"Captain Victoria... I, I seemed to hear it too... a scream..." an agent next to him said cautiously.

"Did you hear anything?" Ke Lan patted Major Ashkani's arm.

"Well, there seemed to be some sound...but I can't tell whether it was crying or screaming." Ashkani said hesitantly.

"Why do I feel like this sound is getting farther and farther away..." Victoria said with a frown... This is one of the few "original" human organs on her face. A scar deep enough to see the bone runs from the corner of her forehead down through her eyebrows and nose bridge, extending to the edge of her maxilla.

"...ran away?" Major Ashkani looked at Victoria, then at Ke Lan, "Could it be an illusion? I can't hear any sound now... It's as if those sounds just now never appeared..."

"It's not an illusion. One person's words may be explained by auditory hallucination, but it's impossible that all of us have auditory hallucinations." Ke Lan denied it.

"But... if there was any sound, why did Mr. Ke Lan hear crying, while Commissioner Victoria heard sharp screams? This doesn't make sense." Ashkani said.

"Maybe it's because the structure of my sound receiving device is different from that of the human ear canal?" Victoria asked suspiciously. She suddenly turned her head and looked at the agent who just said that she also heard a scream. "What sound did you just hear? Crying? Or screaming?"

"...It should be a scream... No, that's not right... Now that I think about it, it seemed like crying..." The agent pressed his hand on his forehead and said with a conflicted look on his face.

"What was that sound?" Victoria asked again, slightly emphasizing her tone.

"Sir..." the agent said with a bitter face, "I really can't remember... The sound was very mysterious. Sometimes I could hear it, and sometimes I couldn't hear it... Moreover, when I tried hard to hear it clearly, it would disappear. But when I focused my attention on other things, it would gradually become clear again... I..."

"Okay, I get it." Victoria waved her hand, interrupting him, and then looked at Ke Lan, "Are you sure you heard crying?"

"Yes, it was a low cry. To be more precise, it was a woman's sobbing, very hoarse..."

"The sound I heard was completely different from what you described. It was a very sharp and piercing scream. The creature that made this sound seemed to be in great pain... Although it was somewhat similar to crying, it was definitely not low and hoarse." Victoria said.

Ke Lan shrugged and said, "There's no need for me to lie about this kind of thing. Also, have you discovered something?"

"What?"

"After this mutant, it has been a long time since a 'Container' was attracted by pheromones and ran out... If the Arasaka Group has been controlled by that heretical sect... There are more than 1.6 million permanent residents in such a large East 9th District, so there shouldn't be only three 'Containers', right?"

"What's more," Ke Lan continued, "If one of these 'containers' is dropped into a densely populated area, let alone three, it can infect tens of thousands of people... But where did all these people go?"

"Yeah... I have never been able to figure this out either." Ashkani nodded repeatedly. "Today is the weekend, and there should be a large number of tourists from other areas who come to Kabukicho Ichibangai. But these people disappeared within just a few dozen minutes after the power outage. It's impossible that they were captured by the Arasaka Group, right?"

"I spoke to General Maginot twice on the way here. As far as I know, not only in Kabukicho, but also in other districts, the garrison troops did not find even one person who ran away from the East 9th District after the power outage... These people seemed to have evaporated into thin air at the moment of the power outage." Ke Lan took over Ashkani's words and said, "I have a question about this. I wonder if Ms. Victoria can tell me the answer."

"You ask," Victoria said.

"The pheromones released by the flesh-eating worms can attract the seeds of erosion. So, is it possible for the 'container' parasitized by the seeds of erosion to suppress this desire with its own will?"

"...The Security Bureau has conducted relevant experiments, and the answer is no. When the erosion seeds in the 'container' receive the pheromones of the flesh-eating worms, they will immediately enter a rapid transformation period, devour the 'container's' own self-consciousness, and then drive the 'container' to rush to the source of the pheromones at all costs." Victoria replied.

"Then there are only two possibilities: There are only these three 'containers' in the entire East 9th District, within the range of the flesh-eating worm pheromones... or, only these three 'containers' have the ability to move freely, while the other 'containers' have been physically imprisoned."

"Imprison a large number of 'containers', and then wait for the right time to release them all at once... If they break through the blockade, the consequences will be disastrous..."

Victoria thought for a moment and made a decision: "You stay here, I will take my people in to investigate the situation. If we are not able to come out after an hour, immediately send this to any intelligence officer of the Security Bureau."

She pulled a memory card from her pocket and threw it to Major Ashkani.

"What is this?" the major asked subconsciously.

"The battle record just now and the recording between me and this person." Victoria pointed at Ke Lan. "Although I can't guarantee that the people above will believe what he said as much as I do, at least they should be aware of the seriousness of the problem."

"I want to go in with you." At this moment, Ke Lan suddenly stood up and said.

"What did you say?" Victoria's eyes revealed a hint of surprise, "You should know how dangerous it is in here."

"I know, that's why I want to go in." Ke Lan said. Although he didn't know how to explain it to Victoria and the others, he seemed to hear a hint of pleading in the faint sobbing just now... That voice was seeking help...

And the most crucial point is that in this strange sobbing sound, Ke Lan could not sense any hostility at all.

As a hunter, when exploring in the ruins, one often has to face many choices. When reason can no longer weigh the pros and cons between the choices, one has to rely on one's intuition... and Ke Lan has always trusted his intuition.

