Desperate people, accept the seed of my soul!

"And there's the Zhou Weiqing case." Han Qiming's gaze swept over the eighth file: "Professor at the Provincial Institute of Biology, at an award ceremony held in the banquet hall of the State Guest Hotel, publicly confessed to plagiarism, bribery, collusion with the Five Mountains Society, and the entire process of plotting to murder Song Yuanming and his family and students, and then died of suffocation on the spot."

You've all seen the autopsy report. There were no external injuries, no toxins, and no organic lesions. The cause of death was mechanical asphyxiation caused by persistent spasm of the diaphragm.

"No energy fluctuations were detected at the time of the incident, no eyewitnesses identified the suspect, and no trace of any unusual person could be found in any of the surveillance footage."

But his behavior on stage—confessing his crimes one by one while in a hallucinatory state, a self-destructive confession—perfectly matches the characteristics of Lin Shen's presumed abilities in our files. This was most likely done by Lin Shen.”

Han Qiming leaned back in his chair, the cold white light falling on his face, revealing the weariness in his eyes: "Since the establishment of the General Administration, we have directly clashed with superhumans three times. We were late, were breached, and were completely wiped out. We have not gained an advantage once. As for the Zhou Weiqing case, which was indirectly related, we only deduced the possible connection afterward. There was no warning beforehand."

"What does this mean?" His gaze swept across the faces of everyone present. "The number of superhumans is increasing. There are only two in Yunyin Manor, four in Qingyun Horse Ranch, one in the old city, and one presumed in the Zhou Weiqing case. Eight files, eight people."

Their abilities are evolving. Shen Qinghou could only release sound waves over a wide area at first, but now he can deliver a targeted and fatal blow, which even infrasound shielding equipment cannot stop.

Their teamwork is also maturing. The four people at Qingyun Horse Ranch work together seamlessly, cutting off power, clearing the area, controlling the situation, and executing the decapitation strike. Their division of labor is clear, and their coordination is impeccable.

"Continuing to focus on capturing or eliminating will only lead to exponentially increasing costs." Han Qiming paused for three seconds before saying, slowly and deliberately, "I propose a change of strategy: offer them amnesty."

The officials present suddenly looked at Gu Mingyuan.

Gu Mingyuan's gaze was fixed on the name label in the seventh file. The three characters "Shen Qinghou" reflected a cold light under the incandescent light, like a needle piercing his eye.

The air in the conference room seemed to be drawn away instantly, and everyone's breathing became lighter.

Gu Mingyuan spoke slowly, his voice as cold as ice: "Director Han, you've mentioned three failures and proposed amnesty. I have a few questions from another angle."

"The first question is, what level of strength have the superhumans reached? At Cloud Hidden Manor, Liu Zhen needs to contact the electric grid to unleash maximum power;"

At Qingyun Horse Ranch, four people fought with all their might to break through four lines of defense; in the old city of Chenxi, Shen Qinghou escaped only after suffering serious injuries. Their abilities have limitations and weaknesses; they are not invincible.

"The second question is, how much of the state apparatus has been mobilized so far? The Sharp Blade Brigade has 300 men, and the Special Operations Team has standard configuration, standard weapons, and standard tactics."

Heavy weapons and strategic forces have not been deployed, and a true encirclement and suppression system has not yet been established. It's not that we can't win; it's that everyone here, including myself, knows that these people possess what we need.

Their capabilities, their evolutionary path, the potential source of power behind them—we can't bear to fight them.

"So the situation today isn't that we can't win, it's just that it's not time to get serious yet." Gu Mingyuan tapped his finger on the table, making a dull sound. "Under this premise, what bargaining chips do we have to offer in the talk of surrender?"

They are not strong enough to force us to compromise; we have enough capacity to continue observing. Offering them amnesty would be tantamount to abandoning strategic patience, and it would be telling them we're getting desperate. The initiative at the negotiating table has never been in our hands from the very beginning.

His voice suddenly rose, each word slamming onto the table: "And one more thing, Director Han, you must understand. This isn't an ordinary crime; this is vigilante justice. The state apparatus is appeasing vigilantes—have you considered what that means?"

"Chen Guohua killed the Zhao family of three, Xu Suyuan killed five people in total, Han Xiao's list of names could fill a page, Li Rui still hasn't finished counting the number of people he burned to death, Liu Zhen and Meng Zhaowen left seventy-two corpses at Yunyin Manor, and Shen Qinghou killed twenty-three people. Regardless of their motives, there is no dispute that their methods were vigilante justice."

"When the state apparatus appeases vigilantes, it's tantamount to admitting that if the law can't provide justice, they can take it themselves. If the judicial process fails, violence can."

Once this door is opened, everyone who feels wronged can ask, "Why can they wield knives, but I can't?" Chief Han, have you considered the consequences?

Han Qiming did not immediately refute, but turned the teacup beside him with his right hand, making two circles before stopping.

The water stain on the rim of the glass blurred into a faint circle on the table: "I agree with both points you made. Their strength is indeed limited, and we certainly didn't use our full resources. Vigilante justice is vigilante justice; its nature doesn't change because of the motive."

"But there's a problem ahead." Han Qiming pointed to Fang Heming's file. "How many more people will die during this time that we're so reluctant to let go of? Fang Heming, Song Mingzhang, Wang Hongyuan—these are people in uniform. What about those not in uniform? Wei Zixuan, Wei Donghai, Zhong Heng—every single one of their deaths was out of control."

"You said the door to vigilante justice shouldn't be opened. But it has already been opened, not by us, but by them risking their lives. The issue now isn't whether to acknowledge vigilante justice, but how to stop it."

Han Qiming looked at Gu Mingyuan calmly. "You just asked me what it means for the state apparatus to appease vigilantes. I'll tell you, it means the state acknowledges that Chen Guohua's daughter was murdered and framed, Xu Suyuan was imprisoned and subjected to human experiments, and Han Xiao's wife and daughter were murdered in a staged car accident to silence them..."

When Li Rui's wife was tortured and murdered, and the killer escaped punishment by claiming mental illness; when Liu Zhen's wife and children were brutally murdered by having their brake lines cut; when Meng Zhaowen was forcibly injected with tranquilizers in a mental hospital; when Shen Qinghou's mother was beaten to death and her own tendons were severed—it couldn't stop these things from happening.

"Recruiting them isn't a reward, it's about cutting losses." Han Qiming's voice deepened. "Gu Mingyuan, tell me, have I considered the consequences? I have. The consequences are: if we continue fighting, even more people will die. Those in uniform will die, and those not in uniform will die too. Those who deserve to die will die, and those who don't deserve to die will die too."