novelraw Chapter 151: Sculpture in Rocks
Chapter 151: Sculpture in Rocks
The sounds of wind and snow, the shouts of the investigators, the rumbling of collapsing rocks—all these elements were consumed by an absolute "silence."
Only a heart-palpitating void remained at the scene, a void that was itself a terrifying clue.
Klaus withdrew his gaze from the screen.
Lin Jie could sense the suppressed fury and grief from the tightening line of his jaw.
He did not let his emotions run wild. Instead, he laid out the investigation details one by one in a cold, objective tone.
He was not facing the life or death of two subordinates, but a mathematical problem that needed to be solved with reason.
"What the footage shows is our lost 'Glacier Eye' team," Klaus's voice was clear.
"Team leader Heinrich, a veteran hunter with over fifteen years of experience hunting high-altitude UMAs;
team member Bernd, a former demolition expert from the German Empire's Mountain Division."
"They are Munich Branch's top high-altitude combat duo. Their professional competence and combat capabilities are beyond doubt."
"Yet, just like the victims of the previous five disappearance cases, they vanished into thin air."He walked to the large sand table and used a pointer to indicate several positions marked with red flags.
"All disappearance sites are concentrated in the mixed glacier and cliff zone on the southern flank of the Zugspitze, at an altitude above 2,500 meters."
"The terrain here is treacherous and the climate is changeable, but it is not insurmountable for experienced mountaineers."
"The crux of the problem is..."
His pointer traced a narrow corridor on the sand table.
"All the collapses occurred in areas of solid bedrock where large-scale rockfalls are impossible."
"They are small in scale and precise in range, more like being 'precisely detonated' by some force rather than formed naturally."
At this point, he turned his gaze to the silent blonde female technical expert.
Gretchen stepped forward. She did not use a paper report, but instead quickly drew a series of complex rock structure diagrams and geological cross-sections on the blackboard beside her with chalk.
Her movements were fluid and confident, the profound knowledge already imprinted in her mind.
"The Supervisor's judgment is correct," Gretchen's voice was crisp, a contrast to Klaus's deep tone.
"Judging from the rock samples collected at the scene, the rock structure in the collapse areas has undergone a bizarre 'reconstruction'."
"Look here," she pointed to a complex hexagonal crystal structure diagram, "This is the normal gneiss crystal structure of the area—stable and dense."
"However, in the samples from the collapse points, I discovered a large quantity of this..."
She drew another structural diagram showing a disordered, chaotic state.
"Amorphous silicate polymer."
"The 'skeleton' constituting the rock dissolved in an instant, losing all supporting force, leading to a small-scale, vertical, inward collapse."
"This phenomenon defies all known principles of geology and physics."
She paused, then added an even more impactful statement.
"From an energy perspective, the energy required to complete molecular reconstruction of this degree in an instant is comparable to a small-yield lightning strike."
"But at all the disappearance sites, we have not detected violent energy fluctuations, elemental residues, or spiritual tides."
"The entire process is as clean as a magic trick."
Hearing this, Julian's curiosity had already overwhelmed his caution.
He adjusted his gold-rimmed glasses and interjected in a tone used for discussing academic issues, "Miss Schultz, are you saying that what we are facing might be a UMA capable of directly interfering with 'material structure' itself?"
"Through some unknown means, temporarily and locally 'canceling' the solid properties of matter?"
Gretchen nodded approvingly. "Mr. Belloc, your understanding is very precise."
"That is also the only, though evidence-lacking, theoretical speculation from our Technical Department at the moment."
"This ability has already transcended the scope of conventional attacks."
"That is also why I described it as magic."
The conference room fell silent once more.
This inference raised the danger level of the mission to a new height.
It meant that the shelters, fortifications, and the very ground beneath their feet they were accustomed to could become meaningless before the enemy.
What they were about to confront might be an existence capable of arbitrarily rewriting the battlefield environment.
Just as Klaus and Gretchen were both troubled by this indefensible ability, Lin Jie, who had been listening quietly, suddenly spoke.
His voice was not loud, but it attracted everyone's attention in the heavy atmosphere.
"Perhaps we've been thinking in the wrong direction from the very beginning."
Lin Jie slowly stood up. He did not look at the complex geological charts, nor did he pay attention to the fatal red markers on the sand table.
His gaze fell on the white screen that had played the footage.
In his mind, he replayed the final few seconds of absolute "silence" over and over.
"Supervisor Klaus, Miss Gretchen," Lin Jie's tone was resolute, "All your analyses are based on a common premise: that 'the missing persons were buried by the collapse'."
"You are searching for bodies, analyzing rocks, speculating on how the UMA 'killed' them."
"But is there a possibility..."
He paused, as if organizing a sentence that would overturn everyone's understanding.
"Is there a possibility that the UMA's purpose was not to kill them, nor to bury them."
"It merely turned them into 'rock'."
