74: Top Alert! Jiangcheng, the mystery of a stolen soul!

Jiangcheng.

Classified Emergency!

Lin Yuan's mind raced.

Anything that could make Zhou Weiguo so anxious was definitely not a small matter.

He had to go back immediately!

Zhao Xin watched the shifting expression on Lin Yuan's face, just about to ask what had happened.

The next second.

He witnessed a scene he would never forget in his life.

Lin Yuan, after a brief hesitation, a fierce look flashed across his face.

He held the heavenly thunder fragment in both hands and pressed it against his chest!

“Pfft—”

A sound like a branding iron searing into flesh rang out.

That heavenly thunder fragment, which even B-rank Experts dreaded, was actually… forcefully “stuffed” into his body!

“You… you…”

Zhao Xin's eyes nearly popped out of his head; he pointed at Lin Yuan, his lips trembling, unable to utter a complete sentence for a long time.

What the hell kind of operation was this?!

That was a heavenly thunder fragment!

A strategic material containing the laws of lightning!

It wasn’t an energy bar that could be casually stuffed into one’s body!

“Don’t get excited, Major Zhao.”

Lin Yuan patted his chest and gave a apologetic smile to the petrified Zhao Xin.

“I’ll take it first. You heard the sound just now, I’m in a hurry. Please help me with the paperwork.”

With that, he turned and rushed out of the treasury.

“For the Dragon Shield Bureau!”

As he ran, he righteously shouted a slogan.

Leaving Zhao Xin alone, bewildered in the wind.

Paper… paperwork?

This was an A-grade strategic material! Not mineral water that could be casually taken from a supermarket!

How could this paperwork be completed? Should they write “consumed on the spot by the champion, emergency requisitioned” on the receipt report?!

...Ten minutes later.

A special transport plane soared into the sky, whistling towards Jiangcheng.

Inside the cabin, the atmosphere was oppressive.

Besides Lin Yuan, there were more than a dozen C-rank Special Agents who had been temporarily conscripted and urgently dispatched from the Capital headquarters to support Jiangcheng.

Every face was filled with solemnity.

And his several “teammates”—Liu Yan, Shi Lei, and Mo Chen—were also present.

Liu Yan sat not far away, arms crossed, her face looking very displeased, occasionally casting a complex glance—there was annoyance, but more often, apprehension.

Shi Lei and Mo Chen were relatively quiet, but their solemn expressions indicated that they too understood the seriousness of the situation.

Of course, Su Wanqing was also there.

She had clearly been urgently recalled, still wearing her black uniform.

She sat directly opposite Lin Yuan, and from the moment she boarded the plane, her cold eyes had not left him.

Being stared at by so many people, especially by Su Wanqing, made Lin Yuan feel uncomfortable all over.

“Cough.”

He took the initiative to speak, breaking the silence.

“Beauty Su, what exactly happened?”

“Such a big commotion, did a monarch from the Abyssal Demon Realm reach our doorstep? Or did those lunatics from the Apocalypse Society detonate a nuclear bomb in Jiangcheng?”

In his understanding, only a disaster of such magnitude could warrant the six words “Classified Emergency”.

However, Su Wanqing shook her head.

Her voice was colder than the airflow outside the cabin.

“It’s more bizarre than that.”

“Bizarre?”

Lin Yuan was startled.

Su Wanqing pulled up an encrypted file on her personal terminal and turned the screen towards Lin Yuan.

On the screen was a map of Jiangcheng city.

Among them, the old city industrial zone in the west was circled in red.

“Three hours ago.”

Su Wanqing began to explain.

“The Dragon Shield Bureau’s Jiangcheng branch received over a thousand emergency calls, all from the old city industrial zone and its surroundings.”

“The content of the calls was varied and strange.”

“Some said they woke up to find their husband had become an unfamiliar stranger.”

“Some said their children had forgotten how to speak and write.”

“And some had even forgotten who they were.”

Lin Yuan's brows furrowed.

“Mass amnesia?”

