Chapter 38

Shengtian Building

This building stands in the heart of the city, where land is incredibly valuable. People come and go below it, unaware that disaster is just a stone's throw away.

The area was currently fenced off, with more than a dozen cars parked downstairs. There were no parking spaces on the ground, but since this was a special operation, special arrangements were made.

Curious glances occasionally drifted from the passing crowd, but they quickly turned away when they saw that the people getting off the car were all dressed in uniforms with guns at their waists.

Xiao Shengyun sat in the car, his position far from the building. If the number of enemies was unknown, this level of operation wouldn't be a chance for a newcomer to take the field.

He and Huang Yu were in the same car, along with two other senior officers from the operations department.

"Don't act on your own for a while. Follow me. Our job is to eliminate ordinary members of the church. If you encounter an extremely powerful corruptor, run immediately and contact the other team members in time," a senior member instructed the two rookies who hadn't been on many missions.

Xiao Shengyun and Huang Yu nodded repeatedly, like chickens pecking at rice, indicating that they understood.

Hundreds of enforcers stood guard downstairs, surrounding the Shengtian Building in layers. Among them was a talent called "Layered Barriers," which allowed him to construct walls using source matter. Not even a fly could escape, let alone a person.

The remaining officers stormed into the building and searched from the first floor to the top floor, but found nothing.

Finally, having no other option, they had to bring everyone in the building to the first floor and interrogate them one by one.

"Aren't we going in?" Xiao Shengyun asked Huang Yu as he watched the number of people in the cars outside dwindle. He could feel the powerful force emanating from beneath the building, and he felt extremely uneasy.

"What are you going in for? Have you not been trained? We're in the search phase right now. If we go in, we'll only cause trouble. We'll only step in when we've found the person behind this. The main character always makes his appearance last."

Huang Yu, you could say he's not stupid, he certainly doesn't have much brains, but you could also say he's stupid, he clearly knows what to do at what time.

The employees were going to work as usual when suddenly a group of people rushed in and dragged them all to the first floor. Confused and bewildered, they huddled together in fear.

The newcomers were all fully armed and looked menacing, like criminals.

One of the junior employees mustered up his courage and held up his phone: "This is the city center, and there's a police station not far away. Aren't you afraid I'll call the police?"

The officers looked at each other, then pulled out their badges. "We are the police. You can file a report now."

Many of the employees breathed a sigh of relief.

Many of the employees are ordinary workers and are unaware that their company was created by a terrorist organization.

Most of these people looked fearful, but the officer noticed a different face.

"What are you laughing at?" he asked the employee who seemed very happy, a man who looked suspicious.

"I don't have to go to work today! I've been working overtime for half a month straight, hahaha, I don't have to go to work anymore!" the employee laughed, his face showing a bluish-black tinge.

Another one has gone mad.

The executives, who often work overtime, sympathized with this person and could empathize with them deeply.

Some were quite apprehensive, and after questioning, the enforcement officers eliminated the employee's suspicions one by one.

Finding the suspect in such a short time is difficult, and with such a large-scale operation, the other side was already on high alert.

Although they didn't manage to catch anyone, these ordinary employees did share some interesting stories.

Employee A: "About a month ago, I worked overtime until very late that day. I finished all my work around 10 p.m. After I finished cleaning up, I went to the second basement level to drive home. Just as I opened the car door, I suddenly heard a crying sound. I initially thought it was some employee who was under a lot of pressure and was venting at night. You know, part of the Shengtian Building is rented to other small companies, and these small companies also often have employees working overtime."

"But then I realized it wasn't, because that kind of crying wasn't made when you're under a lot of pressure; it sounded more like someone facing a knife-wielding assailant in a life-or-death situation. I was a little scared, but I still drove around the garage. The garage was empty, and realizing that, I hurriedly went home. I never encountered it again because I switched to an electric scooter and never went down into the underground garage again."

Employee B: "Shortly after I joined the company, I became very close to someone in my office. He was my senior from university, and he taught me a lot. But one day, he mysteriously disappeared. Yes, he just disappeared. Everything on his desk remained exactly as it was. Not long after, the company said his spot had been cleaned up. However, I never contacted him again after that."

“When I went to his house, he was nowhere to be found. The landlord said he hadn’t vacated the apartment. It was as if he had vanished into thin air.”

Employee C: "I once took an elevator at night. The elevator doors opened in the middle, and there was a man standing in the doorway. The doors opened and then closed quickly. The lighting was very dim at the time. It wasn't until I got to the first floor that I remembered that the man seemed to have no facial features! As for the rest, I really can't remember anything else!"

Looking at the bewildered faces, the enforcement officer paced back and forth in frustration. Everyone knew there was a problem, but they just couldn't find a way to break the deadlock.

Xiao Shengyun helped take the statement. The church members and ordinary staff were completely separated. This building had two worlds, one upstairs and one downstairs.

