I Want to Take Your Measurements!

"This person isn't even on our list of 1,600 industrial spies that we sent to Stephenson!"

Xu Nan was startled by Luna's complaints.

Are you kidding me? Keep in mind that the entire Stephenson has a population of over 100,000. If what Luna said is true, wouldn't that mean one in a hundred people is a commercial spy from Lost Paradise?

No wonder the knock-off industry in Lost Paradise is so sophisticated; it's practically infiltrated Stephenson completely.

"Ahem, I believe that none of you in Lost Paradise would do such a thing."

"Someone must be behind this. They don't want the two sides to cooperate, so they're resorting to such despicable tactics!"

"I won't let them succeed. What about you, Mr. Xu Nan?"

Roger was filled with righteous indignation.

Xu Nan could only chuckle awkwardly in agreement, her initial inexplicable confidence long gone...

By this point, he had figured it out. The group of seemingly useless people around him, who appeared to be on a paid vacation, might actually be heads of various commercial espionage operations, using the guise of lavish meals to secretly infiltrate Stephenson and make contact with their informants.

In fact, Luna had already subtly reminded Xu Nan, but he thought she was joking with him.

So that explains why they went to the toilet so frequently while soaking in the Hot Spring yesterday. It definitely wasn't because they had kidney problems!

Xu Nan was inwardly in tears. It turned out that he really was just a lone commander, and the only one who wanted to do things seriously!

"The situation is a bit off. Someone is stirring up emotions. Although Mr. Xu Nan's brilliant plan has stopped the demonstrations and strikes, the matter of commercial espionage may alarm the Council of Elders."

Roger said unhappily, "I'm afraid we can't continue today."

As the leader of the Evocation School of Magicians, Roger also wanted to get the White Paper done as soon as possible so he could start researching arcane magic. However, these troublemakers were always causing him trouble, which left Roger helpless. Suddenly, he thought of asking Xu Nan for help.

"The Lower House of Council of Elders trying a spy? And they're inviting me to be a spectator? That's not a good idea."

Xu Nan was caught in a dilemma when faced with Roger's straightforward invitation.

If one is truly upright and has nothing to fear, then Xu Nan could easily subdue the Council of Elders with his righteous indignation. Lost Paradise did not send any commercial spies to Stephenson.

But the current situation is that Lost Paradise has gone completely astray as it could possibly be!

Roger waved his hand. "There will be a confrontation anyway, so you'll definitely need to attend."

"I'm really sorry that the originally pleasant cooperation between the two parties has been delayed time and time again, but I assure you that there will be no more surprises."

"Once we resolve the issue of industrial espionage, we'll sign the agreement immediately!"

Roger made a runaway, leading a bunch of bald, red-robed mages to go and cause trouble for the Aurora Treehouse.

Xu Nan and the others slunk back to the hotel.

Along the way, everyone was a little scared, after all, the appearance of corporate spies had made xenophobia in the city very serious.

Although the wave of marches and strikes was stopped, more people joined the tide of resistance and cooperation with Lost Paradise.

Stephenson's mage hated nothing more than corporate espionage. To have his painstakingly researched formulas and rituals stolen was an insult and desecration of his knowledge!

With the help of a certain person, the entire Stephenson learned about the corporate espionage.

At first, it wasn't a big deal; people just thought it was a bit excessive. After all, the existence of industrial espionage was already a tacitly accepted rule. Stephenson Sands had been infiltrated by various forces for years, and no matter how strict the barriers were, there were always those who succumbed to corruption.

But the problem is that the Aurora Treehouse corporate espionage incident was just the beginning.

Later that evening, the Protection School, which was preparing for the Centennial Ceremony, claimed that they had also captured two spies.

The two spies stole a large stockpile of Seven-Colored Dragon Lizard feathers—an extremely rare alchemical material crucial to the Protection School's Centennial Ceremony —but the two have now emptied the stockpile, and the whereabouts of the alchemical items remain unknown.

While the origins of these two individuals were not explicitly stated by the Protection School, they were more or less hinted at in relation to Lost Paradise.

This completely ignited public anger against Stephenson.

The hostility that had accumulated over many years towards Lost Paradise erupted completely.

The Floating City was in an uproar. Many mages who were traveling outside returned to the city to express their protests against the cooperation with Lost Paradise.

This trial concerning industrial espionage has attracted widespread attention.

Xu Nan was very troubled.

If things continue this way, Lost Paradise will definitely be the scapegoat, given their numerous shady pasts. And these so-called corporate spies might just be pawns pushed out by the mastermind behind it all. If they then accuse Lost Paradise of instigating them, they'll be left with no way to defend themselves.

So this negotiation is most likely to fall through.

The negotiations fell through, and Luo Mang and Ansu Li were definitely unhappy, as they couldn't have a peaceful relationship anymore.

Luo Mang was unhappy. Xu Nan was probably the first to be held accountable. Although the teacher wasn't the kind of person who was rude or unreasonable, this was the first task Luo Mang had given to Xu Nan. If he messed it up, he would be disappointed.

