by <unknown>
Everybody knew that their boss was too angry to think it through, but none of them dared to point it out.
Guo Chunfeng breathed heavily for a long time. Then, he seemed to realize that he had said something stupid. Waving his hands helplessly, he said, "Forget it. It's not like we can evacuate the citizens right now. Summon the Secret Sword Agents from the cities nearby. Triple, no, quintuple the number of the Secret Sword Agents to be sent into the underground! Even if we can't capture him, we must keep him busy and stop him making trouble for anyone else!"
"Understood!"
Now that all the Secret Sword Agents were being sent to the underground, the defense and search on the ground would certainly be greatly weakened.
But there was no better solution right now. None of the Secret Sword Agents felt that the order was strange when they bowed and went to carry it out.
Guo Chunfeng threw himself into the cushion in the corner heavily and crouched deep into it. Narrowing his eyes, he stared at the swirls on the light beam where giant foam was floating and began a new round of consideration.
…
In the factory area, Ye Changkong was like a pile of broken meat that was covered in the scrap iron and copper when he lay on the ground.
But all the Nascent Soul Stage Cultivators boasted amazing vitality. As long as they were not killed on the spot, any seemingly shocking wounds were actually not a big deal.
"Chief Coach!"
All the members of the hunting group were greatly shaken. The medics hurried to come close and treat him. In the meantime, their airship landed. He was sent into the airship through a floating medical cabin and delivered to the hospital affiliated to the Secret Sword Bureau for deep treatment.
"Wait a moment."
Ye Changkong struggled to raise his remaining arm and pressed his ear softly.
"I have failed."
Ye Changkong rolled his Adam's apple and started a quiet dialogue with the chip stuck to his vocal cord.
"I know, but it doesn't matter since you are fine. We will have other chances."
Before the operation, Lu Zui had demanded that he accomplish it, but now that the operation had failed, Lu Zui was not angry at all but comforted him gently. Pausing for a moment, he asked, "Were you in close contact with him?"
"Except for the last kick, he was never within three meters from me," Ye Changkong said.
"That's good," Lu Zui observed. "But you'd better examine your crystal suit and your body carefully. Last time, during his fight with Duanmu Ming, he stuck an eavesdropping chip onto Duanmu Ming's crystal suit. It is possible that he has played the same trick again."
Ye Changkong managed a smile. "I am not Duanmu Ming. I would know it if somebody else put an eavesdropping chip on me."
"Of course, it is extremely difficult to place an eavesdropping chip on a Nascent Soul Stage Cultivator," Lu Zui said, "but it will be safer if you perform an examination."
"Alright. I'll examine it carefully," Ye Changkong replied. "We'll talk later after I make sure that it is safe."
Loosening his fingers and cutting off the communication, Ye Changkong told his subordinates, "Take off my crystal suit right now and destroy it. Also, perform a thorough physical examination and see if there are any anomalies in the wounds on my skin.
"Pay special attention to the metal scraps that pierced into my body. They could be eavesdropping chips in disguise."
Ten minutes later, his crystal suit was taken off and demolished straightforwardly. The examination of every inch of skin and every wound was done, too. No strange chips were detected.
Ye Changkong closed his eyes again and recalled the whole process of the fight. Making sure that Li Yao definitely did not have a chance to play any trick on his body, he was finally relieved.
When he was about to be sent into the airship, Ye Changkong suddenly remembered something. "Where is my Herald?"
Herald was an ultimate treasure modified by the best master of firearms in the federation. He definitely would not drop it here.
Holding Herald against his chest with his remaining arm and touching the barrel that as smooth as flesh, he took a long breath in relief and was sent into the airship.
The airship flew toward the hospital. When it was still on the way, a plain-looking shuttle caught up to it.
Lu Zui, director of the Secret Sword Bureau, came to visit the heavily wounded Ye Changkong in person.
In the secret chamber, he examined Ye Changkong's wounds solemnly, especially the fracture of his right arm.
