The organization I founded has been exposed by the reborn!

"Go up to the second floor."

Luo Qingyan led her team, quickly advancing upwards along the broken staircase.

The second-floor corridor was even more cluttered than the first-floor corridor.

The flashlight beam swept across the ground, revealing no intact remains, but instead several pools of foul-smelling, viscous black liquid.

Luo Qingyan crouched down, her fingertips hovering above the pool of black water. She closed her eyes and quickly reconstructed the battle scene in her mind based on the residual energy traces at the scene.

"There were no traces of intense physical collisions in the air; the battle ended very quickly."

Luo Qingyan opened her eyes, her tone tinged with a hint of sternness: "It seems that several monsters attempted to launch a surprise attack from both sides, but were instantly annihilated by a domineering dark force."

"These monsters didn't even have a chance to struggle or scream before their bones were crushed and their flesh was corroded into these puddles of black water under the dark laws."

Li Zhengfeng, who was listening nearby, was secretly alarmed.

Not even a complete bone was left. What terrifying power would it take to achieve such a level of annihilation?

"The methods were clean and efficient, a single strike was fatal."

Luo Qingyan stood up, a thoughtful look flashing in her eyes.

She frantically searched her memories of the past ten years, trying to find a dark attribute powerhouse who fit this domineering style.

Unfortunately, nothing was found.

Such a powerful Shadow Awakener, if he existed in his previous life, would definitely not have been unknown.

The only explanation is that this is a new variable created because of the early intervention of "Dawn"!

"It seems... this dark attribute awakener is most likely a newly recruited member of Dawn." Luo Qingyan murmured, her eyes becoming increasingly sharp.

……

"Go to the third floor!"

The team stepped into the dance practice room at the deepest part of the third floor.

The lobby was covered in mold and ash, the huge dressing mirrors on the surrounding walls were all shattered, and the floor was covered with reflective glass shards.

Amidst the shards of glass, numerous mangled limbs of a puppet, violently smashed, lay scattered about.

The wooden surfaces of these puppets also show signs of being scorched by the fire of qi and blood.

However, there was no sign of any vengeful ghost at the scene.

The vengeful ghost has vanished.

Or rather, it was prematurely contained by Dawn!

Standing in the center of the ruins on the third floor, Luo Qingyan looked at the limbs and scorch marks that had been left on the way up the stairs, her eyes growing increasingly solemn.

"Ghouls on the first floor, ghost corpses on the second floor, and puppets on the third floor."

"The two of them worked together to eliminate all the monsters in the building. The vengeful spirit that had been lurking here was also subdued."

Luo Qingyan took a deep breath.

"Feng Gang only just awakened today. He probably can't defeat this vengeful ghost if he fights it alone."

"But not only was he unharmed, he even successfully completed the containment... Yes, it should be with the help of that Shadow Awakener."

"If I'm not mistaken, this should be part of the 'Dawn' trait!"

"Dawn has chosen the art academy, sending Feng Gang here for training!"

Upon hearing this conclusion, Luo Qingyan's heart pounded wildly.

Dawn moved too fast!

The official Paranormal Bureau has only just been established and is still in the exploratory stage. Meanwhile, Dawn has already completed its recruitment of new members and has even begun systematically organizing practical training exercises to eliminate vengeful spirits!

Such profound knowledge and foresight are truly awe-inspiring.

Luo Qingyan immediately took out her phone and dialed Qin Zhenguo's private line.

"Director Qin..."

Luo Qingyan's voice was slightly hoarse as she suppressed her surging emotions: "There's no need to send any more people to the art academy. The vengeful spirits here have been completely eradicated."

"It's been removed?!"

On the other end of the phone, Qin Zhenguo's voice was filled with shock: "Who did this? How could it be so fast?"

"It is dawn."

Luo Qingyan answered decisively, "I found traces of Feng Gang's battle here, as well as another unknown dark-elemental awakener. They used this place as a training ground for new recruits."

Qin Zhenguo fell into a long silence.

After a long pause, his voice was hoarse: "Dawn... is truly unfathomable."

"Director Qin, adjust the tactics."

Luo Qingyan's gaze sharpened as she issued the order: "Immediately send more personnel. Using the physical coordinates of the Yanjing Academy of Arts as the center, conduct a thorough search outwards!"

"Judging from the energy fluctuations here, they must have just finished a battle. Mobilizing Skynet surveillance and all field agents might just help us find them!"

"Understood! I'll arrange it immediately!"

hang up the phone.

Luo Qingyan turned around and walked towards the broken window.

She gazed at the deep, boundless night sky surrounding Yanjing City, the night breeze ruffling her long hair.

……

Paranormal Bureau Headquarters, Deputy Director's Office.

late at night.

Luo Qingyan pushed open the door and leaned back wearily in the large office chair.

The fighting and the constant running had almost completely drained her energy.