"We can't just sit here and wait to die."

"It's basically impossible to expect Roger, that bald, rough-looking guy, to find out who's behind this. After all, this guy is the kind of guy who thinks being bald is intimidating. Not only does he always appear bald and in a red robe, but even the mages who join his school of mages have to conform to his weird aesthetic in terms of appearance. He's a guy with a bizarre way of thinking..."

"First, we need to determine whether those three corporate spies are truly among our people!"

Xu Nan became more serious than ever before.

He found a secret room inside the hotel, and then booked a separate Leomund's Hut, where he summoned several key figures from the delegation for a meeting.

"Today, I hope everyone can put away that attitude from before. I personally really want to complete the task assigned by the teacher, and I hope you can cooperate with me."

In order to increase his prestige, Xu Nan had no choice but to borrow the tiger's power.

Upon hearing the name of Mr. Luo Mang, the group of people who had been joking around became serious.

Xu Nan's expression softened slightly. "First, I need to know whether these three spies are actually our people?"

The slightly overweight warlock pondered, "That one in the Aurora Treehouse is definitely not him. Although he's handsome, he's not very charismatic. We generally don't want people like that..."

"But I don't know about the two with the Seven-Colored Dragon Lizard feathers..."

Luna said firmly, "They are definitely not one of ours!"

Xu Nan's heart skipped a beat. "You have intelligence?"

Luna shook her head.

"Our people can't be arrested."

"Corporate spies trained at Lost Paradise have never failed."

"Those who were arrested are definitely not our people!"

A strange sense of pride appeared on Elder Sister Shu's face.

Xu Nan remained silent.

He then asked a few more questions, especially about the real missions these people were carrying.

The other party also told the truth.

Whether they're playing cards, nursing babies, slightly chubby foodies, or Elder Sister with peculiar thought processes... they all share a common identity: the head of MI7, the intelligence agency of Lost Paradise.

Commonly known as the head of spies.

He was specifically responsible for liaising with Stephenson's informant.

"Actually, we had no choice. The assessment department was very dissatisfied with Lost Paradise's innovation progress this year, and the alchemy department's requirements for inspiration were also increasing. Mr. Ophy, considering the internal coordination issues of Lost Paradise, asked us to take this opportunity to gather more inspiration... Well, we call those things inspiration, after all, we are spies, not thieves."

Luna seemed to have a clear understanding of her position. "Our people have infiltrated very deeply; many of them are in Stephenson's most famous Alchemy Workshop..."

Xu Nan waved her hand to stop.

All he needed to know was that those three people weren't from Lost Paradise. As for what they wanted to do, let them do it.

They were also acting on Ophy's orders.

"In that case, I'll just contact Mr. Ophy directly."

Xu Nan didn't expect these spy chiefs to be of any help, after all, they had their own heavy tasks. Xu Nan's only request of them was that they not get caught!

At this critical juncture, the arrest of members of the delegation could very well be a game over.

After they left, Xu Nan contacted Ophy directly and asked him to send him the current information about Stephenson.

He needs a deeper and more thorough understanding of the whole incident.

He knew that since Ophy had sent so many commercial spies, there must be informants who knew a great deal about the conflict between the two factions.

Sure enough, not long after, Ophy sent over an address and a coded message.

Xu Nan disguised herself and went out, taking advantage of the darkness to find her way to the designated location.

Upon closer inspection, it turned out to be a Tailor Shop, but it wasn't very popular.

Xu Nan cautiously walked in.

The hall was dark and gloomy, with only a very calm figure bowing his head to sew an elegant mage's robe.

Xu Nan remained silent, simply walking over and picking up the third candle from the right side of the counter, gently shaking it:

"I want to have seven mage robes custom-made."

The man raised his eyelids slightly. "Then we need to measure your size first."

Do you need matching underwear?

Xu Nan coughed and said, "No need. Spellcasters from our school don't wear underwear."

That is the code!

The person finally stood up, Xu Nan was surprised to find that it was actually a girl with delicate features, flaxen hair, and blue eyes.

"Come in." She put down her mage robe and opened the door to the dressing room at the back.

Xu Nan instinctively forced himself to continue giving the coded message: "What are we going in for?"

"I need to measure your size!" the girl pouted, looking unhappy.

Xu Nan wondered to himself, "Which old rogue devised these codes?"

Then she happily went inside.

Before he could even ask a question, the girl slammed a thick stack of papers onto the table in front of Xu Nan.

"Is this the information?"

Xu Nan was delighted and picked it up carefully, but the more she looked at it, the more something seemed off.

"High-risk allowance totaling Constant Gold Coin for 19 months..."

"Special performance bonus totaled Constant Gold Coin in the third quarter..."

"The informant's basic subsidy for 4 months totals 6000 Constant Gold Coin..."

Xu Nan was confused and asked, "What is this?"

The girl looked at Xu Nan with a strange expression:

"Squeeze".

"Weren't you here to get your salary?"

"I haven't received my wages from Lost Paradise for over half a year!"

...!