54: Chapter 54 Mysterious Phone Call: "We are the Special Incident Handling Department"

On the training hall's green brick floor, while the "Martial" character pattern was still damp with morning dew, Chen Wu's phone suddenly vibrated in his pocket. It wasn't a familiar ringtone but a low hum, like a muffled buzzer, resonating with the frequency of the wooden training dummy. It created tiny ripples in the brick dust.

"Unknown number." Lin Mo's tactical tablet automatically displayed the caller's location—no tags, the signal source showing as "Unknown Area." The boy's fingertips tapped the screen, trying to trace the signal, only to be bounced back by an encrypted firewall. A warning instantly popped up on the interface: "Insufficient Permissions, Access Prohibited."

The moment Chen Wu answered the phone, the chirping of cicadas in the training hall suddenly stopped. What came through the receiver wasn't a human voice but a three-second burst of electronic noise, like the tuning of an old radio. After the noise ended, a steady, level male voice spoke: "Mr. Chen Wu, we are the Special Incident Response Department."

*Clack.* Grandpa Wang's dry tobacco pipe dropped onto the bluestone slab. The old man's squinted eyes suddenly snapped open, the bronze tobacco bowl reflecting his rapidly changing expression. "That designation... I haven't heard it in thirty years." He stumbled toward the bronze statue, his palm brushing over the newly carved Seal characters on the base. "They finally found us."

The male voice on the other end ignored the commotion and continued, "Your 'Brute Force' test results have reached S-grade. According to Chapter Three, Article Seven of the Abnormal Ability User Management Regulations, we officially invite you to assist in investigating a case." A faint static sound suddenly mixed into the background, like a metal key turning in a rusted lock.

Chen Wu's Qi Energy spread along the phone signal, the bluish-gold energy flow condensing into a thin thread in the receiver. He could catch the other party's breathing rate—12 times per minute, so steady it didn't seem human, more like the simulated sound of some biological life-support device. "What case?" His fingertips tapped lightly on the wooden dummy, the ripples of Qi Energy on the wood forming a defensive array.

"It involves 'Abnormal Qi Energy Fluctuations'." The male voice's speaking speed didn't change at all. "Within the last 72 hours, 13 Ancient Martial Arts Ruins worldwide have simultaneously erupted with energy reactions, perfectly matching the Qi Energy frequency you used when breaking bricks. The last eruption point was inside a Tang Dynasty Warrior Figurine at the Shanghai Museum."

Lin Mo's tablet suddenly lit up on its own, displaying real-time surveillance from the Shanghai Museum. From the eye sockets of the Tang Dynasty Warrior Figurine, the same bluish-gold liquid as seen in Chen Wu's palm was seeping out, flowing along the terracotta patterns and drawing half a Taiji diagram on the display case glass. When the image zoomed in, a bronze fragment similar to the peace lock could be seen embedded in a crack in the figurine's armor.

"Why should I believe you?" Chen Wu's Qi Energy suddenly tightened, and a faint cracking sound came from the receiver. Outside the training hall, a swarm of drones suddenly lost control, crashing one after another onto the courtyard walls. The circuit boards leaking from the wreckage had the same patterns as the equipment from the Grey Shadow base.

The male voice fell silent for two seconds, seemingly calculating its wording. "Your grandfather, Chen Jianguo, was once a 'Tomb Guardian' in our department. After the 1987 Qinling Ancient Tomb Incident, he voluntarily retired and took an important item with him—it should be in your hands now."

Chen Wu's pupils suddenly constricted. The Sandalwood Box his grandfather had given him before passing away was currently sitting on the training hall's offering table. The bluish-gold Qi Energy seeping from the lid's cracks was resonating violently with the phone signal. He suddenly remembered the old man's last words: "If people in black uniforms speaking in code come looking for you, give them the box. But remember, never open it."

Thirty minutes after the call ended, three black sedans silently pulled up outside the training hall. The vehicles had no markings, the windows were one-way tinted black, and even the tires were wrapped in sound-dampening cotton, kicking up no dust as they stopped—this was the standard configuration of the Special Incident Response Department. Grandpa Wang had seen similar vehicles in the military district when he was young.

Five people in black uniforms stepped out, their epaulettes featuring an abstract shield pattern with a simplified Taiji diagram inside. The middle-aged man in the lead had a high hairline and wore a silver watch on his left wrist. The hands on the watch face didn't move clockwise but followed the path of a Taiji diagram. Every time the hands overlapped, a glint of bluish-gold light flashed in his pupils.

