"What’s going on?!" Marcus hurriedly looked at the explanation below, which consisted of a few simple sentences: 1,000 merit points were awarded to Chen Gu for his achievements on Yinglong Star and were now being retroactively issued.
In addition, for this mission, Chen Gu had killed the bone-mutant and ingeniously devised a strategy to kill the iron-anchor mutant, earning an extra 200 merit points.
Chen Gu originally had 200 merit points, and he had spent 100 upon assuming his position, so all together, that came to exactly 1,300.
"This..." Marcus felt incredibly suffocated and glared fiercely at Chen Gu. "Rich boy!"
"Well then, you will complete the entire report for this mission!"
Chen Gu was flabbergasted. "What?!"
Everyone noticed Chen Gu’s merit points, and jealousy twisted their insides. Naturally, they strongly supported the team leader’s decision!
After finishing their tea, all team members returned to rest, light-hearted, while Chen Gu was left miserably completing the report in the office.
In Chen Jixian’s office, several directors and bureau chiefs sat together, but there was no joy from a successful operation; instead, they were fraught with worry.
"In this operation, we exterminated six Beta Level (Level 2) Mutants and four Gamma Level (Level 3) Mutants. It seemed like a complete victory. However, our preliminary screening of the Mutants’ brain memories showed they were all warriors who didn’t know many secrets. This lead could very well be dead."
"Although we captured Zhou Shenyu, we still know nothing about the spy hidden in our city, or even within the entire upper echelons of Empire River Star."
"This spy is very cunning, cutting off all leads that could point to him. If we hadn’t been vigilant this time, we could have actually fallen for his counter-ambush and suffered heavy losses!"
In such times, Chen Jixian’s thinking was incredibly sharp. "Strengthen security measures. Starting now, cease all intelligence reporting. The Bureau of Mystic Security’s actions should only be known internally."
"Additionally, select some bait information to leak out, and report different intel to various city government departments to quickly determine which system the spy is operating within."
Marcel handed over another report. "Director, we have recently monitored increased activity of the True Knowledge Sin on Empire River Star."
Director Mei was puzzled. "After the last prison break, the Confederation secretly moved Wei Jiangqi. Why would they continue to focus on Empire River Star?"
"The specific goals of True Knowledge Sin are unclear, but from some clues, we can infer that at least two Angel Envoys have arrived on Empire River Star."
Chen Jixian’s eyelids twitched slightly. "Good. Let them come, and we’ll catch them all in one fell swoop!"
After the executives finished their meeting, Chen Gu finally completed the mission report. As he left the building, he ran into Chen Jixian.
His father, Chen Jixian, was sitting in his private car. He looked very stylish as his assistant opened the door and gestured for Chen Gu to come in.
Chen Gu grumbled internally: He’s still putting on such airs, even with me, his son!
But he got in the car anyway. The car didn’t move; Chen Jixian just wanted to say a few words to him. "We’ve just received intelligence that in the Great Cross Star Domain, our forces have encountered a special Alien Insect Race. They are stronger, more ferocious, and more evil..."
Chen Jixian tapped his finger, and a holographic projection opened in front of Chen Gu, showing a recording of that battle.
Chen Gu saw those Alien Insect Race members. They were more than twice as tall as their kin, their bodies were pitch black, and their exoskeletons were covered in sharp barbs. Their eyes were a bloody red, and some even displayed special abilities during combat!
Chen Gu exclaimed in disbelief, "Are these Mutants of the Insect Race?!"
Chen Jixian slowly nodded. "The battlefield in the Great Cross Star Domain was originally the destination Kloya and the others were preparing to head to. Furthermore, the mothership seized by the Mutants ultimately headed toward the Alien Insect Race in this star domain."
Chen Gu found it hard to believe. "The Mutants contaminated the Alien Insect Race? Why would they go through such trouble? The Endless Realm can directly infiltrate the real world and could contaminate the Alien Insect Race just as easily..."
Chen Jixian spoke slowly, "According to current human research, the Endless Realm can influence all intelligent life, even super life forms. Some scholars also speculate that many of the debased creatures and Evil Gods within the Endless Realm may very well be super life forms that were corrupted and fell."
"But there is an issue: the greater the intelligence, the easier it is to be influenced. Life forms with low intelligence are almost never tempted."
Chen Gu began to understand. "Those insects have strong reproductive capabilities, but most are not highly intelligent. Within the entire race, there is usually only one commander: the Empress."
"The Endless Realm could also slowly tempt these Empresses, but the Insect Race’s population is extremely vast, and they probably can’t find those Empresses with such accuracy."
"Even so, it’s still possible to influence the Alien Insect Race through the Endless Realm. For the Mutants to go to such trouble to achieve this goal, it seems they are quite desperate!"
Chen Jixian didn’t say anything more. "These matters concern you, so I thought I’d let you know." After saying that, he pointed at the car door, projecting an ’I’m the boss, you can leave now’ attitude.
Chen Gu pursed his lips. After some thought, however, he realized his father had spoken a lot more smoothly with him this time. This was a big step forward, unlike their previous meetings when his father would always just spit out a few dry words.
Chen Gu got out of the car straightforwardly. But Chen Jixian’s driver sensed that the director’s expression was not very pleased for the entire journey—overall, Chen Jixian was not very satisfied with this meeting. Why? Because he always felt that it didn’t resemble the interaction between other fathers and sons.
Look at the two of us, so respectful to each other, our conversation concise and logical! Other families... aren’t they always a chaotic mess, fathers being unreasonable and overbearing, and when they can’t win an argument, they just yell at their sons to get lost? I haven’t experienced that kind of interaction. Chen Jixian felt that while this meeting had achieved all its objectives, it was ultimately a failure!
On the way home, Chen Gu kept thinking about the issue of Mutants contaminating the Alien Insect Race. After reaching home, Chen Gu immediately logged into "Endless Realm".
It wasn’t yet time for the "every three days" routine check-in, but sure enough, a series of messages came through upon logging in, from "Dressing for Battle by the Mirror".
"Urgent matter, come online and respond immediately!"
Three consecutive messages. Based solely on this number, Chen Gu knew it wasn’t truly an urgent matter. Otherwise, with the temperament of this in-game crossdresser, hundreds of messages would have bombarded him by now.
But Chen Gu also wanted to understand the situation, so he promptly replied, "What happened?"
The other party was actually not online! Chen Gu pursed his lips, understanding even more clearly that the military wasn’t actually very anxious about this matter.
After waiting for over twenty minutes, "Dressing for Battle by the Mirror"’s icon lit up, and she responded quickly, "I’m sending you a battle video, but it’s highly confidential. You need to ensure it won’t be leaked. Otherwise, it would be a crime, and you’d be brought before a military court!"
"Even the ’Endless Realm’ officials can’t protect you in this case!"
Chen Gu pursed his lips again; this person was not only an in-game crossdresser but also liked to bluff.