CHAPTER 429: CHAPTER 429: NEURAL BRIDGING REAPPEARS

The cleanup was so thorough that, naturally, nothing was found. At this point, when Wang Lan reviewed the events, he was struck with an urge to beat his chest in frustration.

Initially, upon learning of the discovery of the bus used by the Demon Clan, Wang Lan actually had two possible leads to follow. One was to investigate the modifications made to the bus; the other was to investigate the bus’s ownership.

Wang Lan chose to first look into the bus’s ownership, as this trail had a clear path. When he traced it to Feiyu Driving School, he realized the Demon Clan was using deception; the farm was likely the driving school itself.

However, because Wang Lan had inadvertently alerted the enemy at this stage, it led to the Demon Clan’s subsequent countermeasures, giving their spies time to retreat. If he had started by investigating the vehicle modifications, he would eventually have found the driving school, but then the farm’s proposed transfer time would have contradicted the auto shop’s testimony.

But what use was hindsight? It couldn’t be said that Wang Lan was wrong; the trail of the bus’s whereabouts had obviously been clearer at that time. Wang Lan didn’t possess the power of foresight.

While the outcome of this investigation might not seem perfect from the perspective of hindsight, it was still a significant gain. Now, by firmly focusing on the Flying Horse Farm, and with the Tianjian Bureau’s ability to investigate anywhere and everywhere, surely they could find some clues.

Wang Lan and his team went back to rest. The next morning, when Wang Lan and Jiang Xinyu arrived at the Tianjian Bureau, Yang Yang and the others were already busy. Yang Yang hurried over when he saw Wang Lan approaching.

"Team Leader, we have a discovery."

"What?" Wang Lan took the photo from Yang Yang’s hands. "What’s this whitish stuff?"

"Yesterday, the Biochemical Demon General was dissected. It has a typical chelicerate animal-like structure; even the upper body’s Biochemical Demon Soldier form consists of muscle tissue encased in a carapace. However, the medical examiner found something in the spinal cord at the back of the Biochemical Demon Soldier’s head that didn’t belong to it—this very object. It’s currently undergoing further analysis because it was cooked through."

"When will the results be out?"

"They initially said three hours..."

"Team Leader, Captain!" Bai Xu, dressed in a white coat, strode over in high heels. "The results are out."

Seeing Bai Xu’s pale face, Wang Lan had a bad feeling. Bai Xu pulled out a sheet of paper and held it in front of Wang Lan. "That whitish thing is a cooked human brain."

At these words, Jiang Xinyu, Yu Ruoyun, and the others instantly turned pale.

"Neural bridging technology?" Wang Lan’s eyes grew cold; he finally connected all the dots. During the New Year, Wang Lan had discovered Paradise Bird’s secret research into neural bridging technology.

Although the lead doctor had been silenced, the base self-destructed, and all subsequent leads were cut off, Wang Lan had already speculated at the time why Paradise Bird was researching neural bridging.

The sudden appearance of the Biochemical Demon General last night had given Wang Lan great confidence that he now understood the Demon Clan’s plans, and now, this speculation was finally confirmed.

"So, the owner of this brain should be one of the Star Martial Warrior criminals abducted that day, right?"

"DNA matching hasn’t been done yet, but I suspect that’s the case."

"Then this is serious. The strength of last night’s Biochemical Demon General had already reached that of a Titled Strongman. If there are fifty Biochemical Demon Generals, and each can control a thousand Biochemical Demon Soldiers... Fifty Titled Strongmen plus fifty thousand Galaxy Stage warriors could destroy Modu City."

The atmosphere in the office instantly became tense and oppressive.

"Captain... what do we do? If the Demon Clan launches an attack, half of Modu City might become ruins, right?" Bai Xu was desperate, on the verge of tears. Even though she was an elite warrior of the Tianjian Bureau and had experienced the cruelties of battle, the cruelties she had witnessed were in other countries. Fighting in the ruins of those cities, she would feel compassion and pity, but not sorrow.

A person’s heart can be vast, capable of embracing the heavens and the earth, but sometimes it is small, incapable of loving too much. It’s not easy for one person to hold an entire country in their heart and love it. Capacity is limited; one cannot love the whole world.

So, even if she was calm and collected on foreign battlefields, the thought of Modu City turning into a wasteland made her panic.

"Bai Xu, don’t be nervous," Wang Lan said. "This is the outside world, not a Different Dimensional Space. On our home turf, human technology alone is enough to give them a hard time. The focus now is not just on finding the Demon Clan spies, but also on determining the location of the Biochemical Demon Soldier factory."

"Colonel Wang Lan!" Just then, his phone suddenly chimed with a voice call. "The Director wants you to go to Conference Room Number Two."

"Alright, I’ll be there immediately."

The group followed Wang Lan to Conference Room Number Two, where Cheng Jianlong and the heads of various departments were gathered. A hint of apprehension was visible on everyone’s faces. As Wang Lan entered, all eyes turned to him.

"Wang Lan, is everything the forensics department said true?"

Cheng Jianlong felt like his mind was exploding. The Biochemical Demon General’s strength reached that of a Titled Strongman? Fine, he could accept that, figuring such a powerful Biochemical Demon General wouldn’t be easy to produce. But the subsequent analysis results made him feel like he was going mad. The Biochemical Demon General contained a human brain, apparently connected via neural bridging technology. And this brain’s DNA matched one of the abducted Star Martial Warrior criminals. That meant the abducted Star Martial Warrior criminal had now become a powerful Biochemical Demon General!

