Desperate people, accept the seed of my soul!

Old Ding was silent for a moment before speaking: "The sound of cement powder hitting the ground. I saw it in the photos of Fang Li's factory site—there was a layer of that powder on the ground. The police investigation report said that the powder's molecular structure had been reorganized, and its density was twice that of ordinary concrete."

"People from the old middle school—"

"Dead. The water tower is dead too."

Old Ding placed the walkie-talkie on the dashboard, his voice low and menacing, "Six men, not a single one came back."

Liang Wei gripped the stun gun handle so tightly it made a squeaking sound.

He stared at the three monitoring screens on the dashboard. The commercial building screen was completely black, the water tower screen was completely black, and the old middle school screen was also completely black.

The three screens were completely black, like three blind eyes.

His voice trembled uncontrollably as he spoke: "He's clearing out the perimeter. Killing them one by one. Eight already—four in the commercial complex, plus four from the water tower and the old middle school—all dead. Now it's just us and Zhou Ming and Qian Kun in the garage—four people left—"

"right."

Old Ding picked up the walkie-talkie, switched to the garage channel, and pressed the call button. "Zhou Ming, the water tower and the old middle school are both out of contact. There are only the four of us left outside. Don't stay in the power distribution room. Seal off the garage entrance and set up tripwires on the garage ramp. He'll definitely drive away with Jiang Yubai, and if he wants to drive, he'll have to get out of the garage."

Zhou Ming's voice came through the walkie-talkie, slightly distorted by electrical static but still steady: "Roger that. We'll set up two tripwires on the ramp, then retreat to the power distribution room. Brother Ding, you guys at the main entrance—"

"We will hold out to the death."

Old Ding interrupted him, his tone calm and unwavering, "You heard gunfire from the garage over there? That means we've held him back. You attack from behind the ramp."

"clear."

Zhou Ming turned off the walkie-talkie.

Old Ding put down the walkie-talkie, took two spare magazines from the toolbox, and stuffed them into his pocket.

The magazine reflected a cold, metallic sheen in the moonlight.

He turned to look at Liang Wei, who was staring at the windshield of the utility vehicle, his lips pressed into a thin, pale line.

I am forty-eight years old this year.

Old Ding spoke, his voice not loud, but every word clear: "I've worked in Xiongbei for twelve years. I've seen traitors, I've seen undercover agents, I've seen firefights. But I've never seen anyone wipe out ten professional security guards like rats. But I have today. If you want to run, leave now, I won't stop you."

Liang Wei was silent for a moment, then spoke with a voice that was more steady than before: "I'm not leaving. My mother was diagnosed with liver cancer last month, and Mr. Zheng advanced the medical expenses. I owe him my life."

"Then we'll hold out to the death."

Old Ding placed the gun on his knees, his finger resting on the outside of the trigger guard.

In the underground parking garage, Zhou Ming and Qian Kun came out of the electrical room and squatted on the garage exit ramp.

The ramp is less than four meters wide, with cement walls on both sides and a non-slip cement sawtooth slope on the ground.

The two men stretched two thin wires across the slope, five meters apart, with each wire connected to a flash trip mine.

The wire was painted black, making it completely invisible in the dim lighting of the garage.

After Qian Kun finished laying the last piece of barbed wire, he straightened up and dusted off his hands: "The tripwire can only delay him for a few seconds. If he walks out of the garage, the moment he steps on the barbed wire, the bright light and infrasound will be triggered simultaneously. I'll hide at the corner of the ramp and fire."

Zhou Ming stared at the two almost invisible thin wires on the ramp, and after a moment of silence, he spoke: "What if he doesn't drive and just takes Jiang Yubai down the stairs?"

"Then we'll just use the blank cloth."

Qian Kun put the tripwire trigger in his pocket, "but Lao Ding judged that he could drive—Jiang Yubai has a car parked in the garage, he knows that."

The two retreated to the electrical room and turned off all the light sources.

The electrical room was plunged into complete darkness, with only the faint green light of the emergency exit indicator light seeping in through the crack in the door, drawing a thin green line on the floor.

Zhou Ming sat in the corner, his back against the cold metal casing of the power distribution cabinet, his eyes fixed on the green light shining through the crack in the door.

The walkie-talkie's indicator light flashes green every few seconds in the dark.

Qian Kun sat opposite him, clutching the tripwire trigger in his hand.

He spoke in the darkness, his voice extremely low: "Brother Zhou, how long can Lao Ding and the others hold out?"

Zhou Ming did not answer.

Shen Hanzhou emerged from the alleyway of the old middle school and moved along the green belt on the south side of Cui Ting Yuan.

He squatted behind a row of holly trees, took out a tablet from his inner pocket, and pulled up the underground pipeline network map of Cui Ting Yuan copied from Jiang Yi's database.

Cui Ting Yuan is an old residential area built ten years ago, and the city construction archives have detailed markings of the routes of rainwater and sewage pipelines.

There is a storm drain inspection well in the southwest corner of the community. The well opening is deep in the green belt, and the pipeline leads directly to the underground garage drainage ditch.

Attached to Jiang Yi's file was a hand-drawn pipeline route diagram by the staff of Chiji, which marked the specific location of the maintenance wells and the inner diameter of the pipelines.

He turned off the tablet, unplugged the USB drive from the port, held it in his hand, and walked along the green belt to the southwest corner.

The cast iron manhole cover of the inspection well was mostly covered by weeds, and the edges were covered with moss.

He used his skills to remove the rust from the edge of the manhole cover and pry it open.

The mud at the bottom of the well was up to the soles of my shoes, and the rotting leaves mixed with the silt gave off a sour smell.

A rat darted out from deep within the pipe, its tail brushing against the sewage with a soft gurgling sound.

Shen Hanzhou jumped into the well and crouched down to walk along the pipe.

The pipeline's inner diameter is less than 1.2 meters, so he can only walk by bending over, with the concrete floor of the Cui Ting Yuan underground parking garage above his head.

He activated his senses to scan upwards. The garage floor was 20 centimeters thick, made of reinforced concrete, with a calcium carbonate content of 63%, silicate content of 25%, and iron oxide content of 8%.

The molecular structure was clearly imaged in his mind, and each lattice node glowed faintly in his perception.

"They blocked the garage entrance ramp."

He said in a low voice, "But I didn't go in from the ramp."

He crawled out of the drain inspection port and landed behind an electrical distribution box in the corner of the garage.

The outer casing of the distribution box was rusty, and a yellowed "Danger of Electricity" warning sign was affixed to it.

He crouched behind the electrical box and used his senses to scan the entire garage, and a floor plan of the garage took shape in his mind.

The concrete floor, concrete load-bearing columns, and concrete roof were surrounded by dozens of parked vehicles. The green light from the emergency exit indicator light cast dappled halos on the concrete floor.

His senses extended along the slope, and he spotted two stationary human-shaped heat sources at the corner of the slope.

Two thin wires lay across the slope, with tripwires attached to both ends.

Zhou Ming and Qian Kun crouched behind the corner, their guns pointed towards the garage, their backs to him.

Shen Hanzhou pressed his right hand against the outer wall of the power distribution room.

The energy flowed through the outer wall into the electrical distribution room, dismantling its iron door.

The molecular bonds of the iron door broke, the iron-carbon alloy lattice collapsed, and the entire iron door turned into powder in a fraction of a second.

Iron-gray powder poured in from the entrance of the electrical room.

Qian Kun turned around when he heard a strange noise behind him.