"Are you streaking at home?"
Yu Kuangtu's first sentence baffled Ren Suo. "How did you know?"
The color drained from Yu Kuangtu's face on the other end of the phone. "You didn't streak in front of Qin Lian, did you?!"
"Do you think I'm you?" Ren Suo said calmly. "I've been running out of clothes to wear recently because I have to wait for them to dry, and there's no one else at home, so I had no choice but to go naked."
Over the past four days, Ren Suo had been working out and rolling down the hillside, leaving his clothes either wet or torn. As a straight man with a spartan wardrobe and no habit of clothes shopping, he naturally found himself short on attire.
After the third day, classes at the academy resumed. Ren Xingmei felt that aside from Ren Suo getting more diligent and a bit more tearful, there didn't seem to be any other issues, so she returned to her dormitory.
With only him at home, Ren Suo did as he pleased.
"Why do you ask?" Ren Suo was puzzled. Although he was happy that Yu Kuangtu's unexpected call interrupted his cultivation, the opening question felt strange to him.
"Uh... it's nothing."
Yu Kuangtu recalled last night when he chatted with Qin Lian and mentioned Ren Suo, Qin Lian suddenly said—
"Ren Suo is so flirty."
Yu Kuangtu, sneaking in a romantic chat at the Tactical Bureau, was completely bewildered.
If you said Ren Suo was dumb, silly, cute, or even handsome, that was fine, but flirty...?
Did he eat too many lamb skewers, so he had a gamey smell?
Then Qin Lian added, "Don't you learn from him."
Only then did Yu Kuangtu believe Qin Lian's 'flirty' comment was about Ren Suo's character. So he asked why she thought so, but Qin Lian only mentioned she noticed some peculiar things when visiting Ren Suo.
However, she didn't feel it was right to discuss someone else's private life behind their back; she was just giving Yu Kuangtu a heads-up. Besides, she said Ren Suo only had that flaw, which wasn't too big or too small, and he was otherwise very good.
"Hmm... never mind then." Yu Kuangtu thought maybe Ren Suo was drying underwear with teddy bear and kitten patterns on the balcony, and Qin Lian saw them.
It wouldn't be right to ask Ren Suo where he was flirty—if he asked that, Yu Kuangtu felt he himself would seem flirtier.
"We've finally identified the attackers' information from September 12th. Do you have time now to check for any errors or omissions? After all, you were an important observer at the scene. Apart from you, there are a few other officials who will review the intelligence. If you don't look it over, the school will also inform you of the details tomorrow—"
"If it's about work, I definitely have time!" Ren Suo immediately responded.
Yu Kuangtu on the other end blinked. Qin Lian was indeed right. Ren Suo had grown to love his work and cultivation—is it possible that the attack had such a profound impact on him?
If he felt powerless on the battlefield, was he now fired up with passion?
Should I go beat him up some dark and windy night to make him even more ambitious?
"Then I'll send it to you through the internal network. Send it back before 10 p.m. tonight. If there are any issues, cite the original text in the footnote at the bottom of the original material and add your annotations. If not sent, I'll take it as you have approved the material without errors or omissions."
Hanging up the phone, Ren Suo closed his eyes to gauge his situation and realized he had an hour and a half to work. His body relaxed, and he put aside the English reading material he had been holding.
After booting up the computer, the internal network notified him of a new email, with an attachment titled "912 Heavenly Lotus Academy Assassination Incident."
Although Ren Suo experienced the assassination incident twice (once in the game and once in reality), he was still unclear about the reasons behind it, only knowing that the target was probably Karen Lanpelucci. Beyond that, he was clueless.
Skimming through the document, Ren Suo furrowed his brow slightly, realizing the situation was deeper than he thought.
Firstly, the assassins originated from a mercenary organization known as Cards. Ren Suo certainly remembered this organization; it was the enemy he faced in the very first Minor World game he played, called "Assassin."
