Liu Xiaoran's voice came through the headset again: "Need backup?"

"No need, proceed with the original plan." Han Feng took four pieces of C4 plastic explosive from his tactical belt. "Give me three minutes."

After ending the communication, Han Feng began quickly setting up the explosives. He placed the first one at the base of the nearest stone pillar and set it to remote detonation mode. Just as he turned to walk towards the second stone pillar, a soft "click" sound came from behind him.

Han Feng's muscles tensed instantly as he slowly turned his head. The eye pattern in the center... seemed to have opened wider! The light within the azure crystal also intensified, like a monster awakening.

"Damn it..." Han Feng felt a chill and quickened his pace. The second and third explosives were in place one after another. When he installed the sixth one, the temperature in the entire space suddenly dropped several degrees, and the white mist he exhaled almost instantly condensed into ice crystals and fell down.

Even more terrifying, he could now feel an invisible pressure trying to invade his consciousness, even without looking directly at the central pattern. The barrier constructed by the power of the stars was being squeezed and creaking, as if an invisible hand was tearing at his brain.

"I have to speed things up..." Han Feng suppressed his headache and completed the placement of the remaining explosives as quickly as possible. Each of the twelve stone pillars was loaded with enough explosives to pulverize them. The moment the last piece of explosive was placed, he felt the ground tremble slightly.

That eye... is almost fully open now!

Without hesitation, Han Feng rushed to the elevator and pressed the up button. The dozen or so seconds it took for the elevator to descend felt like an eternity. He could feel something awakening behind him, and the energy fluctuations in the air were growing increasingly intense.

The moment Han Feng entered the elevator and the doors closed, the feeling vanished instantly. Han Feng leaned against the elevator, panting heavily; the feeling was simply too bizarre.

The moment the elevator doors closed, Han Feng slumped against the metal wall as if all the bones in his body had been removed. Cold sweat soaked through his combat uniform, emanating a faint smell of blood in the confined space. Although the mental pressure from that eerie eye had temporarily disappeared, his temples were still throbbing, as if someone were hammering into his skull with an iron spike.

\"bite--\"

The elevator's arrival time alerted Han Feng. He forced himself to stand up straight, quickly checked his equipment, and after confirming that he hadn't left any personal belongings behind, strode out of the elevator.

Han Feng moved swiftly along the planned route, a tearing pain shooting through his arm muscles as he scaled the wall. The backlash from the dissipation of his Star Avatar was more severe than he had anticipated; black spots flashed before his eyes intermittently. He gritted his teeth and whispered into the communicator, "Xiao Ran, location."

"Two o'clock, I'm in the car," Liu Xiaoran's voice responded immediately.

Han Feng turned the corner and, sure enough, saw the inconspicuous car. The moment he opened the door and climbed in, his legs gave way, and he collapsed onto the seat.

"You look a bit exhausted." Liu Xiaoran frowned, supporting Han Feng with one hand while starting the car with the other. "What happened?"

Han Feng forced a smile: "Let's go first, I'm fine." After saying that, Han Feng began to activate the Star Meridian Diagram to slowly absorb the power of the stars. Liu Xiaoran also immediately started the car and drove away from this place of trouble. After a while, Han Feng's breathing became a little more stable, and he said to Liu Xiaoran: "Let's go to the rendezvous point, it's about time to end this."

The Toyota silently glided into the night. Liu Xiaoran was a superb driver, neither speeding to attract attention nor failing to precisely avoid surveillance cameras at every intersection. Han Feng leaned against the window, watching the neon lights outside blur into a colorful halo in his vision.

"Have you taken care of things with the Miyamoto family?" Han Feng asked with his eyes closed.

"Yes," Liu Xiaoran replied briefly. "Long Yuan has arrived at the evacuation point and is ready to meet us."

As the car entered the dock area, Su Wanwan was already waiting beside an inconspicuous fishing boat, with several dark figures beside her. They were members of the Longyuan Squad. When Su Wanwan saw the car approaching, she jogged forward to meet it. Seeing how weak Han Feng was, a pang of heartache flashed in her eyes, and she immediately helped Liu Xiaoran support Han Feng.

"Wow, you look like you've been run over by a truck," Su Wanwan teased, but her eyes were full of worry. "What happened that made you look so bad?"

Han Feng weakly waved his hand: "Let's get on the ship first..."

The fishing boat slowly sailed away from the dock. Han Feng and Liu Xiaoran exchanged a glance and simultaneously took out signal detonators from their pockets. As the two pressed the detonators at the same time, a series of muffled sounds suddenly came from afar, followed by three streaks of fire shooting into the sky. Even from several kilometers away, the ground could be felt shaking.

At that moment, the piercing sirens of police cars were already blaring over Tokyo Bay. Su Wanwan brought up her tablet, which displayed three constantly flashing red dots—the locations of the three major family laboratories.

"Perfect!" she exclaimed excitedly, pointing at the screen. "The Miyamoto family's main building has completely collapsed, the Makino family's underground facilities have been flooded by seawater, and over at the Ikegami family's place..." She suddenly frowned. "Strange, the explosion's radii are 30% larger than expected; even their main house was affected."

Han Feng and Liu Xiaoran exchanged a glance. Han Feng took a deep breath and described the strange space and eye pattern in the basement of the Chishang family's house.

"Wait, you mean... that thing seemed alive?" Su Wanwan's eyes widened. "And it could even affect your mind?"

"It's not just an influence." Han Feng rubbed his temples. "It seems to want to... invade my consciousness. If it weren't for the fact that my internal energy has always nourished my consciousness, I might already be..."

The group remained silent, surprised that their meticulously planned scheme had almost been exposed. This meant that these families all had secrets that were not known to others.

Liu Xiaoran's gaze toward Han Feng held a newfound fervor. This man had brought him far too many surprises. Not only had his strength increased by leaps and bounds, but he had also discovered the Chishang family's secret cultivation ground during this mission. After all that, the Chishang family was now completely finished in R country.

The group was discussing their mission when they were interrupted by a sudden phone ring. All three froze; the sound came from Han Feng's cell phone in R country.

The screen showed that the caller ID was Aya Ikegami. Could it be that she had learned that her family had been destroyed and that she didn't have any friends, so she called me?

The group exchanged glances, and finally Han Feng pressed the answer button and turned on the speakerphone.

"Mr. Zhang," a cool female voice said in fluent Chinese, "Oh no, perhaps I should call you... Mr. Han?"