Chapter 608 The Little Things About Fishing and Baiting
A knocking sound rang out in the darkness, and the star map projection covering the entire office quickly dimmed and shattered. The lights came back on, and the room returned to normal.
Bai Liqing let out a soft breath, a hint of drowsiness flashing across her face, but she quickly recovered and turned back behind her desk.
Yu Sheng was still pondering the information the other party had revealed to him, while also being somewhat immersed in the magnificent star map he had just witnessed.
To be fair, he felt that the level of expertise required for this matter was somewhat beyond his knowledge, but as a gradually maturing leader of the organization, he had fully mastered another real professional skill—delegating tasks to his subordinates.
"Could you send me a copy of your analysis and the raw data Zheng Zhi sent back to the Secret Service?" Yu Sheng asked Baili Qing. "I'll forward it to Luo to study and see if she can come up with anything."
He paused for a moment, then added, "Of course, if there are confidentiality requirements, then forget it."
“This is indeed classified data—but the classification level isn’t that high. I can approve it,” Baili Qing raised her eyelids. “I have limited trust in Luo, but I believe in your ability to control her.”
“That’s good,” Yu Sheng nodded with a smile. “Don’t worry, she’s very well-behaved now, and she’s furious about the mice stealing her things. She’s very motivated about it.”
Baili Qing nodded, not saying much, but changing the subject: "The intelligence Zheng Zhi obtained is our advantage. The Cult of Saints should not know that their secret has been exposed yet. At least in the Dark Current Starfield, they will be less vigilant. On the other hand, they already know that their 'testing ground' will be connected to the border area. Although this process seems difficult to control now, based on my understanding of those cultists... they will definitely try to use this to cause us trouble."
"The Secret Order of the Holy Spirit used to keep a low profile, but since the Ankaela incident, they have revealed their ambitions. The borderlands, a place where 'angelic descents' and 'angelic falls' have occurred several times, have a fatal attraction for them."
"I think we can take advantage of this."
Upon hearing this, Yu Sheng raised his eyebrows, almost instantly guessing what the other person was thinking: "What are you planning to do? Go fishing?"
“What they want is the Angel Catalyst. Zheng Zhi also heard the word ‘catalyst’ in the intelligence. Moreover, it sounds like they urgently need a more powerful catalyst to stabilize a certain experimental device,” Baili Qing nodded. “The ‘catalyst’ left by Ankaela and the Star Entity is under tight control by the Borderland and Thousand Peaks Spirit Mountain. At this time, it would be hard to fool people by spreading the news that the things were lost. But the Boundary Bridge… this matter has only just ended. If we spread the news that the finishing work has not been completed and some of the debris is still scattered outside, many people should believe it.”
Yu Sheng was certain that he saw a wicked smile on the director's face—a micro-expression so subtle that he would have missed it if he had blinked even a fraction faster.
“Only a few people, including you and me, know the true story of the disintegration of the Boundary Bridge,” Baili Qing continued. “It disintegrated in the material universe, and the remaining information and blueprints were swallowed by you. In reality, it did not leave any physical remains, but... we might be able to create a fake one.”
Yu Sheng's mind was already racing halfway through the conversation. After all, he wasn't good at or understood the star maps, stargates, and authorization codes that had been discussed earlier, but when it came to the righteous cause of digging pits, burying people, fishing, setting up nests, and creating fake evidence to scare people, he was definitely qualified to speak on that—after all, he had fed "Hunger" fake food in Nightfall Valley before, and using himself as a nest when fighting the Dark Angels was a common occurrence...
However, he was also a little curious: "Fake news is easy to come by, but what are you planning to do with counterfeit goods? Just throw some building debris in, add some special effects, and say it's fragments of the Boundary Bridge? Will the Hermitage fall for that?"
Bai Liqing thought about it very seriously this time.
“Those cultists may be fanatical, but they’re not stupid. They won’t catch any big fish if they don’t put on a good show. Besides, they’ve been studying dark angels for years, so they should at least have some methods for detecting and identifying angelic catalysts… A bait they make up casually might just expose our purpose.”
Upon hearing this, Yu Sheng couldn't help but show a thoughtful expression.
"Shouldn't I mix in something real...?" He unconsciously rubbed the tip of his nose, starting to think about what to prepare for the trap. "Using the astral crystal branches left over from the desolate crust? Not really... that stuff doesn't have much of the Dark Angel's power left, and it's not much different from regular minerals, so it'll be easy to spot. Or maybe mix in some 'Anti-Eileen Crystal'? That would get the purity, but it's a controlled substance, and what if it falls into the hands of those cultists and they figure something out..."
Baili Qing listened to Yu Sheng's mutterings for a while, then suddenly said, "I think you can talk to Luo about this."
Yu Sheng's mind went blank for a moment: "Luo? She can make counterfeit handicrafts too?"
