Chapter 117: Pursuing the Painting
by xennovel“Colonel Chen!”
Rows of incandescent lights embedded in the walls illuminated the corridor brightly but without glare.
Fresh from surgery Chen Jing had already changed into a crisp well-fitting casual suit. Her hair was neatly combed and she even wore high heels over ten centimeters tall again. Clutching a stack of files she walked down the stark corridor the rhythmic *click-clack* of her heels echoing towards the office at the end. The two guards at the door snapped to attention saluting her sharply.
Chen Jing nodded to them and the guard on the left opened the office door for her.
Inside the spacious office Professor Bai clad in a white lab coat was hunched over examining an old document on the desk with a magnifying glass. Beside him a whiteboard was covered with numerous photos.
Some of these photos were autopsy images of ‘Qin Ran’ while others were various analysis reports.
“Professor Bai.”
Chen Jing closed the door behind her placed the files on the desk and said, “The statements from the Xu father and daughter their collection points for those artworks and the information on that scavenger team are all here. I’ve already reviewed them. There’s reason to suspect those people might have been searching for that painting within the city for quite some time.”
She paused slightly before continuing, “During Xu Xiao Xiao’s interrogation she mentioned that after seeing the painting she selfishly hid its existence and secretly moved it to another cargo container. She was very careful about this; even her father didn’t know and naturally everyone else couldn’t find out either…”
“So my guess is…”
Her brow furrowed slightly. Though she framed it as speculation her tone was quite certain, “Actually those ability users from outside the city knew she had the painting long ago. They might have even found the artworks the father and daughter stored at Bengbu Port but they didn’t find the painting among them. That’s why they’ve been lying low until now.”
“It wasn’t until Xu Xiao Xiao left the Main City exposing the painting that they got their chance to act.”
…
As she spoke she placed a stack of seemingly hastily compiled and printed materials in front of Professor Bai. “From this we can infer a few things. Those ability users from outside couldn’t enter the Main City directly to find Xu Xiao Xiao which is why they had to wait outside for an opportunity. However they likely have informants within the Main City otherwise…”
“They wouldn’t have known the exact time Xu Xiao Xiao was leaving or been able to prepare an ambush for us in advance.”
She then revealed her arrangements, “Before coming here I arranged for people to investigate the consulting company that privately hired the Mr. Lone Soldier to help the Xu father and daughter handle their problems. After all on the surface they are the most likely source of the leak!”
…
Professor Bai listened to Chen Jing slowly straightening up. “How are your injuries?”
Chen Jing paused for a moment then replied, “No problem!”
“You still need to rest.”
Professor Bai said, “You can use your ability to numb the pain so it doesn’t affect your work but that doesn’t mean the wound isn’t there. It will still put a huge strain on you. Ability users are still human; you can’t treat yourself like a machine.”
“I can’t rest right now.”
Chen Jing fell silent for a moment before saying, “This situation is serious. I can’t rest until I get to the bottom of it.”
“Actually things are already quite clear.”
Professor Bai pulled out a chair for Chen Jing gesturing for her to sit. “Special Pollution Source 041… or let’s just call him ‘Qin Ran’ since that’s all we really know about him now. He should be a very powerful ability user. Judging by his proficiency with his abilities he’s reached the end of the first stage at least and it’s possible he’s even at the second stage.”
As he spoke he glanced at the photos of ‘Qin Ran’ on the board specifically one showing the autopsy his gaze holding a hint of appreciation.
“This person is bold but also cautious. He knows Satellite City’s defenses very well perhaps because he has extensive experience living within a high-wall city. Maybe he entered the city specifically to steal this painting. Regardless whether it was to dismantle our defense system for his own convenience or to cause chaos distract us and prevent pursuit…”
“The contingencies he left behind are extremely dangerous for ordinary people.”
“We can even consider ourselves fortunate. Although the impact this time was significant the casualties were much lower than expected.”
…
Chen Jing’s brows knitted tightly. She suddenly asked, “If it were just robbers that would be one thing but the Technology Church…”
“I don’t think this incident reflects the will of the Technology Church.”
Professor Bai shook his head. “Judging by the Technology Church’s style if they were truly orchestrating this there would likely be more than one mental bomb appearing in the city. What aligns better with my understanding is that this group the Knight Orders who entered the city bought this type of weapon from the Technology Church and used it to distract us and prevent us from tracking them…”
“Of course we can’t rule out the possibility that the Technology Church instructed them to detonate this bomb to observe its experimental data using it as an advertisement to send a signal to other high-wall cities and corporate powers. After all judging from the observed data…”
“If that bomb had actually detonated the consequences would have been severe.”
…
“It’s thanks to the Mr. Lone Soldier.”
Chen Jing was silent for a moment before murmuring, “And yet Minister Shen actually arranged for someone to monitor the Mr. Lone Soldier…”
“You know how Old Shen thinks. This is normal for him.”
Professor Bai smiled. “Actually I agreed to have you come over partly to discuss this issue.”
He pointed to the materials on the whiteboard. “Let’s start with this mysterious Knight Orders.”
“Looking at the compiled information much of what they’ve done follows a certain logic.”
“But one thing stands out as rather abrupt…”
“Previously they arranged for a mentally modified person to appear in the Second Satellite City attempting to contact the Mr. Lone Soldier…”
“Only to be scared off by the Mr. Lone Soldier…”
“Regardless based on testing the residual samples I can confirm that this mentally modified person and the one left behind to attack you on Jiujiang Road are of the same nature. It’s highly likely they were created by the same puppet-type ability user.”
“In other words members of this Knight Orders started trying to contact the Mr. Lone Soldier quite some time ago.”
He paused here looking at Chen Jing. “Do you know why?”
…
Chen Jing listened processing his words carefully.
When Lu Xin had notified her about the appearance of the mentally modified person she had already suspected their motives.
However she had first dealt with the pollution incident in the Second Satellite City then undergone surgery leaving no time to analyze all the information.
So facing Professor Bai’s question she could only slowly shake her head, “I have no idea.”
“Read this file. Then you’ll know.”
Professor Bai pushed the old file across the desk towards Chen Jing.
As Chen Jing lowered her head to read the file Professor Bai spoke softly, “Due to the previous turmoil and incomplete procedures at the Security Hall many things weren’t clearly documented. Fortunately we started investigating the Red Moon Orphanage explosion early on. Although we still haven’t found a clear explanation for that mysterious explosion…”
“We did however discover some other things…”
…
Chen Jing read the file intently her expression gradually turning surprised. She suddenly looked up at Professor Bai.
“You suspect he’s…”
…
“Twenty years ago during the early days of the Moon Eclipse Research Institute’s formal establishment there was a disagreement.”
Professor Bai stated calmly, “Those disagreements led to a lab director from the Institute leaving with some important materials and experimental subjects. For many years afterward the Moon Eclipse Research Institute searched for him. Many people know about this.”
“His codename was the ‘Escaped Lab’.”
…
Speaking slowly he straightened up again. “There’s reason to suspect this is another one of the Knight Orders’ objectives!”