CHAPTER 1482: CHAPTER 1482: WELCOME TO MY CITY

"The Federation Intelligence Bureau should have two organizations, right? The overt organization gets the Federation’s salary and budget, while the covert organization obtains funding by selling contraband through Linsent Pharmaceutical. However, both lines share some resources,

"Such as contract manufacturing services for high-precision communication devices, and for instance, there’s the Linsent Pharmaceutical Factory."

He Ao’s expression gradually calmed, "An obscure small pharmaceutical factory, not producing particularly advanced products, yet no conglomerate has directly taken it over, and it’s given quite a bit of business. Do you think that’s reasonable? Unless it has a colossal backing from the Federation Government behind it."

Upon hearing He Ao’s words, Di Man’s complexion darkened.

He Ao looked at him and continued, "I know you have probably severed the ties between Linsent Pharmaceutical and the Intelligence Bureau thoroughly, but there’s no wall in the world that doesn’t let the wind through. Since those conglomerates want to give you benefits, they must know something, don’t they?

"Not to mention, you even specifically assigned people to monitor Linsent Pharmaceutical continuously.

"Of course, what you did may not be completely seamless either,"

He Ao looked calmly at Di Man, "Do you remember that subordinate you assigned to protect the President? He actually found some crucial information, but he was always reluctant to report it to the Intelligence Bureau. This indicates that he himself realized there was an issue with the Intelligence Bureau,

"Of course, Colin discovered he was truly investigating the assassination case, so he executed him."

In fact, this was the starting point where He Ao began to suspect the Intelligence Bureau.

His entire process was actually reversed. He began with the abnormal behavior of the Denno City Intelligence Chief, started investigating from there, combined it with the abnormalities at the Linsent Pharmaceutical Factory, and finally inquired about the Federation Intelligence Bureau’s information.

Of course, relying solely on these guesses is still somewhat inaccurate, but further investigation should be done. However, it’s evident that he didn’t have the time to investigate further.

Fortunately, he now must personally investigate to uncover the truth.

While activating his super memory and confronting the great whale, he used the dual-character ability to briefly return to Paxiu’s body.

This was another application of the multi-character function that He Ao discovered. The mystic connections between different characters of the system are completely severed, but the dual-character ability allows him to bypass this restriction to a certain extent.

Although his Angel Soul remained with Jess, under dual-character control, the mystic connection pointing to Paxiu could still be sensed, though the system filtered most of it out, leaving only some stronger connections.

But the good news is that Paxiu is now a celebrity of Ains.

With the power of super memory, he found some individuals associated with Linsent Pharmaceutical, and through their memory fragments, confirmed that Linsent Pharmaceutical indeed had significant entanglements with the Intelligence Bureau.

Although on the surface these entanglements seem to be nothing more than bits of foxes feigning tiger’s might, examining them individually, they do not form clues.

After all, Linsent Pharmaceutical’s major profits were transferred away in the form of illicit drugs, without needing direct contact with the Intelligence Bureau.

But considering all the previous clues, it has already been determined that Linsent Pharmaceutical is indeed controlled by the Intelligence Bureau, or by the controller of the Intelligence Bureau.

Having suspicions about the Intelligence Bureau, when analyzing other elements, such as why this mysterious organization that attempted to assassinate the President had such significant energy, and how they acquired high-end equipment, becomes much clearer.

Of course, Di Man’s counterintelligence efforts were indeed excellent, and although He Ao had made corresponding arrangements regarding this hypothesis, ultimately, he couldn’t completely confirm this speculation until the end.

That was why he pretended to deceive Di Man just now.

"Interesting reasoning," Di Man gazed at He Ao, gently clapped his hands, and smiled, "With just these few days of bits and pieces, you traced back to me. Are you interested in working for me? I can make you the deputy director of the Intelligence Bureau."

"I have no interest in working with someone who even massacres his own family," He Ao fixed his gaze on him, smiling, "Isn’t that right, Mr. Di Man Kevort, the patriarch of the Kewort Family in the Seville era, and Chairman of the Board who led the Kewort Group to its historical peak?"

Di Man’s gaze lowered as he chuckled softly, "I thought you were just calling out names randomly. There are so many people with the same name in the world, why are you so sure it’s me."

"It seems the old President didn’t know your real name." He Ao’s eyes narrowed slightly.

This was why he was instantly seen through just now.

