Lord of The Red Planet

"What have you got?"

Hearing the voice, several police officers hurried over to a man wearing a dark blue uniform and a police cap.

"There are some bullet marks on the asphalt, sir," a young officer reported, slightly out of breath. "But… no shell casings or projectiles were found at all. It's strange."

The man, Mikami, crouched down and touched one of the holes in the asphalt with his gloved fingertip. He thought for a moment, his brow furrowed. "It is strange…." He then gave an order, "Check all the CCTV recordings that cover this area."

"Right away, sir!" The officer saluted, then ran to a police car to get a laptop.

"Officer Mikami, these are some eyewitnesses who heard and saw the incident." Mikami turned to see another officer walking toward him with five civilians.

"Alright…." Mikami looked at them one by one with the sharp gaze of a detective. "…can you explain what happened?"

A middle-aged man was the first to speak, his voice still trembling slightly. "I… I heard a volley of gunshots, sir. The first sounded like a pistol, then the second… was louder."

"That was an AK-47!" a teenage boy standing next to him cut in. He looked both excited and scared. "I'm sure of it, sir, it must have been an AK-47. I play it a lot in FPS games. The sound is distinctive."

"Before the shooting happened," added a young woman who lived in a second-floor apartment, "I heard a conversation, but only faintly. It sounded like several men and one woman. After the shooting stopped, all I heard were screams of pain and cries for help. From the sounds, I'm sure it was the men from earlier. After that, I didn't hear anything else. I didn't dare go out to record, either."

Mikami processed all the testimonies with a serious expression. As a veteran police officer, this was the first time he had handled a case this strange. A mass shooting… and in Tokyo?! Firearms aren't sold freely in Japan like in America. The perpetrator must not be an ordinary person. Especially if it's true that several people were using weapons. This must be the work of a criminal organization or terrorists based in Tokyo. Thinking this, Mikami's expression grew more serious.

Then, the police officer who had gone to get the laptop ran back to him. "Something's weird, sir. Look at this."

Mikami looked at the laptop screen, as did the witnesses. On the screen, all that could be seen was a recording of a deserted alley. The wind occasionally blew dry trash across the asphalt. There were no signs of a shooting, no suspicious people.

"Is this really today's CCTV recording, from a few minutes ago? Not yesterday?" Mikami asked.

"No, sir. I'm sure of it," the officer answered seriously. "You can see the date and time in the top right corner."

Mikami looked. It was true, today's date, and the time was only a few minutes ago.

"This is impossible! I'm sure I heard a volley of gunshots!" one of the residents exclaimed in disbelief.

"Yeah, me too!" another chimed in. "We're sure those were real gunshots, sir! If you don't believe us, you can ask the other residents around here. They must have heard it too!"

"I know. This shooting was definitely real," Mikami said, his voice calm, trying to reassure the residents. He pointed to the damaged asphalt. "Look at those bullet marks." He then noticed something else. "Wait a minute… what's this crack?" He pointed to a large crack in the asphalt not far from the bullet holes. With this level of damage, the incident must have been recent, his police instinct told him.

"Hey, new guy! Bring that laptop to me!" Mikami shouted.

"Uh, yes, sir!" The officer immediately went to his superior.

Mikami looked at the screen again. "No crack in the video?" he muttered. He stood up, then walked toward the residents. "It seems… this case involves a very brilliant hacker." He took a cigarette from his pocket and lit it. "Someone hacked the CCTV here and possibly in this whole area, then replaced it with an old recording or maybe a new one created by an AI."

"In that case… will the culprit get away?" a mother asked, her face pale with panic. This time it was a stranger who got shot. Next time, it could be us….

Before Mikami could answer, a young woman's voice was heard. "Sir, ma'am, and all of you don't need to worry. The culprit is definitely not someone who shoots people randomly. From my analysis, they must be from a large criminal organization. So, as long as you don't get involved with them, they won't target you."

Mikami saw a young woman in a police uniform, the rank on her shoulder higher than his. On the back of her uniform was written the kanji for Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department Criminal Investigator.

