Chapter 398: Chapter 398: Limited Cooperation
The wording she used was "within the organization"... not "within the branch"...
That meant Abigail judged the situation to be quite severe, no longer confined to New City alone.
"Is it really that exaggerated?" It wasn’t just Chen Xuan; even Honglian thought so. "Everyone who can enter Headquarters should be thoroughly vetted by the Mechanism’s Intelligence Division. How could a member of the Evangelical Association possibly slip in?"
"In theory, yes, but..." A hint of hesitation appeared on Abigail’s face. A moment later she shook her head. "I don’t have evidence, so it’s not my place to over‑comment, but my actual feeling tells me someone is secretly obstructing the investigation. Now that you’re mixed in as well, things have become even more complicated. May I ask... where did you learn about this person? And what are you looking for her for?"
We asked in the dream of an Ability User from a future Arbitration Court, and that Ability User is now a dead man.
Chen Xuan sighed. "No comment. We Wanderers have our own information channels."
Abigail turned her head to look at Honglian.
Honglian could only express regret. "I’m no longer one of the Mechanism’s people. If you’re willing to leave the Mechanism and join us, then I can tell you."
"Nonsense!" Reid couldn’t help speaking up. "What good does it do you to target the Mechanism like this? If the organization collapses at a time like this, the whole world will descend into chaos!"
Chen Xuan read a trace of anxiety on the other’s face.
Did the historical fluctuation also affect the adjacent segments of time?
In Lin Qing’s eyes, the Dimensional Limit Mechanism was a behemoth. The organization possessed overwhelming power and a matching arrogance. Many loose Ability User groups had resisted them, only to be wiped out one by one without even causing a splash.
But now, the Headquarters operatives clearly didn’t have that much confidence in their own organization.
"Collapse is still better than dragging the world into a pit of annihilation." Chen Xuan crossed his arms. "If I’m not mistaken, you’ve already lost the trail of Rodiya, and your promise to help Honglian was purely a pretense. Your real purpose was to test her, to see if she’s an Evangelical and whether she’s connected to this incident, right?"
Abigail shook her head. "I’ve already said, checking your background is the prerequisite for helping. And the ’help’ here doesn’t just mean me helping you. In fact, I also want to seek your help."
"You people can even lose track of someone who defected to you, and you’re talking about helping—hold on." Chen Xuan paused. "What did you just say?"
"I also want to seek your help." She repeated it calmly.
Honglian immediately realized the other’s intention and exclaimed in surprise, "You want me to help you look for her? You know that’s a serious violation of discipline!"
"Of course. Whether it’s revealing Mechanism secrets to illegal Ability Users, or colluding with illegal Ability Users to carry out covert operations, both violate the Mechanism’s secrecy principles, with a maximum penalty of lifelong internal imprisonment." A faint ripple entered Abigail’s voice—not the helplessness of being forced into this, but more like a kind of anticipation when interest was stirred. "But the reason I choose to do this is the same as yours... I haven’t betrayed myself."
"I’m opposed to her doing this." Reid sighed. "But she says Honglian is someone to whom she can entrust secrets."
"Uh..." The awkwardness from before their meeting suddenly returned to Honglian.
Chen Xuan saw it clearly now; she was the sort of person who responds to softness, not hardness. "You’re talking as if we’re definitely going to agree. Honestly, seeing the Mechanism suffer setbacks would make me happy. If you get brought down by the Evangelical Association, all the other Ability Users can finally breathe easier, no?"
As he said this, he could practically picture Lin Qing’s expression and tone.
Abigail wasn’t angered. She spoke with steady composure. "That depends on how important Rodiya is to you."
"What do you mean?"
"According to the intelligence I’ve gathered so far, the Evangelical Association hates this person’s defection with a passion and is also doing everything it can to hunt down her whereabouts. Once they find Rodiya, they will undoubtedly put her to death. I want to speed up the search, but there’s no one in the branch I can trust. If I mobilize New City’s Execution Team, it will likely become Rodiya’s death knell. Honglian’s email instead gave me a sliver of hope."
