117: Chapter 117 Reverse Tracing: The City's Network
Chapter 117: Reverse Tracing, City Veins
Chen Fei's successful escape was like a stone I threw into the cold, dead lake of Lin Qingzhi's heart, stirring a faint, imperceptible ripple. She didn't speak, but the slight sense of relief and curiosity transmitted through our bond gave me an unprecedented sense of satisfaction.
I didn't linger at the chemical plant.
This place was Night Crow's "chessboard." And what I had to do was leave my own... mark on his board.
My compound eyes, flickering with an eerie purple light, stared fixedly at that space still permeated with bloodlust and death.
I pushed my [Spiritual Energy Perception] to its limit. I "saw" it.
In the air, on the ruins of the destroyed buildings, and on every inch of ground covered by his Demonic Power, there remained a trace of extremely subtle... spatial fluctuations and energy residue, like morning dew about to dissipate.
That was the "mark" inadvertently left behind by Night Crow's Peak Demon Rank power.
Ordinary people couldn't sense it, but to me, it was like a lighthouse in the dark, guiding the way.
I suppressed all my aura and activated my [Overclocked Wing Vibration] in "silent mode."
Like a top-tier tracker, I silently and slowly took flight from the central area of the ruins.
I didn't directly pursue that trace of energy.
I needed more "eyes."
"All subjects, heed my command!"
My will swept through the surrounding several kilometers like a tide!
Every mosquito, fly, moth, bee... every insect that had luckily survived Night Crow's arrival and lay dormant in the shadows felt it at that moment—an irresistible... sovereign's decree from the depths of their bloodline!
They were waiting.
Waiting for the first... edict from their new king.
Through the [Swarm Network], I transmitted that extremely subtle energy residue belonging to Night Crow with absolute precision to all my "subjects."
"Trace it! Using this scent as a guide, cover the entire city! Find its source!"
My command, like a divine oracle, thundered through countless hidden corners of Jiang City!
The next second—
A magnificent "scent tracking" operation, spanning the entire city, quietly unfolded!
Hundreds of thousands, even millions of flies and mosquitoes, like the most loyal hounds, sniffed out the imperceptible energy fluctuations in the air. Following the "scent trail" left by Night Crow as he departed, they traced it back, bit by bit, toward his true lair!
My brain, at this moment, once again became a massive, high-speed... central processing unit!
Countless images, sounds, smells, and vibrations... thousands upon thousands of distinct perspectives, like billions of shattered mirror fragments, shrieked and flooded into my consciousness!
I "saw" it.
A mutant fly caught a trace of energy residue under a streetlamp on a certain street; it immediately adjusted its direction and flew toward the southwest.
Another mutant mosquito caught an even stronger energy fluctuation on a balcony of a residential building; it immediately changed direction and sped toward a specific path.
My will, acting like the most precise filter amidst this vast torrent of information, filtered out the useless data bit by bit, focusing only on the "paths" that highly matched Night Crow's energy fluctuations.
It was a long and tedious process.
But I had to persevere.
Because this determined whether I could completely... expose this powerful, provocative enemy to the light of day!
Time ticked away, minute by minute, during my relentless "tracking."
Night fell once again.
Under the shroud of my "Skynet," Jiang City held no more secrets.
I could clearly feel that the energy residue belonging to Night Crow was being mapped out on my map, bit by bit, into a clear yet winding... trajectory.
It was like an invisible thread connecting every location where he had appeared, ultimately pointing toward a single... source!