Changfeng Logistics Park lay in the southern suburbs, spanning more than three hundred mu—one of Jiang City's largest distribution hubs. By day, the place roared with ceaseless traffic, but after eight at night, only a handful of staff and a few night-shift freight trucks remained.
Lu Chen parked his car at an abandoned repair shop two kilometers away and approached on foot.
At night, the logistics park was unnervingly quiet. A few tall streetlamps cast pools of dim yellow light, and rows of standardized warehouses crouched in the darkness like slumbering steel beasts. Most roll-up doors were locked; only a few sorting centers still glowed with work lights.
Warehouse No. 7 sat at the deepest corner near the perimeter wall—a standalone structure no different in appearance from the others: blue steel walls, white shutter door, two box trucks parked out front.
But Aura Perception told Lu Chen there were at least twelve energy signatures inside.
Three of them fluctuated between level 25 and 30. Six hovered around level 15 to 20. And three… incredibly faint, almost like ordinary humans, yet pulsing with abnormal frequency.
Lu Chen crouched in the shadow of a cargo truck fifty meters away and opened the system interface.
"System, any stealth-type support abilities?"
[Host need detected]
[Redeemable skill: Shadow Step (Basic), 1500 points]
[Redeemable item: Invisibility Talisman (single-use), 800 points]
[Redeemable status: Aura Suppression (1 hour), 500 points]
He had only 500 points left—whatever remained after buying the Marrow-Cleansing Pill and Battle Insight Crystal.
"Redeem Aura Suppression."
[Redeemed. Points -500]
[Aura Suppression activated: energy presence reduced by 90%, movement noise reduced by 50%]
[Note: does not grant invisibility; still vulnerable to visual detection]
Good enough.
Lu Chen steadied his breathing, guiding his energy into a specialized pattern—one recorded in the Basic Body-Refinement Manual. Combined with the system's suppression, the effect was substantial.
He slipped forward like a drifting shadow.
Circling to the warehouse flank, he found a fire-exit door chained shut. The windows loomed more than three meters high.
He backed up, sprinted, planted his foot against the wall, and caught the window ledge. Silent, precise.
Locked from the inside, but the glass was ordinary. He scored a small hole with his knife, slipped a wire inside, and flipped the latch.
Sliding the window open, he vaulted in.
He emerged on the second-floor platform among stacked cartons and abandoned machinery. Below stretched the warehouse interior—wide, dim, lit only by scattered emergency lamps.
Lu Chen crawled to the railing and peered down.
The warehouse had been converted into a temporary base. The center was cleared, set with folding tables and camp beds. Along the walls were crates of weapons, medical supplies, and strange devices.
Twelve people in total.
Three high-levels sat at a central table, conversing quietly. Two mid-levels guarded the entrance, two checked weapons, two slept. The three faint signatures—ordinary people—were locked in an iron cage, bound and gagged.
Lu Chen's gaze moved to the devices.
One resembled an energy analyzer. Another—a half-sphere engraved with glowing blue lines—rotated slowly.
[Detected: "Spatial Locator Beacon" (Defective)]
[Function: Stabilizes spatial folds; assists in opening temporary teleportation channels]
[Status: Charging (ETA: 12 hours)]
[Warning: improper use may cause spatial collapse]
As expected—Ghost Organization.
They were preparing to open a rift to that secret realm.
Among the three high-levels, one was a woman around thirty with short hair, clad in a black tactical suit. A thin scar cut across her left cheek.
She was pointing at a map.
"…The Association already sealed the docks, but we have an insider through Director Wang. We'll get a two-hour window. Tomorrow at midnight, the beacon finishes charging—we open the channel."
"How long can it stay open?" asked a bald man.
"Thirty minutes at most. Anyone entering must return within that time, or they'll be trapped." The scarred woman tapped the map. "Our objective is clear—retrieve the relics of the 'Ark Laboratory,' especially the 'Energy Core.' With it, the organization can mass-produce ability users."
"What about those three?" a bespectacled young man asked, nodding toward the cage.
"Once we're inside, let them go. Ordinary people who see what they shouldn't either go mad or die." Her voice was cold. "And remember—we're here to retrieve, not massacre. The quieter we stay, the better."
Lu Chen slowly backed away, preparing to withdraw.
He had the intel he needed: tomorrow at midnight, Ghost Organization would open the rift to steal an "Energy Core."
He needed to report this.
