Chapter 101: Artificial Soul 28
The shattered surface of the spatial mirror refracted the flames, creating an incredibly brilliant scene.
Kui Xin began to ponder unconsciously; could Night Cicada’s spatial vortex break through Wei Zhi’s spatial confinement? Did high-level spatial abilities suppress lower-level ones?
Kui Xin’s “Investigative Eye” could not see the specific effects of Night Cicada’s ability, but it could clearly perceive Wei Zhi’s. Among the extraordinary individuals she had encountered, A-rank He Gaoyi’s situation was similar, where Kui Xin found it difficult to discern the function of her extraordinary ability. S-rank Wang Feichi was even more unique; Kui Xin could not ascertain what his extraordinary ability was, and even its name did not appear.
When faced with extraordinary individuals whose levels far surpassed her own, the limitations and drawbacks of the Investigative Eye became apparent.
“Not bad at all. I can tell that your application and understanding of abilities are quite mature,” Wang Feichi praised Wei Zhi.
“You flatter me,” Wei Zhi replied. “It’s just B-rank, after all.”
If B-rank could exhibit such effects, then what about A-rank or S-rank?
Unfortunately, Wei Zhi was getting older; younger individuals had a greater likelihood of improving their extraordinary abilities. Wei Zhi had practically reached a bottleneck and found it difficult to break through.
“You have a quick reaction,” Wang Feichi remarked, glancing at Kui Xin with interest. “You spoke up before that thing exploded.”
“Because the projector’s light turned red, I felt something was amiss. I trust my instincts, so I immediately alerted everyone,” Kui Xin explained. “In critical situations, I prioritize following my intuition.”
“You remind me of myself. I also trust my instincts,” Wang Feichi said.
Although Kui Xin’s innate talent, “Absolute Prediction,” sounded mystical, in reality, even some regular individuals possessed similar abilities; it was just that their intuition wasn’t as accurate and sensitive as Kui Xin’s. The warnings from Absolute Prediction were often subtle and required careful discernment. It was intangible and formless, making it easy for Kui Xin to miss such alerts. Only when she faced dire danger did the warnings become clear and apparent.
Wang Feichi tapped his head. “Tsk, looks like this encirclement failed. Not a single person out here—what an encirclement!”
Wei Zhi pressed her earpiece to consult her superior and then said, “Minister Meng Jing has ordered a temporary withdrawal, leaving some security officers to investigate the scene and search for suspicious items.”
“That’s fine. Let’s go,” Wang Feichi said. “I only got five hours of sleep last night. You Investigation Bureau folks insisted I come here in the middle of the night, and now we’re set to encircle only to come up empty…”
Wei Zhi said, “The enemy is much more cunning than we imagined.”
“Cunning can’t cover up your dereliction of duty,” Wang Feichi retorted bluntly. “What have you been doing all these years managing Hei Hai City?”
Wei Zhi was at a loss for words.
She was a middle-level leader in the Investigation Bureau; Meng Jing and Lin Xinji were the high-ranking officials. Both of these leaders came from wealthy clans and worked at the Investigation Bureau not to maintain urban security but rather to consolidate power and embellish their resumes.
When officials in key positions fail to do their jobs, the Investigation Bureau can’t function properly.
Kui Xin observed Wang Feichi’s demeanor; the expression beneath his helmet gradually became nuanced.
She felt that Minister Meng Jing was about to face severe consequences.
The port had been destroyed, the Kraken had sunk, and with the Investigation Bureau’s ineffectiveness, someone had to take responsibility. Lin Xinji had taken the fall, while Meng Jing remained unscathed.
The Meng and Shu families had established relationships through this event; they could have cooperated for a long time. However, after Kui Xin killed Lin Xinji, the bridge for cooperation between the two powerful families was gone, and the Meng family sat back watching Lin Xinji die without offering help, leading to a complete rift between the Shu and Meng families.
Now that the Kraken incident was behind them, the primary objective of the Investigation Bureau had shifted to cleansing Mechanized Dawn. Everything had been meticulously planned, yet the Bureau suffered another setback; they gathered their troops only to find an empty building that served as a cold mockery of the Investigation Bureau.
They really had surrounded nothing.
With the Kraken sunk, Lin Xinji had taken responsibility; who would take the blame for this failed encirclement?
The team leaders lacked sufficient rank, and Wei Zhi temporarily couldn’t take over the minister position; the remaining high-ranking official was just Meng Jing.
Only Meng Jing would take responsibility.
“The butterfly effect must be exactly this?” Kui Xin mused internally.
One link triggered another; without the Kraken incident, there would be none of the actions taken by the Investigation Bureau today, and no upheaval in the leadership ranks.
For now, Kui Xin needn’t worry about the Investigation Bureau; she was merely a low-level security officer. Though she had been promoted to a secretary, she had not yet established her footing, and any issues were not her responsibility to solve.
Kui Xin was mainly concerned about Mechanized Dawn.
She had just attended a meeting with Mechanized Dawn the night before, and today they seemed to have evacuated so thoroughly. Kui Haidong had mentioned that they had begun relocating days ago; the meeting was merely a notification for core members to prepare and assign tasks.
