152: Chapter 153 Interception

The situation before him made Shi Yongxin sober up instantly—he had truly kicked a steel plate this time.

He had only spoken a few harsh words to that kid named Lin Muyang after the match, his tone was a bit fierce, his gaze a bit vicious... Only a few minutes had passed? And the people from the Special Investigation Division of the Xia State National Security Bureau had come looking for him directly? This reaction speed, this level of mobilization, completely exceeded his expectations.

"Suspected of threats, intent to endanger the safety of important Nation-Guarding Level talents..."

The official's cold verdict struck Shi Yongxin's chest like a heavy hammer, making it difficult for him to breathe. Important Nation-Guarding Level talent? Lin Muyang had already been defined by the authorities to such a height? Just because of his performance in the Provincial Tournament? No, perhaps even earlier; perhaps even before he himself had noticed, that young man had already been placed on the highest level of the protection list.

Shi Yongxin's heart sank to the bottom. If it were just a common public security case or a civil dispute, he would have relied on his connections and network, and perhaps he could still maneuver. But once he was labeled with "threatening national security" and taken away by National Security... the nature of the situation was completely different.

It was easy to get in, but harder than ascending to heaven to get out. Even more terrifying was that all the shady things he had done in the dark over these years, relying on the power of the Loushi Group—forcibly seizing resources, suppressing competitors, even having blood on his hands... these things could not withstand investigation! Once dug up, with multiple crimes punished together, his life would be completely over.

Loushi Group? Shi Yongxin felt a chill in his heart. The phone call just now had explained everything. When the tree falls, the monkeys scatter; when the wall collapses, everyone pushes. Loushi Group could barely protect itself, so how could it possibly go head-to-head with the authorities for the sake of a vicious dog like him, and offend that national treasure with limitless potential? If they didn't kick him while he was down and actively provide evidence to clear their relationship, that would already be considered benevolent.

Cannot be caught! Absolutely not!

This thought ignited in Shi Yongxin's heart like a wildfire. His eyes turned sharp, and almost without thinking, his spiritual power surged; he was about to communicate with the soul link and summon the strongest martial monks under his command! Even if he had to suffer some backlash, he had to forcibly break through! As long as he rushed out of this parking lot, left Tianhai City, or even left the Xia State, he might still have a glimmer of hope!

However, just as his intention moved and his spiritual power was about to touch the soul link—

A sudden change occurred!

The five official investigators surrounding him, who had originally locked onto his Aura and were ready to strike, all had their expressions change simultaneously! They seemed to lose their perception of the world in an instant, and their faces revealed a rare, stiff expression mixed with shock and confusion. Although their eyes were open, their pupils were unfocused; their ears twitched slightly, but they seemed unable to hear any sound; their bodies maintained a defensive posture, but their muscles were completely solidified, without even the slightest tremor.

Immediately after, an even more eerie scene occurred.

It was as if invisible, scorching golden molten lava was poured down from the void, precisely drenching these five investigators! There was no screaming, no struggling; the moment their bodies touched the "golden molten lava," they began to solidify, harden, and change color from their heads at a speed visible to the naked eye! Skin, clothing, equipment... everything lost the texture and color of life in an instant, turning into pure, cold, golden metal with a metallic luster!

Just two short seconds.

Five well-trained, powerful National Security elites had turned into five lifelike yet lifeless golden statues, maintaining their final posture, frozen in the dim light of the parking lot, like strange modern art pieces in a museum.

"This... what is this?!"

Shi Yongxin gasped, his scalp instantly numbing, and a chill shot straight from his tailbone to his crown! He was too familiar with this scene! No, he hadn't seen it, but he had heard of it. In the descriptions from information brokers, in the corners of secret forums, regarding that mysterious solo clearing genius who had caused hundreds of guards and a Nation-Guarding Level Expert from India to suffer heavy losses, there was a similar ability—turning living people into immovable golden sculptures in an instant!

It was that mysterious big shot! The backer behind Lin Muyang! Did he make a move?!

But why? Shi Yongxin's brain couldn't quite turn the corner. He had had a conflict with Lin Muyang, shouldn't this mysterious big shot be helping the authorities catch him, or at least sitting by and watching him be taken away by the authorities? Why attack the official personnel? And use such a signature ability that would cause a huge uproar once exposed?

Just then, Shi Yongxin suddenly felt something unusual. He looked down at his body, and his pupils contracted sharply.

His body was turning semi-transparent? It was as if a layer of flowing water ripples covered his body surface, making his flesh, bones, and clothing present an unreal, hazy feeling that light could easily pass through.

Invisibility?

He quickly checked a buff that had suddenly appeared in his status bar—

【Divine Concealment Status】

【Level: 337】

【Effect: Synchronizes the target with the surrounding environment at a very high level, avoids most detection methods, and significantly reduces presence. The current level can avoid most reconnaissance, including some mythic grade detection.】

【Source: Unknown】

【Remaining Time: ∞ (Permanent)】

"Invis... Invisibility level 337?!" Shi Yongxin's brain went "buzz," almost crashing. Level 337 invisibility effect?! What international joke is this?! In the current Blue Star, even level 300 Class Transferees only exist in legends and theories! To be able to release a level 337 invisibility effect, how high must the main body's level be? Is that still in the category of "human"?

