In the aft cabin of the cruiser, the Titanium Cobalt Dragon n did not relax their vigilance just because they were returning ho, standing in four ranks according to their formation numbers.
They were like towering alloy sculptures, silent yet resolute.
Ji Xinghuo noticed that many under the helts, the Titanium Cobalt Dragon n’s eyes were observing him, though there was no malice, it was more of a curiosity.
After all, he was a famous person.
Surely there were fans of Zhao Manying among the Titanium Cobalt Dragon n, following the news about him and Zhao Manying.
"Thank you, Captain Liu."
Ji Xinghuo walked up to Liu Situo, expressing his gratitude.
It wasn’t until then that Chi Zhonglin and the others breathed a sigh of relief. They truly thought they were going to die in that desperate situation. Hearing Ji Xinghuo’s words, they also expressed their thanks.
"It’s my duty,"
Liu Situo took off his helt, and with the sound of the hertic seal opening, a very young face was revealed.
He had a crew cut, a rugged appearance, and radiated a strong sense of masculinity.
However, with a towering height of two and a half ters, Ji Xinghuo had to look up to talk to him—as he was only one ter eighty.
Liu Situo tucked his helt under his arm, looking down into Ji Xinghuo’s eyes, and suddenly asked, "Have you fused with the Titanium Cobalt Dragon Blood?"
"Yes," Ji Xinghuo nodded.
"No wonder!" Liu Situo’s face brightened up with realization, a smile spreading across it, his huge palm patted Ji Xinghuo’s shoulder lightly and said, "My brothers and I all felt your presence to be familiar, it turns out you’ve fused with Titanium Cobalt Dragon Blood. Your reputation is often ntioned in my company."
A friendly laughter ca from the nearby Titanium Cobalt Dragon n.
Teammates were surprised; they only then learned that Ji Xinghuo had fused with Titanium Cobalt Dragon Blood. For soone who wasn’t a Titanium Cobalt Dragon Man to acquire such an Alien Species was exceedingly rare.
Ji Xinghuo said, "Before I beca a Mutant, my greatest ambition was to join the Daxia Sky Army and beco a Titanium Cobalt Dragon Man."
"Is that so?" Liu Situo raised an eyebrow.
"I can vouch for that," Lu Yunhai spoke up loudly, "Xinghuo has been working toward it for many years."
Liu Situo gave him a glance and then shifted his gaze back to Ji Xinghuo, shaking his head, but did not inquire why Ji Xinghuo had not succeeded.
"It’s a pity."
"With your talent, if you had joined the Sky Army, you could have beco at least a Captain, an even higher rank like a Battalion Commander was possible," Liu Situo clicked his tongue, "Who knows, you might have ended up being my superior, hahaha..."
Ji Xinghuo realized that, although this Daxia Sky Army Captain was very ruthless in battle, he had an amiable and even sowhat lively personality.
Had it been before, he would have tried every ans to join the Sky Army.
But now it was no longer necessary.
The Daxia Sky Army wouldn’t accept a Mutant who had already made a na for himself; occasionally, such mid-way joined Titanium Cobalt Dragon n could beco a source of trouble for the legion.
It was a lesson learned in blood.
Only those trained from the beginning could guarantee absolute loyalty!
"Everyone rest," Liu Situo didn’t say anything else, "We’ll be back in Chang’an in an hour."
Ji Xinghuo and the others sat down.
Teammates looked at each other, evidently having many questions, but with the Titanium Cobalt Dragon n nearby, it wasn’t convenient to ask.
They maintained silence throughout the journey.
Only an hour later, as the cruiser entered the airspace of the Asia-Pacific Community in near space, protected by the ground-based missile defense system, they were completely safe at last.
The cruiser lowered its cruising altitude, and at 8:30 p.m., landed at an air force base north of Chang’an.
The Titanium Cobalt Dragon n filed out.
As Ji Xinghuo and the others disembarked from the hatch, they saw a Sky Fighter parked nearby, with Zhou Yishang leading three Sword Teams waiting already. In addition to the regular Swordsn, there were several Chi Xiao Knights and two Xuanyuan Swordsn whom Ji Xinghuo did not recognize.
Liu Situo saluted Zhou Yishang and imdiately handed over Kaminda.
