Scattered raindrops quickly slid down the old neon sign, dripping at the entrance of the brightly lit convenience store.
Across from this glowing convenience store, light spilled out from the old building, illuminating the bright doorway and most of the building floors, lighting it up like a torch, blazing with intensity.
At the top of this torch-like building, the large illuminated ’Linsent Pharmaceutical’ sign, along with the signs of other high-rises in the rain, ford part of this shimring steel jungle.
"Here is your item." The staff behind the old counter handed the bag to the woman in front of them.
"Thank you." The woman took the bag, pulled out a baseball cap, and pressed it down over her fluffy and noticeable brown-blonde hair, tucking the loose strands into the loose and brand-new waterproof leather jacket.
Several figures inside the convenience store heard the sound, glanced over, but the long baseball cap brim covered part of the woman’s face, revealing only so side profiles.
Yet because of this, the side profile, with a touch of heroic spirit, gained extra softness under the cap, appearing sowhat charmingly vulnerable.
The onlookers, both male and female, were instantly ’attracted’ by this side profile.
But the woman, now wearing the baseball cap, didn’t seem to notice these gazes. She lifted her head, glanced at the rain outside the window, then another look at the information on her wristband, turned around, and walked towards the door.
The gazes that had landed on her quickly withdrew.
However, after leaving the convenience store, the woman did not leave imdiately but stood at the entrance, pulled out a cherry-flavored lollipop from the bag, unwrapped it, and popped it into her mouth.
Then she leaned back directly against the glass wall of the convenience store.
The two figures behind the glass wall, eating sandwiches, glanced at her and then withdrew their gaze.
"Miss, it might be a bit cold outside." The store clerk behind the counter couldn’t help but softly remind her, looking at the figure at the door.
"It’s fine, I’m waiting for soone," the woman lifted her hand, glanced at the ti on her wristband, "he’ll be here soon."
After saying that, she withdrew her gaze, biting the lollipop, leaning against the glass wall, and seemingly fell into silent waiting.
The flickering neon lights outside cast a slight glow on her fair cheeks, outlining a mixture of softness and vitality in her silhouette.
Bang bang—
Amidst the sound of raindrops ca the hurried sound of footsteps.
The woman lifted her head and looked into the rain.
What ca into view were several panic-stricken figures running through the rain.
Their speed was fast, shoes stomping in the rain, making a thumping sound.
Watching these figures leave, the woman slightly lowered her eyes, just about to retract her gaze.
Suddenly she noticed, at so point, a figure wearing a raincoat had appeared in the rain, slowly walking towards her.
She watched this approaching figure, observing the increasingly distinct features, her mouth gradually curving into a smile.
The neon light cast on her cheeks, illuminating her eyes.
She didn’t wait for the figure to co over but dashed forward quickly, leaping into an embrace, "Did you miss !?"
Seeing Vigina rushing over, He Ao instinctively felt this girl was under soone’s control or disguised, raising his hand to instinctively draw for a slash.
But quickly, he seed to sense the thoughts in this girl’s mind, and his expression almost instantly turned into a fond smile, reaching out to hug Vigina, "Have you been waiting here for all along?"
anwhile, Vigina leaned close to his ear, whispering, "The two who were eating sandwiches are suspicious."
Following her words, He Ao used the corner of his eye to glance at the two n eating sandwiches in the corner.
After speaking, Vigina naturally turned around, hooking her arm around He Ao’s, and playfully lifted the bag in her hand, "I bought you so food."
Honestly, Vigina’s acting was decent. Her only flaw was being too upright in looks; nobody would believe if she were a spy, but playing the normal little girlfriend in love was plausible.
Of course, it was obvious she was sowhat inexperienced. If encountered with a professional, it would be easy to see through her act.
He Ao naturally walked into the store with her.
Vigina shook off the water droplets on her clothing and naturally approached the two n eating sandwiches, placing her bag down.
He Ao disposed of the heavily worn disposable raincoat into the trash can and headed inside the convenience store.
His demon scimitar was hidden inside his clothes; while wearing the raincoat, it was decently covered, but once he took it off, it might be noticeable.
