The whole process of using it was ridiculously simple, it only took a few seconds to complete. But there was one thing they had to be careful about: the green light must never sweep across a human, or something terrible would happen.
That warning made everyone who'd been exposed to the light back in the forest break out in a cold sweat.
Captain Zhang asked nervously, "This flashlight you mentioned, how big is it, and how wide can it sweep?"
They didn't have the device on them, of course. But when their belongings had been confiscated, something with a similar shape really had turned up.
Captain Zhang had his men fetch it. When he saw the so-called "flashlight" in his hand, he was speechless. It looked nothing like a flashlight, more like a recorder pen, small and easy to carry.
In his mind, anything capable of lighting up an entire forest with green light couldn't possibly be this tiny. How could something no bigger than a pen beam across the whole place?
For the moment, he didn't take it too seriously.
He toyed with the pen in his hand, turning it over, but the moment he pointed one end toward the prisoners in the cell, they all instinctively shrank back, fear plain on their faces.
"How do you turn it on?" Captain Zhang asked. "How's it supposed to be used?"
One prisoner trembled as he begged, "Captain Zhang, don't point that thing at us! It really can't shine on people. If it does, something awful will happen!"
Captain Zhang smirked, angling the tip at the group. "Something awful? What kind of awful? Tell me now. If you don't, and an accident happens, then we'll all die here together. And I'll make sure that green light shines on every single one of you."
He aimed the pen deliberately at each prisoner. Finally, one of them broke down and cried out, "Don't, don't! If the green light sweeps us, we'll turn into humanoid mutant creatures! Being alive like that's worse than being killed outright!"
Humanoid mutants—Captain Zhang had seen them with his own eyes. Back in the forest, the survivors' reports had said the same thing, that exposure to the light caused the transformation. But that had been a beam that blanketed an entire forest. How could something so small reach that far?
When he didn't believe them, the prisoners quickly explained, "It's real! Just like a regular beam of light, the further it goes, the wider it spreads. Up close, it only covers one area."
As for how to use it, Captain Zhang got the details out of them with threats. That interrogation also revealed something unexpected: during their trip to the forest near R City, the green light that struck Old Shi hadn't appeared naturally. It had been triggered by someone, and that someone was none other than Old Yan, who was still holed up in R City.
It turned out he hadn't been targeting anyone specifically, just firing it off at random. The green light had been operated with a drone. Since everyone had been terrified of being caught in it, nobody dared poke their head out to check, and they missed the truth at the time.
Captain Zhang reported everything he learned. As for the pen-shaped "flashlight," they ended up finding six of them among the confiscated items. Six. That was a lot.
But where had they come from? That was still a mystery.
Captain Zhang and Captain Zhou brought the six pens straight to Old Yan.
The moment he saw them, Old Yan's eyes flashed, but he quickly calmed. What was there to be surprised about? Things had already reached this point. Did anyone really think those outside would keep these secrets? Impossible.
He gave the pens a single glance, then ignored them again.
His indifference unsettled the two captains. The calmer he acted, the further away the truth felt.
Captain Zhang pressed him. "We already know what we needed to know. Now tell us what we don't."
He'd hoped to pressure Old Yan into talking, but the man was no fool. Older than him, more experienced in the base's methods, Old Yan could easily guess every trick they tried. In the end, straightforward questions worked better than any schemes.
For a moment, Old Yan seemed surprised by the bluntness. But soon he sank back into silence, refusing to speak.
With no other choice, Captain Zhang and Captain Zhou used torture.
Old Yan wasn't the kind to break easily, but eventually he decided there was no point keeping secrets anymore. He confessed everything.
The vaccine? That part had been his own scheme gone wrong. But the origin of the flashlight pens? He truly didn't know.
Of course, "I don't know" wasn't going to satisfy the base's leadership.
After more punishment, he finally spilled other details. The very first team of professors had been dragged into disaster by the three professors who later died in the Capital city base.
Old Yan hadn't been involved at the start, but after joining in later, he'd picked up plenty of information. At the end of the day, the professors were just ordinary people, easy to investigate. Digging into their past actions had been child's play.
When all was said and done, the base realized something strange. Old Yan had indeed been involved from start to finish, but in practice, he hadn't done much himself.
The worst thing he'd ever pulled was the time he kidnapped Lan Jin to force the base to hand over vaccines.
So yes, the source of the mutant outbreaks had been traced, but the origin of the flashlight pens remained a riddle.
With nothing more to squeeze out of Old Yan, they stopped pressing him.
The next step was to test the devices.
The prisoners had explained how to use them, but who could say if they'd lied?
For safety, the higher-ups had the pens moved far outside the base. Then they controlled one remotely with high-tech equipment, monitoring it closely to confirm whether it worked.
But the side effects of the green light were terrifying. Watching the feed, someone nervously asked, "We're only seeing this through the cameras. Even if the green light flashes, that shouldn't affect us, right?"
Captain Zhang, who had the most experience, reassured them. "Don't worry. I was right there when it went off before. As long as it doesn't touch your skin, you'll be fine."