36: Sprinkle marinated stones

The two police officers exchanged a look.

The younger one took a file out of his briefcase, which contained several photographs.

"We found these items at the waste disposal station in the West District of Titan Industrial City," the officer said, his voice deliberately lowered.

"After DNA comparison, they were confirmed to belong to Mr. Vijaya.

There were also… some personal items at the scene."

He handed over the file, which contained photos of the phone's wreckage, the DNA comparison report, and intimate footage from a bar's surveillance camera.

Susanna's fingers trembled as she opened it, and her face instantly turned pale when she saw the photos of her boyfriend intimately whispering with the blonde woman.

"This… this is impossible…" Her voice was as faint as a mosquito's buzz.

The older officer sighed, "According to the information we have, Mr. Vijaya may be involved in stealing company secrets for huge profits.

There are multiple unexplained remittances in his secret account.

And a significant portion of this money was transferred to accounts of 'special industry workers' known to the local police."

The younger officer handed over a player, "This is a partial recording recovered from the phone's wreckage."

Vijaya's contemptuous voice echoed in the small apartment: "…Susanna? That bookworm? Ha! If it weren't for the prestige, why would I… Do you know she doesn't even wear lipstick? Compared to a stunner like you…"

Susanna slammed the stop button, tears streaming down her face.

She took off her glasses and vigorously wiped her eyes with her bathrobe sleeve, but she couldn't stop the torrent of tears.

"Miss Wu, we understand this is very difficult for you to accept…" The officer's words were interrupted by heart-wrenching sobs.

Susanna curled up in the corner of the sofa, trembling like a leaf in the wind.

She remembered Vijaya's solemn promise last week to take her to meet his parents, and his gentle smile during every date… Was it all a lie?

"His… his remains…" she choked out, asking.

"Due to the involvement of Titan Corporation secrets, Titan Group has taken over the subsequent handling," the officer said, handing over a document.

"This is the death certificate and a list of his belongings.

If you need psychological counseling…"

Susanna shook her head, burying her face in her hands.

The two officers stayed for a moment longer, then quietly left after leaving their contact information.

The moment the apartment door closed, Susanna's broken sobs pierced through the thin walls.

Meanwhile, in the cafe across the street, Susie, disguised as a customer, was monitoring everything through a hidden earpiece.

"Emotional response is as expected," she recorded on her tablet.

"No signs of suspicion."

A reply came through the earpiece: "Leave remote monitoring in place to ensure no further issues."

Susie sipped her coffee, her gaze sweeping over the windows of the teachers' apartment.

Susanna's figure was vaguely visible; she was crying while clutching an album filled with photos of her and Vijaya.

How ironic; those smiles now seemed like nothing but a false performance.

"Mission confirmed complete," Susie put down her coffee cup and rose to blend into the morning commute.

"Web Weaver 'Mantis' requests extraction."

"Extraction allowed, 'Hermes' is coming to pick you up.

The usual spot, the abandoned rubber plantation in the suburbs."

"Understood."

Titan Industrial City, Central Control Tower

Emerald stood before the panoramic glass curtain wall, overlooking the gradually awakening industrial city.

Behind her, a dozen holographic screens simultaneously displayed real-time footage from different locations: Natasha driving towards the border, the Bear Agent organizing equipment in a hotel, Susanna's apartment curtains tightly drawn…

"The bait has been taken," Topaz's projection appeared next to the control console.

"Kozlovsky's private jet takes off in an hour, destination Five Ports City."

Emerald's fingertip traced across the holographic map, finally stopping on a red dot at the junction of the Eastern and Central Continents: "Mount Sheng National Forest Park, the boss is truly a bad person."

"Codename 'Glutton' team is in position," Topaz pulled up another set of footage, showing a dozen Warriors transporting specialized cell tissue regenerant onto the "Hephaestus."

"Do they need to be told to finish quickly?"

Emerald shook her head, "Let them have some fun.

After all…" She turned and walked towards the elevator, the sunlight outside the glass curtain wall outlining her soft yet sharp silhouette, "This is the first mission without spoils."

Before the elevator doors closed, she took one last look at the surveillance footage.

In front of Susanna's apartment window, a bouquet of flowers was violently thrown out, petals scattering in the morning breeze.

"Oh, right," Emerald suddenly spoke.

"Arrange a job for Miss Wu at Jinta International School, with double the salary."

Topaz raised an eyebrow, "Compensation?"

"Investment." The elevator doors slowly closed, Emerald's voice sounding exceptionally cold through the metal gap, "She deserves better… and we always need high-quality 'assets.'"

"What's more, the boss would want me to do this too."

Topaz picked up Numby, who was scratching her calf with its tiny paws, and said with interest, "You also heard the boss's conversation with Aventurine a while ago?"

Emerald adjusted her hat and hem, her tone unexpectedly gentle, "Cold on the outside, warm on the inside; outwardly rounded, inwardly square.

Although somewhat contradictory, and with quite a few thorns on the surface, it's surprisingly harmonious in the boss.

Quite charming, isn't he?"

Deep within Mount Sheng National Forest Park, 3:17 AM.

"I say, Captain, what kind of mission is this, running around in the middle of the night to 'bathe' rocks?" Carson (Iron Stomach) kicked aside a branch blocking his path, his armored boots covered in mud.

Maxim (Glutton) continued to lead the way without looking back, "Shut up and work.

I heard this stuff is more valuable than the armor we're wearing; spill a drop and half a year's bonus is gone."

Eileen (Dentist) suddenly whistled, "Oh wow, look what I found!" She bent down and picked up a trembling wild rabbit from the bushes, "Little guy, why aren't you sleeping in the middle of the night?"

