The more Chen Shijie thought about it, the more excited he became, his body trembling slightly.
A satisfied smile slowly spread across his face.
If he could get his hands on this batch of experimental materials, the Research Institute wouldn’t have to worry about its projects for the next two years!
Admittedly, this Su Wan was at the Level 3 Late Stage, making her a formidable opponent.
However, the Research Institute was filled with gene-modified organism monsters.
Comparing combat power?
Even the City Defense Force had to take a back seat!
How could a mere Level 3 Late Stage like Su Wan compete?
But, just to be safe...
Chen Shijie walked back to his desk, picked up the communicator, and dialed an encrypted channel.
After a brief wait, a deep voice came from the other end: “Dr. Chen, it’s so late. Is something the matter?”
It was the City Defense Force Commander, Pei Su.
A Level 4 Early Stage Ability User, he was the highest commander of the Panshi City City Defense Force and the strongest publicly known Ability User in the entire city.
“Commander Pei, my apologies for disturbing you so late.” Chen Shijie’s voice was mild, but it carried a faint, underlying sense of superiority.
Though he said the words, there wasn't a hint of actual apology in his tone.
“I need a favor from you.”
“Go ahead, Dr. Chen.” Pei Su rubbed his brow, looking exhausted.
He sat in a large leather chair in his top-floor office at the City Defense Force headquarters. A thick stack of documents was spread across the desk before him, all concerning various matters before the arrival of the Cold Wave.
The climate-controlled living environment of the Inner City needed maintenance, the management of commoners in the Outer City required personnel reallocation, the safety hazards in the Ruin Zone needed investigation, and the security forces of various factions had to be coordinated...
Every item required his personal review, and every single one was urgent and vital.
What gave him the biggest headache was the impending snowfall brought by the Cold Wave.
Once the snow fell, Rot-Walkers would swarm from their hiding places and appear at the edge of the Ruin Zone, wandering around and attacking the living.
Every year at this time, the City Defense Force had to deploy a massive number of troops for a purge, both to protect the safety of the Outer City and to prevent the Rot-Walkers from spreading further.
Because he was so busy, his mood was foul.
He was in a state of irritability that could explode at any moment.
Yet, even with anger and anxiety churning inside him, Pei Su’s tone when speaking to Chen Shijie remained mild and polite.
It wasn't because he had a good temper, but because he couldn't afford to offend this seemingly defenseless researcher.
The ace team of the Panshi City City Defense Force—the hundred-man squad composed of gene-modified organisms—depended on researchers like Chen Shijie.
Without them, those gene-modified organisms were just a pile of soulless weapons, possessing powerful bodies but unable to exert their true combat potential.
It was these researchers who constantly optimized gene chimerism technology, adjusted drug formulations, and repaired genetic defects in the modified beings, allowing that squad to maintain its overwhelming strength.
More importantly, Pei Su knew all too well how terrifying these scientific lunatics could be.
They possessed far too many things the City Defense Force knew nothing about.
Specialized drugs that could instantly turn the tide on a battlefield, interrogation techniques that could make a person wish for death, and biochemical weapons that even a Level 4 Ability User would fear...
All of these things were held in the hands of Chen Shijie and his group.
If he offended them, the City Defense Force’s ace team might be wiped out in the next battle.
If he offended them, Pei Su himself might one day die silently in his own office.
Furthermore, as fellow governmental institutions of the Dawn Federation, the Research Institute’s overall status was subtly higher than that of the City Defense Force.
The City Defense Force was responsible for the “dirty work”—maintaining order, purging xenogeneics, and defending the city.
Meanwhile, the Research Institute controlled the technology and knowledge, the rarest and most precious resources in this wasteland.
In the Federation’s power structure, the Research Institute carried much more weight than the City Defense Force.
“I’d like to ask for some information regarding the Terminal Station Shelter in the Ruin Zone...” Chen Shijie got straight to the point.
Upon hearing this, Pei Su’s body instantly straightened, and his tightly closed eyes snapped open.
When Chen Shijie suddenly asked about the Terminal Station, alarm bells immediately rang in Pei Su’s mind.
In his understanding, aside from using the vagrants of the Ruin Zone as test subjects, the Deep Blue Research Institute never involved itself in the affairs of the Ruin Zone.
That group of white-coats stayed cooped up in their labs all day, indifferent to outside matters.
All they needed were test subjects; as for where they came from or how they were obtained, they never cared.
But now, Chen Shijie had actually taken the initiative to ask about the Terminal Station.
Pei Su was both shocked and curious.
Regardless of how many tasks he currently had to handle, what angered and worried him the most was the loss of contact with Butcher!
He had filed a report with the leadership of the Area C City Defense Force and gone through a great deal of trouble just to apply for a Level 4 hidden operative like Butcher, specifically to carry out those clandestine secret missions.
He had sent Butcher to the Ruin Zone to scout out the Terminal Station’s background, wanting to find out if there truly was a Level 4 Ability User inside and which faction was actually pulling the strings behind the shelter.
When he sent Butcher out, Pei Su thought the matter was as good as settled.
Against a vagrant shelter in the Ruin Zone, shouldn't a Level 4 Dark Department assassin have things well in hand?
At most, it should have taken two days for Butcher to finish the job and return with definitive intelligence.
But now, two days had passed.
Not only had Butcher failed to return, but not a single message had been sent back.
Even worse, when they tried to contact Butcher, there was no response whatsoever.
Cold Wind and Iron Bone, who had gone with him, had also gone silent.
Pei Su’s intuition told him that something had gone wrong.
A Level 4 Dark Department assassin and two Level 3 Mid Stage Ability Users—the three of them together were enough to sweep through any faction in the Ruin Zone.
Yet they had disappeared without a sound.
No battle report, no distress signal, not even a single clue left behind.
In just two days, Pei Su’s assessment of the Terminal Station’s danger level had jumped several notches.
With the Deep Winter season approaching, the City Defense Force’s manpower was already stretched thin, and now the Terminal Station had become another major headache!
He didn’t know why Dr. Chen was asking about the Terminal Station, nor did he know where he had learned of its existence.
But he was the City Defense Force Commander, after all; having survived in this city for decades, he had seen his share of storms.
Despite his many questions, Pei Su remained composed.
“Dr. Chen, why have you suddenly taken an interest in something from the Ruin Zone?”
His voice was calm, devoid of any emotion.
On the other end of the communicator, Chen Shijie chuckled. The laugh was short and light, as if he were stifling something.
Rate on N.U.
