Chapter 586: The Treasure That Overturns the Tactical System

The Qiu Ce Yuan's playground was filled with people lying down.

Students, teachers, security personnel.

Some curled up on the ground clutching their heads, some stared blankly with eyes open, and some still held their mouths open in a laugh, but that weird grin had frozen on their faces, gradually turning into bewilderment.

Jiang Yuan crouched halfway in front of a student.

The student still had tear stains on his face.

Pulse normal.

Pupil response normal.

There was no trace of dangerous laugh remaining in the body, nor any sign of cursed tale corruption.

Clean to an extreme.

Jiang Yuan looked up, gazing toward the Corridor.

Dozens of people lay on the ground, and the Stairwell was also packed with unconscious students.

No corpses.

No wounded.

Even the person whose wound was just slashed by the cursed tale had the injury cease worsening.

"Report."

A Special Forces member's reply came through the earpiece.

"First floor of the teaching building cleared, no deaths."

"Second floor cleared, no deaths."

"Third floor cleared, no deaths."

"Experiment area cleared, no deaths."

Jiang Yuan's hand gripping the Card Bag did not let go.

This is unreasonable.

The contamination from the road combat has already completed the second-stage closed loop.

That rule can spread through expressions, speech, and screens.

If anyone truly escapes, the entire Jiang Hai City will become an infected zone.

But now,

it's gone.

The road combat is gone.

The dangerous laugh is gone.

All those hair-raising Gray Mist, cursed tales, and life links have vanished.

Clean as if nothing ever happened.

Liang Wen leaned against the wall, stepping out from the Stairway Entrance.

His black Windcoat had a tear, and his Fingerless Gloves were dusted with ash.

"Jiang Team, I just went to the restroom and checked."

Jiang Yuan looked at him.

Liang Wen's expression was unusually serious.

"Even the Infected in the restroom have recovered."

"A guy just woke up, and his first question to me was why his pants were half off."

Jiang Yuan was silent for two seconds.

Liang Wen spread his hands.

"I really can't explain that question."

Su Ming came from the opposite side of the Corridor.

His complexion turned pale, his steps were slow, and the backlash of the Time Marrow Worm had not yet passed.

"Don't let the students run around."

"First, divide the zones."

"Send the awake ones to the playground."

"Leave the unconscious where they are; the Medical Team will check them one by one."

Jiang Yuan nodded.

"What about the Qin Team?"

"The safe house's lockdown has been lifted halfway."

Su Ming scanned the end of the Corridor.

"She is still counting survivors."

"Liang Wen, take people to the rear side of Building 3 and also sweep the Underground Passage."

Liang Wen raised his hand and gave a bizarre salute.

"Understood."

He took two steps forward, then turned back.

"Really, you don't need me to shout a couple of lines?"

Su Ming looked at him.

"If you dare shout, I'll send you for a brain contamination check."

Liang Wen shrank his neck.

Cold.

This organization can no longer accommodate artists.

Jiang Yuan did not take part in the two people's conversation.

He stood in place, his gaze falling on Building No. 3.

Shadow Ghost's enhanced vision let him see a few gray‑white specks on the edge of the building.

Very fine.

Jiang Yuan walked over, reached out, but stopped when he touched it.

"Don't touch."

Su Ming came from behind, handing over a transparent sampling box.

"Let the technical team handle it."

Jiang Yuan took the sampling box, bent down and collected the powder inside.

"This is the last contamination zone."

Su Ming looked at the medical record book on the table.

"It's also the spot where Lu Dou last appeared."

"Before he vanished, who did he see?"

Jiang Yuan shook his head.

"What about the surveillance?"

"It's completely cut off."

Su Ming took out the terminal.

On the screen, it was all black.

"It's not interference."

"The data has been wiped."

"There's not even a damage log."

Jiang Yuan furrowed his brows.

"Human?"

"I would rather believe it's Rules."

Su Ming put away the terminal.

"It can dismantle the contamination chain cleanly, sever the life links of thousands, and erase the surveillance data."

"Lu Dou couldn't do that."

Jiang Yuan said nothing.

Both of them thought of the same answer.

The never‑seen mastermind behind the scenes.

The one who created the Weird.

The one who treats the world as an experimental field.

Lu Dou is very strong.

So strong that even the four Core Captains together were forced to retreat.

But now, Lu Dou has disappeared.

No body was left behind.

No relics were left behind.

Not even any Rules fragments for tracking remained.

