Another Threshold

Tu Ran thought of the elevator in her own apartment building.

Tsk, no comparison, no comparison...

The mechanical voice continued, "Pioneer Xi Chunzhi, I've detected that your heart rate exceeds the normal range, bordering on anger. I'd like to remind you that anger is harmful to your health and may prevent you from making timely and accurate judgments, which could be detrimental to your upcoming schedule. I hope you can adjust accordingly."

"Have a pleasant day! Ding—"

As the mechanical voice faded, the elevator doors opened, revealing Meeting Room 721.

Tu Ran was still wondering how the machine had detected Xi Chunzhi's heart rate when the latter had already stepped into the cavernous meeting room.

Tu Ran hurried to follow at her side.

The meeting room was already packed. When Xi Chunzhi and Tu Ran entered, some eyes turned toward them, while others remained lowered, fingers swiping across illuminated screens, engrossed in something or other.

Tu Ran followed Xi Chunzhi to two empty chairs and sat down, then discreetly surveyed her surroundings. It was then that she noticed a familiar figure at the far end of the conference table.

It was Xie Xu.

Wasn't he a researcher? Why was he in the Pioneer Team's meeting room?

Tu Ran was baffled.

A man in military uniform beside Xie Xu rapped the table, and the room fell silent as the doors slid shut automatically.

He was too far away for Tu Ran to make out the name on his uniform tag, but his chiseled, imposing features struck her as vaguely familiar—as if she'd seen him somewhere before, though she couldn't quite place it.

But now wasn't the time to dwell on that. Tu Ran focused her attention on what he was saying.

"Today, I have something serious to discuss with all of you."

"Yesterday, in Regaken State to the north, seventeen anomaly traces appeared in a single day."

The moment those words left his mouth, the room erupted in murmurs.

Even Tu Ran, who knew little about this world, grasped the gravity of the situation.

After all, Regaken State was more than two thousand kilometers from the Federation's Administrative Building, and the only gate through which anomalies could emerge—the Threshold—was located near the Administrative Building itself.

Yesterday was the Threshold's open day, and every Pioneer from the previous expedition who was still alive had come out of the Threshold. The only people anomalies could come into contact with were Pioneers. For them to exit the Threshold unscathed—rather than being riddled with bullets by the guards stationed outside—their only option was to possess a Pioneer.

But Pioneers' locations were monitored in real time.

If these seventeen anomalies had possessed Pioneers, even if they'd passed the initial and secondary screenings, how could they have evaded the Federation's pervasive surveillance to travel two thousand kilometers to Regaken State?

That was nearly impossible.

"How did those seventeen anomalies get to Regaken State?"

Someone voiced the same question Tu Ran had been pondering.

"To this day, we have not been able to trace their path," the officer said with a grim expression, his gaze sweeping slowly across everyone present. "There were two hundred and forty-one Pioneers who came out of the Threshold yesterday, and there are also two hundred and forty-one people seated at this table now."

"Clearly, the anomalies did not come out with our Pioneer Team, and the head of the Executive Department, who stands guard outside the Threshold day and night, has assured us that not a single anomaly was released."

"So now there is only one possibility left: besides the gate at the Federation Center, another Threshold has descended."

When he finished speaking, the meeting room was so quiet that all that could be heard was the sound of breathing.