Sop national government, 25th floor, inside an ordinary office.
A staff member was buried in paperwork when, suddenly, the air in front of him tore open without warning. Immediately afterward, a pitch-black rift emerged out of thin air.
"Hmm? What is that?" The staff member looked up in confusion.
In the next second, three figures stepped out of the rift like lightning!
"Who are you—" The staff member tried to cry out in horror, but before he could finish, his voice stopped abruptly.
A tiny, nearly invisible black crack flashed across his throat in an instant.
Heh... heh... He only managed to emit a few meaningless airy sounds before blood spurted from his neck and his body went limp, collapsing to the floor.
"Dealt with. Didn't alert anyone else for now."
Lin Zhenyi's voice was calm and rippleless, as if he had just crushed an ant.
He didn't stop moving, heading straight toward the nearest stairwell.
Firefly, having stepped out of the spatial rift, immediately began scanning the surroundings.
The scanning function activated rapidly. Instantly, the distribution of personnel within the building was laid bare before Firefly. Furthermore, it quickly calculated the fastest route to the 30th floor.
Seeing this, Firefly spoke to Lin Zhenyi, who was walking ahead:
"Follow me. I currently understand the layout of this building better than you do."
After saying that, she walked in the opposite direction from Lin Zhenyi.
Lin Zhenyi froze for a moment upon hearing this, then turned to look at Firefly. His steps, originally intended for the stairs, paused.
Buck scratched his head in confusion and said to Lin Zhenyi:
"Zhenyi, so should we follow her now?"
"Let's go." Hearing Buck's words, Lin Zhenyi didn't hesitate further and turned to follow. "After all, neither of us is very familiar with this place."
Seeing this, Buck hurriedly caught up.
Subsequently, under Firefly's precise guidance, the two skillfully avoided all patrols and surveillance, arriving silently before the door of another office.
When the three of them reached the office door, Firefly stopped and turned to the two men. At the same time, she typed a line of text on the Terminal to show them:
Dispose of the person inside. He has an alarm device near him.
Seeing Firefly's message, Lin Zhenyi nodded slightly. Immediately, his gaze became sharp.
He closed his eyes, and the formless spatial power quietly activated once again.
Inside the office, the guard staring at the surveillance screens suddenly stiffened. A small black line bloomed at his throat. Without even a groan, he slumped over the control console.
Seeing this, Lin Zhenyi opened his eyes and gave Firefly a gesture of confirmation.
Then, with a flash of black light, he teleported Firefly and Buck into the somewhat spacious office.
"Mr. Sam, why come here?" After entering the office, Lin Zhenyi looked around and asked with some confusion.
After all, in his view, there didn't seem to be a path leading to the 30th floor here.
"This office hides a secret door." Firefly pointed to a wall decorated with a heavy bookshelf. "Behind the secret door is a private elevator shaft that goes directly to the 30th floor."
"A secret door?" Lin Zhenyi's eyes narrowed slightly as he closed his eyes to sense it again.
A few seconds later, he opened his eyes with a look of realization:
"Indeed! The energy shielding is quite well-hidden. It would be very difficult to discover this secret door without specifically trying to sense it."
"The entrance to the secret passage is about ten meters behind the bookshelf. Let me open a spatial..."
"No need for the trouble." Before he could finish, Firefly interrupted him.
Immediately after, she lowered her stance slightly. Her silver-white metallic right fist was suddenly drawn to her waist, and a blazing fire instantly enveloped the entire fist.
Boom—!!!
Without a hint of hesitation, a fist condensing terrifying power struck out, slamming hard against the heavy solid wood bookshelf.
A deafening explosion rang out within the confined space. The hard solid wood was torn and shattered like paper. A violent airwave, carrying scorching fragments and dust, erupted outward in a fan shape.
Lin Zhenyi and Buck were both forced back half a step by the sudden shockwave.
Then, amidst the swirling dust, a terrifying hole over two meters in diameter with charred, smoking edges appeared on the wall.
The edges of the opening were smooth, showing traces of being melted through instantly by high temperature.
Furthermore, several reinforced alloy secret doors hidden behind the bookshelf were also blasted through, creating an identical hole from that single terrifying punch.
"Let's go." Firefly's voice was flat and emotionless, as if what just happened was merely a casual action.
She was the first to step over the mess on the floor. After passing through the "passage" she had created, she stood steadily at the edge of the elevator shaft.
Looking at the still-smoking breach, Buck subconsciously swallowed. His voice carried a hint of subtle dryness:
"The power of that punch... if I took that head-on, I feel like even if I didn't die, I'd lose a layer of skin..."
"Let's go." At this point, Lin Zhenyi interjected. "Stop worrying about whether you can take it or not. The priority now is to find Lu Zhaoran."
"I know that!" Seeing this, Buck was a bit annoyed, but he quickly followed. "Can't I help but compare myself after seeing a powerhouse make a move..."
Soon, the three gathered in front of the elevator shaft.
"This is one of only two places in this building that can reach the 30th floor, and it is very well-hidden."
After saying that, she turned around and looked at the two of them.
"However, before we head over, I must remind you of something."
"Just now, I performed multiple scans of the 30th floor. Although Lu Zhaoran still hasn't been found, I detected something at the center of that spatial fluctuation."
After speaking, Firefly uploaded the model of the item Sam scanned to the Terminal and displayed it to Lin Zhenyi and the others.
It was the tip of a longsword. The break was very smooth, as if it had been sliced off in an instant.
The moment Firefly displayed the appearance of this model, Lin Zhenyi suddenly became extremely agitated.
"This is... the Knight's Sword from Zhaoran's person?!"