Chapter 129: Smiling Devil

The graying-haired commander roared into the microphone, still echoing in everyone's ears.

This is an order that stakes the entire Metropolitan Police Department, even Dongdao's reputation.

"SAT (Special Assault Team) Squad 1 and Squad 3 have been deployed!"

"The sniper unit has been positioned on every high ground along the target's advance route!"

"All intersections have been sealed! We've trapped him in a cage!"

Reports streamed in, and on the big screen, blue dots representing elite special police converged from all directions toward that lone red dot, forming an airtight net.

They are Dongdao's sharpest sword internally, the ultimate weapon for handling the highest‑level violent crimes.

At this moment, that sword is about to aim at a man drenched in blood.

"We must stop him!" the commander stared intently at the screen.

The Xinsu intersection was unprecedentedly empty.

All vehicles had been halted far away, and the shrill sirens rang from all sides, yet they were blocked out of this vacuum zone.

Lingmu Jianer's footsteps came to a halt.

In front of him, a dozen fully‑armed special police had already formed a steel wall.

They wore heavy, fully sealed hazmat suits, their faces covered with gas‑proof Masks, revealing only cold eyes.

The dark assault rifles in their hands glinted with cold metallic light at the muzzles.

On the surrounding skyscrapers, red laser sights from at least three sniper positions were locked firmly on Lingmu Jianer's forehead, heart, and brow.

At a single command, he would be shredded into a mush within 0.1 seconds.

"Target locked! He's stopped!"

The SAT Captain's voice came through encrypted comms, calmly returning to the command center.

"Ready to fire at any moment!"

In the command center, everyone held their breath.

The commander's hand gripping the microphone turned white at the knuckles from the strain.

He stared fixedly at the footage transmitted on the main screen.

In the frame, Lingmu Jianer stood silently, his blood‑stained body glaring starkly in the night.

He offered no resistance, no escape, not even any superfluous movement.

Surrounded by a dozen heavy weapons, he slowly lifted his head.

From several meters away, through the special police's heavy Masks.

His gaze, precisely, fell onto each person's eyes.

Then.

He smiled.

The huge, mouth‑tearing, unnaturally stiff Weird grin blossomed again.

No sound.

Not even a breath of air moved.

It was an infection beyond physical laws, emanating from a higher dimension.

"Open…"

The SAT Captain's voice rang in the channel, but only managed to squeeze out half a syllable.

It was then followed by an incomprehensible flash of shock and chaos.

"What's happening? My hand…"

"Control… I can't control my body…"

"Ah...... help......"

The channel instantly filled with various panicked, discordant noises.

On the command center's big screen.

All footage from the special police helmets showed teammates' conditions.

They were faces covered by Masks.

Immediately beneath the Masks, everyone's mouths began to curl upward at a perfectly synchronized, uncontrollable rate.

Even through the Masks, that Weird curve was clearly visible.

The next second.

"Zila—"

All monitor screens collectively burst into a dazzling snow of static.

Sharp noise filled the entire command hall.

"Image! Restore the image quickly!"

The technicians hammered the keyboards frantically.

The intersection.

From afar, a sniper perched on the rooftop edge, through the scope, saw the most absurd and terrifying scene of his life that he could never forget.

The SAT operatives, who moments ago were bristling with killing intent and represented Dongdao's strongest regular force.

Now, they stood rigidly in place.

Their faces, behind the Masks, all bore that Weird smile.

One operative, smiling, slowly raised his assault rifle, then hammered the butt against his own helmet, again and again, fiercely.

"Bang! Bang! Bang!"

Amid the muffled thuds, the sturdy helmet was dented and deformed, blood gushing from the cracks.

Another teammate, laughing, detached a grenade from his waist and skillfully pulled out the safety pin.

Then he opened his mouth calmly and shoved that iron lump that could explode at any moment into his own mouth.

Two more teammates, laughing, stood face to face.

They slowly raised their guns, aiming at each other's hearts.

Then, simultaneously, they pulled the triggers.

Rat‑a‑tat‑tat‑tat!

The muzzle flash, set against their Weird smiles, resembled a grand fireworks display.

The sniper felt his blood nearly freeze.

He wanted to fire.

He wanted to shoot the devil who had caused all this.

His finger was already pressing the trigger.

But he couldn't pull it.

An irresistible force was stripping him of control over his own body.

He terrifiedly discovered that his facial muscles began to twitch uncontrollably.

The corners of his mouth were slowly lifting.

"No...... don't......"

He screamed wildly in his mind, but his body betrayed his will.

In the scope, the blood‑soaked man still wore that hellish grin, watching him silently.

The sniper smiled.

He laughed and put down the gun he was holding.

Then, with his foot, he deftly hooked the sniper rifle's trigger.

The cold barrel slowly turned, aiming at his own chin.

Boom—!

The grenade's explosion flare rose skyward from the center of the intersection.

The massive shockwave hurled everything around into the air.

Gunfire and explosions finally fell into silence.

The smoke cleared.

The intersection was left only with debris and corpses strewn everywhere, and puddles of viscous blood.

Lingmu Jianer emerged from that human inferno completely unharmed.

The bloodstains on his body grew a few more.

His steps remained stiff and resolute.

He kept walking toward the City Center, step by step.

Metropolitan Police Command Center.

A death‑like silence.

Everyone slumped in their seats, faces ashen.

The big screen still displayed harsh static.

But the one‑sided massacre that just occurred had already been imprinted in everyone's mind.

Fully sealed hazmat suits were useless.

The most elite special forces were useless.

Before that man, everything the police were proud of became a joke.

The commander let his arm droop helplessly, and the microphone in his hand fell to the floor with a 'thud'.

He lost.

He lost utterly.

What they faced was neither terrorists nor any bioweapon.

It was a … incomprehensible, unbeatable, … humanoid cataclysm.

Just as the entire Metropolitan Police Department fell into the Abyss of despair.

A technician suddenly pointed at an inconspicuous screen in the corner and let out a warped scream.

"Look! Over there!"

Everyone snapped their heads around.

It was a backup recording from an online livestream, captured by a camera that had been knocked over at the earlier gathering.

The camera angle was tricky, yet it happened to blur‑record everything that had just occurred at the gathering.

Worse still, the video had been uploaded to the Federation's public network minutes earlier.

The title was shocking.

【Dongdao Shockingly Reveals 'Smiling Devil'!】

At the video's end, it froze on Lingmu Jianer's blood‑splattered face, his grin stretched to his ears.

In an instant, the video was completely blown up across the Federation's online world.

Countless clicks, shares, and comments spread like a virus.