The rabbit had an old scar on its right hind leg and half of its left ear was missing.

Maxim glanced at it, "It's an old one, at least eight or nine years old.

Stop playing, the real business is important."

The three arrived in front of Cave No. 3.

It was an unremarkable limestone cave, with an entrance just over a meter high, covered in cobwebs.

Carson turned on his biological detector, "Normal readings, temperature 18.7°C, humidity 89%, no abnormal radiation… It's just a perfectly ordinary, dilapidated cave."

"No one's been here for at least ten years," Eileen deftly cut through the blocking vines.

"So the boss sent us to do renovations?"

Carson kicked a stone inside, and a series of hollow echoes followed.

"Good heavens, it's quite deep."

Maxim unloaded the huge metal box from his back, "Less talk.

According to the plan, 98% of the dose for Cave No. 3, and the remaining 2% split evenly between the other two caves."

He entered the password to open the box; the cold mist dispersed, revealing twenty sealed metal canisters.

"Let me guess," Carson picked up a canister and shook it, "this stuff grants immortality if you drink it with water?"

"Why don't you try a sip?" Eileen had already assembled the spray device.

"I guarantee your stomach acid will be twenty years younger, devolving from digesting food to digesting baby bottles."

Maxim ignored their bickering and carefully checked the spray parameters, "Set the pressure to 45 Pascals, atomization particle size to 2 micrometers.

Remember, it needs to be as even as brushing sauce on a grilled steak."

One hundred meters into the cave, the space suddenly opened up.

Carson's flashlight beam illuminated a cavern the size of a basketball court, with ordinary stalactites hanging from the ceiling and some standing water on the ground.

"That's it? I thought I'd see alien murals."

"Get to work," Maxim poured the first canister of liquid into the sprayer.

"Spray in a clockwise spiral, coverage must be over 95%."

As the device activated, blue mist particles sprayed out in a fan shape.

Eileen precisely controlled the nozzle as if decorating a cake, "Honestly, this color is exactly like the blueberry jam back home… Carson, stop licking your lips! That sound is disgusting!"

"Hey, if this were blueberry jam, then your hometown's recipe might just contain polonium-210."

"Go to hell!"

The moment the liquid touched the rock wall, intricate patterns emerged on the ordinary limestone, like water spreading on rice paper.

The rock surface absorbed the liquid like a sponge, and the originally grayish-white surface gradually developed a leathery texture.

Even more astonishingly, the blue liquid quickly permeated along the rock fissures, and wherever it passed, the rock surface developed textures resembling animal skin.

Some dark mineral veins began to pulsate, transporting the blue substance deeper like blood vessels.

"Biological markers are reacting well," Maxim chiseled a sample from the rock wall; the cross-section revealed a blue-black interwoven fibrous structure, "Like, uh, curing ham."

Carson suddenly exclaimed, "Look!"

The old rabbit, which had followed them in at some point, was now licking the blue droplets on the ground.

Even more astonishingly, its missing ear was growing back at a visible speed, and its fur became shiny.

"Damn it…" Maxim grabbed the rabbit to examine it.

"The wound has healed, and muscle tension is close to that of a young individual."

He glanced at the time, "Significant effects appeared 32 seconds after contact."

Eileen suddenly pointed to the cave ceiling, "Captain! A swarm of bats!"

Dozens of bats flew out from the depths, and several collided with the still-wet blue mist.

Their originally grayish-white wing membranes gradually became pinker, and their flight paths were noticeably more agile.

Carson quickly took photos to record it, "This is way more exciting than the company's annual magic show… Wait, why did my tactical gloves loosen?"

He loosened his armor, took off his gloves, and found that the raised scars on the back of his hand were fading.

"Don't take off your gloves!" Maxim suddenly ordered.

"Immediately initiate the armor isolation procedure!"

The three immediately activated the Xingtian Armor's sealing procedure to prevent the atomized agents from contacting them.

Eileen mumbled as she operated, "So now we're Santa Claus? Spreading elixirs of immortality everywhere?"

"No," Maxim said, looking at the blue glow emanating from within the cave.

"It's probably the 'cheese' arranged by the higher-ups."

"Alright, let's get to work.

There are still about ten more boxes on the 'Hephaestus.'"

Soon, with the combined assistance of several Warriors on the spaceship, all fifteen tons of cell tissue regenerant were sprayed into this largest cave.

They deliberately left footprints and some traces at all three cave entrances, and even "accidentally" left behind a sampling tube with a blurred logo.

Carson looked back one last time, "What do you think… how long will that rabbit live?"

"Long enough to drive the scientists of the Iron Federation crazy," Eileen pulled down her visor.

"Let's go, it's time for the 'guests' to arrive."

As they left, the forest in the morning light still looked ordinary.

Only the birdsong in the treetops of this hollow seemed a little clearer than usual, and the cobwebs in the morning dew were thicker and whiter.

Five Ports City suburban villa area, 7:15 AM.

Kozlovsky heavily placed the cooler on the oak table, the condensation from the box leaving dark marks on the expensive handmade tablecloth.

Across the table, Colonel Vasily Trotsky was peeling an apple with a hunting knife, his scarred left eye looking particularly grim in the morning light.

"You called me here…" The Colonel bit into the apple, pointing the knife tip at the box, "…just for this thing?"

The oligarch opened the box, three golden test tubes glinting in the velvet lining: "You don't understand what's inside here."

He pushed over a yellowed map.

Trotsky picked up the map with the knife tip and sneered, "So what now? You want me to send troops to be explorers?"