Eastern Capital, Central Business District, Global Financial Building.
On the thirty-sixth floor, the light-reflecting Marble floor reflects the figures of white-collar workers hurrying in and out.
Everyone is Suit wearing leather shoes and walking in a hurry.
The air is filled with the aroma of coffee and the invisible pressure of the elite.
Suddenly, a slight commotion occurred at the edge of Open-Plan Office Area.
The employees raised their heads unconsciously, their eyes focused on one point, their expressions slightly startled.
I saw the chairman of the company, the fat bald man who was usually very dignified and scolded loudly, now like an intern who had just entered the workplace.
He carefully held a tray with both hands, on which were placed three cups of top-quality Da Hong Pao that had just been brewed.
His back was slightly arched, and he had a humble and stiff smile on his face.
First, he walked to the heavy Walnut Wood door Chairman’s Office and knocked lightly with his elbow.
After receiving a low response from inside, he opened the door sideways and respectfully sent the tea in.
After a while, he walked backwards and carefully closed the door.
The whole process did not make any unnecessary noise.
After doing all this, the bald old man straightened up, adjusted his tie habitually, and regained a bit of the chairman's demeanor.
When the corner of his eye caught sight of the employees who were secretly sizing him up, his brows instantly knitted into a knot.
A stern gaze with substance swept across the entire place in an instant.
In the office area, all the heads dropped with a "swish" sound.
Only the crackling sound of keyboard typing is left.
It was quiet in the luxurious office.
A valuable Rosewood Executive Desk was roughly pushed to the corner.
Instead, there is a set of simple and elegant Black Leather Sofa.
Luo Lie is sitting in the main seat.
He didn't look at the two people standing next to him. He looked through the huge floor-to-ceiling windows, overlooking the steel jungle below him.
Tall buildings stand tall and traffic flows rapidly.
The whole city is like a huge and precise chessboard, with a panoramic view.
Feng Jincai and Zhuo Feng stood aside with their hands down, even breathing deliberately Slow Down.
The air seemed to solidify into substance, pressing heavily on their shoulders.
Two days have passed since the tragic failure of "Demon Hunt Operation".
Eastern Capital Branch suffered unprecedented heavy losses.
What's even more deadly is that those mad dogs Special Search Team got a lot of clues from nowhere and are launching a city-wide manhunt for Noah Organization.
One stronghold after another was seized, and one member after another lost contact.
These surviving cadres also had to temporarily hide in the relatively safe "White Glove" company to avoid the spotlight.
This is the legal property of Noah Organization, a major taxpayer. Without conclusive evidence and a search warrant, even Special Search Team cannot break in.
The long silence was like a piece of Jushi pressing on the hearts of Feng Jincai and Zhuo Feng, making them almost breathless.
Cold sweat has begun to soak Zhuo Feng's back silently.
He knew that as the person in charge of intelligence, he was definitely to blame for the failure of this operation.
Feng Jincai secretly glanced at him out of the corner of his eye and moved his lips, but in the end he did not dare to make a sound.
In the end, Zhuo Feng could not withstand the suffocating pressure, mustered up the courage, took a step forward, and bowed his head deeply.
"Minister Luo... The responsibility for the failure of this operation lies entirely with one of my subordinates."
"It was a major oversight in my intelligence work. I..."
"Foolproof?"
Luo Lie did not look back, and a low voice came, interrupting his apology:
"I remember, these were your exact words."
This understatement was like a heavy hammer, hitting Zhuo Feng's heart hard, making him choke all the words that followed, and his face instantly turned pale.
"Minister, this... this is indeed an accident!"
Seeing this, Feng Jincai quickly defended Zhuo Feng, with a hint of urgency in his voice:
"No one could have imagined that the target could be so cunning, and even... even use those mad dogs like Special Search Team to deal with us. This is completely beyond our plan."
Luo Lie finally turned around slowly, his deep gaze falling on the two of them.
There was no anger or blame in his eyes, only a bottomless calm.
However, it is this calmness that is most frightening.
"Tell me about the losses."
He asked calmly, as if asking about today's weather.
Feng Jincai and Zhuo Feng looked at each other and felt a little relieved, but still did not dare to be careless.
Minister Luo is willing to listen to the report, which means there is room for recovery.
Feng Jincai cleared his throat and answered carefully:
"Minister, due to the sudden incident, most members have entered Entering Stillness silent mode in accordance with the highest emergency plan and cut off all regular contacts..."
"So, at present... we can only calculate a very preliminary general situation."