The two Xuanyuan Swordsn took charge, controlling Kaminda—who had awakened from unconsciousness—and fitted him with specially made handcuffs and leg irons, then escorted him onto the Sky Fighter.
The sheer scale of the operation had scared the teammates.
"Director Zhou."
Ji Xinghuo stepped forward to greet him.
"Well done!" Zhou Yishang’s face broke into a smile, "You lured the serpent out of its den this ti. Although it was risky, it was much more successful than the last, finally capturing a big fish alive."
However, Ji Xinghuo wasn’t too pleased.
The information revealed by Kaminda in the Canyon previously suggested he was most likely not directly ordered by the Qianyuan Association but was rather connected through a layer of relationships, similar to the way Ghost Wolf was hired.
Kaminda was not the snake Ji Xinghuo intended to lure out.
In fact, Ji Xinghuo suspected sothing was amiss the mont he saw the video of the giant lizard, it might be a trap specifically ant for him.
Even if the Sword Bureau had determined that Jing Ji was not compromised, and the lizard had first appeared years ago, he still did not fully trust it.
The lizard’s appearance and the video might be a coincidence.
But the enemy could use this video as bait, leading him to leave Chang’an.
Ji Xinghuo’s Professional Template was the Magnetic Field Madman, which was no longer a secret.
And a little over a month ago, at the Emperor Star Club, he had openly expressed his desire for the Electrostatic Field Alien Species. Just by going with the flow, with so clever design and hidden traces, it was possible to deceive him into leaving Chang’an without taking the Purple Lightning Sword.
Ji Xinghuo’s idea at that ti was to use their strategy against them.
On the day he returned the Purple Lightning Sword, he discussed a plan with Zhou Yishang in secret.
Of course, Zhou Yishang did not have the authority to mobilize the Daxia Sky Army, but it was the Bureau Chief Li Hui who approached the Sky Army on his behalf to apply for the use of a near-Earth space station, which just so happened to be above the equator near the East Africa Kingdom, not requiring orbital adjustnt nor drawing attention from other nations, ready for an orbital drop at any ti.
For the past few days, the first company of the second battalion of Titanium Cobalt Dragon n was on stand-by at all tis.
The weather in East Africa was cooperative, with no cloud cover to interfere, allowing satellites to track him continuously and monitor the ground movents.
A War Eagle class cruiser also stealthily entered the atmosphere, coordinating with the actions of the Titanium Cobalt Dragon n.
All of this was within expectations.
The orbital drop of the Titanium Cobalt Dragon n was very tily. It not only saved his life but also captured Kaminda alive.
However, there was one problem that Ji Xinghuo still wasn’t clear about.
How exactly had the enemy located them?
Ji Xinghuo’s gaze swept over his teammates, who seed to have noticed sothing too, as Chi Zhonglin had already ntioned it. Yet, every one of them appeared calm, and even with Ji Xinghuo’s microscopic perception, he couldn’t sense who might be compromised.
"Xinghuo, you’re not suspecting , are you?" asked Chi Zhonglin with a smile.
"No."
Ji Xinghuo was sowhat troubled.
"I would definitely not betray everyone," said Lu Yunhai with an easy-going expression. "With my abilities, I couldn’t manage that even if I wanted to."
Jing Ji and Yuan Chongzhen also nodded in agreent.
The group couldn’t help but look toward Zhou Yishang, the one they had just t and the most suspicious.
"The innocent have nothing to hide." Zhou Yishang shrugged his shoulders, "I am willing to undergo mind interrogation."
"Zhou Yishang, don’t get wrong, I don’t suspect any of you," Ji Xinghuo quickly clarified. "Perhaps the problem isn’t with any of us but lies elsewhere." The hunting trip had been very fruitful, and his teammates had been very supportive; they were all friends, and he didn’t want to damage their camaraderie over this.
"What do you an?" asked Jing Ji.
"It’s possible our electronic devices have been tracked." Ji Xinghuo took out his phone, which was now a useless brick, disabled and unusable.
One by one, his teammates also took out their phones, only to realize they were all broken.
"What happened?"
Without going into detail, Ji Xinghuo explained that when he had killed the hunting team in a matter of seconds with five shots, he had released an electromagnetic pulse, which damaged everyone’s electronic devices—their phones, translators, electromagnetic rifles, and so on—all of them were now scrap tal.
But as long as they could be repaired, they could be investigated.