The technique of 'Replantation of Severed Limbs' was rather mature in the federation. The vitality of a Nascent Soul Stage Cultivator was strong, too. It was not a big problem to revive the broken arm.
However, it had been severed completely. All the nerves and veins needed to be reconnected. After the heavy wounds, Ye Changkong would not be able to regain his peak capability for several months.
"I'm sorry," Ye Changkong said. "I underestimated the young man."
"It doesn't matter," Lu Zui replied calmly. "Although he was not killed, he was forced to display immense demonic energy in public. Also, so many eyewitnesses have seen him launching a fatal attack toward you. He can't get away from that!
"Now, he has been pushed back underground again. Guo Chunfeng felt nothing wrong and dispatched a lot of Secret Sword Agents to go after him.
"If he resists, he may kill innocent Secret Sword Agents, which will add to his crimes. If he doesn't, he will not be able to free himself from the dragnet, and he will be kept below the ground forever!
"From that point of view, the mission isn't a complete failure."
Ye Changkong coughed for a moment and asked, "What's the situation in parliament?"
"This morning, the 'expedition motion' was passed," Lu Zui said. "84% of the representatives voted for it. We are about to succeed!
"Now, two crystal suit legions are gathering and will finish their preparations soon. As soon as they break through the Dark Desolate Domain and march into the Blood Demon Sector, for nothing but their safety along, the war will only get more and more fierce until it becomes a true world war in the end!"
"What about the Cultivators from the Flying Star Sector?"
Lu Zui sneered. "The Flying Star Sector is loose sand. They don't even know what a world war is. Of course, they are still wavering.
"Just let them waver. When our army marches into the Blood Demon Sector and the war is out of control, the Flying Star Sector will only have two choices.
"They can either watch and do nothing while the Heaven's Origin Sector and the Blood Demon Sector waste resources in the war, in which case the Flying Star Sector will be screwed with the Imperium of True Human Beings comes!
"Or, they can jump on our tanks and help us suppress the Blood Demon Sector at the minimal cost in the shortest amount of time!
"As long as we can move Burning Prairie to the Blood Demon Sector, just for the dream warship alone, the troops of the Flying Star Sector will have to follow up. They will have to fight the war, willingly or not!"
Hearing that, Ye Changkong finally breathed in relief with a smile. "So, all the unexpected factors have been ruled out, and absolutely nobody can stop us now?"
"Precisely. Starting from this second," Lu Zui declared calmly, "including Vulture Li Yao, nobody can stop the rise of the federation!"
22.31 meters away from then, around the spurts of the power rune arrays of the airship, in the scorching, narrow, heat-emitting space, Li Yao twisted himself in a weird posture as he listened to Lu Zui and Ye Changkong's conversation quietly.
Chapter 1104: Medicine! |
Everybody thought that Li Yao had fled back to the underground through the swirls of rainwater. None of them expected that Li Yao would be so bold as to dash on the airship that had been deployed to kill him and that he would be lurking right next to Ye Changkong and more than ten Core Formation Stage Cultivators!
Executing 'Death Ray' Ye Changkong had never been Li Yao's goal.
>
It was because killing Ye Changkong would only make his escape more convenient.
However, after getting to know part of such a vile plot, and when his soul and belief were firmer than ever, Li Yao would not allow himself to escape again even at the cost of his own life!
Whoever played him like a chess piece and involved him in such a mysterious scheme had to pay a price!
That was why he set up such a trap with the network chip that he delivered to Ding Lingdang in secret and the information about 'Death Ray' Ye Changkong he retrieved from Professor Mo Xuan.
The purpose of the trap was not to kill Ye Changkong but to heavily wound him so that the guy behind the curtain could be fished up!
Li Yao had been ninety percent certain that the guy would show up.
The reason was that Ye Changkong was not a random lackey but one of the top few battle-type Cultivators in the federation!
Powerful and wealthy as the Patriots Partnership might be, it was a clandestine organization after all. For the sake of confidentiality, there would not be many people in the group. A super expert such as Ye Changkong was definitely rare in it.
