pjbooks Chapter 327 Joint Investigation!
Chapter 327 Joint Investigation!
He went through the plan roughly, then incorporated the energy of the Vermilion Bird into it. After returning to Jinghai, he would first go to an open area to replenish the Vermilion Bird's energy before setting off again.
I sat in the cockpit for three hours with my phone on silent the whole time.
As he approached the coastline, he unmuted his phone and discovered that Nie Qingcheng had sent a screenshot at 2 PM.
The screenshot is a commercial real estate report for Southeast Asia, on which she has circled several coordinates in red pen, with a note next to them:
"These locations are near ports, and Qingcheng International has some cooperation projects under discussion there. I've asked the on-site team to keep an eye out for any unusual situations and report back in real time. Is that convenient?"
Zhang Yan looked at the line of text, thought for three seconds, and replied:
"Tell them to just observe and not act, and to contact Qin Xiao immediately if they see any problems, and not to handle them themselves."
"Okay. I've already explained."
Another minute later, she sent a message:
"I don't know what to eat today since you're not here."
Zhang Yan glanced at the time: 8:40 PM.
"There's leftover stewed chicken in the fridge from yesterday. Let's heat it up and boil an egg."
"Too lazy to move."
"...You have several restaurants saved in your phone for takeout orders."
"It's not as good as what you make."
Zhang Yan didn't respond to that sentence and put his phone down.
When they arrived at the dock, Qin Xiao wasn't there; there was only a driver on duty who picked him up and took him back to the villa. Zhang Yan got out of the car, and just then, Qin Xiao called.
"There's something unusual about Yokosuka tonight. Ito himself appeared in an area on the west side of the base and stayed for about forty minutes. The heat level in the area spiked, unlike normal human body temperature."
"What else did he bring?"
"The two abnormally sized humanoid figures were the same two we mentioned before, but there's an extra one tonight; it's confirmed to be a third. The military intelligence department just sent it over, and I just verified it."
"Okay, keep an eye on it."
"There's one more thing. We found the cross-border records for that Central Asian coordinate—it was a trio who came from the Siberian direction with forged documents, stayed for a day, and then headed towards Japan."
"...The Land of Cherry Blossoms".
"Yes, the timing is exactly two weeks after Ito was branded."
Zhang Yan stood at the entrance of the villa, without moving.
Putting these two pieces of information together—there was an energy sample from 30,000 years ago in the abandoned command post in Central Asia, which was activated and then shut down, and then these three people returned to Japan.
What role does Ito play in this matter?
Was he the one who passively accepted it, or did he actively seek cooperation with Xu?
If it's the latter—then Ito is twice as dangerous as he thought.
Zhang Yan stood at the door for a while before going inside.
The living room lights were on. Nie Qingcheng sat on the sofa with a tablet on her lap, displaying a financial document. There was a takeout box on the table next to her, unopened and probably cold.
She looked up when she heard the door open.
"You're back?"
"Um."
Have you eaten?
"I ate something on the boat."
She glanced at him, didn't ask any more questions, and shifted her gaze back to the tablet, but her fingers stopped scrolling.
Zhang Yan took off his coat, sat down next to her, glanced at the cold takeout box, and picked it up.
"What?"
Sweet and sour pork ribs.
"I'll heat it up for you."
"Don't move." She took the takeout box back, opened the lid herself, picked up a piece with her chopsticks and put it in her mouth. It was cold, she frowned slightly, didn't say anything, and continued eating.
Zhang Yan looked at her.
"I'm going out to sea tomorrow to coordinate the four spirits."
Nie Qingcheng chewed on her ribs without saying a word, waiting for him to finish speaking.
"Operation on the high seas, one day, no combat involved, just testing mech coordination."
"and then?"
"Then there's Ito's side."
Nie Qingcheng put down her chopsticks, closed the takeout box, and looked at him.
"How do you plan to deal with Ito?"
"Purify the Void Mark from his body," Zhang Yan said. "Take care of those two, now three, non-human subordinates."
"He is in Yokosuka."
"Yes, we need to go to the land of cherry blossoms."
Nie Qingcheng lowered her head and pressed her finger on the seal of the takeout box.
"I'll arrange the landing."
"Need not--"
"Zhang Yan".
She raised her head, her voice low but flat, as if she were discussing a decision that had already been made in a meeting.
"You get the military to do global surveillance for you, and I to do business intelligence for you," she said, "but when it comes to your own operations, you still want to go alone."
Zhang Yan remained silent.
"I'm not going to war with you," Nie Qingcheng continued, "but when it comes to things like entry, transportation, logistics, and emergency evacuation plans, do you think it's faster for you to handle them, or for me to arrange them?"
After she finished speaking, she looked at him.
Zhang Yan thought for three seconds.
"You make the arrangements."
Nie Qingcheng nodded, picked up the takeout box again, and continued eating the cold pork rib.
"Message me when the joint testing is finished tomorrow," she said. "I'll start making travel plans."
"it is good."
When the takeout box was empty, she casually placed it on the table, closed the tablet, leaned back on the sofa, and stared at the ceiling.
"Zhang Yan".
"Um."
"On Ito's side, you're facing three non-humans plus a branded deputy chief of staff all by yourself," she said. "How confident are you?"
Zhang Yan thought for a moment.
"Seventy percent."
Nie Qingcheng didn't move, she just stared at the ceiling.
"Seventy percent." She repeated.
"I will complete the joint testing before I go," Zhang Yan said. "After the joint testing, we will have a clearer understanding of the synergy limits of the four spirits, and our tactics will be more accurate."
"Should I bring the White Tiger or the Black Scorpion when entering Japan?"
"The Black Scorpion is even more elusive. The White Tiger is on standby for emergencies and can be summoned at any time."
Nie Qingcheng remained silent for a while.
"Raise that 70% to 90%," she said, "and then go."
Zhang Yan glanced at her.
She didn't look at him, but kept staring at the ceiling. The beauty mark at the corner of her eye was clearly visible under the light, and her lips were pursed, looking very serious.
"Okay," he said.
Only then did she lower her gaze and turn to look at him.
"Send me the joint debugging plan before you go to bed tonight so I can review it and see if there are any loopholes," she said.
"...Can you understand the mech coordination parameters?"
"I don't understand," she said, "but I can tell whether you've put yourself in the most dangerous position."
Zhang Yan remained silent.
Nie Qingcheng stood up, threw the takeout box into the trash can, and walked towards the kitchen, her voice drifting over from behind her.
"I'll heat up a cup of milk, do you want some?"
"want."
The kitchen light came on, the microwave turntable started making noise, and the living room quieted down again.
The system panel is lit up in the corner of the field of vision. The Heavenly Craftsmanship is at 95.4%. The Four Spirits Cooperative Sealing Mode has been unlocked.
Seven months and nineteen days to go.
Zhang Yan leaned back on the sofa, listened to the sound of the microwave, and closed his eyes for a moment.
Tomorrow we'll do joint testing, and the day after tomorrow we'll begin preparations for Yokosuka.
Every step from now on is clear.
The microwave beeped, and Nie Qingcheng came out with two glasses of milk. She placed one glass on the coffee table in front of him, took the other glass, sat back down next to him, crossed her legs, and draped a blanket over her lap.
"Send it over, the joint testing plan."
"Now?"
"Now."
Zhang Yan sent her the draft on his phone. She took it, looked down at it, and flipped through the pages carefully.
The heater was running in the room, the milk was steaming, and the city lights outside the window bathed the entire city in orange light.
Zhang Yan picked up the milk, took a sip, found it was very hot, put it down, and waited.
After she finishes reading it, tell him where the loopholes are.