Chapter 1373: Little Operative (Fourth Update)

Inside the theater, at the entrance, Su Xiao sat on the waiting bench by the wall, holding a book in his hand, with a mechanical eye floating above, positioned close to the canopy corner.

Now that Bubu Wang is not here, if he were present, the mission difficulty would be reduced by at least 20%.

Su Xiao appeared to be reading a book, but in reality he was observing the crowd at the ticket counter; the Apostle's Eye has detection capability, usable once every 5 minutes with no cost, though repeated use reduces equipment durability, so it is not entirely cost-free.

The pages in Su Xiao's hand contained a tablet computer, its screen displaying images transmitted by the Apostle's Eye.

All ticket buyers are marked by the Apostle's Eye; if a suspicious target is encountered, Su Xiao will use the Apostle's Eye to investigate their information.

Su Xiao is using elimination; the spy and traitor meeting tonight likely bought tickets in advance, and if so, most audience members can be ruled out.

As for whether they will meet in the screening room, there is over a 60% chance they will; choosing a theater with massive foot traffic serves no other purpose than to use the crowd as cover.

Marking, observing, half an hour later, Su Xiao began to suffer visual fatigue; finding someone is no easy task, from which one can imagine how arduous it is for those contractors searching the world for the World's Source—victory in the war world owes them at least 30% of the credit.

Su Xiao stretched his neck, gazing toward the theater entrance, where three men and one woman pushed the door in; from their words and actions, they were not a group.

Just as Su Xiao was about to look away, his eyes met those of a certain person.

One second, two seconds, three seconds—the balding middle-aged man making eye contact with Su Xiao looked away.

Su Xiao has a personal habit: when he makes eye contact with someone, his eyes show no hostility, but he also never looks away first; doing so allows him to judge whether the other party harbors hostility, with a success rate above half.

After the bald man looked away for a few seconds, he glanced at Su Xiao with his peripheral vision and noticed Su Xiao was still staring at him.

Their eyes met again, and the balding middle-aged man muttered something under his breath, as if cursing quietly.

Su Xiao shifted his gaze to the book in his hand; thirty seconds later, the middle-aged man looked at Su Xiao through the mirror-like surface of a pillar, saw that Su Xiao was no longer staring at him, secretly breathed a sigh of relief, sat down on a chair at the entrance, and waited for the next film to begin; during this time, his gaze often unintentionally or intentionally drifted toward Su Xiao, but he remained cautious, never staring directly at Su Xiao.

"1, 2, 3, 4."

Su Xiao's timer in hand twitched, finally producing a faint vibration,

Not long after, a boy wearing a flat cap and a bow tie ran up to Su Xiao.

"Where's my candy?"

The boy had quite the little brat temperament; he somewhat rudely snatched the book from Su Xiao's hand, leaving Su Xiao slightly "helpless."

"I'll buy it later; there's still half an hour before the show starts—why the rush?"

"I won't."

The brat raised his voice, glaring at Su Xiao with puffed cheeks.

"Alright."

Su Xiao stood up, taking the brat's hand as they walked toward the theater's main gate; 'Fish' had already caught one, and the child actor had appeared to help him escape.

After leaving the theater, Su Xiao wandered into a small alley, pulled out 1000 Langke, and handed it to the boy.

"Sir, I don't want payment."

The boy pressed down on his flat cap, smiling to reveal two tiger teeth; the light in his eyes was utterly mismatched with his age.

"Just take it."

"But if Mr. Lai Zong blames me for it."

The boy—no, the young operative—was somewhat cautious, but those sharp eyes often flicked toward the ten Langke in Su Xiao's hand; with this money he could do many things, such as improving meals for the several hundred younger siblings at the orphanage.

This is the Ge Ya Alliance: capable individuals, even if only ten years old, can be entrusted with important tasks.

"5, 4, 1."

When Su Xiao's countdown jumped from 4 directly to 1, the young operative raised his hand.

"Thank you, Commander."

The young operative snatched the ten Langke, lifted his head, and bared his teeth at Su Xiao in a grin.

"Tell Lai Zong I owe him a personal favor."

"Hmm."

The young operative ran off to notify nearby operatives that they could withdraw.

Lai Zong is by no means a mere diplomat; when Skalin once blew his assistant's head apart with a single shot, Lai Zong didn't even blink, instead pulling out a handkerchief to cover his mouth and nose—something an ordinary person could not do.

The deafening gunshot, the large spray of blood—even a trained ordinary soldier would instinctively blink or stand up, but Lai Zong remained calm throughout, afterward even taking the opportunity to disgust Skalin, who had just killed someone.

While serving as a diplomat, Lai Zong is also the head of an intelligence organization named Luo Shi Zhi's Eye, whose influence radiates to the hot capital and four surrounding major cities.

Su Xiao's ability to find the Ge Ya Alliance traitor is also thanks to the 14 operatives from the surrounding branches.

Lai Zong's willingness to dispatch operatives stems from Su Xiao exercising his own authority, which angered Lai Zong greatly; he issued harsh words, stating that if this matter brings no benefit to the alliance, he will inevitably send Su Xiao back to Jiakebake Prison within half a month.

In the end, Lai Zong, pinching his nose, sent out 14 operatives, ten of whom were little brats—this was to spite Su Xiao in return, an eye for an eye, which is also one of Lai Zong's character traits.

In the alley, Su Xiao applied a transparent mask to his face, altering his appearance slightly; since the traitor has already seen him, entering the theater in his original appearance would require bringing along that young operative, which would be too troublesome.

After changing clothes, Su Xiao waited in the alley for over twenty minutes, then proceeded straight to the theater.

Passing through the entrance, after ticket inspection, Su Xiao entered the screening hall; the Jie Gang Grand Theater has six screening halls, and due to the exorbitant price of projection equipment, each hall seats over 400 people, making the viewing experience in the back rows easy to imagine.

Su Xiao bought a total of 20 tickets; no matter which hall the target is in, he can gain entry.

The film will begin at 10:20; audiences continue to arrive at their respective seats, the screening hall brightly lit, and Su Xiao casually found a seat and sat down.

Three mechanical beetles appeared in Su Xiao's hand; he tossed them beneath the seat and took out electrode patches to apply to his temples.

An invisible virtual screen appeared before Su Xiao's left eye; through a miniature remote control device, he controlled the black beetles beneath the seat.

Soon, the three beetles crawled beneath a chair and entered standby mode.

The middle-aged man who had made eye contact with Su Xiao earlier was now seated in that chair; via the Apostle's Eye detection, Su Xiao confirmed he was indeed the traitor.

The middle-aged man's name is Duke; his various physical qualities exceed those of ordinary people slightly; his file does not mark him as a traitor, but a certain ability betrayed him—a passive ability called "Blessing of the Morning Star Goddess," which increases luck attributes over time and guarantees his health.

Would a civilian of the Ge Ya Alliance go to worship the Morning Star Goddess? And receive her blessing? Obviously, this is a benefit gained from betraying the Ge Ya Alliance—luck and health.

Su Xiao did not directly move to capture this traitor; he was waiting for the traitor to meet with a spy from the Sun Kingdom; after their meeting, Su Xiao still would not act, but would continue tracking, hoping to follow the vine to the melon.