Han Xiao gradually pieced together the process of Nosa's rendezvous with Lugaon.
First of all, Lugaon only left a little over an hour ago, which means he must have only recently learned of the intelligence.
The two split up; Nosa came to assassinate him, while Lugaon chose to upload intelligence. He then discovered that all information about Zero was blocked, so he decided to leave the city.
Lugaon was unaware that Han Xiao knew his identity, so he probably wasn't in a hurry to leave the city. Under these circumstances, he would choose the most natural way out of the city, with the northwest outpost being the closest to the slums and the most likely option.
However... it's not impossible that Lugaon might deliberately go against the grain and take a detour to one of the other two more distant outposts.
There are insufficient clues, and no clear direction.
"Hey, Han Xiao, we're here. What do you want with us?"
Li Yalin, Zhang Wei, and Lambert walked over. A yellow convertible sports car was parked outside. It was Li Yalin's car, and it was so fast that it was able to arrive in time.
Han Xiao had already changed his mask when he killed Nosa; the blood-stained one had been thrown away.
"An urgent mission: the contact person at the Germinal outpost has obtained important intelligence and may have escaped from three checkpoints. They may not have left the city yet."
Li Yalin immediately stopped smiling and asked seriously, "Do you look like him?"
Han Xiao's eyes lit up. He grabbed three scraps of newspaper from the ground and, relying on his distant memory, quickly sketched out Lugaon's general features—features, not his appearance, because he couldn't remember them either. He grabbed the poor homeless man and pulled him close, shouting, "Look at him, does he look like Lugaon?"
The homeless man said tremblingly, "His eye sockets are a little deeper, his nose is a bit crooked, and his hair is a buzz cut..."
Based on the homeless man's account, the portrait was quickly altered, and this time it should be about 70-80% similar. Han Xiao highlighted the key features and assigned the portrait to the three members of the team, saying, "We'll split up and find the officer at the checkpoint to check the surveillance footage and locate this person. Li Yalin and I will go together in her sports car to the furthest checkpoint. You two can choose one."
Zhang Wei's face twitched. "You're giving orders way too naturally. Don't you even respect me as your captain?"
Despite his inner turmoil, Zhang Wei prioritized the bigger picture, and together with Lambert, they split up and, without any regard for formalities, snatched the car in public.
Han Xiao jumped into the driver's seat of the yellow sports car, Li Yalin said with dissatisfaction, "Hey, this is my car, let me drive."
"You're driving too slowly."
"You actually doubted the agent's driving skills!" Li Yalin was so angry that her eyebrows shot up, but thinking that she couldn't waste time, she had no choice but to hold back and sullenly sat in the passenger seat.
"Fasten your seatbelts," Han Xiao reminded him.
Li Yalin glanced at Han Xiao and said disdainfully, "Are you kidding me? I'm a martial artist. No matter how fast you drive, I'll be fine."
"Just don't regret it."
Han Xiao nodded, shifted gears, and stepped on the gas.
Half an hour later.
The yellow sports car executed a powerful drift, its overheated tires leaving four black tire tracks on the ground, before coming to a steady stop at the farthest southern outpost.
"Vomit--"
"Hey, aren't you a martial artist?"
"You... you shouldn't talk to me, ugh--"
Li Yalin looked pale and vomited repeatedly while leaning against the car door.
Crossing the entire city in half an hour, causing twenty-seven car accidents... or twenty-eight? My head is spinning, I can't even count them.
"Who... who taught you to drive?"
Han Xiao looked surprised. "Does driving require instruction?"
"No, you don't need it?"
The first person to learn to drive wasn't taught by someone else.
That makes so much sense! I'm speechless!
Li Yalin stared in disbelief, about to say something, when a wave of nausea washed over her again. She turned and vomited violently, even bringing up bile.
"Is it really necessary? It's just that I was driving a little fast, isn't it?"
"Too fast? There's only one word to describe your driving skills: brake failure!"
Li Yalin resembled an angry little lion, baring her teeth and brandishing her claws, but unfortunately, her bluish lips and pale face made her look utterly intimidating.
"Stop fooling around, hurry up."
Li Yalin felt like she was floating, and almost fell headfirst into the vomit. Han Xiao quickly caught her, shook his head helplessly, and dragged Li Yalin forward like a dead pig.
The two arrived at the checkpoint, where the soldier on guard shouted, "Halt! Show your identification!"
Han Xiao reached into his pocket and was immediately taken aback; he had forgotten his Thirteenth Bureau ID. He turned to Li Yalin and reached into her pocket.
A top... none.
Pants... no.
"Where are your documents?" Han Xiao asked.
Li Yalin stared blankly as Han Xiao groped her voluptuous body.
I... I was groped?
