From Abyssal Invasion to Bursting Stars with a Single Sword
Chapter 469 - 303: The Answer Closest to the Truth

A night passed and by noon the next day, the hospital was very quiet, nothing had happened.

"Fishing failed," Chen Linian glanced at the time on his watch and helplessly announced the result, sleeplessness had left his eyes bloodshot.

Yesterday, they had sent You Jinghan into the operating room, put on a show, and then transferred him to a patient room.

And they had released the news that the person would wake up after twelve hours.

Now twelve hours had passed, but no one had appeared to silence him a second time.

The whole night, the hospital was calm, nothing happened.

This meant that the fish hadn't bitten.

Lu Heng frowned and turned to the agent who had been on the night shift, asking, "Nothing happened last night?"

The duty agent shook his head and replied, "Nothing happened."

How could the mastermind behind the scenes send a top-tier superpower user to eliminate a target with such ruthless determination, and upon learning that their target hadn't died, not attempt a second assassination?

It didn't match the behavioral logic.

Unless there was some flaw in the whole affair that made the mastermind suspicious.

Lu Heng wanted to confirm what had happened last night and suggested, "Let's review the surveillance footage."

"That's a good idea, to confirm there are no oversights," agreed Chen Linian.

For those seasoned in investigation, watching surveillance was indeed the most direct way to find clues.

The two went to the hospital surveillance room and asked for the previous night's footage outside the patient room.

Since Iron Blood agents, who were Perceivers, were guarding both inside the room and at the door, methods such as invisibility would not allow entry into the patient room.

The surveillance video played at high speed, only slowing when moving objects appeared.

At two o'clock in the morning, a doctor accompanied by two nurses began to make rounds.

The doctor checked each patient room in turn, arriving at the one guarded by the Iron Blood agents.

The agent at the door raised his hand to prevent the doctor from entering, and the doctor continued on with the two nurses to check the next rooms.

Lu Heng frowned and asked, "Why was there no report about a doctor doing rounds last night?"

The officer on guard replied, "We didn't let him into the patient room, and we recognized this doctor as one from the hospital; there was nothing wrong with the procedure of his rounds, so we didn't report it."

Lu Heng took a deep breath and asked, "Was there an arrangement for checks and changing dressings? Not changing them in twelve hours, one glance would reveal a problem."

Chen Linian replied, "Of course we arranged for those details, we had a particular nurse enter the patient room every four hours. This nurse would not leak any secrets; I had someone protect her at all times."

The surveillance video continued, showing the part where the nurse entered the patient room.

The nurse pushed a cart into the patient room, and about ten minutes later, left the room.

The process seemed unproblematic.

After watching this, Lu Heng furrowed his brow, ran out the door towards the medication room, and looked at the trolley, inspecting the container that held discarded medications.

The IV bottles in it were mostly full.

Chen Linian followed and, seeing this, also knew where the problem lay.

He scratched his head in annoyance: "Overlooked a detail."

"Check the surveillance for the medication room, even if it's been discovered, someone would definitely have come here to check the changed medications."

They returned to the surveillance room to view the footage of the medication room.

Not many medical staff entered or exited the medication room at midnight, but there were still four or five.

The monitoring room operator responsible for recognition pointed to the screen and said, "Hey! I don't recognize this person."

Out of the five medical staff who entered or exited the medication room throughout the night, the surveillance operator recognized four, but not one.

However, this person was wearing a white coat and a mask, so there was a possibility of misidentification.

Chen Linian then called several doctors and nurses from the hospital to identify the person.

Almost all of them said, "This person is not from our hospital, our department only has about a dozen people, we can recognize everyone by their silhouette, a mask doesn't make it hard to recognize, this person is definitely not from our department."

...

Although they didn't catch the fish, they could at least be sure of one thing: last night, someone had come to the hospital to confirm You Jinghan's survival.

In other words, the mastermind behind the scenes was determined to silence You Jinghan at all costs.

Lu Heng looked at Chen Linian and asked, "Do you still think it was the work of the superpower potion trafficking forces?"

Chen Linian slowly shook his head: "To go to such lengths, it's probably not the case. Unless You Jinghan is a high-ranking member of an illegal organization."

He did originally suspect the superpower potion trafficking criminal organization was trying to silence someone, but such organizations need not go this far.

Even if You Jinghan talked, at most, it would expose the purchasing channels of the superpower potion.

Such sales channels would definitely be distributed among many people who would hand it down the chain.

Instead of risking an assassination, it would be better to have the person managing the channel lay low and avoid the storm.

Lu Heng took a deep breath and began to organize his thoughts:

"Now, the information we can confirm is, first, someone wanted to silence You Jinghan.

"Also, it means that You Jinghan has a secret, one that the person behind the scenes didn't want him to reveal."

"Second, the assassin sniper is of high level, meaning that the force behind is very strong."

"Besides the superpower potion, what other secrets could You Jinghan possess that would compel the mysterious backer to go to such lengths to silence him?"

According to Rong Xincheng's statement, You Jinghan was a good person in his daily life.

So far, there have only been two serious issues with You Jinghan.

One was the injection of the superpower potion.

The second was the Dark Werewolf Class.

After analysis, the former had been largely ruled out.

