"Hall Guards, go and capture him!" Liruo shouted loudly. The soldiers immediately charged with their swords. Indeed, the massive tree was exceptionally sturdy; even the branches were four to five meters wide. Ye Shikai skillfully drew his metal blade to parry. These elves looked slim, all of them female, and their swordsmanship was quick. They surrounded him, which gave Ye Shikai quite a headache.

"Bang." Ye Shikai channeled his Inner Strength, chopping the sword of one guard in half, then he turned around and sliced another guard's sword. This sword, forged from rare metals by the Ghosts, was incredibly sharp and extremely hard. The weapons of these elves, although also made from elements on Earth, couldn't match human metallurgy and technology. Naturally, their weapons were inferior to the blade in Ye Shikai's hands.

"If you take one more step forward, don't blame me for being ruthless," Ye Shikai said coldly. The guards looked at their halved sword blades in shock, naturally not daring to advance further.

"Your Highness the Queen, I only wanted to obtain the awakening fruit to cure my wife. I had promised a great reward, yet you still choose to be utterly merciless," Ye Shikai shouted. However, the face of the Elf Queen showed little emotion, just staring coldly.

"Hmph, let me fight you," Liruo lunged forward, her sword pointing directly at Ye Shikai's chest.

"Bang." The two swords clashed. Ye Shikai turned to avoid her; he had no time to entangle himself with this troublesome elf.

At the same time, Ye Shikai saw more soldiers rushing up. Getting entangled right now was not good at all. He suddenly leapt into the air, stepping continuously on branches, climbing upward. The awakening fruit was higher up, wasn't it? Well, if they would not give it, then, Ye Shikai would just take it himself.

"Quick, stop him," the Elf Queen's face changed slightly as she ordered in a low voice.

"Archers, shoot!" Below, dozens of arrows were fired at once, aiming for Ye Shikai's back, but these soldiers' arrows were ordinary, unlike the Elf Queen's. Ye Shikai agilely dodged.

"Netherworld King Spell—Shadow Clone." Instantly, the Ye Shikai in the air transformed into several identical figures. The expression of the Elf Queen drastically changed, a strange color flashing in her eyes while a green gem pendant on her neck faintly glowed.

"Activate the protection Array," the Elf Queen said indifferently. Suddenly, a dazzling green light flashed above the giant tree. Ye Shikai instinctively closed his eyes. The surrounding avatars all disappeared; the green light could actually disrupt the Shadow Clone, something Ye Shikai had never expected. But even so, how could he stop now?

"Archers, continue shooting!" Arrows flew in a volley, looking like a barrage. Ye Shikai dodged like a wild animal on a frantic run.

"Stop," just then, a figure flashed from the side—it was Ji Qian.

"Almost forgot, there's one more person." Liruo, holding her sword fiercely, waited for Ji Qian. "Come, fight for your life."

"You're seeking death." Ji Qian swung her Magic Wand, setting up an Array around her.

"Hall Guards, go and capture her," dozens of guards in soft armor charged forward, but before they got far, hundreds of ice spears condensed in the air above Ji Qian's Array and violently crashed down, forcing the guards back.

"Damn Array." Seeing this, Liruo led her people directly into the Array, constantly swinging her Longsword to shatter the ice spears.

"Your Highness the Queen, that person is about to move out of the range of our arrows," said an elf archer, stepping forward and respectfully speaking to the queen.

"You may leave," the Elf Queen replied, lifting her head to gaze at Ye Shikai above her. She opened her palm, and a longbow appeared, slowly drawing the bowstring. Her deep green pupils and the arrow's tip aligned in a straight line, aiming upward, and her finger released.

"Whoosh." An elf arrow shot out, flying straight upwards.

"Don't!" Ji Qian's pupils contracted in horror, wanting to rush in support, but Liruo and a dozen of the hall guards tightly ensnared her.

At this moment, Ye Shikai was completely unaware of what was happening behind him. Suddenly, he felt a chill down his spine, his scalp prickled, and a sense of impending crisis overwhelmed him. Before he could react, pain surged from his back to his brain. Looking down, he saw an arrow protruding from his chest. A wave of weakness spread throughout his body; Ye Shikai felt his eyelids as heavy as if they were laden with lead. His feet slipped, and he plummeted from the sky, faintly feeling someone catching him from behind as he completely lost consciousness...

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Yanjing.

Zhang Ting was alone, nestled in her bed, restless. She had been suspended by Song Tian for a week, a torturous week for a workaholic like her, especially when the assassin in the hospital was still at large. The thought of just staying home and eating instant noodles made her furious. She wanted to secretly keep investigating, but that was now even more impossible, as she was Song Tian's "person of special interest", likely to be kicked out the moment she stepped into the police station.

"No, I can't continue to sink like this," Zhang Ting decided, walking into the living room and pulling out dumbbells and other fitness equipment from under the table.

"Get physically fit first, then go catch some criminals," Zhang Ting kept motivating herself, looking at the calm phone on the table and mumbling continuously, "What National Security Bureau, they still can't catch anyone, yet they make us hand over the cases to them. Such talkers."

Despite being suspended, Zhang Ting made sure to instruct her colleagues, before leaving, to inform her the moment there was news of any criminal captured. Yet, her phone had remained silent so far.

"Forget it, I might as well go cook something first." Zhang Ting walked to the kitchen, tore open two packs of instant noodles and dropped them into the pot, waiting for them to cook.

"Bang." Suddenly, a piece of glass abruptly shattered in the kitchen. Shards scattered all over, startling Zhang Ting so much that she instinctively crouched down. Only later did she discover the "culprit" behind the shattered window—a tightly wrapped black package. It was thrown from the twelfth floor, a good thirty-something meters high. Who could have thrown it?

Zhang Ting cautiously approached and opened the package. Inside was a USB drive and a piece of iron, probably to add weight and shatter the window. Zhang Ting cursed under her breath, annoyed.

"Bang." Suddenly, another package was thrown through the broken window gap. Zhang Ting instinctively thought it might be a bomb and quickly sought cover.

"Why is it another package?" Zhang Ting stepped forward and opened the second package. Inside were five hundred bucks and a note, which had only six words:

For the cost of your window.

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