During the New Year, Wang Lan had warned him that Paradise Bird’s research into neural bridging technology was likely intended to launch the Biochemical Demon Soldier project. Although he had taken it seriously at the time and had the Tianjian Bureau expedite the investigation, progress had been slow; in fact, there had been no headway in the past two months. Suddenly, the emergence of this technology had caught him completely off guard—no, to be precise, it had utterly bewildered him.

Fifty abducted criminals meant fifty Biochemical Demon Generals, equivalent to fifty Titled Strongmen. Add to that the fact that a Biochemical Demon General could control one to two thousand Demon Soldiers. What kind of terrifying force was this? Fifty Titled Strongmen plus fifty to one hundred thousand Galaxy Stage Biochemical Demon Soldiers? A force like this could destroy Modu City in a short period. What charges he might face was no longer important; what mattered were the horrific consequences this would cause.

"I’ve also just received these results from the forensics department," Wang Lan stated. "My guess is, they’re real. Right now, the most important thing is to find the production base of the Biochemical Demon Soldiers and minimize the losses."

"Find the production base? How? By mobilizing the entire force of Modu City?"

"The needle-in-a-haystack approach... might not be very effective, but at the moment, I don’t have a better method."

Cheng Jianlong, after all, had weathered many storms. After his initial shock, he quickly readjusted his mindset. Orders were immediately issued: Modu City was to be on full combat alert. All surrounding forces that could be requisitioned were to be requisitioned, to search every inch for the Demon Clan’s production base.

It was certain that the base producing Biochemical Demon Soldiers couldn’t be small.

For three consecutive days, the citizens of Modu City were told it was a live-fire drill. But the citizens were not fools; whether it was a drill or real, their initial suspicions gradually gave way to noticing that something was amiss.

Panic spread over Modu City.

Three days passed, and though they had scoured the entire territory of Modu City, they found nothing.

"Modu City has already started to descend into chaos... very good, very good... Revealing the Demon General was truly a stroke of genius. We’ll let it ferment for two days, then we’ll stir things up, and Modu City will erupt into chaos on its own.

"When the Tianjian Bureau and the academies are at their wits’ end, that will be our time to act. After planning for thirty years, enduring for thirty years, this time we must make the human race remember this painfully. Hahaha..."

"The leader is truly wise. A single strike from him is sure to cripple their bones."

"Go and prepare. Use your influence in human society and be ready to incite unrest at any moment."

"Yes!"

While fear spread over Modu City, Wang Lan’s team once again arrived at the Flying Horse Farm. All the employees at the Flying Horse Farm had already been thoroughly investigated by the Tianjian Bureau. But now, they had all completely disappeared.

It seemed there might still be clues, but in reality, all leads had gone cold. In this situation, the only hope remained with the Flying Horse Farm. Wang Lan hoped that the luck which had always accompanied him would once again favor him and provide some key clues.

While the team members were conducting a thorough search of the farm, Wang Lan jumped into the deep pit where the Demon General had appeared, recalling the battle from that day. Especially, the Demon General’s sudden shrinking and the concurrent weakening of its strength were details Wang Lan couldn’t get out of his mind.

He had originally thought the Demon General, like that beetle, would experience a burst of strength after shrinking, but unexpectedly, Yu Ruoyun had killed it with a single blast of her Star Martial Skill. It was simply... too anticlimactic.

"Wang Lan, we’ve searched everywhere here, and we’ve found nothing," Jiang Xinyu said gravely as she approached the edge of the pit.

"Nothing? The lie about the drill can’t be maintained much longer. Modu City has nearly twenty million people. Once panic ensues, the consequences would be unimaginable. Now we only have two choices: either lock down the city for another thorough investigation or... evacuate the citizens of Modu City. Either option would be a huge loss for Jade Country."

As Wang Lan spoke, he slowly walked toward the edge of the pit. Suddenly, Wang Lan’s steps halted. He stared doubtfully at the ground, gently kicked the charred earth, and a football-sized hole appeared beside his foot.

Wang Lan looked down at the hole, a contemplative look in his eyes.

"What are you thinking about?" Yu Ruoyun appeared next to Wang Lan, staring at the hole on the ground with a puzzled expression. "That’s the hole left by the Biochemical Demon Soldiers when they emerged that day."

"I’m thinking, we’ve reviewed all the surveillance footage from these past few days. There haven’t been any vehicles entering or leaving the Flying Horse Farm since we left, right?"

"Yes, that’s why we don’t know where to start investigating."

"Then how did that group of Demon Soldiers and Demon Generals get to the farm and set up their ambush?"

"They must have used Earth Movement Skill to move underground," Yu Ruoyun said, looking at Wang Lan doubtfully. "You don’t actually think we can track their movements underground, do you? Earth Movement Skill doesn’t leave traces."

"What if the Biochemical Demon Soldiers don’t know Earth Movement Skill?" Wang Lan suddenly looked up and asked.

"???"

"We seem to have fallen into a mental trap. Biochemical Demon Soldiers aren’t Exotic Beasts. Exotic Beasts all have innate attributes, and almost all Earth Attribute Exotic Beasts possess the Earth Movement Skill, allowing them to travel underground. But from my first encounter with Biochemical Demon Soldiers, I’ve never seen them use an Elemental Attack."

As he said this, Wang Lan looked at Jiang Xinyu.

Jiang Xinyu, who had witnessed the strength of the Biochemical Demon Soldiers alongside Wang Lan, immediately had a flash of realization in her eyes. "That’s right! In my recollection, Biochemical Demon Soldiers are unbeatable in close combat, but I’ve truly never seen them use elemental attacks. Apart from the Demon General, which was Fire or Melt Attribute, the Biochemical Demon Soldiers are all Close Combat Soldiers."