This villain is too popular.

Chapter 462 Suspicious Situations Among the High-Ranking Officials [4000 words]

[One week later, Martial Arts Battle in Tiandu, Urban District]

Although it was already known that a mysterious force existed within the association.

But even if the sky falls, there are tall people to hold it up. So, although Chen Kong was aware of this, he didn't take it too seriously and went back to his usual rest.

But unexpectedly, a message was sent to his data terminal.

As evening approached, Chen Kong's communicator suddenly rang urgently, and the name 'Jing Liuli' popped up on the screen.

He answered the call immediately, and Jing Liuli's languid voice came through.

"Chen Kong, bring An Qin to the Association's Inspection Department."

“Zhang Qiming and Wang Yuan have made a move. They will meet at the Eternal Night Tavern tonight. The Supervisory Department is ready to make the arrest. An Qin needs to confirm their meeting signal.”

"Received, we're on our way!"

Chen Kong hung up the call and sent a message to An Qin, explaining the association's arrangements.

Inside the medical department, An Qin sat up, supporting herself on the examination bed. Although she was still a little weak, her eyes gave an unusually firm answer.

“I’m fine. It’s important to capture them. Their contact signals are specific star energy fluctuations that only I can accurately identify to avoid arresting the wrong people.”

Chen Kong: "Okay, I'll come pick you up in a bit."

After finalizing her itinerary, Anqin notified her attending physician.

After learning about her condition, the doctor handed her a pale gold nutritional supplement.

"This is a Star Energy Repairing Nutrient, which can quickly replenish your depleted physical strength and relieve fatigue in your blood vessels."

Anqin took the nutritional supplement and nodded to the doctor: "Thank you."

She unscrewed the bottle cap and drank it all in one gulp. Instantly, she felt the weakness in her body lessen considerably, and the restlessness of the Dark Serpent bloodline completely subsided.

[7 PM, Martial Arts Battle in Tiandu, Star Envoy Association Branch]

Chen Kong, with An Qin by his side, quickly arrived at the association's inspection department.

At this moment, Jing Liuli and several staff members from the Supervision Department were already waiting in the command room.

On the virtual screen in the command center, the surveillance footage around the Eternal Night Tavern was being displayed in real time. Zhang Qiming and Wang Yuan's figures had already appeared at the edge of the screen and were walking towards the tavern's entrance.

"You've come at the perfect time."

Jing Liuli pointed to the screen and said, "The one on the left wearing the gray mentor uniform is Zhang Qiming, and the one on the right wearing the logistics uniform is Wang Yuan."

"According to the surveillance footage, they did not bring any other attendants; they must have met alone."

Anqin leaned closer to the screen, carefully observing the two people's movements, and suddenly spoke.

"They are transmitting a signal. When Zhang Qiming raised his hand to adjust his collar just now, his right hand silently released a faint wisp of black star energy. This is their confirmation signal, indicating that there are no other organization members around, and we can get down to business."

Upon hearing this, Director Li of the association's inspection department immediately issued an order.

"Action team, take note: The target has confirmed the rendezvous signal. Proceed immediately, surround the Eternal Night Tavern, and prevent any personnel from entering or leaving! Capture the target alive without alerting him!"

"understand!"

The communicator crackled with the response of the action team members. On the screen, several dark figures emerged swiftly from their hiding places, silently surrounding the Eternal Night Tavern.

"Let's go check it out, just in case something unexpected happens."

Jing Liuli turned and walked towards the door, saying to Chen Kong and the others, "An Qin, you follow behind us. Once you discover that they are destroying intelligence, immediately use your Dark Spirit Serpent bloodline to sense their star energy fluctuations and try to preserve any remaining intelligence."

Anqin nodded: "No problem."

“My Dark Serpent bloodline can sense the traces of residual star energy. Even if they destroy the physical information, I can still capture some fragments of information.”

When the group arrived near the Eternal Night Tavern, the action team had already secured the tavern's entrances and exits.

Director Li made a 'take action' gesture, and several team members immediately broke down the door. A brief gasp came from inside the tavern, but then silence returned.

Chen Kong and the others entered the tavern and saw Zhang Qiming and Wang Yuan already bound by golden chains, slumped on the ground, their faces full of shock and resentment.

When Zhang Qiming saw Chen Kong and An Qin, a glint of resentment flashed in his eyes: "Traitor! How dare you betray the organization!"

Anqin's eyes were cold, and she ignored his roar.

"I have never been one of you, but merely a pawn that you manipulate."

