Elsewhere, at the site where Ye Chen had recently fought, the scene was now crawling with police officers who had arrived to secure the area.
It all started when a driver reported a possible accident near the city border.
The local authorities responded promptly and were the first to arrive at the location.
However, what they found left them stunned. There was a massive crack running across the road—almost like the earth had been split open by something incredibly powerful. Scattered around the crack were dozens of deformed bullets, their once-lethal forms now flattened and dented, as if they'd collided with something unimaginably hard.
The officers quickly cordoned off the area and began an initial investigation. They also questioned the driver who had made the report.
According to the man, he had been driving along the road when he noticed a black car stopped dead in the middle of the lane, with a large fissure several meters ahead of it. Curious, he pulled over and got out to take a closer look.
He recalled that, at first, he thought the scattered metal fragments near the crack were coins.
It wasn't until later that he realized they were actually bullets—crushed flat by some unknown force.
Wondering if someone was inside the parked vehicle, he approached it. To his surprise, the car was empty.
Even stranger, the keys were still in the ignition, as if the driver had simply vanished.
As he looked around the area, something caught his eye in the distance—thick black smoke rising into the sky.
Following his instincts, he walked a few hundred meters until he came across a burning vehicle.
The sight unnerved him, and he didn't dare go any closer. Instead, he called the police immediately.
After taking in the witness's statement, the police initiated a more thorough investigation.
The results raised even more questions than answers.
In total, they discovered eight charred bodies.
There were clear signs of a confrontation: tire marks led up to the crack, but then abruptly disappeared—as if the vehicle had somehow jumped or been flung through the air.
The same car was later found burnt out hundreds of meters away.
Moreover, forensic teams determined the crack had not been caused by explosives. It was something else—something unknown.
Perplexed and overwhelmed, the local authorities contacted Central Command for backup and requested support from the Special Investigation Division.
Roughly twenty minutes later, two cars approached the scene.
One was a black military-grade Jeep. The other, a gleaming black Lamborghini.
When the vehicles came to a halt, four men in black suits emerged from the Jeep.
From the Lamborghini stepped out a striking woman, likely in her early twenties, dressed in a tailored dark blue uniform. Her commanding presence turned heads instantly.
Without acknowledging the waiting officers, she made her way directly to the cracked asphalt and burning wreckage, scanning the area with a practiced eye.
One of the men in black approached the local police, presented his identification, and asked for a briefing on the current findings. Once he had all the details, he issued a calm but firm order.
"From here on out, this case falls under our jurisdiction.
Your task is to seal off a one-mile radius around this area. No civilians or media are to be allowed through. Understood?"
The officers nodded, saluted, and began following the new instructions without protest.
Meanwhile, the Special Investigation team got to work.
The four suited men fanned out, collecting data, tagging evidence, and examining the corpses.
After an hour of methodical effort, they returned to the female officer with a compiled report.
"Miss Luo," one of them said, handing her a digital tablet. "This is everything we've gathered so far."
Miss Luo skimmed through the information, her brows furrowing.
Eight confirmed victims.
One of the cars had been hurled through the air and torched on impact. A fist—yes, a literal severed fist—was found inside the vehicle.
Several pistols had been discharged, yet three bodies showed signs of massive blunt force trauma: shattered chest cavities as though struck by a wrecking ball.
"This kind of destruction... it's beyond human capabilities," the suited man commented quietly.
"Are you certain there were only eight?" Miss Luo asked sharply.
He hesitated. "That's all we could find."
Miss Luo pointed to a pile of ash in front of the black car still parked in the middle of the road. "There's your ninth.
I can smell blood in the ash. That wasn't a fire. Someone was reduced to dust."
The man blinked in disbelief. "But there were no bones—nothing left."
Miss Luo's eyes narrowed. "That's what makes it terrifying. Whoever did this possesses strength far beyond the ordinary.
This is the work of a cultivator—likely someone at the Sky Realm or higher. Only someone of that caliber could incinerate a person entirely."
The man stiffened. He wasn't a cultivator himself, but he had undergone special training to recognize the signs of one.
He knew enough to understand just how dangerous such beings could be. They were monsters compared to regular soldiers.
Miss Luo folded the tablet and handed it back. "Seal this case for now. Recover the bodies and run full identification on them.
We need to know if they were common criminals, mercenaries, or something more."
She paused, her voice growing low.
"I'll report this to the Organization. Whether we escalate this case or bury it depends on their decision."
Without waiting for a response, she turned and walked back to her car.
Moments later, the Lamborghini's engine roared to life, and she sped away into the night, leaving behind more questions than answers.
---