The organization I founded has been exposed by the reborn!

"It's a strange creature!"

A hint of joy flashed in Su Yu's eyes, and he quickly stepped forward to pick up the gong from the ground.

[Strange Object: Soul-Capturing Gong]

【Item No.: A21901】

[Ability - Soul Shock: When the gong sounds, the sound waves transform into invisible mental hammers, directly striking the target's soul. Those struck by this shock will instantly experience a blank mind and dizziness, disrupting their mental defenses.]

[Description: It was once the opening act of the Deyi Opera Troupe during the Republic of China era. On the night of that horrific tragedy where over thirty actors were brutally skinned and dismembered, it was soaked in thick, black blood and overwhelming resentment, undergoing the resurgence and erosion of abyssal energy, and completely transformed into a murder weapon. Every tremor it evokes echoes the suffocating terror of the audience in despair and the heart-wrenching screams of the wronged souls.]

[Containment Rules: To contain this strange creature, you must first provide it with a piercing sound.]

Furthermore, the holder must offer a weekly sacrifice of the jarring sound as nourishment. If the sacrifice is interrupted, the holder's soul will forever suffer the relentless onslaught of the gong's reverberating energy.

【…】

"nice one!"

Su Yu weighed the cold, heavy, rusty bronze gong in his hand, and quickly began to make calculations in his mind.

The tactical value of this strange object is no less than that of a powerful offensive gold-tier piece of equipment.

Its inherent [Soul Shock] ability can withstand countless physical defenses and directly strike the soul, causing hard crowd control.

In the ever-changing life-or-death struggle, even just causing the enemy's mind to go blank and slow down for half a second is enough to determine the outcome of the battle.

But that's not the main point.

If the power of the gong is combined with the [Divine Power] and released—

With the combined mental impact sweeping in, it can definitely produce a terrifying suppressive effect.

As for the containment conditions, they are also very simple.

Su Yu gripped the Azure Spear in his backhand and pressed the sharp, dark blue spearhead firmly against the broken stone pavement.

With a burst of strength, he slashed out.

"Sizzle—!"

The metal gun blade rubbed violently against the hard stone slab, producing a sharp, teeth-grinding scraping sound.

The moment the sound rang out, a layer of dim light appeared on the surface of the Soul-Capturing Gong, as if it had been satisfied, and the chilling fluctuations that resisted the living completely subsided.

Containment complete.

Su Yu casually put the gong into his storage ring.

He then turned around and looked at the five members who were still in a daze.

At this moment, Qin Xinran, Zhou Tian, ​​and the other four were still deeply shocked.

The situation on the battlefield changed far too quickly.

That D-level vengeful ghost possesses the ability to take endless deaths in place of others.

They were so easily suppressed on the spot by the leader?

That pure, brutal crushing force brought them a tremendous visual and psychological shock.

It wasn't until Su Yu stepped off the stage with his spear that the audience snapped out of their daze.

"Did you see the battle just now clearly?" Su Yu asked.

The five people looked at each other, and all of them showed bitter smiles.

Zheng Qiang took a deep breath and sighed helplessly, "I understand it now. But this kind of fighting style... we can't learn it."

"Yeah." Feng Gang scratched his bald head. "With that level of lightning burst and absolute speed, without the boss's hard power to back it up, who would dare to rush up and confront a D-level ghost head-on? They'd probably be wiped out by the rules before they even got close."

Qin Xinran and Shen Lesheng also expressed their strong agreement.

Micro-management and weakness detection can be learned, but the confidence to shatter all laws with absolute power is something that probably only the leader in the whole world can achieve.

Su Yu remained noncommittal.

With a slight flick of his wrist, five metal cards, shimmering with a faint silver light, flew out of his hand and landed steadily in the hands of the five people.

"This is the Black Iron-grade equipment exchange voucher that I promised you before."

"After returning to headquarters, each of you should go to the points shop and choose a suitable piece of black iron-grade equipment."

The five people took the cards, their eyes filled with undisguised surprise and excitement.

At this moment, with the vengeful ghost vanquished, the lingering deathly aura around the main hall was completely disrupted, and the ghostly structure of the entire old stage was rapidly collapsing.

Su Yu sheathed his Azure Profound Spear, looked out at the deep night, and said calmly and decisively, "The supernatural magnetic field here has completely dissipated. The Supernatural Bureau will soon trace the source of the energy burst here."

"We need to retreat! Hurry up!"

"yes!"

Everyone put away their vouchers and didn't linger any longer.

The group quickly passed through the long corridor and courtyard filled with ashes, stepped out of the dilapidated courtyard, and went straight back to the black seven-seater van deep in the weeds.

boom!

Amidst the roar of machinery.