She walked up to the two of them, closed her eyes, and activated the perception ability of her Dark Spirit Serpent bloodline at full power, with pale purple star energy slowly flowing around her.

"Where is the encrypted chip you were using to transmit the students' star energy data?"

Wang Yuan gritted his teeth and said, "I don't know what you're talking about. We're just drinking here, there's no chip involved at all!"

"is it?"

An Qin suddenly opened her eyes, a flash of pale purple star energy pointing towards Zhang Qiming's pocket.

"The chip is in your left pocket. Although you tried to hide it with star energy, that special 'abyssal aura' couldn't escape my perception."

Zhang Qiming's expression changed, and he subconsciously tried to cover his pocket, but was held down by the members of the action team.

The team member took a black chip out of his pocket, which was indeed surrounded by a faint abyssal energy.

"The evidence is irrefutable, what else do you have to say?"

Director Li stepped forward, his tone serious.

"Take them back to the Inspection Department for interrogation. We must find out the identities of the high-ranking undercover agents and the specific details of the Star Energy Grand Ceremony!"

Just as the task force was about to take the two away, Zhang Qiming suddenly burst into maniacal laughter, his eyes flashing with an eerie light.

"It's no use! Even if you capture us, it won't change anything!"

"The Star Energy Ceremony will surely succeed, and the Martial Capital will eventually be devoured by the abyssal energy!"

"At that time, all of you will become sacrifices in the ritual!"

At the same time, Wang Yuan, who was standing next to him, also burst into wild laughter: "Just wait, in less than three months, you will witness the victory of the Tianyuan Organization!"

Upon hearing this, Jing Liuli's eyes turned cold, and she stepped forward.

The next second, Zhang Qiming and Wang Yuan were as if they had encountered a nightmare. Their faces were filled with terror, and they could no longer make a sound. They could only struggle in vain.

After doing all this, Jing Liuli sneered, "Another bunch of self-righteous lunatics. Take them away."

At 8 p.m., Jing Liuli and her group returned to the supervisory office with the prisoners and the encryption chip.

As soon as they entered the gate, they saw Tiandao standing in the lobby of the Supervision Department, holding a document in his hand.

Jing Liuli stepped forward and said, "Heavenly Dao, we have successfully captured Zhang Qiming and Wang Yuan, and we have also found the encrypted chip they were passing on."

Tiandao nodded and handed the document in his hand to Chen Kong: "Take a look at this. I just went to the Star Envoy Association branch to try to access the information of the senior personnel, but I found that three core documents had been encrypted by someone, and the access level was even higher than that of the branch president."

Jing Liuli took the document. Three blurry names appeared on the virtual screen, the rest of the information covered by red encryption symbols. "What is this?"

"These three people are Zhao Kun, the vice president of the branch; Lu Ming, the director of the supervision department; and Han Wen, the director of the post-production department."

The tone of Heaven's Way was cold and ruthless.

"Only one of those three, or someone at a higher level, could encrypt data at this level."

"But according to Anqin's intelligence, the mole is in the branch's upper echelons, so these three people are the most suspicious."

Jing Liuli thought for a moment and asked curiously, "Where is the branch president?"

In response, Tiandao smiled and said, "You seem to underestimate our Grand Master. The branch master of Floating City is not as simple as you think, so there's no need to consider it."

"That's it."

Jing Liuli suddenly realized.

During their conversation, An Qin leaned closer, looking at the three names on the screen with a furrowed brow.

“When I was in the organization, I heard the higher-ups mention a person codenamed ‘Night Owl,’ saying that he was infiltrating the core department of the Star Envoy Association and was in charge of coordinating the Star Energy Ceremony.”

"But I have never seen his face or known his true identity."

"Nite Owl?"

Jing Liuli said thoughtfully, "This code name is quite interesting. It seems we can't alert them; we can only investigate these three people secretly."

Caroline was connecting the encryption chip to the inspectorate's computer and trying to crack its secrets, but it wasn't easy.

As she operated the complex optical computer, she said, "This chip has a very high level of encryption, and it will take some time to crack it without loss of quality."

"However, I discovered that in addition to the students' star energy data, this chip also contains some coordinate information about the venue of the Star Energy Grand Ceremony, which seems to be near the star energy core area of ​​Martial Arts Heaven."

"The core area of ​​stellar energy?"

Chen Kong's expression changed, and he subconsciously said, "That's the energy center of Martial Capital. If a ceremony is held there, the consequences will be unimaginable!"