The question now is, where do they get into the underground world?

He scanned the faces, some calm, some fearful, his eyes narrowing slightly before finally settling on an ordinary face.

This person has an aura of pollution about them.

Every species is exceptionally sensitive to the smell of food.

Xiao Shengyun's fingers twitched slightly, and a thin thread silently crossed the crowd and landed at the person's feet.

He was an ordinary employee, with a face full of pimples and thick glasses; he would be hard to spot in a crowd.

The black line coiled around his feet like a snake, and with a forceful pull, his thick eyes lost their balance and fell onto the person in front of him.

The loud noise naturally attracted the attention of the operations department.

One of the officers pushed through the crowd and pulled the person out.

"Something's not right with this kid."

Ordinary people are not afraid of the police, just a little nervous. This employee's legs almost went weak, and he was already trembling all over as soon as he was pulled out.

The officer next to him searched him again, but found nothing unusual except for things like keys and toilet paper.

"Is this thing different from other people's?"

The enforcement officer held a work badge in his hand; they looked the same, but their weights were slightly different.

The difference is minimal; the work badge is just a thin sheet.

The teammate next to him took it, and it seemed a little different, or maybe it was just psychological.

"It seems so." But his words were very certain.

Anyway, let's fry it first.

Upon hearing this, the man on the ground immediately grabbed the investigator's leg and burst into tears, his already ordinary face becoming even uglier. "I know the underground entrance, I'll take you there!"

The man knelt down so quickly that the officer holding the employee badge stopped what he was doing, seemingly surprised that things were going so smoothly.

"First and second squads, follow me. The rest of you stay here." The speaker was named Lu Chenzhou, an Awakened One transferred from the Beijing area, and also the person in charge of this operation.

The man led two teams into a locked room containing an elevator. The elevator was unusually large, about fifteen square meters. Upon entering, one could smell a rotten odor. Dried reddish-brown bloodstains clung to the corners of the elevator, along with various small dents and scratches.

The smell was familiar to everyone present; it was the smell of pollutants mixed with corpses.

A feeling of weightlessness came over him as the elevator slowly descended. In the silence, Xiao Shengyun could hear the breathing of the person next to him.

The familiar scene reminded him of the last time he went on a mission in the underground parking garage; four people went, but only three came back.

For many, this may be a road of no return.

The elevator doors opened, and at first glance, everyone held their breath.

In the very center of the fifteenth floor, there is a huge tree that may have penetrated all fifteen underground floors; this floor only cuts off a part of its branches.

And beside the branches...

It's a corpse!

Countless corpses!

Men's, women's, old people's, children's, scattered all around.

These people had shriveled skin, deeply sunken cheeks, and a deathly gray complexion; it was clear that their internal organs had been removed.

"Long time no see, you've finally arrived."

The man emerged from the darkness; he appeared to have been waiting for some time.

The viscous, black substance almost filled the entire space, and its smell was extremely mixed. It was unknown how much blood this tree had absorbed.

Due to elevator limitations, only about twenty people can currently access the underground area.

It's just enough for one dish.

The moment the man appeared, everyone tensed up, their hands instinctively gripping their guns, but no one made a move.

"Don't be so serious. I'm not here for you all. I'd like to have a talk with your bureau chief. Could you please introduce me?"

"What do you want to do?" Lu Chenzhou stepped forward.

"I just have some things I'd like to discuss with him about the future of humanity."

"Since its founding, the Church has lured and corrupted humanity, driving pollutants to wreak havoc and killing thousands of people. Whatever you intend to do, it is utterly unforgivable—"

He didn't finish speaking because a vine passed through the back of Lu Chenzhou's head, twisted a few times, and went down his neck to his torso.

"team leader-"

"team leader!"

Those around were stunned. No one could believe it. No one expected that their team leader would be killed in a single encounter.

The vine suddenly snapped out, but Lu Chenzhou's body did not fall to the ground; he remained standing upright. The hole in the back of his head began to heal rapidly, looking exactly the same as before.

A moment later, he opened his eyes, only to find everything blank.

"Team, captain?"

The executors vanished in a flash, leaving the eight-zhang-long road in Chenzhou with expressions as if they had seen a ghost.

The scene just now was no different from seeing a ghost: a living person with their head pierced was standing there perfectly fine, and the wound had even healed!

The team members were just grieving for their fallen comrades, but now their worldview has been shattered.

Lu Chenzhou touched the back of his head. He had only felt a sharp pain there before his memory went blank. When he opened his eyes, he saw a gun pointed at his teammate.

"What's wrong?"

"Captain, you just had a huge hole in your head," the team member said, gesturing to show it was about the size of an apple. "And then, it just healed!"

To die and be brought back to life—is this not a miracle?

"Well, can I speak with the director now?" The man smiled, exuding an air of ease and control, as if everything was under his command.