“Speak,” he said.
“I’ll follow your lead, but you can’t send me to my death. If I feel my life is in danger, I’ll terminate our cooperation immediately!”
Li Zhonglou smiled. “Don’t worry, I just don’t want you to disrupt my rhythm. Sending you to your death isn’t a concern. But let me state upfront, if you obstruct me even once, our cooperation will also be terminated automatically.”
Chen Pingfan raised an eyebrow. “No wonder even the squad leaders from the Civilian Association couldn’t deal with you. Brother Li, it seems your ambitions are quite significant.”
This guy was trying to put him in his place.
Li Zhonglou didn’t respond to his comment but extended his right hand.
Chen Pingfan, quite naturally, shook it, and their cooperative relationship was officially established.
Just then, footsteps echoed from the corridor outside.
They sounded hurried, and the two exchanged a look.
Chen Pingfan said solemnly, “If I’m not mistaken, they’re about to gather for a meeting.”
As he predicted, a member of the Combat Association went door to door, notifying everyone about a collective meeting.
If they could realize this problem, others naturally could as well, which Li Zhonglou didn’t find surprising.
Following everyone else down to the first floor, Li Zhonglou found that everyone had indeed gathered together again.
Seeing Chen Pingfan and Li Zhonglou walking together, not only did people from the fourth floor show surprise, but so did those from the other three floors.
However, no one had the leisure to concern themselves with such matters at this moment.
The leaders of the three major factions stood in the center, with others clustered around them.
As for the unaffiliated individuals, they seemed not to have even decided on a spokesperson yet, so they stood alone.
Liu Tianzhi of the Civilian Association spoke first.
“You’re all aware of the current situation, I assume. I won’t waste time with pleasantries; let me first state our decision.”
Liu Tianzhi’s gaze fell upon Liu Tixing of the Combat Association, who then continued, “This mission of ours is clearly different from all previous ones. I don’t know if you’ve looked into past student examination missions, but under normal circumstances, the current situation shouldn’t have arisen.”
“Therefore, after unanimous confirmation, we’ve decided to complete the mission in our own way.”
At this point, Wu Di from the General Bureau suddenly spoke up, “Before we proceed, I’d like to offer a reminder. Only those who understand this point should remain. If you disagree, you’re free to leave now. We’re not forcing everyone to follow our arrangements, including you.”
Wu Di’s last sentence was directed at those who were also relatives of the General Bureau. The other two also looked towards the small teams they led, making their intentions clear: anyone who raised an objection at this moment could leave.
However, out of the twenty-odd people present, not a single one spoke.
Even the members of the three major factions remained silent, let alone the unaffiliated teams who naturally wouldn’t dare to speak up. In terms of information and intelligence, they were at a disadvantage and had no decision-making power.
Seeing that no one spoke, Wu Di nodded with satisfaction, then turned his attention to Liu Tixing of the Civilian Association.
Liu Tixing nodded. “Excellent. It seems everyone realizes the gravity of the situation. I won’t say more; let’s discuss the plan.”
He cleared his throat. “Firstly, the content of the mission manual remains the core; there’s no doubt about that. The main issue now is how we complete the mission.”
“You must have noticed the anomalies when we arrived.”
Liu Tixing recounted what Chen Pingfan had said earlier, and it was clear that everyone had noticed those details.
However, unlike Chen Pingfan’s account, Liu Tixing added his own speculation at the end.
“The mission manual requires us to eliminate the dark forces and reclaim the mine. From all indications, we have reason to suspect that the Donghai official personnel currently hosting us may be colluding with these dark forces!”
Many of those present frowned tightly, because if this were true, it would mean they had walked right into a tiger’s den!
However, some looked skeptical. Even though they were temporary squad leaders, their words still required evidence. If the Donghai officials were part of the dark forces, why didn’t the General Bureau say anything about it and instead handed them over to them willingly?
The three had clearly discussed this point. Liu Tixing directly looked at Wu Di and said, “I know some of you still have doubts. To alleviate your concerns, Brother Wu Di has some information to share.”
The latter nodded and then said solemnly, “My brother is a member of the Executive Department. You can easily verify this once we leave; it’s not a secret.”
“I’m not saying this to show off my status, but to let you know that I have sufficient channels to understand some of the internal affairs of the General Bureau.”
The expressions of the crowd immediately turned serious.
“As far as I know, the General Bureau’s current primary task is to find the mole. Everyone must be aware of the airport incident last time, right? Why could an external force mobilize so many experts to set up a plan in just a few hours?”
“This happened in our nation’s most heavily guarded capital, Shangjing! Do you think an external force, without the coordination of an inside source, could actually achieve this with their own abilities? If so, to what precarious state has Shangjing fallen!”
A cold glint flashed in Wu Di’s eyes. “The mole is someone we all must eliminate. I believe its importance needs no further explanation. And one more thing.”
Wu Di suddenly looked towards the unaffiliated team.
“According to past practice, although unaffiliated individuals also participated in the examinations, their numbers were at most one or two per session, with usually only one spot available. The General Bureau has always been strict with you, but this time, the number has suddenly increased by several times.”
“You should know where these spots came from, right?”
The faces of the unaffiliated team members immediately furrowed. Chen Pingfan suddenly stepped forward and said, “I can vouch for that. Under normal circumstances, I wouldn’t be able to get this spot. I heard that this time it’s a special situation, and the General Bureau seems to be short-handed?”
This was also a point of confusion for Chen Pingfan.
Wu Di shook his head. “No, being short-handed is only one aspect; the most important thing is to cultivate a batch of special personnel.”
Special personnel?
Everyone looked at each other, exchanging glances. They had truly never heard this information before. Even among the other relatives of the General Bureau members, only one or two had calm expressions.
Wu Di explained, “The root of all problems lies with this mole.”
“From what I understand, the current mole involves too much. The higher-ups in the General Bureau are hesitant to act. This sudden expansion of recruitment is not only to attract more talent but also to find a group of people with clean backgrounds to handle matters!”
“When even the higher-ups dare not act lightly, what result do you think would come from using internal personnel to investigate? I don’t need to elaborate, do I!”