“More than that.”

Su Wanqing’s tone became a bit heavier.

“The first group of colleagues who arrived at the scene discovered that over seventy percent of the residents in the entire old city industrial zone had fallen into a deep coma.”

“No external injuries, no energy residue, vital signs stable.”

“But they just couldn’t wake up.”

“We tried all physical and mental means of awakening, all to no avail.”

“They are like…”

Su Wanqing paused, seemingly searching for a suitable word.

“…puppets whose souls have been extracted.”

Inside the cabin, there was a deathly silence.

Even the surrounding C-rank Special Agents, who were accustomed to life and death, felt their scalps tingle.

No enemy, no battle.

Yet it was more chilling than any bloody battlefield.

Lin Yuan stroked his chin, his expression becoming strange.

His focus was clearly different from others.

“Hold on…”

He asked tentatively.

“You mean, the objective of this mission isn’t monsters, nor enemies.”

“But a group of… sleeping ordinary people?”

Su Wanqing nodded: “That’s one way to understand it.”

“Hold on,” Lin Yuan’s expression grew even stranger, “This isn’t even in my professional field.”

He spread his hands, looking at Su Wanqing with a puzzled expression: “All my skills are for physical exorcism.”

“Why did you call me here? Asking me, an expert in high-voltage electricity, to do the work of a psychologist, isn’t this high-risk cross-professional work?”

“So, shouldn’t the danger allowance and appearance fee be double?”

Su Wanqing: “…”

The dozen or so C-rank Special Agents around them all turned their heads in unison, looking at Lin Yuan as if he were an alien.

Brother!

Is this the time to be concerned about that?

The whole city is in crisis!

Is there anything else in your mind besides money?!

Su Wanqing took a deep breath, forcing back the “get lost” that was on the tip of her tongue. She decided to use the simplest and most direct method to shut him up.

“According to preliminary assessment, this is very likely a widespread, never-before-seen spiritual domain contamination, or some form of conceptual attack.”

“Threat level is tentatively set at ‘A-’.”

“All C-rank and above personnel participating in the operation will receive a basic contribution points reward of ten thousand points or more.”

Lin Yuan’s eyes lit up.

“Ten thousand points!”

“You should have said so earlier!”

He slapped his thigh abruptly, the playful and mercenary look on his face vanishing, replaced by an expression of righteousness.

“Saving lives and helping the injured is inherently an inescapable responsibility for us Dragon Shield Bureau members!”

“The safety of the people’s lives is paramount! Mere contribution points are not worth mentioning!”

Everyone: “…”

Just then.

Lin Yuan’s body trembled imperceptibly.

He felt something had gone wrong in his Dantian Thunder Sea.

That heavenly thunder fragment, which he had just “stuffed” in, like a new prison bully, as soon as it entered, it clashed with the original villain in the cell—the abyssal origin!

A violent dark purple divine thunder collided fiercely with a viscous, pitch-black energy mass in his Dantian!

Boom!

Lin Yuan felt as if a grenade had exploded in his lower abdomen.

A sharp pain almost made him cry out.

He quickly mobilized his original lightning power, like a mediator, desperately trying to separate the two “great gods.”

Damn it.

When it rains, it pours.

A pile of troubles outside, and now a civil war erupting inside his own body.

“What’s wrong?”

Su Wanqing noticed his abnormality and asked, frowning.

“Nothing.”

Lin Yuan gritted his teeth, squeezing out two words.

“Maybe… a little airsick.”

Su Wanqing gave him a look that said, “Who are you kidding?”

Just then.

“Rumble—”

The fuselage shook, beginning to decelerate and descend.

The broadcast inside the cabin sounded.

“Attention, we are about to arrive at the designated area over Jiangcheng. All combat personnel, please prepare.”

Lin Yuan looked down through the porthole.

The familiar city nightscape came into view.

But amidst the dazzling lights, one area was plunged into darkness.

It was tightly cordoned off by circles of glaring military searchlight beams.