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

When Zheng Xingguang rushed out of the temporary command post, the two staff officers guarding the door couldn't stop him.

He pushed the door open.

Several operators who were conducting final equipment checks in the cargo plaza looked up.

Seeing this usually calm and collected young man with red eyes and trembling hands, I was struck by how he was now.

"Zheng Xingguang! Calm down!"

Fu Yang caught up from behind and grabbed his arm.

"We know about your sister's situation, but what can we do by rushing in now except disrupt our plans?"

"That's my sister!" Zheng Xingguang shook off his hand, her voice sounding like it was being torn from her throat.

"She's tied up inside! Didn't you see?! She's not moving an inch! You want me to wait?! To wait here?!"

Several veteran officials looked at each other, some of them lowering their heads and not daring to look at him.

Fu Yang opened his mouth as if to say something, but someone behind him suddenly whispered, "Commander Zheng is here."

He immediately shut his mouth and stepped aside.

Zheng Ningyuan walked out of the command post, the hem of his trench coat being lifted by the night wind.

He stood on the makeshift steps, looking at his son's stiff back as he turned away from him.

Zheng Xingguang didn't turn his head; his shoulders were taut like a fully drawn bow.

"Don't stop him."

Zheng Ningyuan raised his hand, signaling the people around him to make way for the time being.

Fu Yang hesitated for a moment, then let go and stepped aside.

With his back to his father, Zheng Xingguang squeezed out his voice through clenched teeth, each word sounding like it was rolling on a knife's edge.

"Father, are my sister and I truly worthless to you?"

"From childhood to adulthood, how many times have you praised us? How many times have you hugged us? Where were you when my mother passed away? Did you even visit my sister once when she was hospitalized?"

Zheng Ningyuan turned to look at him, his eyes behind his glasses still showing no emotion.

But when he spoke, his voice was a few decibels deeper than before.

"Zheng Xingguang, you are the team leader now, so you must set an example."

"Your sister is also a captain, so her capture is her dereliction of duty as captain, and she can't blame anyone else."

"And I am now the captain of everyone."

He raised his hand to straighten his tie, his gaze sweeping across his son's face.

The tone wasn't harsh, but it was like a stone thrown into a lake.

"Sitting in this position, I have to take care of the lives of many more people."

"It's those hundreds of agents who are about to rush in, and every ordinary person in this city who might be affected by the beast's breath."

"Therefore, no one can disrupt the attack plan that has been arranged countless times, including you."

The entire assembly area was so quiet that the distant roar of generators could be heard. Not a single one of the more than four hundred people made a sound; they even held their breath.

Zheng Xingguang's last hope was extinguished after hearing his father's words.

Perhaps this is the father's answer to his child.

What a fine commander!

But you are not one of them...

Just then, he heard other people exclaim in surprise, as well as the sound of a pistol being cocked.

He immediately turned his head and saw that Zheng Ningyuan had taken off his glasses and his trench coat.

He was holding a black modified pistol.

"So, of course I should save my own daughter; why should I trouble others?"

Several staff officers stepped forward to dissuade him, each offering a different explanation.

Some say that breaking the law barrier requires him to sit in the back and command.

Some people said it was too risky to rush in before the assault route was known, while others directly blocked his way and said, "Commander, please calm down."

Zheng Ningyuan acted as if he hadn't heard, inserting the magazines one by one into the slots of his tactical vest, his movements unhurried, as if he were organizing documents in an office.

"The plan will not change."

"Each group will proceed according to the original plan, and communications command will be temporarily handed over to Zou Rong, director of the Haining Special Industrial Park Bureau."

He paused for a moment, then chambered the last bullet.

"It just means we'll be adding an extra assault team, and that team will consist of just me."

"Father!"

Zheng Xingguang took a big step forward, his voice still hoarse from shouting, but his tone was no longer questioning, but an urgent plea.

"I'll be with you. I'm in the top ten in all swordsmanship subjects, and in the top three in barrier construction. I—"

"you?"

Zheng Ningyuan glanced at his son.

"You don't even deserve to stand beside me and fight alongside me."

"You'll be in whatever position you're assigned."

