Chapter 55: A Crushing Defeat

Five minutes.

In a normal person's world, that's the time it takes to make a bowl of noodles.

In Qin Zhixia's world, it's the countdown for her and the useless one behind her to be sentenced to death by the monster before them.

She cannot wait.

She must take the initiative!

Bang!

Without any warning, Qin Zhixia fires first!

The bullet tears through the air, spiraling toward Lin Fan's brow.

But Lin Fan merely tilts his head.

The bullet skims his cheek and flies past, sparking a burst on the cement column behind him.

Qin Zhixia's heart drops sharply, yet she doesn't pause; her body becomes a black blur, lunging toward the nearest load‑bearing column.

Tactical evasion, moving fire!

Bang! Bang! Bang!

Gunfire erupts in the spacious Underground Parking Garage, creating a deafening echo.

She uses the load‑bearing column as cover, constantly shifting position, the muzzle of her gun spewing deadly flame, attempting to block Lin Fan's movements with a dense hail of bullets.

This is the combat instinct etched into her bones as a human elite, a top detective!

Yet the opponent she faces is a being that makes no sense at all.

Lin Fan doesn't move a step.

He simply stands there, letting the bullets whiz by.

The wet black hair that has wildly sprouted from the floor, walls, and ceiling instantly transforms into tens of thousands of living tentacles.

Some weave a Weird shield in front of Lin Fan, easily deflecting the bullets.

Others coil around a distant Firefighting Pipe, yank sharply, and fling Lin Fan's body sideways by several meters at an angle that defies physics, causing all her predictive shots to miss.

Here, Lin Fan cannot move by liquefaction.

But the spacious openness of the area becomes his greatest advantage.

Qin Zhixia's tactics appear laughably feeble and desperate before a monster wielding supernatural might.

Fine cold sweat beads on her forehead, her heart pounding wildly.

She realizes this place has become the opponent's home ground!

Click.

The magazine is empty.

In the split second while Qin Zhixia swaps magazines.

Lin Fan moves.

A mischievous glint flashes in his pale‑blue right eye.

A hair hidden in the ground erupts without warning, like a black poisonous snake, tightly coiling around Qin Zhixia's ankle!

A massive force surges!

Qin Zhixia instantly loses balance, being yanked backward harshly.

Bang!

Her occiput slams hard onto the cold concrete floor, darkness flashes, the world spins, and a sharp buzzing fills her ears.

The gun in her hand flies out of her grasp, sliding far across the ground.

It's over.

That thought just flashed through her mind.

A black shadow already envelops her.

Lin Fan steps forward, doesn't glance at her, lifts his foot, and kicks her abdomen.

Ugh!

The excruciating pain arches Qin Zhixia's body like a shrimp, her stomach churns, and a mouthful of sour water nearly rushes up her throat.

She rolls on the ground like a torn sack for several turns, barely having time to gasp.

A foot already presses heavily on her knee.

From his lofty height, Lin Fan's human left eye remains clear, yet emotionless.

He slowly increases the pressure beneath his foot.

Adopting an almost crushing stance.

"No..."

Qin Zhixia's pupils suddenly contract; she struggles to move her leg, but all her strength has been drained by the previous impact.

Snap!

A crisp, hair‑raising sound of bone cracking rings out in the silent garage.

Ugh!

Qin Zhixia lets out an uncontrollable groan; the agony, like a white lightning bolt, pierces her entire body instantly.

The pain of her knee joint being crushed makes her convulse, cold sweat instantly soaking her combat vest.

She can't move.

Lin Fan finally lifts his foot; from start to finish, he never looks down at her.

It's as if what he crushed wasn't a person's bone, but merely an obstructing stone.

His gaze passes over the now‑harmless woman on the ground and lands on Wang Shao, cowering in the corner, terrified to the point of losing control.

Wang Shao stared in terror, eyes wide, watching Lin Fan walk toward him step by step, the foul smell from his crotch growing stronger.

"Don't...... don't come closer...... my dad is...... ah......"

Lin Fan reached out, grabbed his head, and pressed him hard against the wall.

Wang Shao discovered in horror that his throat began uncontrollably gushing large amounts of foul-smelling river water!

Gurgle...... gurgle......

He wanted to scream, but could only utter meaningless choking coughs.

He struggled desperately, limbs flailing, but could not stop his body from being filled from within.

Lungs, stomach, esophagus...

The icy river water, carrying Ling Xinyu's deepest despair and resentment before her death, flooded every part of his body.

Finally.

In silent spasms, Wang Shao's body, like a balloon filled with water, suddenly stiffened.

Pfft.

Murky fluid streamed from his eyes, nose, mouth, and ears all at once.

He died.

He died of suffocation in a way beyond anyone's imagination.

Lin Fan released his grip, letting the water‑filled corpse slump softly to the ground.

Then, as if recalling something, he glanced indifferently at Qin Zhixia lying on the ground, trembling all over from pain and humiliation.

That gaze was like looking at an ant.

Zzzzt—

The lights overhead flickered wildly again.

When light returned, that teenager, along with all the surrounding black hair and ghostly shadows, vanished without a trace.

As if he had never appeared.

The Underground Parking Garage returned to dead silence.

All that remained was a mess on the floor, incapacitated special police, a corpse in a gruesome state, and...... a completely defeated self.

Qin Zhixia lay on the cold floor, the excruciating pain of her fractured kneecap still persisting, but she could no longer feel it.

A deeper chill, rising from her soul, completely engulfed her.

She had failed.

Utter defeat.

The will she prided herself on...

In the face of absolute power, it was worth nothing.

After losing her former support...

She could not prove herself.

Gradually.

Before Qin Zhixia's eyes flashed one unjust case after another that she could not resolve.

In her ears echoed colleagues' pointing and jeering, and the mocking sneer of Deputy Bureau Chief Wang.

In her mind surfaced the anguished face of her father, Qin Yongchang.

And Chu Che.

That man, in the coffee shop, spoke the cruelest words in the gentlest tone.

"Your purity, your justice, are nothing but naivety bred by privilege."

"...... He was right."

"I am merely an overly sheltered, laughable idealist."

Qin Zhixia's gaze gradually turned empty.

Just then.

"——Qin Team!"

"——Hurry! Medical Team!!"

A burst of hurried footsteps and shouts approached from afar.

The support unit had finally arrived.

Leading the charge was Xiao Zhang, who had recovered and returned to duty.

When he rushed into the garage and saw the hellish scene before him, his whole body froze.

Then he saw Qin Zhixia collapsed in the center, her right leg twisted at a weird angle, her eyes vacant, as if her soul had been sucked out.

Xiao Zhang's eyes were about to burst.

"Qin Team!!!"