Like a ghost lurking in the night, the black van silently drove off the desolate road, disappeared into the darkness, and sped toward a private museum outside the Seventh Ring Road of Beijing.

……

at the same time.

The headquarters building of the Paranormal Bureau.

The night was deep, but the heavily guarded steel building was brightly lit all night long.

People moved about hurriedly in the various functional departments on the lower floors.

Fully armed special agents patrolled the passageways and checkpoints, while technicians pushed equipment carts loaded with monitoring instruments through the corridors, and the sound of terminal printers churning out top-secret files rose and fell.

As the countdown to the cataclysm draws ever closer, headquarters is already operating at its limit.

On the top floor, inside the combat command hall.

The heavy, soundproof, and explosion-proof door completely shut out the noise from downstairs.

Directly in front, a projection screen covering the entire wall lit up, projecting a high-definition 3D satellite view of the entire Yanjing area.

At the head of the long conference table, Director Qin Zhenguo's face was as solemn as iron, his hands clasped together on the edge of the table, his brows furrowed with unyielding gravity.

Seated to his right at the head of the table was Luo Qingyan, dressed in a white trench coat. Her expression was aloof, and her eyes revealed a depth and rationality far beyond that of ordinary people.

On both sides of the conference table, the entire "Sharp Knife Squad" was prominently displayed.

Team leader Li Zhengfeng sat upright, while Peng Tao, Lu Feng, Zhao Mingyu, and Chen Mo looked stern, their bodies faintly radiating the energy fluctuations of newly awakened beings.

Beside them sat several key team leaders responsible for field prevention and control in various urban areas.

The hall was so quiet you could hear a pin drop; everyone was waiting for the meeting to begin.

"Now that everyone's here, I'll get straight to the point."

Qin Zhenguo broke the silence with a deep voice, raising his hand to signal his confidential assistant to deliver the on-site files.

The panoramic view of Yanjing on the screen in front faded away, and several high-definition photos from the scene appeared side by side on the main screen.

The first set of images shows a nearly totaled Porsche Panamera in the open-air parking lot of Yenching University.

The explosion-proof windows were reduced to shards, the hard alloy body was riddled with holes by countless microscopic trajectories, and large areas of dried blood and thick yellow sand were splattered inside and outside the vehicle.

The second set of images shows the horrific scene inside the dormitory building where the incident occurred.

The entire dormitory room's floor, walls, and even tables and chairs seemed to have undergone hundreds of years of weathering and erosion, disintegrating and transforming into a layer of loose, dry, fine gravel.

"The vicious assault that occurred at Yenching University today has been verified and analyzed on-site."

Qin Zhenguo's gaze swept across the skeletal figures on either side of the long table like a hawk's: "It can now be confirmed that this was the work of a high-level Awakened being of the Sand and Earth element."

Qin Zhenguo pointed to the second set of dormitory photos, his tone firm and stern: "According to the investigation, this dormitory is the starting point of the initial energy burst, and the site shows irreversible microscopic material desertification. We deduce that among the four students living in this dormitory, one of them must be the Awakened One."

Qin Zhenguo made a hand gesture.

The assistant typed on the keyboard, and four detailed personal files popped up in a split screen on the projection screen.

Qin Zhenguo made a gesture, and his assistant quickly typed on the control panel. Four detailed personal files then popped up side by side on the main screen in front of him:

Name: Wang Hao

Age: 23

[Position: Postgraduate student in Biology at Yenching University]

[Background: Only son of the chairman of Yanjing Hengtai Mining Group, from a wealthy family. He is arrogant and domineering, and his family used their connections to smooth things over for him on numerous occasions during his school years.]

[Record of the incident: The main victim and source of conflict in this case. Prior to the incident, he had led a group to damage Shen Lesheng's personal belongings.]

[Current Status: Severely injured and undergoing emergency treatment. Suffers extensive deep cuts and lacerations from sand and gravel all over the body. Currently under intensive care in the ICU of the First People's Hospital of the city. Out of danger but still unconscious.]

……

Name: Shen Lesheng

Age: 24

[Position: Postgraduate student in Biology at Yenching University]

[Background: Orphaned at a young age, grew up in the Second Welfare Institute of Beijing. A solitary and reserved person with a meticulous mind. Ranked first in overall academic evaluation for several consecutive years during his studies, and published numerous high-quality academic papers.]

[Current Status: Missing (Mobile phone offline, whereabouts unknown, listed as an S-level key suspect)]

……

Name: Fei Wang

Age: 25

[Position: Postgraduate student in Biology at Yenching University]

……

Name: Fang Heze

Age: 24

……

Luo Qingyan looked at the four files on the screen, her cool gaze flickering slightly, and asked, "Director Qin, can you confirm exactly who it is?"

