119: Chapter 119 Who is Tang Yan?

"Understood, Brother Fang Che."

Her soft, sweet voice came through the communicator, carrying a reassuring hint of obedience.

The mission was still ongoing.

Black Shark's main force of over thirty people was advancing along the main road toward the Old Energy Station in the north. Gu Nanzhi chose not to follow behind them and eat their dust, as that would be too conspicuous and easily expose her position.

Only after watching the group disappear around the corner did she poke half her head out from behind the construction debris, her eyes quickly scanning the surrounding terrain to find a suitable route.

Her talent, Thousand-Face Weaving Bureau, activated silently.

Her aura blended seamlessly with the dilapidated, dust-covered surroundings. This was the terrifying effect of Scene Mimicry; as long as she didn't make any large attacking movements, even if someone walked within three meters of her, they would subconsciously dismiss her as a broken mannequin or trash and ignore her entirely.

Bypassing the main street, she turned and slipped into a narrow, foul-smelling alley nearby.

At the end of the alley was the emergency exit of an abandoned shopping mall. The iron door was covered in dark red rust, and the lock had long since been violently broken, leaving a conspicuous hole.

Gu Nanzhi squeezed inside sideways, her clothes brushing against a layer of rust. The inside of the mall was pitch-black and filled with a musty, decaying smell.

Without stopping on the first floor, she went straight down the stairs into the underground parking lot, which was even darker and more turbid than above, filled with the stench of rot.

Gu Nanzhi didn't turn on any lights; she simply slowed her pace, lowered her center of gravity, and moved forward against the wall. Her soles made no sound at all as she stepped on the gravel-covered ground.

Just as she was about to cross this area, two suppressed growls echoed from the darkness ahead. It was the sound of mutated monsters.

By the faint light filtering through the overhead vent, she could see two monsters that looked like hyenas but were a size larger, bowing their heads to tear at a corpse on the ground. The sound of bones being crushed was clearly audible in the darkness.

Gu Nanzhi stopped immediately and curled up in the shadow cast by an abandoned car. She didn't dare move, keeping her breathing as light as possible.

The two monsters didn't notice her nearby, but one of them suddenly stopped eating and raised its head. It twitched its nose and growled toward the main street where Black Shark's main force had just passed; the scent left behind by those thirty-odd people was incredibly obvious in this enclosed space.

She casually picked up a pebble the size of a fingernail, calculated the direction, and flicked it toward another fork in the path. The pebble landed on the empty ground thirty meters away with a crisp sound, echoing loudly in the dead silence of the underground space.

Startled by the sound, the two monsters abandoned their food and lunged toward where the pebble had landed. The commotion they made quickly drew a Black Shark patrol that happened to be taking a detour.

"Fuck! What the hell are these things?!"

"Damn it, fire! Fire! Kill them!"

"Stay back... Ah! My hand!"

Shouts and screams instantly erupted, throwing the area into chaos. Taking advantage of the confusion, Gu Nanzhi quietly slipped out through another exit of the underground passage.

Outside was a small temporary supply point with empty biscuit wrappers discarded on the ground. Two Black Shark members were leaning against the wall smoking, with absolutely no intention of helping. Instead, they watched the distant patrol with schadenfreude while chatting.

"Ha, those idiots got caught up again."

"Serves them right. Who told them to be so blind? Saves them from competing with us for the credit."

"Do you think Brother Chen Xiao's plan will really work this time? Killing two birds with one stone, dragging both 774 and Gray Pigeon down?"

"Why wouldn't it? Is there ever any doubt about Brother Xiao's brains? First, leak the rumor that the guy surnamed Fang from 774 has some treasure that can make someone soar to the heavens overnight, and let those mad dogs who want to scavenge go after him."

"Then our main force will head straight for the energy core. That's the deciding factor; they'll have to move even if they don't want to."