Him suffering heavy wounds would certainly disrupt the plan of the organization.
After they advanced into the Nascent Soul Stage, every Cultivator boasted their own belief and pride, which meant that they could not be bribed with simple benefits.
'Death Ray' Ye Changkong was a hero who had defended the federation for more than a hundred years. If anybody tried to buy him with money, power, or Cultivation arts, he would have blown up their heads a long time ago!
Li Yao assumed that the leader of the Patriots Partnership and Ye Changkong must be sharing the same dream and destination.
Ye Changkong was not tempted by money or power; he really believed in a certain 'ideology' and thought that he was saving the federation. That was why he was willing to work for the organization.
Then, now that such an important person as Ye Changkong was heavily wounded, it was only natural that the leader of the organization came to visit him.
Even if not for their friendship, the man would at least have to check Ye Changkong's wounds to determine the speed of Ye Changkong's recovery and his current combat ability so that he could adjust the plan of the organization!
That was the only way to find out the truth!
Li Yao's guess was correct. Lu Zui, the director of the Secret Sword Bureau, really showed up.
Taking the video chip from Professor Mo Xuan into consideration, Li Yao was sure that Lu Zui was the leader of the Patriots Partnership, or at least one of the leaders!
Guo Chunfeng, known as 'the strongest Core Formation Stage Cultivators of the Heaven's Origin Sector', whom he had been wary of, was nothing more than another innocent victim fooled by Lu Zui!
If that was the case, everything made better sense.
Only an expert such as Lu Zui, who had worked on the secret frontline for more than a hundred years and boasted a complicated social network and a higher personal capability, was able of preparing such a huge trap that the Speaker, Iron Commander Zhou Hengdao, and himself had all fallen in!
Next, he was certain that he would get more valuable information from them.
Two Nascent Soul Stage Cultivators of the Patriots Partnership would not be exchanging small talk all the time, would they?
At first, Li Yao intended to plant the eavesdropping chip on Ye Changkong, but he had already played the move on Duanmu Ming once before when he just returned to the Heaven's Origin Sector, and it was already seen through.
With Lu Zui's cautiousness, he would not be fooled by the same trick twice.
Therefore, Li Yao considered carefully and asked Professor Mo Xuan to get the designs of Herald, Ye Changkong's sniper rifle, for him.
Li Yao had spent three hours studying the designs until he knew every detail of Herald as clearly as he knew his fingers. He had then made minor adjustments on the eavesdropping chip according to the structure of the gun.
When he suddenly showed up in the chimney, Ye Changkong had made the 'correct' choice as expected. The guy tossed away Herald and equipped himself with a pistol and combat spurs.
It was a great chance for Li Yao.
With the cover of the smoke, Li Yao expanded his spiritual and demonic energy to the maximum. Even the 'ultimate core' inside his body was bursting out the most furious music, which was almost a mental attack for Ye Changkong. His sole purpose was to distract Ye Changkong so that the real movements of his hands would not be perceived.
His hands dismantled the safety of Herald into twenty-two tiny components, embedded the eavesdropping chip to the helical cylinder softly, and reassembled the gun, all within 0.1 seconds!
It was a crazy gamble.
As the best gun expert of the federation, Ye Changkong had long reached the level where he and his gun were united as one. Also, Herald, as his primary weapon, must have been refined and nurtured by him day and night, and it was certainly deeply connected to him on a spiritual level.
Under normal circumstances, Li Yao was sure that Ye Changkong would have noticed that something was wrong only several seconds after he took back Herald.
However…
What if his right arm was chopped off, his internal organs were blown apart, hundreds of scraps of his crystal suit were embedded into his body, and his entire body was under the dual scourge of spiritual energy and demonic energy?
Li Yao was absolutely confident about his attack. It would already be the greatest miracle if Ye Changkong stayed awake. It was impossible for him to be vigorous enough to feel the connection with his Herald again!
