The moment Moyes was killed, the remaining Soul Husks surged toward the investigators behind him. Those left standing didn't even have the strength to resist—they were struck down in the blink of an eye. Judging by their injuries, none of them could have survived.
After clearing out the entrance, the Soul Husks did not advance any further. They stood frozen in place, like wooden stakes. Just then, another loud boom echoed through the building. A hole had been blasted through the wall near the main entrance, and through the smoke and dust walked in a group of thirty or so people. Leading the charge was none other than Lin Feng, the former Director of the Bureau's Fourth Division. I didn't recognize the people with him. They came in all shapes and sizes—some of them were even foreigners with blond hair.
As soon as he entered, Lin Feng looked up toward the surveillance camera. He sneered, mouthing something directly at it. Judging by the movement of his lips, he was saying: "I'm back." Then he pointed toward the camera. One of the foreigners beside him drew a handgun and shot it out. With a cascade of black screens, all surveillance footage from the first floor went dead.
"Welcome back to the Bureau…" Director Gao Liang scoffed at the now pitch-black monitor. He turned to a hidden compartment in his filing cabinet and opened it, revealing five ultra-thin copper wires. Without hesitation, he grabbed them and yanked all five at once. As he did, the Bureau building trembled again—but this time the tremor had a rhythm to it, pulsing from bottom to top, as though something heavy had shifted positions deep underground.
Just then, Director Gao's secretary, Wang Lu, walked in. "I've gathered all the administrative personnel who remained behind," she reported. "All elevators except the emergency one have been shut down. Phones and internet are blocked—we've lost all external communications. Looks like the enemy has jammed our signals. Also, I've brought this."
Though she was talking to Director Gao, the item in her hands was being handed directly to me. In her hands was the wooden case I'd previously stashed in Wu Rendi's locker in Sixth Division. I froze for a moment before taking it and opening the lid. Inside, the twin short swords—Blades of Sin and Retribution—were nestled safely in place. My mind blanked out a bit. It made sense that her computer had surveillance software, so she'd know something had happened… but how did she know about this?
There was no time to dwell on it. Holding these twin blades gave me an inexplicable surge of confidence. Remembering what Director Gao had said earlier about buying time, I handed the glass vial of liquid lead back to him and said, "Director, let me go down and stall them for a bit. I've dealt with Soul Husks before—I've got experience. Besides…" I ran my fingers through the white streaks in my hair. "It's not so easy to kill me anymore."
"Stall my ass!" Director Gao blurted. Maybe the situation had escalated beyond his expectations. His expression had changed completely. "I've sealed the entire Bureau. Let him try—two hours might not even be enough to break through."
He sneered again and turned to his secretary. "Get everyone to gather by the emergency elevator, but don't go downstairs just yet." Then he looked over at me. "You—come with me."
I didn't know what he was planning, so I followed him out of the office. At the entrance, I saw two to three dozen remaining admin staff and several investigators from Fifth Division. Despite their job titles, each of the admin staff was armed with a Bureau-issued sidearm. More impressively, the Fifth Division investigators were carrying the same type of assault rifles I'd once used during the wolf outbreak operation—clearly stock from the Fifth Division's arsenal.
Having trained as a special operations soldier, I naturally had a fondness for these types of weapons. The image of the foreigner who shot out the camera flashed in my mind, and my fingers itched. Before Gao Liang got too far, I borrowed an assault rifle and four magazines from a familiar investigator. I tied the wooden case containing the Blades of Sin and Retribution to my back with a strap, cradled the rifle in my arms, and jogged after the Director.
We headed straight for the stairwell on the sixth floor. The Bureau's staircases were built in a square spiral. From here, we could see all the way down to the first-floor lobby. Whoever designed this place had left a blind spot at each level—you could see down, but those below couldn't see you hiding above.
Director Gao and I squeezed into the dead angle, peering downward. On the first floor, the stair landing was crowded with Soul Husks and Lin Feng's people. Ten or so Soul Husks stood in formation, while most of Lin Feng's men hid behind them. A few were holding shovels and similar tools, carefully scraping away at the vertical surfaces of the stairs. These men were wrapped head to toe in special fabric, and even so, they moved with extreme caution—as if they feared the dust would seep through the seams and touch their skin.
A handful of Lin Feng's group were aiming AK-47s upward, but from their angle, they couldn't possibly spot us.
It was only then that I noticed the stair faces from the first to fifth floors had all been flipped. The original faux-stone facing had been rotated inward, revealing strange arcane inscriptions. From the time Director Gao had triggered the Bureau's defensive mechanisms until now, roughly ten minutes had passed. And in all that time, Lin Feng's men had only managed to scrape away two or three steps. Gao Liang had clearly overestimated them—at this pace, it would take at least three to five hours for them to reach the sixth floor. And that was before the Director added any extra "surprises."
