58: Monitoring ended

Outside the school walls, the dark gray official vehicle was parked quietly by the tree-lined road.

Chen Xing took off his headphones, rubbed his temples, and turned to Zhan Yong in the driver's seat. His tone carried a hint of relieved exhaustion. "Boss, it looks like we really overthought things. He didn't admit to anything, and everything he said matches Li Zhe's story perfectly. He might really just be... a rather unlucky ordinary policeman."

Zhan Yong didn't respond immediately. His deep gaze pierced through the windshield, landing on the canopy of the old locust tree at the school gate. His fingers tapped rhythmically on the steering wheel. The only sound left in the car was the low hum of the air conditioner.

"Perhaps," he finally spoke, his voice steady and devoid of emotion. "To be able to keep a secret so watertight in front of an agitated son of a martyr who knows part of the inside story... there are usually only two explanations."

He tilted his head slightly toward Chen Xing. There was no disappointment in his eyes, but rather a more composed scrutiny. "First, he is indeed innocent, and everything we've done has been in vain."

"Second," he paused, his tone becoming heavier, "whatever he's hiding, or the forces involved behind him, are so tight-knit and complex that they exceed what our current conventional surveillance methods can reach. If that's the case, continuing to waste precious manpower on him would be sheer folly."

He withdrew his gaze and made a decision. "Send out the order to withdraw all fixed surveillance points on Lu Jianchuan. We need to re-concentrate our resources on clearer and more urgent threats."

Chen Xing's fingers slid quickly across the cold touchscreen, confirming that the last evacuation order had been sent. The car fell into a brief silence, save for the low breathing of the air conditioning System.

He let go, his fingertips tapping twice on his knee unconsciously. Finally, he turned his head to look at Zhan Yong in the passenger seat. The daylight outside, filtered through the dark window film, cast murky shadows across his face.

"Boss, the orders have been synchronized. All fixed surveillance on Lu Jianchuan is being withdrawn." He paused, his brow furrowing slightly, his tone filled with genuine confusion.

"But I still don't get it... We've invested so many resources, even used Li Zhe to test him, all for that Armored Man? From all existing action records, his purpose seems to be clearing out those out-of-control, dangerous evolved entities. His behavioral pattern, at least on the surface, is on our side. Is the Bureau's ultimate intention to recruit him into GUPA, like they did with me, to bolster our combat power?"

Zhan Yong didn't answer immediately. He slowly withdrew his gaze from the window, his eyes seemingly carrying a weight far beyond this mission as they fell heavily upon Chen Xing. He shook his head slowly but firmly.

"It's not just for recruitment, Chen Xing." His voice was low, carrying a caution and gravity unique to someone who had spent years immersed in the field of intelligence.

"The recent cases of abnormal evo factor activation in Star City, their energy signatures, and especially the 'evolutionary path' displayed by that armor... are completely different from any natural evolution or conventional scientific research route we know. This 'difference' has touched the most sensitive nerves of some high-level officials at Headquarters."

He leaned forward slightly, making the space inside the car feel even more cramped, and lowered his voice further. "After evaluation, the General Bureau believes there is another, more troublesome possibility."

"A more troublesome possibility?" Chen Xing instinctively held his breath.

Zhan Yong's fingertips unconsciously traced a repetitive, meaningless pattern on his knee. He remained silent for nearly ten seconds, as if struggling against some instinctive principle of intelligence confidentiality.

Finally, he looked up. There was no sense of clarification in his eyes; instead, they were filled with a deeper warning. "A... codename that should have been buried in the dust of history long ago has recently reappeared in internal risk briefings that only those with Grade-A clearance can access."

"A codename?" Chen Xing's curiosity was fully piqued, and his body leaned forward involuntarily. "What organization is it? They..."

"Don't ask!" Zhan Yong interrupted him, his tone resolute and carrying an unquestionable severity. "This codename itself is a taboo you need to stay away from until you obtain the corresponding clearance."

"Knowing of its existence would do you far more harm than good at this point." He changed the subject, his voice turning as bone-chillingly cold as a Siberian cold front. "Chen Xing, remember this. In an ordinary social order, we catch criminals using a solid chain of evidence and a complete judicial process. However..."

He paused deliberately, letting every subsequent word burn clearly into Chen Xing's mind. "When you are facing a terrifying entity defined as an 'Enemy of Civilization,' all we need is a single thing—a list."

"A list authorized at the highest level, confirming those who must be eliminated. And the codename I mentioned should have been permanently and completely erased from all lists of the living many years ago."

