Transformation

In the corridor outside the office, quite a few people were peering in that direction. Secretary Ding, dressed in her tailored women's suit, was among them. Yet the moment they saw Yaoguang step out of the office, every single one of them instinctively averted their gaze, not daring to cast another glance toward him. The rest of the crowd... including several mid-to-high-level executives of Yulong International, were on their absolute best behavior at this moment. The environment in Dayu was, after all, fundamentally different from Feiyu. Rather than swarming forward to silence Lin Xiaowei, Xia Wuyuan, Yaoguang, and the others forever, what occupied them now was destroying incriminating evidence. Or fleeing immediately before the main force of the Security Department arrived, slipping through the border checkpoint to seek refuge in the neighboring country. "Quite a commotion," Yaoguang mused to himself. With a disturbance of this scale, the authorities' handling of the incident would, to some degree, reveal a glimpse of the demonic forces lurking beneath the surface. Next... all he had to do was wait for the situation to unfold. ... Half an hour later. The first wave of "reinforcements" from the Security Department finally arrived. Even though Lin Xiaowei and Xia Wuyuan didn't trust the Shanlong City Security Department and didn't want them meddling too much, the few of them simply lacked the manpower to secure the sprawling complex of Yulong International. Besides, there were areas where they had no choice but to rely on the local department's assistance. As the local officers quickly flooded into Yulong International, the best they could do was position their own people at key posts to supervise as much as possible. ... While Lin Xiaowei was documenting the scene, Zhang Qing, Ye Yuhe, and a contingent of officers hurried up. "How did it go? Is it like Su Yaoguang said? Are there people being held down there?" Lin Xiaowei asked urgently. Her question only made Zhang Qing and Ye Yuhe's expressions turn visibly uneasy. Ye Yuhe in particular. When she saw that the corpses inside the office hadn't been cleared away and that blatant bloodstains still stained numerous surfaces, her face suddenly went stark white. "*Ugh.*" She quickly stepped aside and began retching. Yet after dry-heaving for a moment, nothing came up. Zhang Qing was equally pale, though he held up somewhat better than Ye Yuhe. "What happened?" Lin Xiaowei asked hurriedly. "What's going on down there?" "Those people... no, they don't even qualify as human! They're absolute beasts!" Zhang Qing gritted his teeth. "They... they actually threw living human beings into a meat grinder to dispose of them... If we hadn't arrived in time, the remaining sixty-three people would have shared the fate of the nine already thrown in—ground into nothingness without even bones left..." Hearing this, Lin Xiaowei couldn't help blanching just picturing the scene. Yaoguang's words involuntarily came to mind. Those he killed... were not human! "Yulong International is a human-trafficking transit hub. Almost every month, hundreds of people are shipped out through channels arranged by them..." Zhang Qing said with bitter hatred. As for where they were sent and what became of them... he didn't say. Lin Xiaowei, however, keenly recalled the noticeable spike in missing-person cases in Yunmeng City recently... A flicker of anguish passed through her eyes. If only they had taken those disappearances seriously sooner, so many lives wouldn't have been lost. "My senior brother says this case is no longer something you can continue investigating," Ye Yuhe told Lin Xiaowei. "He's going to report it up the chain and bring in the Procuratorate." "I'm not just an ordinary officer..." Lin Xiaowei said in a low voice. "It's different," Ye Yuhe replied, shaking her head. "Your task force might handle major murder cases, but... the level of authority involved here is far higher than any ordinary homicide or serial murder. Especially since... according to Young Master Su's deductions, people like You Long and Ou Zhengyang aren't even the chief culprits. Above them is an even larger web of connections." Her expression grew grave. "If you recklessly get dragged into this, not only you, but even the Lin family backing you might not be able to shoulder the risk." "Because of the 'divine blood'?" Lin Xiaowei asked. "Perhaps. Senior Brother didn't say much about it to me, but just based on its effects, you should realize how high up the people involved could be if they're tied to it," Ye Yuhe said. Prolonging life. Preserving eternal youth. Who could resist