by <unknown>
Ten minutes later, with the clothes of a scavenger that he had stolen in the magical equipment graveyard, he changed his appearance yet again. He now looked like the kind of refining worker that was everywhere to be seen in Green Plateau City.
When he was back, the 'Flying Pigeon' was no more.
An unlocked, half-new flying shuttle parked next to the magical equipment graveyard was like a piece of fresh, bleeding meat given to a pack of hungry wolves.
God knew where the 'Flying Pigeon' had been driven to right now.
Li Yao smiled and walked back to the downtown area unhurriedly.
It was early evening. The few chain restaurants in Green Plateau City were all packed with customers waiting in long lines.
To ease the agitation of the customers when they were waiting, some of the front halls of the restaurants would be equipped with crystal processors that the customers waiting in line could play with for free.
However, generally speaking, few people would actually use those crystal processors because most of them were carrying their portable crystal processors, which could meet their basic entertainment needs while they were waiting.
Li Yao found a crystal processor easily. He browsed through the latest information for three minutes and left the restaurant.
Then, his target was the largest and crappiest neighborhood of Green Plateau City.
In the new neighborhoods established in the recent decades, there were often underground or airborne parking lots with full facilities as well as security guards who were monitoring those places all hours of the day.
However, in the old neighborhoods that had been built for more than a hundred years, most of the shuttles were parked on the ground. There were often few vacant parking places. The security was sloppy, too, and there were not many surveillance cameras.
Li Yao put his hands in his pocket and walked on the bumpy road of the old neighborhood, glancing at the shuttles on the two sides quickly.
He was not looking for the fastest shuttle, or the most popular shuttle, which should be the least possible to be traced.
Finally, Li Yao found his target.
It was a shuttle parked to a corner in the garden of the neighborhood. Judging from the dust on the shell and the rust on the power rune arrays, it had not been used for more than three months.
Li Yao grinned. He had realized before that, for some reason, there were always such shuttles in old neighborhoods that occupied a precious parking place for a year and a half without being used at all.
Naturally, they were a major headache for the management of the neighborhood, but it was not an easy task to find their owner.
Nobody would be bothered if such shuttles were driven away, nor would anyone call the police.
Li Yao whistled and snapped his finger. The shuttle door was immediately opened with creaking noises.
In the garden, there were only a few old ladies who were enjoying the sunlight and some young girls who were playing jump rope. Nobody paid any attention to him.
Naturally, the shuttle was in the worst condition, and all the spiritual energy had run out.
However, under Li Yao's fingers, it was not a big deal at all.
Li Yao finished the maintenance of the shuttle in five minutes and drove it out of Green Plateau City in twenty minutes.
When he left Green Plateau City, he intentionally dropped by the railway station.
Although he did not have much proof, he sensed that the atmosphere of the railway station was much more intense than before. Quite a few dealers, cleaners, and police officers did not look right.
He narrowed his eyes and looked at the north. The north exit of Green Plateau City, especially the checkpoint on the direction to the capital city, had a long line of waiting shuttles. It was obvious that the security check had been upgraded.
His third identity had been seen through. The Secret Sword Bureau had traced back to Green Plateau City.
That was rather fast.
Li Yao whistled and gave ninety-nine points to Guo Chunfeng's professionalism.
But it was a pity that ninety-nine points was far from enough to capture Vulture Li Yao.
Li Yao drove the shuttle obediently neither too fast nor too slow. He changed the lane, stopped, and accelerated according to the traffic signs.
Very soon, he left from the south side of Green Plateau City. The security check here had yet to be upgraded. After he rolled down the window and revealed his bearded face, he was immediately let through and left without any trouble.
He went all the way to the south, in the opposite direction of the capital city, getting farther and farther from it.
Half an hour later, he stopped on a quiet country road. Making sure that there were not any surveillance cameras nearby, he absorbed the ragged shuttle into his Cosmos Ring. Not a single rust stain was left in the real world.
The shuttle was gone from the world just like that. Nobody would ever find it again.
Li Yao walked on the country road for twenty minutes until he reached a minor city named Wicker River City near Green Plateau City.
The small city had a railway station, too, though much smaller in size. Two pairs of crystal trains left for the capital city every day.
However, Li Yao's target was not them but the crystal train leading to the 'East Seagull Port', a fisherman's city on the coast nine hundred kilometers away, which took off once every week.
Right now, it was 7:22 p.m.
There were forty-four minutes to go before the 'Highspeed-338' train left for the East Seagull Port.
There were three days and a half to go before the highly-anticipated hundred-day memorial ceremony.
Li Yao was three hundred and thirty kilometers away from the capital city.
…
In the command center of the Demon Execution Division in the Secret Sword Bureau in the capital city, after a day and a night's hard work, the data analysts and the field workers finally retrieved precious clues from the astronomical, complicated data!
Vulture Li Yao indeed had a third identity!
Three days ago, in North Tranquility City, a female citizen bought a ticket to Green Plateau City for the next day in the ticket office with cash.
