Chapter 100: Artificial Soul 27
When Kui Xin donned her gear and arrived at the roof with Wei Zhi, she found it already filled with hovering police cars and armed helicopters.
The security officers were all set, preparing to head to the target location.
Augus sent the mission plan to everyone, stating that this mission was very simple: kill without mercy, eliminate everyone except for our own, leaving no survivors. Kui Xin didn’t need to team up with others, and she was with Wei Zhi as a pair.
“Let’s go, we’re boarding,” Wei Zhi said steadily as she walked ahead.
Kui Xin followed closely behind and boarded the helicopter.
There was one person already on the plane, a scruffy middle-aged man dressed in combat gear, sitting slumped in his seat with a lazy demeanor. He didn’t resemble a fighter but rather someone on vacation.
He looked relaxed, chewing bubble gum, in stark contrast to the busy and tense security personnel on the helipad.
Upon seeing Wei Zhi board the helicopter, he turned and said, “Oh, finally here, can we go now?”
“This is Wang Feichi, S-Rank Black Flame, affiliated with the Special Affairs Department, but is currently semi-retired,” Augus introduced in Kui Xin’s earpiece. “From my observations, he has a laid-back personality, not very power-hungry, and is relatively easy to get along with.”
“We’ll depart in three minutes, sir,” Wei Zhi said.
“Hey, the sooner we finish, the sooner I can get back home. I need to help my son build his blocks,” Wang Feichi remarked.
Wei Zhi hesitated.
Kui Xin: “…?”
To eliminate Mechanized Dawn was such an important task, yet this S-Rank was only thinking about getting home to play blocks with his son?
“With you, S-Rank, we will definitely finish the fight quickly,” Wei Zhi managed to say politely.
Wang Feichi glanced at Kui Xin, “Who’s this girl?”
“I’m Kui Xin, the secretary and combat adjutant of Captain Wei Zhi,” Kui Xin introduced herself.
“Oh.” Wang Feichi glanced at Kui Xin before shifting his gaze to the window, “How’s the sea in Hei Hai City? It’s my first time here; is it suitable for a family vacation?”
Wei Zhi, usually serious, was unsure how to respond, so Kui Xin chimed in, “The seawater is contaminated, there’s acid rain sometimes, it’s often foggy and chilly by the sea, and the further you are from the city center, the more chaotic the law and order becomes. It’s not suitable for family visits.”
Wang Feichi clicked his tongue, “You guys at the Hei Hai City Investigation Bureau aren’t doing a great job, the law and order is so poor; you aren’t fulfilling your duties.”
Wei Zhi said, “Sorry, that’s our negligence.”
After spending two days together, Kui Xin noticed that Wei Zhi was straightforward and direct. Such a boss was easy to work with, but someone who wasn’t diplomatic would find it hard to advance in their career. Wei Zhi’s resilience and straightforwardness were evident when she refused to let He Gaoyi take on the role of her secretary, preferring to nurture newcomers like Kui Xin over using Meng Jing’s personnel.
“Most agents in the Federation’s Special Affairs Department are selected from the Investigation Bureau. Although the status of these two departments in the Federation is equal, in some ways, the Special Affairs Department can be considered a superior authority to the Investigation Bureau, with very high privileges,” Augus explained. “The Special Affairs Department handles more dirty work: espionage, assassinations, counterintelligence, infiltrating other secret organizations. The Investigation Bureau dares not handle the dirty business of the wealthy, but the Special Affairs Department does. Although the members of the Special Affairs Department are few, every one of them is an Awakened, and ‘Black Flame’ Wang Feichi is one of the best among them.”
Three minutes later, the helicopter took off.
The roar of the rotor blades was deafening as they flew over the city. Kui Xin looked down from the cabin, feeling as if the vehicles and people on the ground were minuscule.
The headquarters of Rick Technology Company was on the edge of the city center. Augus had already taken over surveillance permissions near the building, but to avoid alerting their target, the Investigation Bureau had not issued any orders to evacuate the surrounding residents or ordinary workers.
The Investigation Bureau split into multiple teams, one team invaded the Rick Technology Company building from the roof, while another surrounded it from the ground, forming a blockade tightly around the building.
Armed helicopters hovered above the Rick Technology Company building, a rope ladder was dropped, and Kui Xin led the descent to the roof, followed by Wei Zhi, and lastly, Wang Feichi.
After the three of them, more security officers used the rope ladder to quickly descend to the roof and form a formation.
Another helicopter hovered at the side of the Rick Technology Company building, the cabin opened, and security officers armed with rocket launchers fired at the building’s tempered glass, shattering it with a loud bang, creating a large hole in one side of the building.
The security officers fired their grappling guns into the building, which secured firmly to the wall, and they used the grappling guns to propel themselves through the opening into the building.
Simultaneously, the Investigation Bureau personnel invaded from three directions: above, ground, and mid-floors.
Wang Feichi pointed towards the tightly sealed entrance on the roof. Dark flames burned silently, and the sturdy metal door quickly melted, forming a large hole. The molten metal dripped like flowing lava, hissing as it hit the ground.
