Published at 1st of October 2024 2:02 am

Chapter 734 – Full of Conspiracy Theories

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In a large conference room at Niepan headquarters, there was an eerie silence.

The atmosphere was tense, with several people sitting around the table, nervously watching the figure standing by the window.

The middle-aged man, with a corpulent build, seemed to emit an invisible pressure that made everyone else shudder.

On the table, two registration forms lay neatly. The cover of the top one had two hastily written characters: Ling Ge.

The bold and unrestrained strokes looked somewhat jarring to those present. The reason wasn’t the name, but the implications behind it.

Number 1 missing? Dongming branch obliterated? Either of these incidents was enough to make everyone in the room jittery.

The HR Leader, surnamed Li, who was the first to report the matters, was noticeably absent from the room. He was nervously waiting outside the door.

Staring at the closed brown door, he bent slightly at the waist, occasionally wiping the sweat off his forehead.

The always mysterious Big Boss was inside…

“Tap… Tap…”

The middle-aged man’s hand, resting on the windowsill, moved slightly, knocking twice with his knuckles.

The sound was not loud, but those seated all straightened up.

Based on experience, this meant the Big Boss was about to speak.

To the average member, this Big Boss at Niepan headquarters was shrouded in mystery. He never appeared proactively and didn’t habitually host meet-and-greet events. In fact, this reflected his rationality as a powerful ruler. In a place where everything relied on hard work, the members didn’t need his comfort and weren’t interested in any intimate contact with his pudgy hands. What they needed was concrete returns on their efforts.

But the Big Boss, who founded Niepan and had always been strategizing behind the scenes, was obviously not battling alone.

Those seated here were the few high-ranking members who could communicate face-to-face with him. They were his trusted confidants.

“Tap…”

The Big Boss knocked several more times, and under the uniform gaze of anxious eyes, he finally spoke in a deep voice, “So… what do you all think?”

The men exchanged glances, and an old man in a white lab coat spoke up, “Dongming… the primary loss is No.0. As for Number 1’s disappearance… if we can confirm he died on the spot, that would be fine; the zombies would naturally dispose of the body. But if he escaped and was captured by another camp, that would be troublesome… He looks too different from common zombies, which would easily draw attention.”

At this point, his sharp, murky eyes narrowed slightly, and a cold gleam flashed across his wrinkled face, “This is the most severe crisis to our Experimental Group.”

“No.0’s replicability is too low, so if he’s dead, he’s dead. Besides, Dongming has already become a burden, providing too little intelligence,” said another thin man. He glanced at the old man, then cleared his throat. He had no comfort to offer about Number 1; the two people who reported clearly stated that Number 1 had disappeared.

“But this is an insult to us. They wiped out Dongming, which means they must be elites from another camp. The Dongming branch was weak, but Song Jinsen and Shen Le, who took Number 1 out, aren’t easy to deal with. The attackers were powerful enough to deal with the local toughness, well-prepared,” another person said.

His words reeked of conspiracy theories, but they led to nods around the room.

The thin man nodded and said, “I agree. Those branch members had no idea who the attackers were; they just said the attackers detonated fireworks to lure them out. It’s obvious Dongming was the target; they might have known about Number 1’s intelligence in advance and went there specifically to hunt him down.”

“How did they know?” someone asked. An inside job? It’s possible, but transmitting the information is very difficult.

“Maybe they were targeting No.0 instead. There are many peripheral members in Dongming, and several Level 9 members are said to be in other camps with a psychic link to No.0… I’ve always said peripheral members aren’t reliable; this problem was brought on by Dongming itself,” the thin man said, crossing his arms and frowning.

But after he finished, the room fell into a brief silence again.

Undoubtedly, all these analyses sounded pretty logical. Who would have thought that there would actually be a lunatic interested in Zombie intelligence, capable of sweeping through a branch with a few powerful zombies?

Therefore, their thought processes led them to a misleading conclusion. Although everyone remained silent, they all believed the Thin Man’s words were likely the truth.

As for whether this speculation was truly reliable, it would need to be verified. The higher-ups would make an executive decision, and after the task was assigned, the members would run the errands. It was as simple as that.

But even a snap decision had to be grounded in something solid, something precise.

They had analyzed so much, but in the end, they still had to listen to what the Big Boss had to say.

“So…” the Big Boss spoke slowly, “are you saying someone is targeting Niepan?”

