430: Chapter 427: The Delicate Operation.

Shen Mingyuan dragged the man along, stumbling into an old residential building. The hallway was cluttered with junk and the light was dim. They climbed to the second floor, found an unlocked door, and slipped inside.

It was a vacant room, covered in dust, with windows plastered over with newspapers. Shen Mingyuan pinned the man against the wall and pressed himself against the window to look outside.

On the street, police lights flashed, and people in uniform were conducting door-to-door searches.

"What should we do?" Shen Mingyuan lowered his voice and glanced back at the man. "This is getting a bit tricky. It looks like they've blocked all the roads; we can only barely hide here for now. If they search over here in a bit..."

The man slumped on the floor, his body still twitching slightly. The taser shot had numbed half of his body, making it difficult for him to speak clearly.

"You... you better not give up on me..." he stammered, his voice carrying a hint of pleading. "I'm still... still numb... Ouch, ouch, seriously... so, so numb..."

Shen Mingyuan glanced at him, then turned back to stare out the window.

"I'll go take another look," he said, walking to the window and peering out through a gap in the newspapers.

He placed his hand against the wall and made a subtle hand gesture.

At the entrance of an alley not far outside the window, a person in uniform looked up, gave a slight nod, then turned and said something into a walkie-talkie.

Shen Mingyuan withdrew his hand and ran back to the man's side.

"This is bad," he panted. "The police are all coming this way. It seems they've found something."

The man's face turned pale instantly.

"What do we do? What do we do?" He tried to push himself up from the floor, but his legs went weak and he sat back down. "Maybe... you should go. You can escape on your own."

Shen Mingyuan froze for a moment: "I should leave? But aren't I supposed to..."

"Give me your phone." The man interrupted him, reaching out with fingers that were still trembling slightly. "Open the chat logs... the ones with my colleague who contacted you."

Shen Mingyuan pulled out his phone, found the chat window for the undercover contact, and handed it over.

The man took the phone, took a deep breath, and pressed the voice message button:

"There's no other way, I'm about to be caught." His voice was hoarse, carrying a sense of tragic heroism. "But the organization's hope cannot be lost. I've told this man to run quickly; it doesn't matter if I'm captured. Don't misunderstand him; he really helped me, helped me as much as he could."

He released the voice button and shoved the phone back into Shen Mingyuan's hand.

"Run."

Shen Mingyuan looked at him and remained silent for a second.

"Fine," he said. "Take care of yourself."

He turned and rushed out of the room, running down the stairs. Just as he reached the first floor, a person in uniform nodded to him and stepped aside—it was a path specifically left for him.

Shen Mingyuan slipped through that path and disappeared into the shadows between the buildings.

Behind him, the sound of footsteps flooded into the building. Soon, the sound of a door being kicked in and a short cry of surprise came from upstairs.

When the Cadre was led out under guard, his face wore a strange expression—not fear, not anger, but a frantic urgency as if he were rapidly calculating, trying to grasp onto something.

Lu Jianchuan stood by the car, watching as the man was escorted over by two police officers.

"Anything you want to say?" he asked.

The Cadre blanked for a moment, and then his face suddenly became animated.

"Officer!" He lunged forward a step, nearly breaking free from the police. "Actually, I—uh—I feel—the moment I was caught just now, I suddenly had an Epiphany!"

Lu Jianchuan looked at him without saying a word.

"Really! I had an Epiphany!" The Cadre's eyes were unnaturally bright. "I suddenly realized, how could I have done so many bad things to help those animals? I now feel that I am a very pure Humanist! I want to surrender to you, I'm willing to tell you everything—please let me join the The Authorities, okay?"

He spoke very fast, with an urgency that suggested he was terrified of being interrupted.

"I suddenly had an Epiphany, I feel that my past crimes were heinous, and now I want to make amends—"

Lu Jianchuan was silent for a second.

"Then speak," he said. "I'll count it as making amends."

The Cadre's mouth curled into a grin, showing the relief of a survivor.

"Ah! Good, good, good, alright, alright!"

He took a deep breath and opened his mouth—

Bang!

A spherical black shadow plummeted from the sky.

It came without any warning. No sound of breaking the air, no traceable trajectory. Only a momentary afterimage that almost burned the retinas.

The Cadre's head exploded.

