Asura in Arknights

After rummaging through her pockets, Li Ang found a cube about the size of two fingers. This was the thing that was constantly sending out a weak signal.

The signal shielding layer here has developed a hole, and if it's close enough to the exit, there's still a chance it could send a signal out.

So Li Ang simply created an interference zone manually, completely enveloping the cube.

This thing will be useful later. After eliminating other interference, Li Ang can follow this signal to see where it was sent. The Radom Association is probably hiding there.

As for what to do, it depends on the situation. If there is enough time, he may intervene. If there is no time, it will be left to the Grand Knight Commander. This kind of work of investigating spies from other countries should be left to them. This is not something a decent businessman should do.

Apart from the cube, Sona had nothing else on her. Looking at the unconscious Zalak girl, Leon was in a dilemma. He couldn't just leave her here, could he?

After thinking it over, Li Ang still felt that before all the commotion subsided, he should send her to Shining for safekeeping.

Regarding the potential problems at Plot Zero, Li Ang and the Grand Knight had an in-depth discussion. They both agreed that, given the current sensitive time, it was best not to publicly report any criminal cases related to infected individuals, and to suppress them as much as possible.

It has to be said that the Radom Hometown Association really knows how to pick people. Sona is already considered to be among the top infected in Tier Zero. She has strength, fame, and a very reliable personality. Apart from being a little young, she has almost no flaws.

If she continues to participate in the Knights Tournament, she may even become the third infected knight to be awarded a title, following the Radiant Knight and the Blood Knight.

If something happens to Sona, the impact on the entire Plot Zero will be difficult to quantify, and based on that alone, she will not be easily abandoned.

Considering Sona's strong resistance and wariness towards him, Leon decided to simply hand her over to the Grand Knights and let them handle Sona's problem.

Thinking this, he stretched out his arm and grabbed Sona by the collar, as if he were carrying several pounds of feathered beast meat, and jumped up by stepping on several depressions in the elevator shaft.

-------------------------------------

Outside the dean's office, a middle-aged man with a bruised and swollen face was leaning against the wall, looking dejected. He was holding a stack of tattered notebooks and writing something furiously.

Upon seeing Li Ang emerge from inside, the man merely glanced at him before lowering his head to continue writing, making no other unnecessary movements.

“Very good, it seems you haven’t chosen to run away, Mr. Clooney.”

When Li Ang said this, there was a hint of regret in his tone.

If Ferdinand hadn't heeded Leon's warning, he would have been in trouble, since vandalism and fleeing from justice are two completely different offenses.

Unfortunately, when dealing with these Colombians, Li Ang had to at least abide by the rules on the surface.

If Ferdinand stays in the hotel and doesn't do anything, there's not much Leon can do about it. He's protected by the laws of the entire Kazimierz region, and Leon can't just rush in and arrest him.

However, Ferdinand has now made a mistake that is neither too big nor too small – during his conflict with another Rhine Life employee, he accidentally damaged some surrounding buildings, which gave Leon a reason to take action.

Upon hearing Li Ang's words, Ferdinand put the pen and paper back into his pocket and said calmly, "First of all, I need to make it clear that this is an internal dispute within Rhine Life, and I hope that your Pol Pharmaceuticals will not interfere."

"As for compensation for the damage we just caused... I think we can talk about it."

Ferdinand was confident that as long as there was a discussion, no problem was insurmountable.

Moreover, he didn't actually cause much damage before being subdued by this seemingly ordinary guy. Even the R1 power armor that he had brought from Rhine Labs as his trump card was torn to pieces in just a few seconds.

The only saving grace was that the neurotransmitter-driven engine was mostly intact, containing a wealth of invaluable first-hand experimental data. Ferdinand's only thought now was to get his hands on it as soon as possible, lest things get complicated.

Such a loss did not cause Ferdinand the slightest pain.

Previously, Ferdinand's biggest worry was that the experimental approach would go wrong, which would render the efforts of the energy department and engineering vehicle team over the past few years futile. Although she was badly beaten on her first attempt, it at least proved that her experimental approach was correct.

