Chapter 175: The Tide of the Dark Night

Chapter 175: The Tide of the Dark Night

"This is Zhou Yun, our target this time."

An ID photo of Zhou Yun was displayed on the large screen. In the pharmacist's photo, Zhou Yun's eyes were clear, radiating a strong student-like demeanor.

"Yao Huan's proud disciple, Guan Yuanfeng's fiancé, and the most likely candidate to be the Lord of Guixu City, Dongjun."

"This person has a high IQ, skipped grades in elementary and middle school, and entered medical university at the age of 14, pursuing a continuous bachelor's, master's, and doctoral program. However, due to the long duration required for medical studies and his low-key personality, he remains inconspicuous."

"He enjoys solo motorcycle rides, practices traditional medicine, and cultivates plants."

"His personality traits include being sentimental, willing to give up his career for his mother, gentle temperament, and avoiding conflicts in social interactions. He dislikes contact with strangers. Our people have approached him in various roles such as students, hospital colleagues, and patients. Although he appears amiable, he keeps people at a distance and cannot form deep connections."

The slides on the wall switched to several photos: Zhou Yun in a white doctor's coat guiding experiments among medical students, Zhou Yun in a shirt riding a bicycle buying groceries in the bustling market, and Zhou Yun surrounded by a group of security guards. Qin Sheng, wearing sunglasses, was opening the car door for him. Zhou Yun was slightly bending to get into the car but looked up at the camera with bright eyes.

"He resides in Yunding Mountain Villa, a place with heavy security, with drones monitoring 24/7 and a significant number of mutated plants, rendering it nearly inaccessible. His workplaces are the hospital and Nanshan Medicinal Garden, and he never travels without a security detail. He is a high-level dual affinity for wood and water psychic abilities user. We used high-powered telescopes and telephoto cameras to take photos, but it still managed to alert him. Fortunately, we quickly retreated and withdrew all our lines, thus avoiding detection."

"Our people in Guixu City can only approach him during normal work hours as ordinary individuals and cannot act rashly. Therefore, we have planted thirty ordinary individuals as agents in various industries in Guixu City, focusing on scientific research, medicine, and education. These agents have been embedded in Guixu City for an extended period and have visited his former schools, teachers, and classmates, collecting information from pre-apocalypse big data. Post-apocalypse experiences are almost impossible to trace due to the lack of records, leading us to speculate that he met Guan Yuanfeng as neighbors."

"Currently, it seems that Dongjun is not controlled by Guan Yuanfeng using mutated poppies as previously rumored. He has strong autonomy—this aligns with our earlier speculation. The mutated poppies in Cangshan City are actually a unique wood psychic ability of Li Xiong, which was completely destroyed after his death."

"This capability to assimilate the unique traits of mutated plants into one's own skill set is speculated to be a special wood psychic ability, the mechanism of which is currently unknown. Currently, most wood psychic ability users can only passively accelerate plant growth and cannot integrate it into their own skills."

Someone asked expressionlessly, "Can we assess his exact level?"

The presenter switched the slide: "It's impossible to accurately assess. Look at this Skyward Tree in the arena. We asked our current fourth-level wood psychic ability users to try to accelerate the growth of such a tree, but no one could achieve such size and height. Zhou Yun, however, grew it from a seed in just half a month. The seeds were purchased from Zhongzhou and Peacock Base. We disguised ourselves as other buyers and inquired, and they confirmed that the Skyward Tree seeds Captain Guan bought were ordinary seeds."

Someone raised an objection: "This Skyward Tree is clearly a mutated species. Dongjun can even stimulate human psychic abilities, so it's possible he can do the same for plants. This doesn't necessarily prove his psychic ability. Wood psychic abilities have always been weak in combat. We should focus more on his ice skills. It's known that he can summon blizzards and dense fog, which can be countered by wind and fire core abilities. This should not pose a significant challenge."