However, after reaching out to the female citizen, they had discovered that she was still in North Tranquility City and had no travel plans. She did not know that she purchased a ticket, and the contact left at the ticket office was not hers, either!
Also, three days ago, she accidentally lost her ID card in a bank in North Tranquility City. She even had a huge fight with the staff of the bank!
Eventually, the staff of the bank had found her ID card while closing and had informed her the next day!
After the test of the technicians of the Secret Sword Bureau in North Tranquility City, they found that the ID card was real, but it did not belong to the female citizen. Somebody had played tricks on the spiritual stripes on the surface of the card with delicate techniques!
According to the technicians, there were no more than five refiners in the entire federation who were able to make the false spiritual stripes on the surface of the ID card so vivid.
It was obvious now.
The two false identities previously were just smoke grenades. Vulture Li Yao did not pretend to be a middle-aged man or a young man but a woman!
But it was a pity that they did not find it out earlier.
Filtering the tremendous clues cost a huge amount of time. When they locked onto the female citizen's identity and ticket information, the crystal train leaving for Green Plateau City had long arrived.
When the Secret Sword Agents reached the railway station in Green Plateau City, the female citizen that Li Yao had disguised as had disappeared into the mist.
"Boss, I'm sorry." Mosquito's eyes were red. She was so sorry that she could barely breathe.
"That's alright. He's not far away. Also, all his three false identities have been exposed. His infiltration methods are under
our control, too. We are very close to the victory!"
Although their work did not go very well, Guo Chunfeng turned much more gentle than before. He cheered up his subordinates with a smile. "Let's have dinner first. Our additional dish tonight will be the big bear paws! Everybody, do your job well after enjoying the bear paws. Try and pluck a few feathers from the tail of the vulture!"
Chapter 1082: The Only Solution! |
The Purple Fire Ice Polar Bear Paws, which were chopped off from high-level demon beasts, soaked carefully in Heavenly Materials and Earthly Treasures and boasted the function of facilitating the growth of brain cells, tasted nothing more than sawdust for everyone.
Guo Chunfeng was holding a lunch box in his hands, but he did not move his chopsticks. Staring at the ever-changing light beam with his bloodshot eyes, he issued commands as if he were shooting a gun.
"Vulture Li Yao is now in Green Plateau City, which is only two hundred and fifty kilometers away from the capital city. He will be here in time either on foot or in a shuttle.
"All the traffic lines between Green Plateau City and the capital city, those in the river, on the ground, and in the sky, must be strictly watched over. This is the highest alert!
"If he comes on foot and doesn't resort to his techniques, the journey will have to take him one to two days. Then, he will have to sleep at night. He will be either sleeping in the wilderness or checking in at a hotel. Investigate that!
"Walking is too risky and must be his secondary plan. It is more likely that he will travel in a shuttle. Therefore, investigate the rental companies and the lost shuttle cases in Green Plateau City."
All the Secret Sword Agents fell silent.
Green Plateau City was a large city with a population of millions. It was also a famous manufacturing base of shuttles. Looking for a missing shuttle in such a place?
That would be really like fishing for a needle in an ocean!
However, it could not be helped. The intelligence work was never as cool as outsiders imagined. Leads would not jump out themselves.
One valuable lead was often filtered out from billions of useless pieces information.
It was a time-consuming job that even a Nascent Soul Stage Cultivator needed to finish dutifully without shirking.
As tremendous resources and the Secret Sword Agents of the few cities nearby flooded into Green Plateau City, endless new data was soon sent to the light beam in the command center.
One of the flashing messages made everyone's heart skipped a beat.
The middle-aged woman in heavy makeup, Li Yao's third false identity, rented a shuttle in Green Plateau City!
"We've got him!" Mosquito exclaimed excitedly.
"Investigate, but not with too much manpower." Guo Chunfeng sat cross-legged on the chair like an old monk. "Li Yao wouldn't be so stupid. Buying a ticket and renting a car with the same ID card? Is he scared that he won't be found out quickly enough?
"The rental is probably another smoke grenade. We should still focus on the lost shuttles in the past two days."
As he expected, news came over from Green Plateau City soon.
The 'Flying Pigeon' shuttle, whose localizer had been hidden, was found in the countryside a hundred and fifty kilometers away from Green Plateau City.
However, it was not Li Yao who was racing in the shuttle but two local scavengers of Green Plateau City.
The two of them lived in the magical equipment graveyard and made a living by collecting the scraps. When given the chance, they would not mind stealing, either.
They had stolen the shuttle half a day ago, which they thought was a huge windfall.
However, they did not expect that what came along with their windfall would be hundreds of fully-armed, highly-vigilant Secret Sword Agents.
When the 'Flying Pigeon' was surrounded by hundreds of flying swords, both thieves peed themselves.
The result made the command center even more depressed. Many people were cursing in a low voice.
But Guo Chunfeng was as peaceful as before. He calmly ordered his subordinates to defend every major traffic line from Green Plateau City to the capital city. He even planned to expand the range of search and investigate the entire capital ring!