Blood, brain matter, and bone fragments sprayed like a blooming flower, splashing all over the surrounding police officers. Several officers instinctively backed away, while one froze in place, his face covered in the warm, viscous liquid.

The sphere's momentum didn't decrease; after smashing through the Cadre's head, it slammed directly into the ground.

Boom—!

The concrete ground exploded into a massive crater, with cracks spreading outwards like a spiderweb. Debris flew everywhere, hitting cars, walls, and people.

Then the sphere bounced up, tracing an arc in the air before retracting into the distant shadows.

"That ball—!" Ye Ouyang's voice boomed from nearby; he had just reacted. "It's that ball!"

Lu Jianchuan hadn't even spoken yet.

A second ball was already coming.

This time, it went straight for the nearest police officer—a young face, in his early twenties, his face still stained with the Cadre's brains, eyes wide with shock, completely failing to react.

Lu Jianchuan moved.

Silver-white armor surged from his bracelet, instantly covering his entire body. With a push of his left hand, he sent the officer flying back into a nearby car. At the same time, he raised his right hand, blocking the path of the incoming ball—

Bang—!

A massive impact exploded in his palm.

Lu Jianchuan's feet plowed two deep furrows into the ground, the soles of his shoes letting out a piercing screech as they frictioned against the surface. Cracks spread from beneath his feet, and with him as the center, the entire ground began to shatter.

He gritted his teeth, his right arm braced firmly as a faint silver light shimmered on the surface of his armor.

The ball spun frantically in his palm, trying to break through his defense.

One second. Two seconds. Three seconds.

Finally, the ball's rotation slowed, and then it suddenly bounced back, disappearing into the distant shadows.

Lu Jianchuan stood in place, panting heavily. He slowly lowered his right hand—

That hand was still shaking.

On the silver-white armor, from the knuckles to the wrist, there were dense cracks everywhere. Some were deep enough to penetrate the armor, and blood seeped from the cracks, dripping onto the ground one by one.

"What?!"

Lu Jianchuan's voice erupted from within the cracked armor. He stared in the direction where the ball had disappeared without looking back, but his voice slammed into the stunned police officers behind him.

"Get out of here! Everyone, stay back! This isn't something you can handle!"

The police officers finally snapped out of it, dragging their trembling legs as they backed away and ran. One person tripped and was hauled up by a colleague.

Ye Ouyang had already rushed to his side, warm golden liquid flowing over his Golden Claws.

"Senior, let me heal you—"

The third ball returned.

This time, it didn't strike at Lu Jianchuan. It bypassed him, heading straight for the retreating police officers—the slowest one, a young officer running at the back, whose back was completely exposed to its trajectory.

Lu Jianchuan didn't look back, but he saw it. The ball's trajectory pulled an afterimage across his retina.

"There's no time!"

He exerted force from his feet, the ground exploding into debris as his silver-white figure crossed several meters, forcefully inserting itself between the ball and the young officer—

Both hands reached out at once.

Bang—!

The moment the ball slammed into his palms, the massive impact forced his arms back, slamming them directly into his chest. He didn't let go, his ten fingers gripping the smooth spherical surface tightly as he was pushed backward.

His feet plowed two deep furrows into the ground, soil turning over and debris flying. He arched his back and gritted his teeth, the muscles in his arms bulging to their limit. The cracks on his armor expanded further, and blood seeped out from even more places.

After sliding for a full five or six meters, he finally came to a halt.

The ball spun frantically in his palms, buzzing as it tried to break free. But his fingers were like iron pincers, gripping it deathly tight, refusing to give it any chance to escape.

"Caught it..." he panted, the words squeezed through his teeth.

Ye Ouyang had already caught up.

"Senior! Now's the time!" He raised his Golden Claws, pointing the tips at Lu Jianchuan's right arm. "Let me heal you!"

Lu Jianchuan didn't move. His gaze was still fixed on the distant shadows, the direction the ball had come from. But he slightly raised his right arm, presenting it to Ye Ouyang.

The Golden Claws pierced into the cracks of the armor and into the flesh. Warm liquid was injected, and those golden cells dispersed into the wound, beginning their frantic work. At the edges of the cracks, new tissue grew and filled in at a speed visible to the naked eye.

While healing, Ye Ouyang looked up toward the distant shadows.

"To actually stop the ball..." he murmured, his tone a mix of shock and adoration. "As expected of Senior."

He paused.

"It had to be you, Senior. This strength is truly powerful."