Villain? No, I'll catch up with the protagonist after passing the civil service exam.

"Sizzle—"

A strange sound, like boiling oil being poured onto ice, abruptly broke the brief silence in the interrogation room.

Just as Zhao Tiezhu was about to stuff the evidence bag containing the grayish-white orb into the safe, his hand suddenly felt as if it had been burned, and he abruptly pulled it back.

"Holy crap! It's burning hot!"

The sphere of light, which had been lying quietly in the bag, suddenly began to flicker wildly, as if in a final burst of energy before death. The grayness on its surface quickly faded, and a strange, somewhat frenzied, eerie blue light reignited.

The specially made anti-static evidence bag began to melt at a visible speed, emitting wisps of blue smoke.

"Oh no! It's burning the bag!" Su Xiaoxiao exclaimed. "It's still conscious!"

Before the words were even finished, the ball of light seemed to sense the danger and suddenly smashed through the already fragile plastic bag.

"Whoosh—"

A streak of blue light, like a startled meteor, darted wildly through the cramped interrogation room. It struck the wall but didn't bounce back; instead, it seemed to seep through the wall like water droplets seeping into a sponge, attempting to "pass through" it.

But it clearly overestimated its current energy reserves.

A faint arc of electricity lit up the wall, and the ball of light was violently bounced back, buzzing in the air like a headless fly.

"Trying to run away?"

Lu Jingyan reacted extremely quickly; almost the instant the ball of light shot out, he had already blocked the doorway.

"Tiezhu, close the windows! Xiaoxiao, guard the vents!"

But this sphere of light clearly possessed a certain degree of intelligence, or rather, a survival instinct. Seeing that the doors and windows were tightly closed, it suddenly unleashed an extremely powerful surge of data, causing the electronic lock on the interrogation room to malfunction instantly and pop open with a "click."

Seizing the opportunity, the ball of light transformed into a blur and rushed out of the interrogation room, disappearing into the intricate corridors of the municipal police station.

"Chase!"

Lu Jingyan took off chasing after him, so fast that even Zhao Tiezhu didn't have time to react.

It was early morning shift change, and many police officers on duty in the corridor were yawning and stretching.

Suddenly, a blue, unidentified luminous object whistled past, creating a static vortex that made the hair of several policewomen stand on end.

"Holy crap! What's that? Ball lightning?"

"This is a police station! How come there are will-o'-the-wisps?"

"Don't talk nonsense! After the founding of the People's Republic of China, sentient beings were forbidden! Did someone's drone malfunction?"

The corridor instantly descended into chaos. The ball of light seemed to be running wild, dodging people and squeezing into any gap it could find. Light bulbs flickered in its wake, copiers printed automatically, and water dispensers dispensed water at an alarming rate. The entire office area looked like it was haunted.

Lu Jingyan followed closely behind. Although he ran very fast, his breathing remained steady and his eyes were frighteningly calm.

The passive skill "Absolute Rationality" is now operating at full power.

[Analyzing the target's escape trajectory...]

In his view, the sphere of light that was darting around was no longer a chaotic mass of energy, but a moving data packet that was constantly correcting its course.

Every turn, every acceleration, and even the rebound angle after hitting the wall was broken down into precise mathematical formulas in Lu Jingyan's mind.

"Turn left, into the stairwell, go up; it wants to go to the rooftop to receive a signal!"

Lu Jingyan made a judgment instantly.

Instead of following the orb of light up the stairs, he rushed straight to the elevator shaft next to it. Although the elevator was still on a high floor, he pressed the fire door switch for the fire escape without hesitation, anticipating the orb's inevitable path.

"Su Xiaoxiao! Turn on the signal jammer on the rooftop! Don't let it connect to the internet!"

He let out a low growl into his headset, then charged up the stair railing like a cheetah, using the momentum to flip himself up to the second floor.

Just as he expected, the ball of light, unable to penetrate the load-bearing wall, could only meander upwards along the stairs.

Just as it was about to rush up to the corner of the third floor.

A dark figure descended from the sky.

Lu Jingyan appeared precisely on the trajectory of the light sphere, like a hunter who had been waiting for his prey for three thousand years.

He was not carrying a gun or a baton.

He was holding a black bag with a metallic sheen—a Faraday cage shielding bag specially used by the special investigation team to block electronic signals.

"Arrested and brought to justice!"

With a sharp shout, Lu Jingyan stretched his body in the air, holding the shielding bag in his right hand, and slammed it down on the blue light like a dunk.

The sphere of light seemed to sense a deadly threat and slammed on the brakes in mid-air, attempting to change direction.

