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

At the end of the ventilation duct is an abandoned civil defense structure on the third basement level of the old commercial street.

The air was damp and sticky, filled with the pungent musty smell of the basement and the stench of sewage rising up.

The incandescent light bulb overhead had been broken for a long time.

Several bright beams of tactical flashlights cut through the dense darkness, crisscrossing between the water-stained load-bearing pillars.

The special police officers, carrying riot shields and submachine guns, and wearing tactical boots, moved forward step by step, keeping their footsteps quiet.

The military boots made a soft slapping sound as they stepped into the puddles.

Lu Jingyan walked in the middle of the group.

He held a high-precision thermal imager that Old Wang had handed him. His dark eyes were fixed on the screen.

On the black-and-white screen, a bright red, radiating heat humanoid silhouette is huddled behind an abandoned electrical box thirty meters away.

The red figure was still heaving violently, clearly panting heavily.

"It's just ahead."

Lu Jingyan handed the instrument to Zhao Tiezhu beside him, slightly raising his chin.

Zhao Tiezhu grinned. He slung the heavy antimatter machine gun over his back and rubbed his two rough, large hands together.

He strode over.

Behind the distribution box.

The robber, Wang Ergou, was clutching the pure gold necklace tightly, his heart pounding like a drum.

He looked down at himself.

His drab camouflage uniform collar was pulled down below his nose. His legs and hands blended completely into the background in the darkness, invisible to the naked eye.

"This stuff is fucking amazing! Those guys on the black market weren't lying to me; it can even refract light!"

Wang Ergou was overjoyed, his mouth almost stretching to his ears.

Hearing footsteps approaching, he remained completely calm.

He even dared to stand up from behind the electrical distribution box and swagger out.

He deliberately walked to within half a meter of the riot shield of the special police officer leading the team.

He twisted his waist and made a cocky face, preparing to slip out between the two SWAT officers.

Two SWAT officers, guns at the ready, stared through their goggles at the air swirling wildly in front of them as if they were looking at someone mentally challenged.

Although invisible to the naked eye, the miniature thermal imaging radar on the SWAT officer's helmet made this guy shine brighter than a 1,000-watt light bulb.

"Make way, you're blocking the way."

Zhao Tiezhu stepped forward and shouted in a rough voice.

Wang Ergou was startled. Thinking the other person was talking to someone else, he quickly took a step to the side.

"Bang!"

Zhao Tiezhu swung his thigh, which was thicker than a tree trunk, with a sudden, powerful swing. His large military boots, carrying a strong gust of wind, slammed solidly into a mass of empty air.

"Awooo—!"

A bloodcurdling scream, like a pig being slaughtered, rang out in the empty garage.

A person suddenly appeared out of thin air.

Like a sack full of sand, it rolled three or four meters across the muddy, waterlogged ground before crashing headfirst into a load-bearing wall.

The light refraction module on the surface of the invisibility vest flickered twice, emitting a string of blue sparks.

Completely scrapped.

Wang Ergou clutched his stomach, writhing in pain like a boiled shrimp.

The gold necklace she was carrying spilled onto the ground, clattering and clanging as it hit the puddle.

"How...how can you see me?!"

He gasped in pain, his eyes nearly popping out of their sockets, his face filled with disbelief.

"I spent a fortune on this high-tech alien technology! Even surveillance cameras can't detect it!"

"Go to hell with you."

Zhao Tiezhu walked over. He grabbed the back of his collar with one hand and lifted him up like a chick.

"In the dead of autumn, carrying dozens of kilograms of gold, you're covered in sweat. You look like you're practically glowing red in the thermal imaging, what are you pretending to be invisible for?"

Two special police officers rushed forward and twisted his hands behind his back.

The silver police handcuffs clicked shut, extinguishing his hopes of escape.

Lu Jingyan strolled over.

The black leather shoes stepped over the gold chain on the ground, getting a little dirty mud on them.

"Take off your clothes."

He glanced at Wang Ergou's drab gray vest and spoke in a cold tone.

The SWAT officers roughly ripped off the vests and threw them onto the hood of a nearby abandoned, wrecked car.

This is a poorly made, assembled item.