And why give him invisibility? What exactly does that mysterious big shot want to do?

Shi Yongxin's doubts were soon answered, but the answer brought a deeper fear that almost froze his soul.

When he gained the ability to see through invisible units of the same level or lower because he was in a high-level invisibility state, he looked up and looked around.

Right beside him, just three or five steps away, several semi-transparent figures, also shrouded in high-level invisibility effects, had been standing there quietly without him knowing.

The leader was tall and straight, with black hair and black eyes, and a young and calm face. It was none other than Lin Muyang—the one who had just defeated him on the arena, and with whom he had had a verbal altercation at the contestant seats just minutes ago!

And beside and behind Lin Muyang were four young ladies, each with a different temperament, yet equally stunningly beautiful. The holy Elf Priest, the noble Phoenix Heavenly Maiden, the cold and elegant Night Elf Assassin, and that pale, smiling Yama Maiden with short hair who had just displayed eerie soul attacks on the arena!

They were all here. Silently, like ghosts waiting for prey to step into a trap.

"What... is going on?!" Shi Yongxin's thinking instantly fell into chaos, a huge sense of absurdity and fear intertwined, impacting his reason.

Wasn't it said that Lin Muyang had a big shot behind him? Where was that mysterious genius expert? Where was that existence who could release golden sculptures and super high-level invisibility?

Why was Lin Muyang himself standing here? And why did he and the young ladies beside him all have level 337 invisibility effects?!

A terrible, subversive conjecture, like lightning suddenly flashing in the dark, split through all the fog in his heart and also brought overwhelming despair.

There was no big shot behind him at all!

There was no mysterious female super genius!

That solo clearing genius who had caused the Bank of India to fall and made experts of all countries tremble with fear, was the same person as this "Peerless Summoner" who had emerged from nowhere in the Summoner Competition and crushed everything! He had disguised his gender, he had hidden the vast majority of his true strength, and he had single-handedly directed all the "mysterious incidents" that shocked the world! He not only possessed a variety of eerie and unfathomable terrifying abilities himself, but could also bestow this ability upon the young ladies he summoned in the form of an "Aura" or "buff," allowing them to exert power beyond common sense!

[part:deepseek-chat]

So, the Elf Priest could annihilate all, the Phoenix Heavenly Maiden could incinerate everything, the Night Elf Assassin could sever souls, the Nine-Tailed Fox could cast high-tier spells instantaneously, and the Yama Maiden before him... could directly attack and severely damage the very essence of a soul!

All these unbelievable events, all these powers that shattered common understanding, traced back to the same source—this youth who looked to be only in his seventies level-wise and was absurdly young!

"This... how is this possible?!" Shi Yongxin screamed inwardly, the blood draining from his face until it was as pale as paper. Staring into Lin Muyang's eyes, which were as calm as a deep pool yet seemed capable of piercing through all secrets, he felt as if he had plunged into an icy abyss.

In his fifties? Bullshit, in his fifties! This was absolutely a Disguise! A complete and utter deception! This youth's true strength was absolutely unfathomable! The variety and potency of the abilities he commanded had already far surpassed the realm of genius, stepping into the domain of a deity!

And now, this monster stood before him, surrounded by his equally terrifying young ladies, encircling him.

In that instant, Shi Yongxin understood. Since Lin Muyang had revealed himself, since he had used his signature 'golden statue' ability and the high-level Divine Concealment without any attempt to hide it, even sharing the concealed state with him... there could only be one reason.

He had no intention of letting him leave alive.

He had no intention of allowing even the slightest possibility for this secret to be leaked.

"No—!!"

Extreme fear transformed into the frenzy of a cornered beast. Shi Yongxin's eyes turned bloodshot. Summoning every last ounce of his life's strength and willpower, ignoring the potential backlash his soul might suffer, he frantically channeled his mental energy, reaching out through the soul links to all the Monks who were either undamaged or only lightly injured!

"Come out! All of you, come out! Sacred Hall Monks! Bull Demon Monks! Troll Monks! Brahma Monks... everyone, protect me!! Fight our way out!!"

He roared in his mind, his will sweeping through the soul links like a storm. However...

Silence.

Deathly silence.

No spatial fluctuations, no energy ripples, no familiar figures of Monks tearing through space to arrive. The area he was in seemed to have become an isolated 'dead zone,' where even the most basic summoning contracts were forcibly 'blocked' or 'severed' by some invisible, supreme power.

An 【Aura】 of 【Spatial Severance】 enveloped this place. All spatial abilities, summons, and teleportations were rendered null and void.

Shi Yongxin's heart turned utterly cold. He felt that omnipresent, suffocating 'suppression of rules.'