"Wang Hao, Fang Heze, and Fei Wang can be preliminarily ruled out."

Qin Zhenguo pointed to the horrific scene on the screen: "These three are the victims from that Porsche. They were all severely injured by the sand and are currently in the ICU."

"The only one left is Shen Lesheng."

Qin Zhenguo stated with certainty: "Through interviews with students on the same floor, we learned that Wang Hao had repeatedly led the way in targeting and bullying Shen Lesheng. Today, Wang Hao even smashed Shen Lesheng's computer and tore up his graduation thesis in the dormitory."

"We speculate that this was an event of spiritual awakening and revenge triggered by an emotional breakdown after suffering extreme oppression."

"But at present, we have completely lost contact with Shen Lesheng. His cell phone signal disappeared completely after the incident."

At this point, Qin Zhenguo turned to Peng Tao, who was sitting to his side: "Peng Tao, has Wang Hao woken up yet?"

Peng Tao shook his head and reported to his superior, "Director Qin, the person is out of danger, but the injuries are too severe, and he is still unconscious. It will be impossible to take a statement or conduct an interview in the short term."

Qin Zhenguo nodded slightly upon hearing this, then his gaze fell on the handsome Zhao Mingyu, a hint of hope in his eyes.

"Mingyu, you detected the residual supernatural energy from that Awakened One at the scene. What's the result of the tracking?"

When his name was called, Zhao Mingyu immediately stood up, but his expression showed a hint of helplessness.

"Director Qin, Director Luo. The initial tracking went very smoothly."

Zhao Mingyu reported truthfully: "In my [Eye of Insight] vision, the dark yellow sand energy trajectory was very clear. Chen Mo and I followed the trajectory all the way to a secluded roadside outside the Seventh Ring Road of Yanjing."

"But when we got there... the trajectory suddenly stopped."

Zhao Mingyu frowned: "It's as if he was cut off out of thin air, and we can't follow up anymore. There were no traces left at the scene; it's like he vanished into thin air."

"Interrupted? Vanished into thin air?"

Qin Zhenguo frowned deeply, and his expression turned rather unpleasant.

The clues we finally found have gone cold?

Luo Qingyan, sitting on the right side of the head seat, suddenly narrowed her eyes upon hearing "outside the Seventh Ring Road" and "vanished into thin air".

It left no physical traces, and even the remnants of extraordinary energy could be wiped clean in an instant.

Such a method of completely severing tracking is far beyond the capabilities of a newly awakened student.

"Will this be the dawn...?"

Luo Qingyan's emotions were in turmoil.

Previously, she had speculated that Shen Lesheng might have joined Dawn.

Now, its trajectory has been interrupted outside the Seventh Ring Road.

Doesn't this indicate...?

The headquarters of Dawn is very likely hidden outside the Seventh Ring Road of Yanjing?!

The thought of this possibility gave Luo Qingyan a headache.

The area outside the Seventh Ring Road of Yanjing covers more than 7,000 square kilometers, with mountains, wastelands and abandoned industrial zones intertwined.

Without more information, finding Dawn's headquarters in such a vast territory is like finding a needle in a haystack.

"Buzz—"

Just as the meeting room fell into a brief moment of contemplation, Li Zhengfeng's internal communication cell phone, which was on the table, vibrated.

Li Zhengfeng answered the phone, and after listening for a few words, his expression turned serious.

"Director Qin, Director Luo, it's the technical department calling."

"They retrieved the internal surveillance footage from Yenching University and confirmed that Shen Lesheng was near the parking lot before Wang Hao's incident."

"They suspect... Shen Lesheng is the one who awakened the Sand-type!"

Qin Zhenguo's gaze darkened slightly, and his fingers, which were tapping the table, suddenly stopped.

"It's already been confirmed..."

He placed his hands, clasped together, on the table, surveyed the room, and issued the order in a deep voice: "Immediately add Shen Lesheng's facial information and identity file to the S-level surveillance list. Notify all field personnel to set up checkpoints at major transportation hubs and exits from the city!"

"Find this person as quickly as possible!"

As the instructions were issued.

The atmosphere in the conference room instantly became tense, and the key members of each team stood up and began to coordinate various search and control plans.

However, amidst this enthusiastic and busy atmosphere...

Luo Qingyan leaned back quietly in her chair, her cool eyes revealing only a calm demeanor.

Looking for someone?

It's easier said than done!

If Shen Lesheng really joined Dawn.

Zheng Qiang and Feng Gang serve as cautionary tales.

Since they were outmaneuvered by Dawn, they have seemed to have vanished from the world.

No matter how many personnel the Paranormal Bureau sends out or how many resources it uses, it all boils down to nothing, like a stone thrown into the sea, without making a ripple...