374: Chapter 374 Everyone Missing! The Forbidden Zone Vanishes in Three Minutes

Chapter 374: Everyone Missing! The Restricted Area Evaporates in Three Minutes

Nightingale walked up from behind, her gaze passing Chen Mo to look at the distant skyline.

"That's Tartarus's usual way of clearing a scene. To recover an important item or eliminate a group of insiders, they'll purge everyone in the entire area."

Chen Mo stuffed the black card into his jacket pocket and turned to pull open the deformed driver's side door of the off-road vehicle.

"Li Ke, get in the car."

He sat in the driver's seat and gripped the steering wheel with both hands.

"Brother Mo, the car was just hit by that monster; the suspension system might be compromised."

404 stood outside the car door holding a terminal, looking at the huge dent on the hood with a conflicted expression.

"As long as the engine isn't scrapped, it can run."

Chen Mo turned the key, and the engine let out a raspy roar, with thick black smoke billowing from the exhaust pipe.

Su Qingxue helped Jiang Hong into the back seat, then pulled open the passenger door and sat down, pulling her seatbelt tight.

"I just sent an encrypted message to the bureau. People from the Cold Case Unit are already on their way to the East Port District, and the SWAT Officer can complete the initial blockade in ten minutes."

Nightingale went around to the other side of the vehicle, pulled open the rear door, and sat inside, resting her long legs on the back edge of the front seat.

"A standard SWAT blockade is practically non-existent to Tartarus. You're just sending them to their deaths."

From the passenger seat, Su Qingxue turned her head, her gaze fixed on Nightingale's expressionless face.

"This is Jiangcheng, not some lawless mercenary battlefield. A police officer's duty is to stand in front of civilians."

Nightingale met her gaze coldly, a trace of mockery playing at the corners of her mouth.

"Once you've seen their true Execution Squads, you'll realize how ridiculous 'duty' is in the face of absolute violence."

The atmosphere in the car froze instantly, the air between the two women thick with tension.

"Enough."

Chen Mo released the handbrake and floored the accelerator.

The off-road vehicle lunged forward Li Ke an enraged beast. After the tires skidded wildly in the mud, they finally gripped the hard road surface and sped toward the gate of the abandoned factory area.

The morning mist was forced open by the front of the car, and the rusted steel buildings on both sides turned into blurred afterimages receding behind them.

"Since the Emperor wants to play a game, we'll follow his rules."

Chen Mo steered with one hand while the other fumbled on the console for a flattened cigarette, which he placed in his mouth.

"If it's going to rain, let's see who gets soaked first."

Forty minutes later, the mud-splattered black off-road vehicle sped onto the cross-sea bridge leading to the East Port District.

On the distant coastline, large stretches of abandoned metal ship hulls lay across the beach Li Ke dead giant whales.

Mountains of containers, corroded by the sea breeze, were covered in rust, looking Li Ke eerie steel tombs.

Chen Mo looked through the windshield toward the Dismantling Plant, and the system's warning sound exploded in his mind once again.

[Warning]

[A large-scale Evil Waveband is forming. Dangerous causal entanglement points exist in the target area.]

He spat the unlit cigarette out the window, and the car's speed increased again.

A cordon had already been set up at the head of the bridge, with several patrol cars with flashing lights parked across the middle of the road.

Several officers from the Cold Case Unit were shouting anxiously into their walkie-talkies.

Chen Mo slammed on the brakes, the tires leaving a long black mark on the asphalt as the car stopped steadily in front of the cordon.

Su Qingxue pushed open the door and jumped out, walking quickly toward the officers.

"What's the situation inside?"

Old Zhang, who was in charge of the outer perimeter, ran over drenched in sweat, his salute even a bit sloppy.

"Captain Su, Consultant Chen, something big has happened."

Old Zhang pointed toward the largest container yard deep within the Dismantling Plant, his voice shaking Li Ke a leaf.

"Five minutes ago, we received a report saying a large container had leaked, and it was filled with prohibited chemicals."

Chen Mo stepped out of the driver's seat and closed the door behind him.

"What about casualties?"

He stepped over the cordon, his gaze locked on the densely packed iron boxes in the distance.

Old Zhang swallowed hard, his face looking as grim as if he'd eaten a dead fly.

"No casualties."

He paused, adding in an incredulous tone.

"Because the first four brothers who went in to check the situation, including the deputy captain leading them, completely lost contact in less than three minutes."

Chen Mo stopped in his tracks.

He turned to look at Nightingale, who had just gotten out of the car, and their gazes met.

"Is the communication equipment being interfered with?"

Chen Mo pulled out his tactical terminal and glanced at it; the signal was full.

Old Zhang shook his head and pointed to the walkie-talkie hanging from his waist.

"No interference, the channel is completely normal, but there's just no sound coming from inside—not even static background noise."

It was as if the people who went in had vanished into thin air, or had their traces of existence completely erased in an instant.

A sea breeze blew past, bringing a scent of air mixed with rust and a strange, sweet fragrance.

Chen Mo's nose twitched; that sweet scent reminded him of some unpleasant memories.

It was the scene of a serial murder case he had handled in his previous life—the smell of a specialized anesthetic the killer used to paralyze the victims' nerves.

He looked down at the terminal screen on his wrist; the red hourglass countdown had entered its final ten minutes.

"Li Ke, stay in the car for backup and monitor the electromagnetic signals in this area at all times."

Chen Mo threw the terminal back into the car and pulled his sidearm from his waist, the motion of chambering a round being smooth and practiced.

"Qingxue, Nightingale, follow me in."

He didn't look back, walking toward the steel tomb that seemed ready to swallow everything.

The first card had been turned over; every step from here on would determine the outcome of life and death.

Chen Mo walked in front, his combat boots stepping on the rust-stained steel plates, producing a dull metallic echo.

The sea breeze swirled the sweet, cloying chemical scent between the containers, and the thick fog compressed visibility to a limit of less than five meters.

Su Qingxue held her sidearm with both hands, the muzzle moving back and forth with her gaze through the towering steel gaps, her index finger always resting on the edge of the trigger guard.

"The concentration of anesthetic in the air is continuing to rise."

Chen Mo stopped and raised his right hand in a stop gesture, palm facing backward.

"Hold your breath, and try to take shallow breaths through your mouth."

He fished two medical blocking filters from his pocket and tossed them back to the two behind him.

Nightingale caught the filter in mid-air and snapped it into the breathing valve of her tactical mask, the moment of pressing it producing a crisp mechanical clicking sound.

"The biochemical units under the Emperor love using this kind of nerve-slowing agent. Excessive inhalation leads to loss of pain and severe hallucinations."

She held the broken short blade in her hand, her thumb slowly sliding along the jagged edge of the broken blade.

"It seems this isn't just a slaughterhouse, but a colosseum prepared specifically for us."

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