Desperate people, accept the seed of my soul!

Zhao Jianguo stood inside the cordon and did not immediately go to look at the giant pit.

He raised his head, his gaze sweeping over the remaining trees around him.

Those once upright pines and cypresses now presented a chilling neatness—all the trunks leaned outwards, and the crowns pointed in unison away from the center of the explosion, as if an invisible giant hand had pressed them to the ground in an instant.

"The energy is released evenly outward from a single point," Zhao Jianguo said in a low voice, his tone carrying a deep chill. "I've only ever seen this kind of scene in military documentaries, at the test sites for heavy bombs."

Meanwhile, Zhou Ming was leading the trace evidence identification team in a thorough search.

His brows furrowed deeper and deeper, and the notebook in his hand was completely blank.

It's too clean.

As a criminal police officer who is used to seeing bloody scenes, Zhou Ming is used to facing dismembered limbs, splattered blood, and fragments all over the ground.

But there's nothing here.

"No residues of common explosives such as TNT and C4 were detected."

No human tissue fragments were found.

In what was originally thought to be the main lobby, the most crowded area, Zhou Ming squatted down and rubbed his fingers across a layer of grayish-white powder on the ground.

"What is this?" the assistant next to him asked.

"Carbide." Zhou Ming rubbed his fingers together, savoring the delicate texture. "If someone was ever here, this is the only trace they left. No bone fragments, no teeth... This means that in an instant, the human body was directly vaporized and then settled evenly."

He wrote a heavy line on the investigation report: "[The scene exhibits characteristics of 'central annihilation, peripheral destruction.' The destruction mode was not a chemical explosion, but rather a suspected instantaneous release of extremely high energy causing a phase transition. No clearly identifiable remains or artifacts were found.]"

Beside the command vehicle, Lei Zhen laid out a newly drawn site sketch on the hood, with Zhao Jianguo standing in front of him, looking stern.

"Director Zhao," Lei Zhen pointed to the perfectly shaped hemispherical crater, "this isn't a crime scene, this is a battlefield. And not a conventional battlefield."

"And it's not a bomb," Lei Zhen continued. "Bombs have fragmentation, shockwaves have gradients, and fireballs have a continuous burning process. This thing is more like... some kind of directed energy weapon, or an 'energy pulse' that we simply cannot understand."

His finger pressed heavily on the center of the sketch: "Within this radius, the energy released instantaneously is enough to completely destroy a reinforced concrete building and all the personnel and equipment inside. Director Zhao, have you considered what if this release point wasn't in a remote nursing home, but in a residential building in the city center? Or a subway hub? Or even... our municipal police station building?"

Zhao Jianguo's fingers, holding the cigarette, trembled slightly.

"This is not a tactical assassination tool." Lei Zhen looked up, his eyes filled with unprecedented apprehension. "This power, this method of destruction that leaves no trace... if it is under control, it can instantly paralyze a strategic stronghold and eliminate a command post. This is a force that can determine the outcome of a local war."

Zhao Jianguo fell silent.

He understood Lei Zhen's subtext.

If Chen Guohua demonstrated the individual bravery of a "super soldier," and Xu Suyuan demonstrated the infiltration ability of a "ghost," then what we see before us represents a "strategic" level of deterrence.

The speed at which their opponents "evolved" far exceeded their expectations and control.

At that moment, the head of the technical department ran over with a newly printed preliminary test report.

"Director Zhao, the data is in."

"The vitrified layer of the soil reaches a depth of 0.5 meters. According to simulations, the instantaneous temperature at the center point exceeded 5000 degrees Celsius. Shock wave damage simulations show that the energy release time... may be less than 0.1 seconds."

"5000 degrees... 0.1 seconds..." A young technician next to him couldn't help but swallow hard, his voice trembling. "How much explosive would that take to simulate? And there's no radioactive contamination... It's like the sun flashing across the ground."

These cold, hard data provided irrefutable scientific evidence for Lei Zhen's "strategic" assessment.

A deathly silence fell over the scene.

Everyone stared at the smooth, mirror-like giant pit, a deep sense of powerlessness rising in their hearts.

"Where is Wei Donghai?" Zhao Jianguo broke the silence, his voice hoarse.

Zhou Ming shook his head: "There are no belongings of his left behind. Combining the previous clues, if he was in the building, then the only conclusion now is—to completely destroy the evidence. At that temperature, even DNA wouldn't survive."

"What about Han Xiao and Xu Suyuan?"

"There were no traces either." Zhou Ming sighed. "From a physics perspective, the chances of survival for someone located at the epicenter of the explosion are zero."

……

At 5:45 a.m., it was already bright outside.

Inside the command vehicle, everyone had dark circles under their eyes, and their expressions showed not only exhaustion but also a sense of disorientation and shock, as if their worldview had been forcibly torn apart.

"Wake up, everyone." Zhao Jianguo stubbed out his cigarette sharply. "This is not the time to be dazed. Every word you say from now on is an order."

The people inside the car tensed up instantly, their discipline temporarily suppressing the turmoil in their hearts.

"First, regarding the site." Zhao Jianguo's gaze swept over Wang Gang. "A one-kilometer radius around that pit is designated as an absolute control zone. The mobile assault team will be on armed duty 24 hours a day. No one is allowed to enter without my and Director Zheng's personally signed approval slips."

Wang Gang's expression turned solemn, and he replied in a deep voice, "Understood! Not even a fly can get in."

"Technical Department," Zhao Jianguo turned to the other side, "I need millimeter-level precision in our investigation. I need you to figure out 'what kind of force' it is and 'how it was done.' All samples, data, and photographs are classified as top secret, and all personnel involved must sign a confidentiality agreement on-site!"

The head of the technical department swallowed hard and nodded emphatically.

"Secondly, regarding public opinion," Zhao Jianguo took a deep breath. "Such a big commotion can't be covered up. The internet monitoring department should guide the discussion gently, saying it was... a large-scale explosion caused by the accumulation of underground methane gas. Remember, any words related to 'superpowers,' 'abnormalities,' or 'white light' must be blocked."

At this point, Zhao Jianguo paused, his gaze becoming profound.

"Third, and most importantly, it's about people."

He stood up, walked to the simple map hanging on the wall, and pointed his finger at the red cross that originally represented the Ci'an Nursing Home.

"As for Wei Donghai, the internal status has been adjusted to 'presumed dead.' Lei Zhen, go and investigate his assets and the foundation of the Wei Group, and prepare for liquidation."