17: Chapter 0017 Persuading to Surrender

"Gelia! Damn it!" This was the desperate shout of the corrupt officer Wilson. Her appearance meant his doom.

He pushed off the ground, kicking up splinters of wooden floorboards, and ran toward the window with a speed unusual for his age, gripping the window frame with both hands, intending to jump out and escape.

"Bang."

A tongue of flame, mixed with the faint glimmer of a witchcraft rune, flashed across the distant Void Realm.

A line of blood spurted from Wilson's head, and he fell limply onto the wooden floor, blood slowly oozing out.

It was clear that many gunmen equipped with witchcraft-enhanced firearms were positioned in the distance.

Rice's eyes narrowed upon seeing this. The protective witchcraft runes on his body flashed with a faint golden light. Although he possessed defensive witchcraft that could ensure he wouldn't be fatally shot by a single round,

he ultimately couldn't resist it completely. There were clearly a large number of gunmen ambushing outside; even he couldn't force a Breakthrough.

He was completely done for this time!

He looked toward the staircase where a man and a woman were slowly emerging. His right hand unconsciously tightened around the lightning rune on his baton. The appearance of the young man startled Rice, and he asked with confusion:

"Flame Fox Sven!?"

Sven returned a faint smile and lightly tapped the witchcraft badge at his waist:

"Oh? Even an elite Lurker from the Feiting Federation recognizes me?"

Rice shook his head with a wry smile, tapping his baton on the floor, producing a dull thud, tinged with a bit of disappointment:

"I reviewed your profile before entering Gele City. I had a premonition that you would be the rival of my life. I still underestimated you; you actually found my weakness so quickly. Perhaps this is fate!"

Hearing the opponent's praise, Sven's expression also became somewhat surprised. He spread his hands and pointed at Li Size, who was applying inferior healing powder behind Felina, and said with a smile:

"I didn't expect it either. Speaking of which, you might not believe it, but your capture is all because of this little fellow."

Rice was speechless upon hearing this. He dug his fingernails into his palm, staring intently at Li Size, who was grimacing in pain, as if trying to deeply engrave him and this lesson into memory:

Never underestimate anyone!

Seeing Rice staring at him, Li Size flinched back, his hand involuntarily reaching for the medicine bottle at his waist.

He recalled the terror of repeatedly struggling in the face of death just moments ago and complained viciously to Sven:

"Captain Sven! This guy is a madman; he wanted to kill me on sight! I must have terrible luck to join this damned mission and almost die several times."

Gelia walked up to him, squatted down, and poked at the slowly healing wound on Li Size's body, observing him with slight curiosity. Seeing he was fine, she rolled her eyes and cursed with a smile:

"You kid sure has a lot of lives; how many more can you die?"

Rice felt indignant. He drew a shallow mark on the floor with his baton, the rune flashing with a cold light. Hearing this, he said coldly:

"I only regret not killing you upon meeting you!"

"Cough, cough! Captain, Deputy Director, he's threatening me!"

Li Size complained dissatisfiedly to Sven, his face filled with anger and grievance. He had truly had enough.

This Transmigration had lasted less than half a month, and he had nearly died several times already. This other world was too damn dangerous.

Sven clapped his hands, patted Li Size on the shoulder, and gestured for him to calm down with his eyes. He smiled:

"Alright, you aren't dead, are you? The consumed items will be reimbursed by the organization. If you successfully persuade Rice to join us, you'll get ten merit points added."

Li Size calculated that if he received ten merit points, he would have more than half of the twenty merit points required to exchange for the low-level Meditation Method.

Coupled with the subsequent 'Counter-Espionage' plan, he could also use that opportunity to join and gain more merit points faster.

Furthermore, he wanted to accumulate enough merit points to become a formal employee of the Internal Affairs Department.

Meanwhile, Rice, hearing the latter half of Sven's sentence about 'persuading,' curled his lips into a mocking smile and taunted mercilessly:

"They all say the Flame Fox is resourceful, but why do I only see wishful thinking? Have you ever seen a Lurker defect?"

Li Size thought for a moment:

These spies were all die-hard loyalists who had undergone years of brainwashing and training, and they were usually controlled by some unsavory means.

