Chapter 670: Pursuing Fang Zhiyan

"... I think I understand."

Yang Yixie listened roughly; he's not a specialist in this field, and this portion of information is sufficient.

The authorities are now stuck in an awkward spot, unable to further lower those people's Mutation Value, forced to watch it rise while exhausting every method and resource to slow the process.

"There's another issue." Hearing Yang Yixie say that, Pei Ci furrowed his brows deeper, clearly impatient.

"You should also be supervising this world's Fang Zhiyan, right? Hand over the data so we can take a look."

The authorities had prepared for this; Pei Ci retrieved Fang Zhiyan's file and tossed it to Yang Yixie.

Fang Zhiyan's file in this world is downright splendid, a pure genius scientist template; someone like him can thrive in a wasteland, and his counterpart wouldn't be any less prominent in a more peaceful, research‑focused modern era.

However...

Two months ago, Fang Zhiyan loudly exposed the Dome's atrocities in the game, and the Dome pinned all the blame on him, causing his counterpart to be reassigned by the authorities from a key researcher to the frontier.

Yang Yixie saw something and narrowed his eyes.

The place Fang Zhiyan went to happens to be City C.

If he hadn't moved his whole family to the capital with his mother, he might have run into Fang Zhiyan on a university campus.

Then they'd have to call this cheap teacher "teacher" again.

"So, what have you deduced?" Pei Ci asked.

"We can basically confirm that this Fang Zhiyan has likely been possessed by that entity in the game."

Yang Yixie's remark was astonishing.

"What?!" This time Pei Ci truly lost his composure, slamming the table and standing up; Hua Jian Lei, who was holding an unlit cigarette and chewing it, was also stunned.

Spare this poor table...

Yang Yixie, out of sync, thought and added, "But given Fang Zhiyan's situation, it's also possible that his counterpart in this world voluntarily contacted the Fang Zhiyan in the game, perhaps even chose to merge."

One world cannot host two identical souls, so his counterpart from the adjacent world has to take a huge detour to fashion a Ying Duo body for him to use.

If the same soul appears together on the second floor, either one side is completely expelled and dissipated, or they fully fuse, with the stronger swallowing the other.

However, Fang Zhiyan's soul has long been twisted by Mutation; if he forcefully enters his counterpart's body in this world, that body will inevitably exhibit Mutation Features.

Previously, twisted souls wouldn't be replaced by players, but what if they invade this world instead?

Pei Ci heard Yang Yixie's words and raised no objections.

Mainly, Yang Yixie's and Bai Mu Yun's successive appearances have made them doubt the earlier theory, and besides, Bai Mu Yun is already here—why not Fang Zhiyan?

"In short, just use a device to check his Mutation Value."

By testing the Mutation Value, they can tell whether that Fang Zhiyan has been swapped.

"Immediately send someone to locate his position!"

Pei Ci received the order through his earpiece and sprang into action, dashing out alone, leaving only Hua Jian Lei and Yang Yixie inside.

"Are we discarding all this?"

Yang Yixie idly fiddled with the handcuffs nearby, tossed them aside, and turned to store the few boxes of discarded small robots.

"Are you sure it was Fang Zhiyan who did it?"

Hua Jian Lei pondered briefly, then again posed a question to Yang Yixie.

"Most likely, remember the group that voluntarily sought cooperation with Entropy Surge last time? It fell apart because someone was covertly monitoring; I found traces there that looked a lot like his."

This was said both to Hua Jian Lei and as an explanation to those watching from the shadows.

After all, it's still on someone else's turf.

"What's up?" Yang Yixie noticed Hua Jian Lei's expression was a bit odd.

"Um... actually, during this period I've also investigated them; I even sent Xi Ren Sheng and Lao Bao out."

Hua Jian Lei glanced sideways at a hidden surveillance camera; her beautiful, dog‑loving peach‑blossom eyes stared straight ahead, as if through the screen she could see the person on the other side.

Hopefully the authorities, seeing that they voluntarily provided intel, will treat it as an emergency.

"Later, we found the clue pointing straight to Floating City, so we had Xi Ren Sheng figure out a way to slip in; he hasn't returned yet."

Ah, that's really good.

In front of the officials, they told them that someone from Entropy Surge had secretly infiltrated Tianmian City.

Behind this, there might even be a smuggling route.

——————————————

"... What did I say? These foreign elements just can't be trusted!"

Though they haven't done anything overtly bad yet, covert little moves continue.

"Since that's the case, let them take people up to Tianmian City and arrest everyone involved in this case, treating it as atonement through merit... how about that?" The elder interrupted the brewing dispute and spoke directly.

For the authorities, they're unfamiliar with Tianmian City's terrain; having Entropy Surge handle the arrest of the player group suspected of colluding with Fang Zhiyan would also let Entropy Surge showcase its record to gain trust.

Honestly, the elder also doesn't think they can easily capture Fang Zhiyan.

In contrast, Entropy Surge is actually the most suitable to do this.

Entropy Surge's members are quite lax; none seem bound by rules, and there are many foreign operatives, all looking like carefree thrill‑seekers—Yang Yixie is a rare exception.

Though risky enough, the reward is considerable; once this matter is resolved, the precedent of a first cooperation will make future exchanges between the two smoother.

And that Mercenary Corps from the game world—what was it called again...

Version answer?

Perhaps we can let him go together, or split up.

As long as the enemy is dealt with, the authorities won't lose much in this.

"What about those few humanoid Aberrant Species?" someone asked.

"Let's wait for the test results. That sheep... Bai Mu Yun? After all, he's also an Entropy Surge member; if he needs to leave, he can go with them first, but the two who went berserk must stay until the results are in."

"But—" someone still wanted to say something.

"Alright then," the old man raised his hand, stopping him, "We can't let those who are willing to trust the officials and cooperate with us lose heart."