The Mantis's Gaze

About an hour after dinner.

Thud, thud.

The sound of a cane striking wooden boards echoed back and forth through the second-floor corridor of the cabin.

The old woman shuffled forward with her back bent, carefully checking the quality of each child's sleep in every room.

Gradually, she reached the small room at the end of the second floor. With practiced ease, she poked open the poster paper sealing the crack beneath the door, brought one aged eye close, and peered inside.

The young man lay deeply asleep in bed.

Over this period, the old woman had observed "Zhou Tiantian" for a long time. She knew he was among the rare few who did not snore, but judging from his breathing rhythm and physical state, he was indeed asleep.

Old Madam Kong then turned and left. As she departed, she lifted her cane, and even her footsteps became extremely soft.

Wang Jixuan turned over and listened carefully.

The old woman left the cabin, circled the area for several minutes, then returned, double-locked the courtyard gate, and activated the intrusion alarm inside the yard.

After doing all that, she trembled back to the study.

Wang Jixuan pulled a button-shaped device from beneath his pillow and activated it with a tap. A faint light appeared on the button, and a palm-sized surveillance feed emerged in the center, showing a narrow room.

The camera angle looked straight down from above.

About two minutes later, faint noises came from the study.

In the surveillance feed, the elderly landlady sat in her wooden chair, slowly turned halfway around, then slid along with the chair into this secret room.

The hidden door behind her slowly closed, while Wang Jixuan could still see one corner of the bookshelf in the study.

This was a secret room embedded in the study, and it was also the first one Wang Jixuan had discovered.

Soft light filled the secret room. Old Madam Kong pressed several buttons, and the slanted screen before her lit up, displaying a spacious conference room.

There was a conference table and seven or eight figures. Old Madam Kong seemed to be seated at the head of the table.

Wang Jixuan examined them carefully and soon spotted an acquaintance among the figures—the silver-haired old man who had become one-eyed, Wen Heisen.

Wen Heisen's neck was still wrapped in bandages. His injuries from last time had not fully healed.

Since he could only see the image, Wang Jixuan could not sense their auras and had no way to tell which two were the Psionicists sent by the 13th Institute. Still, he chose to remember all of them. If fate brought them together later, he would cherish that fate.

"BOSS."

The burly old man seated immediately to Wen Heisen's right, closest to the screen, called out in a deep voice:

"You should have received the information. That bastard came again.

"This round, he targeted our lower-ranking cadres and the cold storage facility he attacked last time. But this time, he entered the facility. We're trying to salvage the materials inside. Nineteen cadres and one hundred forty-six lackeys were taken out by him. The losses are severe.

"I suggest we stop worrying about power consumption! We have to light up every area, then set bait and lure him in so we can turn him into a sieve with machine guns!"

The elderly landlady gave a soft "Mm." "Are you using that heavier tone to express your anger?"

"No, BOSS."

The burly old man's tone immediately became much gentler.

The elderly landlady leaned back in her chair, thinking for a while before asking slowly, "What about our powerful Psionicists? They couldn't track him?"

At the far end of the conference table.

A middle-aged woman and a young man exchanged glances. The woman in the elegant long dress lifted her chin toward the man, signaling for him to speak.

The young man was thin, nearly skin and bones, with thick glasses pressing against his nose. He seemed somewhat restrained.

"Respected Madam Mei, we used different methods—Psionicist methods and technological methods.

"But this man is very cunning.

"My unique ability is tracking scents, but his scent is incredibly faint. He appears to have deliberately concealed it. His abilities are highly versatile.

"The technological scans have also been troublesome. His equipment this time can actually block Thermal Imaging and biological tracking. Even our Bio-radar cannot lock onto him... Sorry."

The elderly landlady slowly nodded.

She said in a measured tone, "What surprises me now is that such a Psionicist is not under the 13th Institute's control. Has a branch of the 13th Institute in another fortress been turned by the United Defense Force?"

"Impossible, Madam Mei."

The middle-aged woman with a long neck, smooth skin, and an arrogant expression spoke slowly:

"Every branch of the 13th Institute is under the absolute control of headquarters. There is no question about that. We are also the only ones capable of creating Psionicists.

"I think this person may be an experimental product of the United Defense Force. They have always wanted to crack our technology.

"Our informants within the United Defense Force have already begun investigating, but so far, they have found no clues."

"We have no time left!"

The Black Fire Gang's fourth leader cursed:

"The Purification Force could come down at any moment! That damned Head of Internal Affairs, Zhou Meiying, has been attacking us again during ministerial meetings. She said we're out of control, that we've been trafficking organs beyond military protocol! She's using that to influence the Upper City's elites! And she says we've acquired weapons that shouldn't be in the Lower City!"

The elderly landlady asked, "Did we do it?"

The fourth leader immediately fell silent, stammering, "We did some... just a very small portion... You know, BOSS, this kind of thing is unavoidable... Many old people in the Upper City believe replacing organs can give them a few extra years..."

"And that is precisely where the problem lies."

The elderly landlady said calmly:

"I knew about this from the start, and I recorded every detail of your secret transactions with those old people in the Upper City. Do you need me to remind you?

"Examination Room Twelve of the Level Three 06 Sanatorium, as well as Operating Rooms Three, Six, and Eight of the 08 Sanatorium.

"You should not have reached directly into the Upper City. That is not territory we can touch. Now that they have evidence against us, we do not even have a chance to argue."

Most of the leaders looked rather uncomfortable.

The elderly landlady said, "Get your accounts to me as soon as possible. I need to compare and verify them, see whether there's a way to resolve this trouble... If it can't be resolved, prepare for Shedding Skin according to the contingency plan."

The second leader immediately said, "Yes, BOSS. I'll send them over right away."

