Chapter 598: Heightened Alert
Chapter 598: Heightened Alert
As the emergency department conducted safety inspections, Specialist Liang sat in his seat, flipping through the detailed dossiers of the inspection personnel.
Most of the people involved in this operation were unfamiliar to him, with only a small portion being those he paid close attention to and understood.
His expression was solemn; the situation was extremely serious. The pure essence had leaked outward, and the breach had not been sealed even up to this point.
For various departments, the degree of harm was no less than the recent split of the Silkworm Mother.
Currently, the most suspicious person was Chen Bitong. Some people had already concluded that it was his doing.
Moreover, this was consistent with the appearance of a rift in the World Ring and the suspicious actions of this individual during the last segment of time.
The sound of high heels echoed, and a female assistant entered from the other end of the hall. "Specialist, Captain Chen has entered," she said.
Specialist Liang put down the dossiers and pressed his fingers to his brow. "I hope he hasn't crossed that line," he said gravely.
In the last segment of time, Chen Chuan had been with Chen Bitong, and the two of them had even gone to the other end of the rift, where they had jointly killed an auxiliary general of the old imperial court. It was highly likely that Chen Bitong had said something to him.
Some even suspected that they had been involved with each other.
The city council's intention was to immediately isolate and interrogate the individual, but the Handling Bureau strongly opposed this. The government hall remained silent, and he stepped in to suppress the matter.
However, this move carried political risks. If the investigation turned up nothing, it would be fine, but if there was a real issue, the city council could exert pressure, which would undoubtedly greatly affect him personally.
The female assistant spoke up, "Specialist, what if he has crossed that line? Fighters are a self-centered bunch. When faced with something that can help them advance, very few can resist the temptation. Maybe he doesn't even know about this matter here and made an unconscious mistake?"
Specialist Liang shook his head. "The possibility of that is too small."
If the pure essence had not been discovered and absorbed as soon as it started to disperse, it would be almost impossible to detect the scarce pure essence after the heavenly gate closed. Capturing it would mean that someone had prepared in advance.
"If the result is as we suspect," he said gravely, "we should try to bring him to our side. We can't let the monitoring agency decide. I'll arrange his security agreement with the Defense Department. That might be the best outcome."
After Chen Chuan entered the building, instructions came through the intercom, guiding him along one of the isolated corridors.
The corridor was empty, with only the spacious hallway, bright lights, and the clear sound of footsteps on the ground.
After passing through this corridor, an elevator appeared ahead. At this moment, he heard a few rustling sounds through the intercom, which was then blocked. Now, he couldn't communicate with the outside world.
He looked up and felt that the entire area was under domain monitoring, with an extremely high density. He could clearly sense the strong interweaving of the domains, causing a slight virtualization reaction in his second self.
However, he remained oblivious and continued walking towards the elevator. Once inside, he noticed that a floor had been pre-selected, and after the doors closed, there was a slight tremor as the elevator began to ascend.
The indicator lights flashed continuously, stopping at the 20th floor. The elevator doors opened outward.
He stepped out into a spacious hall, which seemed to be the central atrium of the building. After taking about ten steps, he could see the top of the tower, with layers of floors rising upwards on all sides.
He sensed a slight warning sign from the upper floors, along with a unique reflective light. He guessed that machine gun posts were likely set up there.
If each floor was equipped with these weapons, they could unleash a dense and powerful barrage towards the center in an instant. In this place with almost no blind spots, even a third-limitation fighter would have nowhere to dodge.
However, in the very center of the hall, there was a downward staircase with a drop of about ten meters. At the bottom, there were tree-like veins in purple and green.
On each of the four corners, there was a platform with a tower-like object emitting a faint light. That must be the detection equipment."
Before his arrival, about a dozen people had already gathered in the hall, some standing alone, while others chatted in groups. He spotted Xu Chan and others waiting by the side.
Xu Chan noticed him and greeted him, "Captain Chen."
Chen Chuan walked over and exchanged greetings with Xu Chan and the two people behind him. Before they could say much, both of them felt something and turned to look up.
On the third floor in the southeast direction, a man dressed in the uniform of a defense force commander walked out. He glanced at them with cold indifference, as if a cold electric current had brushed past them.
