182: A trapped beast's struggle

The icy night wind brushed against the Tall Man's cheeks, yet it could not dispel the trepidation in his heart or the burning fear in his throat.

He didn't dare take the main roads. Relying on his familiarity with the terrain, he wove desperately through a maze of back alleys, abandoned courtyards, and low rooftops. Every rustle of grass or stir of the wind made his hair stand on end, as if that ghostly black figure might emerge from the shadows at any moment.

The numbness in his left arm from being struck by that eerie current hadn't fully subsided, and the wound on his right arm from broken glass while jumping through a window throbbed with pain. However, none of this compared to the psychological pressure of the pursuit that might be trailing behind him.

He circled around countless times, confirming over and over again, before finally daring to head toward the edge of the city, near an abandoned industrial zone.

His destination was an independent warehouse within a seemingly ordinary logistics storage yard, with a faded sign hanging at the entrance that read "Chengxin Freight Transit."

This was a low-level transit station set up by the organization within the city. It was responsible for receiving, sorting, and temporarily storing "special materials" that were not suitable for direct transport to the main laboratory outside the city—including sensitive "experimental supplies" or those requiring preliminary processing, as well as some experimental consumables.

He stumbled to the heavy rolling shutter door. Instead of using the regular secret rhythm, he pounded frantically on a small, inconspicuous iron side door. "Open up! Open the door quickly! It's me! Something's happened!"

The peephole on the iron door opened and closed quickly. A few seconds later, the door was pulled open just a crack from the inside.

The Tall Man practically squeezed himself inside, slammed the door shut behind him, and leaned against it, gasping for breath, his face as pale as paper.

The interior of the warehouse was dimly lit, filled with crates and cages of various sizes covered in canvas. The air held a faint, strange smell of disinfectant mixed with some kind of metal.

A cold-faced middle-aged man wearing gray overalls—the "superior" in charge of this transit station—stepped out from an inner compartment. Seeing the Tall Man's wretched state, his brow furrowed instantly.

"What's the panic? Why are you alone? Where's Old Six?" the superior asked in a low voice, sounding displeased.

"Old Six... Old Six is done for!" the Tall Man stammered, his voice trembling. "We... we were 'cleaning up' at Sun Qian's place, and suddenly a... a monster appeared!

Completely black, couldn't see its face, terrifyingly fast! It held a gun to my head and asked about the organization! Old Six tried to resist and was taken down in an instant! I... I only managed to escape through the window when Old Six threw a smoke grenade!"

"A monster? In black?" The superior's eyes narrowed, immediately catching the key points. "Explain clearly! What characteristics? What weapons? What did it ask?!"

"It was... just like a shadow! Its eyes seemed to be red! Its gun... the muzzle emitted a black-red light. When it hits someone, it's not a normal wound; Old Six's leg and hand were just... charred!"

The Tall Man tried hard to recall, gesturing as he spoke. "He asked about 'Experimental Tables,' 'Materials,' 'Prometheus'... he even asked how Sun Qian died and where the strongholds are..."

"How does he know those terms?!" The superior's face turned extremely ugly in an instant, a chill rising up his spine.

It wasn't strange for someone to know the organization's name, but with terms like "Experimental Table" and "Materials," the opponent had come prepared with an extremely clear objective!

In that instant, a warning sign flashed like lightning through the superior's mind. He stared fixedly at the still-shivering Tall Man as a terrifying thought surged uncontrollably: "Wait... you said you were in his hands and you escaped?"

"Yes... yeah, I was lucky. He was distracted by Old Six's smoke grenade..."

"Bullshit!" the superior roared suddenly, his facial muscles twisting, his eyes filled with rage and the panic of being fooled.

"You idiot! You moron! Do you think an 'Evolver' or whatever the hell that thing is, who could silently sneak up behind you and instantly take down Old Six, would let you escape so easily?! Huh?!"

He practically lunged forward, grabbing the Tall Man by the collar, spittle flying into the other's face. "He's playing the long game! You're a damn live bait! You brought a tail back! You brought him here!!"

As if to confirm his worst suspicion—

Sizzle—!

A dim light at the top of the warehouse went out. It wasn't a circuit failure; the filament had been instantly melted by a precisely aimed energy beam!

Almost simultaneously, a narrow high window used for ventilation, equipped with a protective mesh, was torn open from the outside by a massive force. The twisted metal let out a piercing groan!

A pitch-black figure, like a bat blending into the night, glided silently into the warehouse. With a mid-air turn, he landed lightly; it was Shen Mingyuan in his Shadow Form. The red visors glowed with a cold light in the gloom, and the twin stars muzzles in his hands were pointed steadily at the two men in the warehouse.

"Decent reaction," Shen Mingyuan's voice came through the armor, tinged with an electronic tone. "Unfortunately, it's too late."

