NOVEL NEXT Chapter 200 The Theft Process
As Spirit, Su Muyu, and Jian Qing entered the crime scene, they found that Zhuo Hongjun and Chen Zihang were also present.
In addition to them, there was a senior inspector from the Capital Iron Blood Investigation Bureau, Li Zhaofeng.
After the introductions, Lu Heng shook hands with Li Zhaofeng, and they got acquainted.
A guard was recounting what had happened during the incident.
Along the way, they had heard bits and pieces of the case.
It was only after hearing the complete explanation at the scene that Lu Heng finally pieced the whole incident together.
Alex Austin had indeed appeared, but the situation was not as initially thought.
Of the guards on duty tonight, Zhuo Hongjun was the rotational officer on alert, holding the rank of Captain, and he was the highest-ranking officer among the evening's rotational guards.
That is to say, before the incident alarmed the superiors and a General was sent to command the operation, Zhuo Hongjun, being the highest-ranking officer present that night, was in charge of directing the scene.
Although the guard did not directly express suspicion towards Zhuo Hongjun, by linking together the content of his narrative, one could roughly deduce the sequence of events.
Before coming here, Lu Heng and Jian Qing had continuously heard news that Alex Austin had attacked the Academy of Sciences.
This news sounded rather shocking; blatantly attacking the Academy of Sciences seemed preposterous no matter how one heard it.
During the Abyss Era, indeed, anything preposterous could happen.
However, there was more to tonight's incident.
Now, after hearing the complete account of the event on site, Lu Heng understood what had actually occurred.
In fact,
Alex Austin had not really launched an attack, but he had indeed appeared.
He showed up near the Third Research Institute of the Academy of Sciences and was then detected by a Perceiver on guard duty that night.
After the Perceiver guard discovered Alex Austin, he immediately reported it, and naturally, it reached Zhuo Hongjun.
Because he was the highest-ranking junior officer on rotational guard duty that night.
After Zhuo Hongjun heard the news, he chose to report it.
Up to this point, there was nothing amiss.
However, after Zhuo Hongjun reported Alex Austin's whereabouts, he immediately took a team of guards to apprehend him.
This led to a battle, causing quite a stir.
This, in turn, caused a lapse in the Academy of Sciences' security, and subsequently, a data theft occurred.
Naturally, there are some details in this matter that Lu Heng deduced.
In the process of the guard's narrative, there seemed to be no fault in Zhuo Hongjun's decision-making.
Discovering an enemy spy, reporting the information, and then deploying forces to apprehend him.
At first glance, it appeared there was no issue.
It was only the outcome that was problematic.
If there were to be an assignment of blame, Zhuo Hongjun would certainly need to reflect on his actions, but given his background, that would be all, at most, he might be deemed rash.
Others might not notice, but Lu Heng and Jian Qing exchanged a glance after hearing this, and both guessed the reason others did not know.
The reason Zhuo Hongjun chose to rashly strike and capture Alex Austin was quite simple.
Naturally, it was because of the skill "Damage Retrospection."
Previously, at the training base, a method had been decided for competing over this skill: whoever captured Alex Austin would get the skill.
Tonight, Zhuo Hongjun discovered Alex Austin and saw it as the best opportunity, naturally, he took immediate action, leading his subordinates—Superpower Soldiers—to attempt to capture Alex Austin in one fell swoop.
As a result of him taking away a team of guards, the Academy of Sciences' defense force had a loophole, and a hard drive that backed up data from Sikes Technology was lost.
After listening to the guard's account, Lu Heng and Jian Qing both guessed what had happened, but the most pressing matter was to recover the hard drive.
Afterward, Lu Heng and his group were led by the head of the guard through three levels of security checks before they could enter the machine room where the hard drive was lost.
Having to go through three levels of security checks, from a rigorous inspection perspective, was already very strict.
The guard captain said, "Under normal circumstances, these three security checks would prevent any spy from coming in, but the person who came in last night was a researcher from the academy, someone with the authority to pass through these three checks."
Indeed, this was an unsolvable problem if a researcher was controlled by Spirit Control and then took the hard drive out.
With such extraordinary powers in play, even the most secure inspections could be difficult to maintain.
Next,
Lu Heng saw the mainframe from which the hard drive had been taken; there was a lock on the outside of the mainframe, but it had been broken, and the hard drive had been forcibly removed, even breaking off a corner.
Although a corner of the hard drive had been broken off, it did not prevent the data inside from being retrieved technically.
Lu Heng stared at the damaged mainframe and asked, "Were all the data lost?"
The deputy director hurriedly explained, "No, we used a method of separate backups, dividing the data into more than a hundred parts according to different fields. What was lost was just one part, mainly the controlled nuclear fusion portion."
Lu Heng frowned upon hearing that it was the data on controlled nuclear fusion that had been lost.