"Mr. Chen, I am Zhao Yi, Section Chief of the Third Section of the Special Incident Response Department." The man's voice was clearer than on the phone, with a texture like metal rubbing together. "This is my identification." On the black card he handed over, besides a photo and ID number, there was only a line of gold-stamped small print: "Token Holder, authorized to mobilize ten armories."

Grandpa Wang suddenly stepped in front of Chen Wu, pointing his tobacco pipe at Zhao Yi's watch. "A 'Reverse-Time Watch'. Only those who have handled 'Living Entity Incidents' are qualified to wear one. Was it your group that handled the 1976 Luoyang Terracotta Warrior incident?"

A rare curve appeared at the corner of Zhao Yi's mouth. "Old Mr. Wang was a shock trooper back then, wasn't he? You used a 'Mountain-Leaning Strike' to hold back a moving stone coffin at Mount Mang." He suddenly stood at attention and saluted. "Department records show that the purity of your 'Mountain-Collapsing Strike' once reached 91%, the highest record in the last fifty years."

Chen Wu noticed a detail: the men in black uniforms seemed to stand casually, but they actually formed a "Cross-Strike" defensive formation. Everyone's center of gravity was on the balls of their feet, ready to execute a "Stamping and Grinding Step" at any moment. When Zhao Yi's hand approached the Sandalwood Box, all five men simultaneously placed their right hands on their waists—weapons were likely hidden there, but Qi Energy sensing suggested they weren't firearms, but some kind of cold weapon.

"The energy erupting from the Ancient Martial Arts Ruins is Awakening 'things' underground." Zhao Yi's watch suddenly buzzed, and the Taiji diagram on the face turned blood-red. "The warrior figurine in the Shanghai Museum just moved and shattered its display case. We've detected that the bronze fragment inside it shares the same Origin as the item your grandfather took; they are both Seal components of the 'Tomb-Guarding Beast'."

Lin Mo's tablet suddenly connected to the Special Incident Response Department's database. The boy's fingers flew across the screen, pulling up a 3D model showing that the arc formed by the 13 global eruption points perfectly overlapped with the outer defense line of the Mausoleum of the First Qin Emperor. The Shanghai Museum's location was the final node of the arc—if there were another eruption, the entire sealing network would collapse.

"What do you need me to do?" Chen Wu's Qi Energy spread along the wooden box, and a slight vibration came from within, as if something living was waking up inside. His grandfather's diary had mentioned the "Tomb-Guarding Beast": a legendary creature that guarded imperial tombs, formed from the Fusion of Qi Energy and bronze. Once awakened, it would devour all surrounding energy, including human life force.

Zhao Yi took an item out of his briefcase—a palm-sized bronze token engraved with the same patterns as the Sandalwood Box. When he placed the token on the offering table, the box lid automatically popped open a crack, and the bluish-gold Qi Energy seeping out resonated with the token, forming a complete taotie pattern in the air.

"We need your 'Brute Force'." The hands on Zhao Yi's watch began to spin wildly. "The Seals of the 13 ruins can only be temporarily reinforced with Qi Energy of over 80% purity. You are currently the only person who meets the criteria, and..." He paused. "The wooden box your grandfather left behind contains a heart fragment of the 'Tomb-Guarding Beast', which is our final trump card."

Grandpa Wang suddenly began to cough, quietly touching Chen Wu's ankle with his tobacco pipe. The old man's Qi Energy traveled through the point of contact, forming a sequence of Morse code—a secret language old soldiers learned on the battlefield. It meant: "They're telling the truth, but they're hiding something."

By the time the Shanghai Museum's closure notice was released through emergency channels, Chen Wu's convoy had already arrived at the underground exhibition hall. The security System here was specially made by the Special Incident Response Department, with a layer of bronze mesh embedded in the walls. The mesh size was precisely designed to block the flow of Qi Energy. Zhao Yi called it a "Qi-Locking Wall", a patented technology developed after the 1983 Changsha Mawangdui Incident.

The Tang Dynasty Warrior Figurine was isolated in a tempered glass enclosure. Its originally dull terracotta surface was now covered in bluish-gold cracks, like the blood vessels of some creature. Most eerie were its eyes—originally hollow, they were now filled with a viscous golden liquid that was slowly trickling down its cheeks, pooling into a small puddle on the pedestal.

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"This isn't tears; it's liquefied Qi Energy." Zhao Yi pressed his wristwatch against the glass cover, the energy index on the dial skyrocketing. "It's absorbing the Qi Energy from the artifacts in the museum, especially the Song Dynasty martial arts manuals, which have already been gnawed down to mere scraps."