Besides, it was not too uncanny that something was slightly wrong with Herald because it had been contaminated by the demonic energy during the fierce battle, was it?
In such a way, Li Yao had planted an eavesdropping chip on Ye Changkong's nearby without anybody knowing. As long as the two parties were within fifty meters from each other, he could even hear Ye Changkong's heartbeat.
Of course, there could be other unexpected factors. For example, Ye Changkong might be in a coma and forget his gun, or he might move the gun into his Cosmos Ring.
But Li Yao had no choice but to take his chances. After all, he would not lose anything even if the 'eavesdropping' move failed. At the very least, he would be able to lock onto the guy behind the curtain. He could always go and assassinate Lu Zui if he had no other solutions.
The decapitation strategy had always been his favorite.
Perhaps because he was too unlucky in the previous infiltration, this time, the wheel of fortune had turned, and everything went smoothly. Ye Changkong really put the sniper rifle next to himself and let Li Yao catch their conversation!
However, such a conversation did not bear much fruit except that Lu Zui's identity was confirmed, and Guo Chunfeng was proven innocent.
The information that the expedition motion had been passed would be released on the media very soon. Lu Zui's scheme to bind the Cultivators of the Flying Star Sector to his tank was nothing new, either.
The most important thing was that such a conversation could not be used as evidence. After all, voices could be fabricated too easily.
There were disadvantages to Li Yao's operation, too. The biggest disadvantage was that he had been forced to unleash tremendous demonic energy in public to heavily wound Ye Changkong. Just as Lu Zui said, it was very difficult for him to get away from the blame.
Li Yao continued listening while making his own plans. He thought about whether or not he should pursue the lead of Lu Zui further and try to dig more secrets out of him, or maybe, he could even directly kill the guy!
But in the secret chamber, Ye Changkong coughed heavily for a moment and said, "Fellow Cultivator Lu, you must be wary of Vulture Li Yao. I have a vague feeling that the young man will not wait to be killed. He'll definitely find out a way to get out of the underground district!
"Such a trap couldn't have been made by
a random guy. Perhaps he will guess that it was done by you. He might even go to you and kill you directly. The decapitation strategy is his favorite!"
Lu Zui smiled. "What's there for me to be wary of? The war machine is now already fulminating. It cannot be stopped by any individual. Is it really helpful to kill me?
"If he indeed kills the director of the Secret Sword Bureau, other than further proving that he is the Blood Devil and raising the indignation of the federal citizens, what can he get?
"For the rise of the federation, both of us stopped caring about our lives a long time ago. Even if he kills you and me, more 'patriots' will stand up. Can he kill all the 'patriots'?
"If he indeed annihilates all the 'patriots', then, all the citizens and Cultivators of the federation will be consumed by fury and turn into new 'patriots'. The war will still proceed!
"Fellow Cultivator Ye, there is no losing for us right now!"
Li Yao gritted his teeth angrily. Lu Zui was indeed a great Meditation Healer who was best at reading people's minds. The trap that he had set up at the risk of his own life was truly difficult to be resolved!
Ye Changkong seemed to be convinced by Lu Zui. He was silent for a long time before he asked again, "What's the situation over there? Is the 'medicine' ready?"
"Almost," Lu Zui said. "All the technological problems have been overcome. It is only a matter of time before the medicine is manufactured."
"Time really matters now," Ye Changkong remarked. "The medicine is of paramount importance for our plan. Without the medicine, even if we do occupy the Blood Demon Sector in the end, it will still be pointless. I don't want to see an outcome where the Heaven's Origin Sector ends with the Blood Demon Sector!"
"Rest assured, Fellow Cultivator Ye. Would I ever make our billions of compatriots die together with the stinky animals?
"I have assured you since the very beginning that our operation was never as simple as 'revenge'. It is an endeavor to pave a bloody path in the cruel universe for the federation! Also, all of you have seen the whole process of my deduction and agreed that the odds of success are very high. That's why you joined the operation.
