From Abyssal Invasion to Bursting Stars with a Single Sword

Bang!

The shapeshifter grabbed the bathroom door handle, tried to twist it open twice without success, then with a thud, she kicked the door in, stepped inside, and raised her gun at Lin Zeyu in the bathtub, sneering,

"Young Master Lin, you sure do take a long bath."

Lin Zeyu realized that she wasn't even pretending anymore—not just in her actions but also in her appearance.

The intruder was no longer Rose but was reverting to her original form, with blonde hair returning and her facial features and skin tone on her arms were slowly changing back.

"You..." Lin Zeyu's face showed surprise.

"Surprised? There's more to come." The shapeshifter's face showed a dangerous smile as she pulled the trigger.

Bang!

A shot hit his abdomen, and Lin Zeyu's body exploded into strands of energy chains that bound the shapeshifter.

The shapeshifter was shocked and tried to react.

Just then.

Bang!

Another gunshot, and a hole ripped through the shower curtain.

The shapeshifter looked down at her abdomen, where a bloody hole appeared, blood oozed out profusely.

Bang!

Another shot from behind the shower curtain hit her wrist, knocking her gun onto the floor.

At that moment.

Lin Zeyu, with a revolver, pushed the shower curtain aside and stepped out.

The shapeshifter clutched her wound, screaming pitifully as she unleashed her full strength and used her ability to break free from the trap and turned to flee the bathroom.

"Help! Help! Save me!" she cried while on the run, her body shifting into a viscous skin that sealed her wound temporarily to stop the bleeding.

This was an additional effect of her shapeshifting superpower, allowing temporary closure of wounds to prevent them from worsening.

However, the wound still remained, only temporarily sealed, and she needed immediate medical attention.

This time she wasn't working alone; three others had come to assist.

Originally, they planned to capture Lin Zeyu and then force him to reveal the backup of the Sikes Technology data.

But, she did not anticipate being countered.

As she nearly reached the door, Lin Zeyu detonated the Demon Hunter Mark.

Pop!

The shapeshifter's previously sealed wound burst open again.

She cried out in pain and fell to the floor.

Lin Zeyu approached, stepping on her arm, and aimed his gun at her head: "You're really brazen, not even fully employing your beauty trap before resorting to violence."

At that moment.

Someone pushed the door open from the outside.

The shapeshifter's eyes suddenly filled with hope, and she twisted her head toward the door.

Her three teammates should be outside and with their help, overpowering Lin Zeyu would be a piece of cake.

However, the person appearing outside the door was not her teammates, but Lin Zeyu's.

Lu Heng entered the room and asked, "Is everything taken care of?"

"Of course, effortlessly." Lin Zeyu didn't miss the chance to boast.

He held the gun at the shapeshifter's forehead and asked, "Should I kill her?"

"Leave her for Iron Blood. They need to clearly interrogate them about their mission," Lu Heng answered.

It wasn't long.

Before Chen Linian came with his team and took the shapeshifter and the other three superpower users away for interrogation.

The results came out that very night.

Around nine o'clock, Lu Heng received a phone call from Chen Linian with the information they had extracted.

"These four individuals are from the White Eagle Federation and entered the country a week ago, heading straight for Coastal after their arrival.

"Their target is you, aiming to steal the backup of tech data from you."

After listening, Lu Heng asked, "Didn't Alex Austin act together with them?"

The encounter with the three White Eagle superpower users outside the hotel had been quite easy, although all of them were level 20 plus superpower users.

However, Lu Heng had now reached Level 28, and dealing with these slightly above level 20 superpower users was a walkover.

From start to finish, Alex Austin was nowhere to be seen.

According to the intelligence they had previously received, the one responsible for stealing the tech data was supposed to be a team led by Alex Austin.

Chen Linian replied, "We've interrogated them about this question too. These four individuals are not on the same team as Alex Austin, but they are from the same group, and their objective is the technology data."

Lu Heng thought for a moment, then asked, "Do they know Alex Austin's whereabouts?"

Chen Linian answered, "They don't. All four have been interrogated, and their operations don't overlap with Alex Austin's, so they aren't aware of his action plan."

As expected, since the two teams operated independently, naturally they wouldn't be privy to each other's plans.

If Alex Austin's target was different from the shapeshifter's, then since the shapeshifter was here, Alex Austin would likely head to the Defense Science Academy.

After all, only these two locations held the opportunity to access Sikes Civilization's technological data.

As for security at the Academy of Sciences, that was someone else's responsibility.

...

At 11:30 p.m. the next day.

Lu Heng was preparing for bed when he suddenly received a call from Jian Qing.

From the call, he could hear that Jian Qing was running, speaking while on the move:

"Urgent situation, I'll keep it short. The Academy of Sciences was attacked, and some backup disks of technological data were stolen.

"I've now been assigned a task by the higher-ups to mobilize and provide support, you get ready too and join the action immediately."

