Desperate people, accept the seed of my soul!

Zhang Mingyuan was unaware of everything that had happened in the laboratory.

As a junior researcher, he was not qualified to access core secrets, was unaware of Xu Suyuan's ability to travel through the void, and was naturally not on the "Level 1 Blockade" list.

In his view, today was just an ordinary day off.

Hearing a faint sound behind him, Zhang Mingyuan subconsciously turned around.

Eyes facing each other.

Zhang Mingyuan's expression changed from vigilance to confusion, and then to incredulous horror.

"You...you are..."

He recognized him.

Even though her face was emaciated and her hair was cut into a mess, how could he not recognize those eyes—those eyes that had stared at him countless times in the excruciating pain of electric shocks on the experimental chair, as if trying to burn through his soul!

He wanted to shout, he wanted to do something.

But it was too late.

A fleeting, dark silver light flashed in the depths of Xu Suyuan's pupils.

【Void Imprisonment】.

Om-!

Zhang Mingyuan froze on the spot.

Only his eyeballs were spinning wildly, filled with extreme fear.

"Long time no see, Researcher Zhang." Her voice was eerily calm. "How's your electroshock therapy working?"

Zhang Mingyuan's eyes were almost bulging out of their sockets. He wanted to shake his head and beg for mercy, but not even a single eyelash could tremble.

Xu Suyuan walked up to him and took out a stun gun from her pocket.

"In the lab, you loved turning up the power to watch me twitch, right?" She gently pressed the switch, and blue arcs of electricity crackled from the tip of the stun gun. "You said that the frequency of my muscle spasms was 'very valuable for research'."

She pressed the stun gun against Zhang Mingyuan's chest.

"Why don't you try it too?"

"Sizzle—!!!"

An electric current travels through the body.

Zhang Mingyuan's pupils suddenly dilated, but under the effect of [Void Imprisonment], he couldn't even convulse and could only endure all the pain.

The feeling was like countless red-hot steel needles piercing through every pore of his body, traveling through his blood vessels, and finally converging at his heart before exploding with a bang.

Five seconds later, Heo So-won released the button.

Zhang Mingyuan's consciousness was already blurred, but the restraint effect was still in effect, and even fainting was a luxury for him.

"Answer my question properly," Xu Suyuan's voice rang in his ear, "Where does Dr. Lin live?"

Zhang Mingyuan made a "clucking" sound in his throat, but could not speak.

Xu Suyuan slightly relaxed the restraint on her vocal cords.

"I...I don't know..." Zhang Mingyuan's voice was hoarse and broken, "I'm just an ordinary researcher..."

Xu Suyuan stared into his eyes, judging that he was telling the truth.

These researchers are, in essence, just more advanced tools; they have no access to core secrets.

She then asked, "Who could possibly know Dr. Lin's whereabouts and location?"

Zhang Mingyuan gave out four names.

Xu Suyuan kept them all in mind.

"Thank you," she said.

Then, she pressed the stun gun button again.

This time, she did not let go.

Blue arcs of electricity continued to erupt, and Zhang Mingyuan's body trembled violently and silently within his confinement, his eyes rolled back, and white foam spilled from his mouth and nose.

Twenty seconds later, his heart stopped beating.

Zhang Mingyuan's body lay limply on the ground, remaining in that stiff position, his face frozen in an expression of extreme pain and fear.

Xu Suyuan knelt down and checked his pulse and pupils.

The death has been confirmed.

She stood up and looked around.

The living room was tidy, and the TV was on, playing the evening news.

Everything was peaceful, as if the owner had simply fallen ill and died suddenly.

Xu Suyuan walked to the door and checked again to make sure the security chain was fastened from the inside.

Then, she activated [Void Travel].

His body became ethereal, and he passed through the metal door, which was still locked from the inside, without any hindrance.

------

The next morning.

The piercing sound of police sirens shattered the tranquility of the neighborhood.

"Make way! Police are on duty!"

Several uniformed police officers set up a cordon, and a crowd of residents gathered around, pointing and whispering.

