Chapter 218 The Mysterious "Woman"

"Sister Qian," Ye Qingqing spoke first, her voice crisp but carrying a hint of helplessness.

"Lu Jiaming's side... he's stopped replying to my messages."

"The mole I planted on his top floor just sent back the final piece of intelligence. That Su Ze from Jinghai University has already gone up."

Shen Jie's fists clenched until they cracked, his face full of frustration and resentment.

"Damn it! We were just one step away!"

He cursed under his breath, "That Zheng Siyuan's betrayal combined with the Supernatural Entity invasion should have been our perfect opportunity. Lu Jiaming definitely couldn't have held out! The Research Center would have surely been ours. I never expected him to actually side with Su Ze!"

Ye Qingqing followed with a sigh: "Yeah, who could have guessed that Lu Jiaming would rather defect to an outsider than cooperate with us. Now, forget about the Research Center—even that perfect quality energy converter has fallen into Su Ze's hands."

"We hid for so long for this day, and we were just short of this final step..."

"That's enough."

The woman in the chair finally spoke. Her voice betrayed no emotion, yet it possessed a power that put one at ease.

"Things have already come to this; what's the point of saying all that?"

Shen Jie and Ye Qingqing immediately fell silent.

The woman slowly turned her chair, but she remained hidden in the shadows, making it impossible to see her clearly.

"Lu Jiaming is no fool. For Su Ze to make him submit willingly, his strength must be imaginable.

It is only natural that he chose the strong."

Shen Jie was still somewhat indignant: "But after all our planning, isn't it all just a wasted effort?"

"Wasted?" The woman chuckled softly. "Not necessarily."

"Do you think that after Su Ze takes down Lu Jiaming, he will let us go?"

Shen Jie and Ye Qingqing exchanged a glance, instantly understanding something.

"Sister Qian means..."

"He will definitely come," the woman's voice was certain. "Su Ze has tasted the sweetness of annexing other areas. He won't allow other regional leaders to exist around his territory. He won't want to see forces and regions that are out of his control. Plus, since Special Buildings cannot be moved, it's only a matter of time before he comes to annex or merge our building."

"And that moment will be our opportunity."

"We can test him out, or... we can lie low and wait for an opportunity later."

Shen Jie's eyes lit up: "Exactly! This is our home turf. With the Explosion-Proof Trench and our series of measures, it won't be that easy for him to break in!"

Ye Qingqing also regained her composure and added: "We can use this opportunity to probe his background in return."

"Go on then," the woman waved her hand. "Settle the people below; don't let them fall into chaos."

"Yes!"

Shen Jie and Ye Qingqing responded in unison, turning to leave.

"Wait," the woman called out to them again.

The two stopped in their tracks.

"I have a premonition that Su Ze will be here very soon."

The woman's voice became somewhat ethereal. "Just in case, I'll stay with you for the next few days."

As soon as she finished speaking, before Ye Qingqing could react, she saw the figure sitting in the chair gradually become transparent.

Then, it turned into a wisp of barely perceptible blue smoke, drifting silently towards her.

The blue smoke instantly merged into her body.

Ye Qingqing's body trembled slightly before returning to normal.

Shen Jie seemed unfazed by this, merely bowing his head respectfully.

...

On the other side, the World Financial Center Rooftop.

After listening to Lu Jiaming's introduction, Su Ze had a clearer understanding of the power distribution within this building.

"You mean that Ye Qingqing's Explosion-Proof Trench cannot be moved once it's deployed?"

Lu Jiaming nodded repeatedly, his face showing some wariness: "Yes, Boss. That building is very troublesome. The defense of its energy shield is extremely high."

"Once activated, although it continuously consumes a large amount of copper coins and materials, it won't be broken until those resources are exhausted. They shared this data with me voluntarily; the information can't be faked."

"As for the other faction, Shen Jie..." Lu Jiaming's expression became even more puzzled. "That's even stranger."

"Strange?"

"Yes!" Lu Jiaming's tone was certain. "Boss, logically speaking, I have the most people and the most abundant resources, yet somehow, I haven't even seen a single fine quality turret blueprint until now!"

"Not just me, it's the same for Ye Qingqing's side."

"But that Shen Jie has several fine quality turrets in his hands, and even quite a few rare quality ones! It's because of those turrets that he's been able to survive under my fire suppression and even team up with Ye Qingqing to restrain me in turn."

Su Ze's brow furrowed.

This was indeed illogical.

Even if Shen Jie's luck was god-tier, it was impossible for him to monopolize every turret blueprint spawned in the entire region.

Unless...

"Is it his Special Building?" Su Ze proposed a guess.

"I thought so too!" Lu Jiaming slapped his thigh. "But it's just a guess. That guy keeps his Special Building hidden tight; nobody knows what it actually is."

Su Ze asked again: "Then do you know the Halo effects of their two factions?"

Lu Jiaming shook his head with a bitter smile: "Boss, those are the core secrets of each faction; no one would ever reveal them. Just like my 'Universal Prosperity,' they definitely don't know its specific effects either."

Su Ze nodded and stopped asking.

The intelligence was sufficient.

An Explosion-Proof Trench with absolute defense.

A mysterious Special Building that can stably acquire powerful turret blueprints.

These two factions were indeed harder to deal with than Lu Jiaming.

However, the corners of Su Ze's mouth curled up slightly.

The harder they were to deal with, the greater the benefits once they were in his hands.

The Explosion-Proof Trench, the Research Center, plus that mysterious building—if he could gather them all...

Then Jinghai University's strength would experience a true leap forward.

"Alright." Su Ze pulled his thoughts back and looked at Lu Jiaming.

"You and your people will stay on this top floor for now. Without my order, no one is allowed to go down."

Lu Jiaming quickly responded: "Yes, Boss!"

Su Ze wasted no more words and turned towards the iron door leading downstairs.

"Boss, where are you going?" Lu Jiaming asked subconsciously, then immediately felt he was being too nosey and wanted to slap himself.

Su Ze's footsteps paused, but he didn't look back.

"Going to the 18th floor to take a look."