Chapter 78 – Yellow Bear

Lu Yuan felt as if something had tightly locked him in place.

It was as if six large locks were clamped on his arms, ankles, waist, and the back of his neck, completely halting the flow of strength throughout his body.

From the points of these clamps, waves of electric current continuously surged, penetrating his skin and relentlessly striking and paralyzing his muscles.

Lu Yuan was certain it was electric current because he had experienced an electric shock once in middle school.

It had happened in his rural hometown. One rainy day, he had gone to play in an old house. A broken power line had fallen into a puddle under the eaves of the house, and out of curiosity, he had touched it.

Nothing serious had happened, but the sensation of being shocked left a deep impression on him.

What he was enduring now was several times more intense, and he couldn’t escape it.

An arm slipped under his armpit from the side, dragging him forward quickly on the ground.

With his face down and head lowered, Lu Yuan couldn’t even move a finger.

He could feel his facial muscles stiffen, his mouth unable to close, and even drool slowly trickling from the corner of his mouth.

The feeling was excruciating.

Lu Yuan felt like a puppet being manipulated or like a frog pinned to a board in a biology experiment, unable to move.

“What should I do now?”

Countless chaotic thoughts flashed through Lu Yuan’s mind in an instant.

He forced himself to calm down and desperately thought of a way to break free.

Add attribute points!

He had one attribute point reserved, and it was the perfect time to use it.

He would add this point to his constitution points and then activate [special exertion] to double the amplification.

A short-term surge in strength might allow him to break free from the layers of restraints binding him.

This was the only feasible solution Lu Yuan could think of at the moment.

If it didn’t work, he would have to consider surrendering on the spot.

Determined, Lu Yuan focused his mind on his professional panel.

Just as he was about to allocate 1 attribute point to his constitution points, he planned to simultaneously activate [special exertion] and [absolute concentration], break free from the restraints, and seize the opportunity to escape.

Out of the corner of his eye, Lu Yuan caught a glimpse of something in the corner of the living room entrance that made his pupils contract sharply.

His initial thought of adding attribute points momentarily faded.

“Bang!”

Lu Yuan was thrown into a chair.

Immediately, the clamp on the back of his neck was released.

The reflexive response of the muscles in his neck and shoulders caused Lu Yuan to jerk his head up.

But his eyes remained fixed on one spot•

There he saw the Man in a Vest and Wang Zhichao along with their group.

At this moment, they all lay on the ground with their eyes closed, sprawled out in disarray like garbage piled in the corner of the living room.

Several men in black long-sleeve tight-fitting clothes were walking around the living room.

Each one looked quite strong, as if they had just come from a fitness center, looking like male coaches.

One of them was sitting right in front of him.

In his thirties, with short hair, thick eyebrows, and well-defined, rugged features.

He fit the popular image of a handsome man.

His outfit was slightly different from the others; over his black tight-fitting clothes, he wore a light gray sports jacket.

The man in the jacket was sitting in a very relaxed posture, his hands naturally resting on his knees.

His right eye looked like a fake eye, and Lu Yuan could clearly see a blue light flashing inside it.

At this moment, a man in a black tight-fitting outfit walked over to the man in the jacket and, in a tone that clearly indicated he was reporting to a superior, said, “There are three more alive in the basement; their identities match those on the missing persons list. They’re all locals from Jiaoyan.”

The blue light in the jacket man’s right eye paused, and he seemed to snap out of his thoughts.

“Have you checked upstairs?”

“Yes, we found a total of twenty-eight victims. Their identities have been preliminarily verified and sent to the Jiaoyan police for confirmation. The ones in the backyard pool haven’t been confirmed yet.”

“Then there’s no need to confirm those. Leave that to the police. We can’t do all the cleanup work ourselves. Thanks for the hard work.”

The man in the jacket smiled and patted the other man’s arm.

Then he turned to another man in tight-fitting clothes who had just walked in from the yard and asked, “Has the bait signal been sent out?”

“It’s all taken care of.”

The man in the jacket nodded, then suddenly asked loudly, “Where is No. 13?”

The living room fell silent instantly. The men in tight-fitting clothes all turned their gazes to Lu Yuan.

Lu Yuan snapped out of his daze, feeling a tingle on his scalp and an inexplicable sense of guilt.

“No. 13 is here.”

Two men in tight-fitting clothes carried someone in from outside.

Lu Yuan saw the person they were carrying.

He was also wearing a black tight-fitting outfit, with a large sunken area in his chest.

He looked like a young man in his twenties, with tightly pursed lips and a deeply indented forehead, resembling a deflated and dented ball.

It wasn’t surprising; this must be the “cult accomplice” Lu Yuan had beaten up in the hallway earlier.

“Both arm bones are bent, extensive fractures in the sternum and ribs, severe head trauma, with brain damage exceeding forty percent.”

The man in tight-fitting clothes who was carrying the young man reported, his eyes fixed on Lu Yuan with a mix of curiosity and clear hostility.

Lu Yuan deliberately avoided eye contact, maintaining a calm and indifferent demeanor.

“Forty percent, that’s manageable.”

The man in the jacket stood up from his chair and walked over to the unconscious young man.

He reached out and checked the injured areas on his body. Lu Yuan watched as he tore open a piece of skin on the young man’s forehead, revealing a metallic sheen underneath.

The young man’s hands and arms, hanging limply at his sides, were twisted in a way that reminded Lu Yuan of the steel bars on his bedroom window’s security grille that he had bent with his own hands.

Cyborg?!

The word flashed in Lu Yuan’s mind.

He looked around at the people in the room with a mix of shock and realization, as if he was truly seeing them for the first time.

“No major issues, just replace the brain when we get back. This is a good opportunity to upgrade the chest modifications as well. No. 13’s funds should be sufficient by now.”

The man in the jacket looked relaxed, as if he didn’t care at all about the horrifying injuries on the young man in front of him.

He casually continued talking while tearing off more pieces of skin from the young man’s forehead, revealing the mark left by Lu Yuan’s punch on the skull.

“Sky Water Stream Crane Style boxing techniques.”

The man in the jacket observed the injury, speaking softly, with the blue light in his right eye continuously flashing.

“But you only know the basics, and it’s a good thing it’s just the basics.”

The man in the jacket suddenly looked up and smiled at Lu Yuan, half-jokingly saying, “Otherwise, you’d be dead by now. The Sky Water Stream Crane Style’s reputation has been buried for a long time.”

Lu Yuan took a deep breath, narrowed his eyes, and stared intently at the man in the jacket, slowly asking, “Who are you people, really?”

“Ha, you reminded me, I almost forgot.”

The man in the jacket slapped his own cheek in a self-deprecating manner, and the blue light in his right eye disappeared.

He took a couple of steps to stand in front of Lu Yuan and gave a signal to the person beside him.

With the sound of several locks clicking open, the restraints on Lu Yuan’s arms, waist, and ankles were immediately released.

Before Lu Yuan could even breathe a sigh of relief, the man in the jacket smiled and said to him,

“Hello, Lu Yuan. Let me introduce myself. My name is Zhou Ling. We are from the Xia State’s XX Bureau. You can also call us Yellow Bear.”