Chapter 144: Going Legit |
S1—Tian Ying:
(This message has been mass-sent to all of your affiliated accounts. No reply is necessary.)
Qiu Ju has initiated an abolition procedure against your proposed plan. You have exactly one hundred and sixty-eight hours to submit the complete roster. If you fail to do so, I will disclose the plan to the public, and we will hold a vote among all Council Members to determine whether it is truly necessary to rebuild a Mobile Task Force composed entirely of Anomalies.
You are strictly forbidden from deploying this squad for any operations without my explicit approval.
This is your final act of overstepping your authority. Do not force me to initiate a "Vote of No Confidence" against you.
If I discover you, a Council Member, personally participating in containment operations west of the Continental Wall ever again, I will hand over the jurisdictional authority of the Eleventh and Twelfth Districts to Councilor Seven.
Furthermore, return CVA-B-164, the "Out of Nowhere Lock," to Council Xin immediately. It is not your personal teleporter.
Shi Rang read the message several times, staring at the username "Tian Ying" for a long while.
This was the very Council Member who had authorized the Class-F Memory Wipe on Ying Shang—or perhaps the operation to completely erase her tracks.
However, Tian Ying's sudden message had unexpectedly provided him with a massive favor.
He finally knew exactly which Council Member he was being mistaken for.
Shi Rang immediately opened a spreadsheet stored within his personal space.
Unaware of an outsider's presence, the Council Members spoke to one another in a rather casual manner.
If one did not know they were the leaders of a world-class secret organization, no one would ever guess that their lighthearted discussions concerned the fate of entire major districts and the world at large, or that the commands they casually issued dictated the lives of hundreds of thousands, even millions, of people.
By "auditing" their Online Meetings over the past few days, he had compiled a basic intelligence dossier:
S1—Tian Ying: A strict leader who possessed veto power and frequently used it. He held undisputed authority within the council.
S2—The Crusher: Spoke relatively gently and thoroughly enjoyed explaining his decisions. Somewhat nagging and possessed a blazing fast typing speed. Suspected to be the actual user behind the "Assistant Harvey" account. Likely responsible for overseeing intelligence and internal regulatory affairs.
S3—Dream Idol: Preferred speaking with precise language and statistics. An administrator highly skilled in data work. Did not always speak when attending meetings. Took over direct administrative jurisdiction of the Second District during the last meeting, claiming, "I alone can restore full grassroots operational efficiency." Likely led the information department or multiple technical groups.
S5—Xie Zi: Maintained a gentle tone completely at odds with his codename, "Scorpion." Skilled at mediation and deeply familiar with the intricate details of standard containment procedures.
These four were present at every meeting. It was impossible for them to be the ones Shi Rang was impersonating.
There were a few other Council Members he had already ruled out.
S4—Council Xin: High attendance rate, loved to butt into every conversation. Although his remarks often clashed with others, it was obvious he was well-liked.
S6—Qiu Ju: The head of the crucial Ethics Committee. She maintained a profound sense of oversight responsibility within the council, frequently issuing reprimands and raising questions during meetings.
S7—Ground Finch: A figure who could only be ruled out thanks to Tian Ying's information. Never seen attending any meetings, and their votes were always automatically logged as abstentions by the system.
S11—Black Lightning: The head of the Bureau's internal economy. Ill-tempered but exceptionally capable.
As for the remaining S8 and S12, though they never spoke during meetings, they would occasionally clock in to indicate they had reviewed the meeting minutes.
S9 was consistently excluded by the system during the "Awaiting Votes" phase of meeting resolutions, automatically counting as an "Abstain."
To summarize, the only Council Member who perfectly fit the profile of being "rebellious and non-compliant with regulations," "absent from meetings," and "likely inept at using a Communication Device" was none other than Council Member 10.
Shi Rang had always been puzzled as to why his audacious actions back then had not triggered the council's alarms.
Now, with Tian Ying's message, everything suddenly made perfect sense.
Council Member 10 was undoubtedly a rebel who flagrantly ignored the rule that "Council Members cannot come into contact with any Anomaly Project," and had even personally visited the front lines multiple times to directly participate in containment efforts. This was exactly why Dump Truck's remote command of the N4
squad prompted S2—The Crusher to remark, "You've improved."
This particular Council Member even had more than one Alt Account. There were so many, in fact, that Tian Ying had to mass-send the message just to ensure the warning was successfully delivered.
His level of defiance had escalated to the point where he might face a "Vote of No Confidence" and risk being ousted by an internal referendum. Now, he was even proposing to "form a Mobile Task Force comprised entirely of anomalies" right within the heavily anti-anomaly Bureau.
Shi Rang thought he had been exceptionally bold back then, but he never expected there was someone even crazier out there.
He could not help but feel a touch of fondness for this Council Member he had never met.
It was precisely the other party's flamboyant recklessness that provided the perfect cover for his own earlier exploits.