“Not specifically targeting us, but it’s very likely they’re after our Intelligence. Within the range of X City, the two largest camps are Camp F and Falcon. It’s unlikely that Camp F pulled this off; they’re too weak. But Falcon is different, especially since they took over the Air Force Corps, extending their intelligence across the province,” someone said.

“Yes, even if we keep a low profile, we can’t prevent them from probing from the air. And as far as I know, Falcon relies on sheer numbers, establishing agriculture, and gathering resources as much as possible. Although they have some research capabilities, they’re nowhere near our level…” someone agreed.

At this point, the conclusion was clear, and no one there voiced any objections.

From every perspective, the conclusion was reasonable. Only Falcon had the resources to pull this off, and only they had the motivation. What would ordinary people do with intelligence that Niepan possessed? Start their own laboratory for research? That would be absurd.

However, if these people knew someone could coexist peacefully with zombies, or even evolve together, their perception of that possibility wouldn’t be so slim anymore.

“Yes…”

“After evaluating everything, only Falcon could…”

The Big Boss was silent for a while before suddenly saying, “The development and research of Number 1 are key bargaining chips in our negotiations with the Central Region Camp. Although we can develop several Number 1 prototypes, if this achievement is stolen, it would definitely impact our negotiations… But let’s not rush into a direct conflict with Falcon. Send someone to investigate.”

As he spoke, he added, “Have those two follow up as well. Keep an eye on them for now, get a feel for their real situation. It’s always better to be cautious. Ling Ge isn’t much of a concern… but Mu Chen, keep a close watch on him.”

With Dongming destroyed, the fact that these two managed to escape and reach headquarters naturally aroused suspicion. However, taking extreme actions before the truth came out was clearly not advisable.

These two had risked their lives to bring back the intelligence; it wouldn’t be right to turn around and arrest them immediately.

Even the most self-serving members of Niepan understood the basic principle of solidarity in crisis. Acting rashly could lose them the trust of their people, so any probing would have to be done discreetly.

Everyone present understood this nuanced approach, so they all nodded in agreement, “Got it…”

The Old Men then opened his eyes and said, “For them to have made it through several towns to get here, they must have some skills, right? In a few days, I’ll have a little task for them, which will also help us gauge their capabilities.”

Seeing the Old Men smirk, a few people, including the Thin Man, couldn’t help but look away.

“Those two are in for it; the Team Leader’s going to take out his anger on them,” someone muttered.

“But…” another frowned, “isn’t this going too far?”

“It’s fine; they’re not likely to die from this. Anyway, temporarily transferring them from headquarters is also good. The destruction of the Dongming branch shouldn’t be made public just yet,” someone chimed in.

“It might have already spread,” one person said worriedly. The person who received the Report from the man named Li was his worried one.

“Doesn’t understand confidentiality,” someone snorted.

The person raised an eyebrow and immediately retorted, “Who knew before they told?”

“Enough. This matter will inevitably get out, but transferring them can at least prevent the rumors from getting too wild,” the Thin Man interceded to smooth things over.

“Let’s proceed with this plan,” the Big Boss concluded decisively.

While the high-level Members at Niepan headquarters were in a meeting discussing matters, the person whom the Big Boss had casually remarked as “not much of a concern” was far from being idle.

After a short ten-minute break, Ling Mo resumed his actions.

Strolling slowly through the Corridor, he discreetly approached any room from which occupants emerged. As long as these individuals failed to detect his subtle psychic fluctuation, he infiltrated without hesitation. If the room was unoccupied, he acted even more boldly.

In the empty Corridor, tightly closed doors would suddenly open a crack, and documents within the rooms would float into the air unaided, flipped by an invisible hand…

This eerie scene played out repeatedly throughout the building, and Ling Mo’s steps brought him progressively closer to the upper floors.

Ling Mo realized that his impression of the Experimental Group needed some updating. Contrary to his previous assumption, in this building with no basement, the key Laboratories were actually located on the upper floors. However, this didn’t impede his actions in the slightest. Along the way, he had gathered a considerable amount of Intelligence, though not as significant as his previous gains, but it certainly deepened his understanding of Zombies bit by bit.

Among his discoveries, what delighted him most was a research Report on mutation beasts.

Niepan’s widespread presence gave them a natural advantage in collecting this kind of detailed Intelligence. They not only conducted research on Zombies but also delved into mutation beasts. However, these materials only provided Ling Mo with a general understanding of the various types of mutation beasts, offering little to aid in the evolution of Xiao Bai.

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