Villain? No, I'll catch up with the protagonist after passing the civil service exam.

The four people below the well were stunned.

Foul-smelling sewage dripped down Gu Yanchen's nose, but he didn't even bother to wipe it away. He just stared at the small black box embedded in the cement crack, which was shimmering with a faint green light, as if he had seen a ghost.

This thing is only the size of a matchbox, has no spiritual energy fluctuations, no runes or arrays, and looks like a cheap router.

"What kind of formation is this?"

Chen Beixuan stared intently at the black box, his eyes practically popping out of their sockets. Even as a powerful Nascent Soul cultivator, he couldn't detect a single trace of magical power flowing through it when he scanned it with his divine sense.

"Formation? Immortal Chen, your thinking is still too limited."

Lu Jingyan leaned back in the folding chair, slowly unscrewing the thermos. Amidst the rising steam, his eyes, hidden behind his gold-rimmed glasses, revealed a pitiful, devastating quality.

"This thing is the latest scientific research achievement of the Chinese Academy of Sciences."

"You probably don't know, but a few months ago, I captured a transmigrator who had a 'system' built into his brain. I removed that guy's system and handed it over to the state. Those gray-haired academicians at the Chinese Academy of Sciences stayed up for several nights in a row to crack the underlying logic code of that system."

Lu Jingyan stretched out a finger and pointed to the inconspicuous little black box.

"This thing is technically called a 'Quantum Fluctuation Interference Device'."

"Of course, for ease of understanding, the Special Investigation Team usually calls it the 'Anti-Protagonist Halo Blocker'."

"Anti-protagonist halo?!"

Ye Fan and Chu Tianjiao exclaimed in unison. They looked at each other in the sewage and saw the chilling coldness in each other's eyes.

This term precisely hits the core secret of these "chosen ones".

"That's right."

Lu Jingyan stood up, walked to the well, and looked down at the group of former overlords who were covered in dust and dirt.

"Under normal physical laws, what are the odds that a few people could magically melt through a steel fence, perfectly avoid thirty-two infrared detectors without any blueprints, and coincidentally run into a group of patrolling prison guards suffering from diarrhea?"

"Approaching zero infinitely".

Lu Jingyan's voice was cold and hard, each word striking their hearts, "But you did it anyway. Why? Because you have this so-called 'halo' around you. This halo forcibly distorts the probabilities around you, creating 'fortuitous encounters,' 'flashes of inspiration,' and even 'breakthroughs from desperate situations' for you."

"But in my prison, I will not allow such a probability of disregarding the basic law to exist."

Lu Jingyan snapped his fingers crisply.

"That little black box, whenever it detects an 'abnormal probability peak' that defies scientific logic within this area, will instantly release a reverse interference wave, forcibly erasing your aura!"

"Impossible! My secret technique seizes the very essence of heaven and earth; how could this broken copper and scrap iron possibly interfere with it!"

Chen Beixuan has completely lost his mind.

His lofty worldview of cultivation would never allow it to be trampled upon by a scientific instrument. He desperately bit his tongue, trying to forcefully unleash the remaining true energy within him to deliver a blood curse that would kill Lu Jingyan!

"Approaching!"

Chen Beixuan's eyes widened in anger, and he suddenly pointed his sword at Lu Jingyan!

however.

"drop--"

The small black box in the corner keenly detected the energy anomaly, and the green light instantly turned red, emitting an extremely short beep.

The wisp of blood-red light that had just condensed at Chen Beixuan's fingertips was as if a bucket of ice water had been poured over his head. Without even a spark, it turned into a wisp of green smoke with a muffled "poof" and dissipated.

The backlash struck again, and Chen Beixuan's legs went weak. He collapsed into the foul-smelling sewage pit, vomiting blood profusely.

"Old Chen!"

Gu Yanchen screamed in fright and scrambled backward.

He looked at Chen Beixuan, who was vomiting blood, and then at Lu Jingyan, who stood above him with a cold expression. His last line of defense finally collapsed.

It’s over.

It's all over.

Even the cheat codes for cultivating immortality have been sealed by science, so what hope do ordinary mortals have?

