Chapter 410: The Final Step
Chapter 410: The Final Step
Reality was sometimes full of drama.
After Senator Murphy’s youngest son was kidnapped, many people were prepared for a good showdown. They wanted to find out — considering that someone had dared to kidnap a member of a consortium that practically ruled over the heavens in North America, were these kidnappers too bold or too stupid?
However, this incident ended too quickly, almost catching everyone off guard. It was even rather anticlimactic.
The kidnappers had released their hostage.
When Murphy had rushed back from Yellowstone Park on a private jet, what he was greeted with was his unharmed young son.
The news report pointed out that the kidnappers let him go because they heard about the power and financial resources of the Murphy Financial Group. They realized that who they had kidnapped was not a fat sitting duck but a ticking time bomb, so they dutifully let him go.
Even so, a large portion of the police force had been mobilized throughout Chicago and these officers had launched a city-wide search, looking for the three suspects.
However, what the police finally found were the bodies of three suspects.
In just half a day, the bodies of the three suspects were found in an abandoned factory in the suburbs but the surprising thing was that everything above the cervical vertebrae of these three, including their entire heads, had vanished without a trace.
The clues led to a dead-end here. No matter how much further they investigated, no other clues could be found.
Late at night, Murphy looked at the file brought by the chief of the police department with a solemn expression.
“This isn’t a simple matter.” Murphy mused. “Obviously, there are others behind them and to conceal some evidence, they even murdered these people... By the way, have we found out the identities of these three people?”
“I’m afraid not.”
The chief of the Chicago Police Department stood at Murphy’s desk like a subordinate and said respectfully, “I’m very sorry, Mr. Murphy. After DNA comparison, we can’t track down their DNA information at all. The most reasonable inference, for now, is that the three of them are all outsiders who came to North America illegally. Moreover, they were all combatants with superb practical combat experience.”
Murphy nodded. They could take down the six bodyguards that he had assigned to his son in a few seconds. Of course, their identities would not be ordinary. However, the more this was the case, the greater the chill in Murphy’s heart because all this pointed to the possibility of a conspiracy, one that targeted him.
Could it be Blackwatch Corporation?
At this moment, Murphy’s first guess was the private company he was constantly targeting but on second thought, it was impossible for the other party to know that he had set a trap for them unless they had the means to break through the quantum computer.
Besides, Blacklight Biotechnology had immense control over the Internet. This had long been established. They could easily allow the three killers to evade the police force that was searching the entire city. Those three men would thus vanish from the world instead of being slaughtered.
Therefore, from the fact that those men were killed, it mostly ruled out the possibility that this was Blackwatch.
“But if it weren’t Blackwatch, would it be my other opponents?”
Murphy could not help but think of several other rivals. Only those families with the same level of power as him would be able to do this, and only they would resort to murder for fear of being exposed.
However, the motivation for this was not sufficient. On the contrary, this kind of behavior would attract the hostility of all the financial groups in North America, for such behavior completely undermined the unspoken rules of the major families.
Still, rules were made to be broken. If the benefits were sufficient, then even the rules that were deeply rooted in the hearts of the people would falter in the face of human greed.
Therefore, was there a higher chance it was those rivals of his?
Still, in the next second, Murphy recalled that sense of being watched that had seized him a few days ago for no reason. He could not tell whether this feeling was an illusion or something real. However, if it was real, could it be that the deaths of the three kidnappers were caused by a hidden hand to deliberately manipulate him into making a wrong judgment?
Murphy took a deep breath and silently collected his thoughts.
“Sir Murphy?”
Seeing Murphy’s pensive face, the police chief could not help asking again.
“Never mind.”
Murphy frowned and then said, “I’ll leave this to you. Keep on with the investigation. I hope to get a proper answer.”
“Understood, Sir Murphy.”
The police chief nodded, then turned and walked out of the office.
Nevertheless, before the door of the office swung close, an old cough came from outside the door.
Immediately, an old man with an ancient countenance walked in slowly.
“Ah, it’s you, Bertha.”
