Welcome to Ability Store

Chapter 415: Chapter 416: An Unexpected Request

After exchanging contact information with Rodiya, Chen Xuan and Honglian walked out of the hospital room.

As soon as they stepped outside, they saw Abigail leaning against the wall, seemingly waiting for them for quite some time. Seeing them, she smiled and said, "Shall we talk?"

...

...

It was still the same café where they first met.

Still the same private room 204.

"It seems you really like it here," Chen Xuan joked.

Of course, this time there was something different—Reid hadn’t accompanied her, and the elegantly decorated small room was occupied only by the three of them.

"It’s close to the branch, and to be honest, the café owner is a friend of mine," Abigail replied with a smile. "If anything happens, he can help cover for me."

So this is how expressive her face can be, Chen Xuan thought. Previously, he had assumed that the Inspection Division people wore poker faces wherever they went.

"Why were you at the hospital?" Honglian asked suspiciously. "Were you monitoring our actions?"

"Wronged," Abigail spread her hands. "I had the same reason to go to the hospital as you did. I was still hesitating about which of the three injured could be Rodiya when I noticed your names on the visitor list while registering at the front desk, so I knew I didn’t have to take a chance."

They couldn’t help but exchange glances.

"How did you know?" Honglian still had doubts.

"The Intelligence Unit found something peculiar while checking the Evangelicals’ personal belongings," Abigail stirred the milk froth to mix it evenly with the coffee. "The intelligence showed that Rodiya’s whereabouts were not tracked through ability or technical means, but rather because she deliberately left a flaw—in short, Rodiya posted her status on a platform without hiding the location."

"Additionally, during the interrogation of the warehouse company employees, we found that Rodiya had entered the company multiple times as an officer before her disappearance and had blackmailed the warehouse manager with scandals to gain access to the lower-level warehouse."

"In summary, I suspect she deliberately led the enemy to that location as she had already decided to escape from there. Although her ability score is not high, the fact that the Evangelical Association went to such great lengths to hunt her down suggests her abilities are extraordinary. Even if there’s a body left on the ground, I had to come to the hospital to confirm it."

Truly worthy of being an elite from headquarters.

Chen Xuan silently praised... Even if he and Honglian hadn’t intervened, the course of events would not have changed much: Abigail would have discovered that Shelley was Rodiya. With her skills, she would undoubtedly gain Rodiya’s trust, and then with the testimony provided by Rodiya, Abigail could easily root out the mole and help the Mechanism stop the Evangelical Association’s conspiracy to seize the nuclear submarine.

"Hahaha..." Thinking of this, he couldn’t help but laugh.

The two women cast odd looks at him.

"Why is Mr. Shixin laughing?" Abigail asked.

"Oh, nothing, I was just marveling at the diversity of historical timelines," Chen Xuan shook his head. If Rodiya going to headquarters was a node, then the strands leading to that node were far more than one, and no matter how these strands were arranged, they would ultimately converge to the same result.

If he allowed the node to shift, then undoubtedly the future would change.

"Since you’ve discovered it, let me share some intelligence with you," he said smoothly. "Indeed, Shelley is Rodiya, and she’s being hunted by the Evangelical Association not because her ability is special, but because she happened to overhear a secret: the Evangelical Association plans to seize a nuclear submarine and launch nuclear missiles toward Europe."

Chen Xuan elaborated on the future nuclear cloud event... even more comprehensively than what Rodiya had overheard, including that the mastermind was an Evangelical who had awakened the mind control ability, and the incident location was in the British Port of Maugham, and so on.

The more Abigail listened, the more horrified she felt. "Such a thing is happening!?"

Until now, the Evangelical Association could only be considered a relatively noisy illegal ability user organization.

But if they succeeded in this plan, causing millions of casualties in Europe, the Evangelical Association would undoubtedly gain notoriety, while the Dimensional Limit Mechanism’s reputation would suffer a fatal blow. Under such circumstances, they might truly contend with the Mechanism.

Indeed, history is fascinating: before the Mechanism emerged, such disasters were the best reason for them to take control of the chaos; after the Mechanism emerged, if disasters occurred, they would instead become sitting targets.

"Exactly. As for the intelligence chief of the New City branch, he is likely also a captive of the mind controller," Chen Xuan continued, "You can check with whom he has had contact in the past... of course, it’s not easy to trace."

Abigail nodded seriously, "No wonder the Intelligence Unit couldn’t trace how the chief defected despite thorough self-checks. Thank you, Mr. Shixin, this information is indeed precious, and I will report it to my superiors as soon as possible."

"With this achievement, your position should also rise a few levels," Honglian teased, "I’ll congratulate you in advance."

"Indeed, you can congratulate me," Abigail accepted frankly. "The more power I have, the more I can correct the mistakes made by the Mechanism. If it really is as you say, that it will eventually be torn apart by its own bloated wealth and power, then I can preserve more seeds of resistance for this world."

Honglian couldn’t help but be stunned, "You..."

For her peer to say such things meant she had placed their warning in a prominent place in her heart.

"In the end, we all want to make the world a better place, don’t we?" Abigail said softly.

Perhaps it truly is this person... Chen Xuan thought.

The support that turned Honglian in another world from a captive to a resistance leader came from these Mechanism officers who still stayed true to their original intention.

"By the way, did Mr. Shixin find out what Rodiya’s ability is?" Abigail turned to Chen Xuan.

"I indeed did, but I have already swapped her ability," he said frankly. "This is the reward we sought on this trip. The two abilities she now has are enough to protect herself and don’t pique the Mechanism’s interest."

"Is ability the reward? It seems you have been hiding something,"

"If we didn’t do this, we wouldn’t dare to let her go to headquarters alone."

Abigail was a bit surprised, "You actually aren’t taking her away?"

"No, she will eventually resume using the name Rodiya, and she also has her own destiny," Chen Xuan didn’t like this mystical talk, but to not alter history, he had to put it this way. "So I hope you can take her back to headquarters and look after her."

"She is an ability user, isn’t it easy for you to bring her over with your position?" Honglian chimed in.

"I can make it happen, provided she goes under the name Shelley, otherwise I can’t explain how she suddenly became a different person," Abigail thought and replied.

"No problem, she will cooperate," Chen Xuan assured, "Thank you for helping us with this."

With that, Rodiya’s arrangements were settled. With the support of an officer from the Inspection Division, her time at headquarters shouldn’t be too difficult.

"It’s nothing, you helped me solve a big problem with the New City branch, this is a small matter," Abigail took a sip of coffee, her eyes carrying a tinge of nostalgia. "Since the issue is resolved, it’s time to return your abilities."

"Indeed," Chen Xuan took out his phone, pretending to switch to camera mode, "Please look at the lens."

Abigail seemed a bit hesitant.

"What’s the matter?" Honglian noticed her peer’s hesitation.

"Can your friend... change my ability as well?" she said after a moment of silence.

"What?" Chen Xuan was a bit confused.

"I want to exchange my ability for the Voice of Trust," Abigail repeated, "Is that possible?"