183: Since it's an electrified thing, then I'll just shut it down!

Zhao Ya was stumped by the question.

She opened her mouth, wanting to speak of righteousness and responsibility.

But looking at Lin Yuan's eyes, which were clearly screaming "make money," those words were swallowed back down.

"Yes."

Su Wanqing suddenly spoke, raising her head to look at Lin Yuan.

"The Dragon Shield Bureau has a 'Special Intelligence Recovery Reward Mechanism'."

"For intelligence of this level, especially evidence involving the core plans of the Apocalypse Society..."

Su Wanqing held up three fingers.

"The starting price is three hundred spirit crystal coins."

"If it's exclusive and includes a complete data chain..."

She added two more fingers.

"Five hundred spirit crystal coins, plus contribution points."

Lin Yuan's ears twitched.

The look of disdain and impatience on his Face earlier vanished without a trace.

He dashed to the control panel, pushing Su Wanqing aside.

"Move, move, the professional is here to handle it."

Lin Yuan pulled out a huge black plastic bag from who knows where.

He swiftly began to sweep everything up.

Hard drives? Bagged!

Documents? Bagged!

Even the few slightly high-tech looking mouse pads on the table were stuffed into his bag.

"These are all evidence!"

"Nobody is allowed to touch them!"

Lin Yuan warned Xiao Zhenhai, who was about to help, while still packing.

"Old Xiao, have your men guard the door!"

"Don't let even a fly in!"

"These are all my... *cough cough*, the nation's precious assets!"

Xiao Zhenhai wiped the cold sweat from his forehead, looking at Lin Yuan, whose demeanor had suddenly changed.

"Yes... yes, Master Lin."

Zhao Ya watched the man, who was bent over, seemingly wanting to pry up the floor tiles and take them with him, and helplessly pressed a hand to her forehead.

"This guy..."

"As long as the money is right, he could empty out the Apocalypse Society's headquarters."

Su Wanqing watched Lin Yuan's busy back, a slight smile playing on her lips.

"At least, he's very real."

Just as Lin Yuan stuffed the last USB drive into his pocket.

The main screen on the control panel suddenly flickered.

Sizzle, sizzle, sizzle—

After the static cleared.

A Face wearing a silver mask appeared on the screen.

On the mask was a crying Clown.

"Excellent."

A voice, processed by a voice changer, came from the speakers.

It had an unsettling, electronically synthesized quality.

"Truly an excellent performance."

Lin Yuan stopped what he was doing.

He shielded the plastic bag filled with "five hundred coins" behind him, narrowing his eyes at the screen.

"Who's this?"

"Playing mysterious, too ashamed to show your Face?"

The Clown Mask ignored Lin Yuan's taunt.

He seemed unfazed by the fall of this base.

"Lin Yuan."

The other party accurately called out his name.

"Pseudo B-rank lightning ability user."

"The new star of the Dragon Shield Bureau's Jiangcheng Branch Bureau."

"I didn't expect you to come to Penglai, and that useless Divine Official and the Three-headed Serpent actually fell into your hands."

The Clown let out a low laugh.

"However, this is just the beginning."

"This ship is just a small gift we're sending to Penglai."

"The real carnival is yet to come."

Lin Yuan picked at his ear.

"I say, do you villains all have a training class?"

"Your lines are all exactly the same."

"When you lose, you spout threats, saying things like 'this is just the beginning,' 'I'll be back.'"

Lin Yuan picked up the staff from the table and pointed it at the screen.

"If you've got guts, crawl through the internet cable and fight me!"

The Clown's laughter abruptly stopped.

He seemed to be choked by Lin Yuan's unconventional reaction.

"You will regret this."

"When the people around you die one by one, when the power you are proud of becomes a curse..."

"We will meet again."

The image on the screen began to distort.

All the glass tanks suddenly lit up red.

"Warning! Self-destruct sequence initiated!"

"Warning! Reactor will overload in thirty seconds!"

A mechanical voice echoed through the laboratory, and the alarm lights cast a red glow on everyone's Faces.

"Damn it!"

Zhao Ya's Face changed dramatically, her longsword unsheathed, ready to cut an escape route through the wall.

"Hurry! Only thirty seconds! A reactor explosion of this magnitude will blow the entire ship sky-high!"

Su Wanqing also grabbed the tablet, her other hand reaching for Lin Yuan.

"Lin Yuan, hurry and leave!"

However, her hand grasped at air.

Not only did Lin Yuan not run, but he stood still, clutching the large plastic bag full of "five hundred coins" tighter to his chest.

"Run?"

He curled his lip.

"You think too little of me as an official."

"If I let you blow up my spoils right under my nose, where would I, 'Thor,' put my Face?"

Before his words finished.

Lin Yuan raised his right hand and pressed it firmly onto the control panel.

Zzzzzzz—!!!

A current flowed from his palm into the control panel.

In an instant, the entire cruise ship's circuit diagram formed in Lin Yuan's mind.

Where the detonators were, where the reactor control valves were, where the signal transmission nodes were... everything was clear to him, with nothing hidden.

"You want to blow up my stuff?"

A fierce glint flashed in Lin Yuan's eyes.

"Get back in there, you hear me!!"

His five fingers clenched.

The current transformed into countless surgical knives, burning out all the detonator chips and simultaneously destroying the reactor's control System.

The red numbers, which had been rapidly counting down, suddenly froze when they reached "00:03."

Sizzle, sizzle, sizzle... a wisp of blue smoke emerged from the cracks in the control panel, carrying a burnt smell.

Immediately after, the alarm stopped.

The Clown Mask on the screen froze, the image stuck for a few seconds.

"How is this possible..."

"You... you cut off the physical detonation circuit? But this is an independent power source..."

"Physical?"

Lin Yuan withdrew his hand, blew on the electric sparks emanating from his fingertips, and said with disdain.

"This is skill."

"Anything that's electrified is like a little brother in front of me."

Lin Yuan picked up the staff from the table and poked the Clown's Face on the screen, his tone incredibly arrogant.

"And listen up."

"This ship now belongs to Lin."

"Every screw, every hard drive, even this broken monitor, is mine."

"You want to blow up my stuff?"

Lin Yuan sneered, lightning flashing in his eyes.

Boom!

A current flowed backward along the data cable, directly shattering the screen and blasting the annoying Clown Face into a pile of glass shards.

The world became quiet.

Zhao Ya remained frozen in place, in the posture of raising her sword to cleave the wall.

"...That works too?"

She sheathed her sword and swallowed.

She had seen people disarm bombs with their bare hands, but this was the first time she had seen someone "electrify" a bomb back into submission.

"Why not?"

Lin Yuan patted the black plastic bag, his expression perfectly reasonable.

"There are still many good things on this ship; even selling it for scrap metal would be worth a lot of money."

Saying that, he turned to look at Xiao Zhenhai at the door.

"Old Xiao! Don't just stand there!"

"Quickly call people to clean up!"

"Drag this ship back, search it thoroughly inside and out for me. If even one screw is missing, I'll hold you responsible!"

Xiao Zhenhai wiped away a bead of cold sweat and nodded quickly.

"Yes... yes! Master Lin is mighty! I'll get right on it!"