"You...!" Shocked and enraged, the superior reacted extremely quickly. The moment he was targeted by the muzzles, his left hand violently shoved the Tall Man toward Shen Mingyuan as a shield, while his right hand lightning-fast drew the sidearm at his waist! He didn't hope to hit this eerie enemy; he only sought to create chaos or cover his retreat to the nearest shelter!

However, under Shen Mingyuan's extraordinary senses and anticipation, his movements appeared sluggish and futile.

Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang!

Four black-red Plasma Beams were fired in a near-continuous stream, chillingly precise.

The first and second beams directly hit the superior's right wrist, which he had just raised before finishing his aim, and his left shoulder joint!

The high-temperature energy instantly burned through flesh and even melted part of the bone. The intense pain and structural damage caused him to scream as the pistol flew from his hand and his entire arm slumped uselessly.

The third and fourth beams pierced the backs of the knees of the Tall Man, who had been shoved forward and hadn't even regained his balance! Likewise, the high-temperature burn perforated his legs; the Tall Man shrieked and collapsed forward, his legs no longer able to support his body.

In less than two seconds, both men were completely disarmed and incapacitated, groaning in pain on the cold concrete floor as the terrible smell of charred flesh wafted from their wounds.

Shen Mingyuan stepped forward slowly, his cold visors scanning the two incapacitated men on the ground before finally landing on the face of the "superior," which was twisted in pain and fear.

Just as the superior and the Tall Man collapsed, deep within the warehouse behind that heavy inner door, several heat sources that had been on alert or resting suddenly exploded into action like hornets whose nest had been disturbed!

Shen Mingyuan's thermal vision clearly "saw" at least four or five orange-red silhouettes grabbing long objects beside them at high speed. One heat source even lunged directly toward a spot on the wall that was likely a power switch or an alarm.

"Enemy attack! Turn on the lights!!" a shout of shock and rage came from behind the inner door, but the lights did not come on—the lamp Shen Mingyuan had destroyed initially seemed to have affected the local circuit, or the enemy failed to find the backup lighting switch in their panic.

Immediately following—

Rat-tat-tat-tat-tat—!!!

The roar of automatic weapons fire suddenly erupted!

Searing bullets, like a metal storm, were poured frantically toward the general direction where Shen Mingyuan had just fired and toward the warehouse entrance, aimless yet full of terror and deterrence!

Wooden crates were shredded, canvas was turned into a sieve, concrete chips flew everywhere, and ricochets whistled sharply between the walls and cargo. The shooters were clearly trying to use suppressive fire to cover all possible infiltration angles, attempting to pin down and drive away the unseen enemy.

The moment the omen of the trigger pull appeared on the thermal image, Shen Mingyuan had already darted to the side like a phantom.

The agility of the Shadow Form and his intuition for danger allowed him to barely avoid the first and densest volley of bullets. He leaned his back against a solid metal container as bullets struck the other side with deafening bangs.

He tilted his head slightly, his thermal vision penetrating the barrier of the container and the thick smoke to calmly observe the situation behind the inner door. Then, his gaze flicked toward the two heat sources that had fallen earlier—the superior and the Tall Man.

The two were still twitching from the intense pain, their orange-red outlines contorted on the cold floor. However, in the next second, that area was covered by even more stray bullets!

Thud, thud, thud, thud...

The dull sound of flesh being torn was faintly audible even amidst the noise.

In the thermal image, those two orange-red blobs that could still struggle quickly dimmed and spread out. Their life heat drained away rapidly in the metal storm, eventually fading into the same cold deep blue as the floor.

The opposition fired without any scruples, not caring at all if they hit their own people—or rather, in their view, those two useless pieces who had already fallen and might leak information were better off dead.

Shen Mingyuan's gaze was icy, without a hint of emotion. The enemy's cruelty confirmed the nature of this organization and saved him the trouble of dealing with the two captives. He no longer stayed in place to be a target.

His gaze quickly locked onto a high, meshed window on the side of the warehouse, set for ventilation and light. He bent his legs slightly and suddenly exerted force!

The incredible jumping power granted by the armor allowed him to leap off the ground as if defying gravity. His fingers precisely caught the edge of a high shelf, and using the momentum to swing his body, he made a nimble turn in mid-air. Tapping the wall with his toes, he ascended like a graceful night bird, silently climbing onto the steel beam structure at the top of the warehouse.

The strafing below continued, but it had lost its clear target, becoming somewhat disorganized and hesitant. The muzzle flashes briefly illuminated the shooters' own terrified faces in the darkness, also exposing their positions.

Like the most patient spider, Shen Mingyuan moved silently in the shadows above.

His thermal vision firmly locked onto every restless heat source below.