Wen Heisen spoke in a hoarse voice, like metal plates scraping together. "That man will not let us go. He is stronger than I am. We need a C-Class Psionicist."

"Sorry, Senior Wen. I have no intention of touching your old wounds."

The middle-aged woman said calmly:

"But perhaps you have gone too long without using your power. Based on our analysis of the current surveillance data, that man's strength is below ours. At the very least, he is far inferior to me."

She gently waved a hand, and black spheres floated and danced around her.

Wang Jixuan raised an eyebrow slightly.

He had read about this in books. This was... a Telekinetic Psionicist.

Faint arcs of electricity appeared over the spheres.

The middle-aged woman raised her proud head. Her elegant long dress and exceptional appearance, set off by those hovering black spheres, gave her an imposing presence.

Wang Jixuan curled his lip slightly.

The elderly landlady suddenly spoke. "That is only the surface of the problem. At its core, we have been caught by the 13th Institute's opposing faction. Even without that ghost-like young man, they would still take us down! Prepare for Shedding Skin. If necessary, we can abandon everything. We did it once twenty-six years ago. This group of ours can start over a second time."

The Black Fire Gang's second leader asked, "The Emergency Passage is fine, right?"

"I'll be guarding this end of the passage. When you're ready to come through, I'll send you a signal and disable the access controls."

The elderly landlady instructed:

"When you use the passage later, keep your voices down. Don't disturb my children while they sleep."

"Then BOSS, when will we Shed Skin?"

"I am only telling you to prepare. Don't rush. First, I'll see whether I can have a discussion with our ministers."

The elderly landlady sighed softly:

"During this time, you can select a few young people worth training. Remember, this legacy is the most important thing. We are all old already.

"As for these two respected Psionicists, please do your best to eliminate that mysterious Psionicist as well."

"We will," the middle-aged woman said softly. "Madam Mei."

The elderly landlady pressed a button beside the screen, and the image vanished with a whoosh.

Then she slumped in her chair, as though drained of all energy, quietly considering something.

A moment later.

Just as Wang Jixuan was thinking of saving power and preparing to turn off the monitor in his hand, Old Madam Kong moved again in the feed.

She lowered her head and searched through a drawer beneath her for a while, then took out a saucer-sized disc. Putting on her reading glasses, she activated the Projection Screen on the disc, entered a long lock-screen password, and brought up a simple interface.

She tapped it several times in succession, and a dialing screen appeared.

About half a minute later, the call connected. An old man in a sharply tailored suit, who looked to be in his forties or fifties but was full of vigor, appeared on the other end.

Wang Jixuan raised an eyebrow slightly.

He had seen a photograph of this man from his younger days in Old Madam Kong's study.

The man asked, "How have you been lately, Mom?"

"Same as always. No major problems. How capable are those two Psionicists you sent?"

"They are a teacher and student pair. The teacher is excellent. Her name is An Qian. She can even contend against certain C-Class Psionicists with obvious flaws. If we mobilize a C-Class Psionicist, the procedures will be especially troublesome, and it will also provoke a strong reaction from the defense forces."

He sent the Psionicists?

Could this old man be the person in charge of the 13th Biological Research Institute stationed at Fortress 76—the fortress's Biological Affairs Minister?

And he was the elderly landlady's son?

Infinite Venerable One.

Daoist Wang was genuinely a little shocked.

Thomas and the others in the Lower City, the Upper City's powerful figures... just how many formidable people had this elderly landlady cultivated?

"I hope these problems can be resolved."

Old Madam Kong sighed:

"Son, your mother is already very old. I no longer have the energy to help you build another gang.

"If the Black Fire Gang falls, you may need to ask someone else to provide materials."

"Don't worry, Mom. I'm thinking of a solution. The 13th Institute's massive use of living materials cannot be allowed to become known to outsiders. They will seize every opportunity to oppose us and force us to make the Psionicist patent public... Because we have continuously delivered high-quality materials to experimental centers in other fortresses, I have already obtained an entry ticket to headquarters. Now I only need to wait for an opportunity..."

Whoosh!

The monitor in Wang Jixuan's hand automatically shut down and entered air-charging mode.

He immediately stuffed it back beneath his pillow, returned to his original sleeping posture, and removed the concealed earpiece from his ear.

He pondered quietly.

The outline of the Black Fire Gang had become very clear. Gu Wending's testimony had filled in the framework, and Wang Jixuan had now personally confirmed the Black Fire Gang's crimes.

The Black Fire Gang's business was divided into three parts.

First, it supplied organs and blood to the Upper City's military. This belonged to the fortress authorities' dark side, so it did not fear official investigation.

Second, it performed organ replacements for Upper City elites, extending their lives this way while securing greater benefits for itself.

Third, it served the 13th Institute by providing materials for the institute's biological experiments—living people.

This is even worse than an ordinary Demonic Cult. Many demonic sects, such as the Joyous Union Sect, have Absorb Yin to Supplement Yang or absorb yang to supplement yin as their greatest crime. They don't even necessarily drain their cauldrons dry. Yet they are still universally condemned in the Cultivation World.

Hah. If eliminating demons in bulk could let me ascend directly, how wonderful would that be...

Wang Jixuan sighed inwardly and continued thinking.

After his latest raid, the Black Fire Gang was under immense pressure and could Shed Skin at any time.

The eight people who had attended the meeting just now would travel through the underground passage to this cabin when they Shed Skin.

Facing two D-Class Psionicists at once would be relatively troublesome, and one of them might even escape.

Before they Shed Skin, I need to get rid of one first.

Killing Intent flickered in Daoist Wang's eyes.

Thud, thud.

The sound of a cane kissing the wooden boards rang out once more in the corridor.

One aged eye slowly moved toward the crack in the door that had just been poked open...