Chapter 295: Chapter 216: Si Ranran: Someone Is Sabotaging Me (Part 2)
The meeting was set for the afternoon. It seemed Liu Xuan had other plans for the morning.
Lin Qi was in no hurry. He sat in his room in the Alliance Mansion, activated his Spiritual Vision, and checked on Si Ranran’s movements.
Sure enough, Si Ranran had lost the calm demeanor she’d maintained for the past two days.
Even the aura of resentment around her had subsided significantly.
The colors of a virtual screen flickered in her pupils. She was clearly communicating with someone.
The Si Clan’s real trouble had begun.
The Si Clan had originally secured the support of two permanent directors, Aishwarya and Jin Yuanxi—one overt, one covert—which had given them a chance to turn the tables.
But now, Aishwarya had suddenly switched to Lin Qi’s side. Jin Yuanxi was in a precarious position himself, and on top of that, the neutral permanent director Qiao Xi was adding to the pressure.
As a direct result, the allies the Si Clan had rallied under the banner of opposing the "Big Business Alliance Successor Bill" now stood by and did nothing.
Si Li, who was currently conferring with Si Ranran, couldn’t figure out how the situation had reversed overnight.
Si Li urged Si Ranran, "The Mercenaries inside Alliance City are still wary of the deterrence the Si Clan built up. Leave the Alliance Mansion immediately. The plan has failed. The upcoming Asia Political Zone Advanced Pharmaceutical Enterprise Summit has nothing to do with us anymore."
"You have the Talent to become an S-Class Pharmaceutical Researcher. As long as the Si Clan still has S-Class Pharmacy as our trump card, we have a chance to make a comeback."
"Prepare to execute the extraction plan. We can’t stay with the Si Clan in Asia or Europe. Go back to Greenfield City first, and we’ll figure out our next move from there."
Si Li was, after all, an old fox who had helmed the great ship of the Si Clan for decades. He had caught a whiff of trouble and immediately recognized the shift in the winds. He had no intention of weathering the storm with Jin Yuanxi. Their alliance was merely an exchange of interests, bought by the Si Clan’s own sacrifices. The Si Clan would not take on Jin Yuanxi’s pressure at a time like this. Fleeing was the only logical outcome.
Si Ranran took a deep breath, her gaze falling on the straw doll in her room.
This was the item Si Ranran had used in her repeated attempts to assassinate Lin Qi. She clearly hadn’t let go of her obsession and still wanted him dead.
But reality was harsh. The Si Clan could barely save itself.
"I understand. I’ll leave the Alliance Mansion immediately."
Si Ranran replied, then immediately stood up, grabbed the straw doll, and prepared to leave.
Lin Qi, observing this, couldn’t see the conversation projected onto her retina, but he could guess what was happening: Si Ranran was about to run.
He frowned slightly.
’Let her escape?’
Lin Qi’s current assassination methods weren’t particularly updated. Taking action himself could easily leave clues that would expose his identity.
But letting Si Ranran get away would leave a bad taste in his mouth.
Just then, within his Spiritual Vision, Lin Qi detected presences that were different from the usual people in the Alliance Mansion.
It was a special squad, its members equipped with extremely high-Level Prosthetic Bodies.
The leader was even equipped with a mix of A-Class and S-Class Prosthetic Bodies.
This combination felt very familiar to Lin Qi.
Jingang, who worked for the Capitalists, currently had a Prosthetic Body setup of this Level.
If he wasn’t mistaken, this squad was likely a security team under the command of a permanent director of the Big Business Alliance.
They were high-end combat assets who reported directly to a permanent director. As long as they weren’t facing an S-Class or a Tier Four Extraordinary, this security team was practically invincible.
The security team had arrived from the top floor of the Alliance Mansion in a Floating Vehicle. They didn’t seem to be at full strength—there were only four of them.
After exiting the Floating Vehicle, they spoke to each other.
"Repeat the objective: the Si Clan heir. She is prohibited from leaving the Alliance Mansion."
"Old Yu took a team to handle Si Li. We’re short-staffed, so we need to move fast."