Abigail paused, then continued, "Of course, you can go look for her on your own. But I must remind you, New City is a metropolis of twenty million people. Without any connections or intelligence network, looking for a runaway Ability User is no different from searching for a needle in the ocean."
You don’t have to worry about that. Not only will Rodiya not die, she’ll become the Mechanism’s Lady Prophet.
Chen Xuan had originally dismissed it, but another thought quickly surfaced: Really?
He was standing at the time point called "now," and everything he did would become part of the "future."
Did that also include bringing Rodiya back?
If his carelessness led to Rodiya being executed by the Evangelical Association, the most direct consequence would be Lin disappearing completely; logically speaking, that made perfect sense.
Honglian stayed silent, instead looking at Chen Xuan. Clearly, she was handing the choice over to him.
"From what you’re saying, do you mean the two of us joining in can fundamentally change things?" Chen Xuan asked after a brief contemplation.
"Two people are always better than one, and by the same logic four are better than two." Abigail chuckled twice; this was the first time he’d seen her smile. "One of you is a former top student who once served as an Execution Team captain; the other is a Wanderer who can shake an entire Mechanism branch. Among the illegal Ability Users I know, none surpass him. Besides, there are advantages to operating on a small scale: no matter what I do next, I can keep the New City branch completely in the dark."
"As for whether we’ll ultimately manage to find Rodiya before the Evangelical Association does, or whether we can drag out the mole within the Mechanism, that’s an open question. But there’s no doubt our cooperation will greatly increase the odds of success."
He had to admit, this woman’s insight was quite sharp; no wonder she’d made it into Headquarters.
If it were Lin Qing, she would definitely refuse without hesitation.
But Chen Xuan couldn’t act on impulse the way she did.
He’d even sensed that the series of things he and Lin Qing had done in Jiang City had already had a profoundly far‑reaching impact on the Mechanism. If history were allowed to fluctuate drastically again, the consequences would be impossible to predict—it was entirely possible Lin would never be born.
Reid couldn’t see the future, but what he said was correct.
At the very least, the Mechanism couldn’t fall right now.
Unless he could start from scratch and hold up an institution fully capable of undertaking the "Dimensional Limit" function.
"I understand. I agree to this cooperation." In the end, Chen Xuan still nodded.
"And you?" Abigail looked at Honglian.
"I’m with him." She shrugged.
"I’m very glad to hear the decision you’ve made." Abigail’s tone also relaxed a lot. "Let’s hope we have a pleasant collaboration. Keep your phones on. Reid will come find you tomorrow."
"Wait, isn’t time of the essence? Shouldn’t we start looking right now?" Honglian asked in surprise.
"Yes, but we also need intelligence support." She explained, "I have some connections in New City; I should be able to pick up some new information tonight. Also, I can’t stay outside the New City branch’s line of sight for too long; that might arouse the mole’s suspicion, so I have to return to the branch tonight."
"I see," Honglian said with sudden understanding. "Separation of intelligence and execution?"
She smiled and nodded. "And you’ll be my Execution Team."
After the two of them left, Honglian closed the door and said with a grave expression, "Rodiya is probably even more important than we imagined. For an underground Ability User organization to attack the Dimensional Limit Mechanism over a defector—something like that is practically unheard of."
Chen Xuan deeply agreed.
The weakening of the Mechanism was something only those who’d seen the future knew about. To illegal Ability Users, it was still aloof and towering, imposing its will on all who disobeyed.
If the Evangelical Association hadn’t attacked the safehouse, Abigail would never have realized that an enemy power had quietly infiltrated the Mechanism. The fact that they were willing to mobilize their inside man’s strength to challenge the Mechanism’s authority and snatch Rodiya from right under the tiger’s jaws could only mean one thing: this person was involved in something enormous—so enormous that the Evangelical Association could no longer afford the risk of her joining the Mechanism.
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