Chapter 156: One Hundred Million Received

A wave of profound and overwhelming weakness instantly engulfed the large man's entire body. Before he could even manage to stand, he collapsed and lost consciousness. However, the purple talisman crafted by the large man did not lose control simply because its master had passed out; it continued to float in mid-air, radiating a rich, intense purple glow.

"He's on the roof!"

Among everyone present, the Smiling Tiger possessed the most formidable sensory perception. The moment the phantom vanished, he activated his senses. At first, his awareness could not capture the ghost's location at all, but the moment the purple talisman appeared, his perceptive abilities suddenly surged to an unbelievable degree, instantly pinpointing the ghost's exact whereabouts.

Upon hearing the Smiling Tiger's warning, Song Nianqiang executed hand seals without a moment's hesitation, unleashing the Heavenly Thunder Destruction at his absolute fastest speed. A bolt of purple lightning as thick as an adult's thigh materialized out of thin air, crashing directly onto the rooftop. While this strike failed to hit the phantom, it was not entirely useless, as it successfully forced the ghost out from the roof.

Seeing the phantom reveal itself, Song Nianqiang performed a flip, landing right in front of the floating purple talisman. He snatched it up in his grip and began chanting incantations under his breath. The talisman had already been radiating a very dense purple light, but now the glow grew even more intense, bathing the entire grand hall in a magnificent wash of purple radiance.

The blurry and indistinct face of the phantom finally revealed an unmistakable expression of shock, as if it had laid eyes upon something utterly terrifying. Meanwhile, holding the purple talisman, Song Nianqiang could feel his vital energy and spirit rapidly draining away toward the talisman. Within just a few breaths, Song Nianqiang felt as though he had aged by well over a decade.

The moment Song Nianqiang could no longer endure the drain, he hurled the purple talisman at the phantom. In truth, there was no need for Song Nianqiang to forcefully throw it; the purple talisman drawn by the large man would have automatically flown toward the ghost of its own accord. Although this was not a forbidden talisman, its power was by no means inferior to one.

The Universe Talisman—this was a talisman with multifaceted applications, and it was also capable of evolving. For the large man to draw such a talisman with his current level of cultivation must have cost him a vast amount of vital energy. Even the user was nearly drained of his life force and spirit, let alone the creator himself.

No wonder the large man had collapsed the moment he finished drawing the talisman; it was evident he would need a long period of profound rest to recover. Once launched, the purple talisman sped directly toward the phantom. At that moment, the phantom was astonished to discover that it had been locked onto by a lifeless object, and worse still, it had lost all mobility, forced to stand helplessly as the purple talisman slapped squarely onto its forehead.

"Gugu~~~!"

A soul-shattering, earth-shaking shriek forced everyone to cover their ears. Immediately afterward, the phantom disintegrated at a speed visible to the naked eye, vanishing alongside the Universe Talisman.

"Hoo~~~" "Hoo~~~" "Hoo~~~"......

Almost everyone present involuntarily let out deep breaths. It was finally over. An inexpressible heaviness weighed upon their hearts. Although the mission had been successfully accomplished, the team had lost quite a few members; it was a mixture of joy and sorrow.

Zhu Tianyi walked over to the incense table and took down the scroll. However, Song Nianqiang saw clearly that the scroll was only half complete, and when the remaining half had been lost remained a mystery. With the matter resolved, they retraced their steps along the original path, picking up the wounded along the way.

Yet, upon emerging, they discovered that a fierce battle had broken out here at some unknown point. A shootout in broad daylight—this was truly a rare occurrence in the Celestial Dynasty. It appeared that the opposing faction had also learned of the artifacts here and was willing to stop at nothing to wrest them from Zhu Tianyi's grasp. As for how the enemy had obtained such information, that was no longer something for Song Nianqiang and his companions to ponder.

At present, only a single path lay before Song Nianqiang, and that was to survive.

"What is the meaning of this!? What happened here?!" Zhu Tianyi grabbed a team member, demanding with a dark, grim expression.

"The secret leaked! The enemy deployed nothing but elites, and with our numbers being too few, we won't be able to hold out much longer!!"

Despite being surrounded by a hail of bullets, the team member's face did not show a shred of fear, demonstrating that he too was an elite.

"It seems you've got a mole in your ranks. Make sure to thoroughly investigate when you get back!"

Song Nianqiang walked over to Zhu Tianyi and patted him on the shoulder. Zhu Tianyi remained silent, staring with a gloomy expression at the opposing forces.

