Extracting the Spiritual Root

The room was terrifyingly quiet.

Only the rustling of a pen tip scratching across paper and the crisp sound of Lin Mo chewing fried chicken could be heard.

"Write carefully. Write down every single one of your crimes, understand?"

"Yes."

Dong Lingjun leaned over the desk, writing something down. His gaze was resolute, though a hint of purple light flashed in his eyes.

Chen Lai, standing to the side, had his brows furrowed into a tight knot, staring intently at every word Dong Lingjun wrote.

As he watched, he suddenly raised his head, shooting a burning gaze at Lin Mo.

"Who exactly are you?"

Lin Mo unhurriedly finished the last bite of his chicken wing and casually tossed the bone into the trash can before raising his eyes to look at him.

"My name is Beixuan. They call me Perfected Beixuan, and you can call me that too."

He pulled out a tissue and wiped his hands, his tone as plain as if he were discussing the weather.

"By the way, this fried chicken of yours is a bit overcooked. Don't order it next time."

The corner of Chen Lai's eye twitched violently.

Given the situation, this guy was actually still concerned about how the fried chicken was cooked?

"When that kid from the Dongfang family gets back, tell him I did this."

Chen Lai's heart skipped a beat; he knew immediately that he was referring to Dongfang Shuye.

Finally, Dong Lingjun wrote the last word and slowly put down his pen, sitting upright at the desk.

Lin Mo's divine sense swept over the contents written on the paper.

He wasn't surprised to see that Dong Lingjun had actually participated in the experiments in Pengcheng.

What surprised him was that there was a similar experimental base in Yangcheng. These bases were even secretly established by the Ning family, completely bypassing An Dongshan.

That meant he would have to make an extra trip.

He stood up and walked slowly over to Dong Lingjun.

Dong Lingjun looked up with a calm expression, watching as that palm slowly grew larger in his field of vision.

Lin Mo's hand simply pressed down onto the crown of his head.

In the next second, Dong Lingjun's body trembled violently. His eyes widened, and bizarre, guttural sounds tore from his throat, as if something invisible was being forcibly ripped from his body.

Terrified, Chen Lai stumbled backward, knocking over his chair and falling flat on the floor.

He watched helplessly as a wisp of spiritual light, radiating an eerie glow, was forcefully extracted from the top of Dong Lingjun's head by Lin Mo!

That spiritual light struggled and twisted continuously in Lin Mo's palm, like a living entity.

"This..."

"It's nothing. No need to be afraid."

Lin Mo's tone remained flat. "I just extracted his powers. From now on, he is just an ordinary person."

As soon as he finished speaking, Dong Lingjun's body went completely limp. He collapsed, his eyes losing focus, as if all his vitality and spirit had been drained away in an instant.

Hearing this, Chen Lai became even more horrified.

The fear in Chen Lai's heart grew even stronger than before.

This was no longer as simple as killing someone.

This was directly knocking an ability user back to being a normal human!

A fate worse than death.

Lin Mo looked down at the still-struggling spiritual light in his palm and gently squeezed his fingers.

With a soft pop.

The spiritual light shattered.

It turned into specks of fluorescent light and dissipated into the air, leaving nothing behind.

After doing all this, Lin Mo clapped his hands together as if simply dusting off some dirt.

He turned around and glanced at the deep night sky outside the window. There were still quite a few people left on the list.

It seemed that tonight in Yangcheng was destined to be anything but peaceful.

...

The night was as dark as ink, shrouding the entire city of Pengcheng.

Over in Pengcheng, Dongfang Shuye had absolutely no way to pull himself away.

Before leaving, Lin Mo had given him a list.

This list was exactly what Ma Wenlong had written down during his confession.

The most prominent name on the list was Dong Lingjun.

As for what Lin Mo meant when he said he would show off a little trick, Dongfang Shuye was entirely unsure.

Just as he was rubbing his throbbing temples, the internal phone on his desk rang without warning, its sharp ringtone piercing the silence of the late night.

The caller ID showed a number from the Yangcheng Branch.

Dongfang Shuye's heart skipped a beat as he picked up the receiver.

"It's me, Chen Lai." The voice on the other end carried a hoarseness typical of someone who had just survived a disaster, accompanied by a noisy background.

"Something happened."

Dongfang Shuye's eyelids twitched violently, and he practically blurted out, "Dong Lingjun?"

On the other end, Chen Lai was clearly stunned, his breathing pausing for a moment. "How... how did you know?"

"Who else could it be?"

Dongfang Shuye did not answer the question. His finger traced over a few other names on the list. "Zhou Hai? Li Wei? How are they?"

"They... they've all been dealt with." Chen Lai's voice carried an indescribably complex emotion, sounding like a mix of awe and terror.

As for the Pengcheng Branch, Dongfang Shuye had already started sending people to make arrests.

This included Director Qian from the Logistics and Equipment Department.

Many other people in the branch had also been apprehended and were being interrogated one by one.

"I understand. Tell me exactly what happened in detail."

Chen Lai seemed to breathe a sigh of relief. He then lowered his voice and recounted his encounter with Perfected Beixuan in full detail.

When he heard that Perfected Beixuan had forcefully extracted the innate abilities from Dong Lingjun and the others with his bare hands, Dongfang Shuye's fingers gripped the phone tighter subconsciously.

Forcefully pulling an ability out of a living human body and crushing it?

This completely exceeded the scope of his understanding.

This was a warning, as well as a reminder.

He pressed the center of his brows, feeling a splitting headache coming on.

He smiled bitterly. "This matter is just too difficult to handle. I will report all of this to the higher-ups."

Soon, Chen Lai sent over a few photos.

One of them was Dong Lingjun's written confession.

Looking at the confession, Dongfang Shuye could already guess that the Ning family's other experimental base would be directly destroyed. He just didn't know how much experimental data the Ning family still had left in their hands.

He had to notify his family and the General Bureau to take action first.

Not a single shred of these research results could be allowed to leak abroad.

If the Ning family chose to fight to the bitter end and leaked the data to the outside world, that would be a catastrophic disaster.

He immediately dialed another number, his voice cold and stern. "Notify the family to initiate the highest-level contingency plan and blockade all of the Ning family's external channels! Also, have the people from the General Bureau coordinate with the operation. I want the things in the Ning family's hands, not a single scrap of paper can leave the country!"

Hanging up the phone, Dongfang Shuye leaned back in his chair and let out a long breath of stale air.

He calculated repeatedly, weighing the pros and cons, and ultimately arrived at only one conclusion.

He absolutely could not let anyone in the Bureau provoke Lin Mo. It would be best not to even test the waters with him.

It was clear to see, who knew what kind of people were backing Perfected Beixuan?

How many more people were there in the Wind Spirit Moon Shadow Sect?

Dongfang Shuye could not be certain of any of these things. Everything would have to wait until he finished handling the situation here and returned to Tianjing to make a decision.

No matter what, their Dongfang family must at least avoid standing in opposition to Perfected Beixuan.

This way, he could at least protect his family.

If Perfected Beixuan could strip away abilities, that was a fate worse than death for any ability user.

Dongfang Shuye immediately typed out a message on his phone and sent it to his grandfather.