Desperate people, accept the seed of my soul!

Shen Hanzhou squinted as he observed the abandoned slaughterhouse in the eastern suburbs.

Old Yan went through the intelligence in his mind: the cold storage basement of the abandoned slaughterhouse in the eastern suburbs, with at least twenty security guards, automatic weapons, working in three shifts, and surveillance covering all passages.

Jiang Yi hasn't left the basement recently; he eats, drinks, and relieves himself all inside.

Shen Hanzhou recalled his past grievances with Chiji: Zhou Ting said the debts had been settled. Wang Zhaoping said they each served their own masters.

Jiang Yi said that exchanging himself for Chiji's intelligence control over the entire province was a very good deal.

At this moment, Shen Hanzhou could only think to himself: It's your turn, Jiang Yi.

He crouched down and placed his right hand on the cement ground outside the slaughterhouse.

The ability is activated, and perception extends from the concrete floor into the building's interior.

The walls are made of red bricks mixed with mortar, with steel bars distributed in a grid pattern in the load-bearing columns, and polyurethane insulation in the walls facing the cold storage.

Pipeline routing—abandoned ammonia refrigeration pipelines are still embedded in the wall, the cast iron pipe walls are corroded.

All of this formed a molecular-level three-dimensional map in his mind.

The cold storage is underground.

The building has three floors above ground, which are abandoned slaughterhouses and office buildings.

The entrance to the cold storage is on the first floor of the main factory building. The elevator shaft has been sealed off, leaving only the staircase.

There are two hidden sentries on the outer perimeter. The second floor of an abandoned office building on the north side.

Shen Hanzhou withdrew his hand and stood up. One by one. All twenty-odd people tonight must die.

------

Second basement level. Two sentries stood back to back.

The sentry yawned, pulled a cigarette from his pack, and mumbled, "Isn't Mr. Jiang being a bit too nervous? Is it really worth bringing all of us to this dump for a pharmaceutical guy?"

The second sentry rubbed his eyes, shifted his position, and rested his gun across his lap: "Who knows? Anyway, I'll still get the money and do the work. Just keep an eye on the window."

Sentry A bent down to light a cigarette; the lighter clicked, and the flame leaped up.

He brought the flame closer and took a deep drag, smoke billowing from his nostrils. Leaning back in his chair, he exhaled a smoke ring: "At this hour, even ghosts won't come—"

Before he could finish speaking...

A crack silently appeared in the wall behind him.

The mortar between the bricks suddenly turned into powder, and the bricks were pushed apart from the outside in by a force.

A hand emerged from the crack, fingers spread, and pressed against the back of his neck.

Sentry A felt a chill on the back of his neck.

A fibrous object pierced his cervical spine—upon closer inspection, it turned out that the cotton fibers from his collar had been disassembled and reassembled into a fiber bundle finer than a needle tip, which then pierced his spinal cord along the gaps in his cervical spine.

The motor nerve signals of the hidden sentry were cut off, and his consciousness went out instantly, like a light switch being turned off.

The cigarette slipped from the sentry's fingers, falling to the ground and scattering a few sparks.

His body went limp, and the back of his head hit the back of the chair. His eyes were still open, but his pupils had already dilated.

Sentinel B heard the sound of a lighter hitting the ground.

He turned his head, mouth open, ready to curse: "You can't even hold a cigarette properly—"

He saw Shen Hanzhou.

Shen Hanzhou stood behind the sentry, his right hand still in the position of spreading his five fingers.

The eyes behind the cracked glasses were devoid of any emotion, as if they were looking at a finished experimental sample.

Sentry B's pupils suddenly contracted.

He opened his mouth to call for help, but the sound was barely in his throat when Shen Hanzhou's left hand pressed down on his face, the pressure gentle.

The cement ground beneath the sentry's feet suddenly turned to dust.

Sentinel B's legs sank into the powder, and he struggled desperately to pull himself out.