As long as one can equip power armor, even an ordinary person can gain the strength to contend with a powerful sorcerer.

Although the R1 prototype was excessively expensive, production costs would eventually decrease, and subsequent models they developed did not need to be as advanced as the R1. It was enough to ensure that they were stronger than well-trained soldiers and that Colombia could gain an advantage on the front lines.

At this moment, Li Ang also found some ropes to tie Sona up and taped her mouth shut to prevent her from continuing to go crazy after she woke up.

As he placed Sona in a corner of the dean's office, Li Ang replied absentmindedly, "Don't worry, I have no interest in getting involved in your Rhine Lab's internal struggles. As for the compensation issue you mentioned... let's talk about it when everyone is here."

Is everyone here? Is anyone else coming?

Ferdinand was momentarily puzzled, but his attention was not on that; he was more concerned with the words the young man had said earlier.

I have a feeling... there's something strange about the knight's tone. He clearly meant to talk to the higher-ups at Pol Pharmaceuticals, such as Miss Hinterlea, whom I've met twice before, or the mysterious chairman who made his first official appearance today.

Why did those few words just now sound like... this knight was representing Pol Pharmaceuticals and negotiating with him? For a moment, Ferdinand was unsure of Li Ang's identity.

Just as Ferdinand was having a brainstorming session, Leon finally witnessed the return of The Shining.

Shining maintained his usual expressionless demeanor as he tossed a battered, blue-haired woman named Felin over.

The wound hit the ground, leaving a long trail of blood. The woman actually endured the pain without uttering a single groan.

“There was only her,” Shining said. “She resisted quite fiercely, so I hit her a little too hard.”

After scanning the woman with his senses and confirming that her vital signs were still stable, Li Ang said nonchalantly, "It's okay, as long as she's not dead."

At this point, all those who had taken the bait in Li Ang's plan and were still alive were gathered in this small dean's office.

Li Ang closed the door to the dean's office, his gaze sweeping over the group of people beneath his helmet, and said,

"Now, let's have a proper talk."

Kneeling to ask for leave

First, I'll kowtow to everyone.

I've been having writer's block these past two days, and Lone Star's betrayal has left me completely at a loss for what to write. To make matters worse... my mom is coming over for the Dragon Boat Festival.

My mom is a teacher, and she's been a homeroom teacher for most of her life. Those who know, know.

She caused chaos as soon as she arrived, forbidding me from turning on the air conditioner, doing this, or doing that. She would come over every few minutes to pick a fight, and I really couldn't take it anymore.

And since the school is on summer vacation and I'll be staying here for over a month, I'm getting a bit numb. I need to figure out how to send this big shot back these next few days, otherwise I'm definitely going to send it (damn it, they won't let us turn on the air conditioning in the middle of summer, and the computer next to me is a huge oven, it's so hot it's giving me a headache, how am I supposed to write anything!).

I'll add a few more chapters at the end of the month to pay off my debts.

Chapter 89

Actually, Viviana also took the bait this time, but her situation was a little special, so Li Ang didn't include her in his calculations. Instead, he gave her a chance to talk to Adele alone.

Their conversation had only just begun when the other people with ulterior motives were all apprehended.

The commotion caused by the previous conflict between Ferdinand and Trevor has subsided. Even if there are other people with similar ideas who haven't been caught, they won't make a move at this time. Leon's plan can basically be declared over.

Li Ang glanced at the people who had been restrained and silently analyzed their motives and purposes.

First, there's Ferdinand and Trevor, who has already been dismantled by Leon. Although these two guys both come from Rhine Lab, their goals are completely different.

Ferdinand's initial goal was very simple: he just came here to retrieve data related to the "Dream Project." However, he later encountered Trevor, an employee of the General Components Department. Trevor's arrogant attitude angered Ferdinand and strengthened his resolve to overthrow the General.

