123: The entire city is to be sacrificed! The countdown to the end of the world may begin tomorrow!

Zhou Weiguo's smile slowly faded, replaced by a serious expression.

He sat back in his chair, hands clasped on the table.

The atmosphere in the office immediately shifted from a celebration to a pre-battle meeting.

"Alright, that's enough small talk."

Zhou Weiguo's voice deepened.

"As for the information you brought... regarding the Apocalypse Society."

He paused, then glanced at Su Wanqing again.

"As the highest-ranking official of the Jiangcheng Branch Bureau, I confirm to you all."

"The intelligence is accurate."

"And the situation is much worse than you imagine."

Lin Yuan's smile also vanished.

He could tell that Zhou Weiguo wasn't joking.

This old fox, though he usually liked to trick him, was never ambiguous on matters of such grave importance.

"Worse? How bad is it?"

Lin Yuan asked.

"They aren't targeting Jiangcheng as their 'next' objective."

Zhou Weiguo said, enunciating each word.

"Their true plan has always been in Jiangcheng!"

"The Qin Family's so-called 'hatchery' was merely an insignificant part of their overall plan, perhaps even just a smokescreen to attract our attention."

Su Wanqing's expression also grew solemn.

"What plan?"

Zhou Weiguo didn't answer directly.

He pulled a black folder from his drawer.

On the cover of the folder, a large 'S' was printed in bright red.

Along with the words "Top Secret."

He pushed the folder towards Lin Yuan and Su Wanqing.

"See for yourselves."

Lin Yuan and Su Wanqing exchanged glances.

S-class.

Within the Dragon Shield Bureau, this represented the highest level of confidentiality.

Only the highest-ranking officials of each branch and core members of the headquarters had access.

Lin Yuan reached out and opened the folder.

The first page was a satellite map.

The map showed the familiar Jiangcheng.

But on the map, more than a dozen locations were marked with red dots.

There were abandoned factories, warehouses in the suburbs, and even an office building in the city center.

"These are..."

Lin Yuan's brow furrowed.

"All the locations of 'Spiritual Qi leaks' or 'smallOther Space' incidents that occurred in Jiangcheng and its surrounding areas in the past three months."

Zhou Weiguo explained.

"Before, we always thought these were just normal, scattered phenomena after the Spiritual Qi's Awakening."

"But when we cross-referenced them with the intelligence you brought back from the Qin Family..."

Zhou Weiguo tapped his finger on the table.

"We discovered that these locations form a massive... Formation."

Lin Yuan's heart skipped a beat.

He looked at the map again.

Connecting the dozen or so red dots in his mind.

A colossal outline emerged!

This Formation almost enveloped the entire Jiangcheng!

"What do those lunatics from the Apocalypse Society want to do?"

Zhou Weiguo's voice was tinged with coldness.

"Based on all current clues, we have a worst-case scenario..."

He paused, each word seemingly squeezed through his teeth, "They want to sacrifice... this entire city."

The office was silent; no one spoke.

Fifteen million... This number, like a mountain, weighed on Lin Yuan and Su Wanqing's hearts.

"Why would they do this?"

Su Wanqing's voice was a little hoarse.

Zhou Weiguo opened the second page of the folder.

On it were shocking photographs.

The photos showed dissected creatures.

There were mutated animals and low-level demons.

Their commonality was that their body tissues showed some bizarre, fungus-spore-like mutation.

"Abyssal Cult."

Zhou Weiguo uttered a name.

"Do you remember the case you handled at the steel mill last time?"

Lin Yuan certainly remembered.

That was the first time he had seen such disgusting things as abyssal spores.

"The Apocalypse Society is cooperating with the Abyssal Cult."

Zhou Weiguo stated a fact that shocked both Lin Yuan and Su Wanqing.

"One is a fanatic of human supremacy."

"The other is an interdimensional invader that only wants to devour the world."

"These two organizations, seemingly unrelated, have actually colluded."

Lin Yuan felt his brain couldn't keep up.

This plot development was too fantastical.

"The Apocalypse Society is responsible for setting up the 'Boundary-Drawing Formation' in Jiangcheng, weakening our world's spatial barrier by creating chaos."

"And the Abyssal Cult provides 'abyssal spores' as 'seeds'."

"Once the Formation is activated, the entire Jiangcheng will be dragged into a semi-real, semi-illusory 'Abyssal Domain'."

"Everyone in the city will be contaminated by the 'abyssal spores' and transformed into monsters that only know slaughter and consumption."

"By then, Jiangcheng will no longer be Jiangcheng."

Zhou Weiguo looked up at them.

A layer of cold sweat seeped from Lin Yuan's back.

He finally understood why the fellow named Xiao Jue had mentioned Jiangcheng in the mental sea.

"How much time do we have?"

Su Wanqing asked the most crucial question.

"I don't know."

Zhou Weiguo shook his head.

"It could be a month, it could be a week."

"It could even be... tomorrow."

He looked at Lin Yuan, his gaze heavy.

"Now, our only advantage is that we know their plan in advance."

"And you, Lin Yuan, are our only... breaking point."

Lin Yuan was startled.

"Me?"

"That's right."

Zhou Weiguo nodded affirmingly.

"The energy fluctuations of 'abyssal spores' are extremely weak, and conventional instruments cannot detect them at all. Only you, with your Electromagnetic Induction, might be able to find those hidden 'Formation Cores' before they erupt on a large scale!"

"Moreover, your power of lightning is a natural bane to abyssal power."

"You are the only trump card we have to turn the tables."

Zhou Weiguo's tone was very firm.

"Therefore, this task can only be entrusted to you."

He looked at Lin Yuan, awaiting his answer.

Su Wanqing's gaze also fell on Lin Yuan.

She knew how heavy this burden was.

It concerned the lives of fifteen million people.

It concerned the survival of the entire Jiangcheng.

Lin Yuan fell silent.

He lowered his head, looking at the S-class top-secret file on the table, his fingers unconsciously caressing the edge of the folder.

After a long time, he finally looked up, his expression complex, at Zhou Weiguo.

"Old Zhou, you think too highly of me." His voice was a little hoarse.

Zhou Weiguo's heart was in his throat, waiting quietly for him to continue.

"How long has it been since my Awakening? And you're putting the lives of fifteen million people on me alone." Lin Yuan smiled bitterly, "To be honest, I don't have that much ability. This burden is too heavy; I'm afraid I can't bear it."

The atmosphere in the office grew even heavier.

"But..." Lin Yuan's tone shifted, his eyes sharp, "I also live in this city. I have no choice."

"I will do my best."

Just as Zhou Weiguo breathed a sigh of relief, he heard Lin Yuan continue:

"However, let me be clear. If I truly succeed in this, the mission rewards, resource allocation, and merit points must be at the highest standard, without a single thing missing. I don't want to fight to the death only to end up with a verbal commendation."