F-class thief? Sorry, I can steal anything.

I disagree.

On the other end of the communication, Wang Jianguo remained silent for a full three seconds.

Immediately, a hoarse but incredibly firm voice came from the communicator.

The scarred man in the command room paused, his expression momentarily frozen.

He had followed Ye Tong for so many years, and this was the first time he had ever heard someone reject the team leader's decision in such a direct tone.

But then I thought about Wang Jianguo's past identity, and it didn't seem so wrong.

"We are the Public Security Bureau, not conspirators hiding in the shadows."

Wang Jianguo's voice revealed the stubbornness and principles of an old-fashioned person.

"How can you push a minor student out as a scapegoat? Using such a despicable tactic of 'scapegoating'?"

"I agreed to cooperate with you to lure out 'The Hundred Faces,' but that doesn't include destroying a genius in this way!"

Wang Jianguo was somewhat agitated.

Although he had long believed that Chen Yifan was involved in the death of Shadow Demon, he kept the matter to himself out of a desire to cherish talent.

But Ye Tong's current approach is putting Chen Yifan on the hot seat.

They were completely thrust into the spotlight!

However, when faced with Wang Jianguo's questioning, Ye Tong's reaction was as calm as a stagnant pool.

He simply spoke.

"I never shift the blame onto others."

As he spoke, he lightly tapped the light screen with his fingertip.

A file appeared before Wang Jianguo.

[The Shadow Fiend Death Incident - Final Investigation Report]

"This is the autopsy report and on-site survey data for Shadow Fiend."

Ye Tong's voice was flat and devoid of any emotion.

Wang Jianguo frowned; he had already seen this information.

"but……"

Ye Tong abruptly changed the subject.

"After conducting hundreds of simulations, the forensic and physical modeling team unanimously pointed out—"

"The impact area and impact pattern at the point of impact are completely inconsistent with the characteristics of a human body actively exerting force to impact."

Ye Tong's voice, in the silent command room, was like a death sentence.

"It's more like..."

"He was slammed against a pillar by an irresistible force, and then... he died from the impact."

boom!

Something seemed to explode in Wang Jianguo's mind.

wrong!

This data is different from the initial analysis data.

Night Eyes gave him no time to process what was happening, and her cold words continued.

"This is the data from last night's simulation analysis..."

"Based on all the surveillance and eyewitness records we have, at the time of Shadow Fiend's death..."

"The only person I can have 'close contact' with."

"Only Chen Yifan."

Ye Tong slowly turned her head, her deep eyes seeming to pierce through the light barrier and stare directly into Wang Jianguo's soul.

"So, senior."

"This is not a frame-up."

"I'm just preparing to turn a 'result' that's infinitely close to the truth into a 'fact' that everyone is willing to believe."

"The answer was obvious from the very beginning."

There was a deathly silence on the other end of the communication line.

Wang Jianguo opened his mouth, but found that he couldn't utter a single word.

Ye Tong's cold, cruel, yet irrefutable facts sealed off any possibility of rebuttal.

yes……

That little guy was never a good person from the start.

for a long time.

Wang Jianguo let out a long, long breath, as if he wanted to expel all the shock and helplessness in his heart.

His voice carried an unprecedented weariness.

"……I see."

"very good."

Night Eyes cut off the communications, and the command room returned to silence.

He looked at Chen Yifan's unremarkable ID photo on the screen, and for the first time, a hint of amusement, almost "appreciation," appeared in his eyes.

"Now, it's up to you..."

"Can we accept this 'gift'?"

……

Cave.

Chen Yifan's figure emerged from the shadows and appeared in front of the cave wall.

"You mean there's more to this than meets the eye?"

Mu Wanqing looked at the cave walls covered with strange fungi and constantly oozing green slime, her face still pale.

She clenched her fists so tightly that her nails almost dug into her palms, and her voice trembled slightly from extreme tension.

"It's not that there's another way... it's... it's a dead end."

"Do you know what 'King-level' means?"

"If we broke in, we wouldn't even be enough to fill its teeth!"

She stared intently at Chen Yifan's back, trying to find even the slightest fear or hesitation in him.

But she was disappointed.

Chen Yifan simply stared at the slippery walls of the fungal cave.

"King-level?"

His voice was very soft, as if he were talking to himself.

A king-level boss that surpasses ordinary bosses and lord bosses?

"Then you absolutely mustn't disappoint me!"

Mu Wanqing's breathing stopped.