Seeing Stedley Gould four days ago, Ren Suo guessed the assailants were related to Cards—now he simply got confirmation.
According to the Tactical Bureau's investigation, although this assassination was led by Cards, the actual assassins came from various European countries. Even other major nations like the Federation had infiltrated their ranks.
These temporary assassins joined the operation not to disrupt the assassination but to contribute to Karen's assassination.
To Britain, Karen was like Zack to the Federation. Moreover, compared to Zack, Karen was even more mysterious—she and her sister were personally protected by Fairy Palace Assassins, which amounted to the Fairy Palace recognizing their significance!
Furthermore, Britain's confidential intelligence management was sloppy. Britain's Supernatural Organization had requested Karen's intervention on several occasions. Karen did indeed secure a lead in the international resource allocation for Britain; these matters were highly secretive, yet traces were still discovered by other nations.
As for Zack, other countries couldn't, and didn't dare to, do anything about him—after all, the Federation still loomed large.
But when it came to Britain, they weren't so polite. No one in Europe wanted to see this established nation rise again. So they opted to hire the Assassin Organization known as Cards and even sent their own assassins to join Cards, determined to squash Britain's hope.
After the revival of Spiritual Energy, the Card Organization was funded by wealthy individuals from all countries. Their strength grew by leaps and bounds daily, and they even produced several war machines that were invincible on the battlefield of hot weapons. Consequently, they took on this assassination order.
As it happened, Karen and Euphy suddenly had to leave Britain for a trip to Lianjiang in the Mysterious Country. The Card Organization would naturally not miss this rare opportunity. They made every effort to dispatch the assassins to Lianjiang in batches in a short time, then gathered them together for the assassination.
Among them, an assassin known as the 'Ink Guest,' the masked man with the paintbrush, was likely the person in charge of this assassination operation.
In this document, there's a note about the 'Ink Guest': "The spell 'Group Acceleration' used by Ink Guest during escape is the awakened spell of the former top Transcendent of Luxembourg. Ink Guest is suspected of possessing the ability to take away others' awakened spells."
There is also a note about 'Group Acceleration': "Group Acceleration is a strategic skill, but its effect in small-scale combat is minimal: only a few combat personnel can adapt to the sudden increase in speed. If they cannot adapt to the enhanced speed, it will put them at a disadvantage."
As for the assassins' firearms, it has not yet been discovered how they were transported in. However, the Tactical Bureau, along with Customs and Public Security systems, have been scouting daily and can almost rule out the possibility that they came through normal channels—the volume was too large, and there was too much heavy firepower.
You might come to the Mysterious Country for a visit, but bringing firearms? The Mysterious Country's border customs aren't foolish. Not to mention that, as a key city, Lianjiang's security measures are extremely strict.
Apart from the assassins who died in action, the Tactical Bureau has only captured four foreign assassins in these days. After being captured, these four people committed suicide, or rather 'were made to commit suicide'—there were chip bombs at the back of their necks.
This is how the Card Organization controls its assassins. When the assassins joined the Card Organization, their fates were clearly arranged.
As for the other fleeing assassins, the chances of capturing them are very slim. Now all the hotels have received higher-level notifications, and all the surrounding regions of Lian Province are keeping a close watch on all unfamiliar foreigners. Under these circumstances, if these assassins could hide for four days, they could naturally hide even longer.
For people who are part of social relations, the household registration system is an invincible cage. But for these Transcendents who can be self-sufficient in the wild, the Tactical Bureau can only keep a close watch on shipping, highways, and air transport, hoping at least to scare the group of assassins from stirring up trouble.
There is another note: "The Mysterious Country was completely unaware of this assassination operation. It can be considered that foreign forces deliberately provoked the friendly relationship between the Mysterious Country and Britain... The wholesale of tourist visas should be more cautious in the future... Strictly scrutinize the operation of foreign-funded enterprises..."
