Leave the enemy no way out

"Could it be that what you encountered in the last case was a real Remnant? Not an illusion?"

"...An illusion?"

"Yes. Those tentacles you saw in the black fog weren't real Remnants, but illusions created from energy by certain powerful entities."

Yi Nanping's face went pale. "...They were that powerful even as mere illusions?! If they were real..."

That was simply unimaginable! Knowing what he was thinking, Meng Guanghui shook the sniper rifle bullet casings in the transparent evidence bag at him. "Were they bullets like these?"

Yi Nanping steadied himself and carefully examined the transparent evidence bag before nodding solemnly. "Yes, these are the bullets. Huh? Why are there so many? I only remember one..."

Kang Shanxing recalled the tentacle illusions filling the sky and slowly said, "...Perhaps the other party fired more than once."

Frowning, Yi Nanping carefully recalled what had happened. Then, as if he had remembered something, his eyes lit up and he said excitedly, "Sir! That person must have been trying to help us! I remember now! When we had just set up our ambush in the South District, two small flying vehicles were exchanging fire in the skies above it!"

Huo Yushen, standing behind the Medical Cabin, had always been steady, ruthless, and widely experienced. Even a supernova exploding before his eyes would not have changed his expression.

Yet after hearing Yi Nanping's account, even his brow gradually furrowed.

Kang Shanxing was even more astonished. "You mean those illusory tentacles also tried to destroy that flying vehicle, but only managed to pierce through it from above before that tentacle vanished into thin air?"

"That's right, it vanished into thin air! I didn't understand what was happening at the time, but now that you say they weren't real Remnants but illusions, it makes sense."

Only an illusion that had been punctured could vanish into thin air.

Huo Yushen was even more puzzled.

He had directly pitted his Mental Strength against the distant entity behind those illusory tentacles, forcing it to retreat.

Before him, someone had been able to destroy those illusory tentacles with Mental Strength? What level would that have required...?

He frowned in thought.

Within that black fog, he had indeed sensed that something seemed to exist in a certain direction in the night sky.

But he had sensed no malice, so he had not gone out of his way to investigate.

It seemed that physical presence should have been the Small Combat Aircraft that had not been destroyed by the illusory tentacles.

Seeing Kang Shanxing frown, Yi Nanping assumed he did not believe him and nervously said, "Sir, our helmets all have automatic recording equipment. You can watch the footage—I'm not lying!"

Hearing this, Kang Shanxing sighed and shook his head. "I just inspected the equipment you carried. All electromagnetic components were damaged, and no recording data remains."

Since Huo Yushen said the tentacles in that black fog had all been energy-created illusions, that explained why the electromagnetic components had all been destroyed.

A large-scale Magnetic Storm must have occurred there.

Yi Nanping's face fell at once. Afraid that his superior suspected him of lying, he hurriedly added, "Earlier, when our squad handled the Remnant hostage incident in the North District, there was video footage too, and it's already been uploaded to the Cloud System of the Special Security Bureau's Mulan City branch. Sir, you can check it! I really wasn't lying!"

Huo Yushen gave no indication of agreement or disagreement and quietly turned to leave.

Kang Shanxing hurriedly offered Yi Nanping a few comforting words. "Focus on recovering. We'll talk after you're healed."

Then he followed after Huo Yushen in a hurry.

Huo Yushen returned to his private office aboard the Bat-style Fighter Jet and immediately logged into the Special Security Bureau's internal account to review the operation footage Yi Nanping had mentioned.

Meng Guanghui and Kang Shanxing followed him in, watching him nervously.

Comparing it against the operation log submitted by Yi Nanping, Huo Yushen watched the entire video. His expression remained utterly calm as he simply said, "There's something wrong with the footage."

"What's wrong with it?! Surely they wouldn't dare tamper with the video?!" Meng Guanghui and Kang Shanxing were both stunned.

Ever since Huo Yushen had taken office, no one in the Special Security Bureau had dared pull such tricks! Huo Yushen's expression was placid, but his gaze was dangerous, as though he stood at the edge of fury while exercising immense restraint—like a volcano that had yet to erupt in the deep sea.

His hand rested on the desk before him, tapping it lightly now and then.

Of the two adjutants, Kang Shanxing was the more meticulous one.

He leaned closer and carefully read through the operation log again, then recalled the video they had just watched. Suddenly understanding, he said, "There does seem to be a problem with the footage. We need to ask Yi Nanping again."

"What problem? How come I can't see it?" Meng Guanghui bent over and squinted at the operation log again and again as he said, "The log says that based on the intelligence they received, the Cult Organization Judge had abducted hostages for its once-every-three-years Human Sacrifice Ceremony."

"When they arrived, they found twenty-three Abducted Young Boys and Girls, but all of them were already dead. The video shows exactly the same thing... So where's the problem?"

Kang Shanxing glanced at Huo Yushen. Only after seeing that he had no intention of stopping him did he quietly explain to Meng Guanghui, "As you said, the Cult Organization Judge abducted hostages for its once-every-three-years Human Sacrifice Ceremony."

"According to our records, the Judge Organization requires twenty-four Young Boys and Girls for its once-every-three-years Human Sacrifice Ceremony. So there should have been twenty-four hostages, but Yi Nanping's video and operation log only list twenty-three. One person is clearly missing."

