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

"boom--!"

The high-pressure hydraulic door-breaking hammer in Zhao Tiezhu's hand roared loudly, tearing a huge gap in the explosion-proof iron door that weighed several tons.

The heavy steel slammed onto the damp, muddy ground, splashing up a cloud of foul-smelling sewage. The moment the iron gate collapsed, the chilling scratching sound abruptly ceased, and the entire underground space fell into a deathly silence.

Lu Jingyan, carrying an assault rifle, was the first to step through the ruins into the darkness.

The high-intensity beam of the tactical flashlight instantly pierced the thick darkness, illuminating this hell on earth hidden deep in the Golden Triangle mountains. There were no ferocious, high-dimensional mutated monsters as imagined, nor were there heavily armed drug traffickers on lookout duty.

What came into view were hundreds and thousands of figures, barely clothed and emaciated.

They were kept like livestock in rusty iron cages, their ankles chained with thick iron chains. The corners were piled high with old computers, a dense tangle of network cables, and drug-making and purification equipment that reeked of pungent chemicals.

Su Xiaoxiao covered her nose and followed in. She only glanced at the scene before her eyes instantly welled up with tears.

"Boss...they're people, they're all people!" Su Xiaoxiao's voice trembled violently. "Those scratching sounds on the iron gate, they were all made by their fingernails!"

The beam of the tactical flashlight swept across the wall, which was covered with countless dried, dark red bloody handprints.

Stimulated by the bright light, the people in the corner instinctively let out terrified whimpers. Due to long-term inhalation of high-dimensional toxic fumes and inhuman torture, their vocal cords were already severely damaged, and their voices were hoarse and strained, like the desperate roars of wild beasts.

A young boy with three missing fingers huddled in the corner of the cage, trembling violently as if he had been electrocuted.

He thought it was another drug lord coming to draw blood or take kidneys, and closed his eyes in despair, awaiting another round of beatings. However, the expected whip did not fall. The boy shakily opened his eyes a crack, the bright light making his eyes water.

But in that blinding halo, he could make out the pure black SWAT combat uniform that Lu Jingyan was wearing.

They could see more clearly the bright and eye-catching five-star red flag armbands on the shoulders of the dozens of special forces members behind Lu Jingyan!

Time seemed to stand still at that moment.

Hundreds of withered figures stared intently at that splash of red, their murky, empty eyes gradually surging with incredible fervor and awe.

"Yes...yes..." The boy's chapped lips moved violently, and a hissing sound came from his throat.

He strained with all his might and finally squeezed out that name etched into his very bones from his bleeding throat.

"They are Chinese police...they are our police!!"

That hoarse roar was like a spark falling into a powder keg, instantly igniting the emotions throughout the underground water dungeon.

"Officer! Please help us!"

"I've been scammed here for three years! They force me to make scam calls every day, and if I don't meet my quota, they shock me with a stun gun!"

"Please take me home, my mother is waiting for me to take care of her in her old age..."

Heart-wrenching cries swept through the entire air-raid shelter like a tsunami.

These compatriots, who once thought they would be buried forever in a foreign land, dragged their heavy iron chains and tumbled towards the special forces soldiers. They stretched out their hands, covered with whip marks and cigarette burns, and grabbed the soldiers' trouser legs tightly, crying their hearts out.

The young special forces soldiers had never seen such a horrific scene before, and they couldn't hold back their tears on the spot. With red eyes, they tried their best to comfort everyone.

Zhao Tiezhu was so angry that he trembled all over, and his thick fists clenched so tightly that they cracked.

"Those beastly bastards!" Zhao Tiezhu whirled around, his eyes bloodshot as he stared at the door. "Boss, I'm going to skin that Khun Sa alive right now!"

"Shut up and get to work."

Lu Jingyan's voice was cold, but deep within his dark eyes flickered an unprecedentedly violent rage.

He threw the assault rifle behind him and strode to the iron cage of the boy with the missing finger.

"Clang!"

Lu Jingyan drew the high-frequency tactical cutting dagger from the outside of his thigh and swiftly brought it down. With a blinding spark, the thumb-thick steel chain was cleaved in two.

The boy stared blankly at the broken chains, as if he couldn't believe he was really free, and trembled as he tried to kowtow to Lu Jingyan.

Lu Jingyan reacted quickly and caught his thin, bony shoulder.

He took off his own bulletproof tactical jacket, still warm from his body, and draped it over the boy's blood-soaked back. Lu Jingyan looked around at the pairs of eyes filled with despair yet also with hope, his voice hoarse but carrying an unwavering strength.

"Fellow countrymen, don't be afraid. Take a deep breath and stand up."

He slowly raised his right hand and gave a solemn military salute to his compatriots who had endured so much suffering.

"I am a Chinese People's Police officer."

"Motherland, we've brought you home."

The moment the words left his lips, a deafening cry erupted once more from the basement. But this time it was no longer a desperate lament, but a cathartic release of rebirth!

Two hours later, the first rays of dawn finally pierced the dark night sky over the Golden Triangle.

The special forces soldiers set all the semi-finished drugs and drug-making equipment ablaze, the towering flames illuminating half the sky. Three large military transport planes landed smoothly at a makeshift field airfield on the border.

The cabin door slowly opened.

The runways of domestic border airports were already packed with media reporters and medical rescue teams who had received the news. Director Chen of the Provincial Public Security Department personally led a team, while Qin Mingyue, along with dozens of fully armed forensic doctors and nurses, waited in a state of readiness, pushing stretchers.

Countless five-star red flags fluttered in the morning breeze, and a huge red banner reading "Welcome home, compatriots" was unfurled among the crowd.

When the first compatriots, wearing military overcoats, helped each other out of the plane, thunderous applause and joyful cheers erupted across the runway.

Lu Jingyan stood in the shadows of the cabin, quietly watching the touching family reunion scene below.

He casually lit a cigarette, took a deep drag, the pungent smoke swirling in his lungs before slowly exhaling. Zhao Tiezhu, leading the half-demon drug lord Kunsha, who was bound hand and foot like a dead dog, approached Lu Jingyan.

"Boss, this is such a big deal, aren't you going down and say a few words to the reporters? This is a huge international achievement that has shocked the whole country!"

Lu Jingyan flicked his cigarette ash, his deep gaze sweeping over the crowd and landing in the direction of Jinghai City in the distance.

"Shut up, I hate writing those formalistic case closing reports the most."

He glanced sideways at Khun Sa, who was pale and trembling beside him, and a cold, cruel smile curled at the corner of his mouth.

"Take this mutated giant lizard to Qin Mingyue for a biopsy first, and make sure it doesn't die on the way."

"Boss, where are you going?" Zhao Tiezhu scratched his bald head in confusion.

Lu Jingyan stubbed out his cigarette, pulled out the police terminal specifically used to monitor the First Prison from his pocket, and sneered.

"That good-for-nothing Ye Chen should be washing dishes in the cafeteria today. I need to go back to the serious offender prison and keep an eye on things, lest those amazing fellow inmates cause me some kind of trouble at this critical juncture."