Chapter 200: The Theft

Chapter 200: The Theft

Lu Heng, Su Muyu, and Jian Qing entered the crime scene and found Zhuo Hongjun and Chen Zihang already present. Additionally, Li Zhaofeng, a senior inspector from the Capital Ironclad Investigation Bureau, was also there.

After introductions, Lu Heng and Li Zhaofeng shook hands, acknowledging each other.

A guard was narrating the events that had transpired.

On their way there, Lu Heng had heard bits and pieces of the case. Now, with the full explanation, he finally pieced together the entire incident.

Alex Austin had indeed appeared, but the situation was not as they had initially assumed.

Among the guards on duty that night, Zhuo Hongjun was the shift lieutenant responsible for vigilance, holding the rank of captain, the highest rank among the guards on duty.

In other words, before the incident escalated and a commanding officer was dispatched to lead the operation, Zhuo Hongjun was the highest-ranking officer present and in command of the scene.

Although the guard did not explicitly mention Zhuo Hongjun's name, by connecting the dots in his narrative, one could roughly deduce the sequence of events.

Before arriving, Lu Heng and Jian Qing had heard that Alex Austin attacked the Academy of Sciences, which sounded alarming and outrageous.

In the Abyss Era, anything outrageous was possible.

However, the night's incident had an underlying story.

Now, with the full account of the events, Lu Heng finally understood what had happened.

In truth, Alex Austin did not launch an actual attack, but he did appear.

He was spotted by a Seer guard near the third research institute on the Academy's side.

Upon discovering Alex Austin, the Seer guard immediately reported it, and the information naturally reached Zhuo Hongjun, as he was the highest-ranking lieutenant among the guards on duty that night.

After receiving the news, Zhuo Hongjun chose to report it.

Up to this point, there seemed to be no issues.

However, after reporting Alex Austin's whereabouts, Zhuo Hongjun immediately led a squad of guards to capture him.

A fight ensued, causing quite a commotion.

This led to a breach in the Academy's security, and subsequently, the theft of the data occurred.

Of course, there were some details in this incident that Lu Heng deduced.

During the guard's narrative, there seemed to be no issues with Zhuo Hongjun's decision-making.

Discovering a spy from an enemy nation, reporting the information, and then deploying forces to capture the spy—it all seemed reasonable.

It was only the outcome that went awry.

If held accountable, Zhuo Hongjun would surely face scrutiny, but given his background, it would likely end there, with him bearing the blame for being overly aggressive at most.

Others might not have discerned this, but after hearing the account, Lu Heng and Jian Qing exchanged a glance, both guessing the reason that others might not know.

The reason Zhuo Hongjun chose to rashly engage and capture Alex Austin was simple.

It was due to the skill, Damage Reversion.

Previously, at the training base, they had decided on a method to compete for this skill—whoever captured Alex Austin would obtain the skill.

That night, when Zhuo Hongjun spotted Alex Austin, he saw it as the perfect opportunity and immediately took action, leading his team of Ability Warriors to capture Alex Austin.

However, his decision to bring along a squad of guards resulted in a breach in the Academy's security, leading to the loss of a hard drive containing backed-up Sikes technology data.

After listening to the guard's account, Lu Heng and Jian Qing guessed what had transpired, but the top priority now was to retrieve the hard drive.

Subsequently, Lu Heng and his group, led by the guard captain, passed through three layers of security checks before entering the server room where the hard drive was stolen.

They had to go through three security checks, which, from a strict inspection perspective, were already very rigorous.

The guard captain explained, "Under normal circumstances, no spy could pass through these three security checks. But last night, it was a researcher from the Academy who entered, and they had the clearance to pass through these checks."

This was indeed a difficult situation, as the researcher was under mind control and took the hard drive out.

With the existence of such superhuman abilities, even the tightest security checks might not be enough.

Lu Heng then examined the server from which the hard drive was taken. The server had a lock, but it had been broken, and the hard drive was forcibly removed, even with a corner snapped off.

Although the hard drive had a broken corner, it did not affect the retrieval of the data inside.

Lu Heng stared at the damaged server and asked, "Was all the data lost?"

The associate dean quickly explained, "No, we used a method of separate backups. The data was divided into over a hundred portions based on different fields, and only one portion was taken, mainly containing Controlled Nuclear Fusion technology."

Upon hearing that the Controlled Nuclear Fusion data was stolen, Lu Heng couldn't help but frown.

Controlled Nuclear Fusion was a 1.0 technology and a hallmark of Planetary Civilization.