Zhou Ming, the captain of the Criminal Investigation Division of the Eighth District, with a dark face, put on gloves and stepped across the cordon into the crime scene.

The person who reported the case was the deceased's wife. She had gone to her parents' house for the night and returned this morning but couldn't open the door. She called a locksmith who forcibly broke down the door and discovered her husband's body.

Zhou Ming first examined the deceased.

A man, around thirty years old, lay on his back, eyes wide open, expression contorted—the extreme terror of his last moments.

There are several punctate scorch marks on the neck and chest, about three millimeters in diameter, with blackened edges, resembling micro-current burns.

However, there were no signs of a struggle at the scene.

The shoe cabinet in the entryway was tidy, the paintings on the wall were intact, and even the deceased's posture when he fell to the ground was "proper," with no signs of struggling or rolling.

Zhou Ming stood up and began to check the doors and windows.

The front door is an old-style security door with a manual rotary deadbolt and a chain lock on the inside.

The deadbolt was locked, and the steel ring of the chain lock had been pried open by the locksmith, but the slot was intact and there were no signs of prying or cutting.

All the windows were locked from the inside, and the windowsills were covered with a thin layer of dust, with no footprints or signs of wiping.

The balcony is enclosed, with glass sliding doors locked from the inside, and there is also dust accumulating in the door tracks.

"Brother Zhou, this..." the young policeman asked in a low voice, "Suicide? Or a sudden illness?"

Zhou Ming did not answer.

He crouched down and examined the deceased's hands again carefully.

There are no protective wounds, the nail folds are very clean, and there is no skin flakes or fibers.

He then examined the deceased's mouth and nasal cavity, finding no foreign objects.

"Call forensic experts," Zhou Ming said, standing up with a serious expression. "Also, notify the technical team to come and conduct a comprehensive on-site investigation."

"Yes."

The forensic team and technical team arrived an hour later.

Preliminary post-mortem examination confirmed Zhou Ming's observations: the cause of death was suspected to be cardiac arrest caused by electric shock, but household appliances rarely cause such characteristic pinpoint scorch marks—usually household electrical leakage would cause sheet-like or strip-like burns, while these concentrated pinpoint injuries are more like... some kind of electric shock weapon.

The problem is that no stun gun was found at the scene.

The technical team spent two full hours surveying the area, and their conclusion sent chills down everyone's spines:

"Team Leader Zhou, there are no signs of unauthorized entry at the scene."

"All doors and windows were locked from the inside, the locks were undamaged, and the windowsills were completely covered in dust."

"The house was not ransacked, and no valuables were stolen. The more than three thousand yuan in cash in the drawer is still there."

"Several footprints were extracted from the ground, and after comparison, they all belonged to the deceased and their family members."

"In addition..." The young officer from the technical team hesitated for a moment, "We extracted the deceased's fingerprints from the steel ring of the chain lock on the inside of the door, and it was the fingerprints in the gripping state—meaning that he fastened the chain lock himself."

Zhou Ming stood in the center of the living room, looking around the enclosed space.

The security door is locked from the inside, with the chain lock engaged.

The windows were tightly closed.

The deceased died from what appears to be an electric shock, but no stun gun was found at the scene.

There were no signs of intrusion or fighting.

"A murder in a locked room..." Zhou Ming muttered to himself, his brows furrowed into a deep frown.

Having worked in criminal investigation for eight years, he had seen homicides disguised as suicides and staged accidents, but this was the first time he had encountered such a perfectly locked room.

How did the murderer get in?

How did you get out?

Where did the stun gun go?

"Captain Zhou, we've identified the deceased." A police officer approached with a tablet. "Zhang Mingyuan, 31 years old, a senior researcher at the 'Chenxi Biomedical R&D Center.' We've contacted the company; they said Zhang Mingyuan was on leave yesterday."

Morninglight Biotech?

Zhou Ming vaguely remembered the name—after the Yunding Tiangong incident a while ago, the Wei Group seemed to have donated money to this company, supposedly to support research on mental illness.

