Chapter 826: Make a Move

Chapter 826: Make a Move

January 20th, Major Cold[1].

Office of Deputy Guildmaster, underground base of Ocean River Union, nine o’clock at night.

Knock, knock, knock.

Sitting in her wheelchair, Surnamed Li closed the book in her hands, taking off the reading glasses perching on her nose and calling out to the door, “Come on in.”

The door opened. It was Qilin.

He was still dressed like a gentleman, but his cane had been replaced with one made purely of Black Gold.

“Free to talk, Madam Li?”

“Anytime.” Surnamed Li waved him over to have a seat.

Qilin closed the door behind him and sat down on the sofa for visitors. Without making small talk, he went straight to the point. “I’ve handed you the Knowledge Rune Circuit for a week. Have you merged with it?”

Surnamed Li smiled bitterly. “What do you think?”

Qilin frowned slightly. “Can it be that the holy water is really needed for the first merge?”

Surnamed Li reached into her breast pocket to take the Knowledge Rune Circuit out and inspect it closely. “Before Prophet reaches level 7, the Knowledge Rune Circuit felt different when I touched it.”

“When I hold it now, I sometimes can’t sense its existence. It’s as if it’s always been an extension of my body, but that’s it. I can’t form a deeper connection to the Rune Circuit.”

Qilin nodded slightly. “The mummy in Ni Nation is in our hands, but Dr. Jia needs more time to extract holy water from it. Besides, our prior understanding tells us that impure holy water will turn awakeners into abominations, so it’s a last resort.”

Surnamed Li nodded.

“Moreover, I have a feeling that Gao Yang lied.”

“Why?”

Qilin said, “If the holy water were so important, he would’ve swapped the mummy out beforehand to prevent us from getting it.”

Surnamed Li thought differently. “If he had swapped it out, and Yan Liang noticed it, he would’ve alerted us and caused his revenge plan to fail.”

“Come in,” Qilin raised his voice and said.

The door opened. Yan Liang walked in, wearing all black and a mask on his face. He had put on the cybernetic prosthetics, looking smaller and frailer than before like a short coat stand.

“Is it made?” Qilin asked.

“It is, but Dr. Jia hasn’t tested it, so he can’t promise that it’ll work well,” said Yan Liang.

“We’ll have to trust in his Genius, then,” Qilin said.

Yan Liang laughed hoarsely. “At least he’s never failed with the previous commissions.”

“I talked to Madam Li. We follow our original plan.”

“When are we making a move?” Yan Liang asked.

Qilin thought for a moment and knocked on the floor with his cane. “Sooner is better. Let’s go for tomorrow. Wait for my signal.”

He glanced at Surnamed Li. “I’ll stay with her for the time being. I have to entrust this to you.”

Yan Liang nodded. “Wait for my good news.”

...

Meanwhile, in the Intelligence Department, underground base of Ocean River Union.

The walls of monitoring screens glowed with luminescent light as they watched all movements in Li City. At this time, most locations on the screens were quiet with almost no pedestrian. There was nothing noteworthy.

And according to Liao Liao, this job was nothing but a front. When trying to find a needle in the ocean, one should just enjoy swimming in it. No one was going to actually dive to the bottom of the sea to look for the needle.

Liu Qingying and Ting Ting were on shift tonight. They chatted while having coffee.

Ting Ting was still pumped from the movie she had watched with Miss, Slam Dunker. She couldn’t help but talk about it.

“It’s awesome! Some people say the movie isn’t well made, but to me, the moment the five players showed up alone is more than worth the ticket price! What’s more to ask?”

Liu Qingying propped her chin with a hand and listened intently, but the eyes under the sunglasses were distant, seemingly gazing over Ting Ting’s shoulders at something farther.

1. One of the twelve major solar terms, signifying the coldest time of the year. ☜