The presenter said, "We still can't underestimate his combat power. Previously, the Shanxiao Team took away our signed agreement, and the special operations group was tasked with pursuing them. That night, Zhou Yun didn't return to Yunding Mountain Villa and stayed at the hospital. All five top-tier fourth-level combatants in the group were captured. The Shanxiao Team's rescue team was blocked by dense fog and couldn't even meet up. It's speculated that Dongjun captured them single-handedly, and the location of their detention is still unknown. Fortunately, these individuals only had single-line contact with their superiors, and their mission was only to retrieve the signed agreement. Our informants are all ordinary individuals with single-line contacts, thus preventing our network from being fully compromised."

"Also, the Tianlang Team of the Ye family was likely completely annihilated by him. This information was obtained from the Lindong Base."

The dark meeting room buzzed with murmurs. Someone asked, "So Dongjun is at least fifth-level?"

"Fifth-level dual affinity for wood and water psychic powers, plus Guan Yuanfeng, who has always been publicly claimed as fourth-level but whose actual combat power in wind and thunder core abilities has long surpassed fifth-level. Not to mention, Guixu also has crystal core shields and crystal core artillery. Under these circumstances, apprehending Dongjun alive seems nearly impossible."

"But we are out of time. The competition is our last chance. Our previous informants are being continuously exposed. In the north, Ye Yuqing is acting like a madman. Failing to capture Dongjun this time would mean we cannot even return to our base."

"After such a long investigation, we found that the crystal core shields and crystal core artillery are not manufactured in Guixu City. Without the conditions, it's likely that Lindong Base, Sanchu Base, and Xining Base, with their established military factories, are manufacturing different components separately, all heavily guarded. We can't obtain any information. Only with Dongjun can we have everything."

"Let's discuss the plan."

"Removing Guan Yuanfeng is the primary condition. If the two of them are together, we have no hope. Additionally, Qin Mu, with his shadow psychic abilities, is hard to counter, and we must also remove him."

"Shen Lan and Qin Sheng, one is the leader of the city defense team, and the other is the leader of psychic management. Both have psychics under their command and are at fourth-level themselves. Our only option is to focus on containing them."

"The core of the plan is to exploit Dongjun's personality weaknesses. Using the audience as hostages, we can seize him and quickly board a plane to leave. As long as we have Dongjun, others won't dare to act rashly."

"The specific action plan and team division will now be distributed to everyone. Please review and suggest any details that need improvement as soon as possible."

"This is our last chance. All informants will be deployed. Hence, utmost caution and every possible effort must be employed to capture Dongjun alive."

After finishing the meeting and handling a few tasks, Guan Yuanfeng rushed to the arena, where the warm-up show was ongoing.

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Since it was a youth competition day, many children and parents were present, so the warm-up performance featured a battle between a mutated dog and a mutated rabbit.

It was Comet and the Volcano King Rabbit, both wearing collars infused with crystal core energy, with fire core shields activated on their bodies, engaged in a fierce battle in the arena. The audience, especially the kids, burst into waves of excited cheers.

The fluffy, flame-like fur of the Volcano Rabbit fluttered in the wind, its striking appearance capturing the audience's attention. Its eyes like rubies still looked somewhat dazed, but as its small, tripartite mouth opened, a torrent of flames erupted, fiercely charging toward Comet.

Comet, however, stood its ground. Instead, it lunged directly at the Volcano Rabbit, releasing an even more massive burst of flames. The surrounding air distorted from the intense heat.

The rabbit darted nimbly around the tree, moving at an astonishing speed. The dog and rabbit were so fast that they appeared as streaks of red and black lightning.

The arena exploded with cheers, with some kids clenching their fists and shouting, "Go, rabbit! Go, rabbit!"

Comet had already gained fame from its appearances in promotional videos, so many in the crowd were also cheering, "Go, Comet!"

Ren Duoduo and Zhao Yi stood by the viewing window, clutching the railing as they nervously watched Comet fight. They were discussing the battle:

"That rabbit looks cute, but see how the branches shake when it kicks. Even the adults who fought before didn’t have such immense strength."

