The First Order

If Ren Xiaosu were present, he would immediately understand this supernatural being named Mr. Li had the power of retrocognition. He was capable of replaying an earlier scene of anything that happened in an area.Within that white mist, a projection of the Pyro Company members and “Wang Congyang” was replayed accurately scene by scene.

“Mr. Li, can you make it go back a little further to the beginning. We want to see the entirety of what took place here,” said the Zhou Consortium commander. Someone beside him had already set up a camera to record the projected imagery.

Mr. Li nodded. The projection within the mist reversed as the motion of the “people” inside became distorted.

The projection in the mist kept reversing until it reached a point when “Wang Congyang” appeared while the Pyro Company was excavating the ground.

Mr. Li shook his head. “I can only make it go back this much. Fortunately, there weren’t too many people here. Otherwise, I couldn’t even focus the projection properly.”

“Alright, thank you.” The Zhou Consortium commander said politely, “Can you also please translate what they were saying?”

Mr. Li already had his assistant who could read lips standing by. When the Pyro Company member opened his mouth to speak in the projection, the assistant interpreted what he said based on the shape of his mouth. “You must be Wang Congyang, right? Where’s your steam locomotive?”

“Alright, your identity has been verified. After we get the data out from the ground…”

Everything the Pyro Company member had said was interpreted. From the beginning to the end, “Wang Congyang” had not said a single word.

Following that, they discussed killing the patrol troops and then “Wang Congyang” led the Pyro Company members to leave.

The projection stopped at this point. It seemed that Mr. Li’s power had reached its limit. However, something unexpected happened during the last scene. Another blurry figure emerged from the woods and grabbed the exterior of the train carriage as it left.

“Who is that?” the Zhou Consortium commander said in surprise. “We didn’t spot him. Where was he hiding?”

Mr. Li pointed to the woods nearby. “He was hiding over there the whole time. We didn’t see him because he didn’t show up until the end.”

“That’s strange. So who could this person be? Was he tailing the Pyro Company? Perhaps someone from the Anjing House?” The Zhou Consortium commander frowned. “But Mr. Li, why couldn’t we see his face clearly? It looks like his body is entirely shrouded in a layer of fog.”

Mr. Li also found it a little strange. He walked closer and carefully observed the figure of Ren Xiaosu who had grabbed hold of the exterior. He realized the other party was indeed shrouded in a layer of fog, making it difficult for anyone to get a clear look at his appearance and clothing. They could only tell that it was a person.

“This has never happened before.” Mr. Li asked, “Why is this person so special?”

“We found traces of blood on the ground nearby, but we didn’t find any bodies. Furthermore, the steam locomotive did not drive out of the park.” The Zhou Consortium commander said, “So we suspect that something might have happened inside the park after the steam locomotive drove off. Can you create more projections and show us what might have really happened at that time?”

Mr. Li shook his head. “I can only use my power once a day. But even if I use it again tomorrow, we’ll have already passed the time limit to recreate the scene.”

The Zhou Consortium commander asked, “Then can you think of something so we can get a clearer look at this blurry figure? I think he might be the key figure in this matter.”

“I’ll try my best,” Mr. Li said.

At this moment, the projected steam locomotive was parked right in front of them. In it, the figure of Ren Xiaosu was still grabbing the exterior. It was like a scene from a movie that had been paused.

Mr. Li stood in front of Ren Xiaosu and waved his hand again, trying to disperse the fog around Ren Xiaosu.

But when he focused on Ren Xiaosu, the blurry figure suddenly moved. In the projection, the steam locomotive was still paused. However, Ren Xiaosu turned his head and looked calmly at Mr. Li.

The look in his eyes was so cold it was extremely intimidating. With just a quiet look, Mr. Li felt as though he were being stared down by a terrible beast.

Only the eyes of the blurry figure were incomparably clear!

Mr. Li spat blood and collapsed to the ground. “I can’t do this anymore! I can’t get a clear look at all! This is so strange. Just who on earth could this person be? Why can he counter my power!”

Uproar broke out all around. No one had expected such an outcome.

In the past, everything would always proceed very smoothly whenever Mr. Li helped them with an investigation. It was really easy to find criminals with his assistance. However, they failed this time, and Mr. Li even suffered backlash from using his power.

The circumstances in which Mr. Li’s superpower came about were actually quite odd. He was just a normal researcher in the past, but when his wife was robbed and killed one night, Mr. Li became so heartbroken that he swore to catch the murderer.

However, the Public Order Division’s staff said no surveillance cameras were in the area that day the robbery took place, so it made it very difficult for them to catch the murderer.

In the end, Mr. Li’s power was awakened, and he led the Public Order Division to find the culprit behind the crime.

After that, Mr. Li did not keep this power to himself. Every day, he would assist the Zhou Consortium in handling some of the more difficult cases they were facing, and the Zhou Consortium would pay him for his services as well.

Due to the fact the projections were only visual and without sound, he even hired an assistant who could read lips.

Meanwhile, Ren Xiaosu, who was already cooped up back in the hotel, started.

Zhou Yingxue asked, “What’s wrong, Master?”

Ren Xiaosu frowned. “It felt like someone was watching me a moment ago, but that feeling went away very quickly. I’m not exactly sure what happened either.”

Zhou Yingxue glanced at the window, but the curtains were drawn. “I’ve already checked the room. There aren’t any surveillance cameras around.”

“OK.” Ren Xiaosu nodded and took out the 13 boxes containing the research information.

Zhou Yingxue was stunned. “Master, what is all this?”

Ren Xiaosu briefly told her about tonight’s happenings in which the Pyro Company had tried to transport the laboratory data out of the stronghold and how a fight had broken out between him and the Pyro Company members.

Zhou Yingxue was speechless. So it turned out that so much had happened tonight. “Master, I thought you were just going for a little excavation trip, but I didn’t know a battle would actually break out! How dangerous!”

“Mhm, it was really quite dangerous for them,” Ren Xiaosu replied absent-mindedly. His attention was already on the research information in front of him.

“So, Master, is this the lab data?” Zhou Yingxue asked with her eyes gleaming. “So if we sell this data, wouldn’t we have nothing more to worry about for the rest of our lives?”

“Only if you’re still alive to not have to worry.” Ren Xiaosu said calmly, “Once you sell the data, a lot of people will definitely target you. The Pyro Company will probably hunt you down to the ends of the earth as well. Don’t assume that you can do it so well that no one will find out. There’s no such thing as an absolute secret.”

Therefore, if Ren Xiaosu really wanted to sell the laboratory data, he only had two choices. One of them was Fortress 178, but he wasn’t sure if they would be interested in it.

The other was the Qing Consortium.

Ren Xiaosu would only feel at ease if he were selling it to either of these parties.