51: We can't lose it again.

Li Zhe was still immersed in the complex emotions of stroking that cold and resilient skin, while Big Orange had temporarily restrained its ferocity, focusing on swallowing its food.

Just then, a sudden and orderly sound of footsteps approached from afar!

Zhan Yong took the lead, his eyes sharp as an hawk's. He held a portable detector that was emitting a faint "beep-beep" sound, its screen flashing with irregular light points. Chen Xing followed closely behind, staring nervously at his tablet. Two combatants fanned out in a tactical formation, and one of them barked in a low voice, "Target confirmed! High-concentration EVO activity source! Prepare for Non-lethal Capture!"

This sudden encirclement scared Li Zhe out of his wits, causing him to freeze in place, his Soul Flying Away and Spirit Scattering.

Big Orange's reaction was even more intense! It jerked its head up and stopped eating. Its entire body instantly arched high in a posture full of power, its smooth dark skin tightening to clearly outline the strong muscle lines beneath. It opened its mouth, but what came out was not the usual hiss of a feline, but a strange "Ha—hiss—!" squeezed from the depths of its throat—a mixture of low growls and the sound of air friction, filled with extreme threat and warning.

In the next second, the air around it distorted violently, and its massive body suddenly became translucent before everyone's eyes, looking as if it were about to blend into the environment again!

"Thermal imaging!" The lead combatant reacted extremely quickly, growling almost simultaneously. The other combatant immediately raised a thermal imager and aimed it at the target area.

In the view of the thermal imager, an orange-red biological silhouette representing high temperature had just appeared, but the moment the outline formed, its surface temperature seemed to be instantly leveled by an invisible hand! The color rapidly faded from orange-red to a dark blue that was no different from the environment, and finally, along with the outline, it completely disappeared from the thermal imaging screen!

"Not good! The target possesses active thermal stealth capabilities! Conventional thermal imaging is ineffective!" reported the combatant holding the thermal imager in horror.

"What?!" Chen Xing watched as the originally clear light point signal on his tablet also became erratic, and he shouted anxiously, "The detector is under strong interference; it can only lock onto a general range, it can't be precisely calibrated!"

In that instant of information chaos!

"Ah!" The lead combatant let out a grunt of pain. The combat pants on the outside of his lower leg tore without warning, and three deep claw marks that reached the bone appeared out of nowhere, with blood gushing out instantly! He stumbled and fell to one knee, the intense pain causing the veins on his forehead to bulge.

The attack came from the void!

The other combatant reacted swiftly. Relying on the location and direction of his comrade's injury, as well as the minute air disturbance, he unhesitatingly raised the Non-lethal Sonic Weapon in his hand and pulled the trigger toward that seemingly empty area!

"Voom—!" A low, piercing sonic wave erupted instantly, enveloping that area.

This area attack seemed to have worked!

A sharp hiss filled with pain and anger sounded from the center of the sonic coverage. Big Orange's figure flickered violently under the interference of the sound waves. Although it didn't fully reveal itself, the momentary distortion of its outline and its pained cry proved it had indeed been hit, and its stealth state had been severely disrupted!

Li Zhe watched everything happening in a flash, his mind a complete blank. He wanted to stop it but didn't know how; he wanted to protect Big Orange, but this invisible monster that could severely injure an elite combatant in an instant was too different from the fat Orange Cat in his memory. He could only gape his mouth in vain, unable to make any sound.

Zhan Yong's eyes turned cold, knowing he had to settle this quickly. "Compress its activity space!" he ordered, while also taking a Non-lethal Capture device from his waist. The invisible threat agitated violently in the air; Big Orange was enraged by the sound waves, and its next attack would surely be even more ferocious.

Under the continuous low-frequency hum of the sonic weapon and the skillful tactical coordination of Zhan Yong's squad, Big Orange's invisible figure was tightly restricted within a small area. Only its intermittent, hoarse growls of anger and frustration could be heard, along with the sharp sound of claws occasionally slicing through the air. It lunged left and right but was like a creature caught in an invisible net, its circle of activity being pressed smaller and smaller until it was forced against the wall in the corner of the playground, with no way to retreat.

Seeing that the highlight on the portable detector screen had been compressed to the limit, capture seemed only a second away.