"Rest assured, not a single one of these scum will leave here alive!!"

With that, he walked over to his rucksack, pulled out a satellite phone, and spoke a few brief words into it.

"Hmph! All team members, fall back and retreat!"

Finished with the call, Zhu Tianyi shouted to the members currently engaged in firefights ahead, then took the lead and sprinted backward. Song Nianqiang did not understand why Zhu Tianyi was giving the order to withdraw, but he certainly couldn't stay behind to wait for death, so he closely followed Zhu Tianyi's retreat.

"Tat-tat-tat-tat......"

Intense gunfire suddenly erupted behind Song Nianqiang, followed immediately by a series of heavy explosions. Hearing these sounds, Zhu Tianyi halted his run. As members of a special forces unit possessing supernatural abilities, their running speed far surpassed that of ordinary people. Yet, surprisingly, both the large man and Song Nianqiang managed to keep pace with them, which left Zhu Tianyi somewhat astonished.

"Xiaoyi, are you alright?"

After the group waited in place for a short while, a middle-aged man in military uniform arrived. It was clear that the heavy gunfire moments earlier had been unleashed by this man and his troops.

"Uncle Cao, the mission is accomplished. Take us away!"

From his tone, it was not hard to tell that Zhu Tianyi held a considerable amount of respect for this Uncle Cao.

Uncle Cao was the Premier's most trusted general, only five years older than Song Nianqiang's uncle, Liu Zhaohao. His rise to prominence was a legend within the military. Liu Zhaohao shared a somewhat similar temperament with his elder brother—neither liked managing state affairs—leaving the Premier with no choice but to place the special forces under Uncle Cao's command. Of course, the Premier would never relinquish control over the superpower users; that authority remained firmly in the hands of the Premier and Liu Zhaohao, forming an undisputed trump card for the nation.

"Very well, I'll arrange your departure right now."

With that, he gave a few instructions to the police officers standing nearby. Shortly after, a military Red Flag limousine and a helicopter arrived. After bidding farewell to Song Nianqiang, Zhu Tianyi boarded the helicopter, while Song Nianqiang and the large man returned to the county town aboard the military Red Flag.

As for the fallout caused by this incident, Song Nianqiang paid slight attention to it afterward. The news reported that the event had been a live combat exercise conducted by the military, praising the armed forces to the high heavens. As for the identity of the mole, that was not something an ordinary citizen like Song Nianqiang could ever know; that was a matter for Zhu Tianyi and the Premier to ponder.

On the journey back, a notification text message appeared on Song Nianqiang's phone. Upon reading its contents, Song Nianqiang split his mouth into a wide grin. One hundred million! Though they had endured countless hardships, this mission was undoubtedly worth it. Song Nianqiang couldn't help silently wishing that the state would commission many more such missions in the future. He completely failed to consider the extreme danger of the operation; out of three supernatural squads, only two members had survived in the end. If the country launched a few more missions of this caliber, the superpower units would be wiped out entirely.

The moment they entered the county seat, Song Nianqiang sensed the tense atmosphere in the air. He gave a shove to the half-dead large man sitting beside him.

"Looks like the county magistrate has been pushed pretty hard. I reckon every single police officer has been dispatched. Look, they've even deployed the urban management officers."

If the county magistrate were to hear such callous remarks from Song Nianqiang, he might just choke on his breath and kick the bucket on the spot.

The reason the entire city was thrown into such a panic and uproar stemmed entirely from Song Nianqiang's parting remark before leaving—his casual comment that he wouldn't be able to return for a few days. That casual statement of his was no trivial matter; the chief of police had personally experienced the suffocating sensation of being shrouded by the shadow of death. Without a second thought, he had dragged the county magistrate and the county party secretary straight into Song Nianqiang's home, camping out there until Song Nianqiang finally returned.

"Qiangzi, we've been longing for you like stars waiting for the moon! You're finally back! Come on in and sit down!"

The moment the police chief spotted Song Nianqiang's return, he bolted over, grabbed Song Nianqiang's hand, and shook it vigorously. One could tell that the past couple of days had nearly driven the police chief to the brink of insanity.

"Let's hold off on that for a moment. Fatty's injured. Hurry up and send someone to fetch some heavily nourishing restorative items for him, the more potent the better!"

Ignoring the police chief for the most part, Song Nianqiang hauled the large man onto the bed and issued his instructions to the chief.