Chapter 110 Top Alpha: He was once a crippled Omega. 20. Peng...

The air quality on Far Voyager is poor; even at midday, the sky is overcast.

In the third-class district, near a villa, a car had its windows displaying a fake image of the driver asleep, preventing outside prying eyes. Inside, five or six monitors flickered, one of which was magnified by intelligent monitoring and displayed before Qi Pingye and Gran.

In the scene, a male Omega wearing blue silk pajamas leans against the sofa. His usually lazy and sleepy face suddenly shows a bright and energetic look as he excitedly communicates.

This communication did not use holographic imaging; only sound was heard on the channel.

"...You're really too mean. How could you not come to see me for so long, and not even send a single message? If it were a few more days, I would have started to suspect that you've already fallen for someone new and forgotten about me."

Omega pouted in a sweet, cloying voice.

“Then I’m truly wronged, darling,” the middle-aged man’s voice came through with a faint crackling sound. “It’s not that I didn’t want to see you, I was just so busy with other things that I really couldn’t find the time. You see, now that I have a spare moment, I contact you immediately, don’t I?”

“Voiceprint verification confirmed, it’s Councilor Peng,” Wang Qian, who was lurking at another surveillance point, said in a low voice as she switched to the group’s internal channel.

Qi Pingye and Gran exchanged a glance, then raised their hands to amplify the eavesdropping sound.

"Hmph." Inside the villa, the Omega was still dissatisfied, whining.

Congressman Peng was still head over heels for his young and beautiful new lover. He coaxed her gently for a while, promising her a bunch of designer gifts, before finally saying, "Okay, baby, I have something to do and can't chat with you any longer. Get ready tonight and wait for me."

"What time is it?" the Omega asked. "I'm not waiting for you if it's too late. Go find someone else..."

Councilor Peng sighed helplessly, "It's hard to say. I don't know when I'll finish. I'd better hurry, okay? Be good..."

The two exchanged a few more flirtatious words until the secretary's voice calling out to Councilor Peng could be faintly heard on the channel, at which point the communication was disconnected, leaving a busy tone.

Grant didn't expect that they would actually get what they were waiting for.

He looked at Qi Pingye with a complicated expression: "Your mouth is really blessed, sometimes it's right, sometimes it's right, it's both divine and ghostly, it's amazing."

He gave Qi Pingye a thumbs up, then quickly gave instructions: "Now that we have preliminarily confirmed that the target will appear, our surveillance mission is considered complete. Next, I will ask the captain whether to continue following or go home and wait for my instructions."

Qi Pingye: "Received."

Wang Qian: "Received."

After two responses, Grant waved his hand, picked up the trash, and got out of the car and left.

Qi Pingye sat in the car, continuing to stare at the monitor screen, feeling a bit amused and exasperated. Sometimes, his words really did have a touch of mystical power.

However, he actually hoped that this surveillance mission would end here and that he would no longer participate in the follow-up.

He was going to be in Black Lily for a long time, with a lot of training and combat. In order not to be too obvious, he only used simple camouflage to cover his features. Therefore, he did not want to come into contact with these people from Central Star, especially those who had close ties with the Qi family and might know him.

Although he has never actually met this Councilor Peng, he has seen him from afar. It is best to avoid direct contact for now; better safe than sorry.

However, often what you fear most is exactly what happens.

Not long after, Gran's voice came through the team's communication channel: "Continue to monitor, and cooperate with another team if necessary."

Wang Qian asked, "Do we need to infiltrate?"

“Perhaps,” Grant said, “we should prepare for it.”

Upon hearing this, Qi Pingye instantly thought of many excuses and rhetoric to cancel the infiltration mission.

But for some reason, just as he was about to speak, he suddenly had a gut feeling—

Continuing this mission may be dangerous, but it will likely also yield unexpected rewards.

Subconsciously, Qi Pingye began to trace the source of this intuition, his mind racing through various relevant recent intelligence reports.

Representative Peng's visit to Far Voyage Star was around the same time as his, ostensibly to visit and comfort the troops. The StarNet and intelligence brokers had no further information, only saying that the Bright Party was trying to win over supporters during the presidential transition. In recent years, opposition parties, including the Citizens' Alliance, have been quite restless, seemingly intent on ousting them from power; even the Intelligence Bureau couldn't keep them in check…

During a recent speech to the military, Representative Peng mentioned the chaos of the Far Voyage Star incident and broke down in tears…

One of his next stops was to visit and offer condolences to the Third Army...

After a moment's thought, Qi Pingye glanced at his watch and sent a message: "I have a mission tonight, I might not be able to reply. Get some rest."

Chenwu replied instantly: 【Okay. Be careful.】

Qi Pingye smiled as he looked at the communication interface, then sighed, roused himself, and began to keep an eye on the monitor while taking inventory of the weapons.

