Desperate people, accept the seed of my soul!

Late at night, the Special Investigations Bureau's command center was brightly lit.

The huge electronic screen wall projected a cold blue light, making everyone's face appear deathly pale.

The city's surveillance system, traffic cameras, and security checkpoints were processing data at breakneck speed, with thousands of facial recognition algorithms operating at full capacity, screening every shadowy figure with a similar height and build to Li Rui.

"Energy feature matching in progress... Recalibrating heat source threshold."

Chen Jingrun stared intently at the monitor in front of him, trying to use the faint remnants extracted from the ruins of the Starlight Laboratory to build a mathematical model that could track the "abnormal flames".

Although those formulas seem utterly ridiculous in the face of the extraordinary, it is the only struggle he can currently make.

Nearby, Wang Gang, the captain of the mobile assault team, was making pre-battle confirmations via walkie-talkie.

His six assault teams were fully armed, like six heavy hammers ready to be drawn at any moment, hovering around the perimeter of several possible hiding places of Li Rui.

Each armored vehicle is equipped with a vehicle-mounted liquid nitrogen injection system, heavy-duty flame-retardant protective clothing, and a high-intensity anesthetic launcher and infrasound generator that were just borrowed from the military.

Special Advisor Gu Heng stood behind the control panel, arms crossed, his gaze fixed intently on the constantly flashing red coordinates on the screen.

Although he was recommended by the third committee member of Lieyang Province, he was also an extremely selfish politician.

He knew very well that the Special Investigation Bureau was not the only agency watching Li Rui tonight.

As far as he knew, at least number three's son, Wang Shijun, was secretly casting a wide net.

But Gu Heng had his own plans.

What he wanted was Li Rui, this "living example," and this astonishing achievement that would allow him to rise to the top.

He would never cooperate with Wang Shijun's private army without any bottom line.

This is the Special Investigations Bureau's prey; no one else can possess it alone.

"Increase the search weight on the edge of District Seven," Gu Heng coldly commanded. "He's just undergone tremendous mental exhaustion; he won't go far. Find him, and then we'll personally close the net."

……

Under the same night sky, on the top floor of a top-tier apartment building in District 4.

Wang Shijun stood at the edge of the extremely luxurious rooftop garden, holding a glass of red wine.

He looked down at the dazzling city lights below, as if admiring a giant chessboard.

In the distance, under the cover of night, with Li Rui's home in District Seven as the center, Blackstone International's elite team had already infiltrated every corner where Li Rui might appear, like ghosts.

An invisible hunting net is silently tightening.

The Blackstone elites who went to Dawn City this time were all wolves that had crawled out of the abyss - they had carried out the most complicated assassinations and dealt with the most difficult targets.

Tonight, they are fully armed to the teeth.

Each person was equipped with a miniature tactical kit specifically designed for "fire-wielding users"—a high-compression liquid nitrogen grenade, a folding liquid nitrogen injector, and an aerospace-grade flame-retardant mask.

More importantly, in order to compensate for the disadvantage of mortals in reacting to supernatural powers, all team members involved in the front-line search had been injected with a low dose of "Tranquilizer V" half an hour earlier.

This powerful enhancement drug puts their hearing, vision, and nerve reflex speed at a peak that pushes their physiological limits.

"Very good." A cruel smile curled at the corner of Wang Shijun's mouth.

Next, we'll see how this rage-driven beast, driven mad by its own rage, gradually walks into the carefully woven trap.

He was even somewhat impatient to see the desperate and helpless look in the eyes of that righteous and righteous detective after he was frozen into an ice sculpture by liquid nitrogen.

……

They all thought Li Rui was a frightened prey running away.

But they were wrong.

At this moment, Li Rui was like a ghost, melting into the shadowy gaps in the Fourth District that the surveillance could not reach.

He did not wander aimlessly.

In his mind, the last few fragments of memories extracted from the depths of Zhang Zhaoqing's soul were playing on repeat.

It was a wide, panoramic floor-to-ceiling window, offering an extremely high view that could almost overlook half of Chenxi City.

It was a unique rooftop garden outline, planted with several rare black pines;

That was the iconic dark gold revolving door downstairs.

For a veteran detective who has spent ten years in Chenxi City, this level of landmark features is practically an address written on his face.

District 4, Yunxiao Prefecture.

One of the city's most exclusive and affluent neighborhoods.

Li Rui compared the outline in Zhang Zhaoqing's memory with the actual city scene in his mind one by one, and finally locked onto the huge object that pierced the night sky in front of him perfectly.

He could feel that the closer he got to the building, the more intense the subtle sense of being watched became.

This affluent neighborhood is surrounded by hidden sentries.

But so what?

Two dark red flames were flickering eerily in Li Rui's eyes.

He didn't come to hide; he came to knock on the door.

He turned into a narrow alleyway that was deserted late at night.

This alley is one of the only routes leading to the back street of Yunxiao Mansion.

On both sides are mottled brick walls, with only a street lamp that flickers on and off, casting pale white spots of light on the flooded road.

At the very moment Li Rui turned into the alley.

At the other end of the alley, six men in a loose tactical formation turned around.

The distance between the two sides was less than thirty meters.

In this dimly lit and cramped alley, the moment our eyes met, the air seemed to be sucked away instantly.

This is a search team from Blackstone International.

They were dressed in casual clothes that blended into the night, looking like a few late-night club patrons.

But in Li Rui's eyes, which were far beyond those of ordinary people, the bulging concealed holsters on their waists, the tactical knives on their thighs, and the neatly arranged "emergency response kits" on each of their waists were more dazzling than torches in the night.

In the instant of the encounter, time seemed to stretch out infinitely.

0.3 seconds.

For the average person, that's not even enough time to blink.

But for the Blackstone elites who had been injected with "Tranquilizer V," it was enough for them to carry out a deadly tactical maneuver.

The moment the team leader saw the figure ahead, his pupils, which had turned slightly red from the drug, suddenly contracted.

It's Li Rui!

Target spotted!

Without a word, the team leader pressed his right hand sharply against the communicator hidden in his collar, his Adam's apple bobbing slightly, the words "Found..." already on the tip of his tongue.

At the same time, the five teammates behind him displayed a chilling level of teamwork.

No one backed down because of fear.

The two men pressed themselves against the walls on both sides of the alley like cheetahs, trying to block Li Rui's escape route;

The other three had already placed their hands on the "emergency response kits" at their waists, their fingertips unzipping the zipper. The muzzle of a miniature tranquilizer gun was rising at an incredible speed, the sight aimed directly at Li Rui's forehead.

Extremely professional, extremely deadly.

But this is the limit for mortals.