LIGHTNOVELONLINE c75 - Unraveling the Thread
“Based on the intelligence gathered, we’ve deduced that among our adversaries, at least one is an Awakened, with abilities specializing in mental control,” Gu Junwan stated, getting straight to the point.
She motioned for Shen Han and the other to come to her side, then handed a document to her Alpha.
Shen Han took it and began to read carefully.
When she first arrived here, she awakened her fire element ability. In the year since then, she had only encountered one other Awakened.
That was the assassin who attempted to execute Gu Yuwei just days ago.
Even with his tactical glasses destroyed, he managed to dodge close-range shots – something no ordinary person could achieve.
Shen Han had seen clearly that Gu Yuwei’s aim was not off.
Given the short distance of a few meters, even if Shen Han herself tried to dodge while injured, she would likely have taken a bullet or two.
Yet that assassin had only suffered a graze.
To be honest, Shen Han had always been curious.
How many Awakened were there on this planet? What abilities had others awakened?
Gu Junwan came to her side, her delicate fingers pointing to key information at the bottom of the document, guiding her Alpha to skim effectively.
“These are the interrogation records of those captured by Uncle Yi in the Ancient Medicine Preserve. Out of over twenty people, only two talked.”
“But even these two don’t know who their highest superior is. They only know that the person came to the Free Federation many years ago and has been lying low.”
With her Omega’s guidance, Shen Han skipped the lengthy records and turned to the second page.
“Only two talked. Are these people suicide soldiers?”
“Some are. The others who didn’t get a chance to kill themselves and refuse to talk are afraid of implicating their families.”
As she spoke, Gu Junwan flipped to the third page, then fell silent herself.
Shen Han continued reading. According to the two who talked, most of the personnel involved in the battle normally held identities like security guards or martial arts instructors, with single-line contact to their superiors.
They were occasionally gathered to carry out tasks like debt collection, intimidation, or even kidnapping and murder.
After completing missions, these people would disperse and return to their regular identity roles.
After finishing the document, Shen Han’s long eyebrows furrowed slightly.
She didn’t speak immediately, lowering her gaze as if pondering something.
Gu Junwan’s purpose in bringing her here was to hear her thoughts, so she naturally didn’t interrupt.
Xu Zhao also understood her Empress’s intentions well, silently retreating to the side, ready to serve at any moment.
Looking at the Alpha who was frowning in thought, Special Assistant Xu suddenly remembered a topic she had seen online recently.
On several entertainment-focused social media platforms, netizens were actually gossiping about her Empress!
Although all related topics used “Female CEO” as a pseudonym, anyone paying attention could easily guess the identity of the subject.
Special Assistant Xu had originally clicked on the topic full of anger, but to her own surprise, after browsing the posts, she found herself shipping them too.
Yes, Female CEO and Super Soldier King – truly delicious!
However, while netizens’ imaginations ran wild, they got many things wrong about the “Soldier King.”
In the posts, they fantasized about daily life where the “Soldier King” took on a domineering and mysterious persona.
But in reality, Shen the dog was incredibly docile in front of her Empress!
‘Wait, why did I use the word docile?’
Xu Zhao sneakily raised her eyes to look at the two standing side by side, and finding they hadn’t noticed her, she relaxed.
After about 10 minutes, Shen Han turned her head to look at Gu Junwan.
“I think the force hiding in the background has already begun infiltrating the economic sphere of the Free Federation – underground casinos, street gangs, monopolies – the tasks they usually receive are all related to these matters.”
“Oh right, according to the records, many of those captured were Yin, correct? They were arranged to come over four or five years ago, right when you started taking over. It seems our opponent has been setting up this game for a long time.”
Gu Junwan largely agreed with her view.
“Perhaps they started even earlier. When my mother acted as bait that time, I captured an information officer at the station who had been undercover for over twenty years.”
The two discussed for a while longer before Gu Junwan led her Alpha to a fixed area off to the side.
Seeing this, Xu Zhao knew her Empress was about to move on to the next task and quickly followed them into the shielded area.
“I’m going to have a video call with Gu Yuwei now. You two stay here. As long as you don’t leave the shielded area, she won’t be able to see you.”
After Gu Junwan finished speaking, Xu Zhao immediately pressed a few buttons on the area’s control panel.
Although there was no visible change, from this moment on, the shielding device had begun working.
Shen Han sat upright in her chair. Taking advantage of the time while Gu Junwan walked towards the central sofa area, she double-checked that her communication devices were turned off.
The holographic video call connected quickly.
Gu Yuwei, dressed in a black military uniform, appeared out of thin air, stepping in her tall boots.
Of course, what appeared in this special office was only her real-time projection.
Through the projection, Shen Han could see the environment where the other person was currently located.
It was also a command room similar to this one, slightly more spacious, with only Gu Yuwei in the large office.
Seeing this, Shen Han couldn’t help but wonder silently: Could there also be others hidden in shielded areas on her side?