Someone reached out and wiped a dust‑covered glass clean.

Then, nothing was left.

"Jiang Team."

Qin Zhixia walked over.

"Everyone has been rescued."

"Three hundred seventy‑two people have short‑term memory loss, and the rest are mentally unstable."

"But at least they're still alive."

She paused.

"What about Lu Dou?"

"Not found."

Qin Zhixia's brows lowered.

"The whole school has been searched."

Jiang Yuan said.

"No."

Qin Zhixia looked at the gray‑white powder on the ground.

"What is this thing?"

Su Ming spoke.

"Unknown substance."

"Send to headquarters."

Qin Zhixia did not follow up.

She gripped the mechanical prosthetic arm, its metal joints made a soft sound.

Lu Dou won't actively let these people go.

For the so-called great unity, he could treat everyone on Earth as a specimen.

Now that everyone has returned to normal, it only shows that someone forced him to stop.

Liang Wen ran back from a distance.

The underground passage is fine.

Instead, they found a student hiding in a locker, clutching half a bucket of instant noodles and crying for half a day.

Jiang Yuan looked at him.

Liang Wen sighed.

He said he thought the apocalypse had come and wanted a good meal.

Qin Zhixia remained silent.

Su Ming also remained silent.

Liang Wen lifted his head, glanced around, and added in a low voice.

I didn't laugh at him.

I want to eat too.

Half an hour later.

All members of Qiu Ce Yuan relocated.

The campus entered lockdown.

Every inch of ground was scanned, and every student was individually isolated and tested.

But the test results showed no change.

Danger-laughter contamination, zeroed.

Gray mist concentration, zeroed.

Life link, zeroed.

Evidence of Lu Dou's existence is pitifully scarce.

Investigation Bureau headquarters.

Inside the underground data center.

Lin Linling sat before the main console, her thick black-framed glasses reflecting the blue light from the screen.

Six terminals were set up before her.

Each was running high-speed calculations.

The technicians beside her had already gone through three shifts.

L did not turn around.

Team Seven.

Pull the underlying network logs from the past twenty-four hours around Qiu Ce Yuan.

Team Nine, cross-check the city surveillance backups.

Team Twelve, call up the satellite thermal imaging data.

The technician swallowed.

Consultant L, should we also check the satellite data?

Yes.

If Lu Dou leaves Earth, can the satellite capture him?

No.

L paused.

But not being able to capture it is also data.

The technician fell silent.

Three minutes later.

An alert window popped up.

L's fingers rested on the keyboard.

She stared at the screen, her pupils contracting slightly.

The technician beside her moved closer.

Found it?

No.

Then what is this?

L opened the data chart.

On the screen, the contamination index curve for Qiu Ce Yuan had already spiked into the red zone.

Then, at an extremely brief moment, it dropped straight to zero.

It was not a decline.

Nor was it a dissipation.

There was no intermediate process.

One second prior, the contamination index exceeded the S Ji alert threshold.

The next second, the data was blank.

Life link, gray mist, danger-laughter rules, and monster-talk energy all vanished from the monitoring range.

The technician felt his scalp go numb.

"Equipment broken?"

L shook their head.

"Equipment is not broken."

"Data is not wrong."

"Contamination is not dissipating."

She called up another set of models.

That is the life-link diagram of over three thousand infected.

Originally, the dense gray lines were intertwined and connected.

Each one pointed to Lu Dou.

But now.

Those lines were all severed.

No residue.

No backlash.

No contamination leakage from rule collapse.

Someone, in a way they could not comprehend, dismantled the links one by one.

Even the harm-sharing mechanism was cleaned up.

The technician opened his mouth.

"How is this possible?"

L lifted their head.

"Conclusion generated."

"There exists an unknown rule, its level far surpassing that of Danger Smile and Life Sharing."

"The unknown rule completed coverage, erasure, and dismantling in an extremely short time."

"The target includes Lu Dou himself."

"The target includes all the Weird under his control."

"The target includes the collective rule network he established."

"The result of the treatment: no side effects."

Inside the Data Center, no one spoke.

A young researcher's face was deathly pale.

"What is this?"

L stared at the screen.

"Surgical strike."

"Cut out the lesion."

"Without damaging other tissue."

The technician's hand loosened, and the coffee fell to the floor.

No one went to pick it up.

Two hours later.

Headquarters' top conference room.

Wei Gong sat in the chief seat.

His Zhongshan suit cuffs were neat, and on the table sat an untouched cup of tea.