"Ah… well, I'm a little relieved to hear that. Miss Officer, I hope you catch them soon." After saying that, the mother walked away, followed by the other residents, though worried expressions still lingered on their faces.

"Is it okay to just let them go like that, sir?" the young police officer asked, confused.

He exhaled smoke. "Let them be. From their expressions, I know they clearly don't know anything about this incident."

"As expected of the former number one investigator in the Tokyo Metropolitan Police."

Hearing the woman's firm, flat tone, Mikami gave a lazy look at the woman walking toward him. "I didn't expect the higher-ups to send a rising star like you on a minor case like this," he replied sarcastically.

"Of course. Because this is a major shooting incident in Tokyo, the first of its kind in almost 80 years," the young woman replied seriously.

"Alright. Did you find anything, Mitsuha?" Mikami asked, his face looking a little sleepy.

"Of course," Mitsuha answered confidently. "Although the CCTV cameras can't be relied on, remember what year it is?" A faint smile formed on her lips. She took out a phone with a gray case.

"Whose phone is that?" he asked curiously.

"It belongs to one of the residents of this apartment. He managed to record the incident. So, when he saw the police arrive, he immediately handed over his recording," she answered with a smile.

Mitsuha walked to the nearest police car and opened the front passenger door, gesturing for Mikami to join her. "Sit down. You need to see this without any distractions."

Mikami sighed deeply, threw his cigarette butt onto the asphalt, and stomped it out. He sat in the seat next to Mitsuha, who said nothing more. She just turned the phone and pressed the play button.

The video started.

The image shook violently, clearly recorded from an apartment window with a hand trembling in fear. The first sound heard was a deafening volley of gunshots.

RAT-TAT-TAT-TAT!

The camera swayed wildly before finally focusing on a group of men in street clothes—hoodies, cargo pants, and black masks—who were shooting at someone in the middle of the alley.

"Wait…." Mikami leaned closer to the screen, his eyes narrowing.

The person being shot at… was strange. The figure was blurry, as if there was a digital glitch or a deliberate sensor, even though this was a raw recording. Every time the camera tried to focus, the figure seemed to be shrouded in a pulsating static fog.

"Is this… a signal interference?" Mikami murmured.

"I don't know," Mitsuha answered softly, her eyes never leaving the screen. "But watch what happens next."

The volley of shots stopped. A thin cloud of gunpowder smoke billowed under the dim streetlight. The group of men seemed hesitant, as if waiting for their target to fall.

But the blurry figure did not fall. It just stood there, motionless, in the rain of bullets.

Then, under the disbelieving eyes of Mikami and Mitsuha, the figure moved. Not the movement of an injured person. Not the movement of someone in pain. It shot forward with an unnatural speed, charging directly at the shooters.

"Damn it!" one of the men shouted, trying to shoot again, but it was too late.

The blurry figure slammed into him, and the man flew several meters before hitting a brick wall with a sickening CRACK! The camera shook again as the recorder seemed to flinch in horror.

The fight was fast and brutal. The blurry figure moved like a shadow, each of its movements efficient and deadly. It dodged bullets as if it could see them in slow motion, broke arms, shattered knees. There were no screams. Only the sound of breaking bones and bodies slumping to the ground. The figure also took a pistol from one of the people who tried to attack it, then shot at the enemies' legs. Every shot was so precise and almost always hit the intended target.

This person is definitely not an ordinary human, Mikami concluded in his head, staring seriously at the blurry figure on the phone screen.

"Look," Mitsuha whispered, her finger pointing at the screen.

One of the last men tried to attack the blurry figure from behind with a knife. Just then, the blurry figure turned and shot the man in the temple with the pistol it had taken from another attacker.

BLAM!

A small flash of fire came from the pistol's muzzle, and the man was thrown backward, a hole in his temple. Blood gushed out. His body was still convulsing on the asphalt.

But due to the poor quality of the video, they couldn't clearly see the face of the person who was shot.

The video ended with the recorder letting out a stifled scream before the screen went black.

Silence filled the patrol car. The only sound was their breathing.

Mikami leaned back in his seat, massaging the bridge of his nose. His head was spinning. "This person is definitely not human. He was clearly hit by a volley of shots, but he didn't die. This is very strange."