He put away the twin stars; in an environment that required absolute silence and close-quarters resolution, they were temporarily not the best choice.

In their place was the superhuman speed, strength, and precise body control granted by his armor.

The first target was the fellow hiding behind a large wooden crate, nervously changing a magazine. Shen Mingyuan hung upside down from the steel beam like a predatory bat and landed without making a sound.

The moment that person slapped the new magazine into the slot, a lightning-fast hand-chop precisely struck the carotid sinus on the side of his neck. The man's eyes rolled back, and he slumped down without even a groan, laid down gently by Shen Mingyuan to avoid the sound of a fall.

The second was a guard trying to creep toward the side door of the warehouse, intending to check outside or call for backup.

Shen Mingyuan emerged from the shadows, covering the man's mouth and nose while delivering a heavy knee strike to the kidney area of his lower back. The intense impact and pain instantly stripped the man of his consciousness.

The third, the fourth... Like a true ghost, under the cover of darkness and chaos and utilizing the one-way transparency provided by thermal vision, Shen Mingyuan efficiently and coldly cleared the outer guards.

His movements were clean and decisive, targeting dense nerve clusters or vital points, striving to knock them out with a single blow and avoiding making any large commotions as much as possible.

However, the decrease in numbers could not be completely hidden forever.

"Old Wu? Respond!"

"There's no sound from Xiao Bin's side!"

"Something's wrong! He's inside! He's right among us! Back to back! Turn on the flashlights!!"

Even more panicked shouts came from behind the inner door as the remaining men finally noticed their companions' rapid "disappearance." Several tactical flashlight beams swept frantically into the dark corners, but they were too slow to react.

Shen Mingyuan had already dealt with most of the scattered outer forces. In the thermal image, of the original seven or eight active heat sources, only the last three remained, huddled closely together near the inner door.

A brief, deathly silence fell over the warehouse once more, leaving only the three intersecting, shaking beams of light and the heavy, terrified sounds of breathing.

Shen Mingyuan lay quietly in wait in the shadows atop the cargo crates, his red visors firmly locking onto the outlines of the three heat sources huddled together below.

In his thermal vision, their accelerated heartbeats and metabolism due to fear were like three flickering orange-red flames, exceptionally prominent against the cold warehouse background. Bunched together? Perfect.

He reached for his waist, and the twin stars were in his hands. In this situation, a frontal assault to finish things quickly was exactly when they would shine.

Just as one of the men below couldn't help but ask in a trembling voice, "Do... do you see anything?"—

Shen Mingyuan moved!

He leaped down from the shadows above, not lunging directly at the targets but landing behind a pile of goods to the side. He landed silently, but the slight airflow from his movement and his momentarily blurred silhouette were immediately caught by the opposition!

"Over there!" a roar went up, and the three beams of light and muzzles turned simultaneously!

However, Shen Mingyuan was faster! A split second before the beams could lock onto his landing spot, he had already darted out from the other side of the cargo pile. His form pulled into a hard-to-track blur in the darkness as he began high-speed, irregular arc movements centered around the three-man group!

Simultaneously, he raised both hands, and the muzzle flashes of the twin stars appeared!

Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang!

The shots were not continuous explosions but relatively low-pitched yet more penetrating thuds adjusted by the biological structure, echoing in the empty warehouse and precisely punctuating the messy gunshots of the enemy's hasty blind firing.

The black-red energy trajectories arrived in the darkness in an instant, showing no mercy.

First round of four shots!

A guard trying to aim at Shen Mingyuan's movement path had both his left and right wrists hit by the searing beams almost simultaneously. His weapon fell, and he collapsed to his knees, clutching his charred, instantly non-functional wrists while screaming.

Second round of four shots!

Another fellow who had just turned his muzzle had the sides of both knees explode with blinding energy impacts. His support completely vanished, and he fell forward, letting out a pained wail.

Third round of four shots!

The last leader, who had reacted slightly faster and tried to find cover, felt a pain like being pierced by a white-hot branding iron in his right shoulder and left thigh before he could even duck behind the crate. The precise strikes sent him spinning to the ground, his weapon sliding away.

Twelve shots, all expended within the few seconds of Shen Mingyuan's high-speed movement and the enemy's futile counterattack.

The gunfire ceased.

Only the groans of pained writhing and suppressed gasps remained in the warehouse.

The three flashlights had long since fallen to the ground, illuminating the dusty floor and their own contorted figures at odd angles. All three had lost their ability to fight or move; their hands or shoulders were too damaged to hold weapons, and their legs were too damaged to stand or move.

Shen Mingyuan stopped moving, standing in a deep shadow not far away, slowly lowering his muzzles. The faint energy afterglow around the twin stars' muzzles gradually faded. His red visors calmly scanned the three non-threatening heat sources on the ground, confirming there were no other hostile active targets.