"We have no IT support for this operation, so we must be cautious. If we fail, we won’t be able to answer to Director Jin!"
Hearing their conversation, Lin Qi understood their purpose.
This was Jin Yuanxi’s security team.
After today’s events, the permanent director Jin Yuanxi had clearly reacted at the first opportunity.
For him, his business dealings with the Si Clan weren’t the real problem.
What he couldn’t accept was the exposure of his subsequent dealings with Ninghang Technology, or even the European Big Business Alliance.
Using the Si Clan as a shield and letting them take all the heat was part of Jin Yuanxi’s plan.
Seeing this, most of Lin Qi’s internal conflict dissipated.
However, through his Spiritual Vision, Lin Qi saw the movement paths of both parties at the same time.
The security team took an elevator toward Si Ranran’s floor while contacting the Alliance Mansion’s control room to request a takeover of the building’s systems.
But Si Ranran had no intention of taking the elevator. She headed straight for the emergency stairwell, apparently guessing she might be ambushed.
She was clearly planning to go downstairs and rendezvous with the A-Class Prosthetic Implanter who had been monitoring Lin Qi’s movements, then find another way to escape.
Given how chaotic Alliance City was, with all sorts of people lurking about, if the Si Clan was well-prepared, they might actually let her get away.
’It’s not convenient for me to act directly, but stopping you from running should be easy enough.’
After a moment of thought, Lin Qi employed an incredibly subtle method.
It wasn’t Blood Manipulation, his most-used Ability in the Cyber World, but Rapid Growth.
At that moment, strange, tiny growths appeared inside Si Ranran’s head, flowing along her blood vessels.
It wasn’t fatal. In fact, the powerful metabolism of a Tier Two Extraordinary Professional would clear it out completely before long.
But right now, these strange, tiny growths were making Si Ranran’s head feel dizzy.
She found it difficult to control her body, even stumbling after just a few steps.
A thought immediately surfaced in Si Ranran’s mind.
’It’s over. I’ve been targeted.’
Si Ranran didn’t have any medical diagnostic Prosthetic Bodies installed, so she couldn’t determine the cause of her condition.
Many methods could produce a similar effect, and not just a Wizard’s Abilities.
Even many prosthetic-based methods could achieve the same result.
Si Ranran immediately took out a vial of green Potion and prepared to inject it.
From Lin Qi’s perspective, the thing looked like a Potion, but it was actually a vial of a virus. Its effects were unknown.
Considering Si Ranran’s Extraordinary Profession:
Tier Two Shaman.
She had special control over things like viruses.
Lin Qi wasn’t sure what would happen if Si Ranran injected herself with that virus.
And so, Lin Qi continued to exert his influence.
Momentum Manipulation!
Si Ranran’s control over her body was already weak due to her dizziness.
Then, the test tube was suddenly hit with three times its momentum.
This led to a bizarre scene.
The test tube, which she had just raised to inject into her arm, suddenly slipped from her grasp as if she hadn’t been holding it properly.
Si Ranran’s eyes widened.
But she couldn’t be sure if her hand had just slipped or if someone else was interfering.
She could only watch helplessly as the test tube rolled onto the floor and away from her.
THUD. With her last ounce of strength, Si Ranran tried to lunge for the test tube.
It was her last hope of escape. No matter what was happening to her body, as long as she injected that virus, she could use it to control her own form.
But Si Ranran never expected that her all-out lunge would move her horizontally less than... one centimeter.
Lin Qi had once again used a method he had almost never employed in the Cyber World.
After Si Ranran lunged, he had used Momentum Manipulation to mess with her, directly reducing her momentum to zero.
Visually, it looked as if Si Ranran had pushed off with her legs, shuffled forward a single centimeter, and then collapsed face-down on the ground.
To an outsider, it wouldn’t look too out of the ordinary. They would just think Si Ranran had hopped a little and lost her balance.
But Si Ranran knew in her heart that this was absolutely not what should have happened.
’Someone is interfering! I’ve been set up!’
