The Tracker Watch on Yin Ji's wrist was glowing at its maximum intensity.
An energy shield expanded in front of him like a translucent red barrier.
But this energy shield was invisible to ordinary people.
“Mr. Zhou! Please calm down!”
Yin Ji kept his voice very low, but every word was filled with earnestness and anxiety.
“You cannot attack! Otherwise, all of these people will die!”
“When that happens, not only will the Special Abnormal Affairs Bureau not let us off, but even the rules of the organization...”
The energy in Zhou Yuanqi's palm was still condensing, and his bloodshot eyes stared fixedly at the villagers behind Yin Ji.
“These ants, they deserve to die!”
“They all deserve to die!!!” His voice was as raspy as sandpaper scraping against glass.
Yin Ji stood in front of the villagers, his tone urgent and filled with fear and panic.
“Mr. Zhou, please calm down! No matter what happened, you absolutely cannot make a move!”
“We have plenty of time! There will be other opportunities!”
Zhou Yuanqi's breathing was heavy as his gaze swept over Yin Ji's shoulder and across the faces of the villagers.
Fear, bewilderment, terror...
No guilt, no evasion.
Unwilling to give up, Zhou Yuanqi abruptly raised his head, his gaze as sharp as a knife as he scanned every corner of the temple and every single face.
His mental power erupted like an invisible net, enveloping the entire temple.
He searched inch by inch.
Across every person's body, every inch of the ground, and every crack in the walls...
But there was nothing.
The energy fluctuations of that crystal had completely vanished!
Yin Ji, who was stubbornly blocking him, finally caused his rationality to prevail over his boundless rage.
The light in Zhou Yuanqi's eyes dimmed bit by bit.
Yin Ji stood before him, watching his face transition from fury to bewilderment. His lips twitched a few times as if he wanted to say something, but in the end, he remained silent.
The temple was terrifyingly quiet.
Over a hundred villagers squeezed into the cramped space, not even daring to breathe.
They didn't know what had happened, why the terrifying man had suddenly stopped, or who the middle-aged man standing in front of them was.
They only knew that they had seemingly just escaped from the jaws of death.
Su Wan mingled with the crowd, a look of sheer terror on her face as she shrunk behind several tall and burly villagers.
Her breathing was rapid and shallow. Her hands were clasped in front of her, fingers tightly intertwined, her knuckles turning white.
Anyone looking at her would only see a pitiful woman scared out of her wits by this sudden turn of events.
No one knew that the silver Energy Source Crystal was currently resting quietly inside her system space.
Yin Ji's heart pounded with fear.
Seeing the killing intent churning in Zhou Yuanqi's eyes gradually dissipate, the anxiety weighing on his chest finally lifted.
“Mr. Zhou, please head back to rest first,” Yin Ji said in a lowered voice, his tone respectful and cautious.
“I will handle things here.”
Zhou Yuanqi didn't look at him.
His gaze continued to sweep across the ground, making one final, reluctant search.
His fingers clenched and unclenched, unclenched and clenched again.
Ultimately, he withdrew his gaze, turned around, and walked out of the temple.
Yin Ji watched his retreating figure disappear in the direction of the hoarding, only then letting out a long breath.
He turned around, his gaze passing over the panicked faces of the villagers crowded inside the temple to land on the outer edge of the crowd outside the entrance.
“Gu Huaian.”
Gu Huaian quickly approached from the edge of the crowd, bowing his head slightly in a respectful manner.
“Director Yin.”
Yin Ji gestured toward the villagers with his chin, his voice cold and hard.
“Organize your men immediately and get all of these villagers out.”
“Leave not a single one behind.”
“And also—” His gaze landed on the statue, his voice completely flat.
“Tear down this temple as soon as possible! I don't want to see it standing here by the end of today!”
The moment he finished speaking, the villagers, who had been too intimidated by Zhou Yuanqi's Pressure to move, instantly erupted.
“Tear down the temple? What right do you have to tear down our temple?!”
“This is our temple! What right do you have?!”
“You goddamned bastards! This was left behind by our ancestors, and you want to tear it down just like that?!”
Curses, wails, and angry roars merged into one. The emotions of the hundred-odd villagers erupted completely at this moment, like a powder keg ignited all at once.
Several young, sturdy men grabbed carrying poles and prepared to charge forward. A few elderly women sat on the ground, slapping their thighs as they wailed loudly.
A few others who looked like village cadres stood in front of the statue with flushed faces, spreading their arms like three flimsy walls to block the excavator that had not yet driven in.
Gu Huaian stood where he was, his expression calm.
He raised his hand and made a gesture.
Out of nowhere, dozens of well-trained bodyguards in black suits poured in.
They were tall, moved with uniform steps, and had cold, hardened faces with absolutely no emotion in their eyes.
Dozens of them appeared simultaneously from all directions around the hoarding, like a silently tightening net, quickly sealing off the space surrounding the temple.
Su Wan mingled with the crowd, her gaze scanning the bodyguards in black.
She realized that none of these people were ordinary.
Moreover, among these dozens of people, five Ability Users were mixed in.
Their energy fluctuations were well-hidden; ordinary people couldn't sense them at all.
These five individuals were scattered throughout the ranks of the black-clad bodyguards, looking no different from the regular bodyguards on the surface.
However, their steps were lighter, their movements faster, and every strike they made landed precisely on the most critical spots.
One burly man charged forward, raising his carrying pole, about to strike a bodyguard.
The bodyguard sidestepped to dodge, his finger lightly flicking against the burly man's wrist.
The movement was incredibly small, so much so that almost no one noticed it.
The burly man's entire arm instantly went limp. The carrying pole flew from his grip as he stumbled backward a few steps, clutching his right wrist, his lips trembling as he failed to utter a word.
In another direction, three villagers lunged at a bodyguard at the same time.
The bodyguard didn't even budge, his body merely shuddering slightly.
An invisible wave of air rippled out from him, and the three villagers felt as if they had been shoved by an unseen hand, flying backward together and crashing to the ground, unable to get up for a long time.
Su Wan watched this scene, her eyes flickering slightly.
The reason these villagers were retreating step by step wasn't because the regular bodyguards were exceptionally powerful.
The ones truly making a difference were these five.
They blended in with the crowd, and every move they made was perfectly timed, precise, stealthy, and traceless.
To the eyes of ordinary people, it was impossible to spot any clues.
In less than ten minutes, all of the hundred-plus villagers were completely cleared out of the temple.
A few village cadres were still struggling, trying to charge back inside, but the bodyguards grabbed them by both arms, lifting their feet off the ground and dragging them out by force.
The elderly women sat on the ground, refusing to leave, but several workers simply picked them up, carrying them along with their stools past the safety line.
In just a brief moment, all the villagers had been moved outside the temple gates.
Immediately after, a red and white police cordon was set up across the open space in front of the temple.
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