78: Chapter 78: Don't panic, let her get some data measured first.
When Director Zhao Lixin received his orders and went out, the entire The Ninth Bureau, and even the higher echelons in the capital, were thrown into chaos due to the sudden incident in Donghai City, entering the highest state of alert.
"Confirm this! Was it the XH-03 communication tower that was taken out?"
"Yes! It was snapped in the middle, and all the core equipment is ruined! It looks like it was struck from a distance by some kind of energy; no explosives were found at the scene!"
"Surrounding communications are completely paralyzed, and data exchange for the financial system is cut off. It's estimated that the money lost per minute is in the hundreds of millions!"
"What's the background of that guy? An alien? Or is the U.S. playing some tricks again?"
"Not clear! He calls himself an 'Immortal Envoy from the Upper Realm' and demands that we hand over some 'spiritual object,' and... he even wants the officials to kneel to receive him!"
In an underground command center in the capital, the atmosphere was terrifyingly oppressive.
Several elderly men with graying hair were staring intently at the large screen, which displayed real-time footage transmitted back from Donghai City.
In the footage, the man named Sect Leader Lu Yun was dressed in white, floating in mid-air with an arrogant posture, truly acting as if he were an immortal.
"Isn't this just bullying us!" A hot-tempered general slammed his fist on the table. "I suggest we immediately have the Donghai Military Region deploy the 'Sky Sword'! Regardless of what kind of immortal envoy or ghost envoy he is, let's hit him with one first!"
"No!" Another intelligence leader immediately stopped him. "Old Li, calm down! We don't even know what he is or how capable he is; it's debatable whether conventional weapons will even work! If we provoke him and he starts wreaking havoc in the city, can you bear that responsibility?"
"Then what do you suggest? Just watch him show off? Actually send people to kneel before him?" The general's face turned red with anger.
"Of course not!" The intelligence chief was also anxious. "My point is that we must first make contact and test the waters! We need to figure out what he actually wants and how strong he truly is!"
Just as they were arguing endlessly, an encrypted communication came through.
"Report! Director Zhao Lixin from the Donghai Command Headquarters is requesting a call!"
"Put him through!"
Director Zhao Lixin's bloodshot eyes appeared on the screen.
"Little Zhao, what is the situation in Donghai City? Where is your Engineer Jiang? What is her take on this?" asked an elderly man in the main seat in a deep voice.
Director Zhao Lixin steadied himself and recounted Jiang Ning's arrangements in detail.
"What? Engineer Jiang wants you to make contact? And... deliberately provoke him into attacking?"
Hearing this plan, the group of bigwigs in the capital's command center were all dumbfounded.
What kind of tactic is this? Staged collision?
"This... this is too risky!" the intelligence chief couldn't help but interject. "If the opponent doesn't know his own strength and hits too hard, your safety..."
Director Zhao Lixin forced a wry smile: "Chief, since Engineer Jiang arranged it this way, she has her reasons. She said she needs data."
"Data?"
"Yes." Director Zhao Lixin repeated. "She said that to build an energy model and behavioral pattern for the target, she needs more combat samples. She said... this is the fastest way."
There was another eerie silence in the command center.
These people who had spent their whole lives strategizing found that their minds once again couldn't keep up with the young Engineer Jiang.
In their eyes, this was a massive national security crisis. But in the eyes of Jiang Ning, it seemed... just like an experiment?
"I understand." The elderly man in the main seat remained silent for a long time before finally speaking, his tone very complex. "Since it is Comrade Jiang Ning's decision, we will... cooperate fully."
He paused for a moment and added, "Little Zhao, your safety is the priority. I have already sent Dongfang Shuo's team over to protect you with all their might. Additionally, the Donghai Military Region will enter Level 1 combat readiness. If it comes to the worst-case scenario, we will stop at nothing!"
"Yes! Guarantee the completion of the mission!" Director Zhao Lixin saluted and cut the communication.
He turned around and looked at his equally nervous subordinates in the command headquarters, as well as Dongfang Shuo and his team, who had already changed into combat gear and exuded an air of being not to be trifled with.
"Everyone, get ready. We're going to meet that 'Immortal Envoy'," Director Zhao Lixin's tone was slightly self-deprecating, but more filled with a sense of desperate determination.
Meanwhile, Jiang Ning had already returned to her laboratory.
On the screen in front of her, complex graphics and numbers flashed rapidly.
In the center of the graphic, a red dot represented Sect Leader Lu Yun.
From the moment he appeared, every breath he took, every heartbeat, and every inadvertent fluctuation of power he emitted was captured by the invisible Mountain Protection Array shrouding the city, then turned into lines of cold characters flowing into Jiang Ning's system.
"The energy source is very stable, quite powerful, similar to a small nuclear reactor. The cultivation technique is the old-fashioned path of the Tianyan Sect, nothing new."
"The power attribute is biased towards Yang, the attack is just a beam of light, with strong penetrating power and high speed. Hmm, textbook-style fighting, very tacky."
"Spiritual sense can scan twenty kilometers. As for precision, it can only distinguish whether something is a living creature; it can't even see the genes clearly. Heh, a far cry from me."
Jiang Ning's hands swiped rapidly across the screen, and conclusions were automatically generated one by one.
In her eyes, that arrogant Sect Leader Lu Yun had already been stripped bare, analyzed clearly from the inside out.
"Foundation Establishment Late Stage, fast approaching perfection. The foundation is okay, but his fighting experience is close to zero. He only knows how to use brute force, doesn't understand precise operation, let alone utilizing the environment. Overall, threat level... B-level."
"A very good experimental material."
Jiang Ning gave her final evaluation.
She raised her head, her gaze seemingly piercing through the walls, seeing Director Zhao Lixin and his group who were preparing to depart.
"I hope you can bring back some useful information."
As she thought this, she pulled up the interface for "Detailed Explanation of the Mountain Protection Array."
"Since there's a ready-made target delivered to our doorstep, it's the perfect time to test the effectiveness of the 'Spirit Prohibition Domain' and 'Energy Countermeasure Module'."
"Modeling based on his situation... hmm, adjusting the frequency of the array will interfere with the circulation of spiritual power within his body, making him struggle against himself when he tries to use spells."
"Then, dig a pit for him around the core array eye. The harder he strikes, the more energy this pit will absorb, and the absorbed energy can even charge the city's power grid... Not bad, waste utilization, and quite eco-friendly too."
Jiang Ning typed the final line of instructions on the screen.
[City Defense Array Anti-Intrusion Test Plan, initiated.]
[Test Target: Sect Leader Lu Yun.]
[Test Objective: Collect complete combat data in a high-confrontation environment and verify the actual combat effectiveness of the 'Spirit Prohibition Domain'.]
An invisible net had already been quietly spread open.
And that Sect Leader Lu Yun, still unaware that he was about to crash headlong into the net, was happily waiting for the mortals to kneel.