Superhunt

Chapter 10: From Detroit?

Fox finished bandaging his wounds and limped to the couch, breathing shakily as he suppressed the pain.

"Tell me about what happened." Jonathan walked to the front of the sofa and looked down at him.

Fox laughed, "It seems the rumors are true, you are indeed ruthless."

He shifted to get comfortable and began recounting, "I arrived at the port last night and went to investigate the blast site as per your instructions. There were security guards on patrol there, and it took me a lot of effort to scan the site data."

Fox pulled a metal sphere from his pocket and tossed it to Jonathan, who caught it deftly. It opened in his palm, projecting a 3D hologram of the scene with analytical data.

"The range of the explosion is thirty meters. The explosive is estimated to be a homemade Molotov cocktail..."

A homemade Molotov cocktail, this is rather crude equipment. Considering Mechanical Dawn's ability to mobilize the port warehouse, their members would not only use such shabby homemade Molotov cocktails when they act. At the very least, it would be regular military ammunition.

By this inference, the mastermind behind this bombing might not be the Mechanical Dawn.

Jonathan tapped the projected image, and another explosion scene appeared. The range of this explosion was smaller, less than ten meters, and the explosive was estimated to be a glass-burning bottle, with ethanol as the fuel.

After continuously switching through the data from the blast sites, Jonathan could confirm his previous speculation.

The culprit behind the previous wave of bombings was not the Mechanical Dawn. There was an invisible third party involved in the port bombing case. As for what this unknown third party aims at and whether it is related to Kraken, further investigation is needed.

Fox's actions were indeed efficient, he managed to get so much data in one night.

Jonathan tossed the metal sphere back into Fox's arms, "Go on, what happened after?"

"I originally planned to come back and give you the data as soon as I got it, but then I suddenly heard someone scream. By the time I got to where the sound was coming from, a security guard on patrol at the scene had already been killed by a monster. It was trying to crawl into the corpse to lay its eggs." Fox's face showed a disgusted expression, "I cleared the monster, but the security guard's partner rushed over... He saw me, so I had to kill him along with the monster. I took care of the bodies."

"That's the first monster," Jonathan said, "You encountered three last night."

"Uh-huh. The second monster actively approached me. It had parasitized a dock worker, who had become skin and bones after being parasitized and had no more nutrients for it to absorb. I guess it was eager to accumulate energy for the next metamorphosis, wanted to switch to a new host, and it ran into me, ready to parasitize me." Fox said uncomfortably, "Disgusting. It was the second one that injured me."

"The third one," Jonathan said.

"The third one isn't worth mentioning, it had just crawled up the dock from the sea when I found it," Fox shrugged. "It didn't have time to find a human host, it was a fragile juvenile."

Monsters, a type of creature that lived in the sea, would crawl ashore to find hosts and lay eggs in human bodies.

These monsters were not weak in combat, capable of killing security guards who were far stronger than average humans, and even injured Fox, who had super abilities.

Jonathan bitterly laughed in his mind. He should have known, in a world where cyberpunk and supernatural elements combined, anything bizarre was probable.

The danger level of the Second World went up another notch in his mind.

"Why are there so many of these monsters all of a sudden tonight? We might not even encounter one in a month normally," Fox said. "We should report to the organization."

"Yeah, we should report..." Jonathan's voice trailed off, the communicator in his pocket was vibrating, it was the Communicator from the Investigation Department.

The screen of the communicator showed the caller—Martin.

He pressed the answer key. "Captain."

"Jonathan, how are you recovering?" Martin's voice was somewhat serious.

"What happened?" Jonathan noticed his tone was off.

"Rett and Taron from Team 6 were killed during dock patrol last night," Martin said. "The post at the port is now vacant and urgently needs people to go over. Jonathan, we've lost too many people these days and can't spare any manpower. If you've recovered, it would be best to come back and execute the mission as soon as possible."

"...Okay. I'll be back at the Investigation Department tomorrow morning," Jonathan said.

Martin was clearly busy, he didn't say any superfluous words and hung up the communicator as soon as he finished explaining what needed to be explained.

