"That's the case, Minister Zhou, just last night when the Dongling Group branch in Lingjiang City was inspecting the psionic network, it found a place with abnormal psionic energy, and the sub-bureau sent a rapid reaction force over, but the people who went in lost contact........

Han Dalong briefly recounted the ins and outs, and after hesitating for a moment, he added, "And....... Lao Wang Wang Shaodong is the one who leads the team. ”

"What?" When he heard this, Zhou Xinming was taken aback, after all, as a first-class master of the Eastern Union, Wang Shaodong was already close to a third-order cultivator.

If it is placed in foreign languages, it can definitely be said that the strongest person, or even in the Eastern Union of Wolong and Hidden Tiger, there are no more than three digits of people who are higher than him.

If even he will be trapped in it, it means that the place is not simple.

"Minister Zhou, the details are in the report." After Han Dalong finished speaking, he handed the briefing to Zhou Xinming.

"How could this kind of thing suddenly happen, didn't the branch check Lingjiang City before proposing to hold the World Expo project, didn't you find that there was something wrong with this Tianshun Commercial Center when you inspected it at that time?" After reading the report, Zhou Xinming was quite dissatisfied.

As one of the 17 pilot cities, an important station of the Dongling Group, the test base of the Academy of Sciences and the location of the important Lingjing Industrial Base, as well as the holding of the next World Expo, Lingjiang City is one of the cities with the strictest preventive measures in the East Union.

A corresponding psionic detection network was built long before the Aura Resurgence was announced, and was linked to the police and city council surveillance networks.

In addition, with the cooperation of tens of thousands of temporarily expanded military police and rapid reaction forces, the local city council can immediately detect various crises, such as the entry of monsters into the city or evil cults, and contain them at the source.

It can be said that until now, there has been no vicious incident related to cultivation and spiritual energy in Lingjiang City, but I didn't expect abnormal spiritual energy points to suddenly appear on the eve of the World Expo, and even the most elite special forces were trapped.

In any way, the occurrence of such a major event can be said to be a huge mistake, enough to lay off many people.

"This peak also seems to have occurred only a few days ago, but the local police station reported to the Dongling Group, and we have also inspected key areas."

"But this happened too suddenly, and there is no way to do it below, the responsibility is that I did not issue the instructions in a timely manner, and I should have investigated the spiritual movement earlier." Han Dalong immediately helped to carry the blame.

"Old Han, don't blame anyone now, since Wang Shaodong can't solve the problems inside, it means that the demon beasts in the Tianshun Commercial Center are at least 3rd order."

"In this way, you first let the army block the place, don't let any idle people get close, and I will personally rush to Lingjiang City there to see what is going on."

……..

June 5, 2026, 20:00, Lingjiang City, Tianshun Commercial Center

After Zhou Xinming got off the plane, several black bulletproof SUVs belonging to the Dongling Group picked him up and went directly to the vicinity of Tianshun Commercial Center.

In addition to Zhou Xinming, there were also more than a dozen heavily armed security agents in the car, these people were all cultivators who had broken through to the second level of cultivation, although they were not comparable to Zhou Xinming and Wang Shaodong, but they were also strong.

"The Hutoushan Special Economic Zone will become a new experimental field for China's Xiuzhen economy, implementing a number of reform measures such as the transformation of local council functions, financial and trade services, foreign investment and tax policies, and will vigorously promote the development of Chaoge's foreign trade and offshore business."

As the car pulls into the avenue, the giant electronic billboard on the wall of the surrounding commercial center is playing the news, chattering and making noise, and the street is crowded with people.

However, the middle Tianshun commercial center has been surrounded by countless military and police, and the surrounding crowd has already been evacuated.

At this moment, in front of Zhou Xinming's eyes, is an office building covered by a glass curtain wall, this building is still brightly lit, even the latest holographic advertising below is also fully opened, and the building at the bottom of the office building is marked with the words "Tianshun Commercial Center".

