Chapter 141: Scheming
With Luo Yi and Ying's brilliant match having set such a high standard, the subsequent matches immediately paled in comparison. At the very least, they lacked the heart-stirring counter-kills and thrilling ultimate moves that had just captivated everyone.
Many spectators were still guessing what exactly Ying's final ability to transform into light was, while most of the participants from other groups were still racking their brains trying to figure out how to evade Luo Yi's ultimate move. The close-range destructive power of that move was truly terrifying; they wouldn't underestimate it just because Ying managed to take it without injury.
“Boom!”
“Boom!”
“Boom!”
Black Crow opened its mouth, continuously bombarding its opponent with laser cannons, leaving one small crater after another on the arena floor.
To provide sufficient combat space for the powerful ability users who had qualified for the finals, all the venues had been merged into two large arenas.
As it happened, Black Crow and his opponent's draw placed them immediately after Luo Yi's match in that arena. The ground, which had just been leveled by the staff, was quickly torn up again by laser cannons, leaving it pockmarked and uneven. The battle on the field was completely one-sided.
“Emitting lasers from the mouth doesn’t seem like a modification a Spirit Hub would produce. Though I have encountered an ability user who could fire lasers from his eyes before, based on that encounter, he was a mechanical cyborg. So, it’s more likely the laser cannon is a result of modifications. I wonder if the power source is Spirit Energy; if so, it might even kick off an era of spirit energy technology.” Bai Mo thought, watching the battle expressionlessly.
“How boring!” Black Crow, who had been completely stomping his opponent the entire time, could only cease his assault upon hearing the surrender and slowly walked out of the arena.
“Are you sure the intelligence you received is accurate?” In a basement somewhere in Huaxia, the American spy chief confirmed with his subordinate.
“Absolutely no problem! Our intelligence reconnaissance ability users, hackers, and inside contacts have all confirmed that he hasn’t been at the base this entire time, but instead at the martial arts tournament arena over a thousand kilometers away.”
“Mike, it’s not that I don’t trust your abilities. It’s just that ever since our last failed rumor-spreading operation, the Huaxia government hasn’t relaxed its secret investigations into us. I’m a bit worried this is bait, designed to catch us all in one swoop.”
“Officer Fischer, I’m confident. With just a few people and the help of our inside contact, I can infiltrate the research center—now that that monster isn’t guarding it—and steal out all the research materials and data.”
“And according to intelligence, tomorrow night the target laboratory will undergo a secret electronic equipment upgrade. The reason seems to be that he feels the lab’s computing and storage capabilities are still insufficient, so he requested more military computing equipment over the phone.” Mike continued, trying to persuade his superior to approve the operation.
“Since you believe a few people are enough to complete this operation, I can approve you to form a five-person team to carry out the plan. We will also provide corresponding material support from the rear, but our headquarters will not be directly involved.”
Fischer could tell that his subordinate was eager to claim credit, wanting to take risks to achieve such a great feat for a promotion. However, he vaguely felt that something was amiss but couldn’t quite pinpoint it. Thus, he decided to have Mike send a small team to test the waters first. Even if it was truly a trap, losing this team wouldn’t be a crippling blow.
The next evening, team leader Mike, the invisible ability user Jieshi, the computer hacker Sheldon, and the combatant Mobite—four individuals—sat in a jeep, making their final preparations for the raid on the base after nightfall.
“Officer Fischer is still too conservative. To have such a rare opportunity to obtain Huaxia’s most cutting-edge research results and still not make a move... putting aside everything else, as long as we can get our hands on the Xuanhuang Fruit research data, with our American research and production capabilities, we could mass-produce ability users in no time.”
“Fischer’s been a supervisor for over ten years; it’s time for him to retire and go back home, time to make way for us.” Mobite was clearly also a person with a strong desire for power. “He’s old, and what’s more, he’s too weak.”
“He’s nothing more than an ordinary person who can’t even qualify as an ability user; there’s really no need for him to occupy such a supervisor position anymore,” Jieshi interjected.
“But all of that is predicated on us successfully completing this mission,” Sheldon said, pushing up his glasses and continuing to stare at his laptop.
“Let’s relax a bit before the battle and talk about something else to lighten the mood. Have you guys been following that ability user martial arts tournament?” Mike tried to adjust the atmosphere.
“Of course, I often pay attention to that guy named Ying,” Jieshi was the first to speak.
“So, same abilities, like repels like?” The others all laughed.
“As for invisibility, he’s much weaker than me; he can’t even bring along a single external object.” His expression was clearly displeased. “He’s just a poor wretch who can’t even wear clothes.”
At this point, he opportunely showed off his own invisibility ability, concealing his gun-holding right hand with a thought.
“What’s truly terrifying about him is his speed. When I first watched the live broadcast without deceleration, my dynamic vision could barely keep up with their fight. Later, by watching the slow-motion broadcast, I roughly estimated that Ying’s movement speed must be close to twice the speed of sound.”
When Mobite mentioned twice the speed of sound, everyone else, including Jieshi, was shocked.
“Though I knew he was fast, I never imagined he could be this fast. At that speed, even ordinary missiles wouldn’t be able to catch up, right?”
“Why wouldn’t such a fast movement speed produce a sonic boom?!” Sheldon acutely noticed the problem.
“That’s an unsolved mystery. Reportedly, many researchers at headquarters are studying the recordings.”
“He’s simply like a ghost.”
“Could this be the truth?” Mike said eerily, in a voice suited for telling ghost stories. “Didn’t various supernatural murder cases appear in nuclear explosion zones around the world before? Who knows....”
“Mike, talking about this isn’t exactly lightening the mood anymore!”
The few of them, out in the wilderness, gazing at the sky that had turned completely black, were discussing such eerie topics. Suddenly, they all felt a chill run down their spines.
“Did you guys feel that? It’s like a gust of wind blew past behind us,” Jieshi suddenly asked.
“It seems... yes,” the other three said in unison.
“Stop scaring yourselves. They’ve already started replacing the equipment; let’s prepare for action.” In the end, it was Sheldon, who believed in the cult of science, who first composed himself.
“Take your positions.” After all, they were well-trained intelligence agents, and the few of them quickly got into formation.
“Hurry up! The sooner we finish the mission, the sooner we can go back and rest.” The equipment replacement team leader was trying to motivate his subordinates.
“This request for replacement is really strange. Why couldn’t they choose to do this during the day? Working at night is such a hassle.” The team member below was feeling a bit displeased.
“Heaven knows what those mysterious scientists are thinking all day long, but this time, the three times night shift pay they offered really leaves nothing to complain about, and it was paid in advance.” The team leader thought of this, still feeling quite pleased in his heart.
“Alright, everybody, put in some more effort! Everyone gets double pay for this night shift!” The team leader, who had just pocketed half the kickback with a turn of his hand, continued to motivate his subordinates.
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