However, according to some scholars who study this type of theory, this ability cannot be simply summarized by the word "intuition". They created a new term for it: "inspiration".

This inspiration does not refer to the kind of inspiration that bursts out during literary and artistic creation, but is used to describe "human beings' sensitive perception of strange phenomena." This ability is closer to the extrasensory perception of the sixth sense, but compared to the erratic sixth sense, the triggering frequency of this ability is much more frequent.

Generally speaking, hunters with high inspiration are more likely to find hidden secret passages and high-value treasures than hunters with low inspiration, but this does not mean that high inspiration is necessarily a good thing - hunters with high inspiration are also more likely to encounter those inexplicable strange visions in the ruins, and if they are not careful, they may step into a situation where there is no chance of survival.

Moreover, the higher the inspiration, the easier it is to be deceived by some illusions, and the easier it is to suffer a mental breakdown and fall into madness.

Ke Lan is one of those people with relatively high inspiration, especially after he came into contact with the inscription on the sarcophagus and inherited the language of the Alpha civilization... He always has an illusion that the distance between himself and the human race seems to be constantly widening. Sometimes he even feels that the language of the Alpha civilization is more like his mother tongue than the human language.

This time, his "intuition" had been vaguely telling him that the creature that was whimpering deep in the East Ninth District... was not his enemy, and would not cause him any harm...

Although Ke Lan himself knew that this perception was extremely outrageous, the suggestion from his subconscious mind was so strong that he could not suppress his desire to enter the East 9th District.

"Mr. Ke Lan! This is too dangerous! If General Maginot knew, he would definitely stop you!" Hearing that Ke Lan wanted to follow the agents into the East 9th District, Ashkani hurriedly dissuaded him.

"But the voice I heard was obviously different from all of you." Ke Lan said, "I think the only way to answer this question is to go in myself."

"It's not worth risking your life for an answer." Victoria said indifferently.

"That's right... The agents of the Security Bureau are all elites who have received professional training. They have rich experience in dealing with this kind of things, but we are different... Mr. Ke Lan, if you really want to find out the truth, I think it's better to wait until the order for a large force to move in comes before going in. It will be safer with more people." Major Ashkani said.

"I'm afraid it will be too late by then." Ke Lan suddenly lowered his voice and said, "Since you, Major, are considered General Maginot's confidant, then... you should be aware of what's going on with Leviathan, right?"

Ke Lan knew that he couldn't convince Ashkani and Machino just by "inspiration" and "intuition", but apart from this, he had another reason, which was enough for them to let him enter the East 9th District...

"Uh..." Ashkani was startled again, "I know about Leviathan, but this is different from now..."

"If the commander of the First Fleet had hesitated at that time and did not command the flagship to crash into Leviathan, but decided to wait for the arrival of the other fleets before launching a siege operation..." Ke Lan paused, "Then I'm afraid what we have to consider now is not the East Ninth District."

"Why?" Major Ashkani was a little confused. Although he had read the relevant reports on the Leviathan incident, he certainly didn't know as many details as Ke Lan, an eyewitness.

"Because as long as the First Fleet hesitates, we may face a fully resurrected Leviathan."

"..." Major Ashkani opened his mouth slightly, but couldn't utter a word for a while.

"And now, I suspect that the sound I heard and the sound Ms. Victoria heard did not come from the same source... If the Arasaka Group really intends to gather the 'containers' of the Seed of Corrosion to attack the blockade, then they may have set up more than one gathering point... If we miss one of them, imagine it, Major - the scene of hundreds of 'containers' tearing through the blockade and pouring into the nearby residential areas..."

"...Okay." Major Ashkani seemed to have made some important decision in his heart. He clenched his right fist and punched his chest hard. "Since Mr. Ke Lan is willing to risk his life for the people, I will definitely protect your safety!"

"Uh...are you going in with me too?" Ke Lan asked after a moment's pause.

"Of course." Ashkani picked out a dozen non-commissioned officers and equipped each of them with an injection gun and a syringe filled with active cells of flesh-eating worms to form an elite team. In addition, he transferred two "Bloodhound" mechas from the rear. Together with the previous four, a total of six mechas were also incorporated into the team.

As a result, the specifications of this team suddenly became "bloated": in addition to Ke Lan, Ashkani and Victoria, there are 14 agents from the Security Bureau, 16 non-commissioned officers from the garrison, plus six mechas... Including the operators inside the mechas, the number of people is more than twice that of the previous reconnaissance team. As for the firepower configuration... the firepower of this team even exceeds that of the troops left behind on the blockade line.

"Hurry up, we have to set off." Victoria urged, and she jumped onto the "Bloodhound" that was leading the way, and used the claws of her leg prosthesis to firmly fix herself on the top of the mecha.

Ke Lan asked an agent for an extra injection gun and pressed the active cells that Zofia gave him into the launch slot. He had just put the syringe into his side pocket when he turned around and saw Major Ashkani quickly making the sign of the cross on his chest.

"Major, are you religious?"

"Well... I'm a Christian... Although not many people still believe in the old-fashioned religions these days, my father and grandfather were both devout believers... Of course I know that God doesn't actually exist, but when I'm nervous, I always can't help but pray." Major Ashkani replied.

"Then just think of it as praying to your father and grandfather. They will bless you." Ke Lan patted his shoulder. "Also, I have reservations about whether God exists..."

"Do you believe that God really exists in this world?"

"I don't know...but the Alpha civilization seems to be very pious to their gods." Ke Lan said.