Chapter 8: The Gathering of Shadows
Longxi Republic, National Cybersecurity Monitoring Center, Jiang City Division.
At three in the morning, only the sound of keyboards clacking and the low hum of servers echoed through the massive data monitoring hall.
Auditor Xiao Wang rubbed his sore eyes, yawned, and chanically processed the thousands of flagged videos the system backend had pushed to him.
Pornography, violence, gambling… he had long grown numb to such content—he could click “Delete and Ban” accurately even with his eyes closed.
Suddenly, a video labeled by the AI system as “Highly Suspected of Illegal Special Effects/Fraudulent Advertising” was pushed to the top of his review list.
“Another ga company pulling so marketing stunt…”
Xiao Wang muttered as he habitually moved his mouse toward the “Delete” button.
But the flas on the video’s cover—and that shadowy figure standing atop a streetlamp—made him inexplicably stop his action.
As a seasoned auditor, he had seen too many cheap special effects and clumsy CGs, yet the texture of the flas in this clip looked far too real.
He clicked “Play.”
The video lasted only a dozen seconds, the footage shaking violently from the drunken hands of the caraman—but the core scene made his scalp tingle.
A woman floated dozens of blazing fireballs between her hands. Opposite her stood a man, like a hero from legend, lightly balanced atop a streetlamp more than ten ters high, his coat fluttering wildly in the night wind.
Xiao Wang’s heart skipped a beat.
He imdiately opened the fra-by-fra analysis tool.
Zoom in—then zoom in again.
He discovered that the flas had no point of ignition—they appeared from thin air—and the reflections and shadows they cast upon the surroundings were flawlessly consistent, nothing like post-production effects.
The strangest part was that the car’s rearview mirror in the background clearly reflected the sa scene—angle, lighting, and movent perfectly matched—without a single trace of compositing!
“This… this is impossible…”
Xiao Wang gasped sharply, a fine layer of sweat forming on his forehead.
With trembling hands, he rewound the video and froze the fra on the man standing atop the streetlamp.
Though blurry, he could see the lamp’s casing slightly dented beneath the man’s feet!
That wasn’t sothing created by wires—it was real weight pressing down!
anwhile, the video’s comnt section had already exploded.
“I declare, the 2077 blockbuster has been released early!”
“Fake! Look at that shaky cara—it’s hiding the CGI flaws, obviously.”
“Bullshit! Look at the debris flying from the explosions and the burn marks on the wall—if that’s CGI, the budget must’ve been astronomical!”
“The main point’s that guy on the streetlamp! Is he on a wire? I don’t see any cables!”
“Holy crap! I ran it through pro software—no cuts, no compositing traces! That ans this is raw footage!”
At first, most comnts were just jokes, but as more technical analyses appeared, the tone of the entire thread began to shift.
The teasing and doubt gave way to an uneasy mix of excitent and fear.
“Raw footage? You an… it’s real?”
“Fire Queen and Flying Man? Is Jiang City about to have superheroes?”
“Don’t tell it’s aliens… I’m scared now…”
“Send the location! I’m going there to witness history!”
Xiao Wang stared at the scrolling flood of comnts, his scalp prickling.
Sothing in this world had gone wrong!
A strong sense of duty drove him to grab the internal phone and dial his superior. “Director, I found a video…”
……
Jiang City Public Security Bureau, “815 Task Force” conference room.
The atmosphere was even heavier than last night—almost frozen.
Everyone’s eyes were locked on the screen, where the slowed-down footage played fra by fra.
The flight path of each fireball, the explosion details on the walls, and the man’s gravity-defying stance atop the streetlamp were all clearly visible.
The image was grainy and full of noise, but its content made every officer’s skin crawl.
A woman surrounded by floating fireballs—like a fire goddess from myth.
Opposite her, a shadowy figure stood tall atop the streetlamp, posture straight as a pine.
“Have we traced the video’s source?” Chen Mo asked hoarsely.
“Yes,”
Technician Xiao Wang adjusted his glasses, face pale. “Uploader’s na is Li Wen, an ordinary office worker. He was drunk last night and accidentally recorded the scene.”
“And the tech departnt’s conclusion?”
