Desperate people, accept the seed of my soul!

Xu Suyuan looked at it carefully and nodded: "Because there are many trees, making it easy to hide?"

"Wrong." Han Xiao tapped the circle heavily with his pencil. "If the other side has a professional security team, this would be the first place they would set up a trap and kill you. Although the trees block your view, they also limit your movement speed."

Xu Suyuan's eyes narrowed: "Then where is the way out?"

"We're not looking at the surface, we're looking underground." Han Xiao's finger slid down a contour line on the topographic map and stopped at a blue dotted line. "This is a map of the municipal drainage network. Nanshan is high up, so to prevent flooding, the drainage pipes here are very wide, enough for an adult to bend over and pass through."

He turned to look at Xu Suyuan, a hint of testing in his eyes: "If it were you, how would you utilize this channel?"

Xu Suyuan pondered for a moment, then gestured with her finger on the map: "If I can use 'Void Travel' to enter the pipes, I can avoid all the surveillance and sentry posts on the ground. And... if I encounter a dead end or a grid, I can pass through it."

"Very good." A hint of approval flashed in Han Xiao's eyes. "That's your strength. But remember, there might be methane gas in the pipes, or unknown landslides. Before entering, you must confirm the wind direction and oxygen levels."

Xu Suyuan listened attentively, then suddenly looked up and asked, "Did you learn all of this... in the army?"

"Hmm. Basic reconnaissance skills."

"Can you teach me?" Xu Suyuan looked into Han Xiao's eyes, her tone unusually firm. "These... are the common sense of survival and combat. I don't want to always rely on you to give orders; I want... to be able to truly help."

Han Xiao glanced at her, his gaze lingering on her resolute face for two seconds.

"Okay." He turned around and continued marking on the map. "Let's start with terrain identification. Look here—"

He drew several complex curves on the map.

Xu Suyuan leaned closer to take a closer look, and because she was so close, a few strands of her hair inadvertently brushed against Han Xiao's right hand, which was resting on the table.

There, where the little finger should have been, was empty space. Although the wound had healed, the hideous scar was still shocking to behold.

Han Xiao's hand stiffened for a moment, and he subconsciously tried to pull it back, but Xu Suyuan gently pressed it down.

Her fingertips were a little cool as she gently touched the scar on the severed finger.

"Does it still hurt?" she asked in a low voice.

Han Xiao abruptly pulled his hand back and hid the mutilated hand under the table.

"It doesn't hurt anymore." His voice was somewhat stiff, but beneath that stiffness seemed to lie some kind of emotional fluctuation. "Pay attention! No one on the battlefield will sympathize with your scars."

Xu Suyuan didn't say anything more, but silently withdrew her hand and turned her gaze back to the complicated map.

This time, however, her eyes held not only the flames of revenge but also a stronger desire to become stronger.

For revenge, and also to prevent this man from suffering any further wounds.

In the dimly lit basement, two figures stood close together.

Their shadows were cast on the wall, overlapping with the photos marked with red crosses, like a lone wolf leading a young beast with newly grown fangs, sharpening its claws in the darkness, preparing for the final battle to come.

------

The atmosphere in the temporary conference room of the Special Investigation Office of the Dawn City Police Department was extremely tense.

"...The on-site investigation concluded as follows. The doors and windows were locked from the inside, there were no signs of forced entry, and the deceased had stabbed himself in the carotid artery with a pen in his right hand, seemingly a suicide. However, considering the missing notebook and our previous surveillance footage, we can basically conclude that it was a homicide."

Zhou Ming closed the report in his hand. "Director Zhao, this is the situation."

A suffocating silence fell over the conference room.

Sitting at the head of the table, Zhao Jianguo held a nearly burnt-out cigarette between his fingers. His face was expressionless, but the bloodshot eyes revealed the turmoil in his heart.

"Homicide..." Zhao Jianguo exhaled a puff of smoke, "...making the target 'commit suicide' right under our noses. Gentlemen, the 'anomaly' we are facing is escalating in both its methods and its threat."

Lei Zhen scratched his head angrily and said, "Before, they would create 'accidents,' like a car crash or a fall, at least that followed the laws of physics. Now, it's all controlled remotely, even hiding at home is a death sentence. How can we defend against this?"

Zhao Jianguo stubbed out his cigarette, his gaze sharpening: "The key now is that notebook. They deliberately took the notebook from Xu Changming's desk. What exactly was written in that notebook? Was it Xu Changming's new ideas about the 'abnormal'? Or a deeper secret about the Wei Group? Or perhaps... a key figure we don't even know about?"

The meeting room fell silent once again.

This sense of powerlessness in the face of unknown forces made everyone present feel frustrated.

"Any progress from the technical department?" Zhao Jianguo broke the silence.

"We're working on it," Zhou Ming replied. "We're trying to recover the remaining data on Xu Changming's computer and in the cloud, attempting to deduce the possible contents of that notebook from his past records. In addition, I've also arranged for people to investigate Xu Changming's early social relationships, hoping to find some blind spots that are not currently visible."

"Send more manpower." Zhao Jianguo made a decisive decision. "Lei Zhen, you are in charge of coordinating to put all the remaining key figures of the Wei Group under 24-hour protective surveillance. These scumbags are not worth dying for, but they are currently the leads most directly connected to the 'abnormality'."

"Protecting them is not only to prevent further murders and uphold the dignity of the rule of law, but also so that when 'abnormalities' reappear, we can have the opportunity to observe and record them closely, and even find weaknesses in our counterattack."

"Yes!" Lei Zhen replied through gritted teeth. Although he was a hundred times unwilling to protect those bastards, he knew it was his duty.

With the tasks assigned, the meeting adjourned.

Wang Gang, who had been sitting silently in the corner, quietly began to tidy up the documents in front of him.

As the captain of the mobile assault team, he was a person who admired strength the most.

But at that moment, he subconsciously touched the holster at his waist, and the hard touch did not bring him the sense of security he used to have.

The image of the Mercedes-Benz that had been blasted into a pancake at the Jin Mao Tower, and Xu Changming's bizarre "suicide" flashed through his mind again.

In this confrontation, his tactical skills and firepower suppression, which he was so proud of, seemed to have become like toys in a child's hands.

Faced with an "anomaly" that can ignore walls and distort bullets, can these mortals really win?

What frustrated him even more was that the people they were desperately trying to "protect" were a group of villains who had escaped legal punishment through power and money.

"Sometimes I really want to..." Wang Gang muttered to himself, but didn't dare to finish the rebellious sentence.

He took a deep breath, pushed open the door, and went out.