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However, just when he thought he could land a punch on Lynn's chest, Lynn slightly shifted his body and easily dodged the attack, as if he had already anticipated his move.

Eric was taken aback, but didn't stop. He quickly changed direction and launched another attack. However, no matter how fast he was or how tricky his punches were, Lynn always managed to dodge at the last second. His movements were calm and precise, even carrying a hint of nonchalant composure.

The onlookers gradually held their breath, their eyes filled with disbelief. They had never seen anyone escape unscathed from Eric's close-quarters attack, let alone someone like Lynn who wasn't even touched.

Eric was getting impatient. He quickened his pace, trying to overwhelm Lynn with a barrage of punches. However, Lynn's reactions remained consistent. Every dodge he made was perfectly timed, and he would even occasionally use slight movements to throw Eric off balance.

A few minutes later, Eric stopped, panting, and looked at Lynn with disbelief: "You... how is this possible? How did you do that?"

Lynn smiled slightly, his tone still calm: "Observe, judge, react. Every move you make has subtle signs; no matter how fast you go, it's impossible to be without flaws. As long as you focus enough, you can find the rhythm to dodge."

A murmur rippled through the surrounding onlookers, many showing expressions of admiration. Lynn had not only demonstrated his capabilities in a crisis, but also showcased his extraordinary composure and insight.

Eric finally let out a long sigh and extended his hand: "Detective, I'm convinced. You truly are a strong person."

Lynn grasped his hand and smiled slightly: "We each have our strengths. Your abilities are also outstanding, but sometimes, calmness is more important than speed."

The following morning, Lynn had just finished his daily report when he received a call from Eric, instructing him to immediately proceed to a confidential conference room at headquarters. Lynn felt a little puzzled but didn't ask any further questions, heading straight to the designated location.

The atmosphere in the meeting room was tense. As soon as the door closed, Eric personally checked the room's soundproofing system. Then, he and John exchanged a glance, seemingly exchanging opinions silently.

"Detective," Eric began, his tone unusually serious, "I apologize for my previous attitude towards you. Now I must admit that your abilities are indeed admirable, and you are more than capable of handling the problems we are about to face."

Lynn sat at the table, his gaze calm: "Get to the point. What's the real reason for summoning the branch members to headquarters?"

Eric took a deep breath and placed a document in front of Lynn: "In fact, New York headquarters has been investigating a very tricky case recently. We've discovered that someone is trying to restart an extremely dangerous experiment—the artificial breeding of mutants."

Lynn opened the document, his eyes quickly scanning its contents. It was a brief but detailed report describing a series of clues suggesting secret experiments, including missing innocent civilians, previously undisclosed experimental facilities, and illegal equipment used for gene editing.

"Artificially breeding mutants?" Lynn looked up, his brow furrowing slightly. "This couldn't be done by an ordinary criminal organization. There must be extremely strong technological support and funding behind it."

“That’s right,” John continued. “According to our intelligence, this organization is likely controlled by a group of scientists and capitalists. They are attempting to create ‘customized mutants’ using gene-editing technology, which not only violates the law but also threatens the balance of existing society.”

Lynn pointed to a passage in the report: "The experimental goal mentioned here is to make mutant abilities more controllable. This kind of thing is bound to cause disaster."

"That's precisely why we invited elite detectives from various regions, including you, to provide support," Eric said, his tone serious. "We need the best minds and the strongest execution capabilities to deal with this crisis."

Lynn closed the file, pondered for a moment, and then asked, "What specific clues do we have so far? Have we found their experimental site or key personnel?"

Eric shook his head: "The clues are scattered. We only know of a few possible locations, one of which is in an abandoned industrial area in the suburbs of New York, but that area is riddled with traps and surveillance. One of our previous reconnaissance teams lost contact there."

Lynn's gaze sharpened further: "So, what is our mission now?"

John handed over a map, pointing to several markings on it: "Your mission is to assist us in investigating these outposts, finding solid evidence, and rescuing the missing personnel. Once the targets are identified, we will launch a full-scale operation."

