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

Welcome!

This polite greeting, amplified by the loudspeaker, echoed through the deathly silent alley, carrying a chilling, electric quality.

Ghost Hand's muscles tensed instantly, and his hawk-like eyes, honed on countless battlefields, stared intently at the abandoned factory that lay like a steel behemoth in the darkness.

Not right.

Something's really wrong.

The target's reaction was far too calm, as calm as a top hunter who had already laid a trap and was waiting for his prey to walk right into it. And these so-called "hunters" were, in fact, like moths caught in a spider's web.

"Boss, what do we do? That kid seems to be up to something!" A similarly experienced subordinate approached, his voice trembling slightly. "This place is too eerie. Should we... retreat?"

withdraw?

Ghost Hand glanced at the three commercial vehicles behind him that had been shut down and completely blocked his escape route, then looked at the bottomless darkness on the second floor of the factory, and a vicious grin appeared on his face.

Open the bow without turning back the arrow.

The word "retreat" doesn't exist in the dictionary of their "Ghost" squad.

What's more, there's only one person on the other side! No matter how good he is at fighting, can he possibly defeat a dozen or so battle-hardened mercenaries?

"Is this a trap?"

Ghost Hand spat out a mouthful of bloody saliva, raised the tranquilizer gun in his hand, and pointed the muzzle directly at the half-open iron door. "In the face of absolute power, any conspiracy or trickery is just a paper tiger! What tricks can he pull off hiding in there by himself?"

"Everyone, listen up!"

He lowered his voice and roared into the communication channel, "Execute Plan B! Two men guard the door, the rest of you split into three groups and storm in in a triangular formation! Remember, the client needs to be alive. Break his limbs, dislocate his jaw, just leave him with a breath left!"

"yes!"

A dozen or so dark figures scattered instantly, moving with the speed of cheetahs, silently pressing themselves against the cold walls of the factory. They exchanged tactical hand signals, their eyes filled with ruthlessness, clearly regarding Lu Jingyan as prey with no chance of escape.

"three!"

"two!"

"one!"

"assault!"

With Ghost Hand's command, a loud "bang" resounded as the massive, rusty iron gate was smashed open by two burly men using a hammer, echoing deafeningly in the empty factory.

"Don't move!"

"Police! Hands up!"

A dozen mercenaries, armed with tranquilizer guns and stun batons, surged into the factory like a tidal wave. They shouted slogans that even they found ridiculous, trying to overwhelm everyone with their sheer force.

The factory interior was darker and more empty than I had imagined.

The massive, abandoned machine tools, like sleeping steel behemoths, cast grotesque and twisted shadows in the pale moonlight streaming through the broken roof. A heavy, musty smell permeated the air—a mixture of rust, machine oil, and dust.

"Activate thermal imaging!" Ghost Hand gestured.

Several team members wearing night vision goggles immediately switched modes, but all they could see through the lenses was a blinding white haze, and they couldn't see anything at all.

"Boss! There's strong signal interference! Our equipment is malfunctioning!"

"Oh shit!"

Ghost Hand cursed under his breath, his ominous premonition growing stronger. Without hesitation, he pulled a powerful flashlight from his waist, the beam of white light instantly piercing the darkness.

"He can't have gone far! Search him! Dig three feet into the ground and bring him to me..."

His voice stopped abruptly before he could finish speaking.

Because the beam of his flashlight shone on something on the opposite wall.

It wasn't an abandoned machine, nor was it a jumble of waste.

It was a huge, bright red banner, three meters tall.

On the banner, a line of large, gilded characters reflected a chilling light under the beam of light—

Police and civilians cooperate to build a safe community.

Ghost Hand: "???"

He felt his brain wasn't quite processing what was going on. How could something like this be in this abandoned factory?

He subconsciously moved the beam of light slowly upwards.

Above the banner hung a horizontal banner with even more glaring words:

[2025 Anti-Terrorism Combat Exercise of Jinghai Special Police Detachment]

"A...drill?"