The old man who came in was none other than the butler Bertha, the most senior member of the Murphy family, the one who had served the Murphy family for four generations.
This butler had been with the Murphy family since he was 10 years old. He had been loyal to them for over sixty years. Even Buckle Murphy would not treat him as a servant, so he just asked kindly, “Bertha, is anything the matter?”
“Ahem, Master, I’m here to warn you.”
The old man coughed a few times. “I keep feeling that something is fishy about this whole thing as if someone deliberately wanted to lure you here.”
Murphy fell silent when he heard this and after a long time, finally said, “I’ve also realized that. The other party might have deliberately lured me away, so I’ve decided to return to Yellowstone Park early tomorrow morning. I still need you to keep an eye on the family, Bertha.”
“Yes, Master, these few heirs of yours were all brought up by me. They are like my children. I’ll take care of them for you.”
While talking, the old man turned and left Murphy’s office...
That night, Murphy had pondered a lot. He recalled all his memories from childhood and thought of all his hard work and effort before he finally became a member of the Quantum Deity Lab and a representative of the shield bearers in North America.
The “Quantum Deity” project, being the secret of secrets in the entire Earth Federation, had always been known only to the president of North America and some other officials at the peak of power. Even the governor had no right to know. Around the world, the people who knew about this project numbered fewer than a thousand and half of them were scientific researchers.
Therefore, although on the surface Murphy was just a senator of Congress, he stood almost at the pinnacle of power. When the term of his shield bearer position expired next year, he was expected to represent the Democratic Party and become the next presidential candidate.
It was also because of this, being in this position, that he had to be more careful and not underestimate the slightest whiff of trouble.
Before dawn the next day, Murphy did not even alert anyone. He took the private jet again and hurried back to Yellowstone Park secretly.
...
“How vigilant indeed.”
Still, in the Spire Experimental Base tens of thousands of kilometers away, Chen Chen knew of Murphy’s movements instantly. The reason was simple. His “sticker” had already shown Chen Chen everything.
“As a superior official, Buckle Murphy has done well enough.”
Hearing Little X’s mocking comment, Chen Chen just nodded. “Unfortunately, when the enemy’s methods are far beyond common sense and knowledge, all your crafty plots and machinations will be meaningless.”
“Yes, if we hadn’t obtained the alien civilization’s technology from Gantz, we might still be in the dark all this while, unaware that every move we make is at risk of being predicted by the quantum computer Adam at any time?”
Little X laughed. “But now, they’re the ones in the dark.”
With that said, Little X walked to Chen Chen and observed the several extremely complex machines that were placed in this laboratory. These machines were connected in series, occupying more than half of the laboratory area, and the most conspicuous one was a transparent human figure in a glass container.
This figure was said to be transparent because that was literally the case. The human figure lay in the glass container and was almost invisible. It was just that there was a large volume of vapors in the container, through which the silhouette of this figure could be faintly discerned.
However, the figure was only composed down to the waist. There was nothing below that point. Instead, a silver-white metal device that looked like a claw was slowly moving. During its movement, the waist of the transparent figure was also slowly growing at a visible speed.
This was a 3D printing device and the transparent figure was being printed little by little in this manner.
If one had seen the movie Spectral, one would know that this device was a 3D printer used by the villains in the movie to print combat weapons — the “condensate humans”.
“There are still three hours left before we finish printing.”
Little X suddenly reminded, “And it just so happens that three hours later, Buckle Murphy will also return to the Quantum Deity Laboratory. Sir Godfather, are these also in your calculations?”
“It can’t be spoken.”
Chen Chen smiled and replied.
“I seem to get it...”
Understanding dawned in Little X’s eyes. She was about to speak, but suddenly her mouth was covered by Chen Chen. “I’ve told you that it can’t be spoken, got it?”
“Ohfkay, unfdershtood...”
Little X’s mouth was blocked, so she could only stare fixedly at him, and answered with muffled words.
Seeing this, Chen Chen moved his hand away in satisfaction and walked out of the laboratory.
“Now, there’s only the final step...”