Jonathan put down the communicator, his gaze focused on Fox sitting on the sofa, listening to the communication and enjoying the drama.

Rett and Taron belonged to the Field Team, affiliated with Team Six next door. Jonathan had seen their files. Fox had witnessed one of them being killed by a monster last night and then killed the other one who came to check.

"If you go to patrol the port, wouldn't it make my operation there a lot easier?" Fox excitedly said. "It would also be convenient for us to set up explosives at the port. Haha, good luck, the guy I killed last night wasn't killed in vain, he turned out to be from your Field Team."

"Yeah, you killed a member of our team, which left the field team short-handed, and my three-day vacation got shortened to one day," Jonathan said. "Going back to work means I have to spend long hours with my teammates, which will prevent me from communicating with you and planning in a timely manner."

"I didn't think of that... purely accidental though."

"I wouldn't expect you to." Jonathan rubbed his forehead, "No matter, accidents happen. Wasn't your fault, plans must adapt to circumstances. If anything urgent comes up and you can't contact me, handle it yourself and report after."

"Okay," Fox nodded.

His adjustment time has been reduced. He stayed up all night reading documents last night, now he must go to sleep to rest and recharge.

"I have to get busy, don't move around until your injuries are healed," Jonathan said.

"Wait!"

"What?"

"I'm hungry, is there anything to eat?" he asked seriously, "I've been running around all night without sleep or food, I get especially hungry after using my abilities."

"There are no ingredients in the kitchen, order takeout for us both."

Fox: "...Alright, I'll order."

The doorbell rang 30 minutes later. Daniel stood there in a delivery uniform with bags of food. "You ordered delivery- oh, senpai! You live here?"

Jonathan was surprised to see him, "Earning tuition money?"

"Yes, I'm trying to earn money for college, but I don't know if I can make enough... the prospects seem bleak." Daniel handed over the bag of food, "I have another order to deliver, see you later, senior!"

Jonathan waved at him and closed the door.

"Who was that?"

"A guy who got into the Mechanical Department of the Black Sea College, the person I'm impersonating is also a graduate of Black Sea College." Jonathan took out the takeout box.

"Mechanical Department? That's a talent the organization needs." Fox's hand, which was busy unpacking the utensils, paused, "What's his family's financial situation like?"

"Not so good, his parents run a convenience store," Jonathan said.

Fox suddenly understood, "You know so much about him? You're already considering recruiting him, aren't you?"

So the Mechanical Dawn organization would recruit new members?

"Don't be too hasty," Jonathan replied calmly.

"You're right, we need to observe him for a while longer," Fox said, opening the takeout box.

"But people from poor backgrounds are easier to recruit, they can be easily moved by money," Jonathan suddenly said, "Just a little benefit and you can bind their interests to ours."

"Report about the appearance of the monster at the harbor, along with the name of the boy who got into Black Sea College. If he qualifies, the organization will send someone to contact him"

"Okay, you write the report," Jonathan unceremoniously ordered him, "The boy's name is Daniel."

Fox held back his displeasure, and said, "I'll write it... I don't have anything else to do while I recover."

After eating, Fox carefully wrote the report and gave it to Jonathan for review. Once Jonathan approved, Fox sent it off with relief.

Fox's report received Jonathan's approval, which made him very satisfied. Jonathan saw the typical format for reporting to the Mechanical Dawn organization in Fox's report, which also pleased him.

He noticed that Fox didn't use the word "monster" in his report, but rather "Xenobiotics creature." He thought that "Xenobiotics creature" was the formal written term for "monster."

Jonathan returned to his room, while Fox curled up on the sofa with a thin blanket to rest. With his eyes closed, a tuft of white hair poked out of the blanket, like a cat that thinks it's well hidden in a blanket.

Reviewing Fox's words and actions, Jonathan mentally evaluated him, "Apart from being obedient and having superpowers, he's just like a silly cat."

He hadn't finished reading part of the Investigation Department's materials, and the remaining time wasn't enough for Jonathan to go through the materials carefully. He skimmed through, looking for sections related to "alien creature." At the end of the material, there was a section about the Investigation Department's emergency team. The team leader and members are unknown, and the office is located on the third floor underground of the Investigation Building. The main duty of this invisible team is to secretly eliminate alien creatures that appear everywhere.