In fact, there weren’t.
Having just experienced the betrayal of a subordinate, Gu Yuwei had become much more cautious about matters of life and death.
She knew the importance of today’s conversation and hadn’t even called over her most trusted adviser.
To gain an upper hand in presence over Gu Junwan, Gu Yuwei had specially worn her military uniform today.
Black showed solemnity, the hard leather of the tall boots, the tightly fastened wide belt, all accentuating the young woman’s upright posture.
But the moment she saw Gu Junwan, she immediately felt a bit choked.
Gu Junwan sat quietly on the black leather sofa in the central area, her pair of golden phoenix eyes as deep and unfathomable as an ancient pond.
She needed no external objects to accentuate herself. With every gesture and movement, she exuded an inviolable dignity.
“Let’s begin.”
“Wait a moment!”
The voices of the two sisters rang out simultaneously.
Then, Shen Han and Xu Zhao watched as Gu Yuwei on the video turned and pulled over a chair to sit down.
Gu Yuwei felt that with the other person sitting and herself standing, it seemed as if she was reporting to her.
After sitting down, she immediately felt much better.
Adjusting to a more relaxed posture, Gu Yuwei smiled faintly and spoke, resting her arms on the chair: “Now we can begin.”
As she spoke, the Northern Commander’s lips curled upwards, her brows exuding a charm unique to young people.
However, the missing front tooth made her look somewhat comical, at odds with her demeanor.
Fortunately, today the Northern Commander spoke without whistling through the gap.
Seeming to notice that Gu Junwan kept staring at her teeth, Gu Yuwei felt uncomfortable again.
She turned her head and snorted lightly, “What’s there to look at? This is an honorary medal left from my battle with the assassin that night. You Omegas will never understand!”
It would have been better if she hadn’t explained.
With her explanation, Gu Junwan and Xu Zhao immediately knew she was lying.
Because all the combat processes from that night had been detailed in reports by Shen Han’s four-person tactical team.
This included all of the commander’s response actions.
The entire night, she had only fired a few shots at the assassin at the very end, and hadn’t even hit him.
Xu Zhao suddenly turned her head, inquiring with her eyes: “Did you knock out her tooth?”
Shen Han first shrank her neck, then waved her hands nervously.
With this, both Gu Junwan and Xu Zhao knew: This incident was indeed related to her!
Gu Junwan coughed lightly: “Back to the point. In today’s call, there are several important pieces of intelligence you need to know.”
“After the attack incident, the military secretly arrested more than a dozen border guards. Upon interrogation, we traced back to the circumstances of the mercenaries’ hot weapons passing through customs.”
“It was a container truck that their superior personally ordered to be cleared for passage.”
At this point, Gu Junwan picked up a tablet from the side, swiped slightly, and the information about that clearance officer was holographically projected in front of everyone.
“His name is Xiao Zhou. His identity, work, and character are all without issue. However, during the time he ordered the clearance, he has a 15-minute memory loss.”
“Before that, he was receiving a reporting personnel. The memory loss starts from this point.”
“We deduce that at the time, Xiao Zhou was in a state of being mentally controlled by someone. The problem lies with that reporting personnel. He is likely an Awakened with abilities.”
Gu Junwan didn’t elaborate at length.
What she told were the results after professional team interrogation and verification.
Gu Yuwei knew this too, so she didn’t raise any doubts.
After a brief silence, she began to ask questions: “Has the identity of that Awakened been found?”
“No, the identity information he registered was fake. What we can confirm now is that the person is quite old, male in primary sex, secondary sex unknown, but the possibility of being an Alpha or beta is higher.”
Finally, Gu Junwan reminded, “Someone in the North can monitor mother’s whereabouts and is very familiar with your personality. You need to be more vigilant.”
Gu Yuwei stood up, pressing on the armrests of her chair, her eyes dancing with obvious annoyance: “You mean there are infiltrators around me!”
As soon as the words left her mouth, her momentum immediately dissipated on its own.
She remembered the scene when she was attacked on the long street – a guard with explosives strapped to him charging towards her security detail.
Gu Junwan’s tone remained steady: “The assassin who pursued you that day – the military dagger he used passed the scan comparison with the wounds left on the bodies of those who attacked mother in the Ancient Medicine Preserve. They’re completely identical.”
At this point, everything Gu Junwan wanted to convey to the other party today had been fully transmitted.
She knew Gu Yuwei needed some time to digest, so after discussing a few more sentences, she proactively ended the call.
Shen Han walked over from the shielded area, sat on the sofa, and gently embraced her slightly tired Omega.
“Although the road ahead is very difficult, don’t put too much pressure on yourself.”
Gu Junwan closed her eyes, inhaling her partner’s reassuring scent, and rested for quite a while before speaking softly.
“You’re going to have a new teammate, also an Awakened. She’s a bit afraid of Alphas. Let the security team members take extra care of her to help her integrate into the team quickly.”