"Retrieve the community's surveillance footage," Zhou Ming ordered. "Focus on all the people entering and leaving the area around Building 3 from yesterday afternoon to evening. Also, investigate Zhang Mingyuan's social connections, especially any work-related conflicts."

"Yes."

The officers split up and took action.

But Zhou Ming knew in his heart that if the murderer could really create such a secret room, then the surveillance cameras probably wouldn't be able to capture anything.

Sure enough, an hour later, the police officer who had reviewed the surveillance footage returned, looking grim.

"Team Leader Zhou, the community's surveillance cameras reported a power outage yesterday afternoon after 4 PM... for three hours. The property management said it was a line fault, and repairs were completed by 7 PM."

"A power outage?" Zhou Ming squinted. "What a coincidence?"

"Furthermore, we investigated Zhang Mingyuan's social relationships," another officer reported. "His colleagues said he was rather withdrawn and there weren't any major conflicts at work. As for his family, his relationship with his wife was so-so, but not to the point of being life-or-death. His wife was at her parents' house last night, so she has an alibi."

Zhou Ming remained silent.

All leads have gone cold.

No, it's not that it's cut off, it's that there are simply no clues at all.

Just then, his phone rang.

The caller ID showed the name as the deputy director of the branch office.

Zhou Ming answered the phone: "Director."

"Xiao Zhou, I've heard about Zhang Mingyuan's case." The deputy director's voice sounded somewhat tired. "Any progress on the crime scene investigation?"

"Chief, this case is very strange. It's a locked room mystery, the cause of death is suspicious, but there are no signs of external intrusion..."

"I know, I know," the deputy director interrupted him, "but you also know that the bureau is under a lot of pressure right now. The Cloud Palace incident has just been brought under control, and we can't afford any more trouble."

Zhou Ming understood the underlying meaning: "The director means..."

"What I mean is, if there is no clear evidence of homicide at the scene, and the autopsy does not find any signs of violent death, then we can consider treating it as 'death from an unexplained sudden illness.'" The deputy director's tone carried a hint of ambiguity. "Chenxi Biopharmaceuticals is a key enterprise supported by the city, and the Wei Group just donated so much money to charity... At this critical juncture, let's not create any unnecessary complications."

Zhou Ming held his phone, his knuckles turning slightly white.

He glanced at the white markings left after Zhang Mingyuan's body was taken away in the living room, and then at the intact security door.

"Chief, how do you explain the electrocution marks on the deceased's body?" He tried to keep his voice calm.

"It's possible for a household appliance to leak electricity," the deputy director said casually. "Or, he might have some peculiar fetish and use something he shouldn't. In short, without evidence of unauthorized intrusion, we can't classify it as a criminal case. This is for the sake of the bigger picture, do you understand?"

Zhou Ming remained silent for a full five seconds.

"I understand, Chief."

"Yes, handle it properly. Close the case as soon as possible, and don't let the family cause trouble."

The phone hangs up.

Zhou Ming stood still for a long time.

A young police officer approached cautiously and asked, "Captain Zhou, what did the deputy director say?"

Zhou Ming glanced at him and put his phone back in his pocket.

"Continue the investigation." His voice was calm, but a fire burned deep in his eyes. "Conduct autopsies where necessary, and thorough investigations where required. Do not draw any conclusions before we have conclusive evidence."

"But what about the deputy director..."

"I'll take responsibility if anything goes wrong."

After Zhou Ming finished speaking, he turned and walked towards the door.

He knew where the deputy director's pressure came from—the Wei Group, or rather, Wei Donghai.

If Zhang Mingyuan's death is indeed related to the Wei Group, then this matter is far too deep for a lowly district criminal investigation officer like him to possibly uncover.

But that's precisely why he can't let go.

He walked into the stairwell, lit a cigarette, and took a deep drag.

Amidst the swirling smoke, he looked at the tightly closed door.

The door lock was intact, the chain lock was engaged, and the windows were tightly closed.

A perfect secret room.

A silent mockery.

"No matter who you are..." Zhou Ming muttered to himself, "I will definitely find you."