The rainwater accumulated on the asphalt was shattered by a speeding truck, splashing muddy droplets into the air, reflecting the silhouette of a white cold chain vehicle.

The paint on the side of the truck reading "Frozen Fish Express" had peeled off, making it look particularly worn.

The interior of the cargo hold was a different scene altogether.

Nine fully armed combat operatives sat cross-legged in a meditative posture on the shock-absorbing floor, their breathing synchronized like precision instruments.

With their long, deep breaths, the black corpse spots on their faces appeared and disappeared, like some ancient curse moving beneath their skin.

The night vision goggles on their helmets emitted an eerie green glow, illuminating a coffin-like metallic cabinet in the center—its surface covered with honeycomb-like ventilation holes, currently spewing out cold white mist.

"Beep—"

With an electronic sound, the display on the cabinet door suddenly lit up with a blue light: [Memory Backup Download Completion Rate 100%].

As characters flickered on the screen, the buzzer emitted a special frequency of three short and one long beeps, and the operatives simultaneously opened their eyes.

The sound of the hydraulic rods slowly starting sounded like the sigh of a giant beast. 𝘧𝓇ℯℯ𝑤ℯ𝘣𝓃ℴ𝓋𝑒𝑙.𝑐𝘰𝑚

As the cabinet doors slid open to the sides, the low-temperature mist condensed into frost on the floor.

A pale hand suddenly reached out, spreading its fingers before clenching them into a fist, with a cracking sound like popping corn from its knuckles.

"Welcome back, mentor!"

Zhao Jingyi knelt beside the metallic cabinet, her trembling hands holding a formaldehyde-scented white coat.

Her forehead rested against the cold floor, not daring to look directly at the awakening figure.

As the mist dispersed, Zuo Bai slowly sat up.

The newborn skin appeared as pink and white as a baby’s, smooth as new on the front and back, as if that fatal blow had never happened.

"What time is it?" Zuo Bai’s voice still carried the metallic texture of a cryogenic chamber.

Zhao Jingyi opened up the tablet and replied:

"Memory synced to 18:29:34, 0.7 seconds before your heart was crushed by [Mask]."

Zuo Bai glanced at the tablet, and an eerie smile suddenly appeared on his cold face:

"Interesting, the taste of failure is rather memorable."

Zhao Jingyi’s throat bobbed, afraid to respond.

She bit her lower lip hard, only relaxing when she tasted blood.

"Did you come back alone?" Zuo Bai’s voice was as light as if talking to himself.

Zhao Jingyi held her breath:

"The Arresting Bureau arrived... All the senior sisters who stayed on campus died."

Her voice grew softer: "I... crawled out from another manhole along the underground conduit..."

Zuo Bai’s indifferent gaze lingered on Zhao Jingyi for a moment.

He did not doubt the student’s loyalty—he knew the means by which he’d trained his students; no one dared to lie to him.

But he did not like failed students.

However, this time, even he had tasted the flavor of failure.

Zuo Bai casually withdrew his gaze and turned to ask:

"Why did the performance start early?"

Zhao Jingyi’s fingers swiped across the tablet, enlarging the screen image.

The image showed a corner of the campus, peaceful, with a man sitting on the curb with a manhole cover at his feet.

In the next second, the manhole cover exploded, and several twisted shadows erupted from the ground, tearing apart the serene image.

"This is the camera footage from five seconds before the incident."

Zhao Jingyi’s voice was a bit tense. She quickly pulled up the audio analysis interface and precisely extracted a special frequency from the chaotic sound waves.

"The internal chips of the senior sisters... all recorded this sound."

Humans can’t hear this sound, but Zhao Jingyi had "translated" the audio for them.

An eerie sound wave spread through the truck’s interior.

It was not a sound humans could produce—more like the hum of an ancient instrument, or the resonance of countless insects’ wings.

The sound wave produced a bone-chilling resonance at certain frequencies.

Zhao Jingyi answered apprehensively:

"Mentor, it was this sound that drove the senior sisters mad."

She enlarged the side profile of the man in the image, "And the one who made this sound... was him."

Zuo Bai completed a memory search in one second; he had no recollection of this face.

He narrowed his eyes slightly, his expression stern, his voice low and calm, uttering two words indifferently: "Identity?"

Zhao Jingyi lowered her voice: "I’m sorry, mentor, I’m still investigating."

Silence spread throughout the vehicle.

Three seconds of silence felt as long as three centuries, until Zuo Bai spoke again: "Where are we now?"

Zhao Jingyi hurriedly swiped the screen, her fingertips slipping on the touchpad twice before she pulled up the map.

A holographic projection unfolded in the air, a blue triangle slowly moving along the grid lines, while in the northeast direction, a glaring red dot kept flashing.

"[Mask] has disappeared again, but the nanotech chip implanted in Feng Yuhuai’s body accurately located her position, 7.4 kilometers away from us, estimated to arrive in 11 minutes."

Zhao Jingyi lifted her head, trembling as she replied:

"I thought, mentor, that after your awakening, you’d want to see Feng Yuhuai as soon as possible. I hope you’ll forgive my presumptuous decision."

Zuo Bai slowly closed his eyes, finally curling his lips into a slight smile:

"Somewhat clever, from now on, follow me and learn."

.....

"March 18?!"

Feng Mu’s eyes widened in shock, looking at Feng Ju incredulously:

"That was indeed the day I left school... but Father, you said Zheng Hang became [Mask] on that day. What exactly do you mean?"

Feng Ju didn’t answer directly but instead asked meaningfully:

"Do you remember if anything unusual happened at school on that day?"

Feng Mu furrowed his brows, falling into recollection:

"That day... there was a murder in the abandoned warehouse at the back of the school, a girl was killed. The Patrol Office even sent people to investigate..."

Saying this, his pupils suddenly constricted, as if recalling some crucial information:

"Wait! The name Zheng Hang... I remember now! Back then, rumors were rampant on campus saying that the girl’s killer was Zheng Hang!"

Feng Mu’s voice involuntarily rose a few pitches:

"Right, Zheng Hang is the son of the Cyan Wolf Gang’s leader. During those days when I went to work at the incinerator, I was even bothered by people from the Cyan Wolf Gang.

It’s said that the Cyan Wolf Gang’s leader never believed his son would kill someone, convinced that his son was also a victim and was trying to find the real murderer throughout the city.....

At this point, Feng Mu abruptly paused, a flash of realization in his eyes:

"So the truth is actually...?"

Feng Mu’s performance was flawless. To this day, the original incident that started everything once again emerged from the surface.

But this time, Feng Mu no longer needed to cover it up.

Because, regardless of how many doubts and loopholes this case had, the "Zheng Hang" that appeared on TV today effectively patched up the entire case perfectly.

Similarly, this murder would surely become a strong footnote for the birth of [Mask].

[Mask] lives, and so does Zheng Hang;

[Mask] is Zheng Hang, and Zheng Hang is [Mask], sealed tight!