That left the latter as the only possibility: You Jinghan possessed the Dark Werewolf Class, so he might be the traitor, the one who opened the Demon Teleportation Gate.

If it really was him, then why would he be silenced?

What secret does the person behind the scenes want to hide?

Mulling over this, Chen Linian inquired, "What do you think?"

Lu Heng expressed his thoughts, "Following what Rong Xincheng said, he firmly believes that You Jinghan couldn't possibly be the traitor. I've spent some time with the three of them, and from what I perceive, I'm actually inclined to trust him."

Chen Linian raised doubts to help analyze, "It's also possible that after the injection of the superpower potion, he changed. After all, this kind of substance creates dependency and can make someone turn inhuman or ghostlike."

Lu Heng contemplated and questioned, "There's also something unreasonable. In the Elf World, this traitor was able to secretly open the Bloodline Demon's Teleportation Gate within the Elf Royal City, acting very covertly.

"But You Jinghan only chose to flee after receiving a phone call from Rong Xincheng. Do you think that's reasonable?"

Chen Linian nodded and responded, "Indeed, the former's actions were meticulous and hidden. The latter's attempt to escape was so rushed, and his escape route didn't show careful planning either. The styles of action are too different."

Lu Heng continued, "If we assume that You Jinghan isn't the traitor, then the reason he was silenced could be that someone wanted to pin the traitor's identity onto him.

"Holding the Dark Wolfman Class and having injected the superpower potion, all clues point to him. Without a careful investigation, the case could easily be closed prematurely."

Chen Linian was forced to admit this point; if it were anyone else handling this case, there would be no way to dig deeper once You Jinghan had been eliminated.

Lu Heng analytically added, "If that assumption holds, then it implies that the real traitor is the person or force behind You Jinghan's assassination.

"Therefore, we can be certain that the traitor is in Da Xia."

Chen Linian agreed with a nod, "True, if the traitor were abroad, they wouldn't be able to stir up so much trouble."

Lu Heng further stated, "We might even determine that the traitor is among those we have investigated."

Chen Linian had come to the same conclusion as well, "Exactly. The clue of the Dark Werewolf was something you brought back. No one other than the people we've looked into would know about the Dark Werewolf."

He paused before asking, "Who do you suspect it might be?"

Lu Heng took a deep breath, thoughtfully saying, "Someone capable of employing a high-level sniper to silence You Jinghan suggests the traitor has a powerful organization supporting them.

"Among the people we investigated, that's Chen Zihang, Zhuo Hongjun, and those ten people.

"These ten can be divided into two categories.

"The first category includes those like Wu Weibing, Tao Yalun; they come from relatively common backgrounds with no significant family influence.

"If they wanted to silence someone, it would only be by joining some strong organization.

"If it's Zhuo Hongjun, then it's simple; his family has the means to carry out all of this."

Chen Linian interjected with another question, "But we've tested their classes, and their class abilities are clear. None of the ten has the Dark Werewolf Class."

Lu Heng paused to inhale deeply before saying, "Actually, I fell into a trap initially, too. After testing their classes, I dismissed them as suspects. But..."

Chen Linian focused his gaze, pressing, "What you're hinting at is..."

Lu Heng nodded, "Right, the Origin Quality can be extracted. Though challenging, it's not entirely impossible."

Chen Linian frowned, thought for a moment, then voiced another doubt, "Wait, while Origin Quality can be extracted, classes cannot. These ten people's classes are intact; they can't have extracted Origin Quality."

Lu Heng acknowledged, "Yes, all their classes are complete, but there's one person who only has First and Second Transition Classes and no Third Transition Class."

To be precise, there were actually two individuals without a Third Transition Class.

Among the ten, eight of them—including Wu Weibing and Tao Yalun—had handed over part of the Moon Well Spring Water and received the Third Transition Origin Quality as a reward from superiors, then absorbed the remaining Moon Well Spring Water to achieve a complete Third Transition Class.

Chen Zihang didn't hand over any Moon Well Spring Water, so he did not receive the Third Transition Origin Quality as a reward.

In addition, there was Zhuo Hongjun, who also lacked a Third Transition Class.

Yet, Lu Heng instinctively excluded Chen Zihang from the list of suspects.

Having met Chen Zihang for the first time in the Abyss Battlefield in this life, Lu Heng was very aware of Chen Zihang's character; he was also a student at the Seven Sons of Defense University, a person of great intellect.

Lu Heng didn't believe he would fall into the role of a traitor, so he temporarily removed him from the suspect list.

Hearing this, Chen Linian furrowed his brow and interjected, "Wait a minute, I know you're talking about Zhuo Hongjun, but we've tested his class abilities, and his Second Transition Class is the Punishment Knight. The Dark Werewolf is also a Second Transition Class.

"Zhuo Hongjun's Second Transition Class is the Punishment Knight; it's not possible for him to have the Dark Werewolf."

Lu Heng wagged his finger, revealing additional information, "I overlooked that point at first, constantly searching for the Dark Werewolf. Only now do I remember, the real issue isn't the Second Transition Class but the Third Transition Class."

Chen Linian was baffled, "How does it turn out to be a Third Transition Class?"

Lu Heng exhaled slowly as he explained, "Because above the Dark Werewolf, there is a superior Class called the Dark Wolf King."