Lin Feng returned to Blue Star with Martina and Lin Jili.
The event concluded a little over a day faster than Lin Feng had anticipated, but he didn't rush back.
During those nearly two days, he, Lin Jili, Martina, and Fan Guzi An had a thoroughly enjoyable time.
Amusement park, shopping, water park, aquarium.
These individuals were all bundles of energy, moving from one activity to the next without pause or fatigue.
It wasn't that they couldn't usually do these things; it was just that they were happier playing with Lin Feng.
And An, experiencing complete and rich emotions for the first time, was filled with curiosity about everything!
This sparked Lin Jili and Martina's "big sister" instincts, as they doted on and looked after their new "little sister"!
Of course, Lin Feng himself had also had a blast.
However, while he was enjoying himself, quite a few people in the black robe organization were busy working for him.
Foremost among them was Ophelia!
Asking her to investigate why the Seventh Faction was targeting Lin Feng was like sending her to her doom!
Ophelia, naturally, wouldn't blindly jump into danger. Instead, as soon as Lin Feng gave the order, she went straight to Aglai.
Unlike regular black robes, Aglai, as a member of an auxiliary team, could interact with people from various factions on a daily basis.
This wasn't something she controlled; rather, it was something she had to do.
To be honest, Aglai envied Ophelia at the moment!
How could she not envy her? Ophelia had latched onto an incredibly powerful figure, her luck was simply heaven-defying!
Upon hearing that Shanhai had tasked Ophelia with running errands, Aglai immediately put her full attention into diligently searching for information and intelligence.
After all, Shanhai offered very generous compensation, and she had no reason to refuse.
However, during these past few days, Aglai had not made any substantial progress.
All information regarding the Seventh Faction seemed to be under lockdown, with no leaks whatsoever.
Even the black robes of the Seventh Faction had been rarely seen these past few days, which made Aglai smell a hint of conspiracy.
After another day of little gain, Aglai could only return to her residence.
As she opened the door, Aglai couldn't help but roll her eyes.
Ophelia was sprawled on the sofa like a piece of dried fish, completely giving up.
Seeing her, Aglai couldn't help but tease.
"I say, you're an information broker, aren't you? Why don't you try harder to find some intel?!"
This girl was completely uninspired!
This was the first mission Shanhai had given her since taking office. If she handled it well, she might become one of Shanhai's confidantes.
Ophelia let out a weak laugh.
"It's difficult, my sister!"
"These Seventh Faction members are all as cunning as monkeys right now. I can't find any useful information at all!"
"Never mind me, what about you? Did you find anything useful on your outing this time?"
Ophelia sat up from the sofa.
It wasn't that she wanted to give up; her eyes couldn't perceive any substantial, useful information!
If she were to stand face-to-face with the dwarf leader of the Seventh Faction, she might be able to discern something.
But she didn't have that opportunity to approach the dwarf leader.
Aglai sighed and held up two pieces of paper.
"I didn't find much, and I don't know if it's useful..."
Ophelia's eyes lit up, and she rushed over to grab the papers and read them...
...
Compared to the near-fruitless efforts of these two, Joseph of the Third Faction had some useful information.
It was the same room as a few days ago, and the three brothers had gathered again.
In the past few days, Ivan had been under strict supervision and hadn't caused any trouble, which pleased Joseph.
"Devon, tell me about the intelligence you've gathered first."
Although Joseph had been investigating himself, more hands made lighter work. Devon's participation had alleviated a lot of his troubles.
Devon furrowed his brow.
"I haven't gathered much intelligence; it's more in the realm of conjecture."
"These past few days, the Seventh Faction has entered a state of lockdown, and some intelligence communication has been hindered."
"It's hard to understand what that dwarf is up to, but I do have some theories."
Ivan chimed in.
"He's definitely up to no good!"
Joseph rolled his eyes. Did they even need him to say that?
However, the current state of the Seventh Faction did indicate they were up to something, or at least planning something.
"So, among the information you've obtained, is there anything that points to a conflict between Shanhai and the Seventh Faction?"
"Do you think they are the anonymous sender of the message to us?" Joseph threw out two questions consecutively.
As the leader of his faction, he naturally had access to more information than Devon.
He just wanted to see if Devon had any information that he didn't.
In response, Devon pondered for a moment.
"Regarding these two aspects, we can only speculate based on existing information, but there is no concrete evidence."
Joseph: "Go on."
Devon: "I've obtained some unreliable information, but after analysis, I believe it's highly probable."
"The conflict between the Seventh Faction's dwarf and Shanhai might be because of a woman..."
Ivan was shocked.
"What? Because of a woman?"
"Silence!"
Joseph frowned and glared at Ivan, displeased with his interruption.
"Devon, continue!"
Devon nodded.
"Shanhai once undertook an A-level mission, designated Ass0533."
"The mission was to investigate temporal anomalies concerning Kara Zor-El in the dC universe and to acquire her time-related abilities."
"Shanhai had three teammates for that mission."
"The other two are irrelevant; among the teammates, there was a woman named Naxia."
As Devon spoke, he sent Naxia's photo to Joseph's terminal.
She had a rather ordinary appearance. Joseph glanced at it briefly and then gestured for Devon to continue.
"According to the mission logs, she seemed to have a conflict with Shanhai."
"Both of them desired the time abilities, which were supposed to be collected as mission objectives, and they ended up fighting fiercely..."
Devon paused here.
"You know Shanhai's strength, Joseph..."
"So, Naxia died in that battle."
"And Kara's temporal abilities were acquired by Shanhai."
"It was during that mission that Shanhai's strength was recognized, and he was recruited into the Fifth Faction's Golden Silver Tree by that old fox, Li Xieqian."
"I suspect Shanhai already possessed his current strength back then, but that's not the point for now!"
"Naxia's strength was roughly at the second sequence. However, it's not a significant issue for the black robe organization to lose one or two individuals at the second sequence."
"But the problem lies in Naxia's identity."
Devon looked at the two of them and took a deep breath.
"According to the information I've obtained, Naxia is likely one of the dwarf's daughters..."