66: ending

After dealing with the emergency in the main hall, Lu Jianchuan, Dr. Li, and the others immediately returned to the previous isolation corridor. They saw that the GUPA Squad member left on guard was still maintaining a high state of alert, while Su Yuejin at his feet had already been securely restrained with specialized equipment.

Her hands were locked behind her back with a pair of metal manacles emitting a faint blue light. A black collar of unknown material was fastened around her neck, and even her ankles were secured by similar restraint rings, though with a small degree of mobility to allow for transport.

Most striking were her hands, which were completely encased in thick, opaque, dark silver metal gloves, seamless and airtight. They were clearly designed to completely block her ability to release the "neuro-weaver" through physical contact.

At that moment, Su Yuejin's long eyelashes fluttered a few times, and she slowly opened her eyes. After a brief moment of confusion, she immediately realized her situation. She didn't struggle. Instead, she let out a cold, light laugh, her gaze sweeping over Lu Jianchuan and the GUPA Squad member present.

"Truly... impressive," her voice was hoarse from just waking but still maintained an unsettling composure. "You actually dared to gamble... Weren't you afraid that the moment I awoke, with a single thought, I could have made all the 'Puppets' in this hospital die with me?"

After speaking, her eyes narrowed slightly, as if secretly activating some command. However, several seconds passed. Inside and outside the corridor, there was only silence. The anticipated mass brain deaths did not occur.

The composure on Su Yuejin's face instantly froze. She jerked her head up, her gaze shooting like a blade towards the azure blue lenses of Lu Jianchuan's visor. For the first time, her voice carried unconcealed shock and anger:

"Your electric current...!" she almost spat the words through gritted teeth, "It wasn't just for stunning... It could actually precisely destroy my 'weavers'?!"

She immediately understood all the key points. The other party hadn't been blindly gambling. Instead, while she was unconscious, they had utilized an unexpected capability of this armor—precise bio-electric manipulation—to wipe out all the pieces she had deployed in one fell swoop! This level of ability application and understanding far exceeded her estimations.

A sense of defeat and a sliver of anger at being completely seen through and technically outmatched stripped away her earlier composure. She didn't speak again, only giving Lu Jianchuan one last deep look with a gaze that was a mixture of extreme coldness and reassessment, as if she wanted to imprint every detail of his armor into her memory.

Afterwards, she was escorted away silently from the corridor by that GUPA Squad member and the support personnel who arrived later.

The crisis was completely resolved.

At that moment, the GUPA Squad leader who had been in charge earlier walked over. In his hand was a black communicator, more compact and with sleeker lines than an ordinary walkie-talkie. He approached Lu Jianchuan and, through the visor, seemed to be trying hard to see the true face beneath the armor.

"This time, we owe you a great deal," the squad leader's voice carried a trace of imperceptible emotion and was also much more cautious. "I reported the situation to my superiors... I understand you may have your own reasons for not wanting to formally join us."

He paused, then extended the black communicator in his hand towards Lu Jianchuan. "However, after this incident, we've at least established a preliminary trust. This is for you."

Lu Jianchuan didn't immediately take it, only asking in his raspy voice, "What is this?"

"An encrypted, one-way communicator. The channel is already pre-set," the squad leader explained. "It won't actively contact you, and we won't attempt to locate you through it. However, if in the future we encounter another crisis... like today's, beyond conventional handling capabilities and of an urgent nature, we will use it to send you a distress signal and an information brief."

He looked at Lu Jianchuan, his tone sincere. "Similarly, if during your future actions, you discover important intelligence you believe we should know, or... if you yourself encounter trouble that's difficult to resolve alone, you can also use it to contact us. This isn't mandatory, just an... invitation to cooperate. After all, enemies like the one today probably aren't the only one."

His words also carried a hint of inquiry. He was clearly full of questions about how Lu Jianchuan had managed to appear so timely inside the sealed-off hospital, but he wisely didn't voice them.

Lu Jianchuan remained silent for a moment. He did need intelligence and a possible contact channel when necessary. He extended his armored hand and took the cold communicator.

"I understand," he said, storing the communicator away without making any further promises.

Seeing this, the squad leader said nothing more, only nodding. "Take care."

Lu Jianchuan didn't linger any longer. He turned, and his silver figure quickly disappeared into the shadows at the other end of the corridor. He needed to return to that remote staff restroom as soon as possible, deactivate the transformation, and put back on the hidden police uniform.

[Consciousness Space]

Lu Jianchuan carefully stored the black communicator. His silver figure moved swiftly through the complex hospital hallways towards the remote restroom where he had previously transformed.

Simultaneously, within the Consciousness Space, Han Chengyu did not let down his guard. "System, immediately conduct a comprehensive scan of that communicator! Structure, energy signals, any possible hidden modules! Prioritize checking for tracking and surveillance functions!" [Command confirmed. Initiating deep scan... Scan complete.]

The System quickly responded, [Conclusion: The device is a one-time-use encrypted signal receiver/transmitter with a relatively simple structure. No tracking signal sources, environmental listening modules, or biometric collectors were found internally. Its encryption protocol is designed to protect communication content, not track the holder. Comprehensive assessment: the probability of GUPA installing surveillance components on this device is below 0.01%.]

"It seems... this time they genuinely want to establish a communication channel, not set a trap," Han Chengyu sighed in relief, the tension in his consciousness easing slightly. "That's fine too. Having one more source of information is better than us completely fumbling in the dark."

[Agreement. This action aligns with the logic of 'establishing limited trust to face a common threat.' The channel possesses potential strategic value.]

In the outside world, Lu Jianchuan had already silently returned to that staff restroom and locked the door. He pressed the orb on his armband, and the silver armor shattered into points of light that dissipated, revealing his unharmed body underneath.

He quickly put on the hidden police uniform, straightened his appearance, took a deep breath to make himself look more like an ordinary, somewhat disheveled police officer who had just been through a chaotic situation, and only then pushed the door open and walked out.

He retraced his original route, deliberately avoiding the central area where the large-scale conflict had erupted earlier. When he returned to the vicinity of the outer isolation corridor where he had separated from Old Zhang and the others, he found only his colleagues from the Police Station and some hospital security personnel maintaining order and cleaning up. Those dark grey GUPA figures were already gone.

"Jianchuan! Where did you run off to, kid? Are you okay?" Old Zhang spotted him immediately, quickly walking over with concern and relief on his face.

"I'm fine, Brother Zhang," Lu Jianchuan offered a tired smile, explaining with the story he had prepared earlier. "There were too many people at the time. I was chased by a few patients and had no choice but to run in the opposite direction, trying to lure them away. I later hid in a storage room to shake them off. I only dared to come out after hearing no more noise outside and confirming it was safe." He paused, naturally looking around. "Those... people from the special department? Have they already left?"

"They just left not long ago!" a young police officer nearby chimed in, his tone carrying a mix of awe and curiosity. "They had that dangerous woman trussed up like a zongzi and directly loaded her into a vehicle to take her away! Said they needed to urgently transport her back to headquarters. Before leaving, the leader said a few words to our person in charge, saying they'd handle the subsequent clean-up."

Old Zhang patted Lu Jianchuan's shoulder, his tone complex. "It's good they're gone. The things those people deal with aren't something we can get involved in. It's good that you're okay. We have enough of a mess to clean up today."