214: Chapter 214 Ling Zhenzi discovers the source of the poison, Chen Wuwang initiates isolation.

The morning mist condensed into droplets on the eaves of the Alchemy Workshop, dripping onto the bluestone slabs with a faint "tap" sound.

The sweet, fishy smell in the air was stronger than yesterday, like rotten flower stamens mixed with rust, swept up by the wind and clinging to every breath.

Chen Wuwang stood at the end of the long corridor, his Mechanical Prosthetic Eye flickering with blue light as data streams silently surged into his consciousness—

The toxin molecules were still spreading, but the airflow in the vents had changed, slowly seeping along the north corridor toward the reagent storage area.

He did not move, nor did he speak.

He merely traced a finger lightly over the rune slot of the Titanium Alloy Dagger at his waist, leaving a shallow mark.

He knew that someone had already made a move. But he could not expose it now.

He had to wait for the evidence to surface on its own.

Just as he was concentrating on calculating the rate of toxin diffusion, the door to the constant temperature zone opened with a "click."

Ling Zhenzi walked out, carrying a palm-sized bronze instrument in his hand, its surface covered in dense array patterns, vibrating slightly.

His face was pale, cold sweat seeping from his forehead, but his footsteps were astonishingly steady.

He saw Chen Wuwang at a glance.

The two were separated by twenty paces, neither speaking.

Ling Zhenzi raised his hand and pressed a dark red rune button on the back of the instrument.

The next instant, an encrypted message passed through the Alchemy Workshop's internal channel, directly connecting to Chen Wuwang's consciousness.

A light screen unfolded:

[Level 3 Alert]

[Poison Source Location: Scrophularia Powder Storage Tank A-7]

[Toxin Type: Unnatural Harmonic Chimera, molecular structure shows slow-release fissure distribution]

[Method of Poisoning: Artificial injection, directional release, evading conventional spiritual inspection]

[Conclusion: Artificial poisoning, not accidental contamination]

Chen Wuwang's pupils constricted slightly.

It had come.

It was not an accident, not negligence; it was a blade aimed at the very Foundation of the entire Chen Family.

He raised his hand and tapped three times in the air—the internal Family emergency response code, meaning "Received, proceed according to the contingency plan."

Ling Zhenzi immediately turned around, pretending to continue adjusting the instrument, while muttering to himself: "The Spiritual Qi in this furnace is a bit unstable… need to run another test."

His voice was normal, his tone relaxed, as if he were truly conducting a routine check.

But his hand quietly pressed a corner of the external Seal talisman on Storage Tank A-7 back into place—that corner had been tampered with and would have fallen off automatically in half a breath's time.

He guarded the scene without revealing anything.

Chen Wuwang turned and left immediately.

Three steps later, he was already in front of the command room a hundred meters away.

The door slid open automatically; he stepped inside and closed all external communication ports behind him.

He swiped his fingertip across the console, and the 3D structural diagram of the Alchemy Workshop instantly covered the crystal wall panel.

"Initiate Red-Level Protection Protocol." His voice was low and devoid of emotion.

The System responded: [Command confirmed. Executing—]

First command: Close all vents.

The north corridor, reagent area, raw material warehouse, and distillation towers—a total of forty-seven airflow channels were instantly locked, metal gates dropping with a dull "boom."

Second command: Lower the sealed doors layer by layer.

From outside to inside, seven explosion-proof alloy doors closed in sequence, cutting the Alchemy Workshop into independent sections. The Zone A constant temperature room was completely sealed, with no one able to enter or exit.

Third command: Force the main furnace fire to cool down.

The three main cauldrons currently in operation received the cooling command, their Spiritual Qi output plummeting, the temperature dropping from three thousand degrees to eight hundred, and the Alchemy process paused.

Fourth command: Switch the monitoring System to offline mode.

All video data would no longer be uploaded to the central database, switching to local encrypted storage to prevent information from being remotely tampered with or leaked.

After doing all this, he pressed the broadcast button, his voice spreading steadily throughout the Alchemy Workshop: "Routine maintenance, all personnel withdraw and stand by. One person from the logistics team remains on duty, everyone else evacuate to the safe zone."

There was no panic, no commotion.

It was as if it were truly just a routine inspection.

But Chen Wuwang knew that this was a race against time.

The toxin already existed; although the ventilation System had stopped, the residual molecules in the air were still in their active phase. If not handled quickly, even a trace of diffusion could affect the quality of subsequent Medicinal Pills, or even trigger a chain reaction.

He pulled up all access control logs from last night to this morning.

The footage flashed by frame by frame.

A handyman with a blurred ID badge, an unreported raw material handover, a brief interruption in the inspection route...

He used his Mechanical Prosthetic Eye to activate multi-dimensional comparison mode: personnel movement lines, energy fluctuations, monitoring blind spots, and permission change records.

An abnormal data point popped up—last night at 12:45:17 AM, there was a 0.7-second power fluctuation in the area where the raw material warehouse was located.