"Director Luo, here's your warm water."

Assistant Dong Chen walked in and gently placed a glass of water on the desk.

"Thank you." Luo Qingyan picked up her water glass and took a sip.

A moment later, there was a knock on the office door.

Qin Zhenguo strode in, carrying a tablet.

"Director Luo, the sealing off and cleanup at the clown house are complete. The gold box has also been stored away." Qin Zhenguo pulled out a chair and sat down, his expression grave. "However, we've encountered a bit of trouble regarding the investigation at the art academy."

Luo Qingyan raised her eyes: "The Skynet surveillance system has been erased?"

"good."

Qin Zhenguo handed over the tablet: "We retrieved all the road surveillance footage within a ten-kilometer radius of the art academy, but all the cameras were malfunctioning. This must be Zheng Qiang's doing."

"That programmer who awakened his mechanical brain..."

Luo Qingyan tapped her slender fingers on the table: "With his current abilities, taking over and erasing Skynet surveillance in an area would indeed be a piece of cake."

However, there's always a way out.

Qin Zhenguo changed the subject, opening a video file on the tablet: "Although we lost Skynet, we found this through the screening by the network patrol team."

"This afternoon, an outdoor livestreamer happened to be doing a 'paranormal adventure' livestream near the outer wall of the art academy. I brought his livestream recording with me."

"Oh?" Luo Qingyan's eyes narrowed, and she immediately perked up. "Dong Chen, cast the video to the screen."

"Yes."

Dong Chen deftly connected the tablet to the giant projection screen in the office.

The screen lit up, the image quality was somewhat rough, and the shaky camera was pointed at the rusty iron gate of the art academy.

This is a video that lasts for more than three hours.

"Fast forward. Four times speed," Luo Qingyan ordered.

The images on the screen were changing rapidly.

Apart from the occasional stray cat passing by and the shadows of trees swaying in the wind, there was never anyone outside the gate.

Just as the progress bar was halfway through.

"Stop!" Luo Qingyan suddenly called out.

The image freezes.

Four figures appeared where the night met the streetlights.

They walked with ease, preparing to cross the dilapidated wall surrounding the art academy.

"Could these be members of Dawn?" Qin Zhenguo's spirits lifted, and he immediately ordered, "Dong Chen, zoom in on these four people's faces."

The image was captured and enlarged.

The faces of the four people were clearly displayed on the screen.

A girl with sallow skin and plain looks.

A middle-aged man with a face full of scars.

And two other random faces that you would never notice if thrown into a crowd.

Qin Zhenguo stared at the screen for a long time, his brows furrowing slightly. "Zheng Qiang isn't there, nor is Feng Gang. These four people seem completely unremarkable... Could they also be busybodies attracted by the high-heeled shoe rumor?"

Luo Qingyan did not immediately draw a conclusion.

"Dong Chen, capture these four faces and send them to the data center." Luo Qingyan's eyes were sharp. "Have them conduct a nationwide facial comparison to find out the identities of these four people."

"Understood." Dong Chen immediately went out to do so.

"Continue watching the recording."

In the next hour or so of replay, although a few cars occasionally passed by and there were even homeless people wandering around, no one else entered the area of ​​the art academy.

The video playback has ended.

A brief moment of contemplation fell over the office.

"This doesn't make sense." Qin Zhenguo lit a cigarette, took a deep drag, and said, "There are ghouls on the first floor, ghost corpses on the second, and puppets on the third. This is definitely not something a few ordinary people or busybodies could handle. Feng Gang and that dark-element awakener must have gone inside."

"Could it be that the security footage didn't capture them? Or did they climb over the wall into the campus from another direction?"

"impossible."

Luo Qingyan leaned back in her chair and analyzed, "I've had people check the other three sides of the art academy, and there were no signs of entry. So they must have entered through the main gate."

"If they hadn't avoided the camera, then..."

Luo Qingyan stared intently at the four random faces frozen on the screen: "These are the four people who entered the academy."

"But Feng Gang and Zheng Qiang don't look like that," Qin Zhenguo retorted.

Just then, the office door was pushed open.

Dong Chen strode in, holding a newly printed comparison report in his hand, his expression somewhat strange.

"Director Luo, Director Qin. The data center results are in."

She handed the report to the two men: "The system conducted an in-depth comparison in the database of 1.4 billion citizens nationwide, but... no such person was found."

"What?" Qin Zhenguo suddenly stood up.

"There's no identification information, no social security record, no Skynet tracking data." Dong Chen swallowed hard. "These four faces don't exist in the Dragon Kingdom's database at all."

The moment those words were spoken, the air in the office seemed to freeze.

Looking at the report in her hand, Luo Qingyan's tightly furrowed brows slowly relaxed, and a look of amazement appeared on her lips.

"That's right."