Zheng Ningyuan finally turned his head and glanced at him, his gaze sweeping over his son's face.

"Do you really think you're powerful enough to move freely in a battle of this level?"

Zheng Xingguang opened his mouth, but couldn't utter a single word.

Zheng Ningyuan withdrew his gaze, tucked the gun into his waistband, took out a cigarette from his pocket, put it in his mouth, and lit it.

The light from the lighter illuminated his face, which was not hidden by his glasses.

A hint of fatigue finally appeared on his face, and the lines at the corners of his eyes and mouth looked particularly deep in the firelight.

"You and your sister are both too weak, which is why you are easily manipulated, and why you can only cry and call for your father at times like this."

"Of course, this is also my responsibility. It is my dereliction of duty that I did not train you to be strong enough."

He exhaled a puff of smoke, put the lighter back in his pocket, and turned to walk alone towards the factory gate.

The searchlight cast a long shadow of his back, stretching across the concrete ground of the freight plaza.

More than four hundred people watched as the middle-aged man, whose hair was already half white, walked step by step toward the factory that was sealed off by a double barrier.

"Let me, as your father, take responsibility for you this once."

He flicked the ash from his cigarette between his fingers without turning around.

"Until you are able to stand on your own..."

He walked step by step to the front of the factory's perimeter, a half-burnt cigarette dangling from his lips.

The barrier set up by the unknown alien entity flowed before him, and any unauthorized energy touch would be instantly repelled.

He pulled the specially made pistol from its holster, aimed the muzzle at the rune node directly in front of him, raised his left arm, and rolled up his sleeve to his elbow.

Runes began to appear on his forearm.

In the monitoring room, a tall, thin man stared at the screen, his Adam's apple bobbing up and down.

Chen Guodong stood behind him, arms crossed, his face expressionless.

But his fingers unconsciously dug into his own arm.

"Although I knew he was one of the four theater commanders, that was from twenty years ago."

The tall, thin man lowered his voice, as if he were talking to himself.

"Just how strong is this old man in combat?"

Chen Guodong did not respond.

He stared at the man standing in front of the barrier on the screen, his gaze behind his glasses growing increasingly somber.

Zheng Ningyuan took the cigarette out of his mouth and sneered, like a veteran who had been provoked and was suppressing the last embers of his anger before taking action.

The cigarette butt fell to the ground.

Zheng Ningyuan raised the muzzle of his gun and gripped his right wrist with his left hand.

The dark gold runes on his arm burned like lit fuses from his elbows all the way to his fingertips, and his entire forearm was glowing faintly.

"Holding the Golden Guard, controlling life and death, suppressing demonic souls for a thousand autumns and ten thousand years."

"Wherever my authority extends, all things bow down and all evils flee."

The muzzle of the gun was raised slightly.

"Imperial Edict—"

The trigger is pulled.

"Break the formation!"

The moment the bullet left the barrel, the runic light wrapped around the bullet exploded suddenly.

A beam of dark golden light, condensed to its maximum, struck the main entrance node of the barrier.

The barrier shattered instantly, and the golden light wall broke into countless fragments like shattered glass.

As the smoke cleared, Zheng Ningyuan stood amidst the shattered remains of the light barrier.

He hung the still-smoking pistol at his side.

Without looking back at the more than four hundred silent agents behind him, he simply strode forward, step by step, toward the factory gate.

This barrier, which left others helpless, was broken by the old man.

One shot pierced through.

The surveillance footage shook violently a few times, and the tall, thin man instinctively took a step back.

Chen Guodong still stood ramrod straight, but the knuckles of his fingers, which were gripping his arm, had turned white.

"...The imperial edict ordered the formation to be broken, but I never expected to actually see this spear strike. It's even more terrifying than I imagined."

The smoke and dust cleared.

Zheng Ningyuan walked step by step to the main gate of the factory area.

The leather shoes made a crunching sound as they stepped on the broken glass and shattered fragments of the light wall.

He stood in the center of the factory gate, raised the still-smoking pistol, and aimed it at the night sky.

He fired the second shot.

Gunshots rang out in the empty factory area, like the first drumbeat of a long-awaited battle.

"Operation annihilation, commence."