Ning Yu landed steadily on the spire of a skyscraper. With a casual flick of her wrist, she conjured a miniature signal transmitter and affixed it to the iron tower.
Immediately, her legs erupted with flames as she flew towards the criminal stronghold.
Five hours had passed, and it was only now that the high-ranking criminals were taking notice of this place.
Upon arriving at the stronghold, Ning Yu utilized her camouflage exoskeleton to conceal herself on the building's wall, coldly observing the street below.
Under the cloak of night, a dozen figures clad in black, their faces hidden by balaclavas, were busily entering and exiting the stronghold.
Each person emerging carried a large body bag, which they loaded into a hovering transport vehicle before returning inside.
These were the low-level operatives; the bodies would be centrally disposed of.
She had to follow the trail to find their superiors.
Standing beside the busy low-level operatives were three impeccably dressed men, wearing sunglasses even in the darkness.
"They look like mid-level management. Following them should yield some results," Ning Yu mused inwardly.
One of the men seemed to notice something unusual on the opposite building wall and looked up towards Ning Yu, adjusting his glasses.
However, Ning Yu, using the high mobility of her exoskeleton, had already climbed to the inner side of the building, evading his gaze.
Regardless, anyone wearing sunglasses late at night must have a special reason.
Ning Yu's guess was correct. Beneath the man's sunglasses lay a pair of thermal imaging cybernetic eyes, and the glasses themselves possessed a heat-tracing function.
In his vision, he saw only the grey-blue wall of the building, with a wisp of orange-red warm air snaking into the interior.
A normal biological entity could not leave such a large residual heat signature.
This was enough to raise an alert. The man pulled out his communication bracelet and, with a grim expression, whispered, "Report to superiors, we've been targeted. The opponent's identity is unknown. I'll dispatch personnel to keep a close watch."
Hidden inside the building, Ning Yu released three micro-robots to monitor the targets in her stead.
Simultaneously, she deployed a crawling robot, which took a circuitous route, burrowed into and adhered to the underside of the hovering transport vehicle, acting as a tracker.
Two hours later, the targets finally finished loading all the bodies and took off into the sky in the hovering vehicle.
Leaving the cleanup crew behind, Ning Yu summoned her exoskeleton, climbed to the building's rooftop.
Beneath the moonlight, above the colorful lights,
Ning Yu transformed into a graceful black silhouette, leaping across the narrow gaps between high-rises, dashing towards the hovering vehicle.
Following them all the way, she finally reached a desolate forest on the northern outskirts of the central metropolis before sunrise.
Beside a small river, the individuals in night suits piled all the bodies together, doused them with gasoline, and set them ablaze.
The leaping flames made the tree shadows sway incessantly, like dancing demons.
Ning Yu hid in a large tree, quietly observing them.
Suddenly, a deafening gunshot echoed from below, a bullet piercing the dense foliage and heading straight for Ning Yu.
In a mere instant, Ning Yu vanished.
When she reappeared, she was already behind the shooter. With almost no hesitation, a swift movement of her hand ended the shooter's life.
At this moment, more and more lights flickered on from all directions, rapidly converging towards their location.
"Damn it," Ning Yu muttered, leaping onto a branch and activating another exoskeleton, completely merging