Forge a path to success

"Infiltrating the Great Archives is a completely reckless move. You can't imagine how heavily guarded the First Team is here. The sloth and the snail are there to fool people; if you dare to break the rules and step inside..."

"Is the First Captain about to descend from the heavens?" Ji Huaisu asked.

“The wrath of the Thorn Robe is about to fall from the sky,” Li Ke pointed out. “I think none of us want to try to fight the Divine Tree, right? So we have to take a shortcut and try this.”

She handed Ji Huaisu a black high-collar trench coat. Wearing it, the blonde girl looked like a professional female assassin, her sharp eyebrows and piercing eyes exuding a menacing aura. Li Ke then brought leather gloves and knee-high boots, but she was still not entirely satisfied.

"I always feel like something's missing..."

"Make your expression even fiercer?" Van der suggested.

Ji Huaisu bared his fangs menacingly.

"No, no, no, you're practically wearing a 'Beware of vicious dogs' sign now."

"Try this, don't make any facial expressions."

Chu Heng tossed a pair of sunglasses to Ji Huaisu, who put them on and then casually put his hands behind his back.

“Very good, at least it looks good. Please maintain your aloof demeanor and don’t move, or I might burst out laughing.” Lico chuckled. “Now let’s look at our other special envoy… oh my god.”

Chu Hengkong had just fastened the last button. He had chosen a pure black stand-up collar robe with a neat vertical Chinese-style button down the center of the upper garment, and the hem flared out like a swallowtail for ease of movement. He slowly put on his sunglasses and gave Li Ke a slight nod.

“Dude, you look like you could take down an entire division by yourself.” Vande’s eyes were wide open.

"He really has a face that can kill without drawing blood; I think he's more professional than the real experts..."

“I’m a professional,” Chu Hengkong said.

"Then we're counting on you this time, professional!" Lico clapped her hands. "Please settle the bill for us!"

The prepared waiter took the clothes, packed them into boxes, and didn't forget to flatter the distinguished guest's taste. It's hard to find such an efficient service industry anywhere else, except perhaps in the luxury shops of Mansa Starburg.

The First Lineage, Starcastle, is the oldest branch of the Thorns and the undisputed center of power. Powerful figures gather in the Upper House at the heart of Starcastle, where prosecutors and lawyers engage in heated debates amidst the gavel of the Supreme Court. Witnesses, after leaving court, return to their luxurious mansions to host banquets, leading a dance on the ballroom before retreating into the shadows to conspire with their confidants.

Power, scattered among various factions, is concentrated in this megacity. There are far too many powerful figures who are not to be trifled with. You can never guess which high-ranking official you will brush past, so you can only be diligent in everything you do and be kind to everyone.

Ji Huaisu muttered, "I feel closer to the third lineage, but what about Mansa Star Castle..."

"It feels too much like a big city, just like my hometown," Chu Hengkong commented.

"Does it make you feel very comfortable?"

"No, it's boring."

“So I never come to Mansa Starburg if I don’t have a job,” Lico said.

She led the group across the avenue in front of the municipal square. The ginkgo trees lining the road were meticulously maintained by the municipal gardeners, so that not a speck of dust clung to their leaves. Chu Hengkong noticed that there were relatively few animals and aliens among the local citizens; most were well-dressed humanoid beings, which seemed to be a certain aesthetic preference of the upper class in Jingsha.

“Mansa Star Fortress has a lot of tree people.” Lico noticed his gaze. “The Poetic Umbrella has a balanced distribution of various races. The amusement park has a large number of small animals, the barracks have more insects and demi-humans, and the farm is a paradise for winged races and agricultural races.”

"Is Tree Man someone like you and Mr. Trek?"

“Yes, we have the blood of the Divine Tree flowing through our veins—don’t ask me how our ancestors did it, I really don’t want to know.” Lico sat down at the outdoor café by the street. “Bring me the clothes, I’ll make some markings.”

Green shoots sprouted from her fingertips, and she drew five-pointed stars on the collars of both of their trench coats. The shoots then grew into miniature trumpet flowers, spraying each of them with their own spray.

"Identification complete, odor recognition complete, odor control under normal particle level 3... I almost forgot about you."

She conjured another small purple flower and sprayed it at Van Der, who felt extremely uncomfortable: "What the hell is this smell?"

“You’ll find out soon enough,” Lico chuckled. “Now, let’s talk about the plan. The Grand Archives is heavily guarded, and the Dust Zone is absolutely inaccessible. But the Divine Guards have another way. The prosecutors from the Mansa Starburg High Prosecutor’s Office need to access the Grand Archives to retrieve files at any time, so there’s a special internal passage on the 6th floor of the Prosecutor’s Office. We’ll use that passage to get into the Archives.”