"Everyone hand over any electronic devices you have," Ji Xinghuo said, starting by giving his phone and translator to a swordsman.
"Alright."
The rest followed suit.
Zhou Yishang clapped his hands and said, "You can’t leave until the problem is identified."
The teammates exchanged looks, realizing they were effectively under house arrest.
All aboard the Sky Fighter, it wasn’t long before the aircraft landed at the Qinling Base. Ji Xinghuo and his teammates took a separate path, heading toward the base’s interrogation room.
"My apologies for the inconvenience," Ji Xinghuo said with a look of remorse.
"It’s nothing. As long as things get cleared up, even staying here a few days is a minor issue," Chi Zhonglin said, dismissing it with a wave of his hand.
Jing Ji couldn’t help but ask, "Xinghuo, what exactly is going on here? I heard you and the chief from the Sword Bureau talk; is soone trying to kill you?"
Everyone’s attention was pulled in by his question.
Back in the canyon, Kaminda had ntioned, "Soone is paying a high price for your lives." Thinking back now, it seed Kaminda was only after one person—Ji Xinghuo.
He was the target during the assassination attempt at the opening of the Super League.
There was also that ambush on the road.
Three consecutive tis, a legendary mutant had made a move, each enemy stronger than before, as if soone bore a vendetta against him.
"It’s a matter of secrecy, I can’t say," Ji Xinghuo shook his head with an air of helplessness.
"Alright then."
No one pressed further.
The investigation results ca back much faster than expected. A swordsman asked Ji Xinghuo to step outside, and in less than half a minute, he was back with a dismantled phone in his hand.
"This is my phone."
The speaker was Yuan Chongzhen, his face full of astonishnt.
All eyes turned to him.
Ji Xinghuo separated the phone’s casing, pointing to a tiny component inside, no bigger than a few grains of sand, soldered onto the circuit board. It would be very hard to notice for soone not very familiar with the phone’s structure and could easily be mistaken for a standard part of the phone.
"This is a locator," Ji Xinghuo said. "It sends out a signal at a specific frequency every minute."
"What?" Yuan Chongzhen’s face went pale with anxiety. "I had no idea there was sothing like this in my phone. You have to believe !"
Ji Xinghuo nodded, "I believe you."
For the enemy to target Yuan Chongzhen, they clearly had gone to great lengths.
The first ti Ji Xinghuo beca well-known was when he, along with Jing Ji, Yuan Chongzhen, and Alex, killed a legendary Dagon person at the Star Realm Frontline, which could easily be found in the news. Later, when they were at the Sword Valley Fortress, his regular associations with all of these bounty hunters made it common knowledge that Yuan Chongzhen was a friend of his.
In the Star Realm, mobile phones couldn’t be used, and bounty hunters often entrusted theirs for safekeeping when they were out. In case sothing happened, the phones would be sent to their families or designated heirs along with their belongings.
This provided the perfect opportunity for the enemy to tamper with the phones.
On Earth, everyone keeps their phone close by at all tis, so for himself, Jing Ji, or Chi Zhonglin, it would be very difficult for anyone else to access their phones.
Thus, Yuan Chongzhen beca the target.
"It’s my fault for being careless," Yuan Chongzhen said with a guilty expression. "I owe everyone an apology; I almost got you all in danger."
Ji Xinghuo patted his shoulder, "It’s not your fault."
Yuan Chongzhen looked moved.
Biting his lip, he said, "Please arrange for to undergo a mind interrogation at the Sword Bureau, otherwise, I won’t be able to answer to everyone."
The others were taken aback.
"Are you sure?" Ji Xinghuo asked.
In fact, Zhou Yishang had suggested this while they were outside, but Yuan Chongzhen had hesitated.
"I must clear my na, prove that I really didn’t know about the locator," Yuan Chongzhen demurred with a wry smile. "Even if you believe , the leaders of the Sword Bureau won’t be assured. I don’t want to be secretly monitored by swordsn in the future."
After a few seconds of silence, Ji Xinghuo finally nodded, "All right."
Yuan Chongzhen walked out of the door.
Suddenly, Jing Ji also spoke up, "I want to go through mind interrogation as well, since I was the first to watch the lizard video and also recomnded it to Xinghuo."
With that, he followed Yuan Chongzhen out of the interrogation room, where a swordsman was already waiting.
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