It seemed he had truly never heard of any spy betraying the organization after being captured.

Sven noticed the confusion on Rice's and the others' faces and gave a mysterious and confident smile, crossing his arms. Confidence shone in his eyes, fully displaying the demeanor of the 'Flame Fox':

"Before, it wasn't possible, but that doesn't mean it isn't possible today. And Rice, you might just join our Internal Affairs Department today. Welcome to the Internal Affairs Department, Rice."

Rice's body stiffened abruptly upon hearing this. He perked up his ears and turned his head to look to the side, falling silent.

Sven continued mysteriously:

"Ilena, who lives at 217 Newland Avenue, Rhett City, Feiting Federation..."

Rice, as if provoked, became like a wild beast. His eyes turned crimson as he glared at Sven, suddenly stood up, and slammed his baton heavily onto the floor, roaring:

"How dare you! Misfortune should not extend to wives and daughters! You! ... You!..."

He immediately lowered his head again, his shoulders sagging, his voice laced with a sob as he mournfully closed his eyes:

"Impossible! I cannot betray the organization."

Sven continued calmly:

"No. You misunderstood. We will arrange for someone to bring Ilena to Gray Mist Mountain Town to reunite with you seven days from now."

Rice opened his eyes, staring blankly into Sven's eyes. The two men faced each other, both seeming to try to see into the other's Soul.

Ultimately, Rice conceded. His lips trembled, and there was a hint of pleading in his tone:

"Flame Fox, you should know that for people like us, our families are under heavy surveillance. The moment Ilena moves, they will immediately know something is wrong with me. She cannot leave Feiting; don't waste your efforts. Just kill me quickly."

Seeing that Rice was gradually being moved, Sven continued:

"Don't worry. We will arrange for a professional to use witchcraft to disguise themselves as Ilena. No one will discover that Ilena has left the country. She will live quietly in Gray Mist Mountain Town afterward, and Felina will protect her well. Isn't this a wonderful outcome?"

Rice was somewhat swayed, and some color finally returned to his face. He tapped his fingers on the table, thinking for a moment, then worried:

"Ilena is a key person of interest. I worry that over time, your people might be seen through, and all efforts will be wasted."

"Have you heard of the Thousand Faces?" (A top spy proficient in witchcraft disguise)

Sven was naturally aware of Rice's concern. In fact, he had already considered this point and was prepared, having applied to headquarters for this person's assistance.

Rice was already largely reassured. If Sven, the Flame Fox, was considered somewhat famous among The Lurkers, then the Thousand Faces was truly renowned.

Currently, no one knew the true identity of the 'Thousand Faces.' 'She' had used top-tier witchcraft disguise many times to perfectly complete missions, causing massive losses to the Feiting Federation.

It was rumored that for one mission, she maintained her appearance daily using witchcraft so that the Feiting witchcraft detection equipment could not discover her.

She disguised herself as the wife of a high-ranking official in the Feiting Federation's Intelligence Bureau for nearly three years, staying safely in the heart of Feiting's intelligence apparatus without being discovered.

Only after the mission was complete and she used witchcraft to erase her traces and leave did the Intelligence Bureau's witchcraft autopsy equipment accidentally obtain the detection results of the replaced corpse, revealing that the original person had actually died three years prior.

Because of this, the Federation even specially produced an encrypted case analysis warning using witchcraft, training everyone in the Feiting political system on how to use witchcraft to identify whether acquaintances around them had been replaced.

Unfortunately, in the following years, the Thousand Faces still operated freely in Feiting, making the high-ranking officials of the Feiting government grind their teeth in hatred.

Obtaining the true identity of the Thousand Faces had become a long-term, high-level mission permanently pinned on The Lurkers' internal witchcraft-encrypted mission list.

To this day, no one had completed it!

A person's name casts a long shadow. Rice had heard many stories about the Thousand Faces. If she were to intervene, it would be extremely difficult to see through her disguise using top-tier witchcraft disguise techniques.

Rice pulled at his mouth, tapping his fingers on the table, and couldn't help but mock himself internally. Even Feiting hadn't placed such high importance on him.

The Crimson Soul's witchcraft intelligence network was actually willing to deploy a trump card spy without hesitation just to recruit him...