Generally speaking, this situation is very common, and commercial centers are often mixed with office buildings, that is, the lower five or six floors are department stores, and the upper dozens of floors are office spaces.

"Strange, if there are demon beasts here, shouldn't they be so peaceful, and the surrounding people haven't found the demon beasts?" Zhou Xinming wondered.

"Hello Chief." After seeing Zhou Xinming get out of the car, the chairman of the Lingjiang City Council hurriedly went up and said: "We just contacted the staff of the commercial center, and according to their information, it is normal inside, and no traces of monsters have been found."

"Impossible, the changes in spiritual power here can be seen whether it is a cultivator or a spiritual energy detector, so what do they say about Wang Shaodong's entry?" Zhou Xinming said categorically.

"They said they had seen Wang's team before, but their surveillance records show that our people seem to be still wandering back in the building, probably in the office building, where there is relatively little surveillance, so they can't be seen." Han Dalong said.

"Okay, tell me about the structure of this building, and where the monsters might come and go." Zhou Xinming saw that the people inside could not be counted on, so he said to the officials of the Ministry of Security on the side.

"Minister Zhou, the Tianshun Commercial Center is not a transportation complex, so it is not connected to any surrounding buildings, which means that monsters can only enter through those gates or glass curtain walls...... the Ministry of Security official speculated.

"Of course, the most tricky thing about the situation now is that there are still many people inside who have not come out, and we don't know why they didn't come out, but these people are obviously civilians, and if there is a conflict with the demon beast, we must pay attention to their safety." Han Dalong next to him reminded.

"Don't come out? It's been almost 24 hours, Wang Shaodong and they went in at 11 o'clock last night, hasn't anyone come out for so long? Zhou Xinming frowned and asked.

"Yes, no one came out, although there was a lot of people inside, it seemed that no one had thought about it, anyway, we have been waiting at the door for most of the day, and we haven't seen anyone coming out since Major General Wang went in."

"And we also deliberately mobilized the monitoring of the network in and near the Tianshun Commercial Center, and the records show that the people inside seem to be carrying out normal activities, and there are no traces of monsters, but no one has decided to come out." The Ministry of Security official picked up the conversation.

"So after Wang Shaodong's team entered, did any miscellaneous or non-miscellaneous personnel enter?"

"Yes, we launched the blockade two hours after their team disappeared, and there were 49 people who went in before, all of them were ordinary white-collar workers, and none of them were cultivators, and these people are still inside, and they have been photographed by the surveillance."

"The background and details of these people are also there, but according to the analysis of experts at the core level, there is no meaning, their motivation for entering the mall is completely normal, 17 of them are here to shop and spend, 4 are taking their children to cram school, and the rest are going to work above."

"Wait a minute, you're talking about the top of the building, right?" Zhou Xinming interrupted.

"That's right, Tianshun Commercial Center is not only a mega shopping mall, it is the base of the office building above, which is also a conventional architectural structure, and there are a total of 12 companies in the office building above, so there are many white-collar jobs in it."

Of course, the white-collar workers who work naturally did not come out, according to the monitoring of the office building above....... They seem to be working all the time, and they don't show signs of fatigue, or rather, they are still eating and resting according to their schedule, but they don't sleep. ”

"What are they doing? Does it work? Zhou Xinming asked.

"Yes, it's day-to-day work, and we've talked to employees and leaders of several companies, but according to their own accounts, they don't seem to realize that they've been working for almost a day."

"Don't try to talk to these people just yet, by the way, did you try to investigate the situation inside before I came?"

"The military has sent military bomb disposal robots and mice in before, but nothing unusual has been found, and these machines can enter and exit normally."

"There is nothing wrong with the guinea pigs that are put in, but it has caused some customers to be frightened, after all, it is not normal to see rats in the mall."

