161: Chapter 162 William's Overly Cautious Approach

The development of events was entirely within Lin Muyang's expectations. The core member of the Oracle organization, codenamed "Hawk," indeed couldn't sit still after receiving Chiba Ruri's text message, which was practically a declaration of war. He personally crossed space, intending to display the fate of traitors in the most brutal and direct way, serving as a warning to both within and outside the organization.

However, the opponent's level of caution slightly exceeded Lin Muyang's expectations.

This Western man with blonde hair and gray eyes, William Preston, did not make a grand entrance when tearing through space. Instead, he deliberately suppressed and contained almost all energy fluctuations. If Lin Muyang hadn't activated the Aura of Energy Detection in advance—which can perceive subtle energy changes and is extremely sensitive to various skill fluctuations—even he would have found it difficult to precisely capture that fleeting, weak, and hidden spatial ripple, like a bubble underwater, the moment the opponent appeared. This sufficiently indicated that the man had an extremely strong anti-reconnaissance awareness and had mastered control over his abilities to a superb degree.

Upon arrival, William did not immediately rush towards Chiba Ruri's villa to start a massacre. His lead-gray eyes calmly surveyed the exotic mountain forest, gilded by the morning sun, like the most experienced hunter assessing his environment. Immediately after, he took out a scroll from a seemingly ordinary black ring on his finger, which was clearly a high-quality storage item.

The scroll was instantly activated. A pale green, ripple-like halo emanated from him, quickly covering his entire body. The next second, the color and texture of his entire being began to undergo a miraculous transformation, rapidly merging with the surrounding environment—the dark green pine needles, the deep brown tree trunks, the mottled moss on the ground.

Not just the color, but even his Aura, body temperature, and the faint energy field he emitted were cleverly Disguised and neutralized. If Lin Muyang hadn't been continuously locking onto him through the Nether Eye, and the Aura of Energy Detection clearly showed a powerful life form wrapped in Disguise energy there, it would have been difficult to distinguish this "invisible man," perfectly integrated with his surroundings, even with close-range observation using only the naked eye and mental perception.

"An epic-grade, possibly even legendary-grade Disguise scroll," Lin Muyang nodded to himself. Such high-quality items were rare even at large auctions. It seemed the Oracle organization had profound resources and William was indeed fully prepared for a covert operation on this trip.

After the Disguise was complete, William still didn't move. He once again took an item from his storage ring—a meticulously folded paper bird, no larger than a palm and as thin as a cicada's wing. He injected a wisp of mental power into it, and the paper bird instantly seemed to come alive, its wings trembling slightly as it silently floated up, then glided noiselessly towards the town. It wasn't a physical creature; its flight path was erratic, its speed seemingly slow but actually very fast, and it also possessed an extremely clever concealment effect, almost evading all conventional detection methods.

Half a minute later, this ghostly paper bird silently hovered above Chiba Ruri's villa. Its eyes, dotted with special magic pigments and seemingly able to perceive everything, took in the scene below—the courtyard and the interior of the first-floor dining room window—where Chiba Ruri was seated at the dining table with her parents and younger sister. The atmosphere seemed warm, but there was a subtle, hard-to-detect sense of oppression and impending separation.

William clearly saw this scene. The paper bird completed its mission, and upon receiving a mental command, its entire body suddenly disintegrated silently, turning into countless tiny, almost invisible paper scraps, like dandelions scattered by a breeze, silently drifting onto the rooftops, courtyards, and window sills around the villa... Each scrap of paper was imbued with extremely faint magic, possessing functions for eavesdropping, vibration sensing, and even simple energy perception. This was an extremely advanced magical eavesdropping device, with wide coverage, difficult to remove, and extremely covert.

"He's truly overly cautious." Through Gui Wanwan's shared vision, Lin Muyang took in everything, and his evaluation of William increased. The opponent was clearly not satisfied with intelligence alone but also wanted to conduct on-site reconnaissance to confirm whether Chiba Ruri had truly betrayed them, if there were any ambushes at home, or if there were any abnormalities in the surrounding environment. This step-by-step approach contrasted sharply with his terrifying power, stemming from his level 193 and Sub-God Rank Talent.

"Is it due to his personality, or a lack of absolute confidence in his talent?" Lin Muyang's thoughts raced. While William was conducting his reconnaissance, he had already pushed the insight of the Divine Eye (God-Rank) to its limit, thoroughly examining the data of this potential formidable enemy.

William Preston

Level: 193

Talent: High-Spirited Battle Intent (Sub-God Rank Talent)

Effect: The firmer the battle will and the stronger the confidence in victory, the higher the temporary attack and defense bonuses obtained, up to 500% (five times). Conversely, if the battle will wavers and confidence decreases, the bonus effect will attenuate or even disappear accordingly.