The Investigation Department has many secrets, such as the mysterious emergency team. The Second World also has many strange things, like the "monster" or "Xenobiotics creature" Fox mentioned.

With not much time left for rest, Jonathan put down his bracelet and forced himself to sleep.

...

Jonathan slept for eight hours. After the alarm went off, he got up, washed, and changed clothes. He took a handful of cold water and splashed it on his face, staring at himself in the mirror for a while before muttering, "Fear will stop people in their tracks."

He couldn't stop, whether, in the First World or the Second World, he had to keep moving forward.

Jonathan pushed open the bathroom door and walked into the living room, just in time to see Fox crawling in from the balcony through the window.

"I went to buy groceries this morning, ordering takeout is too expensive." Fox, carrying bags of food, looked expectantly at Jonathan.

"Right, it seems like it's time for breakfast," Jonathan said, "Put the excess food in the fridge."

Due to Fox buying food, Jonathan's tolerance limit for him has appropriately raised a bit.

He prepared two simple breakfasts, and after eating, Fox took the initiative to clean up the dishes.

As he washed, he asked, "I've mostly recovered from my injuries. Do we have any instructions for today?"

That fast? Jonathan thought incredulously.

Does every person with super abilities have such recovery power? Fox hadn't relied on any technological recovery pod to heal his wounds, yet he had still recovered very quickly, beyond human norms.

"No, not for now," Jonathan answered, changing his shoes at the door. "If I'm assigned to patrol the harbor area, I'll give you instructions. Otherwise, stand by. You can move freely meantime."

He grabbed an umbrella and stepped outside.

The rain in Black Sea City had been persistent, making it quite a rainy city. Jonathan waited for the hover rail car at the station, and one minute later, it arrived on time.

Without the neon lights and holographic advertisements, Black Sea City during the daytime seemed a lot more modest. Looking around, all the buildings appeared deep gray under the hazy rain, giving off a sense of oppression.

After a few dozen minutes, Jonathan arrived at the Investigation Department building.

"Welcome back, intern security officer Jonathan. Please place your umbrella on the public rack." Moss's voice rang in his ears.

Jonathan did as instructed, placing his umbrella on the rack before taking the elevator to Martin's office.

He knocked on the door.

"Come in," Martin said.

Jonathan's heart skipped a beat entering the office there were four or five people in the office, all members of Squad Seven, all glancing his way.

Martin rapped his desk, "Alright, Let's begin to discuss our mission target."

Jonathan walked to an empty chair, pulled it out on its casters, and sat down.

Martin activated the holographic projector, and a lifelike three-dimensional figure was projected into the air.

"This is our target this time. Sean, a level six citizen, committed first-degree murder, but due to his mental illness, he isn't serving his sentence in jail but is receiving treatment at the Black Sea City Mental Hospital," Martin explained, "Last night, he escaped after attacking his psychotherapist."

"How did he manage to do that?" The man sitting on Jonathan's left asked, "Is his psychotherapist alive?"

"His psychotherapist suffered minor injuries, nothing serious," Martin responded, "As for how he escaped... according to analysis, he likely 'awakened'."

"'Awakened'? He became an awakened person ?" All members of Squad Seven expressed their surprise.

"Moss judges that the power he awakened isn't lethal. The hospital's security devices were not damaged by violence, so he most likely used his super ability to escape," Martin explained, "Our mission is to catch him back. If he resists violently or threatens the safety of the public during the process, we have the authority to kill him on the spot."

"I have a question," Jonathan said, "Is this patient's mental state stable? Any signs preceding the escape and attack?"

"Indeed there were," Martin frowned slightly, "The hospital provided us with Sean's treatment videos. He insisted that he wasn't ill, and he repeatedly emphasized to the doctor that he wasn't from Black Sea City, but from a city called 'Detroit'..."

"Sounds like he's still quite ill," someone quipped, earning chuckles of agreement.

However, Jonathan wasn't in the mood to join their banter.

Detroit, the mentally ill fugitive Sean claimed he was from Detroit.

Sean is also a player from the First World!