"Right. And look at this," Mitsuha said, replaying the video and pausing it right at the part where the blurry figure moved. "No blood. He was showered with bullets from close range, but there isn't a single drop of blood. It's as if the bullets didn't hit him at all. And look, the lead from the bullets that hit him are falling to the ground like they hit something hard."

"Is it possible this video is edited?" Mikami asked with a serious face.

Mitsuha looked at him, her sharp eyes glinting seriously. "I'm sure it's not."

Mikami was silent at that. "Is the blurry figure using some unknown latest technology?" he murmured, thinking hard. What technology in this day and age can make someone immune to bullets? An exoskeleton? But are exoskeletons now so advanced they can withstand a 7.62mm caliber bullet?

"Even so, it's still strange. Even if a hacker helped them, we should still be able to see the remaining shell casings and projectiles. But there are none at all. And look, in this video these people are bleeding, but when we were at the scene, there was no blood at all," Mikami said, pointing to the pool of blood on the screen.

"Right," Mitsuha agreed. "I'll have my team use Luminol on the site of the bloodstains. If the bloodstains are also gone, it means the culprit is very professional." She pocketed the phone, then opened the car door and walked toward her subordinates.

"Why have there been so many strange incidents in Japan lately?" Mikami sighed. He picked up his extinguished cigarette, relit it, and took a deep drag. "Huu…."

He exhaled the smoke. "Is this incident still related to the strange incident in Shibuya? One, five strange objects moving at speeds exceeding sound, suspected to be aliens. The other, either an alien or a superhuman. But from the reaction of the shooters earlier, they didn't seem afraid of the blurry figure, so is it possible it's a superhuman? Hard to believe." He shook his head with a disbelieving expression.

"What am I saying? Superhuman? You think this is a superhero world?" He laughed, then opened the car door and got out. "The culprit must have used an unknown advanced technology," he muttered, looking at the scene of the shooting, which was damaged from the shots and blows.

"This case is really strange. Besides, because his body is censored, I can't tell if this blurry figure is male or female. Moreover, every time the blurry figure spoke, the recorded sound immediately became garbled," Mikami exhaled smoke again.

From the video earlier, I heard the sound of police sirens. This means that our arrival was not long after the incident in the video. But why, when we arrived, were there no projectiles, shell casings, or even blood? It's hard to believe this person could clean up all the evidence so quickly! Alone? No, even with many people, it would still be impossible to clean it up in such a short time.

Mikami walked to the location of the bloodstains in the video. This smell…

His eyes narrowed. It was the smell of iron and rust. This was definitely the smell of blood. "Mitsuha, do you smell it too?" Mikami crouched, picked up a piece of asphalt gravel, and sniffed it.

"Yes, this is definitely the smell of blood. You guys! Quickly spread that liquid in this area!" Mitsuha commanded.

"Understood, ma'am!" The officers immediately doused the location Mitsuha pointed to with Luminol.

Soon, the liquid reacted with the hemoglobin in the bloodstains and began to glow with a gruesome blue light.

"I don't know what method that person used to clean up the crime scene so quickly. But one thing I can be sure of: a shooting did happen here," Mitsuha said, looking at the now-glowing blue asphalt in front of her. "Officer Mikami, can you handle this for now? I need to inform the higher-ups. I suspect this case is related to the strange incident in the skies over Tokyo two days ago." She looked at Mikami with a serious gaze.

"Alright. By the way, I heard a rumor in my office. Is it true the government is planning to build a special division to investigate the Shibuya incident?" Mikami looked at her curiously, waiting for an answer.

"Yes, that rumor is true. Do you want to join too?" Mitsuha asked jokingly. She covered her mouth with her arm, suppressing a mocking smile.

"No, just curious. Besides, if I applied, would they even accept someone like me?" After saying that, Mikami walked toward the police officers who were conducting their analysis.

Looking at that lonely back, Mitsuha was silent and muttered. "I warned you time and time again, you fool. But you still did it," she muttered in a low voice.

She walked to her black car with a complicated expression.