She seemed completely stunned by Chen Yifan's madness, her body frozen in place.

"What...what do you want to do?"

Chen Yifan turned his head, his gaze from under the hood falling on her, his eyes as cold as if he were looking at a tool.

"If you don't want to die, use your expertise to tell me what's inside."

"Give me a 'value report' based on your so-called 'investor' perspective."

Mu Wanqing clenched her teeth, her chest heaving violently.

She took a deep breath, as if forcing herself to calm down, and finally squeezed out a few words through gritted teeth.

"You'd better not move. Beings of this level have extremely keen senses; any physical contact could awaken them!"

While issuing a warning, she carefully took out a rhombus-shaped, translucent crystal from her spatial bracelet.

【The Prism of Truth】.

"This is an exploration tool used exclusively by our Black Gold Chamber of Commerce. It can penetrate most energy barriers and analyze the essence of the target."

After saying that, she held the crystal in her palm, closed her eyes, and slowly poured her spiritual energy into it.

hum-

The crystal emitted a faint light, and an invisible ripple silently pierced through the fungus-like rock wall in front of it.

One minute.

Two minutes...

Mu Wanqing suddenly opened her eyes, her eyes, visible through the mask, filled with unprecedented shock and...fanatics?

"Not... a living being."

Her voice trembled slightly with excitement.

"It's... an energy source! An incredibly vast and pure energy core undergoing some kind of 'evolution'!"

"It's the [Heart of Corruption]! It...it's devouring the energy of this entire instance, it's mutating! It's transforming from an inanimate object into a 'King-level' life form!"

Chen Yifan's eyes finally lit up.

【The Heart of Corruption】.

This was one of the goals of his trip.

What a coincidence?

"Where is the entrance?"

Mu Wanqing pointed to a fold of fungal carpet on the cave wall that looked no different from the rest of the cave.

"The weakest point in terms of energy... is also its 'breathing point.' Once breached, it will immediately awaken from its slumber!"

She hadn't finished speaking.

Chen Yifan had already moved.

There was no unnecessary talk, no probing.

The dagger in his hand, amplified by the powerful effect of Shadow Step, pierced the "breathing hole" with unparalleled precision, like a bolt of lightning cutting through the night.

puff!

It's like a hot knife cutting into butter.

The thick fungal carpet was torn open with a neat slit without any resistance.

A richer, purer life energy, mixed with a faint smell of decay, rushed out from behind the crack.

Behind that lies an even wider void.

In the very center of the cavity, a giant heart, over thirty meters in diameter, is slowly beating.

"Thump...thump..."

"Thump...thump..."

The heart was made entirely of translucent fleshy mycelium, and its surface was covered with dark green blood vessels. With each beat, the entire cave trembled slightly.

At the core of this giant heart, a fist-sized black crystal, seemingly formed from the purest darkness, radiates an eerie light as it pulsates.

[Heart of Corruption]?

Chen Yifan's pupils suddenly contracted.

He turned his head and saw that Mu Wanqing beside him was completely stunned.

She stared intently at the black crystal through the eyes of the fox mask, her breathing becoming rapid and hot.

Even his hands, gloved with black gloves, clenched unconsciously, and his body trembled slightly from extreme excitement.

It was a kind of fanaticism, a mixture of greed and disbelief, born from discovering the greatest treasure of one's life.

Chen Yifan's gaze swept over her, then returned to the [Heart of Corruption], his eyes gradually turning cold.

What a coincidence!

What a coincidence!

It's so coincidental that whatever you think of comes true.

Chen Yifan, who has lived two lives, distrusts luck the most.

Behind every seemingly coincidental stroke of luck lies a meticulously calculated scheme.

and!

Mu Wanqing's behavior was a bit too exaggerated.

His gaze inadvertently swept across the area below the giant heart.

There, lying quietly, was a... corpse.

The corpse was dressed in tattered black leather armor and was emaciated.

That iconic green hair… skinny jeans… loafers…

And that face that was both incredibly familiar and incredibly terrifying to him.

Shadow Fiend?

How is that possible!

In the instant his mind was shaken.

That huge, beating heart seemed to sense something.

Its pulsation frequency suddenly changed.

"Thump...thump...thump...thump..."

Becoming impatient, becoming...excited?

next second.

A vast and ancient thought, belonging neither to humans nor to any known creature, suddenly resounded without warning deep within Chen Yifan's soul!

【similar……】

I...smell...the scent of 'theft'...