Chapter 115

Chapter 115

True to his word, Leiche sent Fang Zhou the information he had gathered about Wu Yuanbai by 6 a.m. the next day, suggesting he hadn’t slept all night.

The timing was perfect. Fang Zhou could review all the information sent by Leiche before heading to the United Defense Bureau.

The details Leiche provided might not necessarily pertain to Wu Yuanbai. They were merely potential leads from Danggang and Yancheng, fitting some characteristics and likely to be her identity before coming to Mingang City.

Just as the official organization of the United Defense Bureau couldn’t discern that Fang Zhou was an impostor even after a complete background check, it was unlikely that Leiche could do better than official channels. The fact that he found this information already proved his capability in intelligence gathering.

Fang Zhou quickly skimmed through the information. It wasn't much, summarized in just two pages, but she paused briefly on the last line before erasing the data transferred by Leiche.

After reviewing Wu Yuanbai’s file, Fang Zhou tossed the communicator into the mouth formed by the Line Python.

A new day began with work. After finishing up, she hastily ate breakfast and took the tram to the United Defense Bureau.

"Morning," Geng Yi greeted her.

"Good morning," Pei Liangji nodded towards her, while Duan Zhe maintained his usual sullen expression.

"You all arrive so early," Fang Zhou commented, taking a cup of water back to her seat. "Ah, unlike me, who has at least half an hour of commute."

"That long!" Geng Yi exclaimed in surprise.

The speed of the electric train inside Paradise is extremely fast, so the fact that it took so long indicated that Ark had almost certainly come from the outer ring of Mingang City.

Ark spread her hands: “I’m broke right now, still in debt, just getting by.”

“No worries, payday is soon,” Geng Yi said sympathetically, patting her shoulder. After spending these few days together, it was easy for Geng Yi to forget that Yinshui had initially been arrested for kidnapping and extortion due to lack of money as a Tang Harbor citizen.

“Not to mention, our salaries are quite substantial. You can live comfortably even in a place as expensive as Mingang City.”

“Then I’m looking forward to it.”

Arriving even later than Ark was Jiang Huai'an. As the vice-captain, he didn’t have his own office like Wu Yuanbai, his workspace also set in the special office.

He appeared cheerful, unaffected by the failure of yesterday’s mission, greeting them: “Good morning, everyone.”

“Morning, Vice-Captain Jiang.” The team members responded in turn. Even Geng Yi, who harbored grievances for Wu Yuanbai, wouldn’t publicly disrespect him.

“Vice-Captain Jiang, about yesterday's mission—” Duan Zhe hesitated before asking, “Does it affect our performance assessment?”

Unlike the previous situation assisting Qianjiang's joint defense bureau in encircling Ark, this was their special squadron’s mission, with clear objectives and directives. Usually, failure would impact individual ratings.

Duan Zhe had always wanted to work inside the Tower. He had finally gotten the opportunity last time, but while his two teammates were selected, he had to return to the joint defense bureau, leaving him feeling like a rejected product.

Even though Geng Yi, who usually bickered with him and looked down on each other, hadn't used this incident against him, Duan Zhe always felt everyone was mocking him.

His desire to perform well inside the Tower had become more pressing, and he was now particularly concerned about his everyday performance.

Jiang Huai'an looked troubled and sighed, "I don't know about that. The failure was due to my lack of experience, and I will take responsibility for it."

"Vice-Captain Jiang..." With these words, Duan Zhe's view of him changed. If previously he had respected Jiang Huai'an simply because of his background, now it was genuine respect for him as a person.

Jiang Huai'an continued, "Your reports from yesterday have already been submitted to the Tower. This mission involved some core information, and its failure isn't solely our fault. Don't overthink it."

Ark: "......"

If she hadn't overheard the conversation between Jiang Ou and Jiang Huai'an yesterday, she might have believed him. His work competence aside, he was as adept at playing the good guy as his cousin.

