Chapter 574 - 367: The Rest of Our Lives
In the following week, Qi Ling was busy gathering intelligence from within the major corporations.
With the current level of decryption of the Black Extinction Virus, hacking into their intranets to steal data was no longer a daunting task, except for the extra effort needed to erase traces, breaking through databases was sure and easy.
However, obtaining intelligence is one thing, piecing it together and interpreting it is another.
Even disregarding the vast sea of documents, there were thousands of basic surveillance logs, each hundreds of hours long, requiring intelligence personnel to read and interpret them one by one.
During this week, the intelligence team led by Su Mo worked almost around the clock, and finally, in the early morning of March 20, two hours before the ceremony began, they pieced together all the valid intelligence and uncovered the conspiracy behind the major corporations.
The ceremony about to occur at Crown Plaza today was not the honorary ceremony it appeared to be on the surface, but a joint military operation codenamed "Flood".
The elite forces of the Hegemony Company, Iron Blood Alliance, and Black Domain Group in the New Moon City region were all mobilized, and experts seconded from their headquarters were stationed to prepare for a joint extermination of Fenrir.
Amidst the sea of surveillance logs, Su Mo also discovered a surprising figure, Troy.
The footage captured him entering the high-level banquet hall of the Hegemony Company, but what exactly was discussed inside remained unknown due to lack of surveillance.
However, judging from Troy’s distraught expression when he left the banquet hall, the empty champagne bottle brought out by the waiters later, and the imminent "Flood" operation, the whole picture could already be inferred.
Su Mo inwardly exclaimed that something was wrong, and abruptly stood up: "Quick, contact Fenrir, there’s a traitor beside her!"
...
At dawn, the honorary ceremony at Crown Plaza was about to begin.
When the news broke out last week, the authorities dispatched people to negotiate with Fenrir.
Within the Wolf Raid, there were two opposing opinions regarding this ceremony.
One faction believed they should not get too close to the authorities, this group appeared righteous but was deceitful, and they should have their faces slapped hard as before, rejecting this honorary ceremony.
The other faction believed that the Frontier and the Inner City would eventually merge into one, and constant opposition would not truly solve the problem, but only plant the seeds for a new round of conflict.
Moreover, with the current public sentiment leaning towards Wolf Raid, they no longer needed to resort to violence to rally the people, and it was time to set an example and consider the entire New Moon City’s populace.
After weighing the options, Fenrir first dispatched Troy to investigate the matter covertly.
Upon confirming there were no hidden threats, Fenrir agreed to the latter faction’s opinion.
For the future of this city, the Wolf King, who had known killing and bloodshed all his life, ultimately chose peace and accepted the goodwill from the authorities.
At this moment, the street near the Wolf Raid settlement building was already lined with a long queue of welcome cars, with border residents who had heard the news gathering on both sides of the road, cheering and ready to bid farewell to their king.
Journalists from major media outlets had also rushed to the scene, either carrying cameras or riding Floating Airships hovering in the air, conducting full coverage of the event.
Whether on social media pages or video sites, related news had already topped the trending lists, making this event the focus of worldwide attention.
Inside the settlement building, the members of Wolf Raid were bidding farewell to Fenrir one by one.
Hibell, having learned of Fenrir’s impending honor, couldn’t have been more delighted.
She had woken up once again last night, intending to hold on until the morning to see Fenrir off, but her body wouldn’t allow it, and she fainted again by the early hours.
At this moment, Troy was by Hibell’s side when he suddenly heard footsteps and turned to look back.
Only to see Fenrir walking in.
In order to embrace the goodwill and peace represented by this honorary ceremony, she did not wear her usual black leather battle attire but instead donned a custom-tailored dress, her black hair also tied up, losing the intimidating oppressive aura, and replaced by the dignity of a woman.
Troy softly asked, "Haven’t set out yet?"
"Already packed, about to leave." Fenrir gazed deeply at the unconscious Hibell on the sickbed, "Just came to bid you farewell."
Troy pressed his lips: "If Hibell were awake, she would definitely be very happy..."
Fenrir hesitated to speak, remained silent for a moment, then spoke in a low voice: "Troy, sometimes I don’t know if it’s just my illusion, but do you feel like we’ve grown a bit distant?"
Troy’s heart trembled, but he still maintained his calm exterior: "Why suddenly say this?"
Fenrir shook her head: "It’s just a vague feeling, all these years, clearly you haven’t changed, nor have I, but it feels like something has changed, and I don’t know what it is."
Troy displayed a natural smile: "Boss, when facing important occasions, it’s natural to overthink."
Fenrir chuckled softly, her tone becoming lighter: "Alright, let’s pretend I didn’t say that. I’m setting off, see you."
This "see you" from Fenrir received no response from Troy.
As Fenrir turned to leave, her phone suddenly vibrated.
She took it out to see it was a call from Su Mo.
Fenrir pressed the answer button and put the phone to her ear.
Before she had a chance to speak, Su Mo’s low urgent voice came through: "Don’t make a sound, just listen to me."
"This honorary ceremony is a trap, elite forces from the three major corporations are deployed to publicly execute you at Crown Plaza to intimidate the world."
"Troy is a traitor, Zhao Yiming bought him off with gene compiling protein, he now works for the corporations, no longer your comrade! All the intelligence he gave you is fake!"
Fenrir’s pupils dilated rapidly, glancing at Troy by the bedside, currently turning Hibell’s body to prevent bedsores.
"Fenrir, immediately leave the Inner City, leave the World Government Territory, seek refuge in the Land of No Master!"
"Whatever you do, don’t go to Crown Plaza! Do you hear me? Troy is a traitor! Don’t go to Crown Plaza!"
Fenrir didn’t utter a word, she simply pressed the hang-up button, unilaterally ending the call with Su Mo.
"Tap, tap, tap..."
While helping Hibell turn, Troy suddenly heard footsteps growing closer, he instinctively turned his head.
There was Fenrir walking towards him, her tall figure silhouetted against the morning sun outside the window, her shadow obscuring her face, leaving only the eerie dark purple eyes visible.
Troy didn’t know who Fenrir had talked to, nor the content of the conversation, yet he inexplicably felt an overwhelming pressure approaching.
He strived to maintain composure, but under those dark purple eyes, his gaze unconsciously started to wander, his frantic heartbeat causing fluctuations of hot and cold throughout his body.
Just as his heartbeat peaked, suddenly, a hand was extended toward him.
All he saw was Fenrir reaching out to him, and an unprecedented smile appeared on her usually stern face, a sweet and gentle smile.
Within that smile lay an unspeakable emotion.
Relief.
"Ten years, three months, and twenty-one days, you and your sister have been with me for so long, you’ve worked hard."
Troy couldn’t understand why Fenrir suddenly said this, reflexively shaking hands with her, and then tried to show a calm smile: "Not hard at all, it’s what we should do."
Fenrir held Troy’s hand, leaned down to give him a light hug, and then whispered in his ear:
"Take good care of Hibell in the days to come."
After saying this somewhat profound statement, Fenrir went off alone, without looking back.
Watching Fenrir walk away, Troy was initially bewildered, then as if something struck his consciousness.
The expression in his eyes kept changing—from confusion to horror, horror to melancholy, finally slumping to the ground as if his spine was removed, silently shedding tears.