He just broke up with his girlfriend and is already living with the devilish rich girl.

Outside the factory, the night was torn to shreds by searchlights.

The Nine Phases Sealing Dust Realm has been fully deployed, with pale golden light walls covering the entire factory area like an inverted giant bowl.

Runes flowed across the light barrier, and any unauthorized energy fluctuations that touched the barrier would be immediately reflected and their coordinates marked.

There was another layer of boundary decree inside the outer layer.

This is the strongest containment barrier the Special Administration Bureau currently possesses.

The triple superposition of spatial folding, phase interference, and spiritual energy suppression.

Let alone ordinary people, even a mosquito wouldn't be able to fly out of this double blockade.

All residents within a three-kilometer radius had already been evacuated under the pretext of "gas pipeline emergency repairs".

No ordinary person would accidentally wander in.

The assembly area was set up in the freight plaza outside the factory's main gate.

All field officers of the Ninghai Special Administration Bureau were present.

The Operations Department has twelve assault squadrons, the Supernatural Management Section has seven groups, the Special Operations Team directly under the Alien Response Division, and the Battlefield Monitoring Group of the Intelligence Section.

Including the logistics support group and the command center dispatch group, there are a total of 417 people.

Among them, there are fifty A-rank operators, and B-rank and above account for more than 70%.

The freight plaza was filled with a dense mass of uniforms.

The peach wood sword, rune rifle, and standard longsword gleamed coldly under the light of the barrier.

This is the largest gathering since the establishment of Ninghai City.

The entire field service force of the special administration bureau of a sub-provincial city was mobilized.

However, the S-rank operator still could not be contacted.

And all of this burden fell on one person's shoulders.

Zheng Ningyuan stood in front of the makeshift command platform.

He wore a dark suit with a Special Administration-issue trench coat over it, and his tie was tied meticulously.

He was faced with over four hundred pairs of eyes watching him, and behind him, the battlefield data on the holographic projection screen kept changing.

He knew how risky this operation was.

If the attack fails, or if no direct evidence is found after breaching the factory to prove that it illegally produces artificial cores and processes animal matter, then the attack will fail.

So even if he is one of the four theater commanders.

If he were held accountable by his superiors, the charge of arbitrarily mobilizing the city's armed forces to launch a strong attack on a colleague's unit would be enough to get him out of his uniform, or even worse.

But he did not back down.

He took the megaphone handed to him by the communications team and his gaze swept over every face present.

"Attention, all groups."

"The first phase of the operation focused on a large-scale search, with each group advancing layer by layer according to the designated areas, prioritizing the search for evidence of animal feed processing and artificial core production lines."

"The outer perimeter blockade team is guarding all exits; not a single living creature is allowed to escape."

"Once evidence is found, those who resist will be killed without exception."

Before he could finish speaking, an operator from the communications team pressed his earpiece, listened for a moment, and then looked up to report.

"Commander, the factory has sent a communication request. The other party claims to be the unit's administrator and requests to speak directly with you."

"Bring them in."

The main screen behind the command console lit up, showing a middle-aged man in blue overalls.

The tall, thin man with the technical supervisor badge hanging on his chest was the same one who had spoken to Chen Guodong at the factory's side gate earlier.

He sat behind a desk, relaxed as if he were having afternoon tea.

"Such a big commotion, you think too highly of us, Commander Zheng."

He smiled and tapped his fingers lightly twice on the table.

Zheng Ningyuan stared at the screen expressionlessly.

"Now that you know I'm personally leading the team, you should understand the scale of this operation."

"Open the barrier, surrender, and hand over all production data related to beast breath processing and artificial cores."

"As colleagues, I don't want to go too far—"

The man raised his hand to interrupt him.

"Take a look at this first, Commander Zheng."

He stood up and walked to the side, making room for the camera.

In the video, Zheng Yueyao is tied to an iron chair.

His uniform was still neat, his hair was carefully tucked behind his ears, and there were no marks or bruises on his face.

