The H City government building.
In the top-floor conference room, all the high-ranking officials of H City were seated. The mayor occupied the head seat, and behind him, a large screen was being tested by a technician.
"Mayor Huang, the equipment is fully calibrated," the mayor's secretary whispered into his ear.
Mayor Huang nodded, gestured for him to step down, and then began, "Everyone, the reason I've gathered you here today, you may have some guesses."
The officials nodded slightly. Currently, there was only one matter in H City that could bring them all together: the demolition of Bei'an Street.
Bei'an Street, an ordinary street in H City, would not have caused such a stir if it were for a routine demolition. After all, the mayor himself had initiated the project. Few would have objected to demolishing an ordinary street.
However, this demolition was sudden, and many had no prior warning. By the time they found out, the mayor had already called them to a meeting with the demolition approval notice. Otherwise, they would have bought a few properties there beforehand to profit.
"I've called you all here today to introduce the scope of the demolition of Bei'an Street and some important considerations. Your respective departments must be fully prepared to prevent any unforeseen incidents!"
Mayor Huang's tone was serious, and the officials speculated about the reasons behind the mayor's intense focus on the demolition of a single street.
"Secretary Liu, you may begin," the mayor signaled to the secretary standing by the screen.
"Yes, Mayor Huang." Secretary Liu activated the projector, and a satellite map of H City appeared on the screen.
Secretary Liu zoomed in on Bei'an Street and began to explain:
"Bei'an Street is one of the representative bustling areas of H City. This demolition is due to an overseas wealthy businessman investing three billion yuan to build an integrated international shopping mall on Bei'an Street."
Secretary Liu then displayed a three-dimensional rendering of the mall.
The officials began to murmur among themselves after seeing the mall's design. After a moment, an official raised his hand.
"Director Zhang, please," Secretary Liu said.
"This mall occupies at least 200 mu. Demolishing only Bei'an Street won't be enough, will it?" Director Zhang asked.
"Correct. Therefore, the plan includes the demolition of two nearby streets as well, but the main focus will be on Bei'an Street as the center," Secretary Liu explained.
At this point, another official raised his hand.
"Secretary Liu, I have some knowledge of architecture. From what I see, are there any potential issues with this design?"
"What issues?" Mayor Huang interjected.
The official offered an apologetic smile to Mayor Huang and continued, "Doesn't the ground-level design of this mall seem a bit too slender? Are they planning to build upon the existing structures of Bei'an Street as a foundation?"
Anyone with a basic understanding of architecture could spot the anomaly in the design. The foundation of the mall was very slender, with buildings only on the sides and a wide street left open in the middle. With this architectural style, even a minor tremor or earthquake would cause the entire mall building to collapse.
Secretary Liu glanced at Mayor Huang upon hearing this. Mayor Huang nodded, and then Secretary Liu spoke:
"This is indeed the case. This design was created by a renowned foreign architect hired by the wealthy businessman. There will be no issues with its sturdiness. According to the information provided by the businessman, this mall can withstand an earthquake of approximately magnitude nine. This level of stability is more than sufficient for our H City."
"Does anyone else have any questions?"
"Secretary Liu, please continue," one official said.
Secretary Liu waited for a moment and, seeing no further questions, shifted his attention back to the screen and continued, "Our demolition work this time may encounter some unusual circumstances. Everyone must be cautious in their respective tasks, especially regarding the confidentiality of the workers."
"Here, here, and here are predicted to be high-risk accident areas. All personnel working in these locations must sign confidentiality agreements and are forbidden from disclosing any situation externally, regardless of what happens." Secretary Liu circled several locations, one of which was Fang Ming's home.
"Secretary Liu, what does this mean? Will we encounter something during this demolition?" The officials below erupted, stunned. They had never experienced such a situation during any demolition. What secrets did Bei'an Street hold?
Mayor Huang had anticipated this reaction. He subtly gestured to Secretary Liu, who then retrieved a stack of printed agreements from under the conference table and distributed them to the officials.
"Confidentiality agreements?" the officials murmured, confused.
After distributing the agreements, Secretary Liu explained, "What I am about to introduce will subvert your understanding of this world. Those willing to sign the confidentiality agreement may stay. We will also assign you various classified tasks related to the demolition. Conversely, you will only be assigned peripheral duties."
"This..." The officials suddenly understood. But in this situation, who would dare to leave? Leaving now would be equivalent to voluntarily withdrawing from Mayor Huang's circle. Moreover, they were curious about the secrets of Bei'an Street.
