Ch 10 Recorded Truth

While Leon was charging his phone, he noticed that most of his CCTV feeds seemed to flicker to static, especially the ones in the dorm corridors and common hall, or at least, they appeared to be malfunctioning.

Leon pulled the Nova core from his pocket, inspecting it for damage. Finding no cracks, he placed it back on its base, where it immediately began levitating again.

"...so this world isn't normal." Leon let out a long breath. Yeah, when you can duplicate things and build sci-fi tech, this world surely isn't just a normal one!

Leon pulled out his phone and powered it on. "That old man," he muttered, "did he really do something to whatever was controlling those kids? Or was it just a fluke, and tomorrow those kids will sleepwalk again?" As the phone turned on, Nova's voice immediately filled the room.

"Sir, I'm worried sick! The battery suddenly dropped, and all the signals went down… Oh, it came back online." Leon watched as all the CCTV cameras flickered to life, even the ones he'd thought were malfunctioning.

Leon could see the CCTV feeds from all the drones, they were all still functional.

Stunned, he grabbed one of the flashlights, expecting it to be broken, but when he clicked it on, it worked. A beam of light shone from it.

"Wait... I... no, I'm sure they were broken. They even exploded!" Leon checked his flashlights one by one. Nothing wrong with them. He could even turn them all on.

He even dismantled one of his flashlights. The bulb looked normal, not fried. "Uh... hey Nova, I know this is weird, please replay the CCTV footage from around 3 AM."

With that, the big screen showed CCTV footage from 2:59 AM.

Leon watched intently as the clock hit 3:00. He could see Emilie walking, followed by Jane... then at 3:02, Leon could be seen on the frame pulling the girls back to sleep.

Then at 3:08, Leon walked out and found the boys. The banging was real. He could see Roy banging his head and Leon himself pulling that little boy's head back harshly... then dragging all the boys back. At 3:10, the director walked in with the old scammer.

At 3:12, they gathered all the kids in one room, with the old scammer doing some kind of exorcism... then he suddenly went mad and was stunned by Leon with his stun baton.

But this was what made Leon shudder. The lamps didn't explode when the man screamed!

Leon had turned on the audio feature so he could hear everything, it was the same as what he'd experienced, just with the lights still on!

Then... Jane. That little girl managed to untie herself, it seemed Leon had tied her loosely. And then she calmly walked toward a wall and flipped the light switch. She even managed to sneak behind Leon and turn off all his flashlights.

This was the most horrifying thing, Leon could see that he had even bent down so Jane could turn off the flashlight on his shoulder.

Then came the scene where he tried to hit Jane's head, which was blocked by that mysterious old man.

Leon stayed quiet... this... He still didn't believe it. "...I bent down so Jane could turn off my flashlight??????? What the f*ck!"

"It's impossible! I never bent down at that time! I kept shocking that old scammer with my baton!" Leon started to panic, and cold sweat dripped from his forehead.

Still, Leon was curious about how the mysterious old man had entered. "Nova, you can see an old man with a raincoat here. Track this old man. I want to see where he popped up!"

Nova then displayed multiple scenes showing where the old man had been spotted by the drones.

The old man could be seen walking normally, approaching the orphanage gate through the rain. Actually, he'd driven there, parking his car right in front of the gate before pushing open the unlocked gate. He walked calmly inside and glanced toward the only lit room, the common hall, which immediately went dark.

Then the old man quickly ran and managed to stop Leon's baton from harming Jane. And... well, he turned on an emergency light since it was so dark.

Next, the old man bit his thumb, smeared the blood on Jane's forehead, and everything was done. As he had seen before, Jane slumped down, and after some conversation, the old man left with the scammer.

"...Sh*t! D*mn! How???? Right, maybe this is fake? Yes, it's the only reason, right????"

"...Yes, yes! If the CCTV signal was broken at that time, why can I see all of this?" Leon was puzzled and panicking.