Controlled nuclear fusion is 1.0 technology and a hallmark of planetary civilization.
Once controlled nuclear fusion is mastered, civilization will move from a planetary civilization toward a constant star civilization.
Thus, this technology is of tremendous importance.
Fortunately, it was only a portion of the technological data that was lost, not all of it, so it wasn't the worst-case scenario.
Subsequently,
Lu Heng went to the surveillance room to review the footage of the research personnel entering the computer room and taking the hard drive.
In the surveillance video, this researcher seemed normal, but his actions clearly weren't driven by his own will.
After watching the video, Lu Heng's conclusion was the same as his previous analysis.
"This person was indeed under spirit control, the opponent came prepared."
Observing the researcher's condition, Lu Heng speculated that the spirit control skill could be one of two possibilities:
One was a Level C "Spirit Control," and the other was Level B "Commanding Will."
If it were a Level C "Spirit Control," then the controller wouldn't be more than two hundred meters away.
If it were a Level B "Commanding Will," the distance could be over a thousand meters.
The difference between the two was significant.
If the distance didn't exceed two hundred meters, it meant that the controller was very close to the vicinity of the Academy of Sciences.
If it was over a thousand meters, that would be more difficult to deal with.
As for which of the two abilities it was, it was impossible to distinguish just from the surveillance footage.
Lu Heng turned around and asked the head of the security team, "Did you notice any suspicious persons around the Academy at the time of the incident?"
"How large an area around?" the head of security thoughtfully asked.
"Within two hundred meters of where the hard drive was lost," Lu Heng said.
"That's a very small range, it even extends to the entrance of the Academy," frowned the head of security.
"Then retrieve the surveillance data from the surrounding streets to see if any suspicious individuals are found," Lu Heng arranged the task.
The head of security didn't move, instead looking towards Instructor Liu.
Instructor Liu nodded and said, "I'll assign someone to handle it."
Afterward,
Lu Heng obtained the data of the controlled researcher and found that this researcher was not a superpower user, but rather an ordinary person.
Following the Abyss Descent, not everyone was willing to awaken.
Because, based on the information widely accepted now, it was believed that upon awakening as a superpower user, one would be conscripted into the Abyss Battlefield.
As for the conscription pattern, it hadn't been completely explored yet.
Therefore, many ordinary people who didn't want to be conscripted by the Abyss Battlefield chose not to awaken.
Among these researchers, a higher proportion of those who wished to focus on scientific research chose not to awaken.
Seeing that the researcher was not a superpower user, Lu Heng asked, "He's not a superpower user?"
"Correct, Mr. Liu has not awakened," the head of security confirmed with a nod.
"May I see the list of research personnel who were in the Academy of Sciences tonight? It would be better if the details were more extensive," Lu Heng made another request.
With Instructor Liu overseeing and all actions being taken in accordance with Lu Heng's requests,
the head of security promptly went to get the list of personnel present at the Academy tonight.
After reviewing it, Lu Heng found that of the researchers present at the Academy tonight, only two had access through those three security checks.
One was the silenced Mr. Liu, and the other was the head of research, who was a Level 10 superpower user.
Moreover, the clearance level of the head of research was even higher.
That is to say, if the head of research was controlled, it was possible to steal even more technological data.
However, the spirit controller did not do so and chose an unawakened researcher instead.
Ordinary people are relatively more susceptible to spirit control.
Controlling an ordinary person is indeed simpler, but a Level 10 is not exceptionally high.
A spiritual superpower user sent on such a mission to steal scientific secrets could not possibly be low level.
In this situation, still choosing an unawakened researcher,
instead of trying to obtain more technological data,
meant there was only one reason: he was not confident in controlling the Level 10 head of research.
A Level 10 head of research would certainly have a higher spiritual attribute, but as a non-combat superpower user, the increase would be limited.
If this spirit controller was indeed using the Level B "Commanding Will," controlling a Level 10 superpower user would be an easy task.
Level B "Commanding Will" is very powerful.
Lu Heng had personally experienced the skill used by Hasegawa Tom, so he knew the strength of this ability.
Even Lu Heng could lose control for an instant, a Level 10 head of research wouldn't stand a chance.
Yet, the spiritual superpower user still chose the unawakened ordinary researcher.
Therefore, there was only one possibility, his ability to control a Level 10 head of research was difficult.
That is to say, this spirit controller's ability was not a Level B "Commanding Will," but rather a Level C "Spirit Control."
After realizing this, Lu Heng said with certainty, "Check all the surveillance around the Science Academy, I'm sure there's a spiritual superpower user who has appeared in the vicinity."
After listening, Instructor Liu frowned, but seeing Lu Heng so confident, chose to believe him and loudly commanded, "Dispatch more personnel, check all the surveillance in the surrounding blocks, find this person!"