Biochemical Martial Arts: Supreme Heavenly Venerate

Zhou Yunfei looked emotionlessly at Fang Xianzheng and then glanced at the always silent First Supreme Commander beside him. He noticed that the eyes of both men were somewhat sharp, especially Fang Xianzheng's. The light in the depths of that smiley tiger's pupils was like a knife. Zhou Yunfei knew Fang Xianzheng was an extremely clever person. How could he fail to see the signs? He and Lin Rui had dealt with Hayden Smith's matter flawlessly. Lin Rui even obtained evidence of the man's treason after the fact, solving the last procedural issue. But these people wouldn't care about all that. They could make reasonable inferences directly through the internal and external connections and ultimate results of the case. However, this was within his expectations. For the sake of facilitating future actions, the Ninth Division needed to engage in some superficial "cooperation" with "Lin Hao." The smuggling deal the East Asian Federation was about to conduct with Lin Rui and his disciple, Luo Wangshu, couldn't possibly be kept from everyone. Zhou Yunfei's expression remained grave, "I can only say that our Ninth Division currently has a plan revolving around Lin Hao, the Director of the Espionage Bureau. Beyond that, I have nothing to add." The First Supreme Commander and Fang Xianzheng exchanged glances, finding Zhou Yunfei's answer quite interesting. He didn't directly answer about "having contact channels" but mentioned having a "plan revolving around Lin Hao," which left room for multiple possibilities. Fang Xianzheng narrowed his eyes, intrigued, and asked Zhou Yunfei a few more questions. Discovering that the man remained tight-lipped, unable to extract anything, he ended the interrogation abruptly and kicked Zhou Yunfei out of the virtual meeting. Fang Xianzheng then frowned slightly, "Supreme Commander, I think there's a problem with Zhou Yunfei's answers just now. The Security Bureau needs to investigate the relationship between Zhou Yunfei and Lin Hao more deeply. We also must understand the details of this plan." "There's no need for that. To maintain our security front, we must allow some autonomy to those below." The First Supreme Commander responded emotionlessly, "We currently don't have evidence that Zhou Yunfei sold out Smith. Hayden Smith indeed has suspicions of treason and crimes against humanity. Without further evidence, there's no need to look deeper into this case." He had actually started to suspect Zhou Yunfei's subordinate, the Third Special Operations Department, and the 'Thunder' Major General with X-level security clearance. The so-called 'Thunder' Major General was in fact a first-year student from Mingde University named Lin Rui, who was also a rising martial arts star. The First Supreme Commander couldn't understand why Zhou Yunfei would recruit Lin Rui with such high standards. At this moment, he harbored a suspicion—there might be a connection between the 'Thunder' Major General and Lin Hao. But was this possible? A 19-year-old youth had become a Director of the Grand Song Dynasty's Espionage Bureau and even received the Divine Merit Order, becoming one of the few candidates likely to be promoted to Divine Envoy in the future. With the shrewdness of the First Supreme Commander, his heart actually fluttered slightly, and his blood surged with excitement. This was only his guess; further investigation was needed. The First Supreme Commander didn't plan to share this highly confidential information with Fang Xianzheng. He believed not one of these politicians was reliable, even Fang Xianzheng, who had cooperated well with him over the years, was no exception. Unless Fang Xianzheng gained overall approval from the Homeland Security Committee and successfully initiated the inquiry, the First Supreme Commander wouldn't disclose a single word about the related intelligence. Fang Xianzheng, having heard this, was momentarily stunned, his gaze suspiciously shifting toward the First Supreme Commander. He keenly sensed that the discrepancy between their opinions might stem from a discrepancy in information. Fang Xianzheng's face swiftly returned to a smile, "Then let's not pursue it further. Next is the 'Lin Hao Special Operations Division's' assassination plan submission. According to the latest intelligence, Lin Hao not only received personal praise from the 'East Abyss,' but was also awarded the Divine Merit Order. Considering the overall situation, I think this plan is ill-timed; there's no need to consider it at least for the short term." "Vetoed, we can't afford to provoke the East Abyss!" The First Supreme Commander fell into deep thought, "Considering the current situation, Lin Hao doesn't seem to be the kind of holy servant of the gods who is impossible to communicate with. That's enough. The 'Lin Hao Special Operations Division's' current task should be focused on observation and early warning." Fang Xianzheng nodded slightly, but his thoughts were racing—was it really so? What exactly was Zhou Yunfei's plan? What had the First Supreme Commander inferred from Zhou Yunfei's words? Yet his face showed no signs of disturbance, "Congressman James proposes that the Homeland Security Bureau investigates Linghu Mingde and his altered body. The Espionage Bureau's recent arrest operation was grand, costing us many altered beings and over twenty reserve armored generals. He believes that the source of the Espionage Bureau's intelligence is the Linghu family. This reserve two-star Marshal has betrayed the