However, to cover up the blunder of Jiang Huai'an’s command, which allowed the target to escape, they needed a bigger mistake to temporarily divert attention.

In yesterday's operation, she was the only one who had direct contact with their "target" and the only team member with a "blank period."

If she were Jiang Ou, she would focus on these two points, just as she had mentioned yesterday as the entry point.

Half an hour later, a man and a woman appeared at the door, their chest badges dark red tower shapes, symbolizing the identity of the joint defense bureau's internal affairs department.

"Who is Yinshui? Come with us," one of them said.

"I am." Ark raised her hand, looking puzzled, and stood up to go with them.

"The internal affairs department? Why are they taking Yinshui?" Geng Yi whispered after Ark and the internal affairs personnel left.

Pei Liangji frowned and shook his head, "Don’t know, hopefully, it's nothing serious."

Duan Zhe spoke excitedly, "What did she do to get the internal affairs department personally coming up to arrest her?"

The internal affairs department is responsible for investigating violations among officials, and being summoned by them is never a good sign. Duan Zhe’s schadenfreude was almost palpable.

Ark was unaware of the discussions in the office after she left. She was led by the two internal affairs officers to an interrogation room, which was dimly lit, furnished with a metal table and chair, and equipped with a heart rate monitor connected to the only available chair.

Having developed a keen sensitivity to cameras, Ark conservatively estimated there were at least five pinhole cameras installed in the room, capturing every movement and expression of the person inside.

"What's this about? Have I done something wrong?" Ark asked, puzzled.

The two officers didn't answer her question. After bringing her in, they left without a word, leaving her alone in the room.

After standing uncertainly for half a minute, a deep male voice resonated in the room: “Hello, Officer Yinshui, please take a seat in the chair.”

Ark looked around as if searching for the source of the voice, eventually obeying and sitting in the chair.

Once she sat down, the heart rate monitor beside her activated, displaying her current heart rate. A square panel in the ceiling above the table opened, and a folding arm extended from above, with a black lens attached to its end. The faint red light flickering indicated it was in operation.

With so many cameras installed, they still brought out this equipment, likely to increase the sense of oppression.

From the moment she entered the room, Ark knew she had to fully assume the role of Yinshui.

The voice continued: “Please look at the camera and recount the mission from yesterday in detail. Do not omit any action you took during the mission.”

“Ah? Okay.” Yinshui appeared momentarily confused, then thought for a while before providing a detailed verbal account of the previous day’s mission.

"… I heard the other party whispering insults, so I grabbed her... Duan Zhe and I split up to check... Finally, Vice-Captain Jiang told us to come back. That’s about it." After completing her account, there was a moment of silence in the room. Yinshui couldn’t help but ask, “Can I ask what exactly you are doing now?”

“Please repeat everything once more,” the voice suddenly instructed.

“What?”

“Please repeat everything once more.”

Although she didn’t quite understand their intentions, she could only cooperate with the investigation: "I understand..."

"...and then Vice-Captain Jiang told us to come back."

"Please repeat that again."

……

"Please repeat that again."

……

"Please repeat that again."

……

"Please repeat that again."

……

Once, three times, five times, ten times, twenty times, fifty times...

In the end, Yinshui didn’t know how many times she had repeated the same segment. Due to the constant repetition, her throat was dry and hoarse, her mood increasingly irritable. The heart rate monitor above fluctuated during this process, becoming unstable and then stabilizing again with each repeated iteration.

They had no evidence and couldn't use extreme measures, so they kept verbally pressing her to repeat the day's events, using this method to wear her down mentally and capture any inconsistencies, which the cameras would record.

After an uncountable number of repetitions, the voice finally stopped repeating “Please repeat that again” and started asking questions.

"Why did you suddenly grab that person?"

"...Because I heard her insulting us. I wrote that in my report, and I’ve just repeated it at least a hundred times." She leaned forward on the table, speaking hoarsely.