Lynn nodded, his tone firm: "Understood. This cannot continue."

Eric looked at him, a complex mix of trust in his expression: "Lynn, this might be more dangerous than you think. We don't know what technology they possess, or whether they've already created some kind of uncontrollable entity."

Lynn calmly stood up and put the documents away. "I never underestimate the enemy, but I will never allow them to trample on the innocent. When do we begin?"

Eric's gaze hardened: "Tonight. We need to seize the opportunity before they move the experiment."

As Lynn and his headquarters team arrived at the abandoned industrial area on the outskirts of the city, dawn was breaking. The industrial area was eerily quiet, the dilapidated factory buildings exuding a musty, decaying atmosphere. Eric, the leader, raised his hand, signaling the team to halt, and whispered, "It's quiet here, but that doesn't mean there's no danger. Stay alert."

Lynn nodded, his gaze quickly sweeping over the surroundings. He noticed some faint footprints on the ground, leading towards the factory. He gestured for his team to follow, and led them cautiously closer.

Upon entering the factory, a pungent chemical odor filled the air. Lynn frowned slightly and scanned his surroundings with his flashlight. In one corner of the factory stood several lab benches, scattered with broken test tubes and fragments of equipment.

"This place has obviously been cleaned up," Eric said in a low voice, reaching for a piece of broken equipment. "But they didn't clean it up thoroughly enough; they left some things behind."

Lynn took the equipment and examined it carefully, noticing tiny letters and codes engraved on it: "These are the serial numbers of the experimental equipment, which may be related to their experimental records. Taking them back for analysis will be helpful."

Just then, John's voice came from the other side: "There's something going on over here!"

Lynn and Eric rushed over and found John crouching on the ground, with an injured FBI agent beside him. The man had multiple abrasions, suggesting he had been in a violent altercation; he was pale but still conscious.

"What happened?" Lynn asked, crouching down.

The team member managed to lift his head, his voice weak: "They...they have mutant guards. Our squad was ambushed...They took some equipment and retreated east. There might be others there."

Lynn examined his injuries and turned to Eric, saying, "He needs immediate treatment. Get the logistics team on board; we must continue tracking these leads."

Eric nodded, called for backup via communicator, and issued the following instructions to the remaining team members: "Search quickly and see if there are any other clues left behind."

Lynn continued his search and found some remaining gene-editing equipment and fragments of documents. He collected these fragments and carefully placed them into an evidence bag. Then, his gaze fell on a back door of the factory, the marks on it indicating that it had just been forced open.

"This door is their escape route," Lynn said, pointing to the door. "We need to track them down as soon as possible."

Eric glanced at the door, then looked at Lynn: "Are you sure?"

Lynn nodded, his tone calm and firm: "The footprints, the extent of damage to the lock, and the direction the team members mentioned. All the clues point here. They might not have gone far."

Eric pondered for a moment, then finally nodded: "Alright, let's split up. Lynn, you take a team and go through the back door. John and I will stay here and continue searching to see if we can find any more information."

Without hesitation, Lynn immediately led a team to follow the trail from the back door.

Lynn led his team quickly through the back door, following the footprints and other faint traces. The other side had clearly moved swiftly, but the subtle clues they left behind—a torn piece of cloth, scattered metal fragments, and the occasional mud pavement—were enough for Lynn to confirm their direction.

"They went that way," Lynn said, pointing to a tangled patch of woods.

The squad entered the woods, everyone on high alert, guns pointed forward. A slight noise came from deep within the trees, and Lynn immediately gestured for everyone to slow down.

Just then, a crisp sound of a branch snapping underfoot came from ahead. Lynn looked up sharply and saw a blurry figure flash by, quickly fleeing into the depths of the woods.

"The target is ahead! Chase after it!" Lynn commanded in a low voice, leading the charge.