Li Zhe, who had been standing frozen with a blank mind, watched helplessly as Big Orange was driven into a corner step by step. Those cold vertical pupils (which had been so gentle and round in his memory) seemed to pierce through the stealth, directly reflecting his inner helplessness.

The image of his father Li Ming being slowly pushed away under a white cloth when he died violently overlapped with the "loss" about to happen again. It instantly ignited all the emotions he had suppressed for so long—the agonizing pain of losing a loved one, the grievances of recent days, the anger at injustice, and the reckless courage of a youth wanting to protect the last bit of warmth.

I can't lose anything else... absolutely not!

A surge of blood rushed to his head, drowning out all reason and fear.

"No! You can't catch it—!!"

He let out a roar that sounded like a breakdown, filled with a crying tone, and his body reacted before his thoughts. Like a stone thrown from a catapult, he used all his strength to recklessly pounce toward the combatant who was focused on operating the sonic weapon with his back turned!

Bang! A dull sound of impact rang out.

Li Zhe's thin body slammed heavily into the man's sturdy back, his arms tightly locking around the combatant's thighs. This sudden attack and weight caught even the well-trained combatant off guard; he stumbled, his body lunging forward, and the direction of the carefully maintained sonic weapon in his hand instantly went out of control, its piercing hum sweeping crookedly toward the empty ground to the side.

The tight suppression net, at this moment, developed a fleeting gap!

"You're looking for death!" The grabbed combatant was both shocked and angry, trying to shake him off.

"Restrain him!" Zhan Yong's sharp shout rang out at the same time.

But in this lightning-fast chaos, the invisible shadow cornered against the wall moved! Without the slightest hesitation, as if it had already calculated this sole path to survival.

With a very faint "whoosh" of breaking air, accompanied by a short hiss full of relief and warning, Big Orange's figure fluctuated violently at the corner. It almost solidified for an instant, then like a drop of ink dissolving in water, it completely vanished without a trace.

It was gone. Leaving only several fresh, deep claw marks on the ground in the corner, and the faint sound of landing rapidly receding in the air.

Success... it got away.

This thought flashed through Li Zhe's mind, followed by a collapse of strength as if he had been drained, and a massive sense of lingering fear.

The scene fell into an eerie silence. Only the combatant with an ashen face being held tightly by Li Zhe remained, along with Li Zhe himself, slumped on the ground, chest heaving violently, face a mix of tears and sweat, looking dazed.

Zhan Yong's face was so dark it could drip water. His cold gaze swept over the empty corner and finally landed on Li Zhe, who had ruined everything. He suppressed his rage and made a brief gesture.

The other combatant immediately stepped forward, his large hand grabbing Li Zhe's arm like a steel pincer. He effortlessly peeled the exhausted youth off his companion, pinned his hands behind his back, and firmly restrained him.

"Let go... let me go..." Li Zhe struggled, his voice weak from exhaustion and crying, but a trace of stubbornness remained in his eyes.

Zhan Yong walked up to him, his tall figure bringing a powerful sense of pressure, his shadow completely enveloping Li Zhe. He didn't speak immediately, but scrutinized Li Zhe with those temperatureless eyes, as if assessing how to deal with a troublesome object. Taking this minor away on charges of obstructing official business, especially as the child of a martyr, would be very tricky; but letting him leave, allowing him to take away memories of the anomalous individual and this conflict, was undoubtedly a greater hidden danger.

Chen Xing looked at the scene with a difficult expression. He leaned in toward Zhan Yong and lowered his voice, "Boss, he's Li Ming's son, and he's still a minor... conventional handling might cause unnecessary trouble. Should we... go with the 'Special Procedure'?"

Zhan Yong remained silent, his gaze sweeping over Li Zhe's pale and youthful face, then looking at the faint signal that had already moved far away on the detector screen, quickly weighing things in his mind. After a moment, he coldly instructed the combatant controlling Li Zhe, "Take him to the side first and keep him under separate guard. Notify the school and his immediate family to come over."

His tone brooked no doubt; he had clearly made a decision. For ordinary people who were accidentally involved in and interfered with operations, especially those with sensitive identities, GUPA had its own set of "standardized" processing procedures aimed at eliminating potential risks and minimizing social impact. Li Zhe's "trouble" had clearly only just begun.