Seeing this, Vigina imdiately went over, took off her jacket, and put it on He Ao, covering the demon scimitar, "Cold?"
"Not bad," He Ao glanced at the jacket, "your new jacket?"
"Just bought it while waiting for a cab by the roadside, on sale," Vigina’s eyes slightly curved, "A bit large on , fits you perfectly."
While speaking, they had already walked over to the two who were eating sandwiches.
The person on the right seed ready to stand up to give up his seat, moved a bit too much, and bumped into He Ao.
He Ao staggered, almost couldn’t stand steady, and leaned backward.
The person imdiately reached out, grabbing He Ao.
"What are you doing," at this mont, Vigina ’noticed’ the scene, reached out to steady He Ao, and looked at the person who bumped him, slightly angry, "Can’t you watch where you’re going!"
The burly person looked at Vigina, hastily apologizing, "Sorry, sorry."
After speaking, he turned to his companion, "Let’s go over there, let’s go over there."
In the instant their eyes t, he gave a barely noticeable shake of his head.
His companion also stood up, awkwardly smiling at He Ao and Vigina, "Sorry, you guys sit here."
With that, the two walked to the other side of the glass wall.
"What kind of people are they," Vigina ’grumbled’ as she approached He Ao, tidying his clothes.
She then looked at He Ao, speaking in a very low voice, "Were they testing you?"
"Yeah," He Ao chuckled, naturally sitting in the position, "It’s nothing, let’s have sothing to eat first."
He opened Vigina’s bag, pulling out the food inside.
"This is good, here, let feed you," Vigina readily unwrapped a cake, bringing it to He Ao’s mouth, quickly leaning close, her breath almost mingling with his, and whispered, "Should we do sothing?"
"No need," He Ao shook his head, taking a bite of the cake, reached out to receive it, smilingly said, "Already handled it myself."
Handled just like that?
Vigina was briefly surprised but naturally let He Ao take over the cake, smiled, "Alright then."
The two quickly finished their al, tidied up their trash, and left the convenience store.
"That woman is suspicious."
The man sitting in the corner held a sandwich wrapper and slightly frowned.
"Beautiful won always have complex thoughts; looking unusual is normal. Didn’t you test that man? He’s just an ordinary person, probably just happened to be nearby," his companion took a sip of coffee, looking at the brightly lit factory across the convenience store, "As long as they haven’t been in and out of that factory, it’s all good."
The man fell silent, and both of them looked simultaneously at the factory building across the convenience store.
——
"Is this factory the one producing stimulants?" Vigina held a transparent umbrella, standing silently in the dark alley with He Ao, looking at the towering factory building in the distance, whispering.
"Yes," He Ao raised his head, gazing at the towering factory building, "All the stimulants used to synthesize the White Ghost co from this factory."
"You’ve already investigated?" Vigina was slightly taken aback, looking at the doorway of the bright factory building, "But isn’t there only one entrance and exit to this building? I was just in the convenience store and didn’t see you co out."
"In this world, there wasn’t originally a road," He Ao smiled, casually uttering, "Explore a bit, and there will be one."
Vigina realized He Ao had entered the building by other ans. She didn’t continue to ask but instead turned to the question, "What about those two people, did you find anything?"
"What do you think they do?" He Ao whispered.
"I feel like they might be so kind of ’agents’," Vigina looked at the brightly lit building, "specifically monitoring that building."
She paused, then continued, "And this ’monitoring’ should be continuous; when I arrived, I happened to catch them ’changing shifts’."
"Did they notice sothing off about you?" He Ao asked slowly.
"Yes," Vigina nodded gently at this point; she paused slightly, then continued, "When I noticed them, they also noticed , ahem—"
She gave a slight cough, her face slightly flushed, "Sorry for the trouble earlier; I thought of assuming an identity quite contrary to my appearance to offset any anomalies about ."
"Desperate tis, desperate asures," He Ao shook his head, he spoke slowly, "You acted pretty well."
"I was a mber of the dance troupe when I was in college, even won an outstanding perforr award, just a bit rusty after all these years," Vigina blinked and smiled, "My family thought I would beco an actress in the future."