"Those cowards from Gray Pigeon definitely want to wait until we both suffer losses so they can reap the benefits. Heh, once Brother Xiao's backup plan is activated, they'll all be dragged down with us."

"There are only fucking two flags in this map, so no one else is getting out alive. In the end, the flag cores and those women from 774 will all be ours!"

Hiding around the corner, Gu Nanzhi took every word to heart. Chen Xiao wasn't trying to reap the benefits of a third party at all; he was using a ruthless scheme to treat everyone as fish to be caught.

A bold idea popped into her head. Since they wanted to scheme against Gray Pigeon, she might as well lend a hand to make the fire burn even brighter.

She fished out an inconspicuous gray button. This was a spare button she had duplicated using her talent when observing the three members of Gray Pigeon earlier; its details, texture, and even wear and tear were replicated perfectly.

She stuffed the button into a crack in the wall and casually used the tip of her dagger to leave an extremely inconspicuous map guidance mark next to it. This mark was identical to the stain pattern on the Gray Pigeon woman's pant leg from before. Having done all this, she turned and left the area silently.

If the Black Shark members searched carefully, they would discover this trace left by Gray Pigeon. At that time, they would only be more convinced that Gray Pigeon had already penetrated deep into their territory to covet the energy station. Thus, the seeds of suspicion were planted by her own hands.

...

Meanwhile, on the other side of the city.

Fang Che was leading Jiang Ning, Lin Xinyi, and over a dozen other members of the combat division in a rapid search of the East District streets.

"Fang Che! This side is empty too!"

Jiang Ning kicked open a half-open military supply crate, only to find nothing but waste paper inside. This was already the third crate they had found that had been opened in advance. Fang Che knit his brows tightly.

The route of action was the optimal path planned by Mu Waner using her drone. Reasonably speaking, it should have been impossible for Black Shark to precisely beat them to it every single time.

Mu Waner's voice came through the communicator.

"Something's not right. Ever since we got off the vehicle, Black Shark has acted as if they have an all-seeing eye. They seem to know this place better than we do."

"I suspect they have someone in their team with a radar-like ability that can detect energy over a wide area."

"It's also possible they obtained map hints for the Wasteland Supply City before coming here."

Su Qingxue chimed in from the side.

Whichever possibility it was, it meant Black Shark held a lethal information advantage that they did not possess.

Listening to his team members' analysis, Fang Che felt that they were overlooking a much simpler possibility. Right then, a flash of inspiration struck his mind.

Talent successfully activated. Target of assessment: Tactical Deduction. Critical Hit multiplier: 78x. Obtained insight into the root cause of Black Shark's information advantage. The suspicion was locked onto a key factor that everyone had overlooked: there was a key figure within Black Shark who possessed more intelligence than Chen Xiao and was able to plan ahead.

Fang Che's pupils contracted. It wasn't a tool or a map, but a person. Just then, Gu Nanzhi's communication cut in, her voice filled with urgency.

"Brother Fang Che! I've found out!"

Her surroundings were very quiet.

"I just pretended to be a delivery person and coaxed some information out of the guards."

She used Identity Weaving and Lie Patch to disguise herself as a newly transferred, sweet-but-clueless rookie. Sure enough, the guards didn't suspect a thing. When Gu Nanzhi curiously asked why Brother Xiao had ordered them to capture the women of 774 alive, the guard immediately waved his hand impatiently.

"Stop fucking snooping around! Don't ask questions you shouldn't! Sister Tang already gave the word that those women aren't to be touched!"

"At most, we'll capture them as a bonus. If anyone dares to lay a hand on them and Sister Tang finds out, they'll be chopped up and fed to the dogs!"

Gu Nanzhi repeated the words over the communicator, sounding puzzled.

"Sister Tang? It's the first time I've heard this name. From the sound of it, she has a pretty high status in Black Shark, even able to suppress Chen Xiao."

"That guy had a bit to drink and let it slip... This woman is named Sister Tang Yan."