The moment Chen Wu's Qi Energy touched the glass cover, the warrior figurine suddenly raised its right arm, assuming the starting stance of a "Crushing Fist." The joints of its clay fingers made a "click" sound, and the cyan-gold Qi Energy spewing from the cracks collided with Chen Wu's energy flow in the air, the resulting shockwave causing the "Qi-Locking Wall" to hum.

"It's recognizing its master." Grandpa Wang suddenly shouted, leaning in to observe while propping himself up with his dry tobacco pipe. "Look at its left hand; it's forming the starting stance of 'Baji Fist'! This was carved by a Martial Master who guarded the tomb back then; only Qi Energy from the same lineage can activate it!"

Zhao Yi's expression turned solemn: "The figurines at 13 sites have all shown varying degrees of activation. The Terracotta Warriors in the Qinling Mountains can already walk out of their burial chambers; yesterday, surveillance footage showed them performing a complete set of 'Military Boxing'." In the video he pulled up, the trajectory formed by Qi Energy on the ground as the clay soldiers marched in formation was identical to the illustrations in Chen Wu's grandfather's diary.

Chen Wu's Qi Energy suddenly snaked into the cracks of the warrior figurine. As the cyan-gold energy flow traveled inside the clay, his "Listening Energy" captured not a mechanical structure, but a pulse similar to a heartbeat—in the figurine's chest cavity, a walnut-sized bronze fragment was glowing, its patterns perfectly matching the fragment in the Sandalwood Box.

"It's a scale of the 'Tomb-Guarding Beast'." Zhao Yi's wristwatch emitted a piercing alarm. "When all 13 scales are gathered, it will fully awaken. The last time it appeared was during the 1937 Battle of Nanjing; it is said to have devoured an entire squad of Japanese soldiers, but it also caused an energy vacuum of three square kilometers."

More golden liquid suddenly flowed from the warrior figurine's eye sockets. As Chen Wu's Qi Energy enveloped the bronze scale, the cracks on the clay surface began to heal, and the originally raised right arm slowly lowered, performing a gesture resembling a bow. Surveillance showed that the energy indices at 12 global sites dropped simultaneously, with only the index inside a pyramid in an African country continuing to skyrocket.

"It's showing goodwill." Grandpa Wang's dry tobacco pipe pointed at the base of the figurine, where a line of blurred characters in Tang Dynasty clerical script had appeared out of nowhere: "The descendant of the Tomb Guardian may hold the Beast's Heart." The old man suddenly understood that what his grandfather had taken away was not an ordinary fragment, but the core capable of controlling the "Tomb-Guarding Beast."

Zhao Yi's walkie-talkie suddenly crackled with an urgent report: "News from the Africa branch: the 'Tomb Guardian' inside the pyramid has fully activated and is attacking the scientific expedition team with 'Qi Energy'! All their 'Retrograde Clocks' have failed!"

Chen Wu's phone vibrated simultaneously; it was a video sent by Li Meng. The red string of the peace lock in the hospital room was pulled taut, pointing in the direction of Africa, and the teenager's voice was breathless: "Brother Wu, I feel like something is draining my Qi... The peace lock is burning hot!"

On the way back to the training hall, Zhao Yi finally revealed the information he had been withholding. The predecessor of the Special Incident Response Department was the "Artifact Handling Group" established in 1949, specifically to deal with supernatural events caused by Qi Energy anomalies. During the 1987 Qinling Mountains incident, in order to prevent the "Tomb-Guarding Beast" from Awakening prematurely, Chen Wu's grandfather forcibly stripped away its heart fragment, causing damage to his own Qi Energy Origin, leading to his death before he turned fifty.

"Your grandfather did it voluntarily." The hands of Zhao Yi's wristwatch returned to normal rotation. "He said that rather than letting the Tomb-Guarding Beast fall into the hands of grave robbers, it would be better to trade his own life for thirty years of peace. But he left a prophecy: in 2023, as global Qi Energy recovers, the Tomb-Guarding Beast will awaken again, and only his descendant will be able to control it."

Chen Wu suddenly opened the Sandalwood Box. Inside, lined with dark red velvet, lay a bronze fragment the size of a pigeon egg, shaped like a simplified heart. The taotie patterns on its surface were slowly flowing, resonating perfectly with his own Qi Energy. As his fingertips touched the fragment, countless images suddenly flooded into his mind:

• His grandfather, young and in uniform, holding up a bronze door with a "Cross-Strike" in an Ancient Tomb in the Qinling Mountains;

• The rainy night in 1987, the old man walking out of the mountains clutching his bleeding right arm, holding the wooden box tightly to his chest;

• Before he passed away, trembling as he wrote in his diary: "Wu'er, remember, the Tomb-Guarding Beast is not a monster; it is the final line of defense protecting the Dragon vein of Huaxia."

