Chapter 967: Special |
"What about the situation with the other undercover agent?"
After listening to Dio's introduction of Bao, Li Hanxing eagerly pressed for more information.
Dio thought for a moment before seriously saying, "Actually, the issue of undercover agents within the Morio Town Protection Association is still a very sensitive topic. Everyone knows that it's really difficult for a group of strangers to come together and build tacit understanding and trust. Sometimes, they might even entrust each other's lives; but destroying that trust is quite easy. Sometimes, just a casual remark can cause trust to collapse instantly... Although that's a bit of an exaggeration, it's not hard to create cracks in the wall of trust, and a thousand-mile embankment can be destroyed by an ant's nest."
"So, under normal circumstances, as long as there is no concrete evidence, everyone is not allowed to publicly identify potential undercover candidates to avoid internal conflicts. Therefore, although I think that guy has an 80% chance of being an undercover sent by Swollen Woman, I have never told anyone before. However, you are not members of our Morio Town Protection Association, so I don't think there’s a problem in sharing my thoughts with you. But you must remember one thing: keep this information to yourselves. Until we deal with that undercover agent, you must not reveal anything I say to others."
"Back to the main topic, the undercover I suspect is called Leopard, who claims his real name is Wu Bao. However, everyone in the Morio Town Protection Association knows that Wu Bao is just a made-up alias because, since he joined the Association, he has been slow to respond to that name several times. But that's not really an issue, because, as I said before, members of the Morio Town Protection Association are all here to evade pursuers, so it's normal for everyone to use aliases. For example, my current name is Joseph Kazz. So within the Morio Town Protection Association, members refer to each other by their nicknames."
"The reason why Leopard can call himself Leopard is because of his extremely fast speed and his swift, precise, and ruthless actions. If he misses a strike, he immediately retreats without any hesitation. Therefore, after joining the Morio Town Protection Association, Leopard became the top enforcer. When it comes to eliminating assassins and undercover agents who have exposed their identities, he is always at the forefront. But the most important thing is that Leopard is ruthless because he once declared that he no longer intends to leave Morio Town. Outside of Morio Town, he has no relatives or friends, only numerous enemies."
"Because of this, Leopard has a high reputation within the Morio Town Protection Association. Everyone is inclined to nominate him as the next president of the Association. Let me mention here that, nominally, the Morio Town Protection Association has a president position, but in reality, it doesn't have a true president. After all, none of us are ordinary people; how could we be content with being subordinate? Moreover, everyone is also worried that if the president of the Morio Town Protection Association is an undercover sent by Swollen Woman, the entire Association could be taken down. So, the president of the Morio Town Protection Association has always been just a mascot."
"However, in China, there's a saying 'a group of dragons without a leader', and today's Morio Town Protection Association fits this saying perfectly. Although each member has considerable skills, and even if we can't win a one-on-one against those assassins or undercover agents, we can opt for a group brawl led by Masayoshi. But that's the ideal scenario. In reality, the Morio Town Protection Association is fragmented into various factions. Just these few dozen people have formed the top ten sects. In most cases, everyone fights on their own, and information sharing is minimal. Sometimes, there are even conflicts over taking each other's kills."
"Although the issue of taking kills isn't too severe, what's more serious is the lack of timely information sharing, leading to casualties. So far, at least six people have died because of this. Therefore, everyone now hopes to elect a president with some actual authority, such as someone who can consolidate intelligence and manage personnel. So although no one has yet proposed the election of a president with real power, this idea has already been supported by 70% of the members. So I think it won't be long before the Morio Town Protection Association welcomes its first president with actual authority."
Upon hearing this, Liu Xing suddenly couldn't help but ask, "So, among the three candidates, it should include you, Dio, right?"
Upon hearing Liu Xing's question, Dio didn't hesitate to nod and say, "That's correct. I am also one of the three candidates. After all, I am an elder member of the Morio Town Protection Association. I have good relationships with everyone, my strength ranks in the top ten within the Association, and I have already given up any plans to leave Morio Town."
"So, does that mean you investigated Leopard with the mindset of eliminating your opponents and then discovered that Leopard might be an undercover sent by Swollen Woman?" Liu Xing said with an exasperated expression.
Dio, still with a righteous demeanor, replied, "Yes, I believe I'm more qualified than Leopard to serve as the president with actual authority of the Morio Town Protection Association. So, after hearing that Leopard had more support than me, I decided to investigate his dark history. To my surprise, I actually found that he might indeed be an undercover sent by Swollen Woman."
At this point, Li Hanxing started to complain, "Mr. Dio, it's quite normal that you can't become the president of the Morio Town Protection Association. After all, Morio Town is essentially a Chinese town. What are you, an Englishman, doing here trying to join the fun? Besides, you have now turned into a Ghoul. I imagine there are quite a few people investigating you right now."
Dio nodded but still expressed his dissatisfaction, saying, "Young man, you have a point, but this president with actual authority won't be made public. So I think it's normal for me to run. As for how many people are investigating me, I have a clear understanding. After all, my Ghoul identity is a hurdle that can't be overcome."
