Over ten minutes later.

  The two finally finished their noodles slowly. Of course, they ate slowly for a reason.

  Xia Li was accessing Hidden Wing's internal network searching for information. The internal network contained much information unavailable on the public network.

  For example, Qiming Mining's chain of relationships.

  Qiming Mining Corporation's parent company was Silver Star Group, and Silver Star Group was part of the East Peninsula Economic Chain.

  The East Peninsula Economic Chain was a ring of the Asia-Pacific Economic Body—one of the four major economic bodies under Corporate Union.

  Through this information, one could see Corporate Union's power distribution.

  It carried very obvious regional characteristics, and the four economic bodies also competed internally.

  "Xia Li, I just analyzed Jin Xiutai's whereabouts based on existing intel. That guy very likely has multiple mechanical doppelgangers."

  "You need to find one of his doppelgangers and implant a virus to track his main body."

  Ke Xiao informed Xia Li how to pursue Jin Xiutai. Hearing this, Xia Li sighed.

  "Too bad about the doppelganger I encountered before. I was so enraged I didn't think that far."

  "He's a veteran. Even if you'd thought of it, you wouldn't have had time to implant a virus. Why do you think he smashed through the ceiling and hid in the ruins for so long? He was probably making preparations for information protection."

  "And if you'd focused on him, you'd have been swarmed by those security personnel. Your priority judgment was fine—at least you completed the primary objective."

  Ke Xiao told Xia Li not to dwell on it. His judgment during the operation was sound.

  "Do you have the location of his doppelgangers?"

  "I don't, but someone does."

  "Who?"

  Just as Xia Li asked, the modification station's back door suddenly opened and two people walked in—a man and a woman.

  Xia Li recognized the woman—it was Liu Sheng Qiancao, whom he'd met before.

  "Hello. Please submit the mission items."

  After entering, the man politely nodded to Xia Li and Ke Xiao, transmitting a data key to them through Heaven Chip.

  It was a key to prove his identity—verifiable on Hidden Wing's internal network.

  "The stuff's over there."

  After Ke Xiao verified his identity, she pointed toward the mechanical case placed beside the modification pod.

  The narrative has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

  The man walked over and examined it thoroughly, then stored the mechanical case in his phase ring.

  "Items received. After appraisal, the operative will be compensated. I'll take my leave now."

  The man came and went quickly—his purpose was simply to transfer and store mission items. After he left, Liu Sheng Qiancao sat down on the sofa as if she belonged there.

  "Didn't manage to kill that guy, right?"

  Liu Sheng Qiancao seemed to already know this would be the outcome. She looked at Xia Li with a smile—clearly not with good intentions.

  "You seem to have known Jin Xiutai would send a doppelganger."

  Xia Li was somewhat displeased with Liu Sheng Qiancao. Why hadn't she shared such important information in advance!

  "I wasn't certain either. But if you couldn't even complete such a simple mission, you wouldn't be qualified to pursue him anyway. With your current abilities, you can't extract more information from his doppelgangers."

  Liu Sheng Qiancao's tone was now quite blunt—very different from her previous attitude. But Xia Li understood this was probably her true self.

  "What are you trying to say?"

  "Hidden Wing probably won't continue investigating Jin Xiutai. But I'll keep investigating him. If you want to go after Jin Xiutai, you'll need to cooperate with me separately."

  "Explain in detail."

  Xia Li asked Liu Sheng Qiancao to elaborate. If he could have another collaborator, he'd welcome it.

  However, Liu Sheng Qiancao didn't speak immediately. Instead, she looked toward Ke Xiao.

  "Sister Ke, is this guy trustworthy?"

  "I slept with him last night."

  Ke Xiao said these outrageous words without a change in expression. Xia Li, who happened to be drinking water, nearly spat it out.

  "Then he's very trustworthy. But Sister Ke, are you really that casual?"

  Liu Sheng Qiancao's words carried anger. She even glared fiercely at Xia Li, which confused him.

  "Xia Li, she swings the other way and is interested in me. Unfortunately, I don't."

  "That's terrifying?"

  Now Xia Li understood why Liu Sheng Qiancao was hostile toward him. He could only say that people in this new era were truly open—no concealment at all.

  "Xia Li, how many spirit stones for you to leave her!"

  Liu Sheng Qiancao tried to buy off Xia Li with spirit stones.

  "How about you transfer five billion first and show me your capability."

  "You...!!"

  Liu Sheng Qiancao's voice caught. Her eyes scanned back and forth between Ke Xiao and Xia Li, but ultimately she could only sigh.

  "Forget it. Let's talk business. Jin Xiutai's main body is most likely in New Tokyo. I also infiltrated Upper City last night to secretly track Jin Xiutai's location."

  "The signal hijacker I gave you was specially made."

  Liu Sheng Qiancao indicated she'd already pinpointed Jin Xiutai's location. Now it just depended on whether Xia Li was willing to cooperate.

  "Your reason for seeking my cooperation."

  "My position in Yagyu Military Industries isn't high. I can't directly bring people to take him out. I can only act independently, and the only ones I can trust are the organization."

  "But New Tokyo isn't within the organization's sphere of influence. Even if I offered spirit stones, the organization wouldn't approve issuing a mission for me."

  "So when I discovered a mission related to Jin Xiutai, I rushed from New Tokyo to Lingguang."

  "But what I didn't expect was... that bastard was actually in New Tokyo, right under my nose!!"

  Saying this, Liu Sheng Qiancao clenched her fists involuntarily. Clearly, her grudge against Jin Xiutai ran deep.

  "I understand. Then may I ask—what's your grudge with him?"

  "Do I have to say?"

  Liu Sheng Qiancao's expression briefly froze.

  "This will affect how much I trust you."

  The deeper her hatred for Jin Xiutai, the more trustworthy she was to Xia Li.

  Liu Sheng Qiancao herself had said New Tokyo wasn't the organization's territory. That meant operations there would face obstacles everywhere. If he got stabbed in the back by his own ally, it would be over.

  "Alright... since I invited you, you have the right to know."

  Liu Sheng Qiancao extended both hands and, under Xia Li's shocked gaze, lifted her outer garment and even lowered her skirt a bit.

  On her body...

  There were many faintly visible lines—like incompletely removed scars, or suture marks.

  "Allow me to reintroduce myself. I'm Liu Sheng Qiancao, but my true consciousness should belong to Liu Sheng Qianzao."

  "We were twin sisters—now merged into one person."

  Seeing this, Xia Li couldn't help but examine her body closely. He now noticed her left and right eye colors were slightly different.

  Left eye leaned black, right eye leaned brown.

  This was a synthetic human? Made by merging a pair of twin sisters?

  Good heavens!

  What the hell were the corporations doing!!