Mechanized Dawn had long been prepared for evacuation; it was possible that the evacuation plan had quietly unfolded even when the Kraken sank, with Kui Haidong keeping it from her and other core members until the last minute.
The members of the Investigation Bureau left the same way they arrived; Wang Feichi boarded the helicopter with a look of exasperation, impatiently twisting his body.
The helicopter took off, heading back to the Investigation Bureau.
Just then, halfway through the flight, Augus suddenly sent an urgent message.
“There has been an incident on the suburban expressway northwest of Hei Hai City,” it reported. “High-altitude surveillance stealth drones are en route; on-site images are being captured… capturing… capture complete.”
A high-definition image taken by the drone was sent to Kui Xin’s visor, and she was stunned when she saw it. The image clearly showed two figures she recognized all too well—one was Red, and the other was Silverface—engaged in combat with another group.
“Upon comparison, the person on the left wearing a silver mask had appeared at the port and had a direct confrontation with our security officer. Officer Kui Xin is one of the eyewitnesses of the incident,” Augus stated succinctly. “After our analysis and evaluation, this person is very likely a member of Mechanized Dawn.”
“Ah.” Wang Feichi suddenly became invigorated. “Looks like we’ve got some action?”
“Minister Meng Jing’s directive: all personnel are to change flight route to the northwest outskirts to stop the battle and capture key members, bringing them back for interrogation at the Investigation Bureau,” Augus instructed. “Flight route has been replanned.”
“I’m quite familiar with this situation. I’ve personally reviewed the field records and watched your duty footage,” Wei Zhi turned her attention to Kui Xin. “That silver-masked individual’s extraordinary ability is water manipulation; he broke Officer Jiang Ming’s leg. He should have at least one teammate, a female with a transforming mechanical arm. His ability level has been preliminarily assessed as B.”
“Yes, he is very dangerous,” Kui Xin responded. “I haven’t seen the individual alongside the silver mask. Is there any information on him?”
Augus replied, “Currently, there are no matching records.”
Wang Feichi inquired, “What about the group that clashed with Silverface? Do they match any profiles? It’s odd; why would these two groups fight, especially on the suburban expressway…?”
“Unable to determine the target’s identity,” Augus said. “Please remain vigilant.”
“It seems the developments are getting interesting,” Wang Feichi remarked.
“Let’s hope it doesn’t get too ‘interesting,'” Wei Zhi replied. “Any matter exceeding the Investigation Bureau’s handling capacity should ideally not exist.”
Kui Xin agreed, “I completely concur.”
Any matters beyond her capacity to handle should ideally not exist.
…
“Why, why are we being attacked?” Silverface gasped as he snapped the neck of the last enemy, confusion filling his pink eyes.
“What else could it be…? There’s a traitor,” Red answered, sitting atop a pile of corpses, weary to the bone.
“A traitor?” Silverface asked, bewildered. “Didn’t we already root out the traitor? Wasn’t Python the one…? Could there be others involved?”
Red rolled his eyes, too tired to respond.
Silverface said, “There weren’t many attackers, but our truck’s wheel broke down! What do we do?”
“Do nothing,” Red replied, kicking open the crooked cargo door. Inside was empty—nothing at all. “Did you not realize? The entire time, we’ve been escorting an empty cargo truck. The attackers were a vanguard unit, so there were few of them. Confirming the truck was empty, they withdrew; they didn’t want to waste excessive force.”
Silverface exclaimed, “…What? What did you say? Why can’t I understand? Why did the leader have us transport an empty truck?!”
Red shot him a look and kicked him in the rear, grumbling, “If you can’t figure it out, then don’t ask! Stop bugging me with all these questions! Brains are for thinking, not for holding water!”
Feeling wronged, Silverface shrank his neck. “If you scold and hit me, I will tell Lady Fortune.”
“You’ve only been with her for a short time, and you already learned to report me?” Red quipped.
“I’m now Lady Fortune’s subordinate, not yours,” Silverface said weakly.
Red replied, “After completing the mission, you can take a hike.”
“Can I really take a hike? That would be great!” Silverface exclaimed joyfully.
Red: “…”
This kid was hopelessly thick.
“What do we do now?” Silverface asked.
“Wait for Night Cicada to free up and come pick us up,” Red said, fiddling with his communicator. “This guy hasn’t given a signal, so we can’t leave. Maybe the escort group he’s in is under attack, just like us. Without Eden maintaining communications, our exchanges are hard… I thought the traitor wouldn’t act so rashly here; that was beyond my expectations. I wonder if the leader anticipated this… I hope Night Cicada wraps things up quickly.”
“Will the Investigation Bureau come looking for us if we just wait here?” Silverface asked.
Red said, “Theoretically, that risk does exist.”
He turned around and said, “Come on, let’s hijack a passing vehicle.”
“Ah!” Silverface suddenly shouted, pointing into the distance. “Helicopter!”
A black dot appeared on the horizon and grew larger, coming closer to the two of them, the sound of rotor blades faintly audible.
Red looked back and turned pale with fright.
He spun around and fled, shouting, “What are you standing there for? Run!”
