Chapter 403: Chapter 403: The Source of Hostility
The surging ice blue rushed towards Abigail, making her body involuntarily sway backward. At that moment, she had an illusion of being in the ocean, as if the waves were about to swallow her whole.
This ability... is not without side effects, she suddenly realized. Each time she discerned others’ words, it consumed energy, and talking simultaneously with two hundred people was no less than running a marathon.
If she weren’t an experienced ability user, just the feedback after one round of greetings would have utterly exhausted her.
Turns out I’m not so welcomed.
Abigail gave a silent bitter smile. If not a full hundred percent, at least over ninety percent of the agents in the hall showed aversion towards her.
Was it merely because she disturbed their after-hours life?
The answer was clearly negative. If they truly resisted overtime, they wouldn’t have responded to the captain’s assembly order from the start.
What they resented was her alone—for she was an "outsider," an inspector here to pick their faults. Especially when she mentioned "there’s a mole," the sense of rejection and distrust reached its peak.
How ironic, thought Abigail.
Even illegal wanderers didn’t treat her as badly. As for Honglian... that was green with tolerance.
Now, in all of New City, besides the deputy, the two who treated her best were considered "enemies" by the agency.
Of course, Abigail wasn’t too surprised by this result.
Otherwise, she wouldn’t have chosen to seek Honglian’s help rather than rely on the department’s strength.
In a sense, she’s stepping on the agency’s discipline.
"Yes, there is a traitor, one secretly colluding with the Evangelical Association, and I already know who he is!" Abigail said resolutely. No matter her inner thoughts, she could always make herself look tough. Because in the agency’s system, if you aren’t tough, you’d be eliminated.
"Please arrange yourselves into the Execution Team, Logistics Team, and Intelligence Team, then from the leader start to tell me this week’s work schedule one by one."
The crowd was baffled.
"What’s this about?"
"Can’t you just say who defected to the Evangelical Association?"
"The Disciplinary Committee agents... don’t have the authority to interfere in the department’s specific work, right?"
Abigail looked at Randa, who helplessly picked up another microphone, "Less nonsense, do as she asks! This is the headquarters testing us!"
"Well, whatever the boss says goes."
"Sigh... really making something out of nothing."
The crowd grumbled while reluctantly finding their positions. When the three teams were formed, the leader in front began to report the work to Abigail.
No matter how she might use her status and authority to force this, it could at most only be achieved once. Abigail observed everyone, knowing that if she didn’t produce any convincing results, complaints sent to headquarters tomorrow wouldn’t be few.
But she wasn’t anxious.
From the first greeting, she had already glimpsed a trace of dark red and brown-black in the icy blue tides.
These were symbols of hatred and hostility.
Now divided into three groups, the perception of emotions became clearer.
Abigail found that while the Execution and Logistics Teams were a sea of ice blue, the blue on the Intelligence Team’s side had undeniably grown murky, like someone had poured red ink into the pool, the irksome shades spreading forward, the more senior the position, the deeper the hostility.
When her gaze settled on the Intelligence Team leader, Fermi Naren, the red had turned as vivid as blood; she seemed to detect the iron rust smell emanating from him and his heart thumping with hatred.
Abigail knew very well that whether it was the color, smell, or sound, it was merely a reflection of the ability’s emotional expression.
The result had surfaced.
But it was quite strange.
Fermi Naren was a veteran, not an ability user; the agency poached him from Fubo Le, valuing his local influence and thirty years of practical experience in the intelligence network. He had always identified with the agency, had no interactions with Abigail, and his background was clear and traceable; under normal circumstances, he wouldn’t be suspected.
Moreover, as the head of the Intelligence Team, he should know that the Evangelical Association is an organization that prioritizes ability users, and no matter how capable, a regular person like him could only be used as a tool, so how could he possibly cooperate with them?
Then again, it being odd is fitting.
If someone immediately appeared suspicious, how could they evade the thorough investigations from headquarters time and again?
Abigail stood before this old veteran.
"It seems it’s you."
The hall erupted into an uproar!
"What is she saying?"
"How could Mr. Fermi be a mole!"
"Rubbish!"
Even the captain was shocked, "Abigail, did you mishear? He was with us before the Evangelical Association even showed a shadow!"
"Quiet," Abigail said.
However, no one listened to her.
"I said, quiet!" The second time she almost roared it out, accompanied by the microphone’s screeching, the crowd in the hall was suppressed again—they had never heard this woman shout angrily before. From the first meeting to not long ago, their impression of Abigail was one of calm, restraint, as if an invisible chain was binding her.
But some said she was just pretending to be aloof.
After all, she was a headquarters agent.
Fermi shrugged, bowing like a gentleman, "May I defend myself? After all, your accusation concerns my honor."
"Yes, evidence must be presented to verify, right?"
"I believe the leader wouldn’t do such treacherous things!"
"Indeed, this isn’t the Jiang City branch!" The surrounding agents said indignantly.
Abigail paid him no mind because she had no evidence in hand.
She waved, and Reid immediately stepped over, grabbing Fermi’s arm, "Please come with us to the stage."
As she passed by Randa, Abigail whispered, "Seal the agency."
"Everyone, stay calm. My evidence is demonstrated through ability. Now my deputy will briefly introduce it to you," she said, looking at the crowd below, "Reid."
Reid nodded, pulling out a revolver and loading bullets into the chamber one by one, "Just now, I applied a kind of ability on the three of us. From now on, if anyone lies, this gun will discharge a fatal bullet."
"Ha, what does that mean?" Fermi’s face showed sarcasm, "The gun of truth or falsehood? The issue is who knows what trick is hidden in your ability, maybe when it fires depends solely on your will."
"I’m sorry, its reliability is certified by headquarters," Reid said indifferently, "If you don’t believe, you can report it to see if headquarters agrees with this method of judgment—provided you survive it." Then he loudly said to the audience, "You too, anyone who wants to verify can come on stage!"
"I’m not joking, Mr. Fermi," Abigail looked at him sternly, "Speak everything now while there’s still time. You’re not an ability user; there’s no need to perish with the Evangelical Association."
"So you can’t produce a shred of evidence, can you?" Fermi rebutted unyieldingly, "Look, this is the Conduct Inspection Group’s way, deciding life and death just by ability without discrimination!"
The scene stirred up a wave of support with his questioning.
Reid, now finished loading the bullets, nonchalantly raised the gun and pulled the trigger twice towards the ceiling—
Bam! Bam!
The gunshots erupted in the conference room, startling the noisy ones into silence.
Before anyone could react, Reid already pointed the gun at himself, "If you defected to the Evangelical Association, I would be delighted to drag you out and kill you, along with your family, your friends... everyone related to you, I will meticulously tend to, and won’t easily let them go."
Click.
He pulled the trigger.
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