Bai Liqing: "She really was blown up by the debris from the Boundary Bridge."
"Hey, now that you mention it, it makes sense..."
“She should still have a lot of information related to ‘Zorda Black Stone’. This information will help us to replicate a similar substance—at least in terms of properties that should be sufficient to withstand ordinary detection methods,” Baili Qing said unhurriedly. “Tell her that she only needs to provide the data. As for the specific ‘production’, the Secret Service’s laboratory can handle it.”
Yu Sheng laughed: "Then things will be much easier."
He then discussed with Baili Qing a lot of details about creating fake angel catalysts and spreading false information to lure people in. The more they discussed it, the more they felt that this plan had a high probability of success. In any case, the cost was not high. Even if they only managed to lure out a team of "knights", it would not be a loss. If they could lure out an artificial saintess or even a "sage" level hermit priest, they would make a huge profit. If Luo were to open a gap in the Dark Current Starfield at that time... with multiple parties coordinating from the inside and outside, the hermit's good days of hiding in their happy old home and remotely harassing people would be over.
“Then it’s settled. Later, send the raw data Zheng Zhi sent back, along with your analysis report, directly to the Otherworldly Inn. I’ll forward it to Black Stone Station. I’ll also tell Luo about the research materials,” Yu Sheng said as he stood up from across the desk, preparing to open the door to go back. “Also, if any traces of ‘Knights’ or ‘Artificial Saintesses’ are discovered in other parts of Boundary City during this time, be sure to notify me immediately. Capture them alive if possible… Of course, the safety of our own people should be the priority.”
"I understand what you mean."
Baili Qing nodded solemnly, and then, as she got up to see him off, she couldn't help but let out a big yawn.
This was quite an inappropriate act for a female bureau chief who was usually so aloof and composed that she was almost inhuman.
Yu Sheng had noticed the intense drowsiness surrounding the other person since earlier, and now he couldn't hold back any longer: "You didn't sleep well again... This time it wasn't because of me, was it?"
“I slept very well,” Baili Qing quickly adjusted her expression, then straightened her face as usual. “It was just a yawn.”
Yu Sheng wanted to ignore it, but Baili Xue's eyes kept darting back and forth across the French windows behind her, and she kept making sleepy, drowsy faces as if to be hinting at something.
He heard a soft whisper go straight into his ears: "Because of winter..."
Yu Sheng's lips twitched slightly, and he gave Baili Qing a strange look, looking her up and down: "Wait, you... hibernate?"
Baili Qing instantly turned her head to look at the floor-to-ceiling window behind her—those wandering eyes disappeared into the thick fog outside the window in the blink of an eye.
She slowly turned her head, her expression calm: "I don't hibernate, I just get sleepy easily in winter."
Yu Sheng continued to stare at her.
Bai Liqing turned her head slightly, her gaze calmly fixed on the smoke detector in the corner of the ceiling. She spoke leisurely, her voice reminiscent of the contralto narration in the game Eileen played: "...In the distant past era, when dragons and magic both existed, colorless dragons would seal off their territories when winter came, using a vast dream to protect their treasure vaults and prevent snow demons and frost giants from disturbing their kingdom..."
The female bureau chief stood there, dignified, composed, and cool, like a proud, solitary dragon from the north.
Yu Sheng thought for a moment: "So you've just given me a different explanation of dragons' 'hibernation'?"
Bai Liqing sighed, but the sigh didn't turn into a proper one; it turned into another uncontrollable yawn.
Clearly, the proud dragon of the north is nearly trapped and dying.
Yu Sheng felt as if he had discovered a new continent. He had known Baili Qing for more than a year, but obviously they were not very familiar with each other at the beginning. So much so that last winter he did not realize that this iron-faced woman had such a characteristic. Now, he felt that most of the cold and hard temperament that always surrounded her had melted away.
Judging from her micro-expressions, he felt that Baili Qing was already quite embarrassed, so he didn't continue discussing hibernation with her. He said goodbye and left the director's office.
The large office fell silent again. Baili Qing sat quietly behind her large desk, then suddenly propped her head up and sighed.
A pair of illusory eyes drifted to the computer screen opposite her like a thief, then slowly slipped back onto the desktop.
“Keep a close eye on the places where spatial rifts appeared during the Boundary Bridge incident,” Baili Qing suddenly said, “especially the several blocks that the Spirit Fox System highlighted at the time—the spacetime structure there was completely breached, and they may become ‘invasion points’ for the Hermitage.”
"Wow," those eyes twitched dramatically, "Are you going to go through the hibernation instinct to arrange a job for your sister right away?"
Baili Qing ignored the other person's teasing—since when, her "little sister" had become more and more active every day, and even seemed to have developed real humanity. Although she had noticed this change, she rarely brought it up.
She didn't know if it was good or bad.
All she knew was that the difficult days of the year had begun again.
"Haa—"
The dragon yawns.
(End of this chapter)
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