Mastering Controlled Nuclear Fusion meant that a civilization would advance from Planetary Civilization towards Stellar Civilization.

Therefore, the significance of this technology was immense.

Fortunately, only a portion of the technological data was lost, not the entire collection, which could have been a worse scenario.

Lu Heng then went to the surveillance room to review the footage of the researcher entering the machine room and taking the hard drive.

In the surveillance footage, the researcher appeared normal, but his actions were clearly not of his own volition.

After watching, Lu Heng came to the same conclusion as his previous analysis.

"This person was definitely under mind control, and the perpetrator came prepared."

Observing the researcher's state, Lu Heng speculated that there were two possibilities for this mind control-type skill.

One was the C-Rank Skill, Mind Control, and the other was the B-Rank Skill, Will Domination.

If it was the C-Rank Mind Control, the controller would be within a 200-meter radius.

If it was the B-Rank Will Domination, the distance could exceed one kilometer.

The difference between the two was significant.

If the controller was within 200 meters, it meant they were very close to the Academy of Sciences.

If it was over one kilometer, it would be more challenging to locate them.

It was impossible to determine which of the two skills was used solely from the surveillance footage.

Lu Heng turned to the captain of the guards and asked, "During the incident, did you notice any suspicious individuals around the Academy?"

"How large of an area are we talking about?" The captain of the guards asked thoughtfully.

"Within a 200-meter radius from where the hard drive was stolen," Lu Heng replied.

"That's a very small area, almost right at the entrance of the Academy," the captain of the guards frowned.

"Then let's check the surveillance footage from the surrounding streets and see if there are any suspicious individuals," Lu Heng instructed.

The captain of the guards didn't move but looked at Instructor Liu.

Instructor Liu nodded and said, "I'll arrange for it."

Subsequently, Lu Heng obtained the controlled researcher's information and discovered that the researcher was not a metahuman but an ordinary person.

After the Abyssal Descent, not everyone was willing to awaken.

According to the commonly accepted information, awakening as a metahuman meant being drafted into the Abyssal Battlefield.

The exact rules of this conscription were not yet fully understood.

Therefore, many ordinary people who didn't want to be drafted into the Abyssal Battlefield chose not to awaken.

Among the researchers, those who wanted to focus on their research work were more likely to choose not to awaken.

Upon learning that the researcher was not a metahuman, Lu Heng asked, "He's not a metahuman?"

"That's right, Worker Liu hasn't awakened," the captain of the guards confirmed.

"Can I see the list of researchers present in the Academy tonight? More detailed information would be better," Lu Heng requested again.

With Instructor Liu overseeing and following Lu Heng's instructions, the captain of the guards brought the list of personnel in the Academy tonight.

After reviewing the list, Lu Heng found that only two researchers present had the clearance to pass through the three security checks.

One was Worker Liu, who had already been silenced, and the other was the Research Director, a metahuman with a level of 10.

Moreover, the Research Director had even higher clearance.

In other words, if the Research Director was controlled, more technological data could have been stolen.

However, the mind controller chose the unawakened researcher instead.

Ordinary people were generally more susceptible to mind control.

Controlling an ordinary person was indeed simpler, but the Research Director's level of 10 was not exceptionally high.

For this mind controller to be sent on a mission to steal research secrets, their level couldn't be low.

In this situation, they still chose the unawakened researcher.

There was only one reason for this—they didn't have the confidence to control the level 10 Research Director.

A level 10 Research Director would likely have a higher spirit attribute but was not a combat-type metahuman, and their level was limited.

If this mind controller used the B-Rank Will Domination skill, controlling a level 10 metahuman would be an easy task.

The B-Rank Will Domination was powerful.

Lu Heng had personally experienced this skill used by Nagakawa Tomo, so he understood its true strength.

Even Lu Heng had a momentary loss of control; a level 10 Research Director wouldn't stand a chance against it.

However, this psychic ability user chose the unawakened ordinary researcher.

There was only one possibility—controlling the level 10 Research Director was challenging.

In other words, the mind controller's skill was not the B-Rank Will Domination but the C-Rank Mind Control.

After realizing this, Lu Heng spoke with certainty, "Check the surveillance footage from the surrounding areas of the Academy. I'm certain that a psychic ability user has appeared nearby."

After listening to Lu Heng's statement, Instructor Liu frowned but chose to believe him due to his confidence. He shouted, "Increase manpower and search through the surveillance footage from the surrounding areas! Find this person!"

(End of Chapter)

Chapter end