“Your plan sounds like ‘robbing a convenience store is too risky, so we’ll rob a bank instead,’” Van Der said. “I’m not saying it’s just checking a book, is it really that big of a deal? I don’t care if I wait seven days to read my lousy thesis, I don’t want to be in jail in Mansa Starburg!”

“Okay, I admit I have ulterior motives… First, I’m tracking down a shipment, and I’ve just stumbled upon the prosecutor’s office. I need to infiltrate and see what’s going on.” Li Ke chuckled. “Second, I also want to check some information in the Grand Archives. Your documents are all buried in the dustbin of history, so they probably aren’t anything good, right? We’re in the same boat, aren’t we?”

Ji Huaisu and Fan De both looked at Chu Hengkong, for he was the one who would make the decision. Chu Hengkong was mentally assessing the risks. Olek's reminder had only arrived that morning, and he didn't think that misfortune would bother with something so trivial. The information must be of some significance to Fan De.

More importantly, the old octopus was intercepted and killed by demons on the very day he handed over the key. Clearly, some demons held opposing views to Olek and didn't want Vandal to obtain the library's information. These demons are likely connected to the mastermind behind Entertainment, and if they had reached the Grand Archives first, things could have been very different…

"Don't take risks unless absolutely necessary. Do you think your father's connections are any good in the prosecutor's office?"

“If the prosecutors were trustworthy, I wouldn’t need to investigate this,” Lico said. “But I think if we get caught, Dad might be willing to swallow his pride and help us out…maybe.”

How do we solve the disguise issue?

Lico rolled up her sleeves and "pulled" a very thin layer of bark from her arm. She covered her face with the bark, and her appearance instantly transformed into that of a stern-looking middle-aged woman.

She took off her beret, changed her hair color and stood it up, and put on a black dress that was a staple of old-fashioned aristocrats. In the blink of an eye, she became a female prosecutor in her early forties.

"The Sky-Bearing Wing is so convenient!" Ji Huaisu exclaimed.

“I’ve practiced this skill a lot,” Lico said proudly. “Let’s get dressed and go.”

·

"Please show your ID, thank you~" Little Flower said in a singing voice, "Have a nice day~"

The backstage security scanner beeped twice, indicating the backpack was harmless. The prosecutor packed his luggage and entered, while a little flower with cartoonish features hummed along to the lobby music.

These flowers grow widely throughout the Bramble Valley; you can often spot them anywhere with a focused gaze. Many people can't tell whether they're considered citizens or plants (they probably don't know either). In any case, this flower is probably a citizen, since it's even managed to become a security guard at the prosecutor's office.

"Next one, please... Oh! Prosecutor Freya, thank you for your hard work."

Xiao Hua was slightly startled. The three people walking towards her were clearly returning from a field mission. A senior prosecutor and two special agents were the standard configuration for a field mission team. The male agent in the back had a particularly menacing aura and looked rather intimidating.

Prosecutor Freya showed her badge. Database verification passed, identity verification passed, scent verification passed. Xiaohua's gaze swept across the projection screen. "Please wait a moment, who is the next person...?"

The life detector showed another presence. The male agent wearing sunglasses reached into his pocket and pulled out a thing that was being violently struggled with and tied up in a cloth bag.

“Witnesses.” He said succinctly, “There is complex external contamination. Please be aware.”

Xiaohua said nervously, "Um... according to the procedure, tainted witnesses need to be lined up in a queue..."

"One for me is enough."

"Okay, please go ahead!"

There are plenty of maverick Ascendants out there; who wants to get caught up in this? The man in sunglasses first tossed the pitiful, tainted witness through security, a warning beeping off—a faint sign of demonic contamination. He then stepped into the inspection equipment.

"Wait a moment," the female agent suddenly said.

The male agent turned around silently. Xiaohua swayed left and right, following their gazes.

"You've been with demons for too long, won't you be tainted by their aura?"

“Impossible,” the male agent asserted.

"The equipment is still good, it can do precise recognition!" Xiaohua said hurriedly, "There shouldn't be any problems, it should..."

It watched intently as the male agent walked through security, but no alarm sounded. Little Flower breathed a sigh of relief: "I knew it!"

The "Prosecutor Freya" behind them quietly withdrew her finger, pulling back a flower vine connected to the security scanner. After she and the female agent passed by, the little flower drooped listlessly onto the table.

"How terrifying!" it muttered to itself. "Why are all the prosecutors so militant..."