At this point, she paused in her tone, imdiately shifted her perspective, looked at He Ao, and changed the subject, "But your acting skills are much better than mine. When that guy bumped into you, I didn’t even react."
She slightly widened her eyes, looking closely at He Ao’s cold profile, trying to find the feeble appearance when he was gently ’bumped’ and fell.
"Tsk, tsk, tsk," she shook her head, "If you went into acting, you’d surely win Best Actor."
"Alright, I’ll try it when I have ti." He Ao shrugged with a smile.
The playful atmosphere dissipated the chill in the rain.
"So, what do you think those two people should be doing?" Vigina returned to the topic, asking.
"Rember those people from Ains that ca to Denno City?" He Ao spoke slowly.
"Are you saying," Vigina was slightly startled, "they’re with them? Wait,"
She paused in her tone, "Those people from Ains appear to be so sort of special forces loyal to the President, so are these two also loyal to the President? And the ’orders’ for monitoring the pharmaceutical factory also co from···?"
"Not necessarily," He Ao slightly shook his head, "Departnts under the President don’t have to report everything to the President, just like ordinary security cases in Denno City, FBI agents don’t report directly to you, at most slip it into a work report."
"True." Vigina nodded gently.
She raised her head, gazing at the radiant buildings amidst the rain and fog, slightly frowning, "So these people from Ains have discovered a problem with this factory and are gathering evidence here?"
She didn’t expect to encounter these ’people from Ains’ here.
"No, they’ve probably been ’monitoring’ this pharmaceutical factory for so ti." He Ao slightly shook his head.
"?" Vigina was sowhat confused, "They discovered this place long ago, so why not···"
"Why not close down this factory?" He Ao turned his head, looking at her, and spoke slowly, "Not all departnts have the duty to maintain order and eliminate evil."
"But—" Vigina slightly opened her mouth, ultimately not speaking further, only letting out a bitter smile, "So what exactly is the duty of these people?"
"I don’t know." He Ao slightly shook his head.
He recalled the mory of the man he had collided with a mont ago.
The man didn’t actually know much; he was just a low-level employee who received instructions from his superior to monitor the pharmaceutical factory and record and report the personnel movents and anomalies at the factory.
As for why the factory needed monitoring and what use those records were, he was entirely unaware.
Of course, he was aware of his departnt.
It was a ’vague’ na even in He Ao’s mory,
’Federation Intelligence Bureau.’
He Ao took quite a while to rummage through Suote’s mory corner to pull out information about this departnt.
This was an ancient intelligence organization that belonged to the Gray Stone Palace and was directly accountable to the President.
It was initially a military intelligence organization during the Original Federation period; after the fragntation of the Original Federation, it beca an intelligence organization under the Federation’s restructuring.
In the first two to three centuries of the Federation, when the main enemies were non-compliant Wilderness Settlents and exotic beasts on the wilderness, this organization played a significant role.
This state remained until the fifth century of the Federation, when President Seville heavily utilized the intelligence bureau for a period.
Later, part of the organizational structure and personnel of the intelligence bureau was dismantled and incorporated into the Federal Bureau of Investigation, which enhanced the FBI’s power; the current power structure of the FBI was established at that ti.
In essence, there is so overlap and competition between the powers of the Federation Intelligence Bureau and the FBI. The flourishing of the FBI inevitably symbolized the decline of the intelligence bureau.
From that ti until now, the intelligence bureau was once disbanded, then restored, but was basically only involved in managing trivial matters, almost with no presence.
Even Suote hadn’t heard much news about the Federation Intelligence Bureau.
But from those investigators who went to Ains and today’s encounter with these two ’agents’,
The Federation Intelligence Bureau doesn’t appear to be as ’dead and left with only remnants’ as traditionally believed.
It’s just gathered its claws, hidden itself, and penetrated deeper into certain events.
Indeed, perhaps it was once ’dead’, and soone just ’revived’ it.
And across the entire Federation, only one person could do such a thing.
He Ao raised his head, looking towards the northwest.
Amidst the layers of towering buildings, it seed as if an elderly person was sleeping within them.
For over seven years in the past, that person has tightly held the highest power of the Federation.
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