Upon hearing Zhushi Jiu’s words, Xue An’s expression turned ugly.
Are we supposed to be on high alert for the Black Soldier’s attack tonight?
Zhushi Jiu’s warning echoed in Xue An’s ears like a curse.
The person had already left, and Xue An returned to the grand hall. He stood on the balcony, blowing off some cold air, and his body trembled for a long time before calming down.
His mood suddenly became heavy, and he pressed the earpiece: “Has there been any progress in the investigation? Who is the opponent, exactly?”
“…I don’t know.”
The voice from the earpiece was calm but slightly anxious.
“We’ve investigated every possible lead, but to no avail. Captain, you might have entered a dead end. It’s possible that he’s just an ordinary person.”
Ordinary person, my foot!
“Can an ordinary person chat with me so effortlessly, even threatening us?”
The earpiece fell silent.
Xue An let out a long sigh: “If we can’t investigate further, let’s just put it on hold for now. Tonight, we’ll just lay low and prepare for retreat.”
“What’s going on?”
“He said…the Black Soldier will attack us.”
“Black Soldier?!” The voice from the earpiece was terrified. “Captain, is this information reliable? How could we have attracted the Black Soldier’s attention so quickly?”
“Just like we don’t know why we were exposed so quickly, maybe the Black Soldier also discovered something through some means. In any case, it’s better to err on the side of caution. You should know our organization’s strategy when facing the Black Soldier, don’t you?”
“Yeah, I do. Let’s just escape for now.”
“Escape, my ass!” Xue An retorted, rephrasing it in a more euphemistic tone, “That’s called strategic withdrawal!”
“Then let’s strategically withdraw now. Or we could request backup…no, withdrawal is more reasonable. I don’t want to die young.”
…
“But first, let’s confirm whether the opponent’s information is accurate or not. If they’re just trying to scare us away, and we leave without verifying the Black Soldier’s existence, wouldn’t that be playing into their hands?”
“I think they’re just bluffing. They say the Black Soldier will attack us, but will the Black Soldier really attack us? Ha, if the Black Soldier’s movements are really that predictable, do we still need to be afraid of them?”
At that moment, the team member’s face lit up, and they all thought that made sense.
Who does that kid think he is, claiming to have discovered a Black Soldier on the ship and even predicting their actions?
How is that possible?
…
“After the party tonight, go attack them.”
Zhushi Jiu said to the two Black Soldiers beside him on their way back to Wang Chong’s group.
One of the Black Soldiers, dressed in windbreaker and mask, asked in a firm tone: “What level of attack should we aim for?”
“Leave them alive.”
…
Zhushi Jiu had contacted Xu Feng the night before, and then had a conversation with Xu Feng in front of them. Later, when Xu Feng handed over the phone, he said they could change their attire and also “obey Zhushi Jiu’s commands in minor matters.”
What defines “minor matters”?
Xu Feng didn’t elaborate. This means Xu Feng gave them a lot of freedom to decide what constitutes “minor matters” and what’s “important”.
Perhaps in Xu Feng’s opinion, even this question wasn’t that important.
In their understanding, what affected their ultimate goal of reaching Iliensis Island was the important issue, and what didn’t was the minor matter.
Would Zhushi Jiu’s instructions impact the overall plan?
The two Black Soldiers didn’t think so.
However, out of caution, they still said: “We’ll record everything you do. If any uncontrollable situation arises, we’ll report to our superiors.”
Zhushi Jiu replied indifferently: “It doesn’t matter.”
…
Zhushi Jiu didn’t need to explain much to these two Black Soldiers. They were neither curious nor would they try to understand; they were emotionless monsters, even more pure than him.
Earlier, they had watched Zhushi Jiu’s entire conversation with Xue An, but didn’t react or report back to Xu Feng. This proved that Xu Feng’s task for them was genuinely to protect Zhushi Jiu until he reached Iliensis Island, and they didn’t care about anything outside of that scope.
This was good news for Zhushi Jiu.
After Zhushi Jiu returned to the grand hall, he didn’t see Wang Chong’s group in their original position.
It was clear that they had gotten bored and wandered off or even left directly.
Zhushi Jiu looked at the time and saw that there was more than an hour left until the party ended.
The people in the grand hall were no longer as numerous as before, but they had formed clusters based on different social circles.
Wang Chong had invited people from various fields, and the elites were fervently discussing their domain-specific theories.
Zhushi Jiu wandered around the crowd, just like an ordinary passerby, but his ears were secretly recording the contents of the conversations, especially focusing on the most heated debates.
Of course, his current knowledge was only that of an ordinary college student; his understanding hadn’t broadened with the injection of the drug. He was memorizing these elites’ theories and debates to prepare for the next few weeks.
If he didn’t understand certain professional knowledge, it didn’t matter as long as he could recall it. He could become a fake expert, a pseudo-specialist.
After circling around the grand hall, Zhushi Jiu had almost memorized the faces of these people.
He had taken note of too many things, and his brain was somewhat overwhelmed.
Until the party ended, Zhushi Jiu didn’t see Wang Chong’s group again and had no idea what they were doing.
Zhushi Jiu said to the two Black Soldiers: “You two can take action, but first, go back to the room and change into your Black Soldier uniforms.”
They had no objections.
As they left the grand hall, the three of them took the elevator back to the room door.
Just as Zhushi Jiu was about to open the door with his keycard, one of the Black Soldiers stopped him.
“There’s been an intruder in the room.”
The Black Soldier’s words made Zhushi Jiu pause.
Zhushi Jiu didn’t show any signs of anxiety, instead asking: “How did you know someone had entered the room?”
“The door handle has been wiped clean.”
Zhushi Jiu looked at the door handle, which shone brightly without any fingerprints.
He understood that if someone had touched it, it would have left a mark, but now it was spotless, which was unusual. It was fortunate that the Black Soldier had noticed such a detail.
None of them had touched the door handle, so who could the intruder be? It was clear that the answer was the person who had entered and left, erasing their traces by wiping the door handle clean.
Who was it?
Zhushi Jiu thought of the woman named Liu Qingqing, who he hadn’t seen on the balcony.
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