The cement powder suddenly tightened, squeezing from his ankles all the way up to his chest.

His ribs cracked under the constant pressure, and his lungs were compressed, preventing him from breathing in any air.

The last thought that flashed through Sentry B's mind was: This is not human.

Shen Hanzhou released his grip.

Sentry B's pupils dilated, his body was covered in cement powder and distorted into a crooked outline.

The powder solidified again, sealing him inside the floor of the second floor of the office building.

Shen Hanzhou mentally counted: two. Eighteen left.

------

At the end of the corridor, a third sentry stood against the wall.

He had a walkie-talkie slung over his shoulder and a half-burnt cigarette between his fingers.

A static crackled through the walkie-talkie, then the voice of the B team leader came through: "B team, all outposts, perimeter situation?"

The sentry pressed the talk button, put a cigarette in his mouth, and said in a muffled voice, "Group B is normal, no abnormalities on the perimeter."

He hung the walkie-talkie back on his waist and took a drag of his cigarette.

The smoke slowly dissipated under the broken fluorescent light at the end of the corridor.

Shen Hanzhou emerged from the shadows of the corridor.

He walked slowly, his shoes making almost no sound as they trod on the terrazzo floor.

The sentry caught a glimpse of a figure out of the corner of his eye, but before he could turn around...

The walkie-talkie in his hand suddenly got hot, and the plastic casing softened in his palm like boiling wax.

The walkie-talkie casing exploded in his hand, and the fragments reassembled into three sharp blades in mid-air.

The edges are so thin they can cut through light.

A bullet pierced his wrist artery.

A needle pierced the palm.

A nail was driven into the web of the thumb, severing it from the base.

The sentry's scream had barely left his lips when a cloud of dust rose from the concrete beneath his feet.

The powder was stuffed into his mouth, filling his entire oral cavity.

The screams were muffled into indistinct bubbling sounds.

Ten seconds later, the sentry slid down the wall and sat on the ground.

Three plastic blades were still embedded in his palm, and blood was flowing from the wound on his wrist.

His eyes were open, and his pupils were dilated.

The B team leader was still repeatedly calling out over the walkie-talkie: "B3, respond. B3, respond."

Shen Hanzhou crushed the walkie-talkie.

He thought to himself: Jiang Yi, I'm peeling away your outer defenses one by one. You're sitting in the cold storage, thinking you're the hunter.

In reality, you are a trapped beast.

------

In the basement of the cold storage facility, a row of signal lights hangs on the monitoring screen.

Three of the indicator lights on the B group's hidden sentries have gone out.

Jiang Yi stared at the screen, his palms sweating profusely.

He grabbed the walkie-talkie and pressed the call button: "Team B! What's the situation outside? Speak up!"

There was only static noise coming from the walkie-talkie.

Jiang Yi slammed the walkie-talkie onto the table.

The walkie-talkie bounced up and fell to the ground, its casing cracking.

He turned and roared at his trusted aides, "The shift change for Group B is over, and nobody's answering! Shen Hanzhou's here! He's here!"

His confidant's face turned pale, and his lips trembled slightly: "Mr. Jiang, should we send someone up—"

"Are we sending people up to their deaths?!"

Jiang Yi slammed his hand on the table, causing the teacup to bounce and shatter, spilling tea all over the floor.

He raised his voice to its highest point: "Didn't you read the report on how Fang Li and his six men died? Fighting him in an open area was suicide! Fighting him in a closed corridor was suicide too! Didn't you see how Fang Li died—he was sealed in a concrete foundation! Not even a complete body!"

The trusted confidant dared not speak.

The bodyguards nearby exchanged glances, and one of them subconsciously took a half step back.

Jiang Yi forced himself to calm down, took a deep breath, and said in a low voice, "Ignore the outside. Have everyone retreat to the cold storage and seal the door."

The confidant raised his head: "Brothers on the perimeter—"

"They're already dead!"