Chen Xing felt a chill surge up from his tailbone, instantly sweeping through his entire body. He understood completely. When the word "list" came from Zhan Yong's mouth, it represented an ultimate power of judgment that transcended conventional legal frameworks.

Zhan Yong's gaze turned toward the window again, as if he could pierce through the jungle of steel and concrete to see the invisible threats hidden in the city's shadows.

His voice carried a deep sense of worry. "What we truly fear is that this Armored Man who suddenly appeared—whose power System is entirely based on some unknown biotechnology and can guide the directional expression of the evo factor—might very well be the first tentacle of that 'codename' reaching out to this world again, the one that should have been erased."

If this hypothesis holds true..." He took a deep breath.

"Then what we are facing now is by no means just a few isolated biological anomalies, but the prelude to a war... one that was prophesied long ago and may have already quietly restarted."

The car fell into an even longer, suffocating silence. Chen Xing stopped asking questions; he just stared blankly ahead, digesting this heavy information that far exceeded his current clearance and imagination.

On the other side, Lu Jianchuan stood frozen in place as if rooted to the ground, until Li Zhe's thin and determined figure completely disappeared around the corner of the teaching building, merging into the afternoon light and shadows. The cold echo of the boy's final words, "I understand," seemed to linger in the air like a fine needle, pricking his heart for a long time.

He slowly raised the hand hidden in his trouser pocket and opened his palm. Several clear, crescent-shaped blood marks were etched into the skin, aching slightly. But this pain was far less than the hollow, dull ache in his chest.

"Xiao Lu! What are you dawdling for? Let's go!" Wang Qiang's gruff voice came from the other end of the corridor, breaking the suffocating silence.

Lu Jianchuan took a deep breath, forcing his surging emotions back into the deepest recesses of his heart. He turned around, his face having regained its usual slightly weary calm, and walked quickly toward Wang Qiang and the principal, who was still waiting.

"Sorry to keep you waiting." He gave the principal a professional, impeccable smile. "I chatted with Li Zhe for a bit longer. That boy... his spirits are still a bit low."

The principal nodded understandingly and said something about thanking the police for their support and hoping to strengthen cooperation. Lu Jianchuan maintained a proper smile throughout, nodding in agreement occasionally, but those words were like sounds heard through a layer of frosted glass—entering his ears vaguely without leaving much of an impression on his mind.

After the pleasantries, the two of them got into the police car parked by the roadside. As Wang Qiang started the car, he was still enthusiastically relishing the effect of the lecture. "...I think it went well. We have to scare those little brats like that! You did a good job with the latter part too, a bit of the carrot and the stick..."

Lu Jianchuan leaned back in the passenger seat, his gaze fixed on the street scenery flashing by outside. He gave simple responses like "Mm" and "Yeah," but his thoughts had already drifted far away. Li Zhe's eyes, changing from hopeful to completely disappointed, flashed repeatedly in his mind.

Back at the Police Station, the afternoon passed in a routine bustle.

He sat at his workstation, with a pile of files to organize and case information to enter into the System.

He picked up his pen and tried to focus on the dense text—processing a mediation record for a neighborhood dispute, checking a list of stolen goods for a theft case... but his efficiency was pitifully low. The tip of his pen often paused, and his gaze would unconsciously lose focus.

When colleagues passed by and greeted him, he would only react after a second or two.

That heavy sense of guilt and worry about Li Zhe's future were like a silent tide, constantly eroding his concentration.

He felt like a person split in two: one half was Lu Jianchuan the policeman who had to handle trivial daily routines, and the other was the armor Aptitude Holder burdened with supernatural secrets and heavy guilt.

After finally making it to the end of the workday, he left the Police Station almost immediately with the crowd. The afterglow of the setting sun dyed the city's silhouette orange-red, but he couldn't feel the slightest bit of warmth.

He didn't linger outside and went straight back to his familiar rental apartment. Closing the door, he shut out the noisy world. He didn't turn on the lights, letting the dimness swallow the entire space. Leaning his back against the cold security door, he slowly slid down to sit on the floor, burying his face between his knees.

The room was deathly silent, save for his own heavy breathing. The scene of his confrontation with Li Zhe at school earlier that day intertwined with the lightning-fast battle in the bathroom the previous night, finally all merging into Li Zhe's despairing and distant figure as he walked away.

He stayed in that position for a long, long time as the night deepened. The armband on his left wrist pressed against his skin, sending a constant, cool sensation that reminded him of the reality he could not escape.