Desperate people, accept the seed of my soul!

Six hours have passed since Zhou Xie led the team to capture Duoduo.

Zhang Zhaoqing's phone screen was lit up, displaying Zhou Xie's number.

He dialed for the seventh time.

"Sorry, the number you dialed is temporarily unavailable. Please try again later."

He hung up and dialed another number.

The call could not be connected either.

The third.

the fourth.

All calls were unavailable.

He slammed his phone down on the table, stood up, walked to the window, and then walked back.

Repeat this process three times.

At two in the morning, the night outside the window was as thick as ink.

The whole city was asleep, but Zhang Zhaoqing couldn't sleep.

He grabbed the phone and dialed another subordinate's number: "Go to District Seven and see what's wrong with Zhou Xie and the others."

The waiting time felt exceptionally long.

Half an hour later, the phone rang.

"Chairman Zhang, Zhou Xie and his team's car is parked on the street corner, but there's no one in it. Zhou Xie and his team—they've disappeared. The target is still there, and everything in that building looks normal; there's nothing unusual about it."

Zhang Zhaoqing's pupils contracted slightly.

Missed.

Just like Ziqian.

The thought, like a red-hot nail, pierced his mind.

He remembered the empty armored truck and the complete hospital gown in the back seat.

The exact same "gone".

There was no struggle, no bloodshed, and no witnesses.

The person simply evaporated into the air, leaving not even a scream.

And now, this is happening to his most trusted subordinate.

Zhang Zhaoqing gritted his teeth and gripped his phone tightly, his face contorted with madness.

Zhou Xie was his most capable subordinate, who had followed him for seven years and handled countless matters that "could not be handled openly," without ever making a mistake.

Before setting off, he handed them four of the latest "Tranquilizer V-Type" guns—the ultimate trump card that would allow ordinary people to crush elite special forces soldiers within six hours.

With such a setup, even if they were surrounded and arrested by the police, they would not remain completely silent.

It's even more impossible that they couldn't even send out a distress signal.

unless--

Zhang Zhaoqing stopped and stared at the deep darkness outside the window.

Unless they encounter someone who is not an "ordinary person" at all.

When the thought came to him, his first reaction was not fear.

Instead, it was excitement.

Because if such a "non-ordinary" thing really exists—if Ziqian was really killed by such a thing—then he will finally stop throwing punches randomly in the dark.

He found his direction.

Zhang Zhaoqing stared intently at a point in the void, his brain working frantically.

Ziqian has countless enemies, but the scope he has narrowed down is rapidly narrowing.

Who has the motive?

Who has the ability?

Who is involved in both "Ziqian's disappearance" and "the capture of Duoduo"?

A list of people associated with Duoduo flashed through his mind: his elderly grandmother, his useless mother, and... Su Xiao's husband.

Grandma and Mother could never allow Zhou Xie and his three companions to disappear silently; that would be a physical attack.

If you eliminate all the impossibilities, the remaining conclusion, however absurd, is the only truth.

Li Rui.

It's you.

You're the one who killed Ziqian.

You were the one who killed Zhou Xie.

How did you do that?

Zhang Zhaoqing didn't know.

But he was certain of one thing: someone capable of doing this could not possibly be an "ordinary police officer".

Li Rui harbors a secret.

……

Half an hour later, in Wang Shijun's private apartment.

After listening to Zhang Zhaoqing's report, Wang Shijun remained silent for a long time.

"That's interesting," Wang Shijun said slowly. "A criminal investigator who has long been within the bounds of the law, after experiencing extreme emotional trauma, has demonstrated this ability to make people disappear..."

He looked at Zhang Zhaoqing: "How do you think he did it?"

Zhang Zhaoqing was taken aback, and then began to sort out his thoughts.

"There were no signs of struggle, no bodies, no witnesses, and no surveillance footage at the scene of Zhou Xie and the others' disappearance. It's reasonable to assume they didn't even have a chance to use 'Tranquilizer V'—four doses of a stimulant that could turn ordinary people into super soldiers! What kind of power could prevent them from even having a chance to take effect?"

He paused, then lowered his voice: "Young Master Wang, this reminds me of something."

"What is it?"

"Han Xiao and Xu Suyuan," Zhang Zhaoqing stared into Wang Shijun's eyes, "how did they manage to leave so many people helpless? Wasn't it because of—some kind of 'outside the rules' power?"

After he finished speaking, the private room fell silent for a moment.

Wang Shijun's gaze deepened.

"You mean, Li Rui has also awakened some kind of power?"

"I don't know," Zhang Zhaoqing said, "but there are other possibilities. Perhaps he has someone backing him—some organization is helping him. Or perhaps he possesses some kind of special weapon that can make people disappear silently."

He paused, then his voice became fervent: "Regardless of the possibility, Young Master Wang—he is a target worthy of our 'acquisition'."

Wang Shijun did not respond immediately.

He leaned back on the sofa, his fingers tapping lightly on the armrest, his mind racing through the three possibilities Zhang Zhaoqing had raised.

If it is a supernatural ability—a "combat-level anomaly" driven by revenge and capable of precisely making a target disappear—its research value is immense.

Lin Zhenghua's experimental data shows that extreme emotional states are the key to triggering extraordinary power, and Li Rui—who has just experienced the pain of losing his wife, is currently at the peak of his emotional threshold.

If we can capture him at this point, we might be able to observe his most complete and vibrant state after his power awakens.

If there's a powerful force behind it—which one could it be?

Undercurrents are swirling in Dawn City; they are not the only ones eyeing the extraordinary opportunity.

Within the province alone, several forces are secretly making moves:

Qingluan Group, the front man for the biggest boss in the province, has been secretly collecting peripheral information related to the "abnormality".

There's also the Lieyang Chamber of Commerce, backed by an alliance of interests from several provincial Brahman families, which also seems to be making moves.

These are just the ones that are publicly known.

What about other places?

Deeper within the vortex, how many more eyes are watching Chenxi City?

After the explosion at the pit in Nanshan, all the forces with a keen sense of smell rushed towards this area.

If it's a special weapon or medicine—that would be even more extraordinary.

Equipment that can make people disappear into thin air—if it could be mass-produced or reverse-engineered, its value would be…

Wang Shijun's fingers stopped tapping.

Fear has been overwhelmed by greed.

But with the lessons of the past still fresh in his mind, the huge pit in Nanshan made him hesitant to act rashly.

But this only fueled his greed—the more dangerous something was, the more worthwhile it was to act on.

"We must catch him and study him!" Wang Shijun said.

"The first problem now is," Wang Shijun said, looking directly at Zhang Zhaoqing, "that he's still wearing that police uniform."

Zhang Zhaoqing was stunned for a moment, then he understood.

As a serving criminal police officer, Li Rui's identity is an extremely troublesome natural camouflage.

If they were to take forceful action at this point, resulting in the "sacrifice" or "mysterious disappearance" of a police officer, the Special Investigations Bureau's keen-eyed hounds would surely swarm in.

By then, the secret Li Rui possesses may no longer belong to the Wang family.

"We need to remove him from the police force first," Wang Shijun said softly. "Ideally, he should be removed—suspended, dismissed, or forced to leave due to some scandal."

He paused, a faint smile playing on his lips: "Once he becomes an 'ordinary person,' the level of importance placed on him will be worlds apart, no matter how he 'disappears.'"