Xiao Wang took a deep breath and opened another file. “They analyzed every fra. All known thods—CG compositing, AR effects, holographic projection—have been ruled out.”
“Also, the video’s location perfectly matches the fire alarm we received from Deshengli Third Alley in the eastern district.”
“Our field agents found signs of high-temperature burns on the walls and ground. Analysis showed combustion temperatures exceeding 1,500 degrees Celsius—but no accelerants or explosive residues were found.”
Each new clue on the screen struck a heavy blow to the investigators’ understanding of reality.
Chen Mo turned his gaze to the photos from the Deshengli alley site.
The walls and pavent were pitted with blast craters, their edges lted into strange, glassy ripples—like they’d been seared by high-energy weapons.
Everything matched the video perfectly.
“Unexplained force… fire manipulation… inhuman speed…”
“Captain…”
Xiao Li’s face turned pale, his voice trembling. “Could it be that there really are…”
He didn’t dare finish the word.
“Nonsense!”
The deputy bureau chief slamd the table, though his tone betrayed unease behind the show of authority.
“This must be so new high-tech cri thod!”
“Maybe military-grade directed energy weapons—or… high-power laser projections!”
“We’re police! We deal in science!”
No one replied.
They all knew how hollow those words sounded.
After a long silence, Chen Mo finally spoke.
“From now on, the task force will expand its scope.”
“First, locate the video uploader imdiately and bring him in. I want to know exactly what he saw—and what he’s hiding.”
“Second, rge the Zheng Wei case with this ‘Fire Flying Man’ case. Treat Zheng Wei and the two individuals in the video as ‘extrely dangerous persons.’”
“Third, notify every precinct and patrol in the city: any unexplained anomaly—no matter how absurd—must be reported to the task force imdiately.”
His eyes swept across the room, his words landing like hamrs. “Everyone, brace yourselves. We may be facing an unprecedented challenge.”
“Our worldview… may need an update.”
“In this world, there may truly exist… beings with powers beyond our understanding.”
Chen Mo’s voice echoed in the silent room, each word weighted like stone.
The room was stunned.
“Captain Chen, that’s too far-fetched!”
“Yeah, superpowers? This isn’t a movie!”
“I still think it’s so kind of tech cri—maybe powered exoskeletons or new portable energy weapons.”
The room buzzed with disbelief and protest.
They were police—firm materialists—trained to explain cri through science and logic.
Now their captain was asking them to believe in “superpowers.” It was like asking them to abandon everything they’d built their careers upon.
“Enough! Quiet!”
The deputy chief slamd the table again, glaring around the room.
He turned to Chen Mo. “Chen Mo, is this your final assessnt?”
“Yes.”
Chen Mo t his gaze firmly. “I request that this matter be reported imdiately to the provincial departnt—or even higher. This is beyond our bureau’s capacity to handle.”
The deputy chief stared at him for a full minute before replying slowly, “You may submit the report—but word it carefully.”
“Until higher authorities respond, the official narrative remains: ‘a new type of high-tech criminal organization.’”
“Internally, I’m authorizing your task force to expand operations. You may access all city surveillance and technical resources.”
“I don’t care if they’re superhumans or ghosts. My only demand—find them!”
“Yes, sir!” Chen Mo stood upright and saluted.
……
After the police withdrew the barricade from Deshengli Third Alley, night once again shrouded the ravaged battleground.
A graceful figure silently appeared at the alley’s entrance.
Lin Lan adjusted her gold-rimd glasses and observed the scene from the shadows.
Wreckage everywhere, charred walls, cracked pavent—her eyes glead with analytic light.
Flas…
Explosions…
And traces of high-speed movent…
It seed the woman nad Sun Na had fought another unknown player here.
Just as she was about to step deeper into the alley for a closer look, a strange sensation rippled through her heart.
Her eyes narrowed, body lting into the deeper shadows as her sharp gaze swept toward the other end of the alley.
A chubby, balding man in a greasy suit was climbing out of an old Santana, sweat dripping down his face.
He toyed with a walnut string in his hands, his oily smile forced and nervous, his small eyes darting about.
The middle-aged man also sensed the presence of soone from the sa faction.
Spotting Lin Lan at the alley’s mouth, he imdiately bent slightly and grinned obsequiously. “Morning, friend.”