Lu Heng frowned, "Even if Alex Austin made a move himself, wouldn't it be prevented?"

Jian Qing replied very quickly, "I don't know the details, but it wasn't a frontal assault, according to the messages sent back; it was Alex Austin creating chaos with a surprise attack, and then other Superpower Users stole the data."

After ending the call, Lu Heng got up to notify Su Muyu and Lin Zeyu, then put on his coat, ready to set off.

The three met up and rushed to the military airport, joined up with Jian Qing, and together took a flight to the Capital.

...

At two in the morning.

Lu Heng, Su Muyu, Lin Zeyu, and the platoon of Superpower Soldiers brought by Jian Qing exited the airport.

Several troop transports were already waiting outside the airport.

After boarding, Jian Qing began to inquire with the instructor on the vehicle.

"What happened?"

The instructor in the vehicle kept his explanation brief, "Several Superpower Users with strong Combat Power attacked the Academy of Sciences, drawing the guards' attention.

"Then a Spiritual Superpower User took the opportunity to Spirit Control one of the researchers at the Academy of Sciences and stole a hard drive.

"When they found the person, the researcher who had been controlled was already silenced, and the hard drive was missing."

Jian Qing then asked, "So what's the plan now?"

The instructor answered, "Citywide manhunt. The spy who stole the hard drive probably hasn't left the city. We must find the hard drive before it gets out of the country."

An hour later.

The troop transport arrived at the block where the Academy of Sciences was located.

At this point, the entire block was under martial law.

After disembarking, there was a full body check at the entrance of the blockade zone before they could enter.

Inside the Academy of Sciences, security was extremely tight with guards stationed every few steps.

Before Lu Heng and his group, several teams had already come to participate in the manhunt.

The Capital Iron Blood Investigation Bureau had also sent personnel for an on-site investigation.

Upon entering the temporary command center, the General in charge of the operation was deploying an action plan, casting a citywide net to ensure the person was found.

Lu Heng listened briefly and felt that a citywide manhunt was like looking for a needle in a haystack.

In this era, people could no longer be caught simply by conducting a citywide manhunt.

Superpower Users have too many special abilities; there are countless ways to evade a search.

Those who could fly or become invisible, after obtaining the item, could just turn invisible, fly into the sky, and leave the city, making them impossible to find.

Of course, a citywide manhunt was necessary.

Even if they couldn't catch up with the hard drive, they could at least catch a few of the spies who stole the data.

However, once the hard drive's data was leaked abroad, even if people were caught, it would be of no use.

After entering the conference room.

Lu Heng saw several familiar faces in the conference room; Chen Zihang was there, and so was Zhuo Hongjun.

Next, Instructor Liu brought Lu Heng and his group to a General and briefly introduced their identities.

The General then arranged, "Good timing, we're short on hands. The search areas have been divided; the first group of warriors has already begun the manhunt. You're the second group; head out now, keep in contact, we must retrieve that hard drive."

The dozen or so Junior Officers present immediately stood up, saluted, then turned and dashed out of the conference room to board the military vehicles and proceed to the allocated task areas.

A citywide manhunt was the simplest and most direct method.

It was also a method of last resort.

Jian Qing already held the rank of Captain, so Lu Heng and the rest were assigned to her team, which she led to search one of the areas.

Upon leaving the conference room, Lu Heng waved to Chen Zihang, an acknowledgment, without time to talk.

After stepping out of the conference room, Lu Heng pulled Jian Qing aside and asked, "Are we just going to search aimlessly?"

As per the task assigned by the higher-ups, Jian Qing needed to lead the team to search an allocated area.

According to the General's intention, they had to dig three feet into the ground if necessary to find the people.

Jian Qing was a military person, treating the execution of orders as her absolute duty, "Carrying out orders is what we're supposed to do."

"I'm not part of the military hierarchy; I want to see the scene of the hard drive theft," Lu Heng put forth his request.

"This..."

In reality, Jian Qing also wanted to take a look; otherwise, it was truly a matter of blindly carrying out the orders from above, without any knowledge of the specific situation.

In fact.

In the military, what Generals liked least were soldiers with special ideas.

If every soldier thought this way, then there would be nothing to do.

Jian Qing understood this, and if it were just military warriors she was leading, she would've gone straight to the task, but Lu Heng was not part of the military.

Thus, she took Lu Heng and the others to report to Instructor Liu, "Instructor Liu, Comrade Lu Heng wishes to have a look at the scene of the data theft incident."

Instructor Liu revealed a serious expression, saying, "You should complete the orders from above first."

Jian Qing contended, "Instructor, the technological data from the Sikes Civilization were brought back by Lu Heng. I think letting him investigate the scene could help in finding the stolen data."

This was indeed a special circumstance, and after Instructor Liu considered it and reported it higher up, he led Lu Heng and the group into the Academy of Sciences to view the scene of the hard drive theft.