"Ah, found it."
Han Xiao. He laboriously pulled an ID card from Li Yalin's back pocket and showed it to the soldier on guard who was secretly swallowing his saliva.
"So you're a secret agent. Please come in."
Han Xiao took a few steps, only to find Li Yalin standing still, biting her lip and staring intently at him.
Han Xiao asked in surprise, "What are you standing there for? Hurry up and come on."
Li Yalin took a deep breath, suppressing her rage, and said stiffly, "Give me back my documents."
"Why are you making things so complicated?" Han Xiao said impatiently, turning back to put the ID back into Li Yalin's back pocket.
Li Yalin's eyes widened.
Did I get groped again?
Han Xiao strode into the checkpoint, found the officer in charge of surveillance, and showed him Lugaon's portrait.
"Please wait a moment, the program is filtering people's images."
Li Yalin bit her lip and followed him in. She felt that when Han Xiao touched her, it was like touching a piece of pork, which made her feel very strange. She couldn't even feel angry. She just felt inexplicably uncomfortable and glared at Han Xiao fiercely.
In the crowded queue, Lugaon followed the group discreetly, with the checkpoint exit ahead.
Lugaon belongs to an intelligence organization called Wind Eye. He is an informant who has infiltrated West Capital. Eye of the Wind Organization is an affiliated force of Germinal. There are many forces like this that are affiliated with Germinal. They don't need to use Germinal's name, which is convenient for them to act sometimes.
The Wind Eye's organizational structure is hierarchical, with each city's intelligence network having only one head, known as the contact person, who contacts the organization periodically. The contact person's subordinates are specifically responsible for collecting intelligence and can only communicate with the contact person in writing.
Lugaon learned by chance from an informant that a person with similar physical characteristics to Zero was active in the Seventh District, but he did not know the exact location. After looking around, he found that an area seemed to be secretly guarded and outsiders could not enter. Therefore, he concluded that the area was Han Xiao's hiding place and was under the protection of the Thirteenth Bureau.
That area was near the repair shop, and Feng Jun was secretly keeping watch over it.
When Lugaon discovered that Zero's messages could not be transmitted online, he realized that hackers had blocked the city's network. To be on the safe side, he immediately disconnected from the internet, destroyed his computer to prevent being located by the hackers, and headed to the checkpoint to prepare to leave the city.
"With Nosa's abilities, he should have succeeded by now."
Just then, the barbed wire gate in front slammed shut, trapping those waiting to leave the city inside the checkpoint.
"What's wrong?"
Why won't they let us leave the city?
A soldier shouted, "Orders have been given to temporarily seal off the city."
Everyone immediately began to complain, but Lugaon sensed something was wrong.
"Why is the city under lockdown? Did Nosa make a mistake?"
Lugaon was somewhat shocked, his expression grave. This was important intelligence and it had to be relayed to the organization to increase Zero's perceived threat level.
The soldiers were checking everyone's identities. Lugaon was very confident in his ability to infiltrate. He had been in West Capital for two or three years and had never given himself away. It was impossible to find him.
"That's him!"
A loud shout rang out, and Lugaon turned around to see a group of soldiers marching menacingly toward him, their target clearly him.
"Impossible!"
Lugaon was terrified and tried to retreat, but he was surrounded by people. Looking at the ubiquitous military facilities and soldiers around him, a sense of despair washed over him. He was pinned to the ground by the soldiers and did not resist.
"We made it."
Han Xiao walked over and breathed a sigh of relief.
"You actually caught up with me." Li Yalin said in surprise.
Lugaon looked up, his face dejected, and said, "How did you know it was me?"
Han Xiao remained calm. This person was the contact person for the players of the Germinal faction in West Capital, and he left a deep impression on him.
Completely baffled and filled with despair, Lugaon prepared to bite open the venom sac in his molar. He was utterly loyal to Germinal, and to prevent the information from being leaked, he chose to end his own life.
Han Xiao suddenly drew his pistol and shot Lugaon in the head. The bullet pierced the back of his head, bringing out a stream of blood and brain matter.
[You killed Lugaon Cybertron (lv12), you gained 3500 experience.]
Han Xiao blew on the muzzle of his gun. "Even if you're going to die, at least give me some experience."
How did you kill him?
Li Yalin looked surprised; in her opinion, they could have simply handed the person over to the police station for interrogation.
"He has poison sacs in his teeth, poison under his fingernails, and poison needles hidden in his underwear. If he wants to die, no one can stop him."
Han Xiao shook his head.
Whether Lugaon lives or dies is unimportant to him; he already knows what he needs to know.
"It seems the plan needs to be implemented quickly." Han Xiao's eyes darkened slightly, and a sense of pressure rose within them.