The Bureau's Humble Submission

The shrill screech of the elevator car grinding against its tracks abruptly stopped. The cold white light overhead flickered twice, then steadied again.

The heavy metal doors slowly slid apart, revealing a corridor paved with dark gray anti-slip tiles. The air carried a faint scent of disinfectant and cooled metal.

"Mr. Li Dan, after you."

Smith adjusted the protective goggles on his nose. The researchers behind him stopped in unison, instinctively straightening their white lab coats as they looked down the corridor with reverence in their eyes.

They knew perfectly well that the area ahead was not somewhere they were permitted to enter. It was the true core of the Bureau.

Li Dan did not look back. He merely waved a hand and strode out of the elevator, his posture straight and imposing.

The corridor was lined with armed personnel in black combat uniforms. They were tall and powerfully built, their faces concealed behind full-coverage helmets. Their rifle muzzles pointed downward, yet they remained alert at all times. Tactical lights on their shoulders cast orderly beams across the walls.

They stood as motionless as statues. Only the faint sound of air moving beneath their breathing masks proved that they were living people.

Rather than guarding monsters, they looked more like they were guarding the researchers here.

Li Dan walked forward. The corridor was not long, roughly fifty meters, and a massive alloy door stood at its end.

Complex energy patterns were carved across the door's surface, while blue light strips were embedded around its frame. Faint energy fluctuations could be seen flowing within them.

This door was thicker and heavier than any security door Li Dan had seen before. It had clearly been designed to withstand threats of an extraordinary level.

When Li Dan was still three steps away from