She tossed the report onto the table and looked at Qin Zhenguo: "Director Qin, you and I both know how rigorous China's household registration system is. Even if they are unregistered, as long as they have lived in society, there will definitely be a record."

"There's only one possibility: we can't find it."

Luo Qingyan pointed at the four people on the screen: "These four faces are all fake. They've disguised themselves."

Qin Zhenguo's fingers, which were holding the cigarette, suddenly paused, and his pupils contracted slightly.

"You mean... these four people are the Dawn Squad?!"

"Not only that."

Luo Qingyan stood up and paced back and forth in the office. "The Skynet erasure was Zheng Qiang's responsibility to cut off the official line of sight. This disguise technique, on the other hand, is intended to physically eliminate the possibility of tracking."

"Dawn... not only possesses formidable combat power, but also the ability to disguise itself."

"That mysterious leader of Dawn is incredibly meticulous. He doesn't allow any members of the organization to be exposed to any uncontrollable gaze."

Qin Zhenguo took a deep breath and stubbed out his cigarette.

"So what do we do now? They've changed their faces, and the trail has gone cold again."

No, quite the opposite.

A glint of light flashed in Luo Qingyan's eyes: "Disguise can change appearance, but it can't change bone structure and body shape!"

"Dong Chen, immediately distribute the facial features of these four individuals, along with their body proportions, to all members currently conducting the thorough search!"

She braced her hands on the table, rapidly adjusting her tactics: "Although Zheng Qiang can erase Skynet data, he can't erase human visual memory, nor can he erase the real traces they leave on the physical level!"

"Focusing on the art academy, use every means at your disposal! Check the surveillance footage of surrounding shops and dashcams, question security guards, taxi drivers, and even homeless people on the street!"

"As long as these four people are seen by anyone during their evacuation..." A flicker of excitement ignited in Luo Qingyan's eyes, "following the clues, we'll definitely find the Dawn headquarters!"

……

In the dead of night, all was quiet.

A private museum located inside the headquarters of Dawn's Secret Realm.

In the hazy, high-dimensional space, all was silent.

Su Yu stood in the conference hall, checking his phone.

He is sifting through the supply warehouses in Yanjing City.

The system-issued mission, "Migration of the Doomsday Granaries," requires the emptying of five large-scale supply distribution centers before the full-scale outbreak of the anomalies.

As the heart of the Dragon Kingdom, Yanjing was surrounded by countless large warehouses.

But Su Yu's goal was clear—either don't move, or move the fattest one.

After data screening and comparison.

Su Yu's gaze finally settled on five targets.

"Two self-built warehouses of Sheng'an located outside the Sixth Ring Road."

Su Yu examined the data on the screen.

As the largest commercial complex in Yanjing, Sheng'an Mall has an extremely large logistics and warehousing network behind it.

These two self-built warehouses outside the Sixth Ring Road not only store mountains of rice, flour, cooking oil, and purified water, but also contain huge quantities of meat and high-calorie fast food.

This is sufficient to meet the organization's needs for a long time to come.

"The other three..."

Su Yu shifted his gaze to another coordinate in the suburbs.

That was a core logistics hub established in Yanjing by a multinational corporation.

Although these three warehouses are relatively scattered, they contain extremely valuable strategic materials—finished fuel oil, special medical equipment, various antibiotics, and even a large quantity of industrial generators and hardware.

In the apocalypse, these things are worth far more than gold.

"That's all for now."

Su Yu confirmed the target and casually turned off his phone.

He glanced at his watch; it was already one in the morning.

The dead of night is the perfect time for "zero-dollar purchases".

……

Su Yu turned and walked out of the conference hall.

As soon as I arrived at the hub square, I smelled an enticing aroma of barbecue.

A barbecue grill was set up in an open space not far away.

To avoid being found by the authorities, the three of them simply moved into the headquarters after completing their mission at the art academy.

Anyway, there's a dormitory area here created by Su Yu, making daily life extremely convenient, and you can even enjoy the spiritual nourishment brought by the breath of a pseudo-god.

"Boss!"

The sharp-eyed Wen Xiaoxiao spotted Su Yu and immediately held up a skewer of golden-brown, juicy lamb, waving excitedly, "Want to grab some late-night snacks? Old Feng's grilling skills are amazing!"

Feng Gang rubbed his bald head and grinned憨厚ly: "Boss, want to try some? I just sprinkled some cumin on it."

"You guys eat."

Su Yu shook his head, his expression calm: "I'm going out to take care of something."

Having said that, he vanished in a flash.

Watching Su Yu's figure disappear into the teleportation portal, the three looked at each other in bewilderment.

"It's already one in the morning, what's the boss doing out there?" Feng Gang asked, taking a bite of his meat skewer, his face full of questions.

"How could you or I possibly fathom the boss's thoughts?" Zheng Qiang picked up a can of beer. "We just need to follow orders."