Shi Rang circled the man's number on his spreadsheet.
'I hope you keep checking your Communication Device as little as possible, Council Member 10. That will make it much easier for me to manipulate things from the shadows,' he thought.
Having reaped yet another piece of good news, Shi Rang returned to reality, ready to rest, only to realize that the sky outside was already turning a hazy gray. His involvement in the cemetery conspiracy was an event that had taken place hours ago.
He was just planning to catch a little sleep before pressing his luck to hunt for another target, but then he received a text message filled with garbled code.
The sender was none other than The Sheriff.
To prevent any issues from arising with the Pan-Continent Alliance, Shi Rang had purchased several mobile phones for the Mini-Humans engineers to dismantle. They had cobbled together similarly simplified, miniature input devices to facilitate communication. Now that he was out hunting under a fake identity, The Sheriff had donned the mantle of "Deer Hunter" to send messages on his behalf, fabricating a flawless alibi.
Shi Rang's sleepiness vanished without a trace.
He rummaged through his simple luggage, pulled out a book, and deciphered the clusters of numbers in the text message one by one. Soon, he pieced together the message The Sheriff was trying to convey.
"The Alliance is going to conduct a trust review on the New World Society. That was all that was said."
Shi Rang sent a message back to The Sheriff from his personal space: "Reply as usual. Make the tone a bit more excited."
'A trust review?'
At first glance, it sounded like good news. Investigator Scarlett had previously mentioned that the Pan-Continent Alliance would consider classifying the Society as a friendly organization. This meant the Society's value had increased.
In reality, however, it was a massive headache.
Shi Rang's social identity was now completely exposed to the Alliance. The power and influence he acquired after "returning to his roots" made him a hot commodity. The Alliance would undoubtedly put him under heavy surveillance.
He had traveled to Dongshang City this time using a fake identity provided by the Ascension Society, but it would not withstand a thorough investigation. He needed to hurry back to the Capital.
Once the review began, there would be more eyes on him than ever before. This meant he would not be able to go out hunting anymore.
Fortunately, this would not significantly impact Shi Rang's plans.
In order to infiltrate the Charity Foundation, he would sooner or later have to start "clearing the names" of himself and those around him, ensuring they could pass any potential screening by the Bureau and successfully go undercover.
The Ascension Society's channels were remarkably extensive. Since they wanted him to lie low in the Charity Foundation, they surely possessed a new identity that could withstand the Alliance's scrutiny...
Jing Zi could easily masquerade as a foreign citizen, and that enforcer... he was easy enough to handle, too. Since Shi Rang was now a "wealthy man," bringing a bodyguard along was perfectly reasonable. He just needed to give them a little time to turn themselves into "legally recognized citizens."
The enforcer had a military background. Since supernatural methods were temporarily off the table, Shi Rang could seize the opportunity to learn how to use a gun.
A gun was a piece of "paranormal technology" that belonged to ordinary people. Even an infant holding one could make a full-grown adult tremble in fear, and a Mobile Task Force could use it to challenge a divine entity. Ever since he shot and killed Huang Xiao, Shi Rang had fully grasped its terrifying charm.
Oh, and he should probably learn how to fight while he was at it. He could not afford to remain completely defenseless in the face of danger like he used to be.
'It is absolutely humiliating to think that the esteemed Councilor 13 was single-handedly taken down by a Field Agent,' he thought.
'Sigh... If only I had possessed enough martial prowess back then. I could have prevented so many tragedies,' he lamented silently.
Only one hidden danger remained. If the Alliance decided to incorporate the New World Society into their ranks, this "shell organization" would be instantly exposed... Shi Rang could only gamble on the hope that they had no intention of completely taking over an already mature "intelligence organization."
Historical experience told him that the handover between two departments with completely different systems was usually a disaster. It would very likely result in an entire intelligence network being uprooted entirely.
Still, he had to account for the worst-case scenario. If he was exposed, he would be forced to go underground with the Ascension Society, and the path ahead would become exponentially more difficult.
'Please stand by my side, God of Destiny.'
For the foreseeable future, he had to gradually "become a normal person," thoroughly clearing his name and eliminating any suspicion of his ties to the Ascension Society. He needed to infiltrate the Charity Foundation, dig up their secrets, and see for himself whether the person in the Ninth District was truly Ying Shang.
Right as he was contemplating his next moves, Tian Ying "mass-sent" another message.
"I have approved the candidates you previously selected for Commander and Captain. You have one hundred and sixty-seven hours left. Next time, I expect to receive a complete roster from you—one that actually adheres to the proper format."
Two links were attached to the end of the message, as if he were terrified that Council Member 10 would not be able to find the personnel files on his own.
Shi Rang glanced over the initial roster of this Mobile Task Force, which was still in the process of being established, and was instantly struck with astonishment.
Surprisingly, there was a familiar face among them.