Chapter 283: 282 Mission Complete?

'The situation outside... is currently going smoothly.'

Seeing the burned man haul out the sniffing officer, who struggled briefly before being strangled into unconsciousness, Li Ang relayed with a peculiar expression:

'Just now, a sniffing officer came out smoking—probably wanted some fresh air—and he just happened to open the hatch for us. But... uh... the bottle containing your ass got knocked off by the swinging hatch door, and it should've fallen all the way to the bottom of the tower now.'

'...'

'Don't worry, Senior Pioni.'

Sensing the complex emotions of 'Little Silver Man' Senior, Li Ang quickly comforted him:

'To prevent remote weapons from attacking the airship's gasbag, the area beneath the boarding tower is strictly off-limits. Your ass won't end up in anyone's hands. And once this mission is over, we'll head straight down to retrieve it—I guarantee we'll find your ass!'

'...'

Whether or not the ass matters... is fine. But what's in front of it—that absolutely cannot be lost!

'Alright... fine.'

With the private airship finally boarded and the mission just one step away from completion, Pioni could hardly ask everyone to rush down and search for his ass—he sighed and muttered:

'Then you'd better hurry. The feeling of being without an ass... is really strange...'

'Don't worry, Senior. So far, aside from your unfortunate ass incident, everything has gone perfectly. This mission will be over soon.'

After calming down the grieving 'Little Silver Man' Senior, Li Ang handed the thermos to the burliest burned man to carry, then touched the tiny horn peeking from his cufflink and checked the airship's interior.

Soon, as the world before him subtly shimmered, the positions of soul flames were directly 'marked' by the Black Goat's soul vision.

'Five in the front cabin—likely the airship crew; twenty-three in the rear cabin—probably the guards escorting mineral samples; only eleven in the largest middle cabin, and they're scattered.'

'Judging by the airship's layout, the middle cabin consists of many separate rooms. Anyone with a private room on this private vessel must be one of the sniffing officers.'

After briefly describing what he 'saw,' Li Ang began organizing the operation:

'Move forward a bit—this should be the storage compartment. First, use your spatial ability to drag this unconscious sniffing officer into storage and lock him in.'

'Then, follow the corridor straight to the front cabin's control area, shut all sealed valves between compartments to prevent the rear guards from emerging, and finally return to the middle cabin to find the remaining sniffing officers and completely overwrite their memories... Any problems?'

'None.'

'Simple!'

If this were giving speeches or campaigning, the rebels might struggle—but this kind of infiltration, sabotage, and targeted strike? These old 'criminals' knew it inside out.

No sooner had Li Ang finished speaking than, except for Lucy and Phoebe—who were only responsible for memory alteration—the others filed in one by one, moving with practiced ease toward the front cabin, each step as silent as a cat's.

Moments later, in Li Ang's soul vision, the rebels reached the control area—less than twenty seconds passed before all five crew members lost consciousness, and the sealed valves between compartments were cleanly lowered.

This infiltration skill was far superior to his own.

After marveling at the rebels' efficiency, once the front cabin team returned to position, Li Ang led Lucy and Phoebe into the middle cabin. The sniffing officers, just now sensing something amiss, had barely stepped out of their rooms when they were each struck by the psychic shock of the 【Sacred Pendant】, collapsing one after another with rolled-back eyes.

This operation... was pure fluid grace.

Less than a minute had passed since they jumped down, yet they had already seized control of the entire 120-meter-long airship and neutralized all key targets. Li Ang nodded in satisfaction, then, as Lucy and Phoebe altered the memories, led the team into the sniffing officers' rooms and retrieved their sniffing reports.

