I Can See the Unseen

Chapter 5. UMA Special Investigation Unit

The second transcript was almost the same as last night's, and Lily had even forgotten many details. The only new addition was the phrase "blood-red fur."

After reviewing the transcript and confirming that it matched what she had said, Lila Ling and Lily exchanged glances, thinking that they were really going to conclude this case with the excuse of "you misidentified what you saw."

However, Zane didn't rush to make a conclusion. He even sat down, pretending to be a relative visiting a patient, and took an apple to peel while talking.

"This morning, Officer Zhang Tong from the Ning'an County Public Security Bureau—the one who was initially responsible for your sighting case—called me to ask if I could share any details. Apparently, Miss Ling's family is very eager to know about what happened last night."

Lila Ling didn't respond immediately; she watched Zane's hands as the apple and the fruit knife seemed to obey him, the red peel spiraling off in continuous, nearly identical thicknesses.

"They are indeed a bit worried, thinking I might have seen some large wild animal. But I told them that you didn't want me to say anything." She handed the partially peeled apple to Lily.

At first, Lily found Zane's words a bit strange. Lila Ling was only startled; it wasn't like she had fainted and couldn't notify her family. Did her parents really worry so much that they felt the need to demand an explanation from the police? What kind of family was so bold?

But these thoughts were as scattered and disorganized as someone pondering what to eat when they are half-hungry, half-full. Once the apple was in her hands, she forgot about it and hurriedly took a big bite before it could oxidize.

Zane then looked up at Lila Ling. "Did you tell them I didn't want you to say anything?"

"Isn't that the case?" She tilted her head, her gaze falling on his brow bone.

His features were deep-set and sharp when he looked at people, with a small white scar on his brow, hinting at some past danger he might have faced.

Zane stared at her for a moment, then peeled off the last bit of apple skin and placed it in front of her.

"Fine. Anyway, until this matter is thoroughly investigated, please keep it confidential and do not disclose it to others. For safety reasons, your phones will be monitored, but it won't be for long. I will close the case as soon as possible."

With official proceedings in place, there was no room for refusal, and they both nodded obediently.

"Wasn't it said that the heavy rain washed away the evidence? How can you still investigate it?" Lila Ling asked.

"We will expand the search area. According to your description, that wild man is at least three meters tall. Such a large creature couldn't move around Ning'an County without being noticed."

"That makes sense." She replied absentmindedly, staring at the apple. After five seconds of it not being taken back, she slowly took a bite, enjoying the sweet flavor.

Zane's gaze swept over her and landed on Lily, who hadn't even touched her apple, her curiosity visibly making her restless as she eyed him.

"Do you have questions?" The curiosity of the witnesses about the mysterious creature was easy to understand; he had dealt with this kind of thing before, and he stayed to answer their doubts.

Lily quickly nodded and asked in a low voice, "Is it really a wild man?"

"It's possible. You should know that the Earth is vast, and the land area of countries is also wide. There are many places we haven't explored fully yet, and it's normal for wild men to still exist in remote areas. This falls within the realm of science, not the mysterious monsters you might be thinking of. However, since wild men tend to be aggressive, we need to keep them contained within a safe range."

Lila Ling curiously asked, "So you're an organization specifically responsible for investigating these wild man sightings?"

"Not just wild men. We investigate unknown creatures nationwide. For cases that have been witnessed or passed down verbally, we confirm those that don't exist within known biological classifications. For thousands of years, the categorization of biological species both domestically and internationally has been established through these sightings—confirmation of existence—leading to research, and ultimately, public announcements."

After saying this, he provided several examples to illustrate that there are indeed scientific departments that handle this kind of work and have achieved results:

"In 1900, an unknown creature discovered in the jungles of the Congo River was confirmed to be an ancestor of the giraffe, the 'Sivatherium.'"

"In 1938, an unknown creature found in the Indian Ocean was confirmed to be the coelacanth, which had long been thought extinct."

"In 2003, the legendary Norwegian Sea Monster was confirmed to be a giant squid."

"Moreover, the Kanas Lake monster in our country turned out to be a giant salmon, just one that no one had recognized before. If this wild man is confirmed to exist, it could positively impact the diversity of primates, suggesting that more than just Homo sapiens survived millions of years ago."

This was a very official and scientific knowledge-sharing session, probably something he had repeated many times before. He delivered a lengthy explanation with the enthusiasm of reading an appliance manual, his expression remaining unchanged.

Lily listened intently and ultimately summarized, "So this is basically a job for biologists?"

Zane's cold, hard face showed no signs of deception, and he nonchalantly affirmed, "Pretty much."

That was reassuring. Biologists who deal with flora and fauna are far more approachable than mysterious organizations studying man-eating monsters.

Lila Ling subtly observed Lily, who shared a similar expression, as if they had received the genuine words of a trustworthy organization, making them feel much more at ease.

At that moment, Zane took out several sketch images and asked them again, "These are drawings of wild men that have been sighted in the past. Please take a look and see which one resembles the wild man you saw."

The images included the names of the creatures and the time and place of the sightings, featuring cases like the "Youwei" that attacked a school bus in the Piliga Mountains on August 26, 2009; the "Jungle Dwarf" in Sumatra, Indonesia, in 1989; the depiction of the wild man in Shennongjia in 1980; the "Bipo Monster" in Hiroshima, Japan, in 1970; the imagined image of the "Minnesota Ice Man" exhibited in 1968; and the "Morros" from Venezuela in 1920...

Lila Ling was surprised to learn that there had been so many wild man sightings in nearly a century. She furrowed her brows, while Lily exclaimed, "So many? The size of what we saw is somewhat similar, but the protruding mouth and blood-red fur are different. It might really be a new species!"

Lila Ling also said, "Comparing my drawing from yesterday with these, they're not quite the same."

Zane didn't seem surprised and put the sketchbook away, saying, "Then we can only hope that expanding the search area will help us find that creature, ideally confirming that it has returned to a place far from humans."

After saying this, he stood up and added a few polite words: "Please rest well; a doctor will come by soon to check your physical condition again. Next time, try to avoid going to those remote areas."

Lily quickly replied, "We won't; next time we'll go to the lakeside, where there are a lot of residents. We definitely won't encounter anything like that again."

He nodded, turned, and exited the ward.

After stepping out, he walked to the corner of the hallway and calmly dialed a phone number.

"It is basically confirmed to be a new unknown creature; please document it directly for the archives. You can come over now to hypnotize them."