"What?" Honglian and Lin Qing jumped out of the car simultaneously, peering in the direction of the chemical factory.

Sure enough, black smoke was rising from the horizon.

Though they couldn’t see the flames, this pitch-black smoke column clearly was out of the ordinary.

Even from outside the Third Ring Road, such a sight could gather considerable attention, with people already coming out from the shops on the street, discussing the smoke.

"Officer Tian, how long until your men arrive?" Honglian ran back to the car, using the car radio to ask.

"About an hour or so, what’s the matter? You sound urgent... According to the plan, wasn’t the capture supposed to happen after nine at night?" Tian Zhenggang replied.

During the day, the focus was on finding the source of the scent and identifying a suspect target; if a factory was determined to be suspicious, the police would mobilize personnel to surround it and formally act after nine o’clock—this also helped avoid injury to innocent onlookers when confronting an Ability User within the city.

But plans are indeed no match for changes.

"The information may have been leaked, Hongda Daily Chemical Factory just caught fire, we must act immediately!"

"What? Fire? Wait! I need to consult the leadership—"

Not waiting for the other to finish speaking, Honglian hung up the communication.

"Miss Lin, get in the car! We might need to make the first move!"

"Isn’t that improper?" Wang Baihu was instantly at a loss, "Right now, we’re neither representing the mechanism nor an enforcement agency, rushing in to catch someone... Is that appropriate?"

"Who cares, couldn’t we just happen to be passing by?" Seeing Lin Qing get back into the medical cabin, Honglian slammed the gas pedal, the car roared loudly, heading straight toward the chemical factory.

Passing by the Third Ring Road for no reason? Not to mention the team leader, even elementary school students wouldn’t believe that. But Wang Baihu didn’t have a better choice either, hastily handed over a mask and sunglasses, "Cover tightly, so we don’t get filmed."

Inside the car, Lin Qing also informed Chen Xuan of this news.

"Stopped work in the morning, fire in the afternoon?" Chen Xuan clicked his tongue, "They respond quickly, don’t they... Where do you think the information was leaked from?"

"The biggest suspicion is the police station, they are currently cooperating with the mechanism, there’s a possibility of being monitored." Lin Qing said according to Lv’s analysis, "Next would be Honglian and Wang Baihu themselves... It’s not that they leaked it intentionally, maybe the mechanism tracked their whereabouts through other means."

"I figured as much." Chen Xuan laughed knowingly, "This not exactly fits our intentions, doesn’t it?"

For the two, leaking information wasn’t unexpected. At the start of planning, Chen Xuan had considered the possibility of leaks—if this matter was truly related to the Dimensional Limit Mechanism, then public actions would inevitably reach their ears. However, catching the true culprit wasn’t Chen Xuan’s primary goal; as long as Honglian could be led to doubt the mechanism, the purpose of this action would be achieved.

"But you heard what she said to me just now..." Lin Qing felt a bit uncertain, "Logically speaking, her rebuttal is quite reasonable, this matter doesn’t quite fit the style of the mechanism."

"The mechanism you know is that behemoth once hidden underwater, but when they decide to surface, they’ve already prepared sufficiently, with methods, power, and confidence far surpassing the current mechanism." Chen Xuan was noncommittal, "History is changing, and we’re always dealing with the present mechanism."

"..." Lin Qing was silent for a moment, then suddenly chuckled, "It seems your fighting spirit is even stronger than mine now."

"Cough, cough, I just—"

"No, that’s good," she interrupted, "Never compromise, whether it’s against the mechanism or those attempting to monopolize the world. Fighting is the only way to win. I’ll go into the chemical factory with Honglian later, you support me from outside."

"I know, if danger or unpredictable changes occur, remember to call me immediately."

Chen Xuan was driving a small car from Beitian Academy, maintaining a distance of about two kilometers from Lin Qing, he could reach Hongda Daily Chemical Factory in just five minutes.

As they spoke, Honglian had already driven to the factory gate.

The guard at the gate was anxiously making a phone call, waving them down as he saw the vehicle approach.

But Honglian was already too impatient to waste words with him.

She directly increased the throttle, "Hold on tight!"

The car’s front shattered the gate’s barrier with unstoppable force, sending the spherical stone bollards flying everywhere! Although the car’s bumper deeply dented as a result, it wasn’t their own vehicle, so who would care? Passing through the gate, she steadied the trembling car body and followed the factory road ahead—from this angle, one could see all three buildings inside the factory ignited by fire, thick smoke pouring from the windows, with an unpleasant smoke odor immediately invading the cabin.

