Free Web NovelChapter 365: Chapter 276: One Look, Identified as Fake
Dozens of meters underground, the head of the intelligence department for this Canglan Society branch stood before his superior’s desk, delivering a detailed report on the intelligence he had just received.
"Steward Zhang, that’s the full story of how the rescue mission failed. It wasn’t the Superpower Administration Bureau’s Investigators who stopped us. A man named Lin Li meddled and ruined the whole thing."
Steward Zhang, the highest-ranking person in this Canglan Society branch deep in the wilderness, was a middle-aged man of about forty.
The hair at his temples was slightly graying. He had thick, neat black eyebrows and a pair of sharp, piercing eyes.
If not for a scarred, hooked nose that disrupted the harmony of his features, he would have been quite the handsome middle-aged man.
After listening to his subordinate’s report, Steward Zhang’s right index finger, which was resting on the solid wood desk, began to tap lightly on the surface, producing a very rhythmic sound. freeweɓnovel.cøm
TAP, TAP, TAP...
Hearing the sound of his superior tapping on the desk, the head of the intelligence department felt his heart involuntarily begin to beat faster.
Just as he was starting to get nervous, Steward Zhang, who had been silent until now, spoke. "You’re saying this man, Lin Li, is an Exotic Beast Hunter with a Second Order High Rank cultivation?"
"Yes."
"But you also said he just graduated from college this year."
"Yes."
"Heh..." Steward Zhang, his face expressionless, suddenly let out a short laugh before speaking in a hostile tone.
"This person is from an ordinary background, just graduated from college this year, and is twenty-two at most. You’re telling me he has a Second Order High Rank cultivation. Do you really think that’s realistic?"
"Uh..." Hearing his superior’s rhetorical questions, the department head was about to say that the intelligence came from one of his elite subordinates and couldn’t possibly be wrong, but the words caught in his throat.
His superior’s line of questioning had planted a seed of doubt in his own mind.
It wasn’t that Cultivators who reached the Second Order High Rank right after college didn’t exist. In fact, there were even some who reached that level at a younger age.
But without exception, all the Cultivators who reached Second Order High Rank so young were cultivation prodigies, meticulously groomed by the major factions from childhood.
Superb cultivation talent alone wasn’t enough. It also required a massive supply of various cultivation resources for those prodigies to reach a level in their early twenties that ordinary Cultivators could never hope to achieve.
And according to the intelligence his subordinate had sent back about this Lin Li...
The man was from an ordinary family. Even if he had unparalleled cultivation talent, being born into a common household meant he wouldn’t have access to the vast resources needed for cultivation. It would be impossible for him to reach Second Order High Rank at his age.
"Hmph..." Seeing his subordinate’s furrowed brow, Steward Zhang snorted coldly.
The more the intelligence department head thought about it, the more he felt there was something wrong with the report on Lin Li from his elite subordinate. After hearing his superior’s cold snort, beads of cold sweat broke out on his forehead.
"This is the last time. Go back and investigate again. Don’t try to fool me with a report that’s so full of holes it falls apart at a glance..." Steward Zhang said in a stern voice.
"Yes, sir. I’ll go back and arrange for another investigation immediately..." the intelligence department head quickly bowed his head and admitted his mistake.
Afterward, he remained in Steward Zhang’s office for a while longer, enduring a harsh reprimand before leaving, drenched in sweat.
CLICK, CLICK, CLICK...
After leaving his superior’s office, the head of the intelligence department walked as if he had wind at his heels, rushing back to his own office.
He was in no mood to acknowledge the colleagues who greeted him along the way.
CLICK... SLAM.
Back in his office, the intelligence department head slammed the door shut and cursed, fuming.
"That bastard Li Ying has some nerve, trying to pass off fake intelligence for a mission I assigned. Is he trying to get himself killed?"
Hundreds of miles away, in a small wooden cabin on the outskirts of the city, the flat-headed man was asleep on a spring bed when he suddenly shuddered as if in the throes of a nightmare.
BRRRING...
The phone beside his pillow suddenly rang. The flat-headed man, who had just shuddered, was immediately jolted awake by the abrupt sound.
The sleep had eased much of the pain from his injuries. The flat-headed man yawned, picked up his phone, and glanced at the caller ID. When he saw it was his superior, he was instantly alert and answered the call.
"Hello."
"Li Ying, what the hell are you playing at? Trying to pass off a mission I gave you with fake intel...?!"
Getting an earful from his superior the moment he answered the phone left the just-awakened Li Ying completely bewildered. He quickly retorted.
"Wait, Boss, what do you mean by that? What do you mean I’m fooling you with fake intel to get by?"
The head of the intelligence department repeated the questions Steward Zhang had thrown back at him during the report.
"Uh... Boss, I got all of this intelligence from Tie Qiu Heng himself. I reported it to you exactly as I heard it, word for word, without any changes," Li Ying quickly defended himself. He didn’t want to be accused of deceiving his superior.
"Did you really get this information from Tie Qiu Heng himself?"
"Absolutely. Boss, you know me. How would I dare to lie to you?"
’...’ The department head, having calmed down a little, nodded to himself. ’This subordinate of mine has been with me for years. He knows what I’m capable of; he definitely wouldn’t have the guts to fool me with false intelligence.’
"You’re right, you wouldn’t dare lie to me. But there’s no guarantee that Tie Qiu Heng wasn’t fooling you."
"That’s unlikely, right? He’s trapped in South District Prison right now. He has no reason to fool me!"
"Then how do you explain a young man from an ordinary background, who just graduated this year, reaching Second Order High Rank?" the department head shot back.
"This..." Li Ying was at a loss for words. He didn’t know how to explain it either.
Just as his superior and Steward Zhang had found it completely unreasonable, he too had his doubts when he first heard the information from Tie Qiu Heng.
However, it was firsthand intelligence from the person involved, so he had dismissed his doubts and reported it truthfully to his superior.
Now that his superior and the higher-ups all thought the intelligence was problematic, he really didn’t know how to defend himself.
Faced with this situation, one option was to infiltrate South District Prison again and question Tie Qiu Heng.
The other was to personally verify whether the young man named Lin Li was truly a Second Order High Rank Cultivator, just as the intel claimed.
Infiltrating South District Prison again to question Tie Qiu Heng would not only be dangerous, but if he gave the same answer, the trip would be for nothing.
On the other hand, personally verifying if this Lin Li was a Second Order High Rank Cultivator was also very dangerous.
After all, he himself was only at the Second Order Middle Stage. If the other party was really as strong as the intelligence suggested, he would be completely outmatched.
Li Ying weighed his options. He figured there must be a way to verify whether the young man named Lin Li was a Second Order High Rank Cultivator. He said to his superior,
"Boss, please give me a little more time. I’ll find a way to verify whether this young man, Lin Li, is a Second Order High Rank Cultivator."
...