Without hesitation, all the officials present signed the confidentiality agreements. Secretary Liu collected the agreements, glanced at them, and then whispered something into Mayor Huang's ear. Mayor Huang nodded thoughtfully.
"Since everyone has signed the agreements, I will now introduce the difficulties of this demolition. I hope you are not too shocked."
Secretary Liu smiled mysteriously, slid his hand across the screen, and a picture of a monster appeared before everyone.
"Secretary Liu, why are you showing us a picture from the internet? Is this a monster from a horror movie?"
Secretary Liu ignored the question and continued, "Allow me to introduce. This type of monster is called a 'Sha Zhong' (煞种), a low-level resentment monster. Its primary ability is ordinary physical attacks. Under normal circumstances, conventional cold and hot weapons can harm them."
"What? You mean this monster is real?" The officials were astonished. Something that only existed in movies was actually real?
Secretary Liu nodded solemnly and then clapped his hands twice. A door on the side of the conference room opened, and two fully armed researchers pushed in a cage.
Inside the cage lay a sleeping monster, exactly like the one in the picture. Its head was covered with countless menacing eyes, and a gaping maw full of fangs protruded from its neck, its tongue half-out. Four arms grew from its back, and its body was covered in shimmering scales.
A chilling sensation permeated the room, and the sound of people swallowing nervously was constant.
"Se-Secretary Liu... is this that type of monster?" an official stammered.
The cage was pushed to Secretary Liu's side. He pointed at the monster and said, "This is what we will encounter during the demolition. Don't be intimidated by their fierce appearance; they are not very powerful, and they fear sunlight. Our experiments have shown that even artificially synthesized sunlight can suppress them to some extent, so there's no need to be afraid."
With that, Secretary Liu took a specially made flashlight from one of the researchers and shone it on the monster.
"Hiss... hiss..." The part of the monster illuminated by the flashlight began to emit black smoke, as if sulfuric acid had been spilled on it. The pain caused the monster to awaken.
"Roar!" The monster woke up and began to frantically ram the cage. Secretary Liu retracted the flashlight and calmly observed its every move.
The monster's numerous eyes darted around in panic, and its four arms clutched the cage, shaking it violently.
The emotions of the officials gradually calmed down, and curiosity began to take over. They craned their necks to observe the monster in the cage, considering it nothing more than a beast to be gawked at, despite its terrifying appearance.
"I feel... its eyes are a bit too human-like?" an official suddenly remarked.
Following his comment, several other officials agreed. They did indeed sense a human-like quality in its gaze.
Seeing this, Secretary Liu explained, "Some of these monsters are intelligent 'Sha Zhong.' They are very cunning, with intelligence comparable to ordinary humans. The human-like gaze you perceive in this monster indicates it possesses a certain level of sentience."
"Secretary Liu, I have a question."
"Please proceed."
"How are these monsters generated?"
Secretary Liu pondered for a moment and said, "These monsters appear in areas with concentrated resentment. When the surrounding living beings are infected by this resentment, they mutate into these creatures."
"Humans... can also become them?"
Secretary Liu gave the questioning official a strange look and nodded.
Upon hearing this answer, the officials broke out in a cold sweat. This meant that the resentment infection was not limited to ordinary animals but also humans!
"If these monsters scratch someone, will they infect the human?"
Secretary Liu shook his head. "No, that's not the case. These monsters are not like zombies in movies; they don't have such outlandish abilities."
"Then, if we demolish Bei'an Street, will we be infected by resentment?"
Secretary Liu paused. "If there are no areas of concentrated resentment, the possibility of humans being infected is very small. According to the data, the monsters in Bei'an Street did not originate locally but from an unknown place. You don't need to worry about this issue."
"Does anyone else have any other questions?"
The officials shook their heads. Since the safety of the job was confirmed, they had nothing else to consider. After all, none of them would be personally involved in the construction. Their questions were merely about how to suppress any potential casualties.
"Since no one has further questions, I will now introduce another type of monster." Secretary Liu waved, and the researchers pulled the monster away. He then slid the screen, and another monster's image appeared.
"What!" The officials were all shocked to their feet as they looked at the monster on the screen. "Secretary Liu, are you sure this is real?"
Secretary Liu smirked. "Yes, this monster is also real. In fact, we may encounter them in Bei'an Street. You must prepare yourselves mentally."
"..." Everyone fell silent.
Looking at the mountain-sized monster on the screen, a chill ran down everyone's spine. Did ordinary humans have the ability to deal with such a creature?