【ID: 941001】

【Location: Northern Lain County and Merino County, Hespito Volcanic Group, Gray Ridge Pass】

【Objective: Crustal heat source survey】

【Lead: Isaac Asimov】

【Geological conditions: Primarily basalt and andesite; mining is difficult...】

【...】

【Quality analysis: a-, high processing difficulty; requires construction of an S-class mega-mining facility and associated infrastructure...】

【Reserve estimate: SS; under no major geological shifts, crustal energy can output power semi-permanently, total duration exceeding 300 years...】

【Value assessment: Standard cooperative mining: B-grade; extreme special extraction: S-grade.】

【However, extreme extraction would satisfy over 80% of current energy demands, but would cause catastrophic environmental damage within a 12, 00-square-kilometer area; ash-laden dust clouds would drift westward with oceanic monsoons, causing years of acid rain... Cost too high—recommend abandonment...】

Crustal heat source, volcano... This must be the report.

After successfully locating his target among dozens of sniffing reports, Li Ang exhaled softly, then rubbed his cufflink, pulled out a small vial, uncapped it, and poured its contents onto the report.

'Squelch!'

With a sticky sound, a black-and-white worm-like creature landed on the report, rolling lazily as if half-asleep.

【Name: Word-Eating Worm Substrate (Knowledge, Simulation)】

【Appearance: A thumb-thick, multicolored ringed worm whose color automatically adjusts to match the paper and ink; its underside bears numerous strange organs resembling octopus suckers.】

【These tiny suckers are its mouthparts—any text on the paper, once crawled over from above, vanishes instantly.】

【Ability: Extract text, simulate output】

【Cost: After requesting its aid, you must provide a creative, knowledgeable, or amusing piece of writing as payment—note: it is very picky.】

【File: A subspecies split from the Divine-Class Word-Eating Worm; one of the 'tools' issued to each Director-level member of the Cleanup Bureau.】

【Primarily used to consume classified documents generated after cleanup operations, preventing outside gods from forcibly probing them via power; also assists in modifying documents requiring alteration, reducing Directors' workload.】

【This juvenile was issued seven years ago to Olivia, Director of the Cleanup Bureau's Virgin Branch. It has consumed 617 classified documents and 215, 07 beverage bottle labels. Currently temporarily lent to Level-3 Incident Handler Li Ang of the Virgin Branch.】

【Evaluation: A fascinating little worm. After eating so many bottle labels in Olivia's office, it's developed a taste for alcohol. After it finishes modifying your document, try offering it a splash of whiskey—just enough to cover the cap.】

【Contamination Value: 0. 】

Eat! Eat! If you can alter this report, I'll give you not just a cap of whiskey—I'll buy you a whole barrel!

After Li Ang prodded it awake with his finger, the black-and-white 【Word-Eating Worm Substrate】 lazily stretched, then began crawling slowly across the sniffing report in his hand.

As it moved line by line along the paper, the report's text vanished row by row. When it had eaten nearly all, the worm turned around and retraced its path, 'puling' the consumed text back out.

Yes—pulling it back.

One by one, characters utterly different in content but identical in handwriting fell from the worm's pinhole-sized '*' and naturally merged into the paper, as if they had always been written that way—even the original writer couldn't tell the difference.

【ID: 941001】

【Location: Northern Lain County and Merino County...】

【Objective: Crustal heat source survey】

【...】

【Quality analysis: D, high processing difficulty; requires construction of an S-class mega-mining facility and associated infrastructure, but energy impurities are excessive and require repeated purification before use...】

【Reserve estimate: S-; under no major geological shifts, crustal energy can output power semi-permanently, but this region experiences frequent crustal changes—estimated exploitable lifespan is low...】

【Value assessment: Standard cooperative mining: C- grade; extreme special extraction: B-grade.】

【Advantage: Massive reserves, capable of semi-permanent supply if no geological changes occur. But large-scale mining would carry excessive cost—not only catastrophic environmental damage within 12, 00 square kilometers, but also trigger extremely intense warfare... Benefits do not justify costs... Recommend abandonment...】

Good. Though the method is disgusting, this little booze-worm's ability is genuinely impressive—it looks perfectly authentic.

After verifying the convincingly altered file and finding no obvious flaws, Li Ang relaxed and pulled out the first three chapters of last night's hastily written 'The Tyrannical Duke Loves Me,' handing them to the Word-Eating Worm, which had raised its head expectantly.

Well done. Eat up. If you're still hungry, there's more~

'Chief.'

