Desperate people, accept the seed of my soul!

"Director Zheng?"

A voice interrupted his thoughts.

Zheng Guofeng looked up and found that everyone in the conference room was looking at him.

"Do you think the proposed plan is feasible?"

"...That's all for now." Zheng Guofeng stubbed out his cigarette in the ashtray. "Continue the research."

……

Wang Shiwei stood by the window.

She was supposed to be taking meeting notes in the corner, but she couldn't keep writing anymore.

My palms were sweaty.

That email was sent several hours ago.

She didn't dare think about what would happen if her brother found out.

But she never wanted to experience that feeling of helplessness again—watching everything happen while doing nothing.

The last one was Zhang Ziqian's hearing.

She knew about her brother's involvement and the deal behind the "psychiatric evaluation," but she chose to remain silent.

Because that was her family's stance, a surname she couldn't escape.

Then Li Rui's hopes were crushed, and no one took responsibility for Su Xiao's tragic death.

This time, she didn't want to remain silent anymore.

She didn't know if Li Rui would see the email.

She didn't know what he would do after seeing it.

All she knew was that those hands had once subdued a knife-wielding thug with their bare hands, and those eyes had once burned with the purest flame of justice she had ever seen in her life.

She didn't want to see that fire extinguished.

Behind them, the debate was still raging in the conference room.

They were so busy and overwhelmed that they were completely unaware of another storm that was about to break.

……

At 6:30 p.m., underground in the Xingguang Abandoned Chemical Industrial Park.

Li Rui had been waiting for ten minutes in the shadow of the ventilation duct.

Through the gaps in the grid of the equipment floor access panel, one can see parts of the second and third basement levels below.

Security personnel were changing shifts, the red lights on the surveillance cameras were flashing regularly, and occasionally a researcher in a white coat would hurry by.

Then he heard footsteps.

Someone is coming from the direction of the second-floor entrance.

coming.

Li Rui's gaze pierced through the fence and locked onto the approaching figure.

Zhang Zhaoqing.

He looked more excited than ever before; although his eyes were sunken, his frenzied energy shone through his body.

Through the grid, Li Rui could clearly see his every move.

Zhang Zhaoqing is getting closer and closer to Li Rui's hiding place.

Forty meters.

Thirty meters.

Li Rui's muscles were taut like a fully drawn bowstring.

Suddenly, my phone rang.

As Zhang Zhaoqing walked, he took out his phone and answered a call.

Li Rui narrowed his eyes and locked his lips tightly.

As a veteran criminal investigator, lip-reading ability is a fundamental skill for him.

"Young Master Wang... don't worry... I'm already inside..."

"I will be fully prepared... Yes... for the test targeting Li Rui... I will be fully prepared..."

As Zhang Zhaoqing spoke, a ferocious yet expectant smile appeared on his face.

Li Rui observed Zhang Zhaoqing's performance.

Young Master Wang?

He had never heard of that name before.

A person whom Zhang Zhaoqing addresses as "Young Master" is definitely not an ordinary business partner.

Who is this?

Li Rui frowned.

But he didn't let the question occupy him for too long.

No matter who Young Master Wang is, no matter who stands behind Zhang Zhaoqing—it can't stop him from doing what he's about to do.

Zhang Zhaoqing was there.

And it's still moving forward, still getting closer.

Fifteen meters.

ten meters.

Li Rui bent over.

This is what he's been waiting for.

Target confirmed.

The distance is close enough.

Right now—

Two dark red spots appeared under Li Rui's eyes, and he suddenly pressed down with his right hand.

Xiaoxiao, look at me!

A thick, blood-red fireball appeared out of thin air in front of Zhang Zhaoqing!

It swiftly traced Zhang Zhaoqing's "sinful marks" towards his forehead!

however--

At this moment, Zhang Zhaoqing displayed perception and reaction far beyond that of ordinary people.

That was a mutation caused by long-term injections of "Tranquilizer V-type"—

This stimulant, developed based on Zhang Ziqian's neurological traits, showed a surprising degree of effectiveness in his father:

There is no risk of organ failure, no severe physiological rejection, only heightened perception to the limit, and the resulting emotional madness and leaps in thought.

The animalistic instincts amplified by the drugs saved his life in that instant.

It's the instinctive feeling of a wild animal being stabbed in the back when a gun is aimed at it.

Zhang Zhaoqing's words came to an abrupt halt. He whirled around, his pupils shrinking to pinpoints in terror.

That eerie, dark red flame was already within reach.

"What is that?!"

At the critical moment of life and death, Zhang Zhaoqing's survival instinct, born from selfishness and baseness, erupted from the depths of his soul.

Without any hesitation, he swiftly reached out and grabbed a young researcher who was holding a recording tablet.

"Get out of here!"

Zhang Zhaoqing let out an inhuman roar, and with a sudden burst of strength, he shoved the bewildered researcher violently into the incoming fireball.

"ah--!"

A scream instantly shattered the deathly silence of the laboratory.

The young researcher didn't even have a chance to resist before his entire upper body crashed into the raging fire.

At that moment, the karmic fire did not stop because of the wrong target.

Instead, it explodes the moment it touches a living being, with crimson flames greedily drilling into every pore of the researcher's body.

The skin first cracked in patches like dried paper, then the muscles dissolved, the blood vessels evaporated, and the internal organs burned...

In just two seconds, that living person vanished into nothingness in the air.

The only thing that proved the existence of the young researcher was the record board, which fell to the concrete floor with a "thud."

"Thump!"

At the same time, Li Rui, who was hiding inside the pipe, suddenly spat out a mouthful of blood, and his entire right arm trembled violently as if it had been stuffed into boiling lava.

The backlash of karmic fire.

He was not certain of the researcher's guilt, and in the logic of his judgment at that moment, he had mistakenly harmed a relatively innocent soul.

The rules of karmic fire were overstepped, and the terrifying flames that could incinerate everything instantly rebounded back through the spiritual connection.

Li Rui clenched his teeth so hard that his lips were bitten until they were bloody and raw, just to keep himself from making a sound in the excruciating pain.

Large, shocking burn marks were left on the skin of his arms, and sweat poured down, completely soaking his clothes.

But Li Rui did not let up.

His dark red pupils revealed a self-destructive obsession.

The instant the fireball that had devoured the young researcher vanished, Li Rui forcibly mobilized all his will, causing it to re-condense in the void.

That fire must burn Zhang Zhaoqing!

Under Li Rui's control, the flames, like an enraged lava hound, writh on the ground, biting tightly at the thick mark of sin on Zhang Zhaoqing's body, and once again chasing after him at full speed.

"What the hell... what kind of monster is this?!"

As Zhang Zhaoqing ran, he glanced back and discovered that the fire had actually revived from the ashes and continued its pursuit, which terrified him.