"Well, it’s a wild animal, and it’s bigger than Comet. But Comet is amazing too—it can jump so high up the tree!"

"Bite it! Bite it!"

When Guan Yuanfeng entered, Yao Huan smiled, "General Guan has arrived. Are you here to cheer for your beloved dog?" Guan Yuanfeng nodded, "Yao Lao." The two kids also turned and greeted politely, "Hello, General Guan."

Zhou Yun was typing rapidly on his laptop and smiled when he saw him, "Done with the meeting? Have you had lunch?"

Guan Yuanfeng noticed a plate of brown sugar glutinous rice cakes on his desk and the lingering aroma of wonton soup in the room, so he knew they had already eaten. He asked, "No break for lunch?"

Zhou Yun replied, "Duoduo has a match this afternoon."

Guan Yuanfeng sat down and looked at the arena, "Comet has been fighting this Volcano Rabbit for so long?"

Zhou Yun chuckled, "It’s obviously toying with it—part of the show. Comet is smart. If you tell it to fight for ten minutes, it can really control the battle to end in ten minutes."

He glanced at his watch, "It’s about to end."

Sure enough, as soon as he finished speaking, Comet drove the Volcano Rabbit into its cage and closed the door. Cheers surged like a tidal wave.

Yao Huan stood up and said, "I’ll take these two down to rest and nap for a bit. They have a match this afternoon and need to recharge their energy." He called for Ren Duoduo and Zhao Yi to follow him. Zhou Yun got up to see Yao Lao off, watching as someone came to take them away. He then returned to the private box and saw Guan Yuanfeng reading the printed draft on his desk, "How can you write a paper with all this noise?"

Zhou Yun replied, "Well... if I only focus on writing the paper, I can’t get it done. I need distractions. But when I’m watching a match or something, ideas for the paper come to me, and it actually works better."

He sat down next to Guan Yuanfeng, "You haven’t eaten, have you? I’ll ask the guards to fetch you a bowl of chicken wonton soup from the snack street, with some pea shoots. That shop is really good—you should try it."

Guan Yuanfeng smiled, "You’ve been sampling all the specialties on the snack street these past few days, haven’t you?" Every day at mealtime, Zhou Yun would send him photos of the food.

Zhou Yun nodded, "Yeah." He glanced at Guan Yuanfeng’s expression, "Is something wrong?"

Guan Yuanfeng knew he couldn’t hide it from Zhou Yun, "The East Sea is in turmoil. Ye Yuqing was keeping things under control there, but now that he’s gone north, pirates have emerged."

"The 'Dark Tide' pirate group—they’re a cult that recruits members in coastal bases, preaching about ancient gods of the apocalypse. They can control sea beasts. Witnesses say it’s a shadow octopus that can create storms and illusions. They used to only raid at sea, but now they’re attacking small coastal bases. Entire bases have been destroyed, with almost no survivors. After looting, they board their ships and leave. Not only that, but they’ve also seized our offshore oil fields."

"The situation is a bit strange, and the timing is too precise. If Ye Yuqing returns to defend, the north will spiral out of control, and all our previous efforts will be wasted. Although we’ve urgently sent Ren Yuefei with the navy to support, that shadow octopus is tricky. I need to go and take a look to avoid unnecessary sacrifices."

Zhou Yun said, "Military affairs are important. Go ahead. I’ll handle things here in Guixu."

Guan Yuanfeng held Zhou Yun’s wrist, rubbing it gently, "The wedding..." His heart felt a mix of sourness and bitterness. He used to think that personal emotions should naturally give way to the greater good of the nation, but now that it was his turn, he understood the phrase "even heroes have their limits."

Zhou Yun couldn’t help but laugh, "Just hurry up and deal with it, then come back. I’ll have everything ready for the wedding as soon as you return. As for the shadow, take Qin Mu with you. If you can subdue that octopus, it could be a valuable asset."

"But then Qin Mu will seem even more like a big villain, won’t he?"