Grandpa Wang suddenly burst into tears. When he was young, he had witnessed Chen Jianguo's "Mountain-Leaning Strike"; back then, the old man's Qi Energy was pure gold, unlike Chen Wu's current cyan-gold—that was the scar of a damaged Qi Energy Origin after stripping away the Tomb-Guarding Beast's heart fragment. "Your grandfather left the chance of survival for you." The old man knocked his dry tobacco pipe against the ground, sending sparks flying. "He knew the Tomb-Guarding Beast's heart would recognize its master and had paved the way for you thirty years in advance."

The Special Incident Response Department's motorcade suddenly accelerated. Worse news came over Zhao Yi's walkie-talkie: the "Tomb Guardian" of the African pyramid had broken through the defensive line and was absorbing the energy of the Nile River. Satellite images showed its appearance was highly similar to the Huaxia "Tomb-Guarding Beast," only it was pitch black with blood-red eyes.

"It's a 'Shadow Beast'." For the first time, Zhao Yi's voice wavered. "A negative entity that legend says coexists with the Tomb-Guarding Beast; it feeds on Qi Energy and specializes in destroying the Dragon vein. The Gray Shadow Organization has been studying it in secret; the global genetic agents are actually made from the Shadow Beast's blood."

Chen Wu suddenly gripped the bronze fragment in his hand. The cyan-gold Qi Energy spread along the fragment, resonating with the warrior figurine's scale on the training hall's altar. The air between the two twisted into a vortex, within which the silhouette of a massive creature could be vaguely seen—horse body, deer antlers, eagle claws; it was exactly the form of the Tomb-Guarding Beast as recorded in ancient texts.

"Prepare to move out." He handed the wooden box to Lin Mo, whose tactical tablet was already connected to the Global Qi Energy monitoring network, the African region on the screen expanding wildly with red markings. "Tell Li Meng to use the peace lock to protect his heart meridian; we'll be back soon."

Zhao Yi's wristwatch suddenly emitted a clear, resonant chime. The Taiji diagram in the dial rotated in sync with Chen Wu's Qi Energy. When the two completely overlapped, the five individuals in black uniforms stood at attention and saluted simultaneously. The Taiji diagrams on their shoulder insignias suddenly lit up, projecting a massive map onto the floor of the training hall, marked with the Qi Energy nodes globally that required reinforcement.

"The Department's 'Armory' has been activated." Zhao Yi placed his left hand on Chen Wu's shoulder, the hands of his silver wristwatch rotating clockwise for the first time. "From now on, you are the 37th 'Tomb Guardian' and can mobilize all resources." He paused, then added, "Including the latest intelligence on the Gray Shadow Organization—their headquarters is on the outskirts of the Qinling Ancient Tomb."

Chen Wu's Qi Energy suddenly exploded, a cyan-gold stream of energy shooting into the sky and resonating with the signal tower of the Special Incident Response Department. The Global Martial Arts System's point mall suddenly popped up an emergency announcement, and the same image appeared on all users' screens: the Shadow Beast at the African pyramid was roaring, while on the land of Huaxia, countless cyan-gold light points were converging like an Awakening giant Dragon.

As the black motorcade set off again, the bronze statue in the training hall suddenly shot out a beam of light, forming a cyan-gold barrier behind the vehicles. Grandpa Wang stood in the beam of light, raising his dry tobacco pipe toward the direction of the motorcade. The old man's Qi Energy merged with Chen Wu's in the clouds, forming a massive character for "Martial," protecting this land that was about to face a storm.

Chen Wu watched the streetscape flying past outside the window, the bronze fragment in his hand growing hotter and hotter. He knew that the real battle had only just begun—not a ten-second KO in an octagon cage, not a spam of tips in a live stream, but an ultimate showdown concerning the Legacy of Qi Energy and the safety of the Dragon vein. And the emergence of the Special Incident Response Department was merely the prelude to this storm.

The sky outside the car window gradually darkened, with only countless cyan-gold light points flickering in the night—that was the Martial Artists of the world responding to the call. Chen Wu clenched his fist, feeling the surging power in his Bloodline, his grandfather's words echoing in his ears: "The Tomb Guardian does not guard the tomb; they guard the Dao in their heart."

This time, he would not let anyone down.