Skill List: ... (Includes numerous high-level combat, assassination, and spatial skills)

Equipment: ... (At least epic-grade, possibly with legendary-grade items)

"Five times attack and defense bonus... as expected of a Sub-God Rank Talent, the basic effect is so astonishing." Lin Muyang was also slightly surprised. A Sub-God Rank Talent could achieve a five-fold bonus, and it seemed to be a percentage increase. With his terrifying base attributes, once this talent was fully activated, the combat power increase would be astronomical.

"But the prerequisite is 'full confidence in battle'..." A playful arc curved at the corner of Lin Muyang's mouth. This talent was practically tailor-made for those who charge forward, unwavering in their beliefs, or battle maniacs. The more one believes in their own strength, the more fearless they are of challenges, the more terrifying the talent bonus. Yet, Mr. William's conduct was so cautious and methodical, which seemed somewhat contrary to the talent's requirements.

"Can he truly unleash the full power of this talent?" Lin Muyang was deeply skeptical. A sub-god level genius, whose attributes completely crushed most so-called Nation-Guarding Level powerhouses, could theoretically run rampant in a place like Japan. Yet, at this moment, he was acting like a top spy, using high-grade Disguise and magical eavesdropping. The contrast was a bit too stark. Perhaps this talent was misplaced on him? Or perhaps his overly cautious personality was itself suppressing or even weakening his talent's potential?

Of course, his opponent's personality and whether his talent could be perfectly unleashed made little difference to Lin Muyang. His true goal was not to defeat or kill William, but to follow William's "social network" and unearth the Gods Chosen One hidden behind the scenes!

The Aura of Arachnes Fate (God-Rank) silently activated. In a vision only Lin Muyang could see, a complex, precise, three-dimensional spider web diagram, composed of countless lines and light spots representing William Preston's "social relationships," emerged. Countless lines extended from the center, connecting to light spots representing other people. The thickness, color, and distance from the center of the lines represented the closeness, nature, and frequency of their interactions.

Lin Muyang quickly overlaid this diagram with Chiba Ruri's "information spider web" that he had previously examined.

The comparison results made Lin Muyang's gaze slightly narrow.

In the information spider webs of both parties, the number of light spots with direct connections, i.e., "lines," was extremely small, far fewer than expected! This was consistent with the Oracle organization's strict single-line contact structure.

However, among these very few "common contacts," one light spot stood out exceptionally—it not only had fairly thick connecting lines with both William and Chiba Ruri, but in William's spider web, this light spot was extremely close to the center, almost in the same circle as nodes representing relatives and close friends; yet, in Chiba Ruri's spider web, this light spot was in a relatively outer position, with a very thin line, representing an extremely weak relationship of "only met once, with a simple acquaintance."

"This person is... that sub-god level genius youth from Huaxia, codenamed 'Dragon'?" Lin Muyang immediately recognized the identity of this node from the memory information shared by Chiba Ruri. In Chiba Ruri's description, she had only seen "Dragon" from a distance, across masks, at one extremely secret gathering of the organization, and they hadn't even exchanged a single word. But William's spider web showed that his interactions with "Dragon" were extremely frequent and close!

Another obvious anomaly was that the connection between William and Chiba Ruri appeared thick and active in William's spider web (indicating frequent recent contact), but in Chiba Ruri's spider web, it was merely a very thin line representing "met once, with a subordinate relationship." This severely contradicted Chiba Ruri's statement that she "only had single-line contact with the Gods Chosen One and had only met Hawk once."

Unless...

A bold conjecture instantly flashed in Lin Muyang's mind.

"Could this guy, codenamed 'Hawk,' be the Gods Chosen One himself? Has he been playing two roles all along?" Lin Muyang's eyes sharpened. This possibility was highly likely! According to Chiba Ruri, the Gods Chosen One was responsible for directly contacting the three sub-god level members (Dragon, Hawk, and herself), while "Hawk" was responsible for managing other core and peripheral members of the organization.

But if "Hawk" and the Gods Chosen One were one and the same person, then all the seemingly complex single-line contact structures would become a simplified model where he played two roles, firmly controlling the organization's core three sub-god level and secondary forces (such as Beatrice and others)! This would not only maximize his own mystery and security but also allow him to more effectively control members at different levels of the organization.

Just then, Lin Muyang's Divine Eye once again captured crucial information. In William's long list of high-level, rare skills, a skill shimmering with dark golden light and labeled as "mythic grade" was prominently displayed!

