Chapter 28: Chapter 28: A Step Too Late, Supervisor Chunyu Calls for Backup

Under the suppression serum, Geng Fu and the others fell into a deep coma. Calculations showed it would keep them suppressed for at least five hours.

Meanwhile, Qi Suian only needed half an hour to reach the new safe house.

Before tossing them into the Subspace Stable Pocket, Qi Suian provided all seven with life support.

Normally, the Subspace Stable Pocket that came with the Tai Sui God couldn’t store living creatures.

It was possible to place living creatures inside, but the interior was merely a storage space and lacked the necessary conditions for survival.

But that was no problem. As long as they had oxygen after being tossed in, they wouldn’t die. Besides, it was only for half an hour. How could anything go wrong?

His protagonist halo wasn’t just for show.

About ten minutes after Qi Suian left, Chunyu Bao arrived, along with three task forces.

Unfortunately, they were a step too late. All they found was a scene in disarray, with no bodies in sight.

"Vanished? What’s going on?" Chunyu Bao’s expression was grim.

He had seen Qi Suian’s energy weapon before. It left behind carbonized particles after killing someone.

There were signs that an energy weapon had been used, but no bodies remained.

"There is a ninety percent probability that the suspect has improved his energy weapon," Dawn’s voice came through the earpiece.

A cold glint flashed in Chunyu Bao’s eyes.

He couldn’t even withstand the original energy weapon, despite having undergone the Immortal Surgery. If it had been improved, the threat would be immense.

"Report this to Director Chunyu," Chunyu Bao said at once.

’This is real trouble.’

Some maverick scientist from an obscure corner had taken the Plasma Cannon, a half-finished energy weapon developed by their Watchman Morning Company, and optimized it into a weapon that now threatened them.

A standard Plasma Cannon was certainly powerful, but it had all sorts of defects. Their opponent’s version, however, clearly did not.

Once the intel was reported, Chunyu Hu quickly took over Dawn’s communication channel.

"All units, fall back. Prepare for nuclear cleansing." Chunyu Hu’s words were succinct. If there was a threat they couldn’t catch, then they might as well destroy the entire city along with it.

When Chunyu Bao heard this, his first instinct was to agree. After all, if it came to that, his own failures would be wiped clean.

But he was unwilling to let it go. The target had repeatedly made a fool of him, and he couldn’t stomach the humiliation.

Not to mention the target had wiped out two task forces in a row—Leopard and Rhino—causing massive losses for the company.

"We can’t use nuclear cleansing," Chunyu Bao vetoed the proposal.

"Your reason?" Chunyu Hu didn’t start cursing or state that this was an order, not a negotiation.

"We need the Energy Weapon Technology he possesses," Chunyu Bao instantly found his reason. "You are the company’s largest shareholder, but there will always be other shareholders with ambitions to take your place."

Chunyu Hu fell silent, not answering immediately.

For one simple reason: Chunyu Bao was right.

After undergoing the Immortal Surgery, many of the shareholders were growing restless.

Moreover, the company’s researchers in charge of the Abyssal Virus, having gained immense power themselves, were also starting to have other ideas.

For now, they were each acting independently, and he could maintain a balance with his authority.

But if they were to unite, he would indeed be no match for them.

Equity? Shareholders? All of that was illusory. It was simply a matter of the strong ruling the weak. Chunyu Hu himself possessed immense power; no one was his match in a one-on-one fight.

But if they joined forces, he would be outmatched.

"Fine. What do you need?" Chunyu Hu asked.

"I need..." Chunyu Bao rattled off a long list of requests without hesitation.

’This opponent is so troublesome,’ he thought. ’I need to be even better prepared.’

***

’They’re certainly fast.’ Through his AI, Qi Suian was already aware of Chunyu Bao’s arrival.

Now that the Tai Sui God had been upgraded, the AI had naturally grown stronger as well.

’I can capture some of their communication signals, but I can’t decrypt them,’ Qi Suian thought with some regret.

’If I could decrypt them, I’d know who Chunyu Bao was calling.’

Still, it didn’t matter. After capturing the signal, the AI could now more effectively counter Dawn, the Watchman Morning Company’s artificial intelligence.

While it wasn’t enough to completely blind Dawn, it would prevent the enemy from tracking him.

Of course, this wouldn’t work against indirect tracking methods.

For example, the anomaly created by the large-scale movements of the survivors from before.

Qi Suian wasn’t overly concerned with these matters; his AI could handle them.

He, on the other hand, began to straighten up the safe house and settle in his new captives.

"Traces of someone living here... My initial guess is survivors of the ’doomsday game’," Qi Suian noted as he inspected the safe house.

As for where those survivors had gone, they were either dead or had moved on.

The place had clearly been vacant for a while.

After that, Qi Suian installed a surveillance system around the area and used the Tai Sui God to tap into the electrical grid.

’The power grid will probably collapse completely in the next day or two.’

’I need to evolve the Tai Sui God again as soon as possible and install a reconnaissance module. Otherwise, I’ll be completely blind out there.’

Chunyu Bao and his people wouldn’t have that problem. They had satellites.

’If I could find a satellite to install as a module on the Tai Sui God, the AI would get an epic-tier enhancement.’

’Or, if I could get my hands on Dawn’s servers and use them as a module, that would also work.’

As Qi Suian considered this, he realized there was a plethora of good stuff out there. The only thing he was missing was module slots.

"AI, draw up a plan. I need to increase the Tai Sui God’s evolution count as quickly as possible," Qi Suian said.

[State reserves, mineral deposits, and the like can be used as evolution materials. These are distant and you would be vulnerable to interception, which would delay your growth progression.]

[The alternative is the Watchman Morning Dawn Headquarters. This would achieve multiple objectives, but it carries extreme risk.]

Listening to the AI, Qi Suian considered something else. There were too few resources that he needed here. Once he finished studying the so-called combat programming on the members of the Rhino Task Force, he could leave.

"It would be much faster to use a fighter jet, right?" Qi Suian said.

[I do not recommend using the fighter jet. Based on remaining fuel calculations, it only has enough to reach the Watchman Morning Dawn Headquarters.]

[If you use it to travel there, you will have insufficient fuel for other purposes.]

"Just refuel it. Aren’t gas stations everywhere?" Qi Suian wasn’t very knowledgeable on the subject. ’It’s just fuel, after all. There’s bound to be some at a gas station.’

[Fighter jets use specialized aviation kerosene, produced through a special refining process.]

"Alright, I’ll drive then." Qi Suian didn’t argue. The AI was right, he didn’t know any better, and it had provided an explanation. ’What’s the point of arguing for the sake of it?’

After Qi Suian chose to drive, the AI did not respond, which indicated its silent agreement with his choice.