Qingjian City Divine Management Bureau Affiliated Hospital.

Top Floor Special Care Ward.

The smell of disinfectant in the air was so strong it was almost pungent, with the rhythmic ticking of instruments as the only background sound.

Lin Kang half-reclined on the elevated hospital bed, his face still pale from excessive blood loss, lips chapped, yet his eyes had regained their usual calmness and sharpness.

The ward was crowded with people, making it feel a bit cramped.

Qu Zhe, Li Hu, and others from the third squad gathered at the foot of the bed, each face showing signs of relief and concern after surviving a disaster.

Duan Ling stood by the bedside, carefully tucking in Lin Kang's blanket corners.

Director Wu Yu and Grandmaster Chen Wenshan stood side by side a little further back, the former with a grave expression, the latter with his arms crossed, graying eyebrows slightly furrowed, gaze as sharp as lightning.

The door silently swung open.

Fang Qingyu walked in, still in his dark combat training suit, though the zipper was pulled to the top, the collar slightly raised to cover his neck.

Following him was the petite Jiang Wei, holding a half-eaten roasted sweet potato, her face calm, her large eyes scanning the faces in the room.

Almost the moment Fang Qingyu entered, Lin Kang's gaze precisely locked onto him.

The room fell silent instantly, with everyone's gaze silently intersecting between the two.

Lin Kang's lips moved, his voice a bit hoarse and dry, yet it penetrated the ticking of the instruments with exceptional clarity, striking everyone's hearts:

"Qingzi." He paused, his gaze heavily landing on Fang Qingyu's face, "Thank you."

No unnecessary explanations, no emotional buildup.

Just two simple words, carrying the weight of a life retrieved from the Abyssal insect nest, as well as the highest recognition for a team member who had personally dragged him out of hell.

Fang Qingyu paused briefly, meeting Lin Kang's eyes, calm yet carrying immense power.

There was no particular expression on his face, only the slightest upward twitch at the corner of his mouth, forming an almost imperceptible arc.

He waved his hand, the gesture casual, his voice consistently low and calm:

"Captain Lin, you're too kind."

As if it was merely something trivial and expected.

The atmosphere in the ward relaxed slightly due to these two brief exchanges.

After a brief silence, Director Wu Yu stepped forward, his voice lowered, with a hint of tension barely perceptible: "Old Lin, how are you feeling? What exactly happened then? How did you end up there? That Abyssal Weaver..."

A string of questions voiced the doubts lurking in everyone's hearts.

How could a Profound Tier peak Matron suddenly appear in Qingjian City without warning?

Lin Kang's gaze instantly became sharper, like a blade drawn from its sheath.

He took a slow breath, seemingly pulling on the injuries in his chest and abdomen, his brow furrowing almost imperceptibly, but his voice remained steady:

"That afternoon, in the direction of the Old Harbor District in the west of the city, there was an anomaly detected, a high-intensity Life Ghost energy fluctuation, pinpointing a suspected large Profound Life Ghost entity. The Fiery Star Squad was on a routine patrol nearby at the time. I received the report, judged that the threat level might exceed predictions, and decided to lead the team over in person."

He spoke at a steady pace, each word seemingly soaked in ice water.

"We reached the core area of the fluctuation, a main street of an abandoned factory district. Just as the convoy came to a stop, ready to deploy the force field for precise detection." Lin Kang's gaze swept across the crowd, "It appeared right in the middle of the street. Without warning, zero force field fluctuation, as if it had dropped from another dimension."

"Abyssal Weaver?"

Chen Wenshan interjected in a deep voice, the aura of the Grandmaster causing the air in the ward to stagnate somewhat.

"Yes." Lin Kang said firmly, "It was gigantic, with its energy reaction instantly soaring to the peak of the Profound Tier. The moment it appeared, the surrounding air distorted, definitely not the fluctuation of a normal spatial passage! It was more like some external force forcibly placed it there!"

"Placed?!" Wu Yu blurted out, his face instantly turning ashen, "Artificial placement?!"

These words were like two blocks of ice tossed into boiling oil, causing an immediate uproar in the ward!

"Damn it! Who the hell did this?!"

"Creation Technology! It must be those lunatics!"

"What are they trying to do?! Destroy Qingjian City?!"

Lin Kang ignored the indignant outcry of the team members, merely looking at Wu Yu and Chen Wenshan, his gaze terrifyingly serene: "The situation was extremely critical at that time, with the matron appearing less than two kilometers from the nearest residential area. If it were allowed to fully unfold, the consequences would be unimaginable. I could only immediately activate a maximum-range force field to temporarily trap it. And then, you all know what happened." His last sentence was said casually, yet it immediately brought back the image of him encased in a cocoon of light, his life force as feeble as a candle in the wind, to everyone.

Artificial placement!

A Profound Tier peak, city-destroying matron-type Life Ghost!

Wu Yu's face was so dark it could drip water, a vein on his forehead subtly pulsating.

He then abruptly turned to a secretary behind him who had been silently recording: "Immediately! Draft a top-secret report! Record Captain Lin's testimony verbatim, append all battlefield energy residue analyses, preliminary examination reports on the corpses and equipment of Creation Technology members! Report to the Shangjing Headquarters at the fastest speed!"

"Yes, Director!" the secretary solemnly accepted the order and quickly exited the ward.

Chen Wenshan let out a heavy snort, even the hair of his graying beard seemed to bristle: "Such audacity! Treating human lives as insignificant, disregarding Federation law! Do they truly think no one in the Federation can handle them?"

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