"Empire River Star is your hotown, and it's your fans who are in trouble—this is obviously a trap to lure you there!" Before the group set out, Chen Jixian delivered a rare, lengthy speech, its recipient none other than Chen Gu—who, unbeknownst to many, was his father.
Chen Gu's face remained somber; he seed unable to think of a rebuttal.
"But in reality, even though it's our hotown, we have to admit that it's a backwater. If I were the Digital Group and planning an attack, I wouldn't choose there either; the attention it gets is too low."
"Therefore, I suspect this is very likely the prelude to a feint, with their goal being to draw us away from Capital Star."
Chen Jixian suddenly lifted his eyelids. "So, we might as well turn the tables! We'll pretend we're rushing to Empire River Star, then secretly stay hidden and find their true target!"
Chen Gu looked tempted. He glanced at Gong Shuxu, who, after careful consideration, also nodded. And so, the group was soon seen hurriedly exiting the Bureau building and boarding a spacecraft bound for Empire River Star.
Within the network of the Bureau building, a special "bug" had always been lurking. However, the encryption level of the Bureau building's network was extrely high, and all data entering and leaving was "processed" multiple tis. This data processing was akin to that of an old-city sewage treatnt plant; after repeated cycles, the "outgoing" data beca "clean water."
Even if this "bug" were a nine-lived cat, it had lost eight and a half of them. Number 21 expended considerable effort to reactivate it. He then employed various techniques—unfathomable to humans but common for data lifeforms—to restore the information it held.
Then, he revealed a digital smile on the interstellar quantum network and sent a ssage to a dedicated "user."
"They think it's a trap. Activate Plan C."
They treated this operation as a "battle," formulating a complete plan from the outset, with contingencies for every possible scenario. In the entire battle plan, Number 21 was paramount; he was responsible for gathering intelligence and determining the opponent's intentions.
Two hours later, Number 21 found a segnt of surveillance footage: Chen Gu and his group, after boarding the spacecraft, had quietly left through an ergency hatch. Although they all wore hats, visual comparison confird their identities—it was indeed them. It seed only Marcus and Silver Eagle Charles were actually heading to Empire River Star.
「On the spaceship.」
Inside a cargo hold, a group of "ordinary-looking" people lay in several life-support pods.
Chen Gu used his Brain Domain Hacker abilities to communicate with everyone on a ntal level, chatting as if using telepathy.
"How long can this disguise last?"
"The Professional with us can continuously reinforce the disguise. As long as he lives, it can be maintained indefinitely."
"The ones left on Capital Star won't blow our cover, will they?"
"No. Number 21 is indeed powerful, but that's also his weakness: he relies solely on electronic devices for judgnt. As long as we maintain optical camouflage, his equipnt won't be able to distinguish us."
"Upon arrival at Empire River Star, Marcus and Charles will be the visible leaders. The rest of us will act as ordinary mbers of the operations team."
Finally, soone raised a question, "What if… Number 21 never actually infiltrated the Bureau's network? Would all our efforts be in vain?"
Chen Gu answered, "Always assu our opponent is one step ahead."
In fact, when Chen Gu first heard about the attack, he was furious. He particularly detested the Digital Group's practice of readily dragging innocent ordinary people into their conflicts. However, on the way to the Bureau building, he had cald down: the Digital Group's actions were too conspicuous. They had specifically targeted his hotown and chosen his fan club.
The conversation Chen Jixian had with him inside the Bureau building was also pre-arranged, a ntal discussion between father and adult son conducted using Chen Gu's Brain Domain Hacker abilities. Getting Chen Jixian to deliver such a long speech in one go was indeed asking a lot of him, rather like asking a terrible actor to morize a lengthy script.
Currently, the Bureau of Mystic Security didn't actually know if the Digital Group had taken the bait. They landed in Songtao Lang City at the scheduled ti. Marcus led the way, followed by Silver Eagle Charles and a group of "operations team" mbers, to et with the local sub-bureau's special operatives.
"Brief us on the situation!" Marcus had no ti for pleasantries and got straight to the point.
The chief of Songtao Lang's Masked Sub-bureau, a Fourth Energy Level Regenerating Warrior nad Ankara, imdiately spoke, her face grave. "Approximately 3,200 people are trapped in the cinema. We've attempted to access the internal surveillance footage using technical ans, but all attempts failed. Consequently, we have no information about the situation inside."
"We don't know by what ans the criminals are controlling so many people. It's completely quiet inside the cinema."
Marcus asked, "Have you organized a rescue operation?"
"We attempted one," Ankara said, her expression sorrowful. "Two special operatives, along with our most elite operations team, tried to enter through the cinema's ventilation shafts. However, as soon as they breached the cinema periter, we lost contact with them. We haven't heard anything since!"
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