Oh... oh, you just need to press this button, then a progress bar will appear at the bottom of the screen. Just drag it forward, but be mindful of the time scale on the progress bar..."

"You've been here about three to four minutes since bursting in, right?"

Another security personnel checked his terminal and replied, "Report, the exact time is three minutes and nine seconds!"

"So, three and a half minutes ago, I was still bashing your officer with a hammer..." Sun Hang spoke as he dragged the progress bar on the surveillance video to three and a half minutes prior.

In the footage, Sun Hang had just reassembled the smashed TV, and Yuri hadn't yet leaned against the door, but instead, was holding the couch with one hand, leaning slightly forward, intently staring at the TV screen — but in the footage, the reassembled TV screen was pitch black, showing nothing.

"How... how could this be?" the security captain's eye twitched, "Our surveillance system has truly been invaded by an anomaly! It must have tampered with the footage... no, it initially tampered with it, and now it's a secondary tampering!"

"Immediately contact the surveillance center to extract the real-time saved video files!" Yuri commanded with a strong voice.

Two minutes later.

"Sir, the surveillance center sent back a report... the saved video files at that time are completely identical to what we saw on the terminal..." the security captain reported dejectedly.

"How could this be?" Yuri repeated what his subordinate said two minutes ago, slightly agitated, he tapped his helmet before turning to Sun Hang, "Could it be... that the anomaly really invaded our surveillance system... but... logically, it shouldn't..."

"Do you have so little faith in your surveillance system's security?" Sun Hang retorted.

"In theory, there shouldn't be a possibility of intrusion, but this particular anomaly is just too unusual..." Yuri explained, "Considering some anomalies can influence the surrounding environment just through an image, sound... or even human perception, we can't rule out the possibility that the surveillance system has been breached."

"Pictures... so you're saying that because the TV was included on the computer screen at the surveillance center, the TV can thus affect the computer at the surveillance center, is that what you mean?" Sun Hang asked Yuri to confirm.

He recalled "Bao Si" — according to Yang Qi, "Bao Si's" charm ability works not just through direct sight, but can also manifest through photos, videos, and other media, albeit slightly weaker than direct gaze.

As for anomalies that can affect reality through cognition, those are even harder to guard against — there's a saying "Cognition is contamination, information is a virus"... some anomalies can infect humans with their memes just by humans knowing they exist...

Yang Qi had mentioned such anomalies before, but specific details she kept to herself.

After all, the information about this stuff serves as a source of contamination, and knowing nothing is the best isolation method.

"Yes." Yuri nodded, "Simply cutting the circuits and information channels doesn't guarantee foolproof results... even physical isolation doesn't work."

"If it indeed just invaded your surveillance center, then even Dubhe Tower's supercomputer might not be safe now." Sun Hang sat down on the couch, "Instead of locking the barn after the horse is stolen, we might as well all watch the TV... I haven't checked the contents of those other signals yet."