Of course, he had prepared for such a result, considering that aside from this assassination, the Intelligence Bureau’s activities had almost no connection with the Kewort Group at all.

This indicates that Di Man was intentionally severing links between the Intelligence Bureau and the Kewort Group.

However, He Ao estimated that the old President had detected something, otherwise, he wouldn’t have so decisively asked the Federal Bureau of Investigation to take over his security.

And the mention of that name just now was solely for the purpose of testing the other party.

"What have you discovered?" This time, Di Man’s eyes obviously became more interested.

"Just some interesting little facts," He Ao fixed his gaze on Di Man before him, chuckling softly, "For example, how the once-rising Kewort Family completely vanished in a very short time, doesn’t that strike you as odd?"

He paused briefly, "Even if they were removed from the board of the Kewort Group, their family wealth shouldn’t have been plundered away,

"They still had enough fortune to actively participate in the Federation’s politics and commerce, just not as glorious as before.

"According to normal operations, such a family should take at least three generations to completely decline, yet still have some remnants for their descendants to live relatively well.

"But the result was, the Kewort Family seemed to vanish overnight," He Ao steadily looked at Di Man, "After the Kewort Family left the Kewort Group, they entirely disappeared from the Federation’s history, as if they evaporated from the human world,

"Even their ancestral home was sold, with nothing left behind.

"Then consider the series of abnormal disasters that befell the Kewort Group spanning most of the Federation’s branches after a certain chairman’s ’demise,’"

He Ao leaned against the window behind him, with a grey sky outside, as he gazed at Di Man, "What does this appear to be, Mr. Di Man? Does it look like someone is using these family bloodlines and group disasters to conduct some sort of Promotion Ceremony? Someone who is well-acquainted with the Kewort Group and very familiar with the Kewort Family."

"Then why are you sure it’s me and not someone else?" Di Man narrowed his eyes slightly.

"The Kewort Family has only used the Seven-color Flower to make three wishes, two by the founder, and the last by a certain patriarch," He Ao smiled while looking at Di Man,

"The wishing on the Seven-color Flower perhaps brought some sort of ’Curse’ upon the Kewort Family? This Curse even passed down through the bloodline, continuously troubling the Kewort Family,

"That’s why you have the family commandment, ’All wishes shall ultimately be repaid,’ being so cautious about using the Seven-color Flower.

"But this powerful Extraordinary Item capable of granting wishes, why didn’t the Kewort Family use it when being expelled from the family corporation in the end?

"No matter how great the cost required by the Seven-color Flower, given the situation at the time, things didn’t seem like they could get any worse.

"But the result was that the last head of the Kewot Family, until committing suicide, never used the Seven-color Flower.

"Since it wasn’t a matter of willingness, it could only mean one thing: the Kewot Family was no longer able to control the Seven-color Flower at that time.

"Yet the Seven-color Flower was perfectly fine, stored in the underground vault of the Kewort Group. The Kewot Family hadn’t lost it,

"This indicates that someone else was controlling people within the Kewort Group, someone with considerable ties to the Kewot Family, able to take the Seven-color Flower from them without causing a big stir.

"But after that, no one else used the Seven-color Flower to make a wish. If an outsider, unburdened by a curse, newly obtained such a wish-granting extraordinary item, he would likely struggle to resist trying it,

He Ao leaned against the window, smiling, "Unless the person who mastered the Seven-color Flower knew it well, perhaps already having made a wish with it."

"And at that time, someone who met all those conditions, who understood both the Kewot Family and the Kewort Group, and could easily take the Seven-color Flower from the family and hold it,

only I, who was already ’deceased’ at the time," Di Man slowly took over He Ao’s words with a slight smile.

"At that time, the Kewort Group announced you were dead," He Ao looked at Di Man, "But who could prove you were truly dead? Especially in the Extraordinary World."

"Just like how your severe injuries and near death may not be truly life-threatening?" Di Man gazed at He Ao, smiling, "You used the same trick I used back then, against me?"

"I didn’t lie," He Ao shook his head, smiling, "I was truly dying, after all, you personally inspected me. If I wasn’t genuinely gravely injured and near death, how could you be willing to come here today?"

"It’s the Seven-color Flower, right?" Di Man smiled at He Ao, "Your injuries, under normal circumstances, couldn’t be healed by anything below Angel-level medicine, and Angel-level treatments are too potent, they’d likely kill you. Only the Seven-color Flower could perfectly restore your body to its original state."