But Lu Jingyan acted even faster.

The [God-Level Fighting Technique] granted him perfect control over his body's muscles. He twisted his waist forcefully in mid-air, his arm growing an inch longer, and the opening of his bag, like a black hole that devoured everything, precisely swallowed the ball of blue light.

"Snapped!"

The zipper was zipped up instantly.

A violent thud and the crackling of electricity came from inside the bag, as if something alive was struggling frantically inside.

Lu Jingyan landed, gracefully rolled to dissipate the impact, and then stood firmly on his feet.

He clutched the constantly deforming and bulging black bag tightly in his hand, feeling the violent energy inside trying to break free of its restraints.

"It's quite energetic."

Lu Jingyan sneered and placed one hand on the bag.

"System, get to work. Teach it a lesson, let it know what 'fighting against counterfeit products' really means."

[Ding! Host command received!]

[The righteous light system is operating at full power! Data formatting and compression are in progress!]

"Buzz—"

A pale golden light flowed continuously from Lu Jingyan's palm into the black bag.

The struggle inside the bag suddenly intensified, as if two forces were engaged in a life-or-death battle.

Blue light and gold light collided violently through a special shielding material, producing a teeth-grinding friction sound.

"This is the Jinghai City Public Security Bureau, not your server."

Lu Jingyan's voice was deep and powerful, carrying an air of authority that made his words law.

"Whether you're code or a higher-dimensional being, since you're here, you have to follow the rules."

"Behave yourself!"

He clenched his fist tightly.

Golden light flourishes!

The resistance from inside the bag was abruptly extinguished by an invisible hand. The violent impact sound vanished instantly, replaced by a hissing sound like a deflated balloon.

A few seconds later, everything returned to calm.

Lu Jingyan released his grip and felt that the shape of the originally round object in the bag seemed to have changed.

At this moment, Zhao Tiezhu and Su Xiaoxiao ran up, panting.

"Captain Lu! Did you... did you catch it?" Zhao Tiezhu, panting, clutched his knees. "That thing was too fast, like a sentient ball!"

"Gotcha."

Lu Jingyan shook the bag in his hand, a relaxed smile playing on his lips. "Suspected of violently resisting law enforcement, damaging public property, and illegally intruding into computer information systems. This time, it's completely obedient."

"What is that?" Su Xiaoxiao asked curiously, leaning closer. "I thought it shrank a little earlier?"

Lu Jingyan was also somewhat curious.

Under the powerful suppression of the "light of righteousness," what will become of this arrogant "entertainment tycoon system"?

He carefully untied the seal on the protective bag a little.

No light was emitted, nor was any energy leaked out.

Lu Jingyan reached inside and touched a cold, hard, long, narrow object.

He took it out.

Open your palm.

In the palm of that long, strong hand lay a piece of ancient design, its entire body a strange grayish-white color...

USB flash drive?

However, this USB drive is made of a very special material, resembling both jade and metal, with a faint blue light that has not yet completely dissipated flowing across its surface.

"this……"

Zhao Tiezhu's eyes widened, and he scratched his head. "It's back to factory settings? A USB drive?"

Su Xiaoxiao's eyes lit up: "This isn't a USB drive! This is the system itself! It's its 'urn'! Captain Lu, this definitely contains the entire database of that system!"

Lu Jingyan held the heavy USB drive, his brows furrowing slightly.

He could sense that the USB drive still contained a massive flow of information, but it had been completely locked down by his system with the highest level of "electronic shackles."

Now, it's a super hard drive storing a massive amount of information about otherworldly cultures.

"It's a good thing."

Lu Jingyan twirled the USB drive between his fingers, a thoughtful look flashing in his eyes.

"But the problem is..."

"How should this thing be classified legally?"

"Should it be considered Lin Feng's murder weapon? Or stolen goods obtained illegally? Or perhaps..."

Looking at the small object in his hand that might contain the crystallization of another world's civilization, he fell into the deepest contemplation of his career.

"Could this be considered... an illegally entered 'alien mouth'?"

"Also, what should we do with this? Confiscate it? There's nowhere to confiscate it, and we can't just plug it into the bureau's computer and use it as a database, can we?"

Su Xiaoxiao swallowed hard and suggested in a low voice, "How about... we hand it over to the government?"

Lu Jingyan's eyes lit up.

He looked at the USB drive, then at the red flag fluttering in the wind outside the window, nodded, and his tone became incredibly firm.

"That's right."

"Only the state can suppress this kind of supernatural, high-tech criminal evidence."

"Let's go to the director's office."

"This time, we might be sending a truly 'generous gift' to the National Academy of Sciences."