The last stretch blurred with heat and fire behind them. One final push, and the team burst out through the hospital's sealed entrance. The moment the last soldier cleared out..... Then....
...BOOM.
The ground heavily rumbled, and the East wing of the old hospital shook violently.
Windows blew outward as the entire substructure collapsed into flame and ash.
Fire licked up through the cracks in the earth, swallowing every secret, every experiment, and every haunting memory.
Lu Ting Zhou lay unconscious, and Song Yaya lay resting nearby, hand loosely clinging to a warm compress. They were safe.
Lu Zhi Hao stood by the window, watching the distant black smoke twist into the sky.
His arm was wrapped protectively around Wan Ruyi, who leaned against him.
"It's done," she said softly, "finally!" You could feel her relief.
He kissed her forehead, "Yes, you ended it."
"No," she whispered, "We just burned the past. And all is gone with the collapse."
Behind them, Zi Zhen entered the room with the Hawk Team captain.
"What's next?" the captain inquired curiously.
Lu Zi Zhen's eyes hardened. "We find the rest of them, the ones who funded him. No more hiding and no more shadows."
Lu Wan Ruyi turned toward the rising sun, "They have to be cleared out!"
They went back to the mansion, and they all gathered in their private room.
In the central command room, a digital board flashed images and profiles of the military officers, black market brokers, rogue scientists, and foreign mercenaries.
Lu Wan Ruyi sat calmly at the head of the table, eyes scanning through the classified data feeds they had just pulled out from the system and no longer hiding. No longer fragile.
Lu Zhi Hao and Lu Zi Zhen stood at her sides. Behind them, members of the Hawk Team, now operating as a black-ops branch under the Lu family, waited silently for orders.
"These six," Wan Ruyi said, tapping the screen.
One is General Ford: a Corrupt military strategist who greenlit Professor Mo's underground facility.
Second is Minister Thompson: The liaison who doctored lab closure reports.
Next is Dr. Janek: A foreign geneticist who had supplied Mo with viral tech.
Peterson: Black-market arms dealer who helped fund the original experiments.
Gary: A mercenary who had personally led one of the earlier kidnapping squads.
Captain Phillip: The man caught on CCTV posing in a military uniform during the auction night ambush.
"They were part of the chain," she said coldly, "We cut the links."
Target 1: General Ford
Status: Terminated
Location: Private villa, western province
Method: Car detonation via proximity drone strike during a discreet "night outing."
Target 2: Minister Thompson
Status: Disappeared
Location: Public function
Method: Extracted and rendered unconscious during a staged power outage—never seen again. His files were leaked anonymously to national media, exposing years of covert deals.
Target 3: Dr. Janek
Status: Eliminated
Location: Zurich safehouse
Method: Poisoned through his wine decanter, signature left behind: a silver hawk feather in his study.
Target 4: Peterson
Status: Neutralized
Location: Night deal at international waters
Method: Boat explosion with no survivors. Satellite footage was sent to all known black-market channels.
Target 5: Gary
Status: Captured
Location: Border checkpoint
Method: Intercepted by Lu Zi Zhen himself. Currently held in a ghost prison, feeding intel under duress.
Target 6: Captain Phillip
Status: Shot dead
Location: Infiltrated warehouse
Method: Shot by Lu Zhi Hao face-to-face, no mercy, no hesitation.
A clip was anonymously released across secure military networks, political channels, and black-market communication hubs:
"To those who seek to use science as a weapon... To those who treat human lives as pawns... You have been warned, We do not forget, We do not forgive, Cross this family again...."