"'Lackey', right? As far as I know, you haven't been at the joint defense bureau for long and shouldn’t have such a strong sense of belonging. Why would you react to a civilian for saying that?"

The camera in front of her, like an eye of judgment, was always in view whenever she looked up. Yinshui paused for a moment. In her silence, the heart rate monitor, which had just settled, jumped again.

A few seconds later, she leaned forward, staring intently at the darkest camera in front: “Officer, are you the kind of good man who doesn’t retort when insulted or fight back when hit?”

"...No." The voice paused for a moment: "Please answer why you reacted to a civilian for saying that."

"I'm not, but I used to be." Yinshui displayed a degree of irritability: "Before coming to Mingang City, anyone who provoked me would feel my bite. But during my time in Mingang City, I bowed and scraped to those rich folks, never talking back. Leaving Tang Harbor, it felt like I was the only beggar in the whole world."

"That arms dealer I kidnapped—due to his own mistake, he was scratched and bleeding, yet he cursed at me, demanding I kneel and apologize."

"Now that I'm wearing this uniform, why am I still looked at with those same eyes?"

After speaking, she stared into the camera and retorted, "What about you, do you look down on me too?"

As expected, any normal person would become impatient after spending too much time here, unable to maintain their facade. However, Yinshui's reaction was unexpectedly outside of their assumptions, yet perfectly reasonable.

The voice remained silent for several seconds before saying, "Today's statement is concluded, Officer Yinshui, thank you for your cooperation."

The tightly closed door swung open, light spilling in from outside. Yinshui immediately stood up from her chair and rushed out eagerly.

It wasn't until she left the statement room that she raised her hand to wipe the sweat from her chin, her facial expression subtly shifting in an instant.

Her throat was so dry it hurt, as if it were burning. Fangzhou felt she couldn’t utter a word. Glancing at the time, it was already 7 pm. She had been in the statement room for over eight hours. Without any special tasks, Geng Yi and the others had probably finished work and gone home.

She took a few steps forward, leaning against a wall and closing her eyes to rest for a moment.

Repeating the same thing for eight hours under such high pressure, in the moment before she stopped being Yinshui, Fangzhou still felt as if a dark camera was staring into her eyes.

She quickly suppressed the mental fatigue. For her, this weariness was nothing compared to the exhaustion of overusing mental control, merely maintaining the Yinshui persona and cooperating with the heart rate monitor was more tiring.

As she had guessed, Jiang Ou and the others’ point of entry was indeed these two aspects. In the statement room, she played "Yinshui" well, temporarily becoming the person she had partially created.

"Yinshui" was just a scapegoat. The information gap between Jiang Huai'an and the truth meant they couldn't possibly pinpoint her identity, but shifting the responsibility and focus onto her was more than enough.

Jiang Ou was a psychic herself. If she really wanted to find a spy, she could just interrogate and get the answer, but she couldn't do that because in her eyes, "Yinshui" wasn’t really a spy, just a label she wanted to impose.

The central authority still needed "Yinshui's" ability, so they couldn't directly use psychic control to confirm her as a spy. If the other side sensed this while trying to reclaim Yinshui's abilities, it would leave her vulnerable.

For now, they could only temporarily brand her with this suspicion of espionage, blocking "Yinshui's" path within the Defense Bureau or upward in the tower. As a citizen of Gang Port, "Yinshui" had no backing to rely on. When her powers were no longer needed, they could easily pin any crime on her and dispose of her.

Even Fangzhou couldn't help but remark how dirty the tactics of politicians were. Wu Yuanbai must have suffered a lot from these overt and covert attacks over the years. What exactly was her ability that allowed her to emerge from such an environment with that kind of background?

Fangzhou began to take an interest in her.

As Fangzhou pondered these thoughts, she heard footsteps. Opening her eyes, a bottle of water was handed to her. She looked up to see Wu Yuanbai standing before her.

