I discovered a world bug.

Lin Shu didn't go to bed until 4 a.m. - not because she was tired, but because the time had passed, and the key element of "timing" was gone, so there was no point in trying again.

However, this round of attempts was not without its rewards.

He could clearly sense that the talismans he drew were "effective".

That feeling was very mysterious and could not be described in words at all.

However, if we draw a horizontal analogy, when you summon a "snake" around you, the experience is almost exactly the same.

The difference is that "snake" naturally carries a sense of coldness, while "peace charm" gives people a sense of gentle and peaceful warmth.

Although it's still uncertain how effective this amulet will be or how strong its "attacks" will be, at least it gives me another way to save my life.

More importantly, this path is clearly viable.

If you can follow the pre-existing path, you will eventually be able to restore the Master's Sword Altar.

By then, the pressure I'll be under will be much less...

In a daze, Lin Shu had another long dream.

In his dream, he still arrived at the door of Li Yu's little house.

This time, however, he no longer saw an empty courtyard and a dilapidated gate, but a ground covered with severed limbs and soaked in blood, and a Kun corpse crouching on the roof tiles, coldly watching him like a monstrous beast.

They just stared at the insect corpse, neither of them moving an inch.

The calm of the standoff was shattered by a sudden clap of thunder.

"boom----"

Lin Shu's vision suddenly went black, then suddenly brightened again.

He opened his eyes to find sunlight streaming through the window, while the door to the rented room was being pounded on loudly.

"Lin Shu! Lin Shu!"

Qin Lang's voice came from outside the door.

"They're here!"

Lin Shu struggled to get out of bed and walked towards the door, feeling dizzy.

He glanced at his phone—it was eight in the morning.

What's going on?!

Didn't we agree to meet at 9 o'clock yesterday?!

Does arriving an hour early make you seem more proactive?!

I've only slept for less than 4 hours!

Lin Shu frowned as she opened the door, only to be confronted by Qin Lang's face.

And in that one glance, both of them were stunned.

"You... just woke up?"

"yes!"

Lin Shu's gaze swept over Qin Lang and the two people behind him.

Lu Ran arrived, along with Jin Yue, the man who had previously suggested communicating with Chen Zhu.

Everyone's face was ashen, as if facing a formidable enemy.

Their bodies were bulging, indicating that they were wearing bulletproof vests or stab-proof vests underneath their clothes.

Even more outrageous, Jin Yue was carrying a long backpack, which clearly contained the 191 he had seen in the back seat of the Land Cruiser.

"What's going on?"

Lin Shu quickly ushered the three of them in.

Qin Lang, with a serious expression, slammed the door shut and said:

"We've been exposed."

"Early this morning, two members of our team were attacked."

"One of them is currently fine because it was discovered in time and handled properly."

"The other one... is still being resuscitated."

"They've already put him on ECMO, but to be honest, the chances of saving him are slim."

Lin Shu's heart sank.

"Who?"

"He Youquan, you probably don't remember him—the one in the shirt."

"...I remember."

Lin Shu let out a heavy sigh.

He didn't remember the name, but he remembered the person.

Unlike the others in the group who had a somewhat "bandit-like" air about them, the man named He Youquan had the temperament that was closest to that of a true "Taoist cultivator".

He was as thin and frail as Xu Changshun, even somewhat withered, and stood by the office window wearing a pair of silver-rimmed glasses.

When my gaze swept over everyone, only he smiled at me, appearing exceptionally friendly.

This same person, who was alive and well when I saw him yesterday, is now in the ICU and on extracorporeal circulation...

This world is too dangerous.

But thankfully, today is not my death day.

According to the divination by yarrow stalks and tortoise shells, even if I were to die, it would certainly be in front of Li Yu's old house...

After calming herself down a bit, Lin Shu asked:

"What do we need to do now? What do you need me to do?"

"I need you to provide as many leads as you have on your end."

Qin Lang spoke extremely fast.

"The situation has changed. Just yesterday, we still had some leeway."

"We are just investigating; we haven't actually gotten involved yet."

"But now, our enemies may have already locked onto us. If we don't find them as soon as possible, they may use rituals we don't know about to eliminate us one by one."