Lin Lan’s gaze passed over him to the darkness behind.
Soone else was there.
A young man in an ordinary jacket, plain-faced—soone who would disappear completely in a crowd.
Yet Lin Lan’s pupils constricted slightly.
Because she could feel it—that sa aura of the 【Shadow】 faction emanating from him.
Three people!
Out of the four mbers of 【Shadow】, three had gathered here at once, drawn by the sa event!
Lin Lan felt as though unseen hands were pulling strings behind the scenes.
The ordinary-looking man also noticed her. He pushed up his glasses, gave a gentle, harmless smile, and approached.
“Looks like we had the sa thought.”
The first offline eting of the 【Shadow】 faction quietly began in the desolate alley before dawn.
“And you two are?” Lin Lan spoke first, her tone cold and probing.
“Wang Defa, small business owner,” Wang Defa said, rubbing his hands with a fawning smile. “Identity: 【Curse Master】.”
“Call A-Xiang,” said Chen Xiang with a mild smile. “Just an ordinary insurance salesman. Identity: 【Impersonator】.”
As he spoke, his facial muscles twisted—instantly transforming into Wang Defa’s likeness, down to the greasy grin.
Wang Defa jumped in fright, instinctively stepping back.
“No need to panic, just showing you my ability.” Chen Xiang reverted to his plain face.
Lin Lan watched without reaction, rely stating calmly, “Lin Lan, 【Shadow Controller】.”
After the brief exchange, an uneasy silence fell between them.
Eventually, Lin Lan broke it, her commanding aura pressing down on the other two.
“Since we’re all ‘one of our own,’ why don’t we find a place to talk properly?”
Chen Xiang adjusted his glasses, smiling stiffly. “Miss Lin is right.”
“I’ve got no objection,” Wang Defa said nervously, glancing between them.
One woman whose aura made him avert his eyes, another man whose smile hid unknown sches—he felt like a husky lost among wolves.
Lin Lan gave them a calm glance. “Follow .”
She turned and walked toward a black Bentley parked at the corner.
Chen Xiang and Wang Defa exchanged wary looks, then obediently followed.
……
Half an hour later, inside a private club atop a skyscraper in the city center.
Lin Lan sat gracefully at the head of the table and poured herself a glass of red wine.
“Now, let’s exchange the intel we have.”
She swirled her glass, going straight to the point. “I’ll begin.”
“A few days ago, there was a violent brawl involving a man nad Zheng Wei. Based on collected intelligence and analysis, I strongly suspect he’s a player—his ability likely related to strength.”
“He’s currently wanted by the police and remains at large.”
“As for the two who fought last night—one was nad Sun Na, her ability should involve fire. The other is unidentified, likely possessing speed-type abilities.”
“These three’s factions remain unknown…”
Although Lin Lan didn’t know Zhang Jie’s identity, Sophie’s report last night allowed her to infer all this accurately.
Wang Defa imdiately interjected, “Those two who fought yesterday must be from 【Radiance】!”
“Otherwise, why make such a big scene? Idiots!”
Chen Xiang stayed silent, rely adjusting his glasses as if thinking deeply.
“Now that three of us from 【Shadow】 are gathered, we hold a major advantage.”
Lin Lan’s voice carried unquestionable authority as she naturally assud command. “My suggestion—let’s consolidate our power, locate our final teammate, and then plan to eliminate 【Radiance】 one by one.”
“I agree.”
Chen Xiang quickly nodded. “Intelligence is the key now. We don’t know who’s in 【Radiance】 or where they are.”
“If those three are indeed from 【Radiance】, Zheng Wei and Sun Na are already exposed, and finding the ‘Flying Man’s’ identity is only a matter of ti—but there are still five hiding in the dark.”
He paused, then added, “Oh, right—regarding intel, I may have found sothing new.”
“Oh?” Lin Lan’s eyes shifted to him.
“I ca across soone on a niche history forum—soone who might be a player.”
Chen Xiang’s lips curved into a mysterious smile. “She seems to have an extraordinary understanding of ‘Ga of Gods’—even ntioned taphors involving ‘history’ and ‘mythology’ that aren’t in our known rules.”
“She’s cautious—I haven’t fully confird her identity yet—but I believe she’ll be a very crucial figure.”
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