Chapter 399: Chapter 399: Searching for Clues in the Lost City
The next morning, Reid visited as agreed.
He also brought a large stack of documents to introduce to the two of them the details surrounding Rodiya’s disappearance.
Chen Xuan realized this was also Abigail’s way of showing her willingness to cooperate: she was willing to share intelligence to improve the efficiency of solving the case.
The intelligence indicated that the Dimensional Limit Mechanism initially didn’t pay much attention to Rodiya’s case.
After all, there were far too many people like Rodiya.
Those claiming to have awakened powers, crying about being persecuted, wanting to escape their small organizations, or simply seeking asylum from the agency... New City’s branch encounters twenty to thirty such cases every month, including some who, after being tested, have no abilities at all and are only perpetrating fraud.
Rodiya’s test score in the files was 68, her abilities categorized as psychological, making her unsuitable for the Execution Team. For such ordinary Awakened, the agency mainly monitors them in secret; after registration, they are treated as ordinary people and allowed to do as they please.
However, Rodiya ultimately stayed at New City’s branch, becoming a logistics team member.
The reason for the agency keeping her was simple—her identity was somewhat special as she was a defector from the Evangelical Association.
The documents indicated that this happened a month ago.
"Have you accepted other defectors from the Evangelical Association?" Chen Xuan asked out of curiosity.
"Of course, there are several just at New City’s branch," Reid replied, "But after this incident, all former Evangelical Ability Users have been taken to the headquarters for investigation."
In other words, Rodiya’s uniqueness wasn’t very significant.
"Is the Evangelical Association really that troublesome?" Honglian had long wanted to ask, "I know it’s an illegal Ability User organization, aiming to resist the agency’s jurisdiction, but it hasn’t been so flamboyant before, has it?"
"They’ve been much more active in the past year, especially in their stronghold in Europe, where they’re almost constantly opposing us. But saying they’re hard to handle would be an exaggeration," Reid said dismissively, "No matter the size, ants are still ants. They’ve mostly survived by keeping hidden. Without that protection of secrecy, the Evangelical Association wouldn’t last long."
Honglian smirked slightly, seemingly wanting to retort.
But in the end, she kept her mouth shut.
Evidently, the future developments wouldn’t be as smooth as Reid suggested.
"Your superior seems to disagree..." Chen Xuan hinted.
"Abigail’s concern isn’t the Evangelical Association. Defeating the Dimensional Limit Mechanism with just infiltration and internal allies is impossible. She just doesn’t want unnecessary casualties to result from internal struggles, leaving more opportunities for illegal Wanderers." Reid gave Chen Xuan a meaningful look, "The destructive power of world erosion is far more terrifying than Ability User crimes."
"Watch your words, Mr. Reid," Honglian said, displeased.
"Don’t worry, I’m not interested in profiting from infiltration points," Chen Xuan waved to Honglian, indicating that he didn’t mind, "Besides, this theory will soon be disproved by yourselves. Ultimately, the doomsday erosion hypothesis is just an early agency fallacy."
"What?" The other party was slightly taken aback.
"You probably don’t know much about the agency’s core secrets, right? Even Abigail seems only to have heard the term ’ascend’ without knowing the details." Chen Xuan shrugged, "If theory doesn’t keep up with practice, there can be big problems. I suggest you go back and study the latest research from the headquarters."
"Exactly... how much do you know about ’ascend’?" Reid asked, lowering his voice, probing.
Chen Xuan inwardly sneered, they were indeed quite concerned about this.
What Abigail had said to Honglian upon their reunion was actually hinting at one thing: whether the betrayal of their classmate was related to the secrets of ascension.
On this matter of ascension, which concerns the fate of all humanity, everything the agency had done could be set aside for justice and morality in her heart.
So when Chen Xuan took the initiative to mention ascension, Abigail immediately indicated that she could understand Honglian’s choice.
Because it seemed to be the only explanation for why that former top student would rebel against the agency while insisting that they hadn’t strayed from their original intentions.
Thinking about it now, Abigail’s stance was quite intriguing.
The agency had gambled all future resources on exploring ascension.
But what if this path was wrong?
"I know quite a bit. When you eventually leave the agency, I’ll tell you," Chen Xuan said casually, "For now, let’s focus on the current matter. What’s the situation with the safe house?"
Reid stared at him for a while before relenting, "A week ago, the Intelligence Team picked up news that seven or eight Evangelicals had transferred from Europe to here, possibly to clean up traitors. New City’s branch then gathered the defectors under their control and moved them to a safe house to lay low. However, the information leaked, and the enemy directly overpowered the safe house."
Chen Xuan then found the corresponding materials.
From the photos, the safe house was located in the suburbs, a relatively isolated house, now burned to just the frame. They found five corpses at the scene, all charred, and their identities were confirmed through DNA testing—one was a security guard, and the other four were Evangelical defectors.
Rodiya was not among them.
Chen Xuan bemoaned silently. With the house burned like this, the scent was certainly masked. Otherwise, he might have used the same people-finding method he had relied on in Jiang City, letting Quack track them.
"How did she manage to escape?"
"According to the two surviving security guards, there was a fierce battle between the defectors and the Evangelicals at the time. She probably escaped in the chaos," Reid replied, "Later, Abigail discovered that the main target of the enemy was her. New City’s branch’s approach effectively delivered the others into the enemy’s hands in one package."
Chen Xuan had roughly understood what had happened next—the most important thing about a safe house is confidentiality. If Evangelicals from elsewhere could zero in on the safe house soon after arrival, New City’s branch’s intelligence system had a significant problem. Headquarters had dispatched Abigail from the Discipline Team to investigate this.
But Abigail’s investigation was also not going smoothly. Headquarters seemed to be only going through the motions, offering her little support. As for the branch, it was even worse, suspecting internal moles, they were handling people with tied hands. Just when she was at her wits’ end, a classmate from ten years ago suddenly sent an email, asking her to help find Rodiya.
"I have a rough understanding of the situation. So, what’s the next action?" Chen Xuan closed the folder, "Doesn’t the agency have any talent for finding people?"
"If we could find our targets among millions with just this bit of information, we would’ve wiped out the Evangelical members long ago," Reid checked his watch, "... Time’s up."
As he finished speaking, both Chen Xuan and Honglian’s phones started ringing simultaneously.
They took out their phones and saw it was a message from Abigail. Opening the link, they found a task briefing, accompanied by a voice file.
"So formal?" Chen Xuan muttered.
"Headquarters’ style," Honglian shrugged, "People there like to template everything."
The voice was Abigail’s narration, her informant had provided information: Someone named Abdullah had provided lodging for Evangelical Ability Users coming from afar. This person managed an underground hotel in Brooklyn District and was known as a figure crossing both sides of the law.
Capture him and extract the whereabouts of the Evangelicals from him.
Abigail’s approach was clear; since both sides were looking for Rodiya, when they had no clues, they might as well see if their competitors had any.
"Sounds reasonable. But what if they refuse to spill the beans?" Chen Xuan scoffed.
"Young man, I understand your concern. Maybe it’s lack of experience with interrogation, or you don’t want to get your hands dirty... " Reid casually touched the dagger at his waist, "while my hands are already dirty. You just need to help me catch him; leave the rest to me."
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