Chapter 332 - 63: Harvest
Chapter 332 - 63: Harvest
As Chen Chuan looked at the pattern in his hand, he couldn’t help but think of Tan Wang, a member of the Secret Snake Sect. The subsequent interrogation records revealed that Wei Jun had hired Tan Wang to take care of him.
’Is this case the same?’
’It’s very likely.’
’But who could it be?’
He pushed aside the identification documents and other items and began to flip through the notebook in his hand.
Every page was filled with coded phrases. Without the key, it was impossible to know their purpose. However, a detailed date was noted every few pages.
The earliest date in the notebook was from two years ago. He then flipped to the last one.
March 20th.
’Hm?’
His gaze flickered. ’I remember that was the day of my entrance evaluation. Could there be a connection between the two?’
’It’s hard to say for now.’
He thought for a moment, then set the notebook aside. He planned to take it back later and have the Processing Bureau see if they could decrypt it.
Next, he opened the second drawer. Inside were two spare Realm Tokens—a new model and an old, used one. ’These two items might reveal something.’
In the third drawer, he found some common Anti-Differentiation Medicine and a tattered volume of esoteric classics.
His gaze paused. He picked it up and flipped through it, discovering the contents were described with a mix of text and symbols. Some were common symbols from Esoteric Rituals. An ordinary person would likely find it indecipherable, and even for him, someone who had reviewed materials on Esoteric Buddhism, it was incredibly abstruse.
’But that’s fine. If I can’t understand it, someone else will.’
He planned to take this book back with him, photograph the pages, and send them to Director Lei. He was confident Director Lei would have no trouble understanding its contents.
After checking the nightstand, he moved to the wardrobe and rummaged through it. It contained plenty of spare clothes, and there was a hidden compartment in the back panel. He pried it open to find several firearms, both rifles and handguns, with matching, fully-loaded ammo boxes. They looked like they had barely been used.
Seeing nothing else of value, he left and went to the last room. As he opened the door, he saw two cabinets, one long and one short, placed against the walls.
The sight sparked a hunch. He went back to the previous room to grab a few likely keys. Upon returning, he tried the short cabinet first and found the correct key on the second try. He opened it and, sure enough, found it filled with drugs for a Fighter’s training, likely all for those at the Third Limit.
Some of the drugs were particularly unusual. They were sealed in glass tubes, containing a viscous-looking liquid that emitted a faint, fragmented glow. He had no idea what they were.
He closed the door and walked over to the long cabinet on the opposite side. He tried a key, and it opened. What greeted him were rows upon rows of High-Energy Nutrient Tanks, taking up almost an entire wall.
He’d suspected that since the man used a Resonance Nest, there would have to be High-Energy Nutrient Supplements stored here, but he hadn’t expected such a large quantity. Then again, he didn’t understand this type of biological entity, so it was hard to say how long these would last.
After looking, he closed the cabinet door, locked it, and left the room. Since he had now checked the entire second floor, he headed up the stairs to the third.
The floorboards and walls up here had obviously been reinforced. It was a single open space with no partitions, containing an algae-oil generator. In addition to that, two cars were parked here.
He walked over to take a look. The key to one of the cars was still in the ignition. The vehicle was facing the rear of the building, where there was a ramp with a spring-loaded door. It looked like it could be driven straight down, likely an escape route prepared for an emergency.
He used his Realm Token to check it. The car was a standard commuter vehicle produced by Jade Company, though it had probably been privately modified with exterior armor plating.
The other vehicle was hidden under a car cover. He lifted it and was surprised to find a "Silver Lightning" from Baorui Company. The entire car was a shimmering silver, its body boasting sleek, dynamic lines and a large headlight assembly. He could imagine what it looked like in motion; it probably did resemble a bolt of lightning.
Just then, Wubei’s excited voice came through the Realm Token. "Brother Chen, I’m here."
’He’s here already?’
Chen Chuan said, "Alright, Brother Wu. Wait there, I’ll be right down."
After heading downstairs, he glanced outside. The rain hadn’t stopped, but it had lightened up. His previous tunic had been torn to shreds, so he found an umbrella in a storage box under the awning before making his way down the hill.
At the foot of the hill, he saw a medium-sized, armor-plated cargo truck parked in the distance. Its headlights were on, making the ripples from the raindrops in the pond ahead clearly visible. As he approached, the door slid open. Wubei waved from inside as his voice simultaneously came through the Realm Token: "Brother Chen, I’m over here."
Chen Chuan walked over. Wubei’s stout, chubby body hurriedly squeezed out of the vehicle. He opened an umbrella that barely covered his frame and came to stand before Chen Chuan, breathing a little heavily.
Chen Chuan smiled and said, "Brother Wu, no rush. Catch your breath. Did you bring any water?"
"I did, I did." Wubei pulled a thermos from a pouch on his clothes and took a few large gulps. He instantly felt much better and pulled out a handkerchief to wipe the sweat from his head.