"Yes."
Zhuo Feng immediately took over the conversation and added actively, but his voice sounded a little dry:
"According to the sporadic information collected so far, at least eight of our cadres below Level Six have lost contact during the retreat. There is a high probability that they were arrested or... shot to death on the spot."
"The loss of ordinary members is initially estimated at more than fifty people."
Having said this, Zhuo Feng's face became extremely solemn, and he paused, seeming to organize his words.
"The worst part is... we have three Level Seven Executive, confirmed dead... last night."
Luo Lie Hearing this, the tips of his calm eyebrows finally moved almost imperceptibly.
"Including Intelligence Division, the captain responsible for tracking the target, Chen Rui."
Zhuo Feng continued speaking, his voice lowered:
"When our people arrived at Slaughterhouse where he lived, the police had already cordoned off the scene."
"According to the description sent back by the eyeliner, Chen Rui died in a miserable condition. The rotten Bone Fragment flesh of those ferocious dogs was everywhere on the scene, as if there had been an explosion."
"Moreover, on the wall of Slaughterhouse, someone used his blood to draw a huge, grinning devil's face."
Upon hearing this, Luo Lie's eyes suddenly became sharp, like an unsheathed sword, piercing Zhuo Feng and Feng Jincai.
"It's definitely that bastard, it's definitely Cheng Jiashu who did it!"
Before Zhuo Feng could continue to speak, Feng Jincai gritted his teeth and interjected:
"He is demonstrating to us, a naked provocation!"
Obviously, because Eastern Capital Branch suffered heavy losses, he, the person in charge, hated the culprit who made him take the blame.
"Yes, Station Chief Feng's guess is correct."
Zhuo Feng nodded and forced his tone to calm down:
"The other two Level Seven Executive who were killed had the same mark found at the death scene."
"You know the strength of Chen Rui. Although he is only Level Seven, his Special Abilities makes him extremely difficult to kill. His overall combat power is not even inferior to some Level Eight Executive."
"To be able to kill him quietly overnight, and also take care of the other two Level Seven Executive... it must be Cheng Jiashu himself."
Zhuo Feng took a deep breath and told all the conclusions he had analyzed over the past two days without sleep:
"He must have learned the information from some channel before we took action, so he was able to plant Trap in advance and attract Special Search Team, thus breaking our encirclement and suppression."
"After escaping, he used the information he had to track and hunt our core cadres as a means of revenge!"
Luo Lie was silent after hearing this.
The fingertips tapped lightly on the armrest of the sofa, making regular soft sounds. Each sound was like tapping on the hearts of Feng Jincai and Zhuo Feng.
In Luo Lie's mind, he could not help but think of the same stormy night on Yong'an Island, with the blood-stained turbulent waves.
And the figure who wore White Mask, killed his sworn brothers, and brought huge losses to himself.
White Owl...
Cheng Jiashu...
Smiling Devil...
These names gradually overlapped in my heart, and finally turned into a cold and biting Killing Intent.
"Now that he has taken action."
Luo Lie spoke slowly, the chill in his voice making the temperature in the room seem to drop a bit.
"Then as Envoy sent from the headquarters, I can't just sit and watch the show all the time."
As soon as these words came out, both Feng Jincai and Zhuo Feng felt a chill in their hearts, and a layer of cold sweat broke out behind their backs.
The implication is obvious.
Because I am extremely disappointed with the performance of Eastern Capital Branch.
Minister decided to take action personally!
Luo Lie indeed thinks so.
At first, he was somewhat apprehensive considering the mysterious origin of White Owl and the way Zheng Hongxin and Old Ghost respectfully called it Truth Society "God Child".
In order to ensure nothing went wrong, he agreed to the plan proposed by Zhuo Feng to carry out encirclement and suppression with the power of thunder.
But now, Eastern Capital Branch lost his troops and generals, and was chased by Special Search Team just like Outcast.
Under such a tense situation, it is absolutely impossible to organize another action of the same scale.
Eastern Capital Branch's decades-long business cannot be ruined just because of a mere enemy.
Otherwise, even if he finally successfully eliminates the target, he will not be able to explain it to Board of Directors when he returns to the headquarters.
After much thought, the only way to break the situation was to take action personally and quickly suppress this enemy with absolute power.
Judging from the information gathered from various aspects, the strength of Cheng Jiashu is roughly at the level of A+-Class, close to the threshold of S-Class.
Even if he hides something, his true strength has reached S-Class...
Luo Lie still has absolute confidence in this.