He sighed deeply, "What a pity, I judged that you absolutely wouldn’t wake up, and the people around you knew nothing about the Seven-color Flower, couldn’t utilize it without embedded capacity information. Yet, you still woke up."

He glanced at He Ao, "But there’s one thing I’m curious about, where did you hide the Seven-color Flower? And where did you learn how to use it?"

He Ao neither denied nor confirmed, didn’t answer his questions, instead smiling as he asked, "You were also at the scene when I dueled with Colin, right?"

"Indeed, I originally wanted to snatch the Seven-color Flower directly." Di Man sighed softly.

"But you feared the Angel Power behind me, afraid of getting stalled, exposing flaws, and ruining the entire plan?" He Ao followed his words.

"Yes," Di Man exhaled deeply, his body slightly straightening with that breath, clapping his hands as he laughed, "It’s been a long time since I felt this way. This straightforward contest is much more fun than playing politics with those old geezers."

He gazed at He Ao, "Are you truly unwilling to be my deputy director? Once everything settles, I can even vouch for recommending you to be the director of the Intelligence Bureau. With your ability, you’re more than capable."

He smiled slightly, "Even if you don’t want to be my intelligence director, even if you want to be President, I can introduce you to people who can make you President."

"Sorry, I’m not interested in being a puppet." He Ao shrugged.

"That’s really a pity, the President isn’t some puppet," Di Man glanced at the empty hospital bed, "You have no idea how much trouble this Old Geezer caused us."

He looked back at He Ao, smiling again, "I think you should seriously consider it. You’ve already made a wish with the Seven-color Flower, and wishes from it require repayment. If you were to follow me, I could help you evade this ’debt’."

"I’m already carrying too much, a bit more or less won’t matter that much, will it?" He Ao looked at him, continuing to smile.

"It seems you’re unwilling to cooperate," Di Man shook his head, exhaling deeply, "You know, I think you’ve misunderstood me,"

He stared at He Ao, "Do you think your existence can destroy my plan? Do you think I must ensure you’re incapable of fighting to proceed with my plan?"

A faint yellow glow gathered in his hand, the twisted, terrifying force converged in the cramped hospital room, "You’ve overestimated yourself, young man,

"I admit you caused a bit of trouble for me by taking out the Dark Lizard, but that’s it. Regardless of whether you live or die, I would have still come here to check on your condition, partly because I just wanted to avoid trouble."

He smiled, looking at He Ao, the light in his hand entwining like threads, "But if trouble is unavoidable, I’ll have no qualms about eradicating it."

The pervasive glow suddenly spread out, enveloping the entire hospital room, "Since you’re unwilling to reveal the Old Geezer’s location, I’ll just have to make you a puppet and find it in your brain myself."

In that instant, He Ao felt a void beneath him, as everything around seemed to darken, dragging him into some concealed space.

The red patterns covering the entire medical room lit up for a moment, then shattered instantly,

"Spent a bit of time dismantling Berlick’s Array, weaving a cage for you," Di Man watched He Ao, "Thanks for your patient storytelling, you’re indeed clever, and you do love showing off, young man."

"Alright, it’s time for the classic chat-stalling tactic," He Ao yawned, calmly gazing at Di Man, "So, did you succeed?"

"What?" Di Man was slightly puzzled.

And in that instant, the entire hidden space seemed to be subjected to some compression, rapidly deflating, twisting, and shattering.

Along with the entire medical room, everything shriveled and fractured under the intense pressure.

A biting cold wind blew through the flying cement debris, brushing against their faces, revealing a vast, illuminated cityscape in their field of view.

But the city was so silent, as though devoid of any life.

Di Man looked up, observing the overhead sky, which had inexplicably transformed into the reflection of a grand city, with illuminated buildings and bustling traffic mirrored above.

At this moment, many people stood between the towering buildings of that city, looking upward.

It wasn’t the city reflected in the sky; rather, they were inverted above the sky.

Di Man looked down at the silent city around them, the buildings eerily identical to the ones in the sky, yet devoid of any other people or living beings.

A faint purple glow seeped slowly through the gaps in this magnificent city, outlining its grandeur.

"Welcome to my city,"

He Ao also scanned the surroundings briefly, eventually returning his gaze to Di Man before him, "Do you like it?"