"However, because of the disappearance of Lao Wang, we have not sent scouts in, after all, we are not sure what the situation is in the mall now, and no one can afford to take responsibility for the disappearance of people inside." Han Dalong explained.

"Okay, I know, I'll read the map first and take someone in to have a look, if there is no reply in an hour, report to the top immediately, and send the army in directly." After glancing at the door, Zhou Xinming commanded.

"Okay, the detailed structural diagram is here, we contacted the leaders of the construction unit of Tianshun Commercial Center five hours ago, and all the information has been made into a hologram, first of all, Tianshun Commercial Center covers an area of 1.75 square kilometers and has a height of ........"

While explaining the details, Han Dalong opened the hologram, on which many suspicious places where Wang Shaodong had been active were marked with red light.

"By the way, how to distribute it, how to star?" After looking at the holographic map of Tianshun Commercial Center, a team member asked.

"Everyone, the area of this place is too big, let's go to look for it separately, just four people are lined up on each of the five floors above, just keep a low profile and sneak in, I'm in charge of the first floor, as well as activities on each floor to prevent accidents."

"If you find any strange phenomenon, immediately report it to me and the headquarters, and if you don't find it, you will continue to look for it, don't care about the office building above, then I'll go to see it last, remember to rush to the door within an hour to meet you, understand?"

"Understood." More than a dozen agents nodded their heads, and then everyone's fingers pressed on the handle of the psionic pistol under their clothes, and they all pretended not to know each other, and walked into the automatic glass door at the door.

As expected, the scene after entering is like every commercial center, and it can be said that it is in full swing, and countless people pass by them.

As elite agents of the Ministry of Security, these people soon disappeared like ink dripping into clear water, scattered among the crowded crowd in the Tianshun Commercial Center.

"Hello, welcome to Tianshun Commercial Center."

Just as Zhou Xinming was wandering back in the hall, a female *** member wearing a yellow group activity costume suddenly came over and introduced: "We are planning to hold a singing party here today, and we have invited the famous singer Lu Mingkun, you should be here for this, right?" ”

"No, I'm not chasing stars, I'm just here to have dinner with friends." Zhou Xinming replied while looking at the waiter.

According to surveillance records, the person is supposed to have been here for 26 hours, but it seems that she didn't realize that she should have left work long ago.

"Ah, it doesn't matter, we are the newest commercial center in Lingjiang City, not only ......."

Zhou Xinming ignored the waiter who was a little unusual, what he was thinking about now was a problem, that is, this seemed to be a bit too lively.......

It stands to reason that Wang Shaodong walked in with a few heavily armed soldiers before, which would always cause some reactions from the surrounding people, not to mention direct evacuation, at least the commercial center had to investigate the situation.

Not to mention now, there are more than a dozen armored vehicles and Type 15 light tanks parked at the door, and even explosion-proof robots have come in, although the evacuation has not been carried out directly, but no matter how big the heart is, it will not be waiting in for a long time.

However, it was still as if nothing was going on, the restaurants and shops on both sides were overcrowded, and the smell of food was constantly trying to get into his nose, and many people were carrying large bags and small bags, as if they had just finished shopping.

"Okay, this is the interior layout of our Tianshun Commercial Center, if you are not interested in the singing party, try to be active in Area B, if you have any questions, you can consult the staff here, I wish you a pleasant experience here."

"Okay, I see, thank you." Zhou Xinming waved his hand and blasted the waiter away, and began to look at the lively crowd around him.

However, after he walked around, he found that except for the fluctuation of spiritual power, there was no other trace, it was a very warm and normal daily life.

Or the only thing that makes Zhou Xinming feel strange is this kind of society that is too normal and ordinary.

After all, since joining the 125 department, he hasn't returned to his normal life for several years, and if there is no accident, he will not return to this ordinary life in his life.

Thinking of this, Zhou Xinming dispelled the distracting thoughts in his mind, and planned to turn around and inspect the shopping mall again, but at this moment, some familiar voices came from his ears.