It was a last resort when they did not have other choices. Countless Secret Sword Agents would be exhausted, and a lot of resources would be wasted. Still, their endeavors might prove to be in vain.
But right now, they did not have a better option except to defend passively and wait for the investigation of the missing shuttles.
If I were Li Yao…
The soft chair was like a swamp that slowly swallowed Guo Chunfeng, who was pondering in a trance.
He did not like the feeling of being attacked passively.
If things remained unchanged, they would always be one step behind Li Yao.
He had to find a way to predict Li Yao's next step!
Suddenly, Guo Chunfeng trembled, his blanket falling to the ground. He mumbled to himself, "If I were Li Yao, would I only prepare three fake identities for myself?"
Mosquito and his other subordinates were all used to their boss's habit. They quickly replied, "What do you mean, boss? You suspect that he has more fake identities?"
"Exactly." Guo Chunfeng slowly sat up straight, as if he had crawled out of the swamp in his mind. He said quickly, "Think about it. Li Yao's three fake identities were not delicately made. We would've found them out in several days no matter what!
"Then, even if he successfully sneaks into the capital city, under whose identity will he be taking action?
"Right now, the alert in the capital city is higher than ever. Sentries and surveillance cameras are everywhere. The faces of the passers-by will be scanned randomly to confirm their identity.
"Without a legal identity, he can barely walk on the street! If he resorts to the three fake identities, he will be essentially surrendering himself to us!"
Mosquito's eyes suddenly shone, but she was confused. "But that's still not right. We have investigated all the lost ID card cases in North Tranquility City. There are no new discoveries."
"This time," Guo Chunfeng said casually, "he doesn't need an ID card, nor will he pretend to be a citizen of North Tranquility City anymore.
"The defense system of the capital city is connected to the network. If the face of a citizen of North Tranquility City is detected but there is no record of him entering the capital city, won't it be super strange? He can't appear out of thin air.
"Therefore, he should pretend to be a resident of the capital city."
Mosquito frowned. "He can barely sneak into the capital city now. How can he pretend to be a resident of the capital city?"
"Very simple," Guo Chunfeng replied quickly. "When he was in North Tranquility City, as long as he waited for the trains or carriers from the capital city in places such as the railway stations or the ports, it would've been easy for him to lock onto a few residents of the capital city and retrieve their identity information.
"As long as the few residents planned to return to the capital city in a few days, it would be perfectly reasonable that they showed up in the capital city now. Not just the scanning of mystic rays, there won't be a loophole even if a policeman questions him in person!"
Mosquito beamed with joy and nodded. "Exactly. If Vulture Li Yao pretends to be a regular resident of the capital city, it will be explainable even if he is roaming on the street without an ID card. It's not like we can arrest all citizens who don't carry their ID cards with them!"
Guo Chunfeng smiled. "You know what to do now, don't you?"
Mosquito smashed her fist hard. "I do. We will go through the list of the passengers who left from the capital city for North Tranquility City recently, especially those who are returning in a day or two!"
Guo Chunfeng grinned in delight. He was finally in the mood for a bite of the bear paw now.
The bear paw had long turned cold, but he could not have enjoyed it more.
<
br /> He had a feeling that he would certainly find Li Yao's new identity by investigating from such a direction.
This time, he was finally one step faster than his opponent!
…
In the railway station in Wicker River City, Li Yao lurked in the darkness like a shining scorpion.
The security check had been upgraded. Several Cultivators who were suspected to be the Secret Sword Agents had appeared in such a small railway station in such a remote city, too.
However, the focus of their attention was on the trains to the capital city. As for the trains to the opposite direction of the capital city, they were not interested at all.
Am I really going to do this?
Li Yao knew that sneaking into the capital city stealthily was as difficult to explain as the dirty mud on one's underwear.
He would never do it if he had a more effective approach.
Li Yao closed his eyes and reviewed the few plans that he had vetoed earlier.
Plan A, turn on the crystal processor without bothering anything, contact Ding Lingdang with the old number more than ten years ago, and tell her everything.
Ding Lingdang will believe me!
Even if everyone in the entire universe doesn't, Ding Lingdang will certainly believe me!
However, his relationship with Ding Lingdang was not a big secret. If Abyss was really a high official in the Secret Sword Bureau, he must be monitoring Ding Lingdang right now.
No, not just Ding Lingdang. Professor Mo Xuan, the Cultivators from the Flying Star Sector… Everybody that Li Yao could trust was probably on their radar.
As soon as I send a message to Ding Lingdang, I will certainly be locked onto in half a minute. Chances are that I will be surrounded by the Secret Sword Agents before we finish the small conversation!
Also, it will be very dangerous for Ding Lingdang!
As tough as Ding Lingdang might be, she was a young Core Formation Stage Cultivator after all. Li Yao believed that the Children of the Nether World, who had operated in secret for decades, certainly had ways to deal with her.