Mysterious Resurrection: What If

Chapter 61 Liu San
"This thing is a product of Professor Wang's laboratory. It's a brand new attempt at using paranormal items, but it's still in the prototype stage. You'll take it with you on this mission and record the changes in the data as well."

Liu San frowned, his tone tinged with displeasure: "Wait, Cao Yanhua, have you misunderstood something? Did I say I agreed?"

Liu San's tone was icy: "Headquarters really is using me like a madman. While carrying out the raid plan, I also have to go to DQ City to help your relatives. I can't take care of you even if I have a lot of paper dolls."

Cao Yanhua seemed to have anticipated that Liu San would say such a thing. Each of these team leaders was a troublemaker, and after spending a long time with them, he had gotten to know their temperaments quite well.

He took out a black metal box from behind his desk and said, "In addition to the mission rewards for participating in the raid, here are three ghost candles, plus a supernatural item contained by headquarters for you to choose from."

“However,” Cao Yanhua continued, “Professor Wang wants you to participate in the raid as Liu San, which means you can no longer fool headquarters with a paper doll.”

"One more." Cao Yanhua hadn't finished speaking.

"During the execution of the raid plan, the captain will be abroad. Headquarters needs your paper dolls to go to various cities at the same time to stabilize the situation. This also includes this operation to support Cao Yang. You will have to take care of multiple places at the same time."

Liu San stared at Cao Yanhua and sneered, "Wang Xiaoming taught you to say that, didn't he? You have no humanity at all, treating us like machines."

Cao Yanhua didn't deny it, nodding readily, and then he said seriously:
“Liu San, this raid plan is crucial. There will be a gap in the country for a period of time. During this period, without a captain in charge, foreign ghost tamers are very likely to take advantage of the situation. There are still a small number of escaped vengeful ghosts in Dajing City that have not been imprisoned. The person in charge is simply unable to spare the time. Your paper dolls need to cover at least half of the country within these twelve hours.”

Liu San walked to the thing covered by burlap and said, "Yang Jian is right. The captain is just a higher-level laborer. He works himself to death every day. He might be worn out by you guys one day."

He ripped open the burlap, revealing what was underneath, and a look of surprise flashed in Liu San's eyes.

"robot?"

Before me was a bizarre humanoid figure forcibly stitched together from steel and flesh.

A body forged from steel, its main body pieced together from metal, yet at the joints of the metal, there were chunks of cold, whitish, rotting flesh embedded in it.

Torn skin and human tissue filled the gaps between the metal parts. In some places, the steel and flesh could not be completely bonded together. Rotten blood clots hung halfway on the iron frame, pulling out thick, blackish-red blood streaks.

The entire mechanical creation was like metal and flesh being forcibly fused together in some extreme way.

This interweaving of steel and flesh resembles some bizarre yet avant-garde supernatural creation on the path of exploring the supernatural.

"Ok?"

Liu San noticed something amiss. He bent down and looked inside the machine.

Inside the hollow mechanical structure, a tattered piece of cotton cloth was wrapped up and roughly stuffed between the mechanical parts, looking out of place with the entire metal body.

"This is..." Liu San recalled a paranormal record file he had seen before.

Cao Yanhua stepped forward and said, "The Frozen Ghost is a vengeful ghost that was imprisoned a long time ago. After it was dismembered, Professor Wang has been using this quilt for experiments."

As he spoke, Cao Yanhua activated the mechanical creation. Two red lights immediately lit up on the humanoid machine head, slowly scanning Liu San and Cao Yanhua, as if scanning the surrounding environment.

"In the out-of-control incident in Dajing City, the other part of this ghost that was dismembered has disappeared. The analysis team believes that the paranormal phenomenon now covering the entire DQ City may be the part that ran away from Dajing City."

Liu San circled the robot once. This thing felt too eerie to him. It was driven by modern technology and had supernatural objects at its core, but the two were completely unrelated.

In Liu San's understanding, inanimate objects could never control vengeful spirits or use supernatural items.

How can the mechanical and the supernatural be driven together? Who will bear the cost after using them? If the mechanical can truly replace the living in using the supernatural, then this discovery can be said to be of great significance. This is a completely new path, more unconventional than any previous way of controlling vengeful spirits.

Cao Yanhua seemed to sense Liu San's doubts and said, "This robot is a top-secret research project. All the relevant information is completely in the possession of Professor Wang. To be honest, I was initially against this experiment. Entrusting the supernatural to a completely uncontrollable technological creation is too risky. The consequences would be unimaginable if it got out of control." "But Professor Wang persisted in pushing it forward until he created this thing. Only then did I feel a little more at ease. In the experiment, without any human intervention, it successfully imprisoned a ghost."

Liu San asked in surprise, "You mean, it can act on its own without my intervention?"

Liu San thought that the robot needed to be operated by himself or that a medium was implanted, but Cao Yanhua clearly meant that the thing seemed to be able to use supernatural powers on its own.

“That’s right.” Cao Yanhua nodded.

“The data shows that this thing can act completely autonomously, but this is the first time it has been put into actual combat. I feel more at ease having you lead it along.”

Liu San glanced at Cao Yanhua and said, "Don't worry?"

"Why didn't you let Li Jun lead it? He's probably more suitable than me. To put it bluntly, you think that even if this thing goes out of control, I'm just a paper doll. If I die, I die. It won't be a loss to headquarters, right?"

Cao Yanhua coughed lightly, avoiding Liu San's gaze.

Indeed, as Liu San said, he still had some concerns about the robot. After all, this was a completely new attempt at the supernatural, and any accident could happen. After weighing all the factors, it was safest to have Liu San carry it.

He quickly changed the subject: "Time is of the essence. The plane is ready. Take it now and head to DQ City to support Cao Yang."

Liu San sneered, "Don't worry, I won't let anything happen to your relative."

After saying that, Liu San patted the mechanical creation's shoulder forcefully.

"Come with me."

The robot immediately took a step, making a dull metallic clanging sound, and followed Liu San out.

Cao Yanhua shouted from behind, "Be gentle, many parts of this thing are just shoved together."

Liu San didn't turn his head back, and led the robot toward the helipad.

Cao Yanhua watched Liu San's retreating figure, took out his phone, and made a call.

"Professor Wang, Liu San has already taken the robot away. Cao Yang, the source of the paranormal activity in DQ City, is currently investigating, but the scope is too large, and Cao Yang has not yet sent back any information."

Wang Xiaoming's voice came from the other end of the phone.

"Understood. It's enough to stabilize the current situation in DQ City. The captains involved in the raid cannot be sacrificed in any way. Liu San's paper dolls are special; no matter how many die, it won't affect the main body. With him working with Cao Yang, plus that robot, we should be able to hold out until the raid ends."

Wang Xiaoming paused for a moment, then continued, "Zhang Jun is in trouble. Just an hour ago, after we received his last intelligence message, his satellite phone went offline. We currently believe that Zhang Jun may have already sacrificed himself, and our plan needs to be adjusted temporarily."

"What?!" Cao Yanhua slammed his hand on the table and stood up abruptly.

Zhang Jun was the team leader planted abroad by headquarters, and he was of vital importance to headquarters. It can be said that most of the intelligence sources abroad were provided by Zhang Jun. His sacrifice on the eve of the raid was undoubtedly a huge blow to headquarters.

"Shen Liang and I are already in the conference room. Please come over as soon as possible."

"Okay! I'll be right there!"

Cao Yanhua hung up the phone and rushed to the conference room, his face filled with barely concealed anger and unease.

(End of this chapter)