It seems that the higher-ups are also very angry—you could have gone anywhere to carry out an assassination, but you had to make trouble here and even brought firearms. Are you trying to flip the table? Original content can be found at n͟o͟v͟e͟l͟f͟i͟r͟e͟.net
Next is about the man in Red Clothing, Stedley Gould, who suddenly appeared in the banquet hall to attack the Card Assassins but swiftly escaped.
"'Blood Demon' Stedley Gould: A Transcendent who defected from the Card Organization several months ago; his ability is related to blood. The last sighting was in Federal New York. His methods of attack are blood claws and water guns spraying sulfuric blood. It was his first time entering the Mysterious Country, and he is currently on the run. His motive for attacking the Card Organization is revenge. He is considered a dangerous target that can be attempted to capture."
In "Midnight Walker," Stedley had said he wanted revenge on the Card Organization. Ren Suo hadn't expected his vengeance to also involve this game, or even become such a major help. If Stedley hadn't quickly killed the assassins responsible for long-range firepower, the attack would still have failed, but Ren Suo's side might have suffered far more casualties.
The document ends with information about the Fairy Palace Assassin.
However, there's no new information. All they know now is that the Fairy Palace Assassin speaks very standard Mandarin without any accent. Although, based on facial features and height, he should be a Southerner, a Southerner could also grow up in the Southern Hemisphere, so it's not significant.
After obtaining the Fairy Palace Assassin's facial information up close, the Tactical System is conducting a national face search, but Ren Suo thinks they probably haven't achieved any results.
And after searching the entire banquet hall, the Tactical Bureau did not find a single hair or drop of blood from the Fairy Palace Assassin. They suspect that the Fairy Palace Assassin was wearing a wig and that the Fairy Palace Assassin might be bald.
As for the rest, it's basically boring speculations about the Fairy Palace Assassin, such as 'The Fairy Palace Assassin has a lolita complex,' 'The Fairy Palace Assassin might have an intimate relationship with the Female Mage of the World Tree,' or 'The Fairy Palace Assassin is a silent and indifferent male,' and so on. Ren Suo crossed all of these out and wrote at the bottom of the page:
"Opinion of Ren Suo, specialist researcher on the Fairy Palace, Ren Naiser, and the World Tree: This is purely unfounded speculation; grasping at straws is not advisable."
Quickly skimming through the other peripheral content, Ren Suo renamed the document and replied to the Tactical Bureau.
Over at the Tactical Bureau, Li Dan, after arranging the responses for the "912 Heavenly Lotus Academy Assassination Incident," gave it to Yu Kuangtu to review.
Yu Kuangtu glanced at the opinions of the head of the academic group Bai Ji, Vice-Principal Yuan Chu, Space Awakener Dong Chengling, and the Tactical Bureau's resident scholar, Ren Suo, raised his eyebrows, and crossed out Ren Suo's opinion.
Li Dan asked, "Is that okay?"
Yu Kuangtu disdainfully said, "He talks as if he's very familiar with the Fairy Palace Assassin, without any evidence. He's certainly pretending to understand when he doesn't. Ignore him."
After taking a shower, Ren Suo lay on the bed, enjoying the last moments of tranquility before falling asleep.
Because his schedule included a time for sleeping, Ren Suo had to go to sleep at the appointed time—not just lying on the bed, but being in a state of dormancy.
This meant he couldn't even linger in the warmth of the bed. He would fall into a deep sleep within 30 seconds of touching the bed and, upon regaining consciousness, would leave the bed within 30 seconds.
But now, with each day leaving him thoroughly exhausted, body and spirit alike, even without the aid of Mysterious Energy, he would fall asleep quickly.
"Only four more days." Ren Suo silently cheered himself on.
"In just four days, I won't have to endure this cruel torture anymore! No need to roll down mountainsides, no more injuries, no more feeling the pain!"
"Wait, and be full of hope!"