48: Chapter 48 was handed over to Cheng Jian

Less than half an hour after the live broadcast ended, the base of the Yi City Armed Police Detachment was in chaos.

Cheng Jian stood at the front of the formation, while the team members behind him were still whispering to each other.

Some people kept repeating the words "Spiritual Energy Revival," as if confirming they hadn't misheard.

Others pulled out their phones, frantically refreshing the news, hoping to find something in the overwhelming flood of information that could put their minds at ease.

More people just stood there blankly, waiting for someone to tell them what to do next.

Cheng Jian did not speak.

It wasn't that he didn't want to; he just didn't know what to say.

He had served in the military for over a decade and had lost count of the missions he had executed.

Flood control, disaster relief, search and rescue—each time there was a clear objective, and each time he knew exactly what he needed to do.

But this time was different.

This was not a natural disaster, nor a man-made accident; it was the Spiritual Energy Revival of the entire world.

The moment he saw the leader bow on television just now, the muscles in his back had tightened until they were rigid.

Spiritual Energy Revival.

He chewed on these four words, his mind churning with questions: Where did this come from?

What kind of impact would it have on people?

What about his team members?

What about his family?

But in the military, there was no time left for anyone to space out.

The order came down.

Within one week, all residents in the deep mountains surrounding Yi City were to be relocated to the urban area.

New residential areas had already been planned, and the resettlement plan along with the material allocation list were issued simultaneously.

This was a hard order that must be completed.

Cheng Jian's muscles moved before his brain.

"Assemble!"

His voice exploded across the base parade ground, dragging the dazed team members out of their various trains of thought.

In thirty seconds, everyone was in formation.

Cheng Jian's gaze swept across every face; some were still biting their lips, others were clenching their fists, but not a single person opened their mouth to ask why.

"You all know the mission, right?

Relocate mountain residents, to be completed within one week.

Carry out tasks according to the designated target areas.

Discipline requirements remain the same; maintain a proper attitude toward the masses, be thorough in your actions, and safety comes first.

Use the walkie-talkie if anything comes up, over."

"Yes!"

Three troop transport trucks drove out of the base gates, heading toward the mountainous area west of Yi City.

Meanwhile, Chen Mo had already arrived near the base.

He had taken a detour all the way from his hometown.

He didn't take the main roads, but rather the small paths without surveillance cameras.

His speed was only slightly faster than a normal run, trying his best to avoid attracting anyone's attention.

His clothes were prepared beforehand: the most ordinary dark long-sleeved shirt with no markings.

Wearing a hat and a mask under the scorching July sun, he looked like a worker on the move.

At an observation point on the perimeter of the base, Chen Mo stopped.

The position he chose was at a window on the second floor of an abandoned three-story building, from which he could see the base's parade ground and parking lot through the glass.

When he had observed Cheng Jian before, he had already scouted out all the high ground and surveillance blind spots within three hundred meters of the base.

He saw Cheng Jian organizing the formation, heard the "Assemble!" command, and also saw the direction in which the troop transport trucks drove out of the gate.

Chen Mo did not follow immediately.

He waited about ten minutes to let the convoy gain enough distance.

Then he jumped down from the window and moved rapidly toward the southwest along the ridgeline parallel to the road.

The troop trucks took the winding mountain road, while he took a straight line.

As the vehicles wound along the mountain roads, he could leap dozens of meters in a single step through the forest, always maintaining a parallel distance of about two kilometers from the convoy.

Forty minutes later, the convoy arrived at the mission area.

This was a natural village scattered in a mountain col, with about a dozen households.

The houses were of an old-fashioned brick-and-wood structure, with the bases of the walls nearly half-swallowed by weeds.

On the back wall of one household, ivy had completely covered the entire window, and the homeowner was using a sickle to cut it away.

The team dispersed.

Every two or three people formed a group, responsible for the relocation work of one household.

Cheng Jian, with a young team member, walked toward the household closest to the foot of the mountain.

Chen Mo lay prone in a bush on the opposite hillside, watching everything through the gaps in the branches and leaves.

He waited for nearly an hour.

This household was the most isolated, being fifty or sixty meters away from the nearest neighbor.

Behind the house was a dense forest, and the mountain terrain was steep.

More importantly, there were no cameras around.

In this natural village deep in the mountains, the power grid was barely connected, and there was no surveillance equipment whatsoever.

The Armed Police in the neighboring houses were all busy at their respective locations, and no one would spare a glance in this direction.

Cheng Jian tied up the old person's bedding with rope and folded all the clothes one by one into a woven bag.

The old person's spouse had passed away the year before last; their children worked in the city, and only she and a yellow dog were at home.

The yellow dog barked at Cheng Jian at first, but he squatted down to let it sniff the back of his hand, and within two minutes, it stopped barking.

Chen Mo withdrew his gaze.

He backed out of the bushes and silently circled to the back of the old house.

Then he put down the things in his hand.

A sealed bag containing a handwritten notebook on the Human Breathing Method.

A memory card containing the video recorded in the deep mountains of Sichuan Province.

And a slip of paper with a few lines written on it this morning.

He gently placed these three items on a dry stone slab behind the house and weighed them down.

Then he raised his head, facing the direction of the old house, and called out.

"Cheng Jian."

The voice was not loud.

But it was enough for the person inside to hear.

After those two words left his mouth, Chen Mo had already vanished from the spot.

He did not watch Cheng Jian's reaction.

He only needed Cheng Jian to know he had been there; the impression left by his voice was far more impactful than appearing in person.

Appearing in person meant "I want you to see me," while leaving only a voice without a shadow meant "You will never be able to catch me."

This was the best proof; no words were needed, as his speed and the traces left behind were enough to explain everything.

Cheng Jian's reaction was faster than Chen Mo had anticipated.

He heard the call and, almost the instant the sound died away, turned and rushed out the back door.

With his dozen years of training as an Armed Police Detachment leader, the interval from auditory perception to his body reacting was less than 0.3 seconds.

But what he saw was only a black shadow vanishing from the edge of the dense forest opposite at a speed that far exceeded his comprehension.

Like water sinking into sand, like a bird diving into clouds.

That speed was something he had never seen in any living creature, so fast that he wasn't even sure if what he saw was the silhouette of a person.

Then he looked down and saw the items placed on the stone slab.

A sealed bag, an old notebook, and a slip of paper.

He bent down to pick them up and first looked at the words on the paper.

"Cheng Jian, after you go back, open this notebook and memory card.

There is something inside that I have prepared for you.

Do not let anyone else know."

Cheng Jian's fingers tightened slightly.

His heart was beating even faster than when he had chased out just now.

The other party knew his name.

This was not a random delivery.

This person had been observing him for a long time, perhaps even watching him all along.

But until now, in those few seconds when he heard the call, chased out the door, and saw the black shadow vanish, he hadn't even seen what the other person looked like.

He looked down at the slip of paper, then at the sealed bag in his hand.

Then he folded the items, put them into his inner pocket, zipped it up, and returned to the house.