Chapter 720

Ning Chen saw that all the comments said the same thing and let out a sigh of relief.

Those who read that report probably didn't know it was true; otherwise, they wouldn't have faced this matter with such an attitude.

To ordinary people, the reason such a thing appeared was simply because someone had nothing to do; as long as special effects could be applied to the image, it was a real event.

So besides making Ning Chen a bit apprehensive, this picture did not cause widespread dissemination.

Li Yu also received this news over there.

Li Yu's reaction was even more intense than Ning Chen's: "How on earth did they know about this? Did someone among you leak the matter?"

After asking this, his eyes swept over everyone present, pausing for a while on a few of them, his gaze carrying a hint of scrutiny.

The people Li Yu looked at felt goosebumps all over; one of them shrank his neck and said in a swearing tone: "It absolutely wasn't me, Boss, rest assured, I am utterly loyal to the organization with no second thoughts."

The others, seeing his behavior, followed suit one after another. Li Yu watched them, slowly stroking his chin, his gaze examining them as if scrutinizing.

When they pursued Ning Chen back then, they indeed forgot to check if anyone was down below, but logically, that place was usually uninhabited, with hardly anyone seen; how could it be such a coincidence that someone happened to be there and take a photo?

Li Yu thought carefully but still had no clear leads. However, these people were all trustworthy to Li Yu; after all, they had followed him for several years, so betrayal was unlikely to happen.

But Li Yu couldn't believe a mole would appear among his subordinates; he considered the possibility of this idea but finally let out a sigh.

"Forget it, I don't mean to blame you," Li Yu said, "it's just that this matter is too coincidental; how could it be that someone happened to pass by down below at that exact moment and happened to capture that scene?"

While speaking, Li Yu picked up the photo and showed it to everyone.

Everyone looked at the photo one by one; one of them said after a glance: "Isn't this an on-site photo...? When we were pursuing Ning Chen, someone must have been on-site at the time and witnessed the whole thing."

"So what should we do now?" Li Yu asked in return.

Li Yu's gaze stopped on their faces; his subordinates looked at each other, but not a single one could speak up.

Li Yu sighed, seeming accustomed to this situation; Ye Lisi was good at cultivating death knights and loyal dogs, so such subordinates naturally needed to strip away part of their autonomous consciousness, completely submitting to superiors, and whatever the superiors said, they could only follow that meaning.

So naturally, there were no other thoughts.

Li Yu said: "It's actually simple; just find out who spread the news. I believe there won't be any traitors among us."

More than a dozen subordinates shook their heads together; Li Yu pondered, looked at them, and let out an ambiguous laugh.

Ye Lisi's efficiency was naturally extremely high; the entire organization, top to bottom, had been arranged by Li Yu, and each had their uses in their respective fields.

So Li Yu first contacted several people with expertise and research in news; those people were also Ye Lisi's subordinates, so finding the person who spread that photo through this channel would be very fast and convenient.

After contacting them, Li Yu waited for the result; the person on the other end told him that finding the person who uploaded the picture then was not easy; that person used anonymity when submitting the photo to them, probably specifically to avoid detection; in short, it would take some time to find the person.

Li Yu frowned: "Do those people who spread photos all use anonymity?"

"Not exactly," the person on the other side answered him, "some use it, some don't, but most don't."

"I see," Li Yu nodded and instructed: "Try to find the person as quickly as possible; only after finding them can we proceed to the next step."

The person on the other side nodded and agreed; Li Yu trusted his subordinate's efficiency, so he said no more; usually, matters he assigned would get a response within three days, and if it was just finding a person, there would likely be a response within two days.

Besides, Ning Chen's "secret" was now in Li Yu's hands, so Li Yu wasn't afraid Ning Chen wouldn't come to find him.

Actually, spreading Ning Chen's matter was simple; just stir up public opinion, and those people who couldn't figure out the facts would believe it was real.

At that time, releasing Ning Chen's identity information online would ensure Ning Chen wouldn't hide.

But what Li Yu worried about wasn't that; at this stage, he even wanted to capture Ning Chen and use him for live research, after all, they indeed saw Ning Chen use skills that humans simply couldn't possibly use.

Li Yu vaguely remembered that Ning Chen seemed to summon a black hole; after that black hole appeared, it directly sucked the helicopter in, and then Ning Chen disappeared before their eyes.

If Ning Chen hadn't used that skill, probably both Ning Chen and the pilot on that helicopter would have been captured by them.

Thinking of that incident that day made Li Yu's breathing uneven; he took a deep breath, lit a cigarette and put it in his mouth, and only after taking a puff did he slowly calm down.

Li Yu raised his eyes through the smoke, his gaze carrying some ruthlessness.

"Find them, kill Ning Chen."

Ning Chen didn't know Li Yu had already gone to find the uploader of the photo; in fact, even he was curious about when that photo was taken; if he had time now, Ning Chen himself would probably investigate who uploaded that photo.

But at this moment, he couldn't spare the mental energy to worry about such things; he had already contacted the system, and thinking about it now, the person coming to pick him up tomorrow would arrive.

Going alone to Ye Lisi's headquarters was something absolutely not simple for others to hear; Ning Chen went home to pack, and now it was about time to leave; this time he didn't bring anything else, just tidied up the weapons in his hands to ensure he wouldn't lose in battle due to lacking a handy weapon.

He slept his last night in his own home.

Thinking that tomorrow night he might spend it inside a helicopter, Ning Chen felt a wave of back and waist soreness; and tonight, he found he had unusually lost sleep.