Jiang Yuan, Su Ming, Qin Zhixia, Liang Wen, and L had all arrived.

On the conference room's large screen, the data records of Qiu Ce Yuan were playing on loop.

Reset to zero.

Reset to zero.

Still reset to zero.

Wei Gong spoke.

"State the conclusion."

L stood up.

"Lu Dou did not escape."

"He was dealt with."

"A more accurate statement is that Lu Dou and his rules were erased by a higher-level existence."

Jiang Yuan sat at the table edge, his fingers pressing on the card bag.

"Lu Dou possesses at least three S Ji rules."

"He also holds the crown fragments."

"Someone of that level left not even a trace of resistance."

Qin Zhixia stared at the screen.

"Only one person could do it."

The atmosphere in the conference room was oppressively low.

Wei Gong lifted the tea cup and took a sip.

"Divine being."

No one objected.

It started with Cavity Persons, then Ghost Wall, then midnight nightmares, and finally Sai Men, Gospel Church, the crown, and Lu Dou.

Behind every event, there is a hand.

This hand never shows itself directly.

It creates disasters for humanity, but also leaves humanity a chance to catch its breath.

It releases monsters.

At times, it personally takes the monsters back.

Jiang Yuan raised his head.

"Why does He want to kill Lu Dou?"

Lord Wei did not answer.

Su Ming spoke first.

"Not killing."

"It's reckoning."

Everyone looked at him.

Su Ming turned a metal pen in his hand.

"What Lu Dou wants to do is different from the Gospel Church."

"The Gospel Church relies on fear and madness to turn people into believers."

"Lu Dou wants to erase everyone's independent consciousness."

"He doesn't want to rule anyone."

"He wants everyone to have only one thought left."

Liang Wen furrowed his brows.

"Happiness?"

"Obedience."

Su Ming said.

"Happiness is just the entrance."

"What Lu Dou truly wants to do is make humanity stop choosing."

"No choice, no pain."

"No pain, no resistance."

"In the end, all consciousness will be led by him, and he will become a true god."

Liang Wen froze for two seconds.

"Your words sound quite offensive to God."

"But they make sense."

Su Ming lifted his eyes.

"Lu Dou's rules are too dangerous."

"He listens to no one."

"He isn't even afraid of death."

"Once something like this completes a closed loop, even the gods may not be willing to bear the consequences."

Qin Zhixia remained silent for a long time.

"So, gods are not omniscient and omnipotent."

"At least, He also fears losing control."

Lord Wei set down his teacup.

"It's not fear."

"It's management."

"He wants the world to follow His way."

"Lu Dou has gone astray."

"So he was erased."

Jiang Yuan raised his head.

"Then we still have a chance."

Lord Wei looked at him.

Jiang Yuan's tone was displeased, yet steady.

"The gods fear Lu Dou becoming stronger, which shows they are not truly invincible."

Jiang Yuan raised his head.

"We need to be faster."

Lord Wei watched him.

Jiang Yuan said.

"Suppress Spook Bullets can repress Weird Controllers."

"But they cannot repress gods."

"The Night Watcher Project must be expanded."

"Weird research must continue."

"Anything that can oppose the rules must not be let go."

Lord Wei's eyes flickered with a hint of approval.

"This is why I called the meeting."

"Lu Dou's disappearance is not the end."

"It is a warning."

"Humanity is not yet qualified to celebrate."

"But it also has no right to retreat."

In the conference room, no one joked any longer.

The weight bearing on everyone did not vanish.

On the contrary, it became clearer.

What they faced was not a monster.

But a being that thinks, strategizes, and eliminates variables.

Yet another matter also became clear.

The deity is not omnipotent.

It also takes action.

It also makes corrections.

It also guards against humanity straying from its prescribed path.

That is enough.

As long as it guards, it shows humanity is worthy of its guard.

The heavy door of the conference room was suddenly pushed open.

Dr. He Chuan rushed in.

His Doctor's Lab Coat was disheveled, his hair a mess, and his eyes bloodshot.

He cupped a high‑strength sealed test tube in both hands.

Inside the tube was a small clump of Gray Mist residue.

The Gray Mist did not spread.

It also did not disappear.

It clung to the inner wall of the tube, writhing slowly.

He Chuan's breathing was rapid.

"Director!"

Lord Wei looked at him.

He Chuan raised the test tube, his hands trembling.

"Lu Dou may be gone,"

"but he left behind a treasure that can overturn our entire tactical system!"