"Don't waste your energy."

Lu Jingyan looked at the four men below who had completely lost their fighting spirit, his tone flat and without any fluctuation.

"Here, you are no longer Dragon Kings, War Gods, CEOs, or even Immortal Venerables."

"Your only identities are 0721, 0722, 0723, and 09527."

He turned around and waved to the fully armed special police officers behind him.

"Pull it up and wash it clean with a high-pressure water gun first, it smells too bad."

"Then they were put back into cell 302, and each person was given an additional three months of housekeeping work as punishment."

"yes!"

Zhao Tiezhu grinned and led his wolf-like team members to pounce on the wellhead.

A massive jet of water cascaded down, accompanied by the desperate and pitiful cries of four men.

"Lu Jingyan! You're not human! You're a devil!" Chu Tianjiao roared hysterically as the water surged through him.

"Say whatever you want."

Lu Jingyan had his back to them and didn't even turn his head. "Get up at six o'clock sharp tomorrow morning. Your sewing machines are almost rusty."

Ten minutes later.

The corridors of the special heavy prison were once again deathly silent.

The four men, soaked to the bone and shivering from the cold, were thrown back into cell 302 like sacks.

The heavy alloy iron door slammed shut behind them with a loud clang, severing all hope.

Gu Yanchen clutched his head in despair, slid down the cold wall to the ground, and let his tears flow silently with the cold water.

"I can't get out... I'll never get out in this lifetime..."

Ye Fan and Chu Tianjiao also collapsed onto the bed, their eyes staring blankly at the LED lights on the ceiling.

The grand ambitions and the new world of the past have been reduced to a ridiculous dream by the dimensional reduction effect of science.

Chen Beixuan, meanwhile, huddled in a corner, clutching the moldy towel tightly in his hand, his eyes glazed over, muttering to himself incessantly.

"Science... what exactly is science...?"

His Daoist heart was completely extinguished.

……

Outside the prison, the cold wind was like a knife.

Lu Jingyan sat in the passenger seat of the armored vehicle, took off his jacket which smelled slightly of sewage, and casually tossed it into a storage box next to him.

"Captain Lu, these four guys probably won't dare to cause any more trouble in their lives."

As Zhao Tiezhu started the car, he couldn't stop laughing. "Your 'Approaching Science' trick just now was absolutely devastating! I think that so-called Immortal Venerable's eyes almost popped out of their sockets."

"Physical imprisonment is merely a means; the goal is to destroy their sense of complacency."

Lu Jingyan took out a wet wipe and slowly wiped his fingers.

To him, this prison break farce was nothing more than a minor episode in a boring night. These protagonists, stripped of their superpowers, were less of a threat than the street robbers in his eyes.

"Fall back to the station."

Lu Jingyan gave an instruction and then prepared to lean back in his chair and close his eyes to rest.

however.

He had just closed his eyes.

"Buzz—buzz—buzz—!"

The black encrypted phone on the center console suddenly emitted an extremely piercing buzzing sound.

This sound is unlike ordinary ringtones; it is extremely fast and so sharp it seems to pierce one's eardrums.

This is the highest-level (red-encrypted) network of the provincial department!

Lu Jingyan suddenly opened his eyes, the languidness from before vanishing instantly, his gaze sharp as an eagle.

He grabbed the phone and pressed the answer button.

"I am Lu Jingyan."

There was no sound from Director Chen or Deputy Director Zheng on the other end of the phone.

There was only a rapid, urgent report accompanied by heavy breathing and background noise; the voice was completely distorted by extreme fear.

"Team Leader Lu! Something terrible has happened!"

"The intelligence department has just intercepted an encrypted video from the dark web! It's...it's SSS-level intelligence!"

Lu Jingyan straightened his back instantly, his brows furrowing tightly.

SSS level?

Since the founding of the People's Republic of China, there have been very few events that have required this level of secrecy!

"Explain yourself! What exactly happened?"

The person on the other end of the phone swallowed hard, their voice trembling as if they were witnessing the end of the world.

"It's an organization that calls itself the 'Temple of the Gods'..."

"They...they've announced their comeback!"