Fangzhou, disguised as Yinshui, who was about 1.7 meters tall, still looked up to Wu Yuanbai, who towered over her.

Why was Wu Yuanbai here? Had she been following the surveillance department’s people as well?

She must have come from the room next to the statement room, the one with the camera that had been observing Fangzhou.

It made sense; Wu Yuanbai, as the head of the special squad, had played a role in Fangzhou's recruitment to the Defense Bureau. It was normal for her to be notified about such matters. If Fangzhou's spy identity were confirmed, it might even implicate Wu Yuanbai.

"...Thank you," Fangzhou said with difficulty, accepting the water and drinking it eagerly.

After finishing the bottle, Fangzhou's throat felt better. "Why are you here, Captain Wu?"

"Let's go, we'll head back first," Wu Yuanbai suggested.

"Okay," Fangzhou replied, following behind her. After a pause, she slowly added, "I almost thought I was going to die in there. What do they mean by this? Did I do something wrong, or have I offended someone?"

Wu Yuanbai didn't directly answer her question but instead said, "You and I will be temporarily reassigned to Qianjiang City tomorrow to assist the local Defense Bureau. Prepare your things when we get back."

Fangzhou expressed her surprise, "So suddenly?"

Her voice was still hoarse, "It's one thing for me to go, but why you, Captain Wu? As a team leader, being sent to assist them feels like a demotion."

For someone of Wu Yuanbai's stature, except in cases of full mobilization, her role was more about leading and directing. Being sent to assist like a regular officer seemed somewhat demeaning.

In the entire Defense Bureau, only Jiang Ou had the authority to directly reassign her. With Wu Yuanbai away from the special squad, Jiang Huai'an would be able to replace her position sooner. And with her away from Mingang City, it would be easier for Jiang Ou to act against her.

As for Jiang Ou's reasonable reassignment of Wu Yuanbai, there must be some new developments in Qianjiang City.

Golden Scorpion?

Didn't Lei Qie mention that he was likely in Mingang City recently?

"I'm just a minor character being summoned here and there. I follow whatever arrangements are made from above," said Wu Yuanbai.

"Is that so?" Fangzhou remarked, "I think differently. Captain Wu, you will surely reach the position you aspire to."

Wu Yuanbai glanced at her, "I didn't realize you were so skilled at flattering."

"It’s alright. I've almost spent all the money you lent me last time, and it's still some days before payday. Captain Wu, could you possibly..."

Wu Yuanbai, somewhat speechless, touched her wrist and entered some numbers. Fangzhou heard the sound of points being transferred.

On checking, she saw it was five times the amount Wu Yuanbai had given her last time.

Fangzhou blinked and said, "I don't think I need this much."

"I like what you said, there's no hurry to pay it back."

"Oh! Thank you so much, Captain Wu. I wish you a swift promotion."

……

Upon returning to her residence, Fangzhou immediately noticed subtle changes in the layout. The water cup she had used in the morning was slightly moved, and there was dust on the carpet near the door.

The surveillance department had indeed visited her abode, turning her modest dwelling upside down. Fortunately, she had anticipated this and destroyed the communication device used to contact Lei Qie.

Otherwise, a blank communicator with no traceable contact signals would have definitely confirmed her numerous connections with that woman.

Fangzhou briefly activated her electronic surveillance, revealing that pinhole cameras had been installed in the living room, while the bedroom and bathroom were equipped with listening devices.

Should she be grateful for their respect for her privacy, given they didn’t install cameras in these two places?

Jiang Ou's move, albeit unexpectedly, had indeed complicated Fangzhou's situation significantly.

Fangzhou paid little attention to these gadgets planted in her home. She began packing for her trip to Qianjiang City. After organizing her belongings, she had Xianmang relay a message to trustworthy individuals at the Ye Zhi headquarters.

[I'm returning to Qianjiang tomorrow. The head of the special squad has also been transferred there. Keep an eye on Golden Scorpion's movements; he's most likely no longer in Mingang City.]

