Chapter 407: Dog Eat Dog Plan

The next morning, Fatty woke up to find himself tied to a railing with a belt.

“What’s going on? What happened to me last night? Duan Someone, Old Hei, help me!”

“Keep it down.”

“Duan Someone, is that you?”

Pangzi looked toward the voice and saw Duan Fei sitting cross-legged on his bunk, his eyes bloodshot, as if he hadn’t slept all night.

Fatty was startled to see Duan Fei in this state and quickly asked, “Duan Someone, what’s wrong with you? Do you know who tied me up?”

“It was me.”

“…Bro, you can’t do this, no matter how desperate you get!”

“Shut up. How much do you remember about last night?”

“…”

“…You can talk when I’m asking you a question.”

Fatty squinted, thinking hard for a long moment, before saying miserably, “I don’t remember. You didn’t… actually do something to me, did you?”

“Stop talking. Get down and go to training.”

“What about you?”

“I’m not feeling well today. I’m taking the day off.”

After sending Fatty and Old Hei away, Duan Fei waited quietly, but the person he was expecting never arrived.

‘The commotion last night was huge, and I’m someone Triss is keeping a close eye on, so it’s impossible he didn’t notice.’

‘But he still hasn’t shown any Reaction, which means he might have more important things to deal with.’

‘Of course, it could also be because he’s confident I can’t make any waves and sees me as nothing more than a toy right now.’

Whatever the other party was thinking, Duan Fei was going to show them the consequences of underestimating him.

Having made his decision, Duan Fei immediately headed for the instructors’ office.

Inside the instructors’ office, Jinghong heard Duan Fei’s knock and let him in. She then had Alemann cover the entire room with an Illusion to create a secure environment for their conversation.

After he finished explaining what happened last night, Alemann’s expression grew grim, and she took Duan Fei’s hand.

At that moment, Jinghong bristled.

However, without turning her head, Alemann spoke directly to Jinghong behind her. “Calm down. This is business. I’m not going to do anything to your little boyfriend.”

“He’s not my boyfriend… yet…”

Glancing at the bright-red Jinghong, Alemann felt like she’d just bitten into a lemon—incredibly sour.

Turning her head back, she stared at Duan Fei again and said, “Your XP hasn’t changed, which indicates you probably haven’t suffered any Spirit contamination or control.”

“How can you be so sure?” Duan Fei asked in surprise.

“A person’s XP is shaped by many factors, including their sense of security, boundaries, and self-identity. Therefore, as long as someone’s XP doesn’t change drastically, they likely haven’t been subjected to Spirit contamination or control. This means the broadcast you heard last night was probably just trying to entice you, and it didn’t have a significant impact.”

Hearing this, Duan Fei breathed a sigh of relief, but he also grew interested in this kind of application for a minor Superpower.

It was just as Alemann had said: their Superpowers neither strengthened nor weakened after awakening. Every Superpower User did their best to explore the boundaries of their Superpower, not to enhance it.

‘Under this system, each of them had learned to use their Superpower in all sorts of creative ways,’ he thought. ‘This mindset is actually perfect for players. When using a Skill, I should think more about its applicability instead of just chasing raw power.’

‘Heh. I feel like I’ve gained a little more Growth.’

After analyzing Duan Fei’s condition, Alemann continued, “This situation is more troublesome than I thought; this base holds more secrets than I imagined. I don’t think the three of us can handle this anymore. I suggest we call for backup.”

“How much support can the Superpower Users provide?” Duan Fei asked curiously. “Can they send a big nuke over?”

“…”

Alemann stared at Duan Fei, speechless, then turned to Jinghong. “You think that’s a reasonable idea?”

“I think it’s a great idea,” Jinghong said with a nod. “In fact, everything my Duan Someone says is right.”

“…The way you defend him, it makes it hard for me *not* to suspect you two have slept together.”

Duan Fei: “How could that be possible?”

Jinghong: “How did you know!”

Stared at by the other two, Jinghong instantly realized she’d said the wrong thing.

Covering her mouth, she composed herself and said with a deadpan expression, “How could that be possible?”

“Jinghong, we’ll sort that out later. Let’s get back to the matter at hand. A nuke is impossible, right?” Duan Fei asked, looking at Alemann.

“Yeah, don’t even think about it. I’m a person first and a Superpower User second. There’s no way I’d use a nuke on this place.”

“So, can the Superpower Users provide any other support?”

“That’s impossible too,” Alemann said regretfully. “There aren’t that many of us, so…”

“Then let’s try another way. Can you look up data on your computer? Can you see the base’s past visitor records?”

Jinghong searched on the computer for a moment, then said, “Yes, I have the clearance. I can see the previous visitor records.”

“Can you access internal communications?”

“I can. What are you looking for?”

“Let me do it. I’ll take over. All you have to do is tell me, ‘You’ll definitely find it.'”

Watching Duan Fei sit down at the computer, Jinghong took a deep breath and said with firm conviction, “You’ll definitely find it.”

Those words infused Duan Fei with limitless Power.

He immediately got to work, pulling up lists of past visitors, accessing internal notices and emails, and searching for connections among the subtle clues.

Ultimately, he discovered that information about a lieutenant colonel’s visit a few days prior had been deleted; there was no record of the lieutenant colonel’s arrival in the visitor logs.

The lieutenant colonel had had his brain eaten by the Angel, and Triss was obviously trying to conceal this fact, going so far as to delete the visitor record entirely.

But this sort of thing would be discovered quickly. Unless Triss had some other way to ensure he wouldn’t get caught, he was just digging his own grave.

Regardless, this was a ticking time bomb.

And now, it was time to set it off.

After compiling the information about the lieutenant colonel’s visit, Duan Fei said to Jinghong, “Do you still need that cover identity of yours?”

“What are you planning to do with it?”

“To make a formal report, under your name, that Triss is conducting human experiments and has brutally murdered a lieutenant colonel. This will put immediate external pressure on him. You’ll play the part of a righteous new instructor who discovered the truth and is reporting Major Triss at great personal risk.”

“Understood. You write it, and I’ll send it.”

Alemann watched the two of them from the side in astonishment.

She was prepared to sacrifice herself for the mission, but she was nowhere near as nonchalant about it as these two.

In her eyes, these two were the very definition of fearless, treating death as if it were a game. They showed none of the emotions one would expect when facing their own demise.

‘What terrifying people. No wonder the All-Knowing told me to assist them.’

As she watched Duan Fei draft the email with admiration and added her digital signature, she suddenly thought of something and quickly said, “Wait, emails from here are monitored. How can you guarantee it’ll actually be sent?”

“Don’t worry, I have a secret weapon.”

Activating his Card Magic, Duan Fei selected a Character Card and immediately used it.

Come forth, Hancock!