But Nova started to explain. "Of course you can see the footage, sir. Modern CCTV uses external memory cards—don't you remember buying them yourself? 256 GB for each CCTV? While there's no signal, it keeps recording what it sees; you just can't see it on the screen."

“.....” Leon sat down weakly in the chair.

"Then how come the signal cuts off every single day? And exactly at the same time!" Leon asked weakly.

"Sir, I've already compiled data based on our experience, from the first day until today. It's not exactly the same time every single day, from my analysis, there's a gap between fifteen to thirty seconds. That's why it looks the same, but in truth it's not," Nova quickly told Leon.

"So what's causing it?" Leon sighed and rubbed his temples.

"This is where I found something interesting, sir," Nova then quickly explained.

"I found a registered lab two blocks away called the Dr. Kline Experimental Physics Lab. They applied to research a prototype high-frequency energy pulse generator, but their approval status is still pending."

Leon quickly searched on his phone. Well, it was true—there really was a lab called Dr. Kline. "Damn! Why is there a lab in a civilian zone!"

"Sir, this is rather an outskirt area, so it's normal for someone to open a lab here as long as it's not something dangerous and with some 'money' it can be done," Nova said matter-of-factly.

"Alright, so I'll conclude that because this lab still isn't approved, they're doing something illegal by conducting research? And because this is illegal, they conduct it at 3 AM when most people are asleep? Damn! Researchers!" Leon cursed, but was baffled at the same time.

"Sigh, okay, maybe this is just a coincidence, and I myself never explored my neighborhood, huh..." Leon shook his head, but suddenly jerked up and asked.

"Wait, what about my phone! I swear it was full!" Leon wanted to swear with 100 percent certainty, but Nova's response cut him off.

"Sure, sir. Your battery was full, well, it 'was' full, but you spent hours watching dancing girls videos with burning eyes. Honestly, it's amazing you still had 10 percent left."

"...Fine." Leon grumbled and looked at the footage.

"Sigh... what actually happened..." Leon muttered. If you just saw it from CCTV footage, it looked staged... but as the one who experienced it, this was terrifying.

"Let's sleep... Ah, I still need to patrol..." Speechless, Leon could only watch the CCTV live feed. This time he didn't eat chips, just stared blankly.

When it was time to patrol, Leon stood up and just like before, he switched on all his flashlights and carefully scanned every dark corner.

"Hmm... nothing... And I don't feel scared or something like pressure or... Sigh..." Shaking his head, Leon continued to patrol. Then he arrived at the common hall, it was dark as no one had turned on the light.

But Leon walked in and flipped the light switch, not surprisingly, it really turned on. This time Leon stayed longer at this location, he wanted to see if there was any abnormality.

But well, nothing... nothing abnormal. The place looked as messy as it usually did, but no 'anomaly' could be seen or felt.

"Okay, let's go... Wait, Nova, can you scan for anything weird in this area?" As Leon was about to walk away, he suddenly asked Nova to do something else.

"Roger that, sir. Sending nearest drone to scan for any abnormalities... "Thermal imaging shows nothing unusual. Electromagnetic readings normal. Air quality normal. No weird sounds or visual distortions detected." Nova paused. "In conclusion, no anomalies detected, sir."

Leon nodded. Nothing wrong. So... yup, let's continue.

After patrolling, Leon could only come back and do mundane things like staring at CCTVs. This time he was much more at ease, so he opened a bag of chips and ate them slowly.

"Hey Nova... I know you don't have this database, but can you search online about ghosts? Paranormal activities? And how to detect them? I'm curious... and if something goes wrong again, I want to be more prepared. If possible, search for how to kill ghosts too."

Leon leaned lazily in his chair and asked Nova to search for these things. He knows something's not right, and he needs to understand this thing more.

Like, come on, whatever that thing is, it can make him do something that he doesn't realize!

"I found thousands of articles, sir. Urban legends, psychological trauma, government denials... But honestly? No verified evidence of actual ghosts. Everything points to mental illness, hoaxes, or just people making stuff up."

Leon frowned. "Is this just coincidence? But it's too much of a coincidence, and my experience can't lie."