Chapter 128: What Is That Thing

"Wait!" Zhuge Taxue interrupted Chen Hao. "How do you know those transport planes were carrying weapons and armed personnel? And how do you know they were heading into the forest? Did you see it yourself, or did your father tell you?"

"That's right!" Guo Yunhai also realized this. He had been so shocked by what Chen Hao said earlier that he hadn't stopped to consider the logic or veracity of his claims. Now that Zhuge Taxue had brought it up, he realized the problem: "How do you actually know?"

Chen Hao looked troubled. How was he supposed to explain this to them? The truth was that while they had all seen the transport planes, they hadn't actually seen any weapons or armed personnel, and he had no concrete evidence to prove it.

He had only deduced that these events were taking place in the forest based on memories that had surfaced in his mind. But those sudden, fragmented memories were bizarre enough on their own; using them as evidence would never be convincing.

Noticing Chen Hao's hesitation, Guo Yunhai didn't overthink it, assuming there was simply a reason Chen Hao couldn't disclose his source. "What is it? Is it inconvenient to say?"

Chen Hao shook his head. "It's not that it's inconvenient; it's that I don't know how to explain it to you. The way I know these things is truly inconceivable—no less strange than that building in Kestar. I'm afraid if I told you, you'd think I was insane..."

Guo Yunhai and Zhuge Taxue exchanged glances. "Hearing you say that, I'm starting to suspect you're just making this up..."

"Sigh..." Chen Hao sighed helplessly. "I don't blame you. If someone had told me the same thing ten days ago, I wouldn't have believed it either. But think about it: what reason would I have to lie to you? I never intended to tell you, Yunhai, why I came to Kestar in the first place. If you hadn't asked me, I wouldn't have said anything. Why would I invent such a wild story now? If I really wanted to keep you in the dark, I could have just made up a reasonable excuse. There's no need to be this outrageous.

"Besides, you can investigate the matter of the armed personnel yourselves. It just so happens that when I was in the elevator this morning, I ran into some people from a security firm. You can follow that lead and see if I'm lying. I'm certain that while I only saw one company, such a massive influx of security personnel into Kestar couldn't possibly be for a camping trip. Most of them must be staying in hotels. They might not be registered under the security firm's name, but if you look closely, you'll find that most of the people checking into hotels today are security contractors."

Chen Hao looked at Guo Yunhai meaningfully. "Yunhai, you think my background is significant, but I think you're no simple person yourself. Not to mention your mastery of Hung Ga at your age, there's the fact that you mentioned your flight to Kestar was canceled, and you managed to arrange a private helicopter with a single phone call. Being able to mobilize an aircraft like that suggests your own background is quite substantial! I'm not saying this to blame you for hiding anything, but since you have the ability to arrange flights on short notice, it shouldn't be hard for you to check the hotel guest lists in Kestar, right? Just have someone look into it, and you'll see whether I'm talking nonsense."

Guo Yunhai shook his head. "No need. I believe you. Even without your explanation, I felt there was something strange about this place. As I said, my flight was canceled—not because of rain, thunder, or fog, but an unconditional, forced grounding. That alone is unusual. If the flight was canceled to clear the airport for military transports, that would be one thing, but those planes aren't even parked at the international airport, which makes the grounding of civilian flights very suspicious."

Chen Hao nodded repeatedly. "Exactly! It seems you're a sensible person after all."

"Don't be so quick to praise me," Guo Yunhai replied. "Since you say there's a danger in the forest, what exactly is it? Is it the same as what happened all those years ago? Are other terrorists trying to target that building and launching attacks?"

"Huh?" Chen Hao was stunned. "I hadn't considered that! That does seem possible!"

"Terrorist attacks?" Zhuge Taxue had a different take. "That seems unlikely, doesn't it? Kestar is our country's territory. What terrorist would be foolish enough to come here and cause trouble? Do they really think there's no one here to stop them? And Chen Hao, have you forgotten what you said? It wasn't just one country or organization investigating Kestar; it was a joint effort by authorities and elite institutions from all over the world. Even if there were terrorists, they wouldn't be bold enough to openly oppose so many nations at once, would they?"

"Right! Taxue makes a good point," Chen Hao agreed. "No wonder my dad and the others never suspected terrorists—it’s simply impossible!"

Guo Yunhai quickly caught onto Chen Hao's choice of words. "Wait, Chen Hao, what did you say? 'Attacks'? Are you saying that the incident fifteen years ago, which caused so many researchers to die or go missing, was an attack?"

"Uh..." Chen Hao looked awkward. "I let that slip... but I was going to tell you anyway. I was just afraid you wouldn't believe me."

"Did my parents and your sister's parents really die because of an attack?" Zhuge Taxue asked anxiously.

"The truth is, I don't know exactly what happened back then. But I know what's been happening recently, and I believe these current events might be a repeat of what happened fifteen years ago."

"Speak clearly—what do you mean by a repeat?" Guo Yunhai frowned. "Are you saying the disaster from fifteen years ago is happening again? Is that why so many armed personnel were deployed?"

"No, you have the order reversed," Chen Hao shook his head. "The armed personnel arrived in Kestar first, and then the attacks began. The transport planes and personnel we saw today are already the second wave to arrive. Yunhai and I might not know, but Taxue, you've lived in Kestar—think back. A few days ago, or perhaps a bit earlier, did you hear plane engines like the ones we heard today?"

Zhuge Taxue tapped her chin in thought. "Now that you mention it, I didn't pay much attention at the time, but about a week ago, there was a similar roaring sound in the sky. I didn't think much of it and didn't look up to see what was going on."

Guo Yunhai nodded. "That must be it. Civilian airliners don't fly at low altitudes. It's extremely dangerous, especially in mountainous, forested areas like Kestar, where you risk hitting cliffs, trees, or birds. If they weren't flying low, you wouldn't hear them, since the airport is so far from the city. Only transport planes heading to land in the forest would use such low-altitude flight paths. They're much sturdier than civilian planes, their speed is lower, and they need to scout suitable landing spots in the forest."

"Haha!" Chen Hao gave Guo Yunhai a knowing look. "You big guy know quite a lot, don't you?"

Guo Yunhai curled his lip. "Just continue with your story."

"Ahem," Chen Hao cleared his throat. "That's about all I know. The situation is that the building in the deep forest of Kestar has been there for many years. Aside from the accident when it was first discovered, the building and the forest have remained quiet and normal. That was until a while ago—I'm not sure of the exact date, but if Taxue is right, it was about a week ago—when the building suddenly started emitting that blue-green light again.

"Over the years, most countries and organizations had lost interest in Kestar; they were just reluctant to accept that all their spending had yielded nothing. So, they only kept a skeleton crew here. But when this strange phenomenon occurred, they were all stirred into action again. According to my father, the quickest to react was a massive international conglomerate. They immediately hired five large domestic security firms to come to Kestar and surround the building.

"At the time, no one expected what would happen next, nor did they understand why the conglomerate did this. Some even thought they were overreacting, as the building had glowed before without incident. But as it turned out, even with half the staff from five major security firms, the defensive preparations were nowhere near enough. Those security personnel were wiped out in a single encounter..."

Chen Hao stopped there, unable to continue.

"Who attacked them?" Guo Yunhai asked urgently.

"You should change your question," Chen Hao replied. "Don't ask *who*—ask *what*..."