Shi Jin glanced out the window as if observing the situation, but in fact, he was checking the progress bars in his mind. Seeing they weren’t rising, he silently let out a sigh of relief.

Since the bars didn’t budge, the ambush team must’ve indeed withdrawn after seeing the official rescue forces. There was no danger ahead.

Ten minutes later, they arrived at the explosion site.

It was a spacious private villa with a large yard. Right now, the building was in ruins. Ravaged with fire, the front yard was a mess, the brick fence was damaged by the blast of air and debris from the explosion, the wrought iron gates were askew, and some of the debris scattered on the street outside. The scene was quiet—nothing could be heard except for the crackling of flames. There were no visible people inside.

Police cars, ambulances, and fire engines parked around the villa, and nearby residents came out wanting to see the excitement. The situation looked rather chaotic.

Gua One make the team stop on a quiet street not far away, then called Gua Three. Together, they escorted the official liaisons to the villa and approached the local rescue personnel.

Gua Five also got out, taking a look around with a few others. After determining their surroundings were safe, he returned to guard Lian Jun’s car.

Shi Jin, somewhat uneasy, asked for a sight-enhancing buff. After catching sight of a grim-looking rescue worker carrying something resembling a body bag out of the villa, he couldn’t help but ask, “Jun-shao, do you think there was someone inside when the explosion occurred?”

Lian Jun also saw the commotion at the rescue scene. He looked at Shi Jin’s unconsciously heavy expression, kept silent for a moment, then reached for his hand, squeezing it soothingly. He said, “Shi Jin, I don’t want to lie to you… If you stay with me, you may see a lot of ugly things. People who lead their lives in the darkness can lose them at any moment.”

It was a euphemistic, “yes.”

Shi Jin’s hands tightened, and his brow furrowed. He didn’t say anything else.

The liaisons and the rescue workers couldn’t seem to reach an agreement. More than ten minutes later, after an inconspicuous car successfully evaded all the news media and quietly stopped near the villa, they were finally allowed to access the site and investigate inside.

Permission won, Gua One and Gua Three immediately turned and went to find Lian Jun while the three officials walked towards the low-key car, where their true battle would be fought.

While selecting people to enter the villa, Lian Jun asked about Shi Jin’s intentions, saying if he wanted to, he could stay in the car and wait for their news.

Shi Jin did not hesitate to go, his attitude firm.

He knew Lian Jun was afraid he might not be able to deal with the nightmarish scene inside, but he wasn’t really a teenager. Besides, since he wanted to be with Lian Jun, how could he let himself become a useless good-for-nothing, always taken care of by his lover?

Seeing him like this, Lian Jun only squeezed his hand and said nothing more.

In the end, there were five people chosen to enter the villa, namely Lian Jun, Gua One, Gua Three, Shi Jin, and Fei Yujing. Fei Yujing asked for it himself. He was employed as Phantom’s lawyer right now; since the accommodation Phantom arranged had clearly been problematic, and Old Ghost’s deputy’s fate was unknown, he felt obliged to go in on behalf of Old Ghost.

Shi Jin eyed Fei Yujing, whose expression was still perfectly normal, and silently prepared several plastic bags and a few bottles of water.

While local rescue workers were holding off the media, they took the chance to rush into the villa. Inside, they first surveyed the mess in the yard then headed straight to the house.

As they walked, Gua One observed, “The source of explosion was in the center of the building—the debris in the yard is too evenly distributed for it to have come from outside.”

“Then it seems the enemy had control of the villa,” Gua Three said.

The fire caused by the explosion was already extinguished by the firefighters. Police and the rescue workers bustled around the ruins, from time to time carrying out black bags with something inside, their expressions invariably ugly.

There was no need to wonder about the bags’ contents—they were bodies, or pieces of bodies.

Shi Jin was silent, his heart heavy.

As they approached the main entrance, there was a sudden commotion in the corner of the yard. When they turned to look, they saw a group of rescue workers, pointing and saying something. Shi Jin glanced at the place they were gesturing at and saw a tree severely damaged by the blast, with what appeared to be a fragment of a human body hanging on the branches, dripping blood.

He immediately looked away, silently adjusting his emotions.

As a former policeman, he had seen even worse and more bloody scenes, but these experiences had clearly not been enough for him to be able to keep his calm when suddenly faced with something like this.

Everyone obviously saw the tree and what was on it. Gua One and Gua Three were completely unruffled: for them, this picture was not worth even a raised eyebrow. Lian Jun, too—he was the boss of an underworld organization after all. Fei Yujing’s reaction was the biggest; though his expression didn’t change, his action of immediately taking off his glasses revealed his discomfort.

Looking at Shi Jin pushing the wheelchair, Lian Jun said, “I can ask Gua One to send you out and bring in Gua Five instead.”

“I’m fine,” Shi Jin shook his head. “Let’s go in—we shouldn’t waste time, or the rescue workers will inadvertently destroy clues.”

So Lian Jun didn’t say anything more and signaled for everyone to continue into the villa.

Fei Yujing glanced at Shi Jin with a frown, as if surprised by his calm.

The situation in the house was worse than any of them expected. Almost every piece of furniture was reduced to shreds. The room most likely to be the living room was missing one wall, and the still-standing ones were scorched and covered in remnants of the firefighting.

Everything they could see bore burnt marks, was stained with blood, or both. Thick black-gray ash floated in the air. Black and crimson lumps of flesh which used to be parts of human bodies were scattered around the room; rescue workers were carefully gathering them into body bags. The smell of blood, fire, charred meat, and whatever explosives had caused the explosion mixed, creating a powerful, revolting stench.

Shi Jin held his breath, suppressing rising nausea. He borrowed several filter masks from the rescue workers and distributed them to his companions.

Gua One and Gua Three took the masks, somewhat surprised by Shi Jin’s composure. This should have been the first time the young man saw this kind of hellish sight. They had thought even if he didn’t run at first glance, he would still be upset or terrified. They never expected him to be the first one to shake off the impact and even thoughtfully ask for masks.

Well, perhaps it was the power of love.

As they thought this, their gazes fell on Lian Jun, the first person to receive a mask. Sometimes, love makes people stronger.

While Shi Jin’s quick recovery was astonishing, Fei Yujing’s reaction was much more normal. Face awful, he put on the mask as soon as he got it, and tried not to look at all the bloody lumps around. His brows were so wrinkled they nearly joined together.