Prosecutor Freya and two agents hurried along, occasionally nodding to acquaintances. The "tainted witness" in the bag whispered when no one was looking, "You bunch of bastards."

"I'm sorry, but I really can't think of a way to make you look like a proper person. You're just too unique."

"How did you manage to get past security?" Ji Huaisu asked in a low voice.

“All the mechanisms of the Thorn Shade have one thing in common: they are extremely dependent on local technology. Unfortunately, the city-state’s local technology is almost entirely made of wood. If you are good at grafting plants and have the ability to absorb divine power, you can easily fool them,” Lico said. “We tree people are quite talented in this regard… Go up to the 5th floor.”

Lico led them to the evidence room with the ease of someone who had been there countless times before. She gestured for the two to stand guard outside the door, then went inside, rummaged around for a while, and let out a curse.

"damn it."

Chu Hengkong turned his head and found that Li Ke was glaring angrily at an empty box.

"Gone?"

Lico's face darkened: "The Inspiration Mushroom has been taken."

Chapter 323 Hiding in Seclusion (5)

"You're here to find Inspiration Mushrooms?" Ji Huaisu asked in surprise. "Old Octopus has tons of them wholesale!"

“After the Inspiration Mushroom incident, Dad personally led the team to handle it. Now, the mushrooms circulating in the market all have filters installed. They are expensive and safe. We use this method to control mushrooms.” Lico bit her nails. “But this batch is different… This is the first batch of mushrooms without filters. It is naturally risky.”

Chu Hengkong frowned: "Trek's measures were timely; he had already begun his investigation before we intervened."

“But even so, there was a batch of mushrooms that he couldn’t find. The buyer of these mushrooms acted too quickly, even before Dad noticed,” Ricky said. “Dad was afraid of alerting them, so he sent me to investigate. The merchant who bought the mushrooms was later prosecuted for illegally selling sugar. In theory, all his goods should have been held by the prosecutor’s office, but…”

She muttered to herself, "Was there something wrong with my intelligence?"

"Why not think more about the details instead of resorting to conspiracy theories?" Van der squinted. "Why would such a cautious businessman be arrested by the prosecutor's office? Isn't it because his goods could be transferred without leaving a trace? Once goods become evidence, there are no transaction records. And if the case is of a lower level, the evidence can be disposed of however one wants after the verdict..."

“But the process from filing a lawsuit to going to trial is very long, and there isn’t enough time,” Li Ke retorted.

"Why not think about it the other way around?" Van der said. "If there's no time, turn it into a case with unclear evidence that can't be prosecuted directly, and then raise the security level by relying on the scale of the transaction. According to the rules, the evidence in major and above-level cases should be kept in a special institution... But in a vast and boundless library, who could possibly discover that a few mushrooms have disappeared from an ordinary room that isn't sealed in dust?"

"Hiss..." Lico gasped. "What you said...makes some sense..."

"This approach is too costly. If you really want the mushrooms to disappear, you might as well arrange for them to be 'stolen' midway through," Chu Hengkong said.

"Have you forgotten about the Divine Guardian Tower? All criminal records within the city-state are detected, and such underhanded tactics would be discovered on the spot by the Divine Tree," Vande pointed out. "It's not easy to pull off something under the watchful eye of the gods."

Ji Huaisu clapped his hands: "This matter needs to be investigated. In my experience, the more trouble it takes, the bigger the other party's scheme is."

Captain Ji's insightful observation was unanimously agreed upon: whatever the person buying the mushrooms was up to, once it reached the Supreme People's Procuratorate, it would be no small matter. Li Ke hacked into "her own" office, using the divine terminal to access records; a green stream of information flowed before everyone's eyes.

"They really were moved to the main archives... Three boxes of suspicious evidence, dated three days ago..." Lico muttered to herself, "Room 987 on the 78th floor, low-security. If we manage to sneak in, we can apply to have it checked. Hopefully, it's not too late. Let's go to the teleportation array on the 6th floor!"

They pushed open the door and stepped out. Chu Hengkong didn't forget to lock the door behind him, and nodded to the "colleagues" who brushed past him in the corridor. Only after they disappeared into the stairwell did two passing prosecutors whisper among themselves.

"That agent is so handsome... Is he a newly promoted, pragmatic guy?"

"Let's ask him for his number later. He seems quite capable. We can try asking him for help next time we go out on a field mission."

Everything went smoothly until they entered the teleportation array. The divine power teleportation array looked like a semi-cylindrical elevator. After entering, the wooden pillars slowly closed, and luminous green lights lit up in the dark space.