The lining had been cut open. Inside, there were densely packed copper wire circuits, the wiring crooked and twisted, as if a dog had chewed them.

A metal card slot was attached to the chest area with waterproof tape.

Embedded in the slot was a dull blue crystal, which occasionally emitted two tiny arcs of electricity, making a crackling sound of leakage.

Lu Jingyan unscrewed the old thermos in his hand.

Steam rose up. He lowered his head and took a sip of warm water.

"Xiaoxiao, check the underlying data of the core board."

Su Xiaoxiao squeezed in from behind.

She was carrying a heavy black tactical backpack, and her nose was covered in a fine layer of sweat as she ran.

She tossed the bag onto the hood of the car and unzipped it. She pulled out a pair of medical-grade insulating rubber gloves, bit the edges to smooth them out, and deftly put them on.

"This wiring is really wild; aren't they afraid of getting burned by a short circuit?"

Su Xiaoxiao held the metal tweezers and carefully peeled away the insulating black glue on the surface of the crystal.

Pull out a data cable thinner than a hair and insert it directly into the miniature interface on the side of the crystal.

The other end is connected to a military tactical computer with the highest privileges.

She took a deep breath, her fingers hovering over the keyboard.

He slammed it down hard.

The mechanical keyboard emits a dense and crisp clicking sound.

The originally dark background on the screen was instantly covered by a waterfall of green code.

Numbers and fragmented alien characters scrolled wildly, falling line after line in a blur. The speed was too fast for the naked eye to follow.

The underground parking garage was very quiet.

All that could be heard was the distant "plop" of water dripping from the pipes and the whistling sound of the computer cooling fan running at high speed.

The progress bar is stuck at 99% and won't budge.

"The underlying logic has been enhanced with thirty-six encryption locks, and it's also a complex Sirius region algorithm branch."

Su Xiaoxiao bit her lower lip, and her fingers flew faster again.

"However, the assembly skills are terrible. They didn't even figure out the most basic computing firewall."

The Enter key was struck hard.

"It's broken!"

The green code on the screen suddenly stopped.

A striking white-background interface popped up. A 3D analytical model of the blue crystal floated in the center.

Below the model is a long string of letters and numbers that flash red.

Su Xiaoxiao stared at the line of red text.

My fingers froze in mid-air, trembling slightly.

Her cheeks, which had been flushed from running, visibly lost their color, gradually turning deathly pale.

She swallowed hard, her Adam's apple bobbing with difficulty.

The cold light emanating from the computer screen shone on her face, making it appear somewhat bluish.

"What did they find out? Which black market location made it?" Old Wang asked, peering in from the side.

Su Xiaoxiao ignored him.

She stiffly turned her head to look at Lu Jingyan standing beside her. Her eyes were filled with disbelief and shock.

Lu Jingyan's fingers, which were gripping the thermos, did not move.

My gaze swept over the frantically flashing red serial number on the screen.

He didn't speak. He didn't get angry, and he didn't even frown.

But the surrounding air seemed to have had its oxygen sucked out instantly by a high-powered exhaust fan.

A heavy, oppressive feeling, as if it were carrying shards of ice, silently and relentlessly descended upon him.

Zhao Tiezhu, who was standing next to him, was grinning from ear to ear.

Suddenly, he felt a chill run down the back of his neck. He rubbed the goosebumps that had risen on his arms, unconsciously shut his mouth, and straightened his back ramrod straight.

Old Wang felt a tightness in his chest and dared not even breathe, cold sweat breaking out on his forehead again.

This sense of oppression isn't some kind of alien power.

Rather, it is the low pressure before a storm that is instinctively emitted by a top commander who has been in the police force for many years and values ​​rules more than life itself when he realizes that there is decay within the system.

Lu Jingyan slowly tightened the lid of the thermos.

The hissing sound of metal threads meshing and rubbing was particularly clear in the deathly silent garage.

"explain."

He uttered a single word. His voice was low and cold, striking the concrete floor.

Su Xiaoxiao stared at the red light indicating a top-secret warehouse match on the screen and swallowed hard. "Boss, this stuff leaked from our headquarters' top-secret warehouse... There's a mole in the bureau."