Chapter 413 - 376: Each Goes Their Own Way

Chapter 413: Chapter 376: Each Goes Their Own Way

Just as Guan Tong began copying the data, the screen suddenly went pitch black. A large, red exclamation point appeared in the center, pulsing nonstop.

"BEEP BEEP! WARNING! UNAUTHORIZED ACCESS DETECTED!"

"BEEP BEEP! WARNING! UNAUTHORIZED ACCESS DETECTED!"

The alarm blared, its ear-piercing sound echoing throughout the entire surveillance room.

At the same time, a loud CLANK came from the door lock. Built-in steel bolts shot out from the mechanism, sealing the door tight.

Meanwhile, Valery, who was drinking and carousing with company in a private room on the second floor, felt his phone vibrate violently in his pocket.

He pulled it out and looked, and his expression changed instantly.

"The surveillance room!"

’Looks like these devices are rigged to lock down the instant someone tries to transfer any electronic data from them...’

Guan Tong wasn’t a tech-savvy hacker, so it was no surprise he hadn’t noticed the trap.

Listening to the blaring alarm, he didn’t panic.

’If I can’t take the data, I’ll just take the equipment.’

Besides, Valery and his men would find out about the intrusion as soon as they discovered the surveillance operators he’d knocked unconscious with his Shadow Lines. There was no need to be discreet anymore.

Without a second thought, Guan Tong swept all the equipment in the surveillance room into his Storage Ring.

Just then, the Shadows he had deployed outside detected the sound of heavy footsteps on the stairs. The club’s security guards were on their way down.

Guan Tong had no intention of dealing with them now. He would leave them for Yelena to handle personally. Before the guards could burst in, he used Body Shifting again and vanished without a trace.

Seven or eight seconds later, with a THUD, the internally locked door was opened from the outside with a sensor.

A large group of guards poured into the surveillance room, scanning frantically for the enemy. All they found were several unconscious operators and rows of empty workstations.

"Get out of the way!"

Valery’s gruff voice boomed from behind, and the guards immediately parted to form a path.

He walked up to a desk, staring at the empty space. His face was livid. "Someone broke in here and stole all the equipment containing the surveillance data!"

"How is that possible?" one of his companions exclaimed. "The alarm just went off, and the exits are all guarded. How did they do it?"

Valery’s brow furrowed. The name ’Shadow’ flashed through his mind.

’Could it be him?’

’But how did he know the surveillance room was in the second basement? And how did he take all the data equipment so fast?’

’If it wasn’t him...’

Valery couldn’t think of anyone else in Sisiya who would do this. Perhaps Yelena was behind it, but where would she find the manpower? Her most capable subordinate, Sikokun, had been at the competition venue for the past few days, and he’d had men keeping an eye on her the whole time.

"Valery, what do we do now?" one of the men who had been drinking champagne with him earlier asked, his voice laced with panic. "All those recordings are on those machines. This is no joke! What if..."

"What’s there to panic about!" Valery snapped. "The data storage devices have multiple layers of encryption. Even if they were stolen, they won’t be easy to crack. All of you, head back for now. I’ll get people from the security bureau to handle this!"

Everyone at Night Health quickly departed. Valery went straight to the security bureau. Disregarding the late hour, he called in all his subordinates.

He instructed the agents who had replaced the administration building’s guards a few days prior, "Tomorrow, I want you all to watch closely. If anyone in the building makes any unusual moves or issues any special executive orders, notify me immediately!"

"Yes!"

Valery then singled out a hundred of his elite agents and told them, "Prepare your gear tonight. Tomorrow, you’re coming with me to Konia Manor!"

Konia Manor?!

The agents were all shocked. That was the Governor’s residence. To go there tomorrow, armed and equipped...

Even though the agents were loyal to their director, Valery, and followed his orders without question, they couldn’t help but feel a flicker of doubt.

Valery said coldly, "What, are you scared to go? What’s there to be afraid of? Most of her personal guard were killed or wounded at the alien mud’s Landing Site during the last trial! Anyone who disobeys my orders..."

Cowed by their director’s authority, the agents immediately shouted in unison, "We will obey the director’s orders!"

"Hmph. Go and get ready."

Naturally, the security bureau’s movements did not escape the eyes of the Shadows.

Inside Konia Manor, Yelena, Guan Tong, and Shangyuan Zi were gathered in a brightly lit study, discussing their strategy.