After closing the door, Li Ke quickly ripped off her mask and fanned herself with her small hand: "You're lucky. They were probably intimidated by your presence and didn't dare to ask any more questions."

"This went a little too smoothly," Ji Huaisu muttered. "While I'm confident in A Kong's ability to conceal his presence, is the Supreme Prosecutor's Office really... that weak?"

The two knew perfectly well that their ability to hide until now was inseparable from Lico's incredible plant hacking skills. But a place like the Supreme Prosecutor's Office should have some powerful people around, and even though their equipment had been fooled, they were mentally prepared to be discovered by passing prosecutors. However, they did not expect that they would not be discovered by anyone along the way.

"Is this really a joke? We've encountered over 20 elite level 4 elites along the way, and even the security guards downstairs are level 3. How long will it take you, Chu Hengkong, to take them all down?"

“Holding back will take some effort,” Chu Hengkong said. “A life-or-death battle is another matter.”

“See? I’d appreciate it if you two had a clear understanding of your own strength. Even in Mansa Star Fortress, you two are considered big shots.” Lico sighed. “Besides the Divine Tree itself, who is at level 7, Jing Sha only has one proper level 6. Under normal circumstances, the highest combat force we can deploy is a level 5 captain like Dad, and there aren’t many of them… You can at least exchange a few blows with Dad, so fooling these guys in the Prosecutor’s Office is a piece of cake.”

"Jing Sha only has one point 6 that can be hit?" Chu Hengkong was taken aback.

“What do you mean only one?!” Li Ke glared. “Don’t make it sound like a cabbage, okay? That’s a 6-point mass! Someone like your Lord of Huilong City is, to put it simply, a 'demigod'! We’re already amazing to have one. How many demigods do you think an average power can have?”

"At least three," Ji Huaisu pondered. "The point-7 forces we've encountered before all had three point-6s..."

Lico looked at them as if they were prehistoric mammoths.

"May I ask you two what kind of scary things you mean by 'normal'? The legendary evil god? Please don't scare me, I'm scared."

Chu Hengkong rubbed his forehead, only then realizing that his values ​​had once again been corrupted by the wilderness.

The Demon King's army in Vansalal included three Elemental 6 lieutenants: Vaklo, Limb Spider, and Nightwalker. Other officers, such as Cursed Lightning and Burning Ash, were also extremely powerful Elemental 5s in their lifetimes. They had always assumed this lineup was standard for a deity's faction; now it seemed this was simply the Demon King's army at its peak, far too powerful…

It makes sense. The Limb Spider was easily defeated and surrendered, while Nightwalker was forcibly transformed. If it weren't for Vansalal's exceptional fighting prowess, the Demon King's army would only have had one Elemental 6 member, Vaklo. Under normal circumstances, the Thorn Sandal would be the standard Elemental 7 faction… considering the hidden talents within Thorn Sandal, it's likely the one with the strongest resources…

“They’ve been dealing with heretics too much and lack common sense,” Vande said listlessly. “But to be honest, I’m a little worried too. Even if the regular elites can fool us, wouldn’t it be like we’re slapping the Divine Tree in the face with a divine teleportation array?”

“The Divine Tree is good at turning a blind eye and won’t care about us.” Lico fixed her hair. “Alright, before we go out, take off all the disguises and stuff them into the storage relics. From now on, we are Citizen No. 1234, who are here to investigate old cases.”

"It's more convenient to use the guise of a prosecutor."

"There are too many important people in the Great Archives; I don't want to run into one of them!"

They quickly removed their disguises, reverting to their everyday clothes, and didn't forget to spray on the simplest perfume to signify, "I am a commoner." The green light in the small room flickered on and off, then the wooden door opened, and they stepped into a pure white corridor.

"You should have permission to enter the sealed layer, right?" Lico asked in a very low voice.

"In fact, we only brought the door key with us."

"I'm really impressed... Remember to treat me to a meal when you get back."

Lico walked briskly out of the corridor and into the circular hall, her two white braids swaying behind her. The security guard at the front desk (a lemur dressed as a middle-aged woman) seemed to recognize her and smiled, "Miss Lico, it's nice to see you again."

“I’m not the type to give up easily.” Lico sneered, pushing out a wooden card and another key. “G-2980, 4 people.”

"Of course, 2980. And who are these people?"

“I hired a top detective from Huilong City,” Lico said fiercely. “I’m waiting for them to help me uncover the truth.”

The lemur lady looked at her for a while, then sighed, "I understand, Miss Lico. But... it's been too long. I was a student back then, and now I'm a housewife. Many things can't be changed."