168: Chapter 0168 Mission

Inside the office...

Sven was wearing a black Internal Affairs Department uniform, a silver badge pinned to his left chest, and his eyes behind silver-rimmed glasses held a trace of fatigue yet remained sharp.

When he saw Li Size enter, he put down the documents in his hand: "Li Size? Why are you here? Is there an emergency?"

Li Size walked up to the desk and lowered his voice: "Deputy Director Sven, we discovered a listening device from the Feiting Federation—it will arrive at the secret warehouse in Wojin City tomorrow night through the Miners Brotherhood's smuggling channel. The recipient is Viscount Weisman's steward."

Sven's brow furrowed, his fingers tapping rapidly on the desk: "Miners Brotherhood? Wojin City?"

He stood up, walked to the map on the wall, and pointed a finger at the location of Wojin City: "Originally, Felina was supposed to receive that batch of listening devices for modification, and now there's another batch? In that case, the provincial branch still has a group of technicians specializing in wizardry train communication technology on standby. I will immediately contact my superiors and dispatch them to Wojin City overnight—you will lead the team to complete the modification of Viscount Weisman's batch of listening devices. Keep it covert."

Li Size nodded: "Yes! I guarantee mission completion!"

He felt a little excited inside; this mission must be highly valuable, meaning he could earn a large amount of merit points again.

That evening, Li Size, accompanied by Felina, Gelia, Flora, and the ten technicians dispatched from the province, took the wizardry train overnight to Wojin City.

The original plan involved five people, but Li Size unexpectedly discovered that Weisman had also received a batch of listening devices. Thus, the Monte Branch immediately sent five more technicians.

The train sped through the night, the sound of the wind whistling past their ears...

Felina sat next to Li Size, leaning tightly against him, her cheek pressed against his shoulder, feeling the warmth of his body.

The secret warehouse of the Miners Brotherhood in Wojin City was hidden deep within an abandoned mine area.

The warehouse door was a heavy steel door covered in rust.

Li Size walked to the door, took a deep breath, formed hand seals, and recited an incantation—the runes for the proficient-level lock-picking wizardry lit up with a faint golden light at his fingertips. He placed his fingers on the keyhole, and the runes slowly merged into the lock.

Under the effect of this mysterious wizardry, the lock rotated automatically and then sprang open.

With a 'click,' the lock opened.

Li Size pushed the door open. The warehouse was filled with the damp smell of mildew and the rusty odor of metal, with some discarded mining tools scattered on the ground.

In the center of the warehouse was a huge safe engraved with the symbol of the Feiting Federation.

Li Size recalled the password combination that Felina had been given by the Feiting Federation and cast the lock-picking wizardry again. Under the influence of the mysterious power, countless bizarre and arcane password codes and patterns surfaced one by one in Li Size's mind.

The structure and equations of the password were reverse-engineered one by one, and the safe's combination lock was quickly deciphered.

The safe door slowly opened, revealing dozens of black boxes neatly arranged inside—these were the listening devices from the Feiting Federation.

The technicians immediately gathered around. They wore gray work clothes, goggles, and held various wizardry tools in their hands.

One of the leading technicians nodded to Li Size: "Captain, leave it to us."

The title 'Captain' was merely a casual designation for this temporarily formed mission team, but Li Size believed that with the speed at which he was earning merit points, this captain title might soon become well-deserved.

They quickly opened the boxes, took out the listening devices, and began the modification. Li Size stood aside, watching the technicians operate skillfully:

They embedded miniature wizardry runes into each listening device, their Demonic Energy pens rapidly drawing complex rune arrays onto the devices.

The modified listening devices now had an invisible indicator light on their casings. A technician explained: "This indicator light will send an alarm signal back to the Internal Affairs Department of the Crimson Soul Duchy when the Feiting Federation activates monitoring. Furthermore, it will delay the transmission of the intercepted message to the Feiting Federation by one to three minutes—these few minutes are enough for our technicians to modify the message through wizardry compilation methods."

Li Size nodded, letting out a sigh of relief.

The modification work lasted for two hours, and all the listening devices were finished. The technicians placed the devices back into the safe, and Li Size locked the safe again, ensuring no traces were left.

After returning to the Miners Brotherhood, Li Size received a transmission from Sven: "Li Size, you completed the mission beautifully! The provincial branch's technical team said your modifications were more perfect than expected—the design of the spatial beacon and the secondary compilation port exceeded their estimations. Your merit points have increased by 80, bringing your total to 410 now. Haha, perhaps you'll earn the deputy captain position soon! Also, I have good news for you: the Director of the Gele City Internal Affairs Department is being promoted to the provincial branch next week. Thanks to the gradual deepening of the 'Counter-Espionage' plan, I have gained more and more merit points. The higher-ups have decided that I will take over as Director, and Rice has also been promoted to Deputy Director, though it cannot be revealed yet. This Director will cover for you from now on!"

The usually gentle and refined Deputy Director Sven was rarely joking, indicating he must be in an excellent mood.

Li Size sat in the temporary base of the Miners Brotherhood, tracing his fingertip over the provincial map spread out on the table.

He spoke solemnly to Felina, Gelia, and the others sitting around him: "The next task is to install the modified listening devices—Lilith and Flora will remain in Wojin City to monitor Graham's and Karen's movements. Felina, Gelia, and I will go to Sakura Town; the communication node center there is our first target."

Felina's golden curls fell over her shoulders, and a hint of curiosity flashed in her pale purple eyes: "Sakura Town? I heard it's the season when the cherry blossoms cover the mountains right now."

Gelia's ice-blue eyes lifted slightly, and she rolled up the cuff of her crimson uniform, revealing a firm forearm: "Kid, you didn't pick this town just to use the mission as an excuse for a date, did you?"

Li Size shrugged helplessly and tapped the location of Sakura Town on the map: "Stop messing around, mission first—the communication node structure in Sakura Town is identical to that in Gray Mist Mountain Town, allowing for the fastest installation process."

As soon as he finished speaking, the spring breeze outside the window carried the faint fragrance of cherry blossoms into the base—the stone walls of Sakura Town were already lined with blooming pink and white cherry trees, their petals rustling down into the stream with the breeze.

The stream water shimmered with fine silver light, and the branches of the winter jasmine by the stream were dotted with bright yellow buds. Even the air was filled with the fresh scent of mixed earth and flowers.

The communication node center in Sakura Town was a three-story stone building. Dark red vines climbed the walls, and runes for a faint golden intrusion alarm array shimmered on top of the surrounding wall.

A gentle breeze passing by carried the damp scent of stone walls and vines.

Daytime was clearly unsuitable for an infiltration mission.

Li Size spent the day touring Sakura Town with the two women, admiring the full bloom of the cherry blossoms throughout the town.

It wasn't until night fell that the three returned to the communication node center.