Actually, Ning Chen had experienced the feeling of insomnia many times; during the half-year when Si Shiya went missing, he had been insomniac for the entire half-year, almost unable to sleep a good night for whole nights.

It got better after the system arrived; who would have thought he would taste that feeling again now.

643 New Skill "Illusion and Reality Weight"

Ning Chen placed his hand on his forehead, his eyes half-open and half-closed, slowly letting out a sigh, while adjusting his breathing at the same time, trying to make himself fall asleep quickly.

But whenever Ning Chen had insomnia, falling asleep became very difficult; he frowned deeply, and his mind began to lose control, constantly wandering with random thoughts.

In the end, only when he finally controlled himself not to think about those things did he vaguely feel sleepiness.

Ning Chen slowly closed his eyes, but the sleepiness didn't accumulate deeply; even between half-open and half-closed eyes, a thread of consciousness remained in his mind.

Ning Chen felt he couldn't control that thread of consciousness; thoughts kept spreading; between half-dream and half-awake, he felt several scenes appeared before his eyes; before his consciousness could return, the scenes before his eyes continued to extend.

Ning Chen seemed to see someone in a commercial street; that commercial street was bustling with traffic, small stalls lined the roadside, people crowded against people, clearly a very crowded scene.

Yet he didn't know why his gaze fell on the person farthest from himself.

He saw.

That person wore a light blue long dress, her hair still hanging down loose, wearing a beautiful straw hat on her head, her whole outfit fresh and sweet.

And she was slightly bending her waist, gathering the long hair that had fallen onto her shoulder, looking down and saying something to the stall owner sitting on a small stool.

Afterwards, the stall owner handed her a bag of things; the girl whispered thanks, straightened her waist, holding a pile of fresh fruits in the plastic bag, and turned around.

Ning Chen held his breath for an instant.

For an instant, Ning Chen couldn't even distinguish whether this was a dream or reality, but he didn't clearly see the girl's face; a white mist covered the girl's face.

But Ning Chen was utterly certain—that girl was Si Shiya.

Ning Chen tried to move forward, taking a few steps, intending to reach the girl's side, but when he was still several paces away, he could not get any closer. It was as if a pitiful barrier separated them.

So Ning Chen called out to her. The girl seemed to sense something, her gaze shifting slightly toward the spot where Ning Chen stood—but when she looked at his position, it was as if she saw nothing. She took a few steps toward him, even passing directly through his body.

Ning Chen froze in place.

He slowly shifted his steps, trailing the girl as she moved through the crowd. Her destination was clear; she walked for ten minutes along the entire commercial street, then spotted the exit and turned toward a van parked at the door.

The moment Ning Chen's gaze touched the van, he instinctively felt something was wrong.

But the girl was already walking toward the vehicle. Ning Chen reached out to grab her hand—but his hand had no substance; it passed right through Si Shiya's.

Si Shiya broke into a light run toward the van, completely unaware of what awaited her, while Ning Chen could only watch helplessly as she drew nearer and nearer, unable to do anything.

It was utterly powerless.

Ning Chen's blood slowly turned icy cold. Though he did not know whose van it was, he possessed an innate instinct to detect when something was wrong.

Si Shiya fully stepped into the van, and the door slammed shut with a "thud."

The door blocked Ning Chen's view inside. He did not know why a wave of sorrow surged in his chest—he wanted desperately to chase after her, but his feet rooted to the ground, yearning to move forward yet unable to take a single step.

In overwhelming terror and grief, Ning Chen's eyes snapped wide open. He leaned against the headboard and sat up abruptly from the bed.

Unconsciously, his hair was soaked with sweat; his entire body felt as if submerged in water—he had never known he could sweat this much. He continued gasping for breath, like a fish gasping on land, his mind filled entirely with the illusionary realm.

A sense of helplessness washed over Ning Chen. He had never imagined he could feel so powerless. In the illusionary realm, he was no different from a transparent ghost—forced to watch helplessly as Si Shiya left, knowing full well that danger lay ahead, yet unable to act.

But this illusionary realm appeared far too strangely. Rather than calling it a dream, Ning Chen preferred to call it an illusionary realm, for he realized he had not fully fallen asleep.

Ning Chen wiped the cold sweat from his forehead. He forced himself to calm down and began analyzing why this had happened.

But before Ning Chen could deduce anything, the system spoke up on its own.

"Do you know why you had that dream?"

The moment the system spoke, Ning Chen knew there was a reason. He took a deep breath, forced himself to calm down, waited until his emotions stabilized, then asked: "What reason?"

"You completed your tenth check-in. This is your task reward," the system said. "The reward is named Illusion and Reality Weight."

Ning Chen rubbed his forehead. "Is this an active skill?"

The system replied: "No. It typically activates during moments of anxiety—like just now. It detected your current state: distress, insomnia. So it automatically triggered and showed you a real scene."

Ning Chen paused. "A real scene? No wonder I could do nothing."

But that was even more torturous. If it had merely been a dream, it might have been bearable—at least Ning Chen would not have known what Si Shiya had endured before her disappearance. But when her past replayed before his eyes like a film, he realized just how powerless he was—unable to do a single thing.

"... What use is this skill?" Ning Chen bit his lip. "Why not replace it with something more useful? To me, it's only torture."

The system spoke without emotion: "You'll understand its purpose in time. It's not merely for observing others' pasts—it also has the function of foreseeing the future."

Ning Chen drew in a sharp breath.

Foreseeing the future sounded miraculous. If used well, this skill would be an exceptional weapon in Ning Chen's hands.

But it was not an active skill. Even if Ning Chen wanted to use it, he had no idea how to trigger it.