This actor is full of tricks.

Is Soldier Three dead?

The masked man's smile vanished instantly: "When did this happen?"

“Just now, his spirit candle went out.” Xiang Er’s voice was solemn as he placed a pale blue candle on the table. The candle was still emitting wisps of smoke, indicating that it had been burning brightly before, but had now gone out.

The masked man stared at the candles on the table. It was a strange artifact; each candle was bound to the life of a core member of the organization. When a member died, the corresponding candle would go out.

He remembered that not long ago, the spirit candle of his Black Pawn 1 suddenly went out, and he hadn't found out who did it yet. Now, not long after, another Pawn 3 had died.

Five pawns, now only three remain.

After a moment of silence, the masked man spoke: "So what if he's dead? He was a useless and troublesome fellow, arrogant and aloof. We told him to take more people with him, but he insisted on going alone. Did he really think Chen Fu and Bai Yao were pushovers?"

“It wasn’t Chen Fu and Bai Yao.” Xiang Er took out a cell phone with a video on it. The video was clearly taken at the burning building. Judging from the distance, it must have been filmed by onlookers hiding in the distance.

"This is a video circulating online, take a look."

As he spoke, he pressed play. The video showed a crowd fleeing in panic, but in stark contrast, a figure in a white coat rushed into the inferno with unwavering steps.

The masked man paused the video, zoomed in, and focused his gaze on the somewhat blurry white figure in the frame. He remembered the doctor in the file who had frequent contact with Chen Fu.

Could this be the guy? Does that mean Soldier San died at the hands of this doctor?
"Find a way to improve the image quality, and then find out all the information about this guy based on his appearance." He pointed to the white figure in the video and instructed Black Elephant. Then, after thinking for a moment, he added, "Never mind, don't rush it. We'll investigate after tomorrow's operation."

"By the way, have any news come back from those guys who went to investigate in Aburagami Village? It's been several days already."

Xiang Er shook his head, his tone grave: "No, I suspect it was a trap. Someone killed Zu Er and used this as a trap to wait for us to investigate. Those who went to investigate should be dead by now."

"What a bunch of useless trash, they can't do anything right!" The masked man slammed his hand on the table, which instantly turned into dust. After taking a deep breath, he said in a low voice, "You can leave now."

Xiang Er quietly withdrew and closed the door, plunging the room back into darkness.

The masked man sat in the chair, a cold wind blowing around him. The furniture pieces were smashed to pieces as if they had been slashed by a steel knife, showing how furious he was.

During this period, it seems that all the operations have not gone smoothly. First, the attempt to capture a student named Bi Zheng failed inexplicably. Then, the first attempt to capture Sun Jiankang also failed. Now, two core members have died in succession. It seems that there is a mysterious force hindering them.

"Was Soldier One also killed by that doctor?" The masked man wondered. "Whether it was him or not, the fact that he was able to kill Soldier Three is enough to prove that his strength is at least at the third level. This guy should be a hidden accomplice of the Sanjiang Inspection Division."

"If there's one, then there might be two, three, or even more. Those guys from the Sanjiang Inspection Bureau might be deliberately showing us the lack of personnel. They might have already set a trap in secret, just waiting for us to take the bait."

The masked man was very clever; he deduced a great deal of information from just one video, and it was almost entirely accurate.

Even though he suspected a trap, he had no way out now. His repeated failures to capture the Son of the Mist had already earned him a warning from the organization's leader, and he had also lost many members, including two of the Black Chess Generals. He had to successfully capture Sun Jiankang to atone for his mistakes. "The Sanjiang Inspection Division thinks setting a trap will ruin the capture operation? How laughable! A fragile net can't catch a tiger descending the mountain."

The masked man stood up, and a ghostly figure appeared beside him. It was a male ghost with its mouth bound by black tape. As soon as it appeared, an astonishing resentment filled the entire room.

"Ah Jin, go find Hong Shuai and tell him I need to borrow something. He can name his terms."

The creature called Akin didn't move, but instead glared fiercely at the masked man with a menacing look in its eyes.

"You don't need to look at me like that." The masked man sneered. "As long as you work for me without worry, I will keep my promises. Your father and your sister will be fine and enjoy endless wealth and luxury."

Upon hearing the masked man's words, the fierce light in Ah Jin's eyes intensified, unleashing a chilling killing intent. However, he ultimately did not make a move and disappeared from the spot.

Only after the other person disappeared did the masked man chuckle, "These Children of the Mist are all quite rebellious..."

……

On his way home, Lin Jue received a call from Chen Fu. Chen Fu's voice sounded exhausted. The series of bizarre events that had occurred in the past two days had left this fourth-level expert feeling utterly drained: "You took action at the fire scene today?"

"Yeah, I killed a core member of the new world," Lin Jue replied calmly.

"Sigh," Chen Fu sighed. Lin Jue knew what the other party meant by sighing. He was simply saying that he had been too reckless. The sudden appearance of an unknown strongman would definitely alert the new world, and the other party might increase its manpower.

But Chen Fu ultimately didn't say it. Putting himself in the other person's shoes, if he had been there, he would have also been unable to resist taking action. Just watching that video made him furious, let alone Lin Jue who was there. Dozens of lives were lost in the fire in an instant.

"Although there was a risk of alerting the enemy, it wasn't a complete waste of time. I learned a lot of information from that guy, including the participants in this operation."

Lin Jue first explained the organizational structure of the new world, and then recounted the information he had extracted from Hei Zu San.

"For this operation, the New World Black Chess team deployed a total of five core members: the fourth-level Black Elephant II, Horse I, and Cannon I; the third-level Pawn III; and the Black General who commands the Black pieces."

“I have already killed the third soldier. Now we need to face four, no, not just four. Each of them wields a fierce and treacherous weapon of equal strength to themselves, and their numbers will double.”

"Moreover, there is a very important piece of information. At that time, the soldier told me about the strangeness of the other three generals, but he didn't say what kind of strangeness the black general was controlling. I suspect that there must be something big about that strangeness, which may be a trump card."

Lin Jue spoke at length, and Chen Fu, sitting opposite him, remained silent for a moment, presumably taking notes: "How long are they planning to take this action?"

Lin Jue replied, "Tomorrow morning at ten o'clock."

"Alright, tomorrow Minister Bai and I will no longer handle any strange incidents. You need to be careful too; the information that guy gave us might not be true." (End of Chapter)