Chapter 40: Secret Operation

Chapter 40: Secret Operation

I dared to enter this time mainly because I’d already been on her balcony earlier and knew the escape route. What I wanted was to see what Lu Qingyue’s husband looked like, so I could recognize him later.

The man who stepped inside and shed his invisibility was Ren Jingze.

Ren Jingze brought Lu Qingyue and her husband into the living room, then raised a hand with a casual flick. A map materialized in midair, scattered with red dots.

Pointing to the floating map, he said, “This is the latest resistance activity map Ran Weiping sent me to show you. Here, here, and here — areas of obvious activity. The two blue circles are supposedly the bases where they produce Wisdom Capsules.”

The areas he indicated were clustered around the Silicon Valley district of Zhongguan Village. The two blue circles were somewhere out in the mountains beyond the city.

Lu Qingyue asked, “How did Ran Weiping work this out? Yesterday we used the AI brain-mapping device on Gu Qiutang and got nothing useful. How does he have results this fast?”

“It didn’t come from Gu Qiutang. Inferior people really are stupid. The moment we took him, the resistance couldn’t sit still. They sent people to tail us, and Ran Weiping caught two of them. He also asked me to tell you — there are quite a few tails altogether. Several of us have spotted them. It looks like we’ve been blown. Ran Weiping had the two he caught tortured, and they broke.”

“That explains it. I felt it too — someone’s been on me. If every one of us has a tail, then we’re all exposed.”

“So Ran Weiping wants me to ask the team leader whether we should rotate in a fresh group.”

Lu Qingyue’s husband shook his head. “No need to rush. I still have people in reserve. This won’t unravel. Everything is under control. I’m not afraid they’ll move — I’m afraid they won’t. The moment you made your move, they couldn’t sit still. So what if you’ve been exposed? The whole world is ours. Just operate as open cards. Since you’ve already stirred the grass and startled the snake, keep going and wipe out their bases.”

So Lu Qingyue’s husband was the leader of the Fifth District Soul Hunters. That was why he wasn’t on my list. Of course the Soul Hunters wouldn’t hand the Sweepers information about their own commander.

Ren Jingze said, “Ran Weiping thinks we should move on the two blue areas as soon as possible. He’s worried about delay. Once their people realized the tails had been taken, they’d have passed word up the chain — the bases would be alerted before long. Since we already know roughly where they are, why wait?”

Lu Qingyue nodded. “I agree. Old Ou, how about we go now?”

Lu Qingyue’s husband had the surname Ou.

“It’s feasible,” he said. “But by custom, they usually produce at night, when the site is most active. So — during the midnight hour tonight. Secret operation. All five of you go in together. Don’t split up. Hit the northern base first, then the western one. Move fast. Your only target is the traitors: strike one point and leave the rest, kill them directly. As for dismantling the dens, I’ll arrange for CWP to handle that.”

“Understood. We’ll go get ready.”

Lu Qingyue turned to her husband. “If all five of us are going, what about the three prisoners? We could just finish them off.”

Team Leader Ou said, “Keep the one surnamed Gu. Hand the other two to CWP.”

“Good. We’ll take care of it now.”

I followed close behind Ren Jingze and Lu Qingyue as they left the apartment.

They must have felt the area was safe — or maybe they wanted to draw out any tails. Either way, they walked out the front door without going invisible.

Outside, they flagged down a taxi and headed south.

I didn’t follow them.

Saving the resistance bases was more pressing.

The moment they were gone, I found Gu Kunling and told her everything I’d seen inside.

She went pale and immediately began thinking through how to relocate the bases. She told me to stay and keep watch on the man surnamed…