Xu Chan explained, "Yan ZHIWEN, a top fighter recruited by the city council. He's no ordinary fighter. He's worked as a security supervisor and has been in charge of the safety of important personnel. The city council trusts him greatly."
Chen Chuan nodded slightly, indicating that identity was not the main concern. Xu Chan was referring to strength, and even this person acknowledged his exceptional abilities. It seemed that his strength was indeed formidable.
It was evident that this safety inspection was conducted with the highest standards, from the outer defensive personnel to the internal staffing and monitoring equipment. Such an arrangement was likely not just for vigilance but more like a preparation for something significant.
At the same time, two representatives from the City Council stood in the safety control room, observing the situation through the holographic screen.
The destruction of the Skyscraper had dealt a silent blow to the City Council, as various government departments had sufficient evidence that the Skyscraper had been infiltrated by external entities.
As a result, they had no grounds to blame the Government Hall and instead needed to retract their previous statements and issue a public apology. This would further diminish their prestige, which had already been damaged by the incident.
However, the subsequent pure substance leak provided them with a breakthrough.
The containment and prevention of the leak of the pure substance was a consensus among governments and companies worldwide. With such a significant incident, the Government Hall could not escape responsibility.
If it could be proven that personnel from government departments had privately seized the pure substance, there would be more opportunities to pursue this line of inquiry.
"Can it be detected for sure?" one person asked.
"This detection equipment utilizes the latest technology provided by the Boren Company," another person replied. "As long as it absorbs the pure substance, even a tiny amount, it will trigger a reaction."
At that moment, a seemingly gentle female voice echoed in the hall, "Execution Team Leader Xu Chan, please proceed to the West Area Testing Platform for a safety inspection."
Xu Chan, who had clearly undergone such inspections before, calmly walked forward and descended the downward staircase to the middle position.
He approached a tree-like organism in the west, and upon closer inspection, he noticed that it was connected to numerous tubular structures resembling veins at the back. The interior and exterior flickered with faint light, resembling the Resonance Nest to some extent, indicating that it was a domain creature.
He did not hesitate and directly entered through the opening. As soon as he stepped in, the opening was slowly closed by numerous tendrils.
While Chen Chuan was observing, Captain Lu approached and said, "This is your first time doing the inspection, right? That thing is specifically designed to check for external contaminants within the body and to see if you have obtained something you shouldn't have.
"Rest assured, the inspection equipment here is always reliable and won't malfunction. As long as you haven't done anything you shouldn't, there won't be any problems."
Chen Chuan replied, "I see, thank you."
Captain Lu smiled and said, "You're too polite, Captain Chen."
At that moment, the interior of the tree-like organism seemed to glow with white light, and then it became somewhat transparent, revealing a vague silhouette of Xu Chan.
After a few minutes, the light gradually turned green, indicating that everything was normal. The tendrils slowly opened, and Xu Chan emerged, nodding to the people above before ascending the staircase.
The female voice sounded again, "Execution Team Leader Chen Chuan, please proceed to the East Area Testing Platform."
Captain Lu said, "It's your turn, Captain Chen."
In that instant, all eyes turned to Chen Chuan, and the defensive personnel on the tiers seemed to tense up.
Yan ZHIWEN, who stood there expressionless, also fixed his gaze on Chen Chuan.
In the safety control room, the two representatives from the City Council also stared intently.
According to previous records, Chen Chuan possessed formidable combat strength. However, there was no need to worry, as this was the Emergency Affairs Center, equipped with the best defense systems and powerful personnel to handle any unforeseen circumstances.
Chen Chuan approached the tree-like organism, having previously inquired about the inspection methods, which involved domain scanning.
A fighter's domain contained a wealth of information, and it was said that the world's most advanced domain monitoring equipment, combined with active sentient beings, could detect even the drugs a person had taken, their daily diet, and the places they had visited.
However, for third-limit fighters who mastered the domain, the effectiveness of such monitoring was limited. Even some ordinary third-limit fighters could not be fully detected because they had either approached or reached the limits of human potential. This resulted in a certain transformation and an instinctive self-protection mechanism that concealed some of their information, regardless of their awareness of it.
Therefore, there was another type of domain scanning specifically designed for third-limit fighters, like the one before Chen Chuan.
He took a glance, entered the organism, turned around, and stood still. He looked up at the people above, and then the outer tendrils slowly closed the entrance.
(End of Chapter)
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