Desperate people, accept the seed of my soul!

He glanced down and his expression changed drastically; his already ashen face turned as black as ink.

Wang Hongyuan noticed his unusual behavior and frowned, "What's wrong?"

"The surveillance points on the perimeter have reported a convoy spotted to the southwest. They're moving at high speed towards Yunyin Manor without their lights on." Zhong Lin's voice was as cold as ice. "Judging from the vehicle models and formation, it's a special operations unit."

He turned to Wang Hongyuan and asked, "Have you received any news about the troop movements?"

Wang Hongyuan took out his phone, glanced at it, and shook his head: "No. The Provincial Military Region, the Garrison Bureau, and the Special Operations Detachment have all given us no information."

"That's a newly established organization." Zhong Lin's brows furrowed into a deep knot. "It's very likely a unit specifically for handling supernatural events. After the previous incidents, the higher-ups must have set up a special unit to deal with these kinds of things, with such high authority that you wouldn't even hear a whisper of it."

Wang Hongyuan's face darkened. As the third-ranking political commissar of Lieyang Province, he was completely unaware of the military mobilization within his jurisdiction; the high level of this organization sent chills down his spine.

Zhong Lin grabbed the walkie-talkie, his hand trembling slightly: "Reserve team, accelerate your advance. There are official armed forces moving in your direction; they're presumably special operations units. I don't care what methods you use, you must capture and evacuate them before they arrive."

The voice on the other end of the walkie-talkie became urgent, accompanied by the roar of engines in the background: "Roger. Reserve team, accelerate and move in. Expected arrival at the outskirts of Cloud Hidden Manor in sixty seconds."

Zhong Lin put down the walkie-talkie and stared at the ruins on the screen: "You have five minutes. You must take those two samples within five minutes and then disappear. If you get cornered by the authorities, I don't need to tell you what to do, do I?"

"clear."

A crisp response came through the walkie-talkie. Zhong Lin leaned back in his chair, took a deep breath, and felt his temples throbbing.

Regardless of what kind of organization it is, he must get his hands on these two samples.

……

Song Mingzhang lay on the scorched earth, blood and dust dripping from the corner of his mouth. The sound of an engine in the distance grew closer, and the bright yellow headlights began to sweep across the perimeter of the ruins, making his eyes hurt.

His eyes were fixed on the sweeping beams of light, then turned back to look at Liu Zhen and Meng Zhaowen, his smile growing increasingly sinister.

"Did you hear that? The people behind me are here. We've made thorough preparations to deal with you." His voice was hoarse, and every word he spoke aggravated the wound on his shoulder, causing him to gasp in pain.

His gaze fell on Meng Zhaowen, landing on that aged face, his tone deliberately sarcastic: "How many more times can you use this burst of power at the cost of old age? Our people, however, are endless!"

He swallowed hard, coughed twice, and coughed up even more blood: "Let me go, and you can live. Kill me, and you certainly won't survive!"

The sound of someone scaling the wall came from afar, and the beams of flashlights began to sweep across the edge of the ruins. The shouts of mercenaries carried through the dust, growing ever closer.

"You'd better think this through!" Song Mingzhang's voice gradually hardened. He was stating a fact that he believed was already predetermined. He believed he could survive, like a chess player who had already calculated the end of the game.

Liu Zhen walked up to Song Mingzhang, stared into his eyes, and suddenly smiled.

The smile was cold, like ice shards, causing Song Mingzhang's voice to catch in his throat.

"You just said that if we let you go, we can still live?" Liu Zhen's voice was soft, yet carried an undeniable force. "Who do you think you are, to presume to negotiate with us?"

Meng Zhaowen stepped forward and looked down at Song Mingzhang, who was lying on the scorched earth.

His steps were steady. Although his back was hunched and his hair was white, his back was still straight, like an ancient pine tree that had withstood a thousand years of wind and rain.

Song Mingzhang looked up and saw those eyes—his entire face was white, his hair was white, his complexion was white, only his pupils were black, as black as two bottomless dry wells, capable of sucking in a person's soul.

"You..." His voice trailed off, his throat felt like it was stuffed with cotton, and he couldn't utter a single word.

Meng Zhaowen squatted down and stared at him, the hem of her trench coat sweeping across the scorched mud.

"When you told my brother to die," he said softly, "you didn't expect this day to come, did you?"

Song Mingzhang's lips were trembling.

"When you threw away seven years' worth of evidence like trash," Meng Zhaowen said, pressing her hand against his chest, her nails digging in, blood seeping from between her fingers, "you didn't expect this day to come, did you?"

Song Mingzhang tried to back away, but the vines around his ankles were tightly wrapped around him, preventing him from moving.

"When you locked me up in a mental hospital, tied me to the bed, and gave me sleeping pills for three months," Meng Zhaowen leaned close to his face, close enough to see her own aged reflection in his pupils, "you didn't expect this day to come, did you?"

His voice suddenly rose, like a knife cleaving through the night wind.

"But I think about it every single day."

Song Mingzhang's eyes widened, his mouth opened to its maximum, and a series of broken sounds came out of his throat.

"I've wanted this day for so long!" Meng Zhaowen pressed her other hand on the scorched earth, tree roots emerging from the ground and wrapping around Song Mingzhang's limbs. "Today, I've finally waited for this day."

His fingers tightened, and the tree roots suddenly lifted Song Mingzhang off the ground, suspending him in mid-air.

"Even if your people arrive later," Meng Zhaowen looked up at him, her voice hoarse but each word like a hammer striking a steel plate, "even if they beat me to a pulp."

He stood up, his back straight as a spear.

"I'm going to kill you first!"

As soon as he finished speaking, countless thick tree roots emerged from the ground, instantly wrapping around Song Mingzhang's limbs and digging deep into his flesh, making his bones creak and groan.

The tree roots tightened suddenly, lifting Song Mingzhang's body off the ground and suspending him in mid-air. His limbs were pulled in four directions, causing him to let out a heart-wrenching scream that echoed through the ruins for a long time.

Meng Zhaowen stood up and looked up at Song Mingzhang, who was suspended in mid-air and convulsing, as if he were looking at a piece of garbage that should have been destroyed long ago.

"I knew it when you laughed so freely in the courtroom. There is no justice in this world."

Liu Zhen walked to Meng Zhaowen's side, spread his five fingers on his right hand, and aimed at Song Mingzhang, who was suspended in mid-air.

A pale blue arc of electricity surged from his palm, spreading upwards along the tree roots wrapped around Song Mingzhang's limbs, instantly enveloping his entire body.

Blue and white lightning crackled and danced on Song Mingzhang's body. His body arched violently, like a fully drawn bow, his mouth opened to its maximum, but he couldn't make a sound.