"It looks like Valery is going all in, throwing caution to the wind," Guan Tong said. "This proves the data on that equipment must be extremely important. He can’t accept the possibility of us getting our hands on it."

Yelena’s expression was glacial, her eyes filled with murderous intent.

To her, Valery’s actions were nothing short of treason and insurrection.

"I’ll notify Sikokun at once," Yelena said. "Tell her to get ready. The moment Valery and his men leave tomorrow, she is to lead her elite troops to attack the security bureau. We’ll take out that bastard’s nest first!"

"Aren’t you going to have her come to the manor to protect you?" Shangyuan Zi asked.

"Having you here is enough. And of course, there’s me... Many people seem to have forgotten that I can fight, too!"

"Right. The three of us should be enough," Guan Tong agreed, though something puzzled him.

"What I’m curious about, though, is why Valery isn’t making his move tonight. Why wait until tomorrow? He was able to gather all those agents in the middle of the night, so why delay? Delays can bring unexpected changes. Isn’t he afraid we’ll get the video tonight and make it public?"

"They aren’t confident enough," Shangyuan Zi said. "Since they know you’re here, Team Leader, they wouldn’t dare to launch a rash attack."

"She’s right," Yelena nodded. "Valery is an extremely cunning man; he won’t take risks lightly. If he’s choosing to wait until tomorrow, he must have some kind of plot to deal with you, Teacher."

"Hmm..."

Guan Tong closed his eyes. He had a Shadow monitoring Valery at all times. Through their shared vision, he could see Valery sitting in his office, staring into the empty space before him, his lips slowly opening and closing from time to time.

’It’s as if...’

"Teacher?"

Guan Tong opened his eyes. "Valery might be calling for reinforcements."

"Calling for reinforcements?"

"Yes. Me taking the recording equipment made him suspicious. I suspect he’s using a Communication Secret Scroll or a similar item to communicate with someone. That would allow him to avoid any outside surveillance."

Yelena said, "We should strike first, then. We can capture him before he has a chance to call for reinforcements and minimize the risk."

Guan Tong nodded. "That’s... huh?"

He raised an eyebrow, as if something unexpected had just happened.

"What is it?"

"...The bastard used one of the Teleportation Items. He’s vanished."

!!

Yelena asked in surprise, "Could he have known we were planning to make the first move?"

"It could be an instinct for danger. As the director of the security bureau, he’s bound to have a heightened sense of self-preservation," Guan Tong said, then shook his head. "And now, I can’t find him either."

Although a Shadow can follow and monitor a target, it can’t continue tracking if the target uses a teleportation-type item to leave.

A Shadow can’t exist independently. Every Shadow Line, whether it branches off from another Shadow Line or extends directly from his own shadow, must remain connected to his body.

Because of this, even if part of a Shadow is hidden on a target, it can’t be teleported along with them.

"A pity..."

Yelena then analyzed the situation. "If he knows his enemy is you, Teacher, then the reinforcements he’s calling must be someone he believes can defeat you, or at least match you in strength."

Guan Tong nodded.

Shangyuan Zi asked curiously, "Who could possibly be confident they could defeat you, Team Leader?"

Yelena shook her head slightly. Shangyuan Zi couldn’t think of anyone, and neither could she.

The two women looked at Guan Tong, but he didn’t have any ideas either. "I don’t know who he plans on bringing to face me. But even if they’re powerful, we still have Shangyuan Zi on our side. Her strength is not to be underestimated."

Just because Shangyuan Zi was unassuming didn’t mean she was weak.

As the former leader of Sakura’s Chosen Team, her strength was already considerable. After Mizusawa Chun’s death, she seemed to have inherited a portion of their power, and after continuously internalizing it, she had grown much stronger.

Guan Tong paused for a moment after speaking. "However, the stakes are high. Yelena, your safety is paramount; the future of Sisiya depends on it. So, to be safe, if he can call for reinforcements, then I’ll call for a helper of my own."

"Teacher... do you have helpers in Sisiya?"

"Not in Sisiya. But I do on North Star."

"North Star? But that’s so far away... How...?"

"If Valery can use Teleportation Items, why can’t we?"

Yelena looked slightly chagrined. The weight of the situation was clearly making her thinking a little sluggish.

Guan Tong smiled and said, "But her identity is rather special and can’t be easily revealed. When the time comes, I’ll need to borrow your Bystander Transformation Device to provide a disguise."