"Right now, they're only targeting those in our group with religious backgrounds, but I predict that, given their capabilities, they might trace it back to us very soon..."

"Wait! Wait!"

Lin Shu raised her hand to interrupt Qin Lang.

"You mean they can find you, but you can't find them?"

"Are you kidding me? Are you even an official organization?!"

"That's not how it's done."

Qin Lang shook his head with a heavy expression.

"Theoretically speaking, we can indeed find out whoever we want, but at least we need to have a target first."

"The problem now is that we don't have any goals at all, while they can easily find them."

"They don't even need to actually see us; they can just go through the registration information in the religious personnel directory one by one."

"Registration information??"

Lin Shu frowned and asked:

"Shouldn't this be kept secret?"

"That's how it should have been."

A murderous glint flashed in Qin Lang's eyes.

"But in the past few years, our database has been attacked several times, including SQL injection, credential stuffing, CSRF, and all sorts of other methods."

"At that time, we didn't have enough protection for this type of data, and the entire database was compromised."

"All personnel information has been leaked. Theoretically, they now have precise information on all the targets of the attack."

.......major.

Lin Shu never expected that the most "modern" hacking techniques would be combined with the most ancient "rituals".

Judging from the current situation, the combination of these two has already produced a terrifying effect.

The mysterious enemy behind this day's operation may have been planning it since the cyberattacks they launched years ago...

"No matter what, you're the only lead we have."

"You said you were in contact with that client on the plane, could you show me his account?"

"We can try to coordinate resources to see if we can find the account owner."

Qin Lang reached out his hand to Lin Shu.

"no problem."

Lin Shu couldn't be sentimental anymore—at a time like this, talking about "room for maneuver" or "self-preservation" wasn't prudence, it was sentimentality, or even fucking stupidity.

They're already attacking us, why are you still worrying about so much?!

He immediately found Li Yu's phone, unlocked it, and handed it to Qin Lang.

Qin Lang and Jin Yue plugged their phones into a device that Lin Shu had never seen before and began performing analysis. Lin Shu couldn't understand their operation, so she could only stand aside and wait.

----Lu Ran is the same.

Compared to Qin Lang and the other two, she appeared calm and composed.

Perhaps it's because her name couldn't possibly appear in that kind of directory...

Standing beside the two, Lu Ran looked at the talismans that Lin Shu had spent most of the night drawing.

After watching for a moment, she asked curiously:

"Did you draw all of these?"

"Yes."

Lin Shu gave a brief answer.

He really wasn't in the mood to talk to Lu Ran much right now.

"Will it work?"

Lu Ran pressed on, and Lin Shu replied:

"It should be useful—I felt a connection to a few of them."

"That amazing?!"

Upon hearing this, even Qin Lang, who was busy at work, turned around.

He clearly hadn't expected that he could reconstruct the ritual of the amulet using only a document.

But this surprise only lasted for a moment—he had a much bigger crisis to deal with.

Qin Lang turned back around, while Lu Ran began to examine the talismans on the table.

She seemed to be trying to pick out the useful ones from the talismans, but as she looked at them, she suddenly froze in place.

Then, she held up a talisman.

It was the same amulet she threw out yesterday, the one that came from her.

"You burned it?"

Her voice trembled slightly, almost imperceptibly.

"what?"

Lin Shu looked at the talisman in her hand.

"No."

As soon as she finished speaking, Lu Ran immediately turned to Qin Lang.

"Old Qin, there's a problem."

Qin Lang turned around upon hearing the sound.

"What's going on?"

Lu Ran held up the talisman, and Lin Shu noticed that there were faint burn marks on the front of the talisman.

"It's been breached..."

Lu Ran spoke:

"Lin Shu was also attacked."

"Like Lao He and the others, the amulet in his hand was also pierced."

"But... he's alright."

Qin Lang stood up abruptly and took the amulet from Lu Ran's hand.

Meanwhile, Lu Ran had already found another talisman from the pile of talismans on the table.

"This one is in the way."

"Old He's survival wasn't just good luck, and Huo Yuan's unharmed state wasn't thanks to his lucky charm either."

"It's Lin Shu."

"Our opponents were supposed to crush us completely."

"But he......."

"I hit a wall."