Enforcer Manual
Chapter 613: Be More Agile_1

Chapter 613: Chapter 613: Be More Agile_1

Early the next morning, Lu Xiang had to rush to the office for work, and Song Lan, who was on vacation at home, had no choice but to replace her on a trip to the dump.

Due to the Southeast Bank robbery case, Guan Lili’s team’s shooting schedule was also postponed for a few days.

When Song Lan arrived at the lounge early in the morning, Dr. Bai Zhu was dozing off on the couch, with her assistant sitting next to her helping with her eye makeup.

Upon seeing him enter, the assistant was about to wake Bai Zhu, but Song Lan stopped her with a look.

"Let her sleep for a while."

Song Lan conveyed the message with his mouth shapes, understanding Dr. Bai Zhu’s habits. She was undoubtedly the champion of staying up late among the Bug Swarm, all-nighters being a norm for her. Even without incidents, she would occasionally stay up the whole night due to binge-watching drama series or coding, resulting in him seeing Bai Zhu with pronounced dark circles at least half the time.

Having grown accustomed to living at the dump, she became even more unrestrained, using the anti-fatigue tablets Medea gave her daily like throat lozenges.

Medea, who emerged from the cubicle holding the data that Bai Zhu had stuffed to her early in the morning, sighed softly, looked at the already sleeping Bai Zhu, and whispered, "Sammuen and the others are still looking for traces of the Worms in the sewer, with no leads so far."

Searching for a single worm in the vast city’s sewer system was akin to a needle in a haystack, and given the creature’s characteristics, it might have once again transformed into someone else’s appearance, disappearing among the masses.

But this was indeed an important clue.

Because it was highly possible that the seven robbers from the Southeast Bank were also disguised by Worms.

Back in the cubicle, Medea continued, "Dr. Bai Zhu wasn’t wrong. The reason the robbers were able to breach the company’s network security system so quickly was that one of them was the network security engineer responsible for the bank. Around 4 A.M. yesterday, his family reported him missing to the Law Enforcers, stating that he hadn’t returned all night and that all contact with him was cut off."

No wonder Lu Xiang hadn’t even had time for breakfast this morning before hurrying to the office.

Song Lan mumbled to himself, exclaiming, "I never thought there would be a mole in the company."

"Normally there wouldn’t be one. These employees in key positions have tracking and virus systems installed in their operating systems, unless he was tired of living and thought of planning a bank robbery."

Medea spoke from experience; to rid herself of the virus Cloud Biological Pharmaceutical planted in her brain, she had nearly lost her life. It was only after injecting herself with the devourer virus progenitor that she managed to revive her burnt brain, the side effect being she would forever remain in this half-human, half-bug state.

"So we deduce that the real engineer is probably dead by now and has been replaced by a Worm at work recently."

Medea raised her eyebrows after speaking.

According to the engineer’s family’s testimony during the police report, her husband was still normal the day before the robbery. If she knew that what cuddled and embraced her at night was a Worm, she would probably live in an indelible psychological shadow for the rest of her life.

"If our guess is correct, then these victims replaced by Worms can not only evade detection by their closest people but also gain access to their knowledge and skills... We’ve already had Old Sa arrange for someone to watch over the engineer’s family. They are also on the potential list of the Infected."

The biggest problem now was that even they were clueless as to how many people had been replaced by these Worms; at least until the robbers acted on the bank, not even those around them could detect any difference.

After some thought, Song Lan asked, "Is there a way to test for it?"

"Theoretically, there is."

"Theoretically?"

"People replaced by Worms develop an extremely strong self-healing ability, so as long as you chop off their hands or make a hole in their body, you can identify whether they have been replaced."

Medea paused, then added, "Of course, if we did that, we would become the most heinous terrorist organization since the establishment of the United Government."

Even the most ferocious gang members from District Seventeen in the past hadn’t been crazy enough to go around making holes in people on the streets.