He took one look at the scene below, then whispered to me, "Stay here and keep watch. I'll be right back." With that, he turned and left.
Fifteen or sixteen minutes later, just as the intruders were working on the eighth step, Director Gao returned, this time with five or six admin staff in tow. Each one of them was carrying three or four plastic bags—and whatever was inside them, I had a bad feeling it wasn't snacks.
After placing down the bags, Director Gao Liang waved the clerks away. He glanced sidelong at the scene below. The enemy had already reached the landing between the first and second floors. A sly grin appeared at the corner of his mouth as he muttered under his breath: "Three, two, one... showtime."
No sooner had the words left his mouth than a boom rang out. A fireball suddenly erupted from the stairwell landing, engulfing two men who immediately became walking infernos. They collapsed to the floor, writhing and rolling, screaming and cursing in agony.
Taking advantage of the ensuing chaos, Gao Liang tore open one of the plastic bags, revealing pink powder inside. He hugged the bag to his chest, looked at me, and said, "Aim for anyone who sticks their head out!"
I didn't quite understand what he meant at first. Then I saw Gao move to the stair rail opposite me. With a flick of his wrist, he dumped the entire bag of red powder downward. It looked like nothing more than colored flour, and strangely, it didn't create any dust cloud. The powder fell quickly, and upon contact with the Soul Husks on the first floor—boom!—a series of ten or so massive fireballs erupted. The pink powder had instantly ignited the Soul Husks. One after another, they were set ablaze, rolling across the floor as they wailed in shrill, agonizing voices. The cries sent a chill through my chest.
Just as Gao succeeded in his strike, he threw himself backward. Almost at the exact same moment, gunfire erupted from below. Several bullets narrowly missed him, chipping the wall above his head. Seizing the chaos, I popped out, raised my rifle, and pulled the trigger. One of Lin Feng's men—a bald thug standing beside him—dropped dead instantly.
I turned my aim toward the foreigner who had shot out the security camera. Just as I locked on, I realized he was already aiming at me. He was good—damn good. My hand trembled ever so slightly.
Crack! We both fired at the same time. The foreigner dropped his weapon and collapsed, clutching his head and writhing on the floor. My bullet had pierced his left ear. But I didn't come away unscathed—I toppled over backward as a round struck me directly in the throat.
I stared in shock as a crimson jet of blood burst from my neck. I'd seen this kind of wound before—when I was the one pulling the trigger. I'd watched bullets rip through other people's throats, watched blood gush from their necks as their tracheas were severed and they died choking on their own blood. I'd always aimed to kill. Maybe this was karma finally catching up with me.
The only sign I was still alive was the unbearable pain in my throat. Clutching my neck, I writhed on the ground. Across from me, I saw Director Gao squatting down, one hand gripping his shoulder. His expression seemed almost... amused. When he noticed me looking at him, he lifted his stubby little finger and motioned at me to come here.
I felt a surge of anger. What the hell was that supposed to mean? Couldn't he at least lend a hand? Just as I was about to curse him out, something strange happened—the pain in my throat suddenly diminished. I cautiously removed my hand. The blood had stopped flowing.
I pressed on the wound again. I couldn't see it, but I could tell it had shrunk significantly. What remained was a strange foreign-object sensation in my throat, not the sharp pain from before. The discomfort made me gag. I doubled over and vomited up a mouthful of blood—followed by a shiny, golden bullet head that clinked against the floor.
At that moment, Grandmaster Guangren's voice echoed in my mind: "People like us, who've taken the Elixir of Immortality, have unique physiques. As long as we're not beheaded, we can recover from nearly any injury…" He had also said something about recovery taking time—but this was too fast, wasn't it? And why did Gao Liang seem to know better than I did when I'd be up and moving again?
Gunfire continued to echo below, chaotic and nerve-wracking. My thoughts were a mess. I figured I might as well do what I was good at and stop thinking so much.
Had I known I'd survive this, I would've gone all in and traded shots with that foreigner. The more I thought about it, the angrier I became. I'd been in the military a long time, but this was easily the biggest loss I'd ever suffered.
I stood up, raised my assault rifle, and fired three rounds straight down the stairwell.
Apparently, no one expected me to still be alive. The gunmen below were all focused on Gao Liang. I caught them completely off guard. All three shots landed squarely in the heads of AK-47 wielders, sending their corpses tumbling to the floor. Unfortunately, that foreigner wasn't among them—otherwise, I'd have had my revenge right then and there.
The enemy quickly retreated into my blind spot, leaving behind only a dozen Soul Husks and two burning corpses. I kept my rifle trained on the stairwell, ready to shoot anyone foolish enough to show their face. The chaos subsided into a tense silence. About as long as it takes to smoke a cigarette passed—then I heard a raspy, duck-like voice shout from below:
"Lin Feng! You said he wasn't in the Bureau—what the hell is this? You using us as cannon fodder now?!"