Federation, his compatriots, committing treason and crimes against humanity." "Veto," the Supreme Commander shook his head slightly, "We do not currently have the evidence, however, we can have the 'Lin Hao Special Countermeasures Unit' pay close attention to the case." He then laughed sarcastically, "This time it was Jin Bolong who made the mistake first. And in a way, these aberrant beings arrested by the Assassin Bureau are the real traitors. These scumbags dying at the hands of the people of Tianji Star isn't such a bad thing." The aberrant beings who were arrested by the Assassin Bureau this time were mostly involved in illegal industries such as smuggling, human experimentation, and drug trafficking. According to the internal intelligence of the bureau, most of these people had solid evidence against their crimes. This made the Supreme Commander furious! Are these so-called aberrant beings really humans, really their brethren? However, Fang Xianzheng once again sensed a change in the Supreme Commander's attitude. Just half an hour ago, although the Supreme Commander despised the aberrant beings arrested by the Assassin Bureau, he was highly wary of Lin Hao, the commander of the bureau, and hence issued a second warning order. Fang Xianzheng, extremely curious, wondered what exactly had caused the Supreme Commander's change of attitude toward Lin Hao. "Supreme Commander, your words are inappropriate. If they got out, they would cause quite a stir," Fang Xianzheng crossed his arms and smilingly met the Supreme Commander's gaze, "We do not have evidence of their treason, and according to our Federation's laws, drug dealers have human rights as well." The Supreme Commander snorted lightly and swept a sharp glance outside the floor-to-ceiling window, "What if it gets out? I will not allow such fucked-up laws to continue." Fang Xianzheng heard this and thought it easier said than done. The Supreme Commander had joined the 'Divine Light Assembly' because he disdained the various ugliness and disorder within the Federation, wanting to overthrow and clean them up. In the end, it was the former Federation President who, by going alone to a stronghold of the Divine Light Assembly to meet with the Supreme Commander, persuaded him with reasons such as 'a civil war could lead to massive casualties among the Federation's civilians' and 'humanity must decode the secrets of Longevity and the East Abyss as soon as possible, without wasting resources and strength in a civil war.' He promised substantial powers, convincing the Supreme Commander—who possessed the strength of a nine-realm emperor—to leave the rebellious group of the Divine Light Assembly. But what now? The Supreme Commander could not tolerate the various dirty and dark deeds within the Federation. He had even become, to some extent, the blade of the parasitic class of the Federation, suppressing internal strife. ※※※※ In the office of the director of the ninth division, Zhou Yunfei relaxed visibly and sighed a breath of relief after leaving the meeting. His teacher, a white-haired old man with the rank of two-star marshal, sat opposite him. Seeing this, he smiled and said, "That Fang Xianzheng, does he put a lot of pressure on you?" "Isn't that so? That's Fang Xianzheng, the political fox. Even Xu Yu, who is also called a fox, is not fit to carry his shoes. He is very clever with strong insight. I suspect he has already noticed something." Zhou Yunfei sat down across from the white-haired old man, "I'm not actually afraid of him leaking information, I'm just worried he might use it to profit. Fang Xianzheng is notoriously good at using all resources. As long as it's useful to him, he wouldn't hesitate to suck the marrow from the bones." He then personally poured tea for his teacher, "I really must thank you for this time. If not for you, we wouldn't have been able to capture Hua Xin's aberrant form." What he actually wanted to say was that it was thanks to his teacher's Illusion Technique that they were able to lure Hayden Smith and his group into the Qianci Forest. However, Zhou Yunfei was very cautious and would not mention these things within the Security Bureau. "It was just a trifle, I did it for the sake of my student, Han Kedao. The key is that there was no risk involved," the white-haired old man chuckled. What he had done was, strictly speaking, against the rules—covering up the true whereabouts of the aberrant being Hua Xin and releasing a false signal. Indeed, there was no risk involved. "However, I honestly did not expect the ninth division to have deteriorated so badly in just a few decades." Zhou Yunfei wondered when he first took office if he had ever considered that people like Hayden Smith would stoop so low as to betray the aberrant beings of the division in order to undermine his authority. "It's indeed in a terrible state, but we have already seen hope. We've found evidence of Hayden Smith's treason, and You Ming is also troubled by the nursery rhyme killer case. In at most two years, I should be able to complete the goal of cleaning up the ninth division." Zhou Yunfei, holding the teapot, had a different light in his eyes, "Teacher, you must know, right? Lin Hao has received the Divine Merit Order." "The whole city of Luo Capital knows, how could I not know?" The white-haired old man's expression also changed, "To think he has reached this point, gaining the trust of the gods." At this point, he paused and set down his teacup with a solemn expression, "Let's talk later, the Spirit Illusion has appeared."