The time when Representative Peng arrives at the villa is uncertain; it could be very early or very late. Therefore, both Qi Pingye and Gran are prepared to stay up all night.

That is indeed the case.

Qi Pingye squatted in the car from noon until evening. Around 8 PM, Gran came to relieve him while he went out for a meal and checked the situation around the villa. Around 10 PM, he returned to the car, and Wang Qian rested. The surveillance lines were temporarily taken over. At midnight, Wang Qian returned to her post, and both sides reconfirmed the surveillance environment.

Before I knew it, it was past midnight. The lights near the villa area were dim, and the number of pedestrians was dwindling.

Inside the car, Glen took out some cheap tobacco and chewed it. Qi Pingye was still young and could endure it, but he also put on a pair of entertainment headphones and played some loud music to stay awake. Wang Qian seemed to be playing with something, occasionally making a soft clicking sound like a gun being cocked.

The three of them would clock in regularly, exchange a few words in the group's chat channel, and clarify the situation and status.

"Could it be that he's not coming?" Wang Qian said. "Councilor Peng's schedule for today is not public, there's no news. He said he'd come tonight, but it's possible he's just trying to appease his lover and is actually too busy to come."

"In this unequal relationship, even if the lover is angry, Representative Peng won't take it to heart..."

“Keep waiting,” Gran said.

Qi Pingye remained silent.

Based on the phone call he overheard at noon and the stories of Representative Peng's romantic escapades he had heard on Central Star, he felt that Representative Peng was more likely to come.

Time passed little by little.

At two o'clock in the morning, in the dead of night, a jet-black low-flying aircraft quietly entered from the small landing pad behind the mountain and landed on the villa that was shrouded in darkness.

Grant immediately perked up and activated the warning on the communication channel, alerting all the Black Lily members involved in the operation.

All surveillance equipment near the docking pad was magnified.

In the darkness, a light strip illuminated, and Councilor Peng, a portly man wearing small round glasses, stepped out of the aircraft and strode into the villa, escorted by two bodyguards and a security team.

The lights on the villa's porch immediately came on, and Councilor Peng's lover, looking sleepy-eyed, greeted him with a mixture of joy and reproach, throwing herself into his arms.

Qi Pingye and his team could only see images remotely captured through doors and windows, and intelligent images analyzed by thermal imaging from the walls; they could not hear any sound.

In these images and videos, Councilor Peng entered the room, smiling and apologizing, handing over gifts, and even getting punched twice before finally hugging and coaxing the person affectionately.

At this hour, there was clearly no room for dates or meals. Councilor Peng, with his new lover in his arms, went straight to the point and quickly entered the bedroom.

Qi Pingye looked at the two overlapping figures in the intelligent image and casually covered his mouth and nose.

Gran yawned boredly, glanced at him, and scoffed, "What are you pretending to be innocent for? You're an adult with an Omega at home..."

Qi Pingye didn't refute it, but he felt wronged.

Fortunately, his imprisonment lasted only about ten minutes before the two overlapping figures separated. Representative Peng seemed exhausted; he lay down to the side for a while before getting up and going to the bathroom.

“Don’t be surprised. Big shots are usually very fast. Based on my surveillance experience, this has been going on for a long time. It should rank in the top ten at least,” Gran said.

“Indeed,” Wang Qian agreed.

Qi Pingye: "..."

He ignored the two experienced drivers and raised his hand to adjust the monitor screen.

The bathroom is located deeper into the villa's bedroom, where the heating sensors are not sensitive enough, the light cannot penetrate, and the smart video feed is intermittent.

“They shower very quickly, usually within half an hour,” Grant said.

Nearly an hour later.

Qi Pingye frowned, and Gran also sat up from the back seat.

"The bodyguard moved."

Wang Qian suddenly said, "They must have been in contact with Councilor Peng to confirm how often they've met. This time, Councilor Peng didn't respond, so they're preparing to break down the door."

Before Wang Qian could finish speaking, the bedroom door was kicked open. Peng's lover, who seemed to be asleep, was awakened by the noise, screamed, and huddled under the covers, seemingly cursing loudly.

The two bodyguards ignored them and went straight to the bathroom. They knocked on the bathroom door, but there was likely no answer, because the next second, the two bodyguards forced the door open.

Qi Pingye's heart skipped a beat, and an ominous premonition arose.

Sure enough, a few seconds later, two bodyguards rushed out, and the villa's alarm went off.

The voices of another team members immediately came through the operation channel.

"Gran, what's going on?"

Grant said, "The target has apparently gone missing in the master bedroom bathroom. Send someone over to investigate closely. Ye Ping, get the surveillance footage from the area over the past hour."