Tiandao walked to the light computer, looked at the coordinate information on the screen, and calmly said, "The defense system of the Star Energy Core Area is very strong. If you want to set up a ritual there, you must have the authority of an insider."

"This further confirms our judgment that the so-called undercover agent is among the three people we just mentioned."

Just then, Caroline's intelligent electronic eyes suddenly flashed, and she said in a serious tone, "There is a self-destruct program in the chip. I was halfway through cracking it when I triggered the program, and the chip is now burning."

Everyone looked up and saw that the chip connected to the quantum computer was emitting black smoke, and the star energy data on it was disappearing rapidly.

The Heavenly Dao immediately raised its hand and released a vector force field, attempting to envelop the chip and prevent it from burning. However, the chip self-destructed at an extremely fast speed, turning into a pool of black ash in the blink of an eye, and all data was completely lost.

"Damn it!"

Chen Kong couldn't help but curse.

"It's ok."

Anqin suddenly spoke up: "Just now at the tavern, I used the Dark Serpent bloodline to memorize the fluctuation trajectory of most of the star energy data in the chip."

"Although I can't completely reconstruct it, I can try to deduce some key information based on the fluctuation trajectory, such as the type of star energy required for the ritual and the experimental equipment that may be used."

Tiandao first gave Caroline a meaningful look, then looked at Anqin and said, "In that case, Caroline, you should build a data model based on the fluctuation trajectory she provided and try to reconstruct the information as much as possible."

"As for the undercover work, you don't need to get involved. After all, at this stage, there are many things that you can't just touch upon at will."

"clear."

Chen Kong and the others nodded and left one after another.

After these people left, Tiandao approached Caroline alone and asked, "Was it intentional?"

Caroline nodded: "It was intentional."

Tiandao did not ask Caroline why she did this, because he knew that Caroline must have had her reasons.

So he waved his hand and said, "Then you should keep track of the limits yourself."

"Ah."

Over the next few days, the martial arts world remained outwardly calm, but in secret, an investigation into the undercover agent "Night Owl" had already quietly begun.

The association's supervisory department closely monitored the movements of the three high-ranking personnel and discovered that although the three had no apparent connection, they all had indirect contact with the Eternal Night Tavern in secret.

Meanwhile, Anqin and Caroline were in the Inspectorate’s laboratory, gradually building a data model based on the trajectory of star energy fluctuations.

After two days and two nights of hard work, they finally managed to recover some of the key information.

The Star Energy Ceremony requires collecting a large amount of special star energy from students and injecting it into the energy converter in the core area of ​​the star energy field, thereby triggering an energy explosion, opening the abyss passage, and allowing abyss energy to surge into Martial Capital.

"Open the abyss passage?"

An Qin looked at the restored information with a solemn expression.

"I didn't expect the organization's goal to be this. Once the abyss passage is opened, the entire Martial Capital will be corroded by abyss energy, and the consequences will be unimaginable."

Just then, Caroline's communicator rang again; it was a message from the team member responsible for monitoring Lu Ming.

“Caroline, Lu Ming has made a move. He just left the association and headed towards the core area of ​​the Star Energy Zone. He was carrying an encrypted briefcase, which looks very suspicious.”

Caroline immediately stood up.

"We'll get there as soon as possible. You continue to follow us covertly, but don't expose yourselves."

After saying that, Caroline turned to look at Anqin: "You can stay here without worry, and we'll handle the rest."

"Ah."

Caroline, accompanied by a group of high-ranking Star Envoys assigned to her by the Association, quickly headed towards the Star Energy Core Area. From afar, she saw Lu Ming standing at the entrance of the core area, talking to the guards.

After the guard checked the briefcase in his hand, he was allowed to go inside.

Caroline gestured for everyone to take cover, not to make a move immediately.

Although some members of the team were puzzled by this, they still chose to obey Caroline's orders.

After Lu Ming's figure completely disappeared from the core area of ​​the star energy, Caroline led the group to follow him.

For a qualified hunter, in addition to learning to hide himself, he also needs to release some bait appropriately.

Although it is important to disrupt the Tianyuan Organization's plans and ensure the smooth running of the Star Energy Festival.

But for Caroline, doing only that is definitely not enough.

Therefore, she was willing to take some risks.

The danger lay in the fact that she didn't rush to eradicate the other party completely, but instead allowed them to continue their plan.

After all, in Caroline's mind, this Heavenly Abyss was a very important 'stepping stone' for Tiandao to enter the upper echelons of the association.

(End of this chapter)