"If Old Sa’s team can capture a living specimen, we could begin research... Come to think of it, there’s still a lead, that Engle who escaped halfway, he obviously knows something."

What truly terrified Engle into fleeing wasn’t the human skin hidden in the sewer, but the Worm that created it.

"Dr. Bai Zhu spent all night scouring information about him. As a Five Stars rescuer, he’s really just a figurehead. He obtained the Five Stars medal purely through the hard promotion of the Polaris Alliance., taking the idol route. They gave him the title of ’People’s Mentor,’ and before his reputation plummeted, he spent every day on live streaming platforms or TV shows maintaining the image of a mentor offering life advice and solving people’s problems."

The last thing such "elder," "teacher" personas wanted was for their image to crumble.

"That’s not necessarily the case; I see the degree of his prosthetic implantation is quite high, and he even has an Overload system... Hanna’s family is so rich, yet they couldn’t afford to implant an Overload system in her brain either."

Song Lan spoke a word for Engle.

Although the guy was as timid as a mouse, he at least brought them burgers when he came over, so there was no need to belittle him completely.

"The Overload system requires talent, at least for now, that’s what I heard when I was still working at the company. At least half of the Cyber maniac incidents in the core cities were caused by this thing; it’s basically a defective product."

Medea couldn’t help but complain.

The so-called Overload system doesn’t change the flow of time, but it improves the reaction speed of the implant bearer. If it’s to be used in conjunction, all the parts in their body need to be replaced according to the Overload system, so they can keep up with the speed under the Overload state.

"I once asked Falena about it; based on this year’s statistics from the United Military Works, she said that 95% of people’s brains can’t adapt to the change in the flow of time. Despite that, they are still incessantly searching for people to forcefully stuff this thing into their brains... As for Engle, he indeed has this kind of talent, but his psychological quality is just too poor."

"You can tell."

"No, I mean his psychological quality is even worse than you might imagine."

Medea sifted through the documents and handed a page to Song Lan, "This is what Bai Zhu found: the Polaris Alliance originally planned for his rescuer career to follow a tough, battle-hero style, but the first time they sent him ’outside’ to confront the Rebel Army, he tucked tail and ran away."

Therefore, the company was forced to change strategies, "He can only fight in overwhelming situations, and over 80% of his resume consists of staged walkthroughs planned by the company. He is very aware that once he is abandoned by the company, he is nothing."

"There’s no helping it; after all, not everyone has the guts."

Medea’s words actually made Song Lan feel a bit of sympathy for Engle, "Honestly, I’m quite a coward myself."

For instance, every time he watched a horror movie, he had to hold his boss in his arms to feel at ease.

Medea rolled her eyes at Song Lan.

His and Engle’s cowardice were entirely different matters.

Engle ran away when faced with trouble, while Song Lan, after experiencing an "automatic response" due to fright, accidentally took down the disturber.

Could that be the same?

"Engle hasn’t come out since he returned home last night; he must have been scared badly. I plan to send Old Sa with some people to apply pressure, see if we can get something out of him."

"Let Old Sa continue looking for the Worms’ origin; just give me the address, I’ll take care of it myself."

Song Lan’s uncharacteristic behavior stunned Medea for a moment, and after a while, she said, "Interrogating is enough, no need for murder; even though he’s a dud, it would still be quite troublesome if a Five Stars rescuer died in District Seventeen and had to be covered up."

"What do you take me for?"

Song Lan genuinely felt that these people had deep misunderstandings of him.

When Lu Xiang went home before, he even suspected him of having taken out Guan Lili and her team.

"A hidden Serial killer."

Medea’s gaze was serious, showing not the slightest hint of joking, "According to statistics, few rescuers who have dealings with you meet good ends."

Idiots, a bunch of idiots!

"I just want to have a peaceful talk with him."

"Understood."

Medea nodded, "Just make sure the aftermath is handled well, and don’t let anyone find out."