Because there is a big gap between S-Class and S-Class.
It has been many years since he entered S-Class, and his methods and strength have long exceeded the conventional assessment categories.
However, just when Luo Lie made a decision, Zhuo Feng hesitated and said:
"Minister Luo, there is another most critical question."
"Cheng Jiashu... disappeared."
"Before Demon Hunt Operation was launched, in order to ensure full control of the target's whereabouts, our people had been monitoring the perimeter of his villa."
"However, since that day he left the villa and went to Orphanage, he stayed away all night, and until now, he has never gone back."
Feng Jincai's face was full of sadness, and then he echoed:
"When he made such a big fuss, he must have thought that we would take crazy revenge, so he might have gone into hiding a long time ago."
"Eastern Capital is so big, trying to find a Supernatural Ability User that is hiding deliberately is like looking for a needle in a haystack..."
Luo Lie's brows frowned, and his eyes became sharp again:
"Is there any way you can find him again?"
This time, Feng Jincai was stopped by the question. He had a look of embarrassment on his face and muttered:
"Maybe... you can ask his Agency?"
On the contrary, it was Zhuo Feng, with a glint in his eyes, as if he had been waiting to seize this opportunity, and answered confidently:
"Yes!"
"Cheng Jiashu can make such a precise response because he must have placed an internal agent within our organization and is in constant contact with him!"
"As long as we can find out this Mouse hiding among us, we can follow the clues and dig him out completely!"
Luo Lie looked at him with deep eyes and motioned for him to continue.
Zhuo Feng then analyzed it methodically, with a determination to atone for his sins in his voice:
"At the time of the meeting to discuss Operation Plan, security measures were extremely tight and there was no possibility of being eavesdropped."
"The specific Operations Department signature was issued separately before the operation started. Therefore, the leaked Source could only be among the Twenty-Seven Cadres who attended the meeting at that time."
"And now, of these twenty-seven people, eight have lost contact and three are dead. Excluding me and Station Chief Feng... there are only fourteen suspects left!"
"The scope has been greatly reduced."
"Next, as long as we pay a little more attention, we can even deliberately release some false Bait Intelligence for testing. I believe it won't take long before the Mouse shows its tail..."
After hearing these words, Luo Lie's tense face finally relaxed a bit.
"Very well, I'll leave this task to you."
He nodded approvingly and then changed the topic:
"Once you find traces of that murderer, report it to me immediately and do not act without authorization."
"Yes! Minister, please rest assured and promise to complete the task!"
Zhuo Feng immediately straightened his back, his tone full of excitement about regaining trust.
"Just go ahead and do it."
Luo Lie's words contained a hint of encouragement:
"If you need any resources, please contact Station Chief Feng directly."
"Then... where is Special Search Team?"
Feng Jincai still asked worriedly, this was his biggest headache at the moment.
The corner of Luo Lie's mouth evoked a contemptuous sneer.
"It's just a bunch of dogs raised by Official Authorities, how can they change the world?"
"The foundation of our Noah in Eastern Capital, and even the entire Xia Country, is far from being shaken by just one Special Search Team. The game above is far more complicated than you think."
He paused and said in a plain but powerful tone:
"They won't be around for a few days, and the situation will calm down soon."
Hearing this, Feng Jincai and Zhuo Feng felt excited at the same time.
The two looked at each other and saw relief in each other's eyes.
The haze that had been weighing on their hearts for days and almost suffocating them seemed to be easily dispelled and swept away by these words.
Luo Lie said no more and turned his attention to the floor-to-ceiling window again.
A ray of sunshine just breaks through the thick clouds and shines among the skyscrapers of the city, reflecting a dazzling light.
Guanlan District, Haitian Garden.
Inside Unfinished Apartment, which has just completed its basic renovation, the air is still filled with the faint smell of latex paint and wood.
"Master, over here, the sofa is against this wall, and the table is placed in front of Living Room..."
Fang Cheng is wearing a pair of old casual clothes and is directing several workers of the moving company.
"Hey!"
Worker Master shouted, working together to lift a huge Chest Freezer that could almost fit two adults into it, and carefully moved it to the designated position.
The Freezer foot pads made a harsh friction sound on the Cement floor.
"Come a little further to the left, yes, okay, right here."
Fang Cheng took a few steps back, looked at it with squinted eyes, and nodded with satisfaction.
"Brother, your Freezer is really big enough. You live alone and drive a Convenience Store?"
A worker wiped the sweat from his forehead and asked half-jokingly.