As Li Ang curiously watched the 【Word-Eating Worm Substrate】, wondering how it would react after devouring 'The Tyrannical Duke,' the rotund middle-aged rebel squeezed in through the door and grinned:

'Lucy's finished—everyone's memories have been fully altered. If you're done too, we can withdraw.'

'Good!'

Hearing Lucy had completed her task, Li Ang's spirits lifted. He tossed the Word-Eating Worm, still feasting on 'The Tyrannical Duke,' into the Mirror World, instructed the Black Goat to open a bottle of whiskey for it, then stepped out of the sniffing officer's room.

'Final check—look for any traces left behind. Erase everything we touched. Leave no trace if possible...'

After ordering the final sweep, Li Ang instinctively touched his cufflink and used the Black Goat's soul vision to scan the surroundings.

'Wait!'

Seeing the soul flame at the entrance to the secret harbor—its scent unmistakably familiar—Li Ang froze in shock.

Nathan... No! Joshua, the middle-aged man who returned to the present via the 【Gate of the Other World】? Wasn't he taken away by the Bottle Director? Why is he here at the boarding tower?

'What's wrong?'

Seeing Li Ang's expression, the rebels tensed. The rotund man asked anxiously:

'Chief, did the guards notice fake credentials and come up the tower to find us?'

'No.'

Shaking his head slightly, Li Ang frowned:

'It's Joshua. Not the confused prince—the former leader, using the alias Nathan.'

What? Nathan?

Hearing Li Ang's words, the rebels exchanged stunned glances.

As the founder who led them in rebellion against the kingdom, Middle-aged Joshua still held some authority among them. Now they were using intelligence he'd provided to carry out the very attack he'd wanted—and they'd just been caught red-handed by him. The feeling was deeply odd.

'Let's go out and meet him.'

After checking the rebels' soul states and confirming no one had wavered, Li Ang studied Joshua's soul flame, then declared:

'What we're doing now is exactly what he dreamed of. So if Joshua controls the body, he won't act against us now. But I fear whoever's behind him might strike.'

'If something changes on his end and he attacks you, I'll hold him off—you retreat into the airship and open the thermos. The contents inside will protect you.'

'Understood!'

At Li Ang's order, the rebels nodded and followed him out of the airship, tense as if facing a deadly enemy.

'It's been a long time.'

Clearly aware of the 【Sacred Pendant】's maximum lethal radius, Middle-aged Joshua didn't approach. He waited until the rebels emerged from the airship, then stared fiercely at Li Ang at the front, gritting his teeth in mockery:

'I thought seizing the rebel leadership would make you do something remarkable—but you're just using the intel I gave you to carry out the very mission I wanted? Then what's the difference between you and me? Hmm?'

"The difference is huge!"

A portly middle-aged merchant stepped forward and replied with a scowl:

"Inside… Joshua, to you, we're all just tools. You only need us to obey you and do your bidding. As long as we help you achieve your goal, you don't care how many tools die."

"If you had commanded this operation, half of us would be lucky to survive—but Lord Barksen didn't just get us out alive, he actually showed us a true path forward. He truly values us!"

"Heh, fine. Think whatever you like."

Having long abandoned any hope of reclaiming his position as leader of the rebels, the middle-aged Joshua Lande argued with them. He sneered contemptuously and retorted:

"But are you really certain that following this 'little Barksen' will get this done?"

Huh? What did he mean by that?

Looking at Joshua's soul and realizing he wasn't bluffing, Li Ang's brow furrowed slightly. Behind him, the burn-scarred man, who had been holding back for ages, could no longer contain himself and stepped forward, his face impatient:

"Why wouldn't it work? If it weren't for you, you spineless coward, we'd already be done and gone! Get on with it—spit it out already!"

This damned barbarian…

The middle-aged Joshua's face darkened at the burn-scarred man's insult. His cheeks twitched twice. He wanted to retort but knew he couldn't win a verbal fight, and if he tried to fight physically, he'd lose. So, scowling, he complied and spoke:

"Changing memories alone won't work. If you want to hide the news of the volcano, you have to completely destroy the entire airship!"