Extremely short, almost negligible.

But at that very instant, the authentication signal for the warehouse's access control Spirit Array was briefly reset.

And the monitoring showed that there were no records of anyone entering or exiting at that time.

"Someone used an external device to interfere with the power supply and forcibly decoded the access control," he said in a low voice. "The technique is professional, the equipment is sophisticated; this is not something an ordinary handyman could do."

He continued to investigate.

The energy curve highly matched the access control release time, with an error of no more than 0.3 seconds.

He then pulled up the raw material entry records—the Scrophularia Powder was escorted by Old Zhao from the logistics team, the procedure was compliant, and the registration was complete.

But that was the problem.

It was too compliant.

So compliant that it was as if it had been rehearsed.

He stared at that 0.7-second fluctuation curve, suddenly remembered something, switched perspectives, and checked the load records of the Alchemy Workshop's outer power grid.

Sure enough—at the same time, a power-saving Spirit lamp in the side path of the west corridor also had a voltage anomaly.

That was a monitoring blind spot.

The person came in, acted, and left; the entire process took no more than ten breaths.

Clean and efficient.

"Not an outsider," he narrowed his eyes. "It's someone on the inside, with permissions, who understands the procedures and is familiar with our System."

His right hand swiped across the edge of the console, leaving several deep gouges.

His left Mechanical Prosthetic Eye operated at high speed, data cascading down like a waterfall.

He began to make a list.

First: The access control administrator on duty last night.

Second: The apprentice responsible for raw material spot checks.

Third: The technician involved in the constant temperature zone equipment debugging.

Fourth: The inspection personnel who had contact with the A-7 storage tank Seal talisman.

Four names appeared.

He was in no hurry to make arrests.

He knew that arresting them now would only alert the enemy.

What he wanted was a chain of evidence, to let the person hiding in the shadows reveal their own flaws.

He pulled up the toxin spectrum chart sent by Ling Zhenzi and magnified the microscopic structure.

The toxin was hidden in the fissures of the Scrophularia Powder, designed for directional slow-release, activated by heat, and diffused by moisture.

This was not something that could be done just by pouring in some medicine.

It required precise control of dosage, penetration depth, and release rhythm.

"Either an Alchemist or someone who understands biochemical synthesis," he said in a low voice. "Or… both."

He suddenly thought of something and opened the interface of the family rise system.

Three heavenly secret instructions lay quietly there:

"Thunderstorm in East Ridge at 11:45 AM"

"Young son of Beipo Liu Clan will awaken Wood Spiritual Root"

"Upgrade irrigation pipeline network of Medicinal Field within seven days"

Still irrelevant.

The System was silent.

This meant that the poisoner's technique had already bypassed the System's early warning mechanism.

Either it was a coincidence, or—the opponent had mastered some way to evade it.

His eyes turned cold.

No matter who you are, daring to touch my Chen Family's Medicinal Pills is touching the lifeline of the entire Alliance.

He stood up and walked to the window.

Outside the Alchemy Workshop, the Disciples were evacuating in an orderly manner, no one making noise, no one asking questions.

Everything was as usual.

But he knew that a storm was already brewing inside.

He picked up the communicator and entered an encrypted command:

[Freeze the permissions of the four positions related to A-7, mark their movement trajectories, and initiate shadow log backups. Do not alert them, do not question them.]

Send.

Then, he walked out of the command room and stood on the outer corridor of the Alchemy Workshop.

The wind blew over, carrying a trace of the lingering sweet, fishy smell.

He looked up toward the direction of the constant temperature zone.

Ling Zhenzi was still there, squatting by the storage tank, pretending to adjust the instrument, but actually staring fixedly at the Seal talisman on A-7.

The two exchanged a look from afar.

Neither spoke.

But both understood—

The poison source had been found.

The isolation was complete.

Next, it was time to trace the source.

Who was it?

Why?

How did they get in?

He did not know the answer.

But he knew it would definitely be dug out.

He looked down at the gouges his fingertips had left on the console and suddenly laughed.

The laughter was not loud, but it carried a hint of madness.

"Hahahaha…"

He muttered: "Thinking of making a move right under my nose?"

"Fine."

"I'll let you move."

"But after you move—"

He raised his eyes, his gaze sharp as a knife, sweeping over every corner of the Alchemy Workshop.

"You must stay."

He stood at the end of the corridor, the blue light of his Mechanical Prosthetic Eye not extinguished, data streams still scrolling.

His right hand gripped his dagger, while his left hand quietly pressed a hidden command inside his sleeve.

The Shadow Guards were in position.

Monitoring was encrypted.

The list was locked.

He did not leave, nor did he call anyone.

He just stood there like a mountain, pressing down upon the entire Alchemy Workshop.

The wind brushed through his silver-white hair, his cloak snapping in the breeze.

And in a corner beyond his line of sight, a monitoring panel that should have been lit suddenly went black for half a second.