The First Order

Chapter 996: No one is innocent

“The intelligence division that I head is called Poison.” Luo Zongren stated everything with a numb expression as though it was unrelated to him. “A lot of people in the Zhou Consortium are unaware of our existence. My job is only to report to two people. One of them is the intelligence director, Zhou Shoushi, and the other is the Zhou Consortium’s boss, Zhou Shiji.”

Although this guy’s real name was Yang Yanbang, Ren Xiaosu and company were used to the name “Luo Zongren.” So they decided to continue addressing him that way. They believed Luo Zongren himself was used to this pseudonym as well.

“There’s a total of 581 members under my command who I personally selected from the military five years ago. The commander had authorized me to recruit all the superhumans in the military and allowed me to use my superpower to control them. The missions we carry out are all matters the Zhou Consortium doesn’t want to be found out for.”

Ren Xiaosu asked coldly, “581 people? But there were only about 300 people that participated in the battle this time. Where’s the others?”

“There’s still 21 people in Luoyang City who have not been arrested yet. The others are scattered across the various strongholds and lying in wait while waiting to be summoned. I’m the one who can contact everyone, so they have no means to contact me,” Luo Zongren said.

“Tell us their identities immediately,” Luo Lan said.

“There’s Deng Kai, an auto repairman living at 31 Fanglin Road.

“Zhu Can, the owner of a fast food restaurant at 78 Osmanthus Road.

“Hu Chengjun lives in the apartment complex at 21 Wuling Road. His unit number is 301…”

Luo Zongren revealed all 21 of the covert agents who had slipped through the net. Ren Xiaosu ordered the Northwest’s intelligence agent next to him to write down all of the names. He was going to settle the score with them after Luo Zongren’s interrogation.

All of the information was very precious. Ever since they started searching for Luo Zongren’s whereabouts, Wang Yun, Luo Lan, Zhou Qi, Ren Xiaosu, and Yang Xiaojin had expended a great deal of energy.

After that, it took a lot of effort to make Luo Zongren speak, and they even had to engage in a battle of wits to make him confess.

Just a moment ago, they were nearly deceived by Luo Zongren.

Although Luo Lan had successfully called the opponent’s bluff and destroyed his last bit of confidence, Luo Lan was actually not that sure, because Luo Zongren was way too calm.

It was not easy to obtain all the intel they had gathered now, so they had to cherish it.

At this moment, Luo Lan asked, “The covert agents in the other strongholds, tell us about them as well. A dirty organization like Poison has no need to exist in the world anymore.”

Luo Zongren’s expression distorted for a moment, but his mental defenses had completely collapsed. Even though Luo Lan was belittling Poison, he did not dare rebuke him.

At the beginning, Ren Xiaosu was worried Luo Lan would provoke Luo Zongren and cause him to turn antagonistic again.

However, Luo Lan whispered to Ren Xiaosu, “Don’t worry, it’s fine. The more you belittle someone like him, the more honest he becomes.”

Ren Xiaosu did not understand the logic behind this, but he believed that Luo Lan and Zhou Qi were more professional than him.

When Luo Zongren revealed all the information about the spies who were operating covertly, Luo Lan asked again, “So you guys tried to kill me because you wanted to frame the Wang Consortium for it? And then have the Qing Consortium start a war with the Wang Consortium?”

“Yes.” Luo Zongren nodded in admission.

“Carry on, tell me the details of your operation this time.” Luo Lan said fiercely, “Our Qing Consortium had wanted to make friends with the Zhou Consortium to stand up against the Wang Consortium, but we didn’t expect to actually be working with a venomous snake. When I think of that Zhou Shiji’s smiling face now, I can’t wait to go there and tear his face apart.”

Luo Zongren gave a fake smile and said, “Your Qing Consortium doesn’t have good intentions either, right? The two spies we fitted the nanomachines with suddenly changed their allegiance and disappeared. I don’t question their loyalty, so the problem must lie with the nanomachines.”

Luo Lan curled his lips. “That has nothing to do with us. It was the Wang Consortium’s AI that did it.”

Ren Xiaosu looked at Luo Zongren and said, “Were y’all not afraid that there’d be a backdoor program installed on the nanomachines? Y’all actually had the courage to use them?”

Luo Zongren did not say anything. Ren Xiaosu realized they were probably trying to frame the Qing Consortium again. The two spies who were equipped with the nanomachines were probably just cannon fodder too. They did not care whether there were any backdoor programs installed on the nanomachines.

It was just like the people who tried to assassinate Jiang Xu outside of Stronghold 61.

It could only be said that this “Poison” organization did not have any good intentions right from the beginning. They were only here to sow discord.

“Cut the bullshit and tell us the other details of the operation,” Luo Lan said.

Luo Zongren said, “This operation was codenamed ‘Abyss.’ The operation is funded through the anonymous account 019228181 at the Wang Consortium bank.

“There’s only one safe house left. It’s at 239 Kaiyuan Avenue. There’s a password book, communications equipment, weapons and firearms, as well as a record of bribes offered to the officials of Luoyang City inside.”

Luo Zongren spent an entire hour just telling them about the details.

With each piece of information he gave, Ren Xiaosu would have the Northwest’s intelligence agents verify it. Only when the information’s veracity was correct would the witness’s statement be verified, and there would be no need to worry that Luo Zongren was still lying.

Ren Xiaosu looked at Luo Zongren. “Anything else you wanna say?”

Luo Zongren looked at Ren Xiaosu and asked, “I only have one question. How did you catch me?”

“Because someone persisted for six days and analyzed all of the surveillance cameras in Luoyang City without eating, drinking, or sleeping.” Ren Xiaosu said, “Then they found the bookstore and your place of residence, and they also warned me that you might return to the crime scene to check on your evil deeds.”

Luo Zongren subconsciously said, “That’s impossible. There’s so many surveillance cameras in Luoyang City. Who could possibly finish looking through all of them in six days and even identify me among so many people?”

“Nothing is impossible. He happens to be the nemesis of unscrupulous poisonous bugs like you.” Ren Xiaosu said with a smile, “He’s Wang Yun, the former director of the Kong Consortium’s 2nd Military Intelligence Division. But he’s already gone on to the Prosperous Northwest.”

Luo Zongren muttered, “I’d really like to meet a person like that.”

Ren Xiaosu shook his head. “Forget it, you’re not qualified to see him.”

Luo Zongren started laughing strangely. “Do you think I’m the only one who’s unscrupulous? Although it was the Zhou Consortium that assassinated Jiang Xu, do you really think the Wang Consortium is innocent?”

Ren Xiaosu frowned. “What do you mean?”

“I sent 12 people to destroy the surveillance footage after the incident, but they were all killed by paper cranes while they were carrying out their mission on the rooftops. Do you think I would’ve left the surveillance footage for you all to find otherwise?” Luo Zongren said, “So the head of Anjing House had already arrived at Luoyang City at that time. Perhaps she was not here yet personally, but her paper cranes were. Furthermore, she did not use them to save Jiang Xu! At that time, I could not figure out why she only killed the people I sent out to destroy the surveillance footage. Now that I think about it, it must be because she wanted to leave the surveillance footage to you and use it to clear any suspicions against the Wang Consortium. But do you understand what I’m saying? Although she did not kill Jiang Xu, she is not innocent.”