75: If you pay the right amount, even the most sacred places will be ruined!

The cabin door opened.

Lin Yuan was the first to jump off the plane, his feet landing on the tarmac.

Zhou Weiguo stood at the edge of the tarmac, his face so grim it looked like it could drip water.

He was still wearing his casual office clothes, clearly having rushed there immediately after the incident.

Seeing the reinforcements arrive, he strode forward to meet them.

“What’s the situation?”

Liu Yan, as the captain of this temporary reinforcement squad, stepped forward and saluted to report.

However, Zhou Weiguo’s gaze bypassed her and fell directly on Lin Yuan.

“Make it short.”

Zhou Weiguo wasted no words, directly synchronizing the latest situation brief to everyone’s personal terminals.

“Three and a half hours ago, the anomaly appeared.”

“Three hours ago, the Old City Industrial Zone was sealed off.”

“Two hours ago, our first reconnaissance team went in. Less than ten minutes later, all members lost contact.”

“One hour ago, the second team, led by two C-rank Special Agents and equipped with the highest level of psychic protection gear. The result was the same: after entering, their signal was cut, and vital sign monitoring showed… deep sleep.”

“Half an hour ago, we discovered that the anomalous area is slowly expanding outwards at a rate of fifty meters per hour.”

Zhou Weiguo’s voice was low and grave.

The expressions on the faces of all the C-rank elites present grew heavier with each passing moment.

An unknown enemy is always the most terrifying.

However.

In this dead silence.

A hand was lazily raised.

It was Lin Yuan.

Zhou Weiguo’s eye twitched violently.

He had a very bad premonition.

“Speak,” Zhou Weiguo practically bit out the word through gritted teeth.

“Reporting, Director.”

Lin Yuan looked serious, as if he were about to report a major discovery.

“I just want to confirm one thing.”

“Since it’s preliminarily judged to be a psychic field contamination, if we, who specialize in physical attacks, go in and also get contaminated, and our brains short-circuit, would that count as a work-related injury?”

The dozen or so C-rank Special Agents from the capital all stared wide-eyed at Lin Yuan.

Liu Yan’s face instantly flushed red.

She felt she had never been so embarrassed in her life.

Shi Lei and Mo Chen quietly shuffled two steps to the side, trying to distance themselves from Lin Yuan.

This was absolutely outrageous!

What kind of occasion was this? What kind of timing?

You’re actually concerned about work-related injury claims?!

Su Wanqing was completely unfazed by this.

Lin Yuan’s antics could no longer stir a ripple in her heart.

“Also…” Lin Yuan seemed completely oblivious to the change in atmosphere around him, and was about to add more.

“Shut up!”

Zhou Weiguo abruptly cut him off, feeling his temples throb.

He was afraid that if he let this guy say one more word, he wouldn’t be able to resist pulling out his gun and physically sending him to the afterlife!

He clenched his fists tightly, squeezing out the next words through his teeth.

“Base contribution points: twenty thousand!”

“During the operation, all consumed talismans, elixirs, and equipment will be reimbursed by the bureau at double the cost!”

“If anyone unfortunately sacrifices themselves…”

He glanced at Lin Yuan, emphasizing his tone.

“The bereavement payment will be eight figures!”

Lin Yuan abruptly lowered his hand, stood ramrod straight, and gave Zhou Weiguo an impeccably standard salute.

“Reporting, Director!”

“Please rest assured!”

“For the peace of Jiangcheng! For the happiness of the people!”

“I! C-rank Special Agent Lin Yuan! Have long since disregarded my personal life and death!”

“I will not rest until evil is vanquished!”

His impassioned and righteous demeanor left everyone around him stunned.

If they hadn’t heard his previous words, they almost would have believed him.

“Alright!”

Zhou Weiguo waved his hand impatiently; he didn’t want to waste another word on this joker.

“Su Wanqing!”

“Here!”

“You and Lin Yuan, along with Liu Yan, Shi Lei, and Mo Chen, will form the First Assault Squad.”

Zhou Weiguo pointed at the blockade line in front of them.

“I’m giving you an hour. I want to know what exactly is happening inside!”

“Yes!”

Su Wanqing accepted the order and turned to look at her “teammates.”

Liu Yan’s face was unpleasant, but she still reluctantly came over.

Shi Lei and Mo Chen also followed.

The five-person squad reassembled.

“Let’s go.”

Su Wanqing was concise, leading the way towards the blockade line.

Passing through the cordon guarded by armored vehicles and heavily armed soldiers, they officially stepped into that area.

Buzz—

It was as if they had passed through a thin membrane.

The outside world’s clamor was cut off.

There was no wind, no insect chirps, and even the distant city noise had completely disappeared.

A deathly silence.

The streets were empty.

The streetlights were still on, but their light appeared cold and eerie.

They walked in the middle of the road, their footsteps particularly jarring in the dead silence.

Soon, they saw the first “victim.”

A private car was parked crookedly in the middle of the road, its door wide open.

The driver, a middle-aged man, had his head resting on the steering wheel, sound asleep, with even a trace of drool at the corner of his mouth.

On the sidewalk not far away.

A girl in a school uniform, carrying a backpack, leaned against a wall, also deep in sleep.

Her earphones were still in her ears, her phone screen was on, playing an idol drama.

Walking further ahead.

At a roadside barbecue stall, the owner and several diners were all slumped over tables, unconscious.

The skewers on the table were still steaming faintly.

Everything seemed to have been paused.

“Use your perception to scan, do not touch them,” Su Wanqing calmly instructed.

Mo Chen nodded, closing his eyes.

A ripple emanated from him.

A moment later, he opened his eyes and shook his head.

“No energy reactions whatsoever.”

“Their bodies are normal, vital signs stable, as if… they’re just sleeping too deeply.”

Liu Yan also tried to perceive with wind, with the same result.

“Damn it, what the hell is this thing?” she cursed under her breath, annoyed.

Su Wanqing’s brows furrowed into a knot.

Just then.

Lin Yuan, who had been trailing at the back of the team, looking around, suddenly stopped.

He activated Electromagnetic Induction.

In his perceptual world, everything transformed into an ocean of electromagnetic waves.

These sleeping people, from the perspective of Electromagnetic Induction, were no different from normal people.

But… Lin Yuan’s perception slowly swept across the entire space.

He noticed something amiss.

It wasn’t energy.

Nor was it psychic fluctuations.

It was that the electromagnetic environment of this area had been completely “formatted.”

A normal city should be filled with countless interwoven waves of cell phone signals, radio broadcasts, wireless networks, and so on.

But here, everything carrying information had vanished without a trace, leaving only a chilling “blankness.”

This feeling was extremely bizarre.

Just as he tried to delve deeper into the essence of this “blankness.”

Boom!

In his dantian’s sea of thunder, the two “great gods” that had been in a standoff suddenly became active, as if stimulated by something.

The dark purple lightning on the heavenly thunder fragment surged!

The dark energy in the abyssal origin churned wildly!

Two completely different forces collided fiercely in his lower abdomen!