As for Trevor... this person is elusive, and Li Ang only had a brief contact with him for a dozen seconds, so he didn't know much about him.

But one thing is certain: he was definitely not just some simple employee of Rhine Life.

He had three objectives: first, to fulfill the mission of Rhine Labs to retrieve the remains of the Pathfinder that had fallen into the Great Knight Territory; and second, to obtain the Star Pod fragments from Leon.

He didn't explicitly state his third purpose; it was Li Ang who deduced it based on subsequent developments and some vague clues.

Trevor was also tasked with trading with a company in the Great Knights, but the goods he was supposed to deliver were stolen en route, which led to the series of events that followed.

The goods were preliminary research results from the Loken Water Tank Experiment, the kind specifically for export. The Radom Hometown Association somehow learned of this and switched the goods before the handover, which caused the riot on Plot Zero a few days ago.

Destreet's investigation has already gone very deep into the core issues. If she investigates the list of goods transported at the port during that period a little more, she will be able to discover the role played by the Radom Association.

Those people were actually foreign spies, not some rural survivors of a natural disaster. How could Destle's little tricks possibly fool the eyes of this group of professional spies? By the time she began her investigation, she had already come under the watchful eye of the hometown association.

The hometown association's approach was simple: instead of risking getting rid of the renowned top lawyer, they simply bribed Destle's informants to provide her with incorrect information.

At the time, Trevor was investigating the missing shipment of his valuable goods, and as he continued his investigation, he ended up tracing back to Destreet.

Trevor... Li Ang didn't know how to describe him. His thought process seemed to be different from that of normal people. After finding out about Destreet, the first thing he thought of was to kill Destreet.

The Meshko Group, which rushed to prove Destreet's death after the attack and cleaned up Trevor's mess, is naturally the company that did the deal with Rhine Lab, or rather, a step in that interest group.

Later, Trevor realized he had been tricked and, under physical intimidation, gave up on killing Destle.

Not long ago, Trevor, who had taken the bait, encountered Ferdinand, who was fully armed. After a disagreement, the two started fighting. In order to stop the two from destroying Plot Zero, Li Ang directly removed Ferdinand's power armor. Trevor, who was not quite right in the head, was also beaten into two pieces by Li Ang. Anyway, he was just a puppet that was remotely controlled. No matter how many pieces he was broken into, it would not affect the controller.

While the identities and backgrounds of these two Colombians were rather complex, Sona's story was quite simple.

Because of her identity and strength, she was targeted by her fellow villagers and was eventually defeated and taken prisoner. The lives of her friends were used as leverage to threaten Sona, forcing her to delve deeper into this quagmire.

These events, along with the experiences of the hometown association, can be largely attributed to the aftermath of the Loken tank experiment. However, the anomalies that Li Ang discovered in plot 21 seem to fall into a different category.

Li Ang, however, miraculously got involved in both incidents, causing the clues he had originally investigated to become mixed up and become a mess that was impossible to sort out. Only now have he made some progress.

"Then who do you say you are? And what is your purpose in coming here?"

Looking at the blue-haired woman lying on the ground without saying a word, Li Ang asked with great interest.

"..." The blue-haired woman remained silent, even shutting her mouth completely, without saying a single word.

Looking at the numerous wounds on her body, one could tell that this woman from Felin had not gained any advantage over Shining.

Shining is the strongest of the three Apostles, and there are very few people in the entire Great Knight Territory who can stand up to her. How could she be defeated by some nobody who just appeared out of nowhere?

Of course, this woman was quite strong, and Shining had to expend some effort to capture her alive.

"You're not going to tell, are you?"

After glancing at the woman and confirming that she had no intention of answering, Li Ang said indifferently, "Then forget it. Anyway, I'll hand you over to the Securities and Futures Commission later. I hope you can hold out in their hands for a while."

In any case, with conclusive evidence, a charge of illegal intrusion is almost certain.

In addition, given the current special circumstances, regardless of whether anything was obtained, this woman is facing the most severe punishment.

