Desperate people, accept the seed of my soul!

While biting, Shen Qinghou used his right hand to reach for the last broken string on the remains of the guqin.

He reached it with his fingers, but the cold steel wire was digging into his bones, so he nudged it.

The sound wave blasted out from an extremely close distance and struck Fang Yuan in the chest.

Fang Yuan's body stiffened abruptly, and a mouthful of blood gushed from his mouth, splattering onto Shen Qinghou's face.

His knees buckled, and he fell backward, dragging Shen Qinghou down with him.

Shen Qinghou pressed down on Fang Yuan, released his mouth, and plucked the strings with his right hand again.

Another wave of light exploded out, and Fang Yuan's body twitched, then he stopped moving, his eyes wide open, filled with unbelievable fear.

Shen Qinghou rolled off Fang Yuan's corpse, lay on his back on the ground, and stared at the ceiling.

The cracks in the ceiling swayed in his blurry vision, like a crooked scar.

He tried to get up, to pick up Chen Zhiyuan, and to take him away, but his body wouldn't obey him.

My limbs felt completely drained; even lifting a finger required immense effort.

His ears were completely silent; there was no more tinnitus.

His eyelids grew heavier and heavier, his vision grew darker and darker, and the ceiling in front of him began to darken, as if an invisible hand was slowly covering up the light.

He knew he couldn't sleep, because if he did, he wouldn't wake up again. Gu Mingyuan was still alive, Zheng Hongwen was still alive, and those beasts who climbed up by stepping on other people's corpses were still alive. He couldn't die.

But he couldn't control himself.

Consciousness began to fade away little by little, like a radio with a bad signal, the picture choppy and broken, until finally only a black screen remained.

He lay in a pool of blood, with Fang Yuan's corpse beside him. The corridor was full of dead bodies, and the stench of blood was as thick as an unyielding paste.

His lips moved, and a faint breath escaped his throat. He couldn't hear what he was saying, but he knew he was saying, "Chen Zhiyuan... I'll kill him for you..."

Then his consciousness completely vanished, his head tilted to one side, his hand still tightly clutching the blood-stained broken string.

------

He Shaochang sat in the temporary office prepared for him by the Sixth District Public Security Bureau, with a "Summary of Abnormal Events of the Abnormal Affairs Bureau" spread out in front of him, the pages of which he did not turn for a long time.

He was the liaison officer for Fang Heming's action team, dispatched by the Bureau of Abnormal Affairs. He was promoted by Han Qiming and was responsible for recording, reporting, and synchronizing information with headquarters.

Half an hour later, when Fang Heming led the team to set off, he was about to get into the car when Fang Heming rolled down the window and said, "Old He, you stay at the branch office. I'll report any situation immediately. Keep your communication devices on."

The car windows rolled up, and the convoy drove away from the branch office compound.

He Shaochang ran his fingertip over the gold-embossed emblem of the General Administration of Customs on the edge of the document, knowing what it meant—Han Qiming's men should stay in the rear to avoid sharing the credit.

After Fang Heming set off, he only sent back two text messages: one saying "Target's trail spotted" and the other saying "Entangling in progress." After that, the communication channel fell completely silent.

The hot tea in the white porcelain cup cooled down quickly, and the few tea leaves floating on the surface sank to the bottom. He Shaochang stared at the dark brown tea stains at the bottom of the cup, his fingertips resting on the communicator on the edge of the table.

His feud with Fang Heming wasn't a recent development. There was factional infighting within the General Administration. He followed Han Qiming's pragmatic approach, while Fang Heming climbed the ranks by leveraging his connections with his former superiors. The two had clashed several times, both openly and covertly.

But this mission's target was a newly awakened superhuman. Fang Heming brought an entire squad of special agents with full equipment, so there shouldn't have been any problems.

Suddenly, a jumble of footsteps echoed down the corridor.

He Shaochang pushed open the door and saw four or five security guards gathered in front of the duty desk, with the emergency phones ringing incessantly.

Someone shouted into the microphone: "Zhongshan Road in the old city? Exact location? Feed? Feed?"

The moment he finished speaking, all that could be heard from the receiver was a crackling sound of electricity. The operator slammed his fist on the table.

Another security guard pulled a freshly printed police report from the printer. The paper was still warm, and it was filled with more than a dozen entries: residents around Zhongshan Road reported hearing a "thunderous" sound, and some said "all the windows in the building shattered at the same time."

Some said it "looked like an explosion but wasn't an explosion." The last message was from a student who said they saw the plaster on the third floor of that old building falling off, as if it had been shattered by something.

Ma Guoliang strode in from the stairwell, glanced at the police report, his brows furrowed, and looked up at He Shaochang, who had just come out of the office: "Liaison Officer He, the area around Zhongshan Road—"

He Shaochang had already picked up the communicator and pressed Fang Heming's encrypted channel.

One call, and all I hear is static.

The call was made a second time; it was just a static sound.

The call was made a third time, but the communicator still only emitted a static sound.

He Shaochang put down the communicator and looked at Ma Guoliang.

The two locked eyes for a very brief moment, and both saw a chilling intent sinking into each other's eyes.

Ma Guoliang's voice was very low: "Special Envoy Fang said half an hour ago that he was encircling the area, specifically the area around Zhongshan Road."

He Shaochang didn't reply, but tapped the communicator casing with his finger, the hard plastic shell making a dull sound.

Ma Guoliang added, "The commotion—all the windows on the street were shattered. It looked like something went wrong during the arrest."

He Shaochang put the communicator back on the table: "Special Envoy Fang has taken all the special operations team members away. If even they can't be controlled—"

He didn't finish his sentence.

The emergency call center was still ringing, the shrill sound threatening to pierce eardrums. Ma Guoliang glanced back at the furious operator, then turned back, waiting for He Shaochang to speak.

He Shaochang picked up the communicator and called Fang Heming again, but the constant static was painful to the ears.

He turned off the communicator and placed it on the table, the plastic buttons making a soft click.

"Director Ma. Special Envoy Fang has gone missing. According to the General Administration's emergency response regulations, on-site command authority has automatically been transferred to the highest-ranking General Administration personnel present." He paused, his fingertip resting on the crumpled emergency call log on the table. "It's me."

Ma Guoliang looked at him but didn't reply immediately.

The branch director doesn't need to wait for orders from others within his jurisdiction, but the person in front of him is of a higher rank, and the regulations are indeed in place, so he has no grounds to object.

"Liaison Officer He." His voice was deep, his knuckles clenched so tightly they turned white. "The special envoy Fang brought in was the headquarters' special task force specifically for dealing with superhumans. My security guards, with their batons, riot forks, and pistols—even the most elite among them—can't compare to the special task force."

He wasn't making excuses; he was revealing the truth.

Previously, Shen Qinghou single-handedly took down six bodyguards and shattered the glass at the entrance of the alley. For an ordinary security guard to go up against such a monster would be suicide.

He Shaochang met his gaze without flinching: "I know."

The two stared at each other for a moment. The morning fog outside the window grew thicker and thicker, and a layer of white mist covered the glass. The faint sound of police sirens could be heard in the distance, but it was unclear which district they were from.

"Take everyone with you," He Shaochang said. "Let's set off immediately."

Ma Guoliang sighed, nodded, and turned to the security guard on duty, ordering, "Notify all personnel on duty to assemble in the compound. Everyone."