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They chased each other for hundreds of meters through the woods, but the other man clearly knew the terrain well, constantly using bushes and tree trunks to conceal his tracks. Lynn gritted his teeth, locked his gaze on the figure ahead, raised his gun, aimed, and calmly pulled the trigger.

"Bang!"

The bullet ripped through the air and struck the fleeing man in the shoulder. He let out a muffled groan, staggered, and nearly fell, but braced himself against a tree trunk with his other hand and continued to stagger forward.

Lynn remained vigilant, signaling his squad to maintain formation. They continued the pursuit, but soon discovered that their pursuers had sped away into a denser forest, disappearing without a trace.

Lynn stopped and gestured for his team to cease pursuit. He crouched down, carefully examining the bloodstains and footprints on the ground: "He's injured, but not badly enough to keep running. This guy is clearly trained."

One of the team members, panting, asked, "Should we continue the chase, Inspector?"

Lynn stood up and shook his head: "We can't act rashly. They might have set an ambush. Let's go back to the industrial area, gather the existing clues, and take these bloodstain samples back for testing to see if we can confirm his identity."

The team quickly cleaned up the scene, collected some bloodstains and other remaining items, and then retreated to the rendezvous point in the abandoned industrial area.

Back at the scene, Eric looked at Lynn, a hint of resentment in his voice: "Didn't you succeed?"

Lynn handed him the evidence bag, her tone calm: "We didn't catch him, but he's injured and can't have gone far. These blood samples can be used to identify him and perhaps find more information about the experimental organization."

Eric took the evidence bag, a hint of approval flashing in his eyes: "Well, at least we've gained something. This target was too cunning, but he won't be so lucky next time."

Lynn nodded, a determined look in his eyes: "This is just the beginning. We will find their lair and end this experiment."

Back in the industrial area, Lynn began to carefully examine the experimental equipment seized from the scene. Inside a damaged terminal, he discovered a hidden storage module. Connecting the module to a portable decoder, some encrypted files appeared on the screen.

"What's this?" Eric leaned closer to take a look, frowning. "The file is encrypted, but it looks like crucial experimental records."

Lynn carefully examined the file's structure and tried to open it with a simple decryption tool, but only a few decryption failure messages appeared on the screen. He took a deep breath and turned the device to the technicians at headquarters: "Can you decrypt this file? It might be the key to finding the answer."

The technician connected to the terminal and began running the advanced decryption program. A few minutes later, the screen finally displayed a portion of the decrypted content. Although most of the content remained obscured, some key phrases were clearly visible:

"Enhanced Mutant Project"

"Gene editing sequence upgrade"

"Programmability of control capabilities"

Lynn's gaze was fixed on the screen as he repeated in a low voice, "The Enhanced Mutant Project... They're not just creating mutants, they're trying to manipulate abilities?"

Eric's expression grew even more serious: "If it's true, once this technology succeeds, it will not only upend the entire society, but it could also give these people immense threatening power."

John added, "Moreover, this technology could very well not only target mutants, but perhaps ordinary people could also gain abilities through gene editing. This is extremely dangerous."

The technician interrupted their discussion, saying nervously, "Detectives, these documents have a lot of deep encryption, and it may take several days to fully decrypt them. But there is a mention of a project codenamed 'Mainline Experiment,' and the timeline indicates it will be completed within the next week."

Lynn pondered for a moment, then said, "We don't need to wait for everything to be deciphered. Let's focus our efforts on investigating the 'Main Experiment.' Technician, mark the timelines and all relevant information, and see if there are any more clues that can be used to locate the source."

The technician nodded and continued searching the documents. After a moment, he looked up, his voice slightly tense: "This mentions a location that might be one of the core areas of the experiment—an abandoned laboratory near the coast."

Eric immediately said, "Then let's organize an operation right away and raze this place to the ground."

Lynn shook his head: "No. The other side is clearly highly vigilant. If we act rashly, we might alert them. Since they dared to encrypt these files, this place might just be a decoy or a disguise." (End of Chapter)