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

"Celestial Temple?"

Lu Jingyan's brows furrowed deeply. This name was not only familiar to him, but it also resonated with a certain hidden connection deep within his mind. This was definitely not some ordinary gang or criminal organization; the sudden sense of oppression even reminded him of the crisis he faced when the system self-destructed.

"Send the encrypted video to my terminal immediately!" Lu Jingyan's tone left no room for doubt. He slammed on the gas pedal, and the armored vehicle roared furiously in the night, like an enraged black panther, speeding madly toward the provincial government building.

"Captain Lu, what exactly is this 'Temple of the Gods'? Even the Provincial Intelligence Department is so scared?" Zhao Tiezhu gripped the car door handle tightly, his face pale. He had never encountered an alarm of this level in all his years as a special police officer.

Lu Jingyan stared intently at the road ahead, the steering wheel spinning rapidly in his hands.

"If I'm not mistaken, these guys are the real tough ones."

Ten minutes later, the highest-level command center of the provincial department.

The entire hall was brightly lit, and all the large screens were flashing a glaring red light. Director Chen and several high-ranking provincial leaders sat around the oval conference table, their faces ashen. The atmosphere was so oppressive that even the air seemed to freeze. Su Xiaoxiao was leading the technical staff in a frantic typing session, trying to crack the encrypted video that had been forcibly implanted into the provincial department's intranet.

"Xiao Lu, you're finally here!" Director Chen exclaimed as he saw Lu Jingyan stride in, as if grasping at a lifeline. "Quick, look at this! The intelligence department just intercepted it; this thing has been all over the dark web with bounty posters!"

Without wasting any words, Lu Jingyan walked directly to the control panel.

Su Xiaoxiao looked up, her forehead covered in sweat: "Captain Lu, the enemy's anti-tracking technology is extremely advanced, completely bypassing our firewall. The video source seems to have forcibly intervened through some... some kind of frequency band that doesn't belong to modern technology!"

"Release them." Lu Jingyan's voice was frighteningly calm.

"But Captain Lu, this video contains extremely strong interference frequencies, I'm afraid..."

"Release." Lu Jingyan repeated only one word, but it carried an unyielding authority.

Su Xiaoxiao gritted her teeth and pressed the Enter key.

On the main screen, the flashing red light disappeared instantly, and the screen fell into a suffocating, deathly darkness.

Followed by.

A deep, ancient chant, seemingly emanating from the depths of antiquity, slowly echoed throughout the command center. The sound carried a strange frequency that could penetrate eardrums and strike the soul, causing several ordinary police officers present to turn pale instantly, with some even instinctively covering their ears.

The screen gradually brightened.

A magnificent palace, suspended in mid-air and surrounded by a dense purple aura, suddenly appeared in the center of the screen. The palace's style was ancient and majestic, filled with an indescribable religious atmosphere.

"Is this a special effect?" Zhao Tiezhu swallowed.

"No, it's true." Lu Jingyan stared intently at the palace, his "crime radar" issuing the strongest purple alarm in history, almost piercing his brain!

The camera zooms in.

At the highest point of the palace, a figure dressed in a dark gold robe stands with his back to the camera, looking down at the city shrouded in clouds.

"Foolish mortals..."

The figure slowly turned around, his voice devoid of anger, containing only a superior, godlike compassion and arrogance as he looked down upon ants.

"After five thousand years of slumber, the spiritual energy has finally been restored. This land, which originally belonged to the gods, has now been polluted and made to stink by you with your so-called 'technology' and 'laws'."

With each sentence he spoke, the image on the screen would shake violently.

"Chen Beixuan, Ye Fan, Chu Tianjiao... these former seeds of immortal cultivation should have been pioneers welcoming the arrival of the gods. Yet you imprisoned them in those laughable iron boxes in this filthy underground."

"This is blasphemy against divine authority."

The people in the conference room were stunned. These people not only recognized the captured "protagonists," but judging from their tone, those powerful and influential figures outside were merely "discarded pawns" used as scouts in their eyes?!

Just how terrifying is this so-called "Temple of the Gods"?

"We are the Temple of the Gods. We are the sole rulers of this world."

The man in the golden robe on the screen slightly raised his hand, and a blinding white light condensed in his palm.

"Mortals are but ants. Modern technology is nothing but a mirage. From this day forward, the Temple of Gods will take over this world and restore supreme divine rule."

"Those who obey me will be granted immortality; those who defy me will have their souls annihilated!"

This extremely arrogant and melodramatic declaration, accompanied by the explosion of white light, instantly turned the entire command center's monitoring screens into a screen full of static.

"This is outrageous! These charlatans have completely defied the heavens!" Director Chen slammed his fist on the table in anger. "Do they really think they can defy the state apparatus just because they know a little magic? Immediately deploy a province-wide surveillance operation! Dig three feet into the ground and find this cult!"

However, Lu Jingyan raised his hand to stop Director Chen's rage.

"Chief, ordinary surveillance won't work on them." Lu Jingyan pushed up his gold-rimmed glasses, his cold eyes flashing with unprecedented seriousness. "They're not ordinary cults; they're true 'rule breakers' who have mastered supernatural powers. Chen Beixuan and his group are just appetizers; these people are the real tough guys."

Just then.

"Sizzle—!"

The conference room screen, which had been displaying static, suddenly emitted an extremely piercing crack.

Immediately afterwards, all the firewall alarms flashed wildly at the same time. The entire provincial department's intranet system was forcibly taken over by an extremely domineering force in an instant!

"Captain Lu! The system is out of control! We've been stripped of our control!" Su Xiaoxiao shouted in terror, frantically typing on the keyboard, but to no avail.

The static on the big screen gradually faded away.

A man wearing a half-gold mask, revealing only a pair of cold, vertical pupils, suddenly appeared in the center of the screen.

His eyes, which seemed to pierce through the void, looked past the camera and locked onto Lu Jingyan, who was standing in front of the control panel.

"Lu Jingyan, is that right?"

A cruel and mocking smile curved the corners of the man's mouth.

I see you.