Before the darkness of dawn had completely faded, a figure almost blending into the shadows silently slipped out from the side of the Empress's palace.
Like a drop of water flowing into the ocean, it instantly disappears into the intricate complex of the palace buildings.
Shen'er Toji had spent the night at Ju Zi's place, did not linger for a moment. Based on the information provided by Ju Zi, he sped precisely towards the heart of the empire, towards the top-tier soul guidance research institute, whose security was second only to the national treasury.
The intelligence was shockingly precise: the locations of both overt and covert sentries, the scanning frequency and blind spots of the Soul Tool, the layout of the ventilation ducts, and even the personal habits of certain key researchers...
The hidden threads that Ju Zi had laid out over the years are now revealing their astonishing value.
The institute's heavy alloy gate, engraved with countless defensive soul-guiding arrays, was utterly useless in front of Toji.
He and a real ghost, without triggering any alarms or disturbing the slightest fluctuation of Soul Power, silently infiltrated the area.
The interior space was astonishingly vast, with countless sophisticated soul-guided instruments gleaming with an Youyou light. The complex pipelines resembled the veins of a giant beast, and the air was filled with the scorching aura unique to Soul Power furnaces and the faint fishy smell of metallic coolant.
At this moment, the atmosphere in the Core Zone of the research institute was extremely tense.
Just as the intelligence indicated, over 70% of the Level 9 Soul Engineer of the Sun Moon Empire were gathered in this brightly lit core experimental hall.
They were either arguing fiercely in front of a huge holographic projection, or nervously troubleshooting some prototype component that exuded a dangerous aura on the control panel, or deep in thought, staring at a soul guide array diagram that was so complex it was dazzling.
The entire hall was filled with the low hum of Soul Power circulating, the ticking of instruments, and suppressed discussions.
In the center of the crowd, an elderly man with gray hair and a sprightly spirit stood out.
He wore a simple research robe, his eyes were sharp as an eagle's, and he exuded an aura of profound composure and complete control.
It was none other than Kong Deming, the father of the Soul Engineer of the Sun Moon Empire.
He was almost constantly inspecting and pointing out key points, even personally fixing errors, as if the soul of the entire research institute was tied to him, and every detail was closely related to him.
That focus and authority allowed Toji to immediately recognize his identity.
Toji the most patient hunter lies in wait, silently lurking in the shadows of the massive, crisscrossing soul conduits above the experimental hall.
His cold gaze swept over the busy crowd below, over the prototype Soul Tool that were being assembled and debugged, exuding an aura directed at him personally.
The destruction began.
Toji immediately went down and began to wreak havoc.
There was no earth-shattering explosion, no dazzling Soul Skill light, only a precise and chilling surprise.
"Sizzle!"
A high-precision voltage regulator that was charging the core of a large Soul Cannon suddenly short-circuited internally, bursting out with a blinding electric spark, instantly overloaded and rendered unusable, burning a stack of precious soul-guided circuit blueprints next to it.
The responsible Soul Engineer jumped back with a scream, his face filled with bewilderment and heartache.
"Bang!" A test tube that was suspended in mid-air, held in place by a special force field, and was being injected with rare liquid soul-guided metal suddenly lost its force field and fell straight to the ground, splashing the precious metal solution everywhere and corroding a large area of the expensive experimental table.
This left the researchers nearby dumbfounded, completely unable to comprehend why the force field Soul Tool would suddenly malfunction.
The next moment, a giant soul-guided computer that was performing high-speed calculations on a complex soul-guided array suddenly broke its core heat pipe without warning. High-temperature steam gushed out instantly, scalding several Soul Engineer who were recording data nearby, causing them to scream in pain. The precious calculation data was also lost in an instant.
Chaos spread quickly.
Chickens flew and dogs barked, and angry shouts echoed.
"What happened? Who was responsible for calibrating the voltage regulator?!"
"Force field stabilizer! Check the force field stabilizer! Something's wrong!"
"My data! My data! Quick, save the data!"
"Is it soul-guided interference? Why isn't the detection array reacting?!"
The Level 9 Soul Engineer were all ashen-faced, filled with shock and rage.
They mobilized their immense Spiritual Power, manipulating various Soul Tool to scan frantically, their Soul Power fluctuations sweeping across every corner of the hall.
However, nothing was found!
The intruders seemed to have no existence at all; all the destruction appeared to be accidental malfunctions due to aging equipment, yet it was eerily dense.
Kong Deming had already stopped what he was doing.
He stood in the center of the hall, his gray eyebrows furrowed tightly, his sharp eyes scanning the chaotic scene and every suspicious corner.
His Spiritual Power swept across the area repeatedly, capturing the most subtle fluctuations in Soul Power, spatial distortions, and even abnormal airflow.
No, there's nothing there!
But Kong Deming's heart sank little by little.
He was a top-tier Soul Engineer, and he knew all too well how low the probability of these accidents happening simultaneously was.
This is no coincidence.
There must be an unseen enemy, a terrifying being that can perfectly evade all soul-guided detection and even cause destruction silently right under his nose, lurking here.
The thought of this possibility, this unknown, persistent threat, is more chilling than an open enemy.
If the other party does this every time... their research simply cannot proceed.
The weapon designed to counter that monster was doomed before it even reached its final form.
Kong Deming's face was so gloomy it could drip water. He stopped his futile search, turned around abruptly, and strode out of the research institute.
He needed to see His Majesty the Emperor and had to resolve this threat immediately, at all costs.
The Imperial Palace, the Imperial Study.
Xu Tianran sat on the large dragon throne, his fingers unconsciously tapping the armrests, a lingering gloom hanging over his brow.
Jing Hongchen suffered a crushing defeat last night, with the Soul Engineer Legion nearly wiped out. The news of the theft of core materials from the national treasury, along with the heavy shackles around his neck, made it almost impossible for him to breathe.
That monster named Toji... has now become the greatest nightmare of his life.
He already knew that Toji had returned.
He's back in the Sun Moon Empire causing trouble again.
When Kong Deming walked in with a solemn expression and gave a detailed report on the strange sabotage that had occurred in the research institute, Xu Tianran's face instantly became even more unsightly, even showing a hint of barely perceptible fear.
"The ghost... it's him again, it must be him." Xu Tianran's voice trembled slightly, almost a growl through gritted teeth, "Besides that monster, who else could do this?"
"Silently infiltrating the research institute, right under Elder Kong Kong's nose..."
He didn't finish his sentence, but his fear was palpable. Toji shadow had already enveloped the entire Mingdu.