At that moment, the Yama Maiden Gui Wanwan, who had been lazily sitting atop her giant scythe, floating in mid-air as if bored by this futile struggle, lightly and casually raised her pale, slender right hand. She made a grasping motion in Shi Yongxin's direction.

【Yama's Secret Incantation】.

No sound, no radiance.

But Shi Yongxin felt an indescribable, bone-chilling 'force'—like an intangible hook—instantly pierce through his body. It did not act upon his flesh and blood but directly latched onto something more fundamental, more core.

Then, a fierce yank!

"Urgh—!"

Shi Yongxin wanted to scream, but found he could produce no sound. In horror, he 'saw' his 'perspective' rapidly rising and moving away... No, it wasn't his perspective rising; it was his 'consciousness,' his 'self,' being forcibly 'peeled' out from that familiar, life-sustaining physical body!

Soul projection!

He had become a pure, ethereal spirit with only perception, floating behind his own physical form. He could 'see' his own body, now devoid of a soul—its eyes instantly turning vacant and dull, slowly collapsing like mud. He could feel the last, extremely faint connection to that body, but he could no longer control it to make even the slightest movement.

Summoning? Skills? Magic scrolls? All methods requiring a physical body or mental energy as a medium had now become an illusion for him. He couldn't even send out the simplest plea for help to the outside world.

"So... this is what happened to Three-Eyes..." Endless regret, like a venomous snake, gnawed at Shi Yongxin's now-fragile soul. He finally experienced firsthand the utter despair and terror his ace Monk had suffered. And he finally understood just what kind of being he had provoked.

He wanted to kneel, to kowtow, to beg for forgiveness by any means possible. He wanted to tell Lin Muyang he was wrong, that he was willing to pay any price just to keep his life. Unfortunately, in his pure soul state, even the most basic expression had become a luxury. He could only watch helplessly, like a powerless bystander, waiting for the final judgment to fall.

The next moment.

The Phoenix Heavenly Maiden Feng Ling took a step forward. Her breathtakingly beautiful face held no expression, only pure indifference. She didn't even transform into a phoenix. She simply extended a slender, jade-like finger towards Shi Yongxin's collapsed, vacant-eyed body and gave a light tap.

A tiny yet incredibly brilliant wisp of golden flame, as if condensed from the core temperature of the sun, drifted from her fingertip and gently landed on Shi Yongxin's chest.

Sss—!

There was no earth-shattering explosion, no scene of raging flames. The moment that golden wisp touched the flesh, it spread, permeated, and devoured like the most voracious fire ants! Shi Yongxin's body, starting from the chest, melted, vaporized, and dissipated at a visible rate, as if a wax figure had been tossed into a steel furnace! Skin, muscle, bone, organs, clothing, equipment—all were as fragile as morning dew under sunlight before that golden flame.

In less than half a second.

Only a barely visible pinch of charred ash remained on the ground. A faint breeze from nowhere swept past, scattering even that last trace of ash into nothingness, leaving no evidence that he had ever existed.

Clean. Thorough. As if this person had never appeared in the world.

"No—!!!" Shi Yongxin's soul let out a silent, utterly despairing scream. He could clearly feel the last faint thread of connection to his body snap as it was completely annihilated. A sense of weakness and 'separation' stemming from the very foundation of his existence flooded over him like a tide.

He saw that Lin Muyang didn't even spare another glance at the now-empty spot on the ground, as if he had merely brushed away a speck of dust. Lin Muyang gave a slight nod to the young ladies beside him, then turned and led them away with composed steps towards the light at the parking lot exit.

the young ladies followed quietly. The Elf Priest's expression was serene, the Phoenix Heavenly Maiden's gaze indifferent, the Night Elf Assassin's face impassive. The Yama Maiden had even sat back on her scythe, swinging her legs slightly, the same ethereal smile still playing on her lips.

Their retreating figures gradually grew distant in Shi Yongxin's increasingly blurred vision, finally merging into the light at the exit and disappearing.

Darkness, thick as the densest ink, surged from all directions, swallowing Shi Yongxin's last remaining shreds of consciousness. No pain, no sound, only eternal, icy nothingness.

His soul, like a dying candle flame in the wind, flickered one last time in struggle, then was extinguished completely, forever. Wiped cleanly from this world.

A moment later.

In the underground parking lot, the golden glow on the surfaces of the five golden 'statues' rapidly receded like a retreating tide. The bodies of the five official investigators returned to normal. They shuddered violently as if waking from a deep dream, their faces still etched with confusion and shock.

"Wh-what just happened?"

"Where's Shi Yongxin?!"

"Gone! Not a single trace!"

"Quick! Seal the scene! Report this!"

The lead investigator's face was ashen. He immediately took out his communicator, his voice urgent and grave: "Headquarters, this is the underground parking lot of the Tianhai City Martial Arts Arena. Target Shi Yongxin is missing. There are unidentified energy residues at the scene. We encountered unidentified interference. Requesting highest-level support and investigation!"