Once Wubei had caught his breath, Chen Chuan turned to lead the way. "Follow me. The mountain path is slippery, and there are quite a few traps. Be careful and walk behind me."
"Okay, okay."
Chen Chuan led Wubei back to the house on the mountainside. Upon entering the room, Wubei completely ignored the skeleton standing in the corner and the severed head on the floor. His gaze was instantly captivated by the Resonance Nest. His eyes were practically glowing as he scurried over and began circling it.
"It really is a mobile Green Island model from Du Xiang Tianmen Company! A thirty-year lifespan, and the resonance-assisted enhancement can be cranked up to a maximum of one hundred and seventy percent."
"Huh, and it’s a special low-consumption model? Whoa, this thing must have originally cost one million two hundred thousand, at least. Second-hand ones on the market start at five hundred thousand, and a good one can go for seven hundred thousand. This one’s probably been used for less than a year—it hasn’t even formed a complete Domain synergy with its owner yet. What a find, what a find..."
Seeing him rubbing his hands together in excitement, it looked as if he was about to lunge forward and hug it.
Chen Chuan said with a smile, "Brother Wu, it’s all yours. You can take it back and study it to your heart’s content."
"Mhm, mhm, mhm..." Wubei bobbed his head like a chicken pecking at rice, his double chin trembling. His delight was plain to see; it looked like the only thing stopping him was from bowing down to the device.
Chen Chuan took out the deceased’s Realm Token and handed it to him. "Brother Wu, see if you can find any useful information."
Wubei’s expression immediately turned serious. He grunted in acknowledgment, brought the Realm Token up to his face, and placed a hand on the back of his neck. After staring at it for a moment, he let out a sigh of relief. "Good, the Realm Token hasn’t been carbonized."
"Carbonized?"
Wubei explained to Chen Chuan that "carbonization" is what happens when people rig their Realm Tokens with a bio-electric generating organ and a bio-feedback mechanism. With some passive types, the moment the owner dies and their Biological Domain disappears, the organ is stimulated, causing the entire Realm Token to burn out. No records are left behind.
"It’s not that it’s completely impossible to restore, but the cost is very high, and it’s hard to say how much you can ultimately recover."
"This Realm Token is also connected to a generating organ, but it looks like an active type that wasn’t used in the end. You were probably too fast for him, Brother Chen. He didn’t have time to activate it."
Chen Chuan mulled it over. ’The Life Force of a Third Limit Fighter is immense. Even after being decapitated, they don’t die right away. If he had truly wanted to destroy it, he probably could have.’
’He didn’t do it. I don’t know if he was genuinely unable to due to the influence of the ghost story, or if he just didn’t want to.’
After a quick check, Wubei transferred some of the easier-to-access Domain record information to his own Realm Token, starting with the most frequently contacted people.
The uppermost layer of a Realm Token stores Domain exchange information from the last three days, so he could now restore all of the man’s external communications from that period.
He first tried restoring the most recent one.
A flat, mechanical voice sounded in both of their Realm Tokens: "You Xing, the client asks when you will be able to resolve the commission."
Then, a dry, hoarse voice replied: "Tell the client, soon."
After hearing the two voices, Chen Chuan’s mind raced. ’The dry, hoarse voice undoubtedly belonged to the man whose head was lying on the floor. So his name is You Xing. That must be a codename.’
’A client... Someone hired this person to come after me.’ He thought of the Secret Snake Sect’s promotional flier and their line of work. It all added up.
He looked up and asked, "Brother Wu, can you trace the source of the first voice?"
Wubei said thoughtfully, "It was likely routed through a dormant Consciousness Body. Those are extremely difficult to trace."
Chen Chuan thought for a moment, then asked, "Now that we have his Realm Token, if someone else tries to contact him, could we use that to find some clues?"
Wubei said, "That depends on whether he had an interactive information link with the dormant Consciousness Body, like a platform account. If he subscribed to a service, it would conduct a Biological Domain information exchange with the account holder at set intervals. Shorter intervals are typically every ten minutes or half an hour, while longer ones could be half a day, a full day, or even several days or half a month."
If the account holder dies and there’s no exchange for a prolonged period, the account is frozen. I’m not sure if he had a similar interactive setup. If he did, the people behind this may have already learned of his death."
"In fact, even if they haven’t found out and still try to talk to me, it would be very difficult for me to imitate his voice with one hundred percent accuracy if they run a voiceprint frequency comparison, even if I have his voice recording."
After hearing this, Chen Chuan nodded and said, "In that case..." He looked at the Resonance Nest. "Brother Wu, you mentioned there might be residual information on this, so I’ll have to trouble you to use this to check."
Wubei’s face lit up when he heard that. He rubbed his hands together and stepped in front of the Resonance Nest. "Alright. I’ll adjust the Domain frequency first. It won’t take much time. Once it’s calibrated, I can get it to work for me."
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