"Can Gua Gua determine the source of the scent?" Honglian asked, holding a hopeful mindset.

Unexpectedly, the response quickly came, "Go to the building in the middle!"

Hongda Daily Chemical is a packaging factory, the area is not large, all three buildings are basically flat-roofed workshops, surrounded by colorful iron barrels piled everywhere, who knows what’s inside them. Fortunately, the fire hadn’t spread to the roadside, limited only to the rooms. With the factory closed due to stoppages, all building doors were shuttered, not a single employee was in sight on the road.

This saved Honglian from worrying.

She turned the steering wheel decisively, knocking down the door of the second building, charging straight inside!

With the influx of fresh air, the flickering flames suddenly grew brighter.

"Be careful! If the factory explodes, we’re all finished!" Wang Baihu said nervously.

"It’s not that exaggerated," Honglian scoffed. "This fire looks like it just started. If we delay for another hour, then we’re truly done for."

As soon as the car door opened, the February chill disappeared without a trace, replaced by the warm sensation of flames radiating heat onto the body. Honestly, this temperature was quite comfortable.

The real threat was the smell of smoke—without the car’s filter purifying it, Honglian was immediately choked by the acrid smell, causing her to cough several times. The air was not only filled with a nauseating rubber odor but also mixed with several indescribable strange scents, making it almost impossible to breathe. This was only the early stage of the fire. Once the flames spread across the entire factory, these chemical fumes would be deadly even to Ability Users.

Lin Qing also brought Gua Gua out of the tail cabin. Facing the unnatural flames, Gua Gua did not show fear but seemed rather excited.

"Looks like we found the right place," Lin Qing said, surveying the surroundings.

The spacious room was divided into several sections by the assembly line, with a few large mixing tanks on one side and various already packed laundry detergents on the other.

If production hadn’t been interrupted, this place would be overflowing with the fragrance of laundry detergent. Even though they’d stopped production for so long, Lin Qing could still smell a hint of fragrance amidst the pervasive smoke.

"Don’t you find it suffocating?" Honglian covered her face, looking at Lin Qing with some surprise.

"My nose is rather... dull," the latter replied perfunctorily.

"Now’s not the time to care about that!" Wang Baihu interrupted, "What do we do next? Gua Gua isn’t helpful anymore!"

"Gua Gua?" Gua Gua tilted its head.

"Are you at the factory area yet?" Lin Qing asked Chen Xuan quietly.

"Three more minutes."

In terms of search ability, the Celestial Mist Skill was undoubtedly the most reliable choice right now—there ought to be living people in the prison, and living people can be sensed by the Celestial Mist Skill.

However, Chen Xuan paused for a moment and then muttered something unintelligibly.

"Uh, what are you saying?"

"I’m translating for Gua Gua. It heard Wang Baihu mention it... What? Okay." Chen Xuan shifted his tone, "Gua Gua says it knows where something special is in this place."

Lin Qing was taken aback, "Are you sure?"

Over there, Gua Gua had already started running.

"Gua!"

"Hey, where’s it going? Stop! Don’t run around, it’s dangerous here!" Wang Baihu said urgently.

"Follow it!" Lin Qing decided swiftly, "It’s leading us!"

The other two hesitated but, seeing Lin Qing already following, they couldn’t stay behind.

Gua Gua didn’t run too far, just jumped over two conveyors and stopped about fifty meters away, then lifted its head and called out, while stomping the ground repeatedly.

Thud, thud—the sound was dull and hollow.

Honglian immediately realized that the floor beneath them was hollow.

"A movable cement cover?" Lin Qing also guessed the answer. There’s no way human strength alone could lift such a large piece of flooring, it must be driven by a hydraulic mechanism. Now that the factory caught fire, the power must have been cut off for a while, leaving the only option as brute force.

She was about to try with the folding knife on her arm when she saw Honglian pulling out a coin from her pocket, "Step aside!"

Then, she pointed a single finger at the ground and simultaneously tossed the coin in the direction of the burning flames.

In the next second, the massive cement floor vanished without a trace, replaced instead by the coin she had just thrown. The cover, weighing two or three tons, fell straight into the pile of flames, knocking away a heap of equipment, while conveniently smothering the fire by a third!

"Beautiful!" Lin Qing couldn’t help but praise.

An underground passage wide enough for five people to walk side by side appeared before them.

"Gua!" Gua Gua let out a proud cry.

"How did it know?" Lin Qing asked curiously.

Chen Xuan’s response was somewhat serious, "It says it smelled blood."