Techniques and Dao

Chapter 209 The Fire of Jinling
Officer Zhang Yongren groggily opened his eyes, realizing he had actually fallen asleep while lying in this old Chevrolet.

The reason I fell asleep at this time was because I hadn't slept for two nights.

He spent half a month in Nanjing to solve this difficult murder case.

He came here because the criminal investigation team had obtained accurate information and had conclusive evidence that a key criminal had fled to Nanjing. So without hesitation, he and his colleagues drove there to cooperate with the local criminal police in the arrest.

Fortunately, their hard work paid off. After a sleepless night of analysis, investigation, and planning, they finally succeeded in apprehending the suspect this afternoon. His colleagues escorted him back to the police station immediately.

Now all that's left for him to do is drive the company car back, and his mission will be successfully completed.

The journey back wasn't too long, but it wasn't short either, involving several hundred kilometers of highway. Having not slept well for several nights, Officer Zhang decided to take a nap in the car before setting off to avoid driving while fatigued.

Officer Zhang rubbed the bridge of his nose between his index finger and thumb, recalling the dream he had just had.

He had just dreamt of that young man named Hua Sheng.

After the "Xu Xiaocheng murders his wife" case last year, Hua Sheng disappeared and never contacted him again.

In his dream, he saw Hua Sheng standing beside his daughter's sickbed, silently watching his seriously ill daughter.

When the "Xu Xiaocheng murders his wife" case was closed, he told Hua Sheng that his daughter was sick and hospitalized, but he did not talk about the details of her condition. Of course, he never took Hua Sheng to see his daughter.

Besides, my daughter has already recovered and been discharged from the hospital.

Perhaps he was just too tired, and all sorts of memories came rushing back. Officer Zhang shook his head, trying to forget this strange dream.

He looked up at the time on the car's display screen. 19:58 PM.

"It's almost 8 PM..."

He then realized he had been lying there for three hours. He took out his thermos and took a sip; the tea inside was still hot.

In early spring in Nanjing, the weather is still chilly despite the warming trend. Hot water flowed down my dry throat and into my stomach, making me feel more awake.

Officer Zhang perked up, started the car, and was about to shift gears when the screen of his phone, which was in the cup holder in front of the car, lit up.

He needs to be extremely cautious in his daily life, and the matters he encounters are very complex and even dangerous, so his mobile phone at home is usually on silent and not on vibrate, and he only turns it on vibrate outside of working hours.

It was already dark outside, so the phone screen was easy to see when it lit up. The phone screen displayed "Daughter".

These were words that instantly warmed Zhang Yongren's heart.

He then realized that he hadn't seen his daughter for another two weeks. His daughter was only seven years old, a time when she needed her father's company often.

However, I was busy with work, and even when my daughter was seriously ill and hospitalized, I rarely had time to stay with her overnight. Fortunately, a miracle happened, and my daughter's condition suddenly took a turn for the better and she recovered.

Officer Zhang could picture himself arriving home a few hours later. Every time he entered the door, his daughter would flash a bright smile and then throw her little body into his arms.

At the same time, he immediately thought of the freckles on his daughter's nose. He couldn't wait to tell her that he was on his way home.

Zhang Yongren pressed the answer button on his phone.

"Hey! Jiajia, I have good news for you, Daddy is coming back soon..." Before he could finish speaking, his daughter's desperate shout came from the other end of the phone.

"Dad! Dad! Mom just told me you're on a business trip to Nanjing?!"

"Hmm...what!?" Zhang Yongren was taken aback by his daughter's sudden reaction.

The daughter's voice was almost a scream: "Daddy! Run! Get out of there!!"

Startled, Zhang Yongren's last bit of sleepiness vanished instantly. He had never heard his daughter scream so intensely before, and a chill ran down his spine to the back of his head.

"Little Strawberry, what's wrong? Call your mom to answer the phone."

"No! Dad, something terrible is about to happen in Nanjing, Jinling City! Run!!!"

"What happened?"

“Major earthquake! Major flood! Dragon vein!” His daughter, Zhang Jia, shouted incoherently on the other end of the phone, uttering words he couldn’t understand at all.

Zhang Yongren almost suspected that his daughter had a mental problem, so he quickly said, "Jiajia, don't talk nonsense. Everything is fine here, nothing will happen."

Just then, a voice came over the radio: "Nanjing Radio Station is telling you the time. It is now 8:00 PM Beijing time."

The daughter on the phone was almost crying, shouting, "Daddy, run! Run! Daddy!"

Then the daughter's mother's voice came through the phone.

"You silly child, we have guests at home, why are you acting crazy... Hello, is this Yongren?"

Hearing his wife's voice, Zhang Yongren quickly replied, "Yes, yes! It's me. I'm fine, I was just on my way back. What happened to our daughter?"

"I don't know either. She's been talking nonsense since the beginning. She kept saying that some dragon vein in Jinling was going to be destroyed, and I just said, 'Isn't your dad on a business trip there?' Then she suddenly went crazy!"

Zhang Yongren comforted her, "I'm on my way back, I'll be there in a few hours. Tell her not to worry, Dad will be back soon..."

Just then, the call was suddenly disconnected, and only a "beep beep beep..." sound came from the receiver.

He tried to call back, but found that the phone signal showed "no service".

Zhang Yongren rolled down the car window and held his phone out to the sky, trying to see if he could find a signal. But just as he looked up at the night sky, the previously dark sky suddenly burst into light! A golden beam pierced the sky!

The golden light was extremely dazzling, illuminating the surroundings as if it were daytime, which startled Zhang Yongren!

Upon closer inspection, it was discovered that the light originated from a point of light resembling a large meteorite, followed closely by another. Then three, four, five… the number increased, eventually forming a denser array, like countless meteorites strung together, falling towards the city center!

Many citizens outdoors were stunned by the sight and stood frozen in place, staring blankly at the glowing "giant meteorites".

Until the first missile crashed into the top of the International Finance Centre building, which is over 500 meters tall! The deafening roar shook the entire city's eardrums!

The towering reinforced concrete building swayed visibly from the violent impact. The steel bars and glass at the top of the building melted under the intense heat, and the boiling molten iron, glowing red, mixed with shards of tempered glass shattered from the entire skyscraper, rained down like a torrential downpour within a radius of two intersections around the building!
The towering International Financial Center building was several kilometers away from where Zhang Yongren parked his car, but he could almost feel the heat emanating from it!

At the same time, the surrounding crowd began to scream and scatter in all directions!
(End of this chapter)