Is this what a zombie is?

64. That unforgettable night

Thousands of lives—this isn't just a cold, hard number; it represents a living, breathing human being.

Even if they were all criminals, their causes of death must be investigated thoroughly, not to mention that there must be some unknown secrets hidden behind this matter.

"It wasn't me." Jiang Chen's answer was direct. "If you want to know the truth, fine, it's part of our deal."

"I can't take the blame for the deaths of thousands of people. It was the work of a sorcerer from Southeast Asia who used a dark magic spell called the Blood Curse of Ten Thousand Spirits."

The sorcerer, the Blood Curse of Ten Thousand Spirits.

Chen Gang's expression shifted constantly, clearly indicating that he was half-believing and half-doubting.

To increase credibility, Jiang Chen dropped another bombshell.

"That sorcerer was the mastermind behind an organ trafficking organization. I chose to go to jail because of him."

Chen Gang was deeply shaken.

Recently, the organ trafficking organization that had been entrenched in the city for many years has indeed fallen into unprecedented chaos. The police seized this rare opportunity, launched a crackdown, and arrested many members.

The operation went very smoothly; this massive organization didn't offer a single decent resistance.

It turns out that the mastermind behind it all ran into trouble, and with the tree falling, the monkeys scattered.

The information provided by Jiang Chen greatly reduced Chen Gang's wariness.

Jiang Chen only selectively revealed some of the facts, without mentioning Lawyer Luo at all. The information he provided was indeed true, but it was enough to guide Chen Gang to the conclusion he wanted.

What do you want?

"A friend of mine has been kidnapped. I need you to use your police authority to retrieve CCTV footage from a commercial street in the city center, from around 3 p.m. two days ago."

Chen Gang didn't agree immediately. He stared into Jiang Chen's eyes and said, "Okay. But after it's done, you must answer a few questions for me truthfully."

"Deal." Jiang Chen nodded.

In less than two hours, the surveillance footage that Jiang Chen wanted was retrieved.

"This is it."

Chen Gang zoomed in on the image and set the time to after Ai Yi entered the milk tea shop.

At first, everything was normal, with people coming and going, and it was very lively.

However, at a certain second...

A bizarre scene unfolded.

In the surveillance footage, the entire milk tea shop, along with dozens of customers and employees, seemed to have been paused for a moment.

Everyone, whether they were queuing, talking, or making milk tea, stood frozen in place, their expressions frozen on their faces.

It's as if a living person, in a certain moment, has become a puppet on strings.

This unbelievable scene not only shocked Chen Gang, but also greatly surprised Jiang Chen.

Seeing is believing. Based solely on Cat Master's introduction, Jiang Chen still lacked a clear understanding of the formidable reputation of the Green Zombie Tai Sui.

Now that he has, his expression is somewhat unpleasant.

Immediately afterwards, a gaunt old man leaning on a dragon-headed cane walked into the "still" milk tea shop.

A few minutes later, the "pause" in the scene was lifted by some force, and Ai Yi seized the opportunity to jump down from the second floor of the milk tea shop, rush out the door, and run wildly into the street.

But his escape did not last long.

On the street, several "passersby" who were walking normally suddenly turned around without warning, their eyes empty and their faces expressionless, and pounced on Ai Yi.

The surveillance video quality was poor, so Jiang Chen didn't see that the eyes, ears, mouths, and noses of these controlled passersby were faintly flashing with a ghastly green light.

Ai Yi was pinned to the ground, unable to move.

What chilled Chen Gang to the bone was that the bustling crowds and busy streets seemed completely oblivious to it.

All the pedestrians acted as if they hadn't seen anything, naturally avoiding that area and continuing to look down at their phones or chat and laugh, as if Ai Yi and those "passersby" who were holding him down didn't exist in this world at all.

Li Lianying, leaning on his cane, slowly walked out of the crowd with a playful smile on his face.

"What...what is this...?"

Everything in the surveillance video was completely beyond his comprehension, and what was even more terrifying was...

No one called the police after that, and a kidnapping occurred in broad daylight. If he hadn't seen the surveillance video, it would have been as if nothing had happened.

His first reaction was to immediately report to his superiors and ask the police to intervene in the investigation.

Just as Chen Gang was about to pick up the phone, Jiang Chen stopped him.

"Unless you can get in touch with a special official agency, I advise you not to take any action. For ordinary people, getting involved in this kind of thing will only lead to their death."

"I don't want to be distracted by saving a policeman who's holding me back while I'm saving my brother, and I certainly don't want to collect your body, given my current sensitive position."

Chen Gang instinctively wanted to refute, but the footage from the surveillance video choked him up, leaving him unable to utter a single word.

"Thank you for today. I'll take care of the rest."

Jiang Chen copied the surveillance video, and then, like a scumbag who doesn't acknowledge his partner after getting his pants up, he turned and left.

"You haven't kept your promise to me yet."

"I'm in a hurry, so I can only give you a few minutes. Just to clarify, I'm only a novice myself, and I may not know as much as you do."

"Five years ago..." Chen Gang seemed to be recalling a past event buried deep in his heart, his expression very complicated, "My partner in the team was shot and killed while trying to save me during a pursuit operation."

"I watched him breathe his last, and I closed his eyes with my own hands, but just a few days later, he... came back, returned to his home."

Pain and fear were evident on Chen's face.

"At first, I thought his family members couldn't handle the shock and had gone insane, so I drove there immediately."

"But when I got to his house, what I saw... was a mindless monster who only knew how to succumb to bloodlust."

At this point, Chen Gang's eyes reddened and his voice choked, but he still insisted on continuing.

"His wife and parents were already corpses. I could tell at a glance that they died from excessive blood loss, but there were no large wounds on their bodies, except for two holes in their necks."

"As I continued walking inside, I saw... him... he was holding his daughter..."

At this point, Chen Gang could no longer control himself. Tears welled up in the eyes of this tough man, and he sobbed uncontrollably.

What happened that night became a nightmare he could never escape for the rest of his life, and every time he thought about it, he would break out in a cold sweat.

Jiang Chen could naturally imagine what that scene was like and what happened that night.