Having been personally reviewed by the Grand Knight Commander, there was absolutely no chance of escaping punishment. However, there was no need to explain such a trivial matter to her.

"That's quite a rare hair color," Li Ang remarked casually.

Although hair coloring is quite casual in this world, deep blue hair like this woman's is extremely rare; Li Ang had only ever seen one other person with it before.

That unfortunate Azure Gold Grandmaster, whom Li Ang completely forgot about.

Leaving his attention on the woman, Philin, who had been captured by Shining, Li Ang turned his gaze to Ferdinand, who was the real focus of the day.

“Now, we can talk about the issue of compensation, Mr. Ferdinand Clooney, Director of the Rhine Life Energy Department.”

"Wait a minute! You mean... you're the one who will negotiate with me?"

Ferdinand pointed to his face, which was somewhat distorted from the beating, and a hint of surprise could be seen on it. "It's not that I'm unwilling to pay compensation, but... can you really represent Pol Pharmaceuticals?"

“That secretary is still busy with the press conference. I think…would it be more appropriate for the director of the Central Hospital to do it?” Ferdinand questioned Li Ang’s identity rather bluntly.

In Ferdinand's view, even if Li Ang, this "henchman," was powerful enough to stop their masterpiece with the engineering department without getting hurt, it was not a reason for him to represent Pol Pharmaceuticals in negotiations.

Are you crazy? Who would entrust such an important matter to a security captain?

At this thought, Ferdinand paused, and he suddenly remembered someone.

Hmm... well, if it were that lady who is harder than a diamond, it would indeed be possible for her to do such a thing.

However, this is the Great Knight Territory, and has nothing to do with Trimont City.

After slightly calming his racing thoughts, Ferdinand looked at the director of the central hospital next to him.

Rhine Life has a different structure than most companies. Other companies wouldn't give the defense department so much power. Although Ferdinand didn't know exactly what her position was within Pol Pharmaceuticals, it was still higher than that of a security captain.

Ferdinand didn't want to spend half a day talking while still in pain, only to be told that what he said earlier didn't count and they needed to talk again.

Although Ferdinand's questioning was perfectly reasonable, it sounded somewhat ambiguous to Leon and Shining.

Shining glanced at Li Ang, seemingly asking him what to do next.

"Alright... now that all the fish have taken the bait, I guess I don't need to hide my identity anymore?"

Aside from the Radom Hometown Association, it seems that Li Ang has managed to hook everyone else he could. He has also mastered a device that can reverse the location of the hometown association. This fabricated identity seems to be swept into the dustbin of history.

Li Ang didn't expect Ferdinand to be so reckless in the end, seizing Trevor's trail and launching a full-scale attack, only to be caught red-handed by Li Ang.

With such leverage in his hands, even the arrangements he made with Elena seem less important. Li Ang could legally send Ferdinand to the Grand Knights' prison for a few years, and by then it would be too late.

This was an absolutely unacceptable outcome for Ferdinand, who had already decided to overthrow the governor.

Now that he is in the right, why does Li Ang still need to hide his identity?

With that in mind, Li Ang simply took off his helmet and said to Ferdinand, "Now you can see for yourself whether I'm qualified to represent Pol Pharmaceuticals in negotiations with you."

Upon hearing this, Ferdinand narrowed his eyes.

He felt that the face under the helmet looked increasingly familiar, as if he had seen it somewhere not long ago... Then, out of the corner of his eye, Ferdinand caught sight of the television set in the corner of the room.

Although the television was not turned on, Ferdinand was still struck dumb upon receiving the notification.

Isn't that the face that was reading from the prepared statement at the press conference? No wonder it looked so familiar.

"You are... Hurricane Knight? Wait, if you're here, then who was at the press conference?" Ferdinand was dumbfounded.

"Of course it's a stand-in, what else could it be?" Li Ang looked at him strangely, wondering how he couldn't even figure out this question?

"So... you just showed up here wearing the same gear you used in competitions before, and no one has been able to figure out who you are?"