Chapter 230: 230, Another persona collapses

In the perception of the Consortium, extraordinary abilities are unique, like each individual's distinct DNA. Once an ability is identified, the user is confirmed. Thus, after the Qing family's manhunt ended, the Li family began pursuing Xu Xiance...

Xu Xiance's abilities were no secret, and Luo Ran had specifically asked Lu YUan to help track him down during the 109 Stronghold incident. So when Captain Zhou and Lin Qi returned to the 108 Stronghold for debriefing, the Li family's military commander immediately realized: the events in the mountains must have been orchestrated by Xu Xiance!

As for why the wolf pack moved, it was clear—they sensed danger in advance and relocated.

Perhaps they had originally planned to attack the outpost where Li Qingzheng and his men were stationed, but the nanowarriors intercepted the threat for them.

Thinking this through, everything seemed to make sense...

However, in Captain Zhou Ji's report, some of the Li family's operational officers suddenly noticed a grave issue: this "Xu Xiance" appeared to be collecting their Li family's nanorobots!

The Consortium's leadership understood one thing—if nanorobots were to be used, they required encrypted matching within the Consortium. So why would Xu Xiance, as an extraordinary individual, steal nanorobots?

At this point, the powerful think tank began analyzing: existing intelligence revealed that the Qing family had simultaneously pursued Xu Xiance, Yang Xiaojin, and Luo Xinyu. Yang Xiaojin was confirmed to belong to both the Yang family and the Outlaws, with bloodline ties to the Yangs but organizational ties to the Outlaws—a complicated matter.

Since Xu Xiance was pursued alongside Yang Xiaojin and Luo Xinyu, he was likely a member of the Yang family or the Outlaws. However, all Outlaw members who had revealed their identities were female, so Xu Xiance was temporarily classified as an external operative of the Yang family.

This information was critical. After the fall of the 109 Stronghold, the neural interface technology had fallen into the Yang family's hands. The Li family had intelligence proving that the Yangs were now conducting comprehensive tests and coordination of nanorobots.

Now, Xu Xiance had suddenly appeared near their Li family, raiding nanorobots. What did this signify? It suggested that the Yangs might be preparing to strike them first!

In the spacious room of the Operations Command, dozens of Li family officers stood listening. When this conclusion was reached, everyone's faces darkened.

A middle-aged general sitting beside the round table spoke calmly: "We intended to strike first, but the Yangs are even more urgent. You are the glory of the Li family—return and prepare accordingly."

Someone asked, "What about Xu Xiance and the wolf pack?"

"Xu Xiance has likely fled after this strike. They only wanted samples, and now that they have them, there's no need to linger here," another replied. "Our priority is to eliminate the test subjects in the 109 Stronghold to stabilize the rear."

"Where is the newly dispatched combat brigade?" an elderly Li general inquired.

"They arrived at the newly established forward base yesterday, but there's been no feedback yet," a staff officer from the Operations Department answered.

"Confirm this immediately," the general said.

The staff officer left at once, but ten minutes later, he rushed back and pushed open the door to the command room: "They've lost contact. The entire Fourth Combat Brigade vanished after leaving the forward base."

The command room fell silent. 4,500 people had simply disappeared?

Far away at the outpost, Ren Xiaosu remained unaware of these developments, and even farther away at the 178 Stronghold, Xu Xiance knew nothing...

At the outpost, joy filled the air. With the New Year approaching, the refugees, who had once worried about their next meal, now feasted on meat and fish daily. This was likely their best Spring Festival ever.

After Lin Qi and the others left, Ren Xiaosu had wondered if a large force would come to suppress the wolf pack. But after so long, no such force had appeared.

Instead, a small team had ventured into the mountains to recover lost nanorobots, only to find, as the Li family had anticipated, that Xu Xiance had already taken them all...

Other visitors to the mountains were merely chatterboxes. They weren't here to report work but brought red paper, brushes, and ink.

Initially, Hu Shuo refused to write couplets, claiming he had never done so.

But couplets couldn't be skipped during the New Year—how could they celebrate without them?

In the past, people posted couplets during the festival. In a small town, perhaps only one or two people knew how to write calligraphy, or maybe only one or two could even obtain brushes.

During the holiday, almost everyone in the town would buy red paper and seek someone to write couplets for them. It wasn't expensive—just the cost of a meal.

At this time, even the poorest families wouldn't mind spending a little.

Among the outpost's residents, only Hu Shuo seemed cultured. If he wouldn't write, who else could?

Eventually, under everyone's urging, Hu Shuo had his subordinates bring the materials.

He set up a table at the outpost entrance, laid out the cut red paper, and all the residents gathered around. Brushes were a distant, unfamiliar object to the refugees.

Someone laughed beside Hu Shuo: "Sir, you're not charging for these couplets, are you?"

Hu Shuo glanced at them: "No charge."

"Your handwriting must be exquisite," someone praised. Hu Shuo, with his ethereal demeanor, looked like someone proficient in all arts—qin, qi, shu, and hua.

Hu Shuo didn't answer. After pondering for a long time, he wrote: "Wealth comes from building roads first..."

Ren Xiaosu watched the crooked, ugly characters and sighed: "Truly, one cannot judge by appearances. Your writing doesn't match your aura at all..."

Hu Shuo frowned: "I said I wouldn't write, but you insisted. I'm not even taking money—what more do you want?"

Ren Xiaosu said earnestly: "If these couplets are to be posted in our town, you'd have to pay people to take them."

Hu Shuo glared: "Are you the only one who can talk? If you don't speak, no one will think you're mute."

But Ren Xiaosu was puzzled: "You're quite learned, and your lectures on math, physics, and chemistry are excellent—far better than our old teacher Zhang. But who writes couplets like 'Wealth comes from building roads first'? And your handwriting... it seems a bit off-topic!"

Hu Shuo looked melancholy: "..."

His character setting had collapsed!