"...Couldn't the Judge Organization have abducted one person somewhere else? It's a shame all twenty-three were already dead. Otherwise, we could have asked them how many there actually were..." Meng Guanghui muttered, still feeling that Huo Yushen and Kang Shanxing were being Overly Suspicious.

Kang Shanxing frowned. "Little Meng, that explanation doesn't fit the Judge Organization's usual methods at all. We should investigate Yi Nanping and carefully question him about every detail of the previous operation. If necessary, we can use a Brain-Computer Interface and have Mechanical Intelligence examine all his memories."

Huo Yushen raised his head and looked coldly at Kang Shanxing, saying only one word. "...Investigate."

Kang Shanxing understood what Huo Yushen meant. Whether one person was missing or had been abducted elsewhere, they had to find out exactly what had happened.

Without a word, Huo Yushen watched them leave his office, then returned his gaze to the Virtual Display Screen before him.

No matter what, he knew that one person was indeed missing.

Who was that missing person? Where had they gone? Why were they missing? Huo Yushen would never overlook a single detail.

At that moment, even the fact that a Thermal Weapon had killed a Remnant was no longer so important to Huo Yushen.

As the Bat-style Fighter Jet and Kun-style Transport Aircraft brought by Huo Yushen cloaked themselves and departed, Xia Chujian was also speeding away at full throttle.

From the moment those three people Suddenly Appeared in the black fog and conjured a silver bow and golden arrow out of thin air, Xia Chujian's instincts had been screaming warnings.

At that moment, she had only one thought: get as far away as possible. She had no desire to get involved with those people.

Piloting the squad's Small Combat Aircraft, she flew north all the way until she finally returned to the Dark Night Hunter branch in Mulan City.

By then, Ye Shijie, Li Fu, Song Mingqian, and Ping Qiong had gradually awakened as well.

"What happened?"

"I seem to remember... the flying vehicle took a wrong turn?"

"No, I think someone attacked us too..."

After talking among themselves, they all turned to Xia Chujian. "Chujian, what happened? How come you're fine again?"

After some thought, Xia Chujian decided not to say anything for now. Looking guiltily at the hole in the flying vehicle's ceiling, she said, "After Captain Ye and the others passed out, this flying vehicle's autopilot system was remotely controlled. I had no choice but to cancel the remote Control System and operate it manually."

"Someone did attack us. They launched an attack and damaged our flying vehicle."

She pointed at the hole in the top of the flying vehicle.

Ye Shijie took a look and felt that it did not resemble a hole made by a Conventional Thermal Weapon.

But it was hard to say. What if the other side had some New-Type Weapons?

He said calmly, "It's fine. The Association can repair it. This Time, we'll rest a little longer. People need rest, and machines need rest too."

Li Fu rubbed his temples in the back seat and said with a headache, "After suffering two Mental Attacks in a single day, I feel like what little Mental Strength I have is about to degrade into that of Ordinary People."

Song Mingqian sprawled in the back seat looking utterly dead inside, unwilling to say a single word.

Ping Qiong groaned and held out a hand to Xia Chujian. "Chujian, give me some water. I'm practically at death's door."

"Don't talk nonsense." Xia Chujian lightly scolded her and handed her a bottle of drinking water.

Ye Shijie rubbed his temples as well, glanced at Xia Chujian Once Again, and asked, "What about you? We were all hit by a Mental Attack, yet they let you go again?"

Xia Chujian nodded solemnly. "I was wearing a Helmet and using soundproofing equipment. They probably knew I was an Ordinary Person, so they didn't launch a Mental Attack against me. Then I deployed Micro Missiles in time and caught them off guard."

Ye Shijie's face immediately turned green. "Micro Missiles?! Xia Chujian! Are you determined to leave me completely out of ammunition?!"

After thinking about it, Xia Chujian activated the flying vehicle's built-in surveillance system. "You might not believe it, but they really did strike first! I was only defending myself!"

After the other four people aboard the flying vehicle watched that hair-raising scene, they were all too stunned to speak.

They knew Xia Chujian was exceptionally talented with Thermal Weapons, but they had never expected her to be this incredible! "When Chujian goes to war, not a blade of grass survives!"

"Chujian is awesome! Chujian is awesome!"

"Chujian, Chujian, I love you! How could I live without you?!"

They sang and laughed, their hysteria carrying the relief of having survived a disaster.

And they had survived disaster twice in one day.

With odds like these, they might as well go buy lottery tickets.

Because they all knew that if not for Xia Chujian, the ones left without even a corpse to bury would have been them! Xia Chujian was also watching the surveillance footage.

To her surprise, none of what happened afterward within the thick black fog had been recorded.

The footage ended abruptly the moment she blew up that spindle-shaped flying vehicle.

Song Mingqian dazedly said, "...A flying vehicle locked onto by a thermal nuclear targeting scope still managed to escape with a Bold Move like that... Chujian, you could be an Instructor at the Association headquarters!"

Ping Qiong looked at Xia Chujian with admiration, draping herself over the back of her seat as she smiled. "Chujian, I'm so glad we're on the same team!—If I had you as an enemy, I'd have nightmares every time I slept!"

Li Fu was so excited that he even forgot his headache, repeatedly saying, "Captain, Captain! Look, look! Chujian's counterattack was incredible! She absolutely left them no way out!"

Today's update comes with a reminder to send Recommendation Tickets, Monthly Tickets, and Xiaoxiang Tickets.

Oh, and I bought tickets for Wednesday to see "The Wandering Earth 2." I love this kind of subject matter!