Wang Feichi continued chewing his bubble gum as he walked inside.
What greeted them was an empty corridor, not a single light was on, and they immediately switched to night vision mode.
Several technicians deployed micro-drones, which flew forward, scanning the floor and presenting the results in their night vision scopes.
In less than a minute, the scan results came back: this floor was empty.
“Not a single person…” Wang Feichi stroked his chin. “Let’s move to the next floor.”
Wei Zhi signaled to the security officers behind her, and several rushed forward to set up explosive devices on the corridor floor. They then retreated three steps and pressed the detonation button.
The floor emitted a dull sound as a circular section of the floor caved into the next level, creating an opening large enough for two people to pass through.
The drone descended through the hole and began a new round of scanning.
Wang Feichi casually jumped through the opening and soon received new scan results.
He wondered aloud, “Still no one? Did they all run away?”
Wei Zhi followed Wang Feichi down and cautiously scanned the surroundings, “We didn’t leak any information, and we even released some false messages…”
“I hope I didn’t come here for nothing.” Wang Feichi said.
Kui Xin and the nearby security officer also descended to this floor.
She tightened her grip on her gun, mentally preparing herself, and didn’t feel that the situation was overly unacceptable.
Mechanized Dawn had indeed evacuated completely; the empty building felt like a mockery of the Investigation Bureau.
In two consecutive floors, there was not a single living person, and even the power supply of the building had been cut off, leaving no lights behind.
Kui Xin was not familiar with the building structure of Rick Technology Company; she had only been to a few floors and each visit had been guided by others. The Investigation Bureau obtained the architectural blueprints from the time the Rick Technology Company was built, but the images shown on the blueprints were completely different from the building’s interior structure that Kui Xin had seen, indicating that Mechanized Dawn had certainly modified the building.
“Report, Captain, the situation isn’t right,” a voice from another team came through the communication channel, “The middle floors of the building are empty, and every office is vacant.”
Shortly after, another team responsible for the ground invasion said over the communication channel, “Report, the ground floors and underground spaces are also empty. However, the underground space has clearly been remodeled, with fully enclosed metal corridors and metal gates, and there are some laboratories, all very clean with no large scientific equipment that could not be moved, and all the data on the computers has been wiped.”
Wei Zhi’s expression darkened.
She realized that this was a well-organized evacuation; the moment Black Flame arrived in Hei Hai City, the Investigation Bureau decided to launch a lightning operation, but their lightning operation was no match for Mechanized Dawn’s swift actions; they had already evacuated before the lightning operation even began.
When did this start? An organization of this size would need to prepare several days in advance to evacuate.
“Interesting,” Wang Feichi’s relaxed demeanor was replaced with alertness, “This organization seems to have a prophetic ability… They have trained more than one Awakened, orchestrated the port explosion, um, it seems they were also behind the ship being destroyed, and Lin Xinji’s death was likely facilitated by them. Now they have silently moved out of the downtown building while the Investigation Bureau, who monitored the area, noticed nothing; the people of Mechanized Dawn have vanished into thin air… What exactly does Mechanized Dawn want? Surely it can’t be to topple the Federation?”
Wei Zhi’s expression worsened, “An organization that has been developing in Hei Hai City for more than twenty years only recently surfaced, and we arrived a step too late. I’m sorry, captain…”
“What are you apologizing for? You’re not responsible for the Hei Hai City Investigation Bureau,” Wang Feichi said slowly.
“Continue the investigation,” Wei Zhi instructed her subordinates, “Leave no detail overlooked, even take away the paper in the trash bins for analysis; there might be useful information hidden there.”
They traversed floor by floor, searching through various rooms.
Until they arrived at the floor Kui Xin was familiar with—the floor with the conference room.
Kui Haidong held meetings and spoke with Kui Xin on this floor, and Kui Xin recognized the conference room door.
Upon inspecting the room, Wang Feichi pointed and the door to the conference room immediately melted away, revealing what was inside.
“…Oh?” Wang Feichi raised an eyebrow.
On the table in the room lay a small projector, a beam of light sprouting from it and projecting onto the ceiling.
It was a short line of text.
—”This time, I won.”
There was no signature, but the short line of text conveyed arrogance and disdain from the sender.
“Interesting,” Wang Feichi grinned, “Is this a provocation against us?”
“Ah,” Augus said, “This is a message from Eve.”
The next second, the text projected turned blood-red, and Kui Xin instinctively took a step back, her instincts screaming a warning.
“Watch out!” Just as she shouted those two words, she saw flames shooting up.
The conference room was hiding a bomb!
Wei Zhi stepped forward; with her movement, the air around them instantly solidified, the space fracturing like a broken mirror into countless shards, the explosion’s flames reflected on the shattered surface, then freezing.
B-Rank, spatial confinement!
“Fall back,” Wei Zhi calmly ordered.
They moved gracefully back from the conference room, the explosion’s flames trapped for a dozen seconds before bursting forth like blooming flowers, blackening the conference room completely.