……

……

The next day, Fangzhou and Wu Yuanbai went to Qianjiang City together. Upon arriving at the local Defense Bureau, Wu Yuanbai immediately met with the head of Qianjiang City's special squad, Rui Pan.

Fangzhou had previously interacted with the members of the Qianjiang City Defense Bureau.

Xiang Meng, always friendly, waved enthusiastically at Fangzhou upon seeing her: "Hey, Yinshui, didn't expect to see you here again."

Fangzhou approached and high-fived her, noticing she was already in combat gear. "Are you preparing for a mission?"

"Yeah," she said, placing her firearm into her waist holster. "Hmm... you'll probably have to go too. Captain Rui has been waiting for you guys."

Fangzhou had thought their stay in Qianjiang City would take at least a few days, but unexpectedly, they were set to depart immediately. She followed Xiang Meng to the meeting room.

She asked, "Your captain came too?"

"Yeah."

"Wow, what was the thinking there, bringing over a captain to assist?"

"Honestly, I haven't figured that out either."

As they chatted, they reached the meeting room where Rui Pan and Wu Yuanbai were already waiting, along with another team member.

As the host, Rui Pan should be the highest commander of this operation. Once everyone arrived, she surprisingly asked Wu Yuanbai, "I forgot to ask, Captain Wu, will you be commanding, or shall I?"

Wu Yuanbai paused for a moment before responding, "You command. Yinshui and I will follow your lead."

"Okay," Rui Pan said calmly, "Well, I'd rather not have to think too hard, but following your lead minimizes the risk of errors. I'll reluctantly take command then."

Fangzhou noted these words. Rui Pan's long sentences always induced drowsiness, yet her conversation with Wu Yuanbai seemed sincere, genuinely valuing Wu's decisions over her own.

There must be a reason for this. Was it related to Wu Yuanbai's abilities?

Rui Pan distributed the information: "This person is an escaped transcender criminal from our Defense Bureau, possessing the 'Poison Fog' ability, a wide-range attack skill classified as A-level. We haven't had any news of him for years, thought he was dead. Unexpectedly, he's surfaced now, even becoming a manager in a corporation... this is really..."

Rui Pan's tendency to induce sleepiness with her long sentences became more apparent while relaying information. Xiang Meng and Fu Ning Le seemed quite accustomed to it.

"Captain Rui, can we get to the point?" Wu Yuanbai couldn't help but interrupt.

At Wu Yuanbai's words, Xiang Meng and others looked on in respect. Finally, someone dared to directly address Captain Rui like that after all these years!

"Oh, okay," Rui Pan said, ruffling her fluffy red hair, "Our target is him. I've sent you all the specific details. Just read them."

Fangzhou knew the target was Golden Scorpion as Rui Pan spoke. She opened the information sent by Rui Pan, and indeed, it was about Golden Scorpion.

Golden Scorpion, before joining Ye Zhi, was already a criminal in Paradise. He had a complete profile in the central system, and his anonymity over the years was due to Ye Zhi's tight security. He left no identity loopholes.

Once the authorities focused on him, uncovering his identity from previous clues was just a matter of time.

This was why Golden Scorpion chose to flee immediately upon attracting attention, instead of cooperating with the investigation.

After everyone reviewed the information, Rui Pan brought over a storage box: "This is his blood. Though he's been on the run for years, we always store blood samples of criminals. I always thought it was a waste of storage space, but it seems the higher-ups were foresighted."

Fangzhou took the blood sample from Rui Pan, licked it off her palm, and slowly, Golden Scorpion's location began to materialize in her mind.

Rui Pan asked, "Do you need a specific map?"

Fangzhou shook her head, "I've already memorized the map of Qianjiang City."

Golden Scorpion's current location was near the residence Lei Qie arranged for Fangzhou when she first arrived at Paradise.

It was also where Li Baizhi and Xiya were currently living.