Ghost Hand muttered to himself, and the mercenaries behind him were all dumbfounded.

A chill even colder than the Siberian cold front suddenly shot up their spines.

Just as they were collectively crashing because of this absurd scene before them.

"Smack."

A crisp snap of fingers suddenly rang out on the second-floor platform.

The voice wasn't loud, but it sounded like a command.

"Whoosh—!!!"

Hundreds of bright, high-powered searchlights, like suns appearing out of nowhere, instantly illuminated every corner and every beam of the factory!

The entire abandoned factory was illuminated as brightly as day at that moment!

The blinding light instantly blinded the mercenaries, who were used to fighting in the dark. They screamed in pain and instinctively covered their eyes with their hands.

"Snap! Snap! Snap!"

Immediately following was a series of synchronized, chilling sounds of guns being cocked.

The sound came from all directions, dense and impenetrable, like a death symphony composed for them.

When they finally adjusted to the light, their eyelids trembled as they peered through their fingers at their surroundings.

Everyone stopped breathing.

All around them, a dense crowd had gathered.

They were a group of special police officers wearing heavy bulletproof vests, blast helmets, and masks that revealed only pairs of cold eyes.

Hundreds of dark gun muzzles protruded from the gaps in the riot shields, like a steel thorny thicket, tightly surrounding the dozen or so "ghosts" in the center.

On the flanks of the special police force, two menacing wheeled armored vehicles had somehow blocked their only escape route, and the 12.7mm heavy machine guns on their roofs were gleaming with a chilling, despairing light.

This is hardly an abandoned factory.

This is clearly a meticulously planned, inescapable death trap!

Good evening, everyone who has come from afar.

A slightly mocking, lazy voice drifted down from the second-floor platform.

Ghost Hand struggled to lift his head.

On the rusty maintenance platform on the second floor, Lu Jingyan was leisurely leaning against the railing. He wasn't wearing his police uniform, but his casual jacket, and he was even holding a steaming thermos, slowly blowing on the steam inside.

Beside him, Zhao Tiezhu, a man as strong as a bear, was carrying a professional video camera. The red-lit lens faithfully recorded the wonderful expressions of everyone below.

"Welcome to the Special Police Detachment of Jinghai City, Anti-Terrorism Exercise and Training Base."

Lu Jingyan slowly spoke into the loudspeaker on the platform. His voice echoed through the factory, filled with a mocking, cat-and-mouse tone.

"Judging from your expressions, you all seem quite interested in our 'exercise' this time?"

He took a sip of the goji berry water from his thermos and then clapped his hands.

"Since you're here, you're guests. Perfect timing, we're still missing a few extras to play 'terrorists' for the second half of the 'real combat' segment."

He pointed to the group of mercenaries below, whose faces were ashen and who didn't dare to breathe, and a devilish smile appeared on his face:

"I think you two are a good match."

"Since you're already here, why not stay and train with our SWAT team brothers?"

"Want to practice?"

Ghost Hand looked at the group of special police officers opposite him, who were cracking their knuckles in excitement, especially the leader, Zhao Tiezhu, who was as strong as a prehistoric beast, and subconsciously swallowed.

He had no doubt that if he dared to say "no," he would be devoured alive by this pack of hungry wolves in the next second.

"No...no need...we..."

Ghost Hand's brain was working frantically, trying to find a plausible excuse to explain the scene before him, which resembled a Hollywood disaster movie.

He looked at Lu Jingyan, then at the surrounding environment, and a brilliant, absurd but only possible reason suddenly came to mind.

He slowly and with great difficulty raised his hands, forcing a smile on his face that was more like a grimace than a cry, a smile filled with a will to survive.

"Um... officer..."

Ghost Hand's voice trembled as he pointed to the iron gate he had kicked away from the factory and asked cautiously in an extremely innocent and sincere tone:

"If I said...we came here to film a movie, but we've wandered onto the wrong set..."

Do you believe it?