Chapter 159: Questions
"There's another question: what was the perpetrator's motive? The value of Spirit Hubs isn't actually very high, especially given the difficulty in fencing them, which leads to a low cash-out rate. An Ability User with this kind of capability, if they chose to join an organization, could at least get the treatment of a Deputy Captain."
"The Spirit Hubs obtained from this operation might not even be worth a year's income in the system if converted to cash," one of the special police officers analyzed.
To assist in and cultivate the handling capabilities of internal personnel for various emergencies, and certainly for a substantial income, many experienced police officers, even Ability Users among the police themselves, and a small number of forensic doctors, had taken on part-time roles as instructors in special incident management.
"There are too many doubts. The perpetrator possesses such means and power, yet engages in such a thankless task. What exactly is their purpose? Or perhaps we should start by examining the types of Spirit Hubs lost by these ten victims? Could they be some special kind of Spirit Hubs?"
"According to the records, among the ten victims' abilities, two were psychic-type, one perception-type, two close-combat-type, two support-type, one..."
"Emergency notification! Emergency notification!" A special police officer, in the middle of reporting the situation, was suddenly interrupted by a colleague.
"What's wrong? What's the notification?"
"A gold theft has occurred at the General Treasury! Immediate support is needed!"
"Alright, coming now."
As for banknotes required for daily circulation, since each one had a corresponding serial number, there was relatively less concern about theft, so they remained in their original locations.
Within the Huaxia system, this treasury was generally referred to as the General Treasury.
After the incident at the General Treasury, most relevant special police officers were ordered to temporarily set aside their relatively minor cases. Conveniently, this Spirit Hub theft case involved no fatalities, and thus, according to current classifications, was not considered a particularly severe case, so it was put aside for the time being.
"Taking five extra people to confuse things should ensure no one can guess the corresponding Spirit Picture behind this," Bai Mo muttered in the experimental grounds, carrying a briefcase. Inside was a professional organ transplant cooling device, which, naturally, contained the Spirit Hubs he had scavenged over the past two days.
"In two days, it will be time to deal with the Tianzhou Ghost King. Tomorrow, I'll have to depart for the Southern War Zone near Tianzhou, leaving me only one more day to perform the transplant surgery."
"The Spirit Picture project will conclude with the Divine Wind Clear Moon. On one hand, my body's Spirit Energy can't sustain the consumption of any more Spirit Hubs, and on the other, the more Spirit Hubs there are, the longer it will take to integrate them into my Life Field."
"Once I lose the initiative gained from my strength, my current control over the Contribution Point system will become a crime of possessing a treasure. The speed at which cultivation knowledge can be acquired through this system is truly beyond imagination, and the sheer scale of vested interests involved has long since secretly incurred the displeasure of those old geezers."
"Deputy Director Bai, hello. I am Lieutenant General Cheng Shaofu, in charge of this annihilation campaign." Two days later, Bai Mo arrived at the Southern War Zone's General Command Room with a group of researchers from the Spirit Energy Research Institute specializing in related fields.
"Lieutenant General Cheng, hello."
"A total of forty nuclear warheads have been prepared for this operation, ensuring the complete eradication of the monster trapped inside. When it first appeared, several reconnaissance companies under my command went in to investigate the situation, but they were all annihilated. Now, I finally have a chance to avenge them."
"I hope you succeed in one fell swoop."
"Thank you! I also hope your institute can research more findings from its remains. Your institute's Xuanhuang Fruit truly is a good thing; after I took it, I immediately gained the ability of telekinesis." Cheng Shaofu said, simultaneously making a pen orbit around himself.
"May I be so bold as to ask, what's the approximate output of your telekinesis?" Bai Mo was also quite interested in an ability related to his own.
"I can just barely lift an adult. According to the classification you provided, it's roughly equivalent to the output level of an Ability User at the second layer of the Spirit Animation Stage."
"Not bad."
"Of course, displaying it before you, Mr. Bai, is like showing off one's axe before Lu Ban's door." As someone from Cheng Mu's faction, Cheng Shaofu naturally knew the man before him was formidable from various pieces of collateral information.
For someone with no background, from a civilian upbringing, to leap to the pinnacle of power in all of Huaxia within a year, relying solely on his wits and fists, simply defied common sense. He didn't want to know how many shady dealings lay behind this man, because those who knew too much usually came to no good end.
"Hardly, hardly."
After exchanging pleasantries, the institute's team began to busy themselves with their respective tasks, while Bai Mo sat down less than three hundred meters from the nearest nuclear warhead's target point for a close-range observation.
"Mr. Bai, your position is too dangerous. The attack will commence in ten minutes; please evacuate immediately." The commander, seeing Bai Mo sitting less than three hundred meters from one of the projected nuclear blast centers on the satellite image, quickly used his walkie-talkie to inform him.
"It's fine. I'm well aware, and I won't be harmed. Your satellites don't need to keep staring at me." Bai Mo pointed a finger towards the satellites in the sky.
After receiving orders from above, the commander decided to leave him be.
"Only by sitting this close can one truly sense what's happening within."
Two of the accompanying researchers were also above the seventh layer of the Spirit Animation Stage, but they weren't as insane as Bai Mo, daring to observe from close range despite the risk of being plastered by a nuclear explosion. Although it was unlikely they would die at that distance, they would at most suffer severe injuries that would keep them hospitalized for over half a month, even with their recovery capabilities.
"Ten, nine... two, one, launch!" The final countdown completed, and the first batch of ten nuclear warheads began launching towards their designated targets. This also marked the first time in Huaxia's history that nuclear warheads were launched into its own coastal territory.
"Boom!"
"Boom!"
...
"Boom!"
Ten mushroom clouds, appearing incomplete due to mutual interference, rose above Tianzhou. Dust and smoke almost entirely covered the city, with only small gaps remaining between the individual mushroom clouds.
Yet, the fluctuations brought by the explosions, the endless light, heat, and nuclear radiation emitted by the blasts, seemed to have been largely swallowed by an unseen presence. To the point that Bai Mo, sitting less than three hundred meters from the nuclear blast center, felt none of the impact he had experienced previously when facing a nuclear explosion head-on in Rome. Only the mushroom clouds served as proof that the nuclear blasts had indeed occurred.
And within Bai Mo's divine sense, the originally vast, boundless, and unidentifiable substance that composed the Ghost King's body had diminished by almost half after directly confronting this wave of nuclear warheads. And this was merely within the range he could perceive.
"What exactly is this substance that forms its body, which feels solid when touched but quickly dissipates into air?" Although he really wanted to dig out another handful to examine it, considering the terror of the Ghost King and the impending impact of the next thirty nuclear warheads, he temporarily held back.
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