But as he stepped back, his foot pressed onto a discarded metal pipe.
Clang—
The sound rang painfully loud in the vast warehouse.
"Who's there?!"
The scarred woman sprang up, a dagger appearing in her hand.
Lights on the second-floor platform blazed on.
Lu Chen was exposed.
Without hesitation, he bolted for the window—
Too late.
Two level-18 fighters burst up the stairs, flanking him. Their speed was professional and deadly.
"Capture him!" the scarred woman shouted.
Lu Chen charged the fighter on the left.
The man grinned viciously and punched out, his fist slicing the air.
Lu Chen slipped aside, seized his wrist, and drove his elbow into the man's armpit—Piercing Force activated.
Crack.
The man screamed as his arm went limp.
But the other attack was already behind him—
A kick slammed into Lu Chen's lower back. His vest softened the blow, but the shock rippled through his organs.
He rolled with the force, smashed through the window, and plunged outside.
A two-story drop. He hit the ground, tucked into a roll, pain twisting through his waist.
"After him!" someone roared.
Lu Chen stumbled upright, sprinting toward the wall.
Behind him, three level-20 fighters gave chase.
Worse—the scarred woman exited the warehouse, raising a strange pistol.
"Stop, or I shoot."
He didn't stop.
A shot fired.
Not a bullet—
A blue beam.
Lu Chen dove as instinct screamed. The beam grazed his shoulder and bored a glowing hole into a container wall.
Energy weapon.
He rolled up and ran.
Another blue beam erupted—
This time he couldn't dodge.
He yanked the Demon-Suppressing Stele Fragment from his pack, holding it behind him.
The beam struck.
No sound—
But the stone vibrated violently, golden light rippling across its surface as it absorbed and dispersed the blast.
The scarred woman froze.
"That's… the Demon-Suppressing Stele?!"
Her expression turned feverish.
"Capture him! At all costs!"
The pursuers accelerated.
Lu Chen reached the wall—three meters tall topped with barbed wire.
He glanced back—
The nearest pursuer was ten meters away.
Too late.
"System, redeem a Temporary Breakthrough Potion!"
[Temporary Breakthrough Potion (1-hour) costs 1500 points. Insufficient balance.]
"Loan it!"
[Emergency credit authority unlocked]
[Loan: 1500 points, repay within 24 hours, 50% interest]
[Redeemed]
A red vial materialized. Lu Chen tore it open and drank.
Power detonated inside him.
His meridians tore—then reforged stronger.
Energy in his dantian surged—
Level 23… 24… 25… 26… 30.
He stopped at level 30.
Not just energy—every cell transformed. His senses sharpened until he could see the pores on the pursuers' faces. Muscles swelled with terrifying strength.
And pain—exquisite, needling, all-consuming.
Lu Chen didn't flinch.
The first pursuer—a level-22 brute—charged.
Lu Chen's fist pierced his chest and burst out the back.
The man stared in disbelief before collapsing.
The other two froze.
Lu Chen moved.
A blur in the night—
He seized the second man's throat and twisted.
Crack.
The third turned to flee.
Lu Chen hurled a chunk of broken brick—
It crushed the man's skull like a ripe melon.
Three kills in under five seconds.
The scarred woman watched from thirty meters away, her face darkening. Six mid-level fighters poured from the warehouse.
None dared advance.
Lu Chen wiped the blood from his knuckles.
"Still want to continue?"
"You drank the Temporary Breakthrough Potion," she hissed. "When it wears off, you'll be crippled. Do you really think you can kill us all before then?"
"Why don't we find out?"
He stepped forward.
The circle stepped back.
"Attack!" she roared. "He can't control his power—exhaust him!"
Six charged.
Lu Chen smiled.
He didn't need control.
He only needed to release.
Piercing Force surged with level-30 energy.
Every punch blasted shockwaves.
The first man died with a fist-sized hole in his chest.
The second was kicked into a wall—spine snapping.
The third and fourth had their skulls smashed together.
The fifth fled—
A knife whistled through the air and nailed him through the heart.
The sixth collapsed to his knees.
"Don't kill me! I surrender—"
Lu Chen's answer was a downward punch that shattered the ground and his skull.
All dead.
He turned toward the scarred woman.
Sweat beaded her brow, but she kept her pistol raised.
"Who are you? The Lin family can't have someone like you…"
"The dead don't need answers."
She fired three beams—locking all escape routes.
Lu Chen raised the Stele Fragment.