But her eyes were open, her pupils unfocused, like two glass beads whose luster had been drained.

A knife was pressed against her neck, a thin layer of frost on the blade.

Below the command platform, several young officers gasped in shock.

Someone instinctively took a step forward, but was pulled back by a veteran teammate.

Zheng Ningyuan stared at the screen, his expression unchanged.

Then he raised one hand, his voice steady.

"Sever all synchronization information flows with external units. Don't let anyone see that footage."

"You really are very composed, Commander Zheng."

The man reappeared in front of the camera, a smile on his lips.

"This is your only daughter."

Zheng Ningyuan stared at the screen, his voice completely flat.

"Since she put on that outfit, and since she's standing here, she has only one identity."

"An agent from the Special Administration Bureau."

"The Special Administration Bureau agent has been captured; handle him or her as appropriate."

"What a stubborn old man."

The man's smile faded. He stared at the screen for a few seconds, as if trying to confirm whether Zheng Ningyuan was bluffing.

Then he confirmed that this person was serious.

He waved his hand impatiently: "Then do as you please. When you break in, I'll send someone to deliver this woman's head to your lines."

"Let me show you clearly, this is what happens when you follow the Special Administration Bureau."

Communication was interrupted, and the screen went black.

An aide quickly walked to Zheng Ningyuan's side and lowered his voice.

"Commander, should we postpone the attack? We can send a negotiation team first—"

"Continue." Zheng Ningyuan didn't even turn his head.

"Proceed according to the original plan."

The door to the command console was suddenly pushed open.

Zheng Xingguang rushed in, his chest heaving violently, clearly having flown back on his sword.

He rushed up to Zheng Ningyuan, his voice trembling, but he enunciated each word with great emphasis.

"Father! Was that...was that my sister?!"

Zheng Ningyuan pushed up his glasses, his gaze sweeping across his son's face before turning to the staff officer standing beside him, repeating the same thing in the same tone.

"The video we just saw can serve as evidence that the factory hijacked Special Administration Bureau officers and used violence to threaten law enforcement operations."

"The operation has now been completely escalated."

"The annihilation operation shall proceed as originally planned."

Zheng Xingguang stood there, looking at his father's face, which was as calm as if he were reading a routine report.

His hands were trembling. He opened his mouth as if to say something, but looking into those calm eyes hidden behind his glasses, he couldn't say anything.

The light in the boy's eyes dimmed little by little, until only despair remained.

...

...

The factory's second basement level houses temporary detention cells.

At the end of a dimly lit corridor, Zheng Yueyao was still tied to an iron chair, her eyes vacant.

Two men in factory security uniforms pushed open the door and came in.

One of them was bald, and the other had an old knife scar on his face.

The bald man walked up to Zheng Yueyao, looked her up and down, and grinned.

"She's really quite pretty. Old dog Zheng certainly gave his daughter a beautiful face."

Scarface lit a cigarette, leaned against the wall, and tilted his head towards the corridor.

"What did they say?"

"What else can I say? If I can't take it anymore, I'll just kill him."

"But it's such a waste to tear up this ticket..."

The bald man licked his lips and reached out to unbutton the collar of her uniform.

"Play with her first, then cut off her head and throw it out."

In that instant, the lights went out.

Before the two men could even utter a curse, a heavy thud came from the ceiling above them.

Something tore through the reinforced concrete and came crashing down from above.

Two very brief, cracking sounds of bones breaking rang out in the darkness, followed by the dull thud of something heavy rolling to the ground.

The lights came back on.

Only two headless corpses remained on the ground, their severed sections jagged, as if something had ripped them off along with their flesh.

Zheng Yueyao was still tied to the iron chair, her empty eyes staring straight ahead, a few drops of dark red blood splattered on her face.

The white wolf spat out a mouthful of bone fragments with flesh and skin, then turned around and hoisted Zheng Yueyao onto his shoulder.

"Third time's the charm, this is the last time I'll save you."