We Are the Same Kind (mythic grade Passive Skill)

Effect: You can sense the birth of new individuals with the same talent level as yourself (sub-god level) and obtain their approximate location, gender, and name. This sensing only takes effect when the talent awakens. It is ineffective for similar targets that existed before the talent awakened.

"A mythic grade skill!" Lin Muyang's heart trembled slightly. This was the first time he had seen a mythic grade skill in reality. The effect of this skill perfectly explained how William found and recruited Chiba Ruri and the genius youth codenamed "Dragon." They were all sensed by William the moment their sub-god level talents awakened, and then approached, recruited, and controlled by him in his capacity as the Gods Chosen One or "Hawk."

This also indirectly confirmed another of Lin Muyang's previous conjectures: on Blue Star, there were probably more than just these three known sub-god level talents hidden in the shadows of the Oracle organization! William's skill could only sense "newly born" sub-god level individuals, not those veteran sub-god level powerhouses who had already awakened and successfully hidden themselves before he acquired this skill. This number might be extremely small, but it was certainly not zero. They might each have special means or reasons to hide themselves and avoid being discovered by "hunters" like William.

"That makes sense," Lin Muyang thought. "While sub-god level talent is strong, its advantage over SSS-grade is not overwhelming. Once exposed, it could easily attract covetousness, encirclement, or even assassination from multiple parties. Choosing to hide and quietly accumulate wealth is the safest option. This William probably harbored similar thoughts, which is why he created this 'Oracle' organization, gathering discovered sub-god level geniuses to plot for the future."

It seemed that William's original plan was likely to secretly assemble and cultivate a group of sub-god level geniuses, waiting for the opportune moment, such as when the organization's strength could contend with major powers, to pursue greater ambitions. His own terrifying potential, far exceeding his level, displayed during the Summoner Competition, naturally piqued the opponent's interest, leading them to attempt recruitment. However, the opponent did not expect that he was an unyielding force beyond imagination; not only did they fail to recruit him, but they also lost Beatrice, an important chess piece, and Chiba Ruri was even turned to his side.

"He must be wondering how I, 'a mere level 50-something' Summoner, could instantly subdue Beatrice, who was over level 140, and also turn Chiba Ruri. He suspects I have a powerful backer, which is why he's so cautious, coming to scout first instead of directly attacking." Lin Muyang saw through William's current psychology. The opponent's caution stemmed precisely from his apprehension of the unknown. He wasn't particularly afraid of Lin Muyang and Chiba Ruri in the open, but he feared the potentially existing "mastermind" who could silently deal with Beatrice.

At this moment, through the paper scrap eavesdropping device, William had clearly heard the farewell conversation in Chiba Ruri's home about "preparing for long-term external training" and confirmed that there seemed to be no ambush around. This, however, made him even more perplexed and vigilant—Chiba Ruri appeared unharmed, even able to calmly bid farewell to her family. This was too inconsistent with the normal expectations of "a traitor's family being coerced after capture" or "a traitor setting a trap." Something abnormal must indicate something sinister!

To further confirm safety, William once again released more magical reconnaissance tools with various functions—several smaller mechanical flying insects, a few runic stones that could merge into shadows—they fanned out radially from Chiba Ruri's home as the center, conducting more detailed detection of a larger area of streets, neighbors, and even the town's entrances and exits. He had to be one hundred percent certain that there was no inescapable net laid out for him here.

"He's truly cautious to the bone." Lin Muyang watched this series of operations, almost marveling at it. Such carefulness indeed matched his deeply hidden identity as the Gods Chosen One and his vast ambition.

But unfortunately, all his caution and all his reconnaissance became a joke in the face of Lin Muyang's Divine Concealment Aura, which was over level 300, Gui Wanwan's omnipresent Nether Eye, and his own numerous perception-type Auras. He was like an ant cautiously crawling inside a transparent glass cover, thinking its movements were secret, unaware that every single one of its actions was clearly seen by the observer outside the glass cover.

The comparison results of the Arachnes Fate, the mythic grade skill seen by the Divine Eye, coupled with his current overly abnormal cautious attitude and calm reconnaissance deployment... Multiple pieces of evidence cross-referenced basically confirm that the so-called 'Gods Chosen One' is this William Preston, codenamed 'Hawk.' He orchestrated everything himself, playing two roles, controlling the entire 'Oracle' organization.

Lin Muyang's last doubts vanished. The target was clear, no need to wait any longer.

He no longer paid attention to the small reconnaissance tools flying around, his gaze piercing through the forest's Disguise, firmly locked on the tall figure almost merged with the environment.

"In that case," a cold and confident arc slowly curved at the corner of Lin Muyang's mouth, like a hunter finally confirming the prey's most fatal spot, "the game is over. It's time to cast the net."