Golden light unfurled—
All three beams twisted and dissolved.
"That's impossible… a mortal controlling the Stele…"
Lu Chen reached her.
"Wait!" she cried. "We can work together! I know the secrets of the Ark Lab! I know how to create ability users! I also know—"
His hand closed around her throat.
"I don't need to know."
A sharp twist.
Her body dropped.
Lu Chen staggered—the potion's backlash already gnawing at him. Pain and weakness flooded in.
He had to leave.
He freed the captives.
"Run. Forget everything you saw."
He smashed the beacon.
Looted the warehouse:
—one encrypted tablet
—three vials of Ark-3 gene enhancers
—a stack of documents: Energy Node Analysis of Jiang City's Secret Realm
—a small safe containing high-purity energy crystals—each worth 1000 points.
He torched the warehouse, climbed the wall, and limped toward his car.
Every step worsened the agony. Vision blurred.
By the time he reached the car, he was nearly unconscious.
He collapsed into the driver's seat.
Halfway through the drive, the system warned:
[Host condition critical—unsafe to drive]
[Tracking vehicle detected, distance 800 meters]
[Suggestion: enable Auto-Drive to nearest safe house]
"Auto-drive…" he murmured.
[Activated]
[Nearest hidden Lin property: Emerald Lake Garden, Building B, Unit 1802, 4.2 km]
He drifted in and out as the car drove itself.
The Stele Fragment in his bag warmed, soothing the worst of the pain.
"How many points for the crystals…?" he muttered.
[12 crystals detected]
[800 points each: 9600 total]
[Redeem?]
"Redeem… 8000. Keep four."
[Redeemed]
[Balance: 8000 – 1500 loan – 750 interest = 5750]
At the safe house—an unused duplex he vaguely remembered—Lu Chen stumbled inside and collapsed onto the bed.
"System… wake me… if anything happens…"
[Acknowledged]
[Security Alert Mode: ON]
Darkness swallowed him.
Meanwhile, firefighters and police rushed to the blazing warehouse.
Association operatives arrived even faster.
Zhao Mingcheng stood before the inferno, face grave. Chen Jing and Li Zhenguo were beside him.
"Seven corpses," Chen Jing reported. "Three above level 20, four between 15 and 20. All killed instantly. The execution is… clinical."
"And the place has been stripped," she added. "Anything valuable is gone."
"Who did this?" Li asked. "Internal Ghost Organization conflict? Or another faction?"
"No idea," Chen Jing said. "But something's strange—almost all kills were pure brute force. No martial-skill signatures. One victim had her neck snapped. Another shot with an energy weapon—likely her own."
She held up a photo of the scarred woman.
"She was a regional leader—codename 'Scarblade,' level 28. Whoever took her out cleanly is at least level 35."
"Jiang City has someone that strong?" Zhao asked quietly.
"A handful. But motive? Why target a Ghost Organization base?"
They fell silent.
A technician hurried over.
"Chief Chen—we found this behind the warehouse."
He handed over a sealed evidence bag containing a black stone fragment.
Chen Jing's expression changed immediately.
Even as a fragment, the ancient runes exuded a heavy, solemn aura.
"This is…"
Her voice tightened.
"…the Demon-Suppressing Stele."
"What stele?" Li asked.
"An ancient artifact said to restrain evil beings. The Association archives mention it, but no physical specimen has been found in centuries."
She took a slow breath.
"If this is real, Jiang City's waters run deeper than we thought."
Zhao sighed.
"And the investigation on Lin Xiao?"
"Nothing. Claims he slept at home. No evidence otherwise." Zhao shrugged. "The Lin family already complained about us 'harassing' him."
"Keep watching him," Chen Jing said. "I've got a feeling all of this is connected."
"Because of a stone shard?"
"Not just that." She looked toward the glowing skyline.
"Instinct. A woman's instinct."
Li snorted.
"In investigations, instincts don't count. Evidence does."
"Then we'll find the evidence," Chen Jing said crisply. "Pull all surveillance in the area. Zhao, check every vehicle that passed by tonight."
"Yes."
As they dispersed, the fire crackled and roared.
In the wreckage, the broken beacon flickered once before dying.
A final line of code flashed:
"Backup beacon activated… Coordinates synced… Countdown: 19:58:32…"
The second beacon had already been moved.
The Ghost Organization's plan had not been halted.
Only relocated.
Only postponed.
The countdown continued.