such temptation?! No matter how strictly the World Health Organization banned it, there would always be those willing to take reckless risks and refine it in secret. The stakes were simply too vast. "I..." Lin Xiaowei recalled how Jiang Feng, Ou Zhengyang, and the others hadn't paid her, an inspector, the slightest regard during the chaos earlier... She knew Ye Yuhe was speaking the truth. Ou Zhengyang had already dared to look down on an inspector like her. Yet the higher-ups involved in this affair could drive Ou Zhengyang to risk death just to keep them concealed. One could easily imagine what horrifying darkness lurked beneath the surface. "The Procuratorate... is the best choice to take charge of this case." Ye Yuhe spoke thoughtfully. "Young Master Su probably understood that as well. Even though he could have acted with far greater discretion, he intentionally left behind loose ends, specifically to draw the attention of figures with enough weight to pursue the lead." Lin Xiaowei felt a trace of helplessness listening to this, but ultimately nodded. The Procuratorate was directly subordinate to the royal family. When enforcing the law in the field, they traditionally outranked local officials by one grade wherever they went. They had the authority to arrest anyone—including local administrators—and conduct closed-door interrogations. They answered only to the royal family. "That Young Master Su... did he leave?" Ye Yuhe asked. "He left," Lin Xiaowei nodded. "Senior Brother told me to pass along a message to him: each person has their own duty and place. He will dig to the very bottom of this case and never allow the wicked to go unpunished." Ye Yuhe paused before adding, "Furthermore, he will also continue investigating the backgrounds of Long Daoqi, Xia Li, and the others. If he discovers they have no connection to the Yulong International case, he will inevitably bring him to justice, regardless of his strength or status." "I'll relay those words to him on Consultant Xia's behalf," Lin Xiaowei said. ... Soon, more and more Security Department personnel arrived at the scene. Not just the Security Department, but quite a few prosecutors from the Procuratorate arrived as well. As a senior prosecutor who had risen as a national martial arts champion and enjoyed the privileges of a chief prosecutor, Xia Wuyuan naturally commanded a cohort of prosecutors beneath him. With their arrival, coupled with the contingent from the Yunmeng City Security Department, Yulong International was turned completely inside out. In an instant, the truth behind this demonic transit den was laid bare before everyone. In particular, after visiting the slaughter ground on basement level four, countless officers who prided themselves on their veteran composure vomited their guts out. This incident had massive repercussions. Coupled with the fact that dozens of people had resisted and were subsequently gunned down or struck down by Xia Wuyuan, Lin Xiaowei and the others worked straight into the early hours of the morning before finally finding a brief moment to rest. Sinking back into the Yunmeng City patrol car, Lin Xiaowei felt a profound exhaustion and helplessness. She couldn't comprehend how these people possessed the audacity to trample over the law without bottom lines, nor could she understand how an atrocity of such magnitude had remained hidden until today. Moreover... had Su Yaoguang not acted so decisively, cutting straight through the knot, by the time they slowly interrogated Ou Zhengyang without results, the Shanlong Security Department would have taken over the case. Given the Shanlong Security Department's collusion with Yulong International, even if they had reached basement level four later, what awaited them would likely have been a scene where all evidence had already been thoroughly erased. Under such circumstances, even though she disapproved of Su Yaoguang's philosophy of fighting violence with violence, she had to admit... it was precisely the brutal efficiency of his violent methods that had enabled them to save the sixty-three lives currently being "disposed of," preventing them from following the footsteps of the nine victims before them. At that thought, Lin Xiaowei paused. She wondered whether she should send a message to apologize to Su Yaoguang. Yet in the end, considering his temperament and the violent methods that she, as an inspector, could never condone, she suppressed the thought. Scrolling through her phone, she located Su Yaoyu's name and dialed the number despite the late hour. "Regarding your younger brother, Su Yaoguang... I think we need to have a serious talk."