Qi Pingye responded and operated the monitor to check.

"The eagle has closed in; the target is confirmed missing, and there's a high probability they've been kidnapped!"

“It seems there are quite a few people keeping an eye on this Representative Peng…” Grant’s eyelids twitched.

“There’s only one docking pad nearby, so it can’t go far,” Wang Qian said.

After reviewing the data on the monitor, Qi Pingye said in a low voice, "Only two groups of people have appeared near the villa in the past hour. One group is kitchen staff responsible for purchasing ingredients for tomorrow's breakfast, and the other group is mechanics repairing the mechanical equipment around the villa. Their departure route map is already being generated."

“Go and investigate separately,” Gran said. “Ye Ping and Wang Qian, you two continue to monitor, the rest of you get moving.”

Before he finished speaking, Grant had already loaded his weapon, opened the car door, and slipped out, disappearing into the night in the blink of an eye.

Qi Pingye glanced at the brightly lit and noisy villa not far away, and quickly made arrangements to provide real-time information to Gran and another group of team members who had gone out to pursue them.

About ten minutes later.

One group left the villa and headed in a certain direction, while another group boarded the aircraft, looking panicked.

“They must have confirmed that Councilor Peng wasn’t in the villa, so they split up to search,” Wang Qian said. “What we can find, they can find too. Deputy Captain, you’d better hurry, or you’ll run into them.”

"Almost there! That mechanic can really run fast!" Grant cursed over the comms.

Qi Pingye paused, realizing something was wrong.

He looked at the villa, which was now mostly dark, and suddenly said, "Vice Captain, I request permission to enter the villa."

"What?" Gran was taken aback.

Qi Pingye said, "Councilor Peng has been kidnapped, but I suspect he wasn't kidnapped and taken away from the villa. He's still inside, but someone has hidden him using some special method."

Another group said, "How is that possible! Our people and Representative Peng's people have all investigated. Even if we could fool the equipment, we couldn't fool so many people..."

"Just to be on the safe side," Qi Pingye said.

He looked at the dimly lit villa, recalling his new lover's every move today and in the past, and his heart began to beat faster.

After a moment of silence on the communication channel, Glenn's deep voice rang out: "Okay, go ahead."

"Wang Qian, be ready to provide support at any time."

“No problem,” Wang Qian said.

Qi Pingye relaxed, quickly fastened his equipment, jumped out of the car, turned on his personal jamming device, and stealthily approached the villa under the cover of night.

As a top-tier mercenary squad with a long-range combat record, the Black Lily's equipment and weaponry are comparable to those of regular armies.

In addition to the jammer, Qi Pingye put on combat glasses disguised as ordinary smart glasses, guided the pop-up, analyzed various parts of the villa, and shared some of the surveillance screens.

The villa was silent, with only a few people remaining in the living room to guard the Omega.

Omega buried his head and wept, trembling.

Qi Pingye carefully sneaked in, avoiding people, and entered the master bedroom on the second floor.

The bathroom was still damp and cold. Qi Pingye quickly checked and found some marks near the windowsill. Following the marks, he could trace them to the courtyard wall, where the surveillance cameras had been jammed.

According to normal logic, someone should have kidnapped Councilor Peng, climbed out of the window, and then escaped with others.

Qi Pingye looked around, then went back to the master bedroom. He touched a strand of Councilor Peng's hair on the bed, then took out a homemade spider-shaped smart device, fed it the hair, and activated it.

The little robot landed and quickly disappeared into the shadows.

Qi Pingye attached it to his combat goggles, stood in the shadows, and waited quietly.

"Is this what you were researching in the base's machine room a while ago?" Wang Qian asked. "It looks like just a regular hound-like AI that searches for targets based on biological information. Little Eagle just checked it using a similar method, and the hounds indicated that Councilor Peng has already left and is not in the villa..."

“Mine is different,” Qi Pingye said.

"What's wrong..."

No sooner had he spoken than Qi Pingye's eyes lit up, and he moved.

He moved with lightning speed, heading straight down to the basement of the villa.

Two underground floors, the wine cellar door was tightly closed. Qi Pingye, holding his breath, silently unlocked the door, slowed his pace, and went inside.

In the darkness, he hadn't walked far when Wang Qian's voice rang in his ears: "There's a thermal reaction! Strange, it wasn't there just now... We've also checked the Cellar Hound android. Can your little gadget automatically dismantle all the disguises of hostile androids during the pursuit without being disturbed?"

Qi Pingye did not answer.

At roughly the same time, the connected spider-like androids also transmitted a sound.

It was a man's barely suppressed roar: "It was you... the chaos on Far Voyage Star, it was you who did it!"

Qi Pingye stopped in his tracks, his heart skipping a beat.