Chapter 25: Clearing Obstacles

"So you mean..." Yang Rui struggled to speak through the pain, his voice raspy, "the trail... has gone cold?"

"The overt trail has indeed gone cold." Zhao Zhigang did not deny it, but his gaze sharpened, as if piercing through the surface of things. "Yet, this only proves the situation is far more grave. Ordinary vendettas or robberies don't employ such methods, nor do they hire hitmen of this caliber. The opposition is tightly organized and ruthless; their objective is explicit—they want you dead, Comrade Yang Rui." His eyes fixed on Yang Rui with a piercing intensity. "Combined with your previous discovery beneath the River-Suppressing Pagoda at the Riverside Cultural Park, and the involvement of the Hengtai Foundation... we have reason to suspect this attack is inseparable from Hengtai! It is both an act of retaliation and an attempt to silence you!"

"Hengtai!" Su Jin gritted her teeth, her eyes burning with fury. The grotesque metal network and the roaring, malevolent machinery under the pagoda last night instantly superimposed themselves over the bloody carnage at the hotpot restaurant, pointing to the same mastermind—Bai Shi!

"We will exhaust every resource to investigate Hengtai, especially that boss, Bai Shi," Zhao Zhigang said in a low, heavy voice. "He is the prime suspect. However," he shifted his tone, his expression darkening, "the opposition is incredibly clean. After we raided the Pagoda last night, Hengtai immediately severed all ties. Those security guards at the scene were just low-level pawns who knew nothing, shifting all responsibility onto a so-called 'subcontracting firm'—a shell company that has already been emptied out. To nail Bai Shi, we need harder evidence."

He looked at Yang Rui, his gaze scrutinizing and probing with a subtle edge. "Comrade Yang Rui, are you certain you haven't offended anyone else? Especially... within the world of feng shui?" He had clearly investigated Yang Rui's background—a seemingly mundane owner of a small textile shop. Even with his secondary identity as a "geomancer spinning a compass," being pulled into such a massive vortex was inherently suspicious.

Yang Rui pulled at the corners of his mouth, the movement tugging at his wounds and causing a fresh wave of pain. "Captain Zhao, I only take on small jobs for the neighbors—looking at residential plots or resolving minor feng shui obstructions. My biggest 'enemies' are probably the aunties who think I charge a few dollars too much. As for the Pagoda last night..." His gaze grew heavy. "We wrecked their 'Cornucopia,' cut off their source of wealth, and perhaps even exposed a much larger secret. That is the real reason they want me silenced!"

Zhao Zhigang nodded thoughtfully, offering no immediate comment. He stood up. "We have the situation. Focus on your recovery, especially you, Comrade Yang Rui—you must follow the doctor's orders. We will arrange for officers to secure the area around the hospital to ensure your safety. Also," he turned to Su Jin, "Dr. Su, I hope you can provide us with a detailed copy of the report on the equipment found beneath the Pagoda, along with the anomalous magnetic field data you mentioned. It is critical for the legal classification of this case."

"No problem, I will organize it as soon as I return," Su Jin replied immediately.

Zhao Zhigang left with the younger officer. The emergency room was left with only the sounds of the doctors tending to wounds, the faint hum of machinery, and an oppressive weight that felt heavier than the danger they had just escaped.

After the doctor finished dressing the wounds, prescribed medication, and strictly warned about the necessity of bed rest, he also departed. A nurse arrived with a gurney to transfer Yang Rui to his room.

"I'll take you there." Su Jin insisted, gently yet firmly supporting Yang Rui's uninjured arm.

In the private ward, the lights were dimmed. Yang Rui lay on his side, his back covered in thick gauze. The painkillers were starting to take effect, dulling the acute agony, but exhaustion washed over him like a tide. Su Jin sat in the chair by the bedside, silently watching his pale, sweat-dampened face and the way his brows remained knit in pain. The calm and fury he had maintained in the emergency room slowly settled into the silence, leaving only a lingering, profound sense of dread and an indescribable ache in her heart.

It had been so close... just a hair's breadth away... that heavy sledgehammer, that roaring iron beast... if not for Yang Rui's superhuman reflexes and his desperate, selfless dive...

"Dr. Su..." Yang Rui's voice was soft, slightly blurred by the medication. "Don't... don't look at me like that... it's unnerving..."

Su Jin snapped back to reality, realizing her gaze had never left his face. She looked away, somewhat unnaturally, and reached for the water glass on the nightstand as a distraction. "Would you like some water?"

Yang Rui shook his head slightly, looking at her from his side, his eyes deep in the dim light. "You were... terrified just now, weren't you?"

Su Jin's fingers tightened around the glass, her knuckles turning white. She didn't answer, just lowered her head to look at the water rippling in the cup. After several seconds, she spoke in a low, barely audible tremor, "I... I thought..."

She couldn't finish. The terror and helplessness of that moment seemed to coil around her heart like a cold serpent once more.

"It's over now." Yang Rui's voice grew softer, carrying a power of reassurance. "Isn't Captain Zhao stationing men outside? That old bastard Bai Shi wouldn't dare attack a hospital guarded by police, no matter how arrogant he is." He tried to lighten his tone. "It's just... I've dragged you into this, and now you have to take time off to look after a wounded man like me."

Su Jin looked up, seeing him force himself to stay upbeat, and the bitterness and dread in her heart surged even more violently. She set down the glass, took a deep breath, and seemed to steel herself. "Yang Rui, listen to me."

Her tone was exceptionally solemn, her eyes locking onto his. "Bai Shi, and whatever lies behind him, is far more dangerous and insane than we imagined. The evil formation at the Pagoda last night, the desperate assassination on the street today... this is not a simple commercial dispute or petty revenge! They are clearing obstacles using the most extreme measures possible!"

"I know." Yang Rui's eyes also grew cold, the previous exhaustion replaced by gravity. "The 'Greedy Wolf Devouring the Heavens' curse... that is a vicious technique meant to extinguish the life force of an entire region. Anyone capable of setting such a trap and using such methods has a heart that has long since turned pitch black."

"Then we cannot continue to be passive victims!" Su Jin's voice was resolute, carrying the determination and edge of a scientist. "They want us to shut up? They want to destroy the evidence? In their dreams! Captain Zhao needs evidence, so we will give it to him! The equipment layout under the Pagoda and the magnetic field data are ironclad proof! But it’s not enough! What is the true objective of the Hengtai Foundation and Bai Shi?"

She stood up and paced the small ward, her steps filled with suppressed anxiety and soaring fighting spirit. "I must return to the lab immediately! The material analysis of the metal components from the Pagoda isn't finished! The frequency characteristics of those infrasonic generators, the power curves, and the coupling data between them and the earth's geomantic anomalies... these can all serve as scientific, irrefutable proof of their criminal intent! And all the public and private documents regarding the Riverside Cultural Park renovation, the flow of Hengtai's capital... I refuse to believe that with the hardest scientific data and the most rigorous logical chain, I cannot tear away their mask!"

Her eyes glowed with an astonishing brilliance in the dim room, like burning stars, filled with the fearless power armed by knowledge. "Yang Rui, focus on your recovery. Leave the outside world to me! Bai Shi wants us dead? Then we shall see whose weapon is stronger—his dirty money and hitmen, or my data and reports!"