This sentence exploded in the mind of everyone in the conference room.
Turned into rock? The idea was too absurd.
"Lin Jie, do you mean petrification?" Julian was the first to react. His knowledge as a mysticism scholar made him think of the legend of Medusa.
"An ability capable of transforming organic life forms into inorganic minerals?"
"No, not just petrification." Lin Jie shook his head. He knew he had to describe his conjecture with more precise language.
"Medusa's petrification creates a 'sculpture' identical to the original body."
"What we saw in the footage was 'silence'."
"The instant disappearance of sound means the vocal organs—the vocal cords, the lungs—lost their organic function in that very instant."
"The collapse might just be a smokescreen, a stage prop used to conceal the truth."
He turned around, looking directly into the shocked eyes of Klaus and Gretchen, and said, "I speculate that the UMA's ability is a thorough 'assimilation'."
"It is not covering the missing persons' bodies with a layer of stone, but directly reconstructing the carbon, hydrogen, oxygen, and all other elements constituting their bodies into a silicate structure identical to the surrounding rock."
"They were 'rewritten,' transformed from biology into a part of the geology."
"That's why you can't find the bodies, because every ordinary-looking rock could be them."
"That's why sonic detectors and sniffer dogs also find no trace, because from a physical and chemical perspective, they are already 'dead,' no longer life."
"This also explains the 'silence'." Lin Jie's speech began to quicken, his thoughts pouring out.
"Because at the very moment the sound was made, their entire bodies, including the vibrating vocal cords, turned into hard, non-vibrating rock."
"The sound, naturally, disappeared."
Klaus stared fixedly at Lin Jie, fluctuations appearing in his eyes.
He was not doubting, but was using his decades of hunter experience to rapidly verify the logic of this hypothesis.
The more he verified, the more piercing the chill in his heart became.
Because this seemingly most absurd hypothesis was like a key unlocking all the unresolved mysteries.
The precise collapses, the vanished bodies, the clean scene, and that absolute "silence."
"This..." Gretchen Schultz, this technical expert who wielded science and reason as her weapons, now had a trace of doubt in her voice.
"If your hypothesis holds true, then all the rock samples we collected before..."
"God, have we been dissecting our own colleagues all along?"
This terrifying thought lowered the temperature in the conference room by several degrees.
Lin Jie's hypothesis unfolded before them like a grand canvas of Gothic horror.
That tranquil Alpine mountain range was no longer magnificent natural scenery, but a natural graveyard displaying countless nameless "sculptures."
"I need evidence." Klaus finally spoke, his voice even lower than before, as if squeezed from the depths of his chest.
"Mr. Lin, there's nothing wrong with the logic of your deduction, but it is too horrifying."
"Without obtaining conclusive evidence, I cannot stake all the resources of the Munich Branch on a mere conjecture."
Lin Jie nodded. He understood the other party's caution.
He said calmly, "The evidence should be at the last disappearance site."
"If I'm not mistaken, the two members of the 'Glacier Eye' team are currently 'standing' in that collapse zone in the form of rock, waiting for us."
Klaus's gaze became sharp as a blade.
He remained silent for a full half-minute, as if engaged in a difficult internal struggle.
In the end, the commander's decisiveness overwhelmed everything.
"Alright." He said heavily.
"I will lead the team personally."
"You, me, Gretchen, plus your two companions, will form a five-person joint investigation team."
"We will depart immediately for the last known coordinates of the 'Glacier Eye' team."
"Our mission has only one objective."
He stared intently at Lin Jie.
"To verify your hypothesis."
Once the order was given, the entire fortress was activated, beginning to operate at astonishing efficiency.
Equipment allocation, vehicle preparation, logistical supply—everything proceeded in an orderly manner under concise and clear instructions.
Just as they were preparing to leave the conference room for the equipment depot, Gretchen called out to Lin Jie.
"Mr. Lin, please wait a moment."
The blonde technical expert walked up to him and handed him a wrist-mounted device constructed from brass, crystal, and complex coils.
At the center of the device was a Hertz crystal that glowed according to the energy fluctuations of the surrounding environment.
"This is a 'Hertz Resonator' I independently designed and manufactured based on Mr. Nikola Tesla's alternating current theory, combined with some conjectures from ether physics," Gretchen's tone carried the pride of an inventor.
"Theoretically, it can detect weak life signals in carbon-based forms within a radius of fifty meters."
"Even if the target's heartbeat has stopped, as long as their nervous system hasn't completely broken down, it can be captured by this."
Lin Jie took this steampunk-styled precision instrument. He could feel the wisdom belonging to Gretchen contained within it.
"Thank you, Miss Gretchen. This might be very useful," he said sincerely.
Gretchen looked at him quietly and shook her head, a touch of helplessness coloring her calm voice.
"Don't get your hopes up too high," she said softly. "The search and rescue teams have already taken an earlier model of it to the scene."
"So far, it has detected nothing at the site."