Chapter 55: Silencing Witnesses
Three Combat Police vehicles stopped outside Cloud Warehouse No. 32 in the Northern District. Zhang Kai, Yu Xian, and Zhang Shou got out, while numerous officers quickly moved to surround the building. Several of them carried super-alloy shields nearly ten centimeters thick and advanced cautiously in a formation. Behind them stood an officer holding a breaching ram. At the warehouse door, they waited for the order to force their way inside.
As Yu Xian watched them, a sudden buzzing filled his head. His Vampire Heart began to beat faster involuntarily. He grabbed the hand with which Zhang Kai was holding the walkie-talkie. "Wait, Captain Zhang. Let me handle this. I have a bad feeling about this."
Seeing Yu Xian’s grave expression, Zhang Kai immediately ordered the officers to fall back.
Once everyone had retreated to a safe distance, a bubble the size of a basketball appeared in Yu Xian’s hand. He guided it toward the warehouse door and slowly pushed it open.
The moment the door cracked open, the sound of something striking a trigger mechanism echoed out. The next instant, the entire warehouse exploded with a deafening roar, and a terrifying shockwave swept outward. Even dozens of meters away, the officers of the Combat Police unit were sent flying despite their heavy shields.
Yu Xian had been prepared. When the explosion occurred, he had immediately enveloped himself and the people around him in protective bubbles. This time, he used three layers of bubbles, so the blast had absolutely no effect on them.
Zhang Shou snapped out of his daze and instinctively blurted out, "Holy shit!"
Beside him, Zhang Kai’s expression was extremely grim. If Yu Xian hadn't stopped the officers from forcing the door open, the explosion would have probably killed them on the spot.
Zhang Kai growled through clenched teeth. "Damn it! We have to investigate this. I want to know exactly who owns this warehouse and who's behind it. If I don't get to the bottom of this, my name isn't Zhang Kai!"
Yu Xian also felt that the case was becoming increasingly complicated. What started as a simple nighttime operation to catch a few petty thieves had unexpectedly led to a major criminal case.
He narrowed his eyes in contemplation. "They knew we were coming. This whole thing is just a warning to back off."
After Sun Youhu and his group stole the suitcase, the people behind it had likely anticipated this development. After all, Sun Youhu’s gang operated across multiple cities. Whenever they broke into warehouses, they wore hats and masks, making it extremely difficult to identify them.
However, as long as they continued committing petty thefts and robberies, there was always a chance they would eventually fall into the hands of the Public Security Bureau. Once the drugs were discovered, it would only be a matter of time before the warehouse was exposed.
Many would assume that criminal organizations or underworld forces would have an easier time finding Sun Youhu's gang, but in reality, the opposite was true. Sun Youhu's gang worked as a tightly knit team and constantly moved from city to city. They trusted no one. In fact, even local gang leaders would probably not know such a group existed.
Moreover, after successfully pulling off a job in one city, they would never sell the stolen goods there. Instead, they would travel to the next city, or even the one after that, before fencing the loot. And once they sold the goods in a city, they would never sell stolen property there again.
This meant that ordinary organizations had little chance of catching them, unless they could conduct a citywide manhunt before the gang moved on to another city.
Silver City was a special case. It had only recently emerged from lockdown. Not only were the criminal elements lying low, but even the prominent figures operating openly also had to behave themselves for a while. As a result, Sun Youhu and his gang were actually unusually safe while staying in Silver City.
Under those circumstances, the probability of Sun Youhu's gang exposing the drug had risen to at least eighty percent. With that in mind, it was not difficult to understand why the drug's original owner had taken such drastic measures.
A squad of Combat Police was left behind to search the surrounding warehouses, while Yu Xian and the others returned to the Public Security Bureau. Some time later, the officers who had been searching Sun Youhu's temporary hideout returned. They also brought back several vials of the drug that Sun Youhu's gang had hidden away.
There had originally been ten vials in the suitcase. One had been used on the dog, and subsequently, each member of the gang had taken one for himself. That left four vials at their temporary hideout.
Yu Xian and Zhang Shou each took a vial and stored it in their spatial rings as backups. Of the remaining two, one was left with the Public Security Bureau for chemical analysis, while Yu Xian carried the other to the neighboring branch office, where Qilin would conduct their own examination.
After leaving the branch office, Yu Xian sat down in the landscaped strip between the Public Security Bureau and the branch office.
Zhang Shou sat down beside him. "Salted Fish, are you waiting for them to make a move?"
Yu Xian nodded. "The warehouse explosion means they already know the thieves who stole the suitcase have been caught. Given how brazen they are, do you think they'll try to silence the witnesses?"
If the Public Security Bureau alone had captured Sun Youhu's gang, there was a good chance those people would have already made their move. Now it all depended on how much the other side knew. If someone showed up tonight, it would indicate that the Public Security Bureau itself was clean. If nobody made a move, then there would be a good reason to conduct another internal screening.
Still, Yu Xian trusted Jin Sheng. Following the previous incident where Aberrant Parasites infiltrated the Public Security Bureau, Jin Sheng had turned the entire department upside down to weed out corruption. If a mole had somehow survived that sweep, they were dealing with an incredibly dangerous threat.
By four in the morning, both Yu Xian and Zhang Shou remained wide awake. One was gazing at the stars, the other playing on his phone.
Suddenly, Yu Xian sprang to his feet. Zhang Shou immediately stood up as well, scanning the surroundings in alarm. Without warning, a gigantic fireball more than three hundred meters in diameter appeared directly above the Public Security Bureau. It had materialized out of thin air, so suddenly, in fact, that no one had time to react.
If the fireball hit its target, the entire Public Security Bureau would likely be reduced to ashes. Everyone inside would die. But the very next second, a gigantic bubble appeared above the Public Security Bureau and swallowed the fireball whole.
If the supernatural being who unleashed the fireball could somehow see a massive lake several hundred kilometers outside Silver City, they would have witnessed a giant fireball appearing at the bottom of the lake and being swiftly extinguished by the surrounding water.
About two hundred meters away, Scott stared wide-eyed at the sky above the Public Security Bureau. A scroll was clutched in his hand. It was clearly torn open, which meant the Great Solar Fireball should have successfully activated. That was an upper Wolf-rank mystic art, more than enough to vaporize the entire Public Security Bureau.
Where is my fireball? Snapping back to his senses, Scott finally started thinking clearly again. Not good. The Public Security Bureau must have a powerhouse hidden in its ranks.
Realizing the situation had gone horribly wrong, he hurriedly pulled out a teleportation scroll. The moment he tore it open, he vanished. Five seconds after his departure, Yu Xian descended from the sky, his body still in its pitch-black state.
Yu Xian looked around and frowned. "He got away?"
The attacker appeared to be even wealthier than he had anticipated. There was not the slightest trace left behind in the air, not even a scent. He could say with certainty that the attacker was heavily equipped, and the abilities used were most likely not part of the attacker's own abilities. The attacker had revealed absolutely no useful information about himself, except that he was rich.
Could it be the Blood Race? The thought crossed Yu Xian's mind. But he quickly shook his head. Just because the Blood Race were known for being wealthy didn't mean he could immediately conclude that they were the culprits.