Seeing the atmosphere suddenly become tense, Sun Huiwen immediately stepped forward to lighten the mood, "Alright, let's change the topic. Mr. Dio, how did you discover Leopard's abnormalities?"
"The thing is, after I decided to trouble Leopard, I entrusted an ordinary friend of mine in Morio Town to monitor Leopard because I was too conspicuous in Morio Town. Leopard's official identity is the owner of a noodle shop, so my friend spent over half a month having three meals a day at Leopard's noodle shop. However, he still noticed some odd behaviors from Leopard, such as receiving a phone call every noon for several days. This call would last about five minutes, but as I mentioned earlier, Leopard claims he has no relatives or friends outside Morio Town."
"So, upon learning about these calls, I realized that Leopard was lying, and he was lying about something unnecessary. You should know that more than two-thirds of the members in the Morio Town Protection Association have families, and most have brought their families to Morio Town because Swollen Woman is quite particular. Therefore, assassins and undercover agents sent by Swollen Woman wouldn't target members' families. Thus, members' families are very safe in Morio Town, and the living conditions here are not bad. People can also leave Morio Town to travel to various places in the Island Nation." Dio began explaining.
At this point, Liu Xing thought of a question and asked, "Although Leopard has no ties outside Morio Town, he seems to have good relationships here. He must have some friends, right? So maybe those calls are from his friends in Morio Town or someone ordering takeout?"
Dio shook his head seriously, "That's impossible. First, Leopard's noodle shop doesn't offer takeout because he runs it alone without hiring any waitstaff. Second, our Morio Town Protection Association doesn't use mobile phones for communication because we have a faster, more convenient, and secure method of communication: homing pigeons."
At this point, Dio whistled outside, and within a few seconds, a white pigeon flew in.
"In the Morio Town Protection Association, there is a member named King Pigeon. He has studied pigeons for decades and has finally adapted these pigeons to the enhancements of Magic Spells. Therefore, the pigeons under his command can each match a human-faced rat in capability and fly very fast, reaching any corner of Morio Town within ten minutes. So, internal information within the Morio Town Protection Association is transmitted through these pigeons. Lastly, and most importantly, now that mobile phone chat and social applications are fully functional, who would still have time to make phone calls on a mobile phone?" Dio explained seriously.
To be fair, Liu Xing had not made more than twenty outgoing calls all year, and those calls were only used as a last resort when others couldn't reach him by any other means.
Of course, this might also relate to the fact that Liu Xing was single all along.
Suddenly, it was a hit to the heart.
Just as Liu Xing had successfully launched his "critical strike," Dio continued, "After realizing that Leopard might have a problem, I hired a famous private detective from Nagoya to follow Leopard's daily life. The detective, being just an ordinary person, could only do so much. I had to personally follow Leopard. On that beach, I saw Leopard talking with a Deep One. You know, Morio Town prohibits Deep Ones from entering because many members of the Morio Town Protection Association were forced to come here due to Deep Ones. Moreover, Swollen Woman's henchmen are mainly Deep Ones."
As one of the most widely distributed mythical creatures on Earth, Deep Ones can be found wherever there's water. Therefore, it's not impossible that members of the Morio Town Protection Association hold a grudge against Deep Ones.
"So, Mr. Dio, did you take a clear photo at that time? With that photo, Leopard would definitely not be able to compete for the position of president with actual authority." Li Hanxing asked curiously.
Dio nodded and smiled, "Of course. If I was going to investigate my opponent's dark history, a camera capable of taking high-definition photos in all environments would be essential. But now the question is, where can I buy such a camera..."
Looking at Dio, who was about to turn the scene into a TV shopping channel, Liu Xing groaned, "Dio, calm down. We're discussing serious matters here."
Dio shrugged, looking somewhat annoyed at Liu Xing, "Liu Xing, you really have no sense of humor. Back to the main topic, when I took that photo, I was already certain that Leopard was 80% likely to be an undercover sent by Swollen Woman. So, I didn't release that photo immediately. Instead, I planned to gather more evidence before dealing with him, ensuring my position as president would be secure. Therefore, I observed Leopard for a while longer and discovered that Leopard was meeting with more than one Deep One, but this still isn't decisive evidence."
Dio's words stopped here.
Obviously, Dio still hadn't found conclusive evidence to prove Leopard's undercover identity.
Seeing that Liu Xing's expression changed, indicating he was about to complain, Dio decided to make a quick exit, using "going home to check if the door is locked" as an excuse.
After Dio left, Li Hanxing couldn't help but complain, "I never expected that Dio in this parallel world would go by the name Joseph Kazz. It seems that the Cthulhu Role-Playing Game Hall is even better at making puns than we thought. But from the current situation, we have three targets to choose from—Bai Liang, Leopard, and Bao. But speaking of which, who exactly are Bao and Leopard referring to?"
Liu Xing explained Bao's situation to Li Hanxing, then said, "Now I also can't be sure who Leopard is referring to, or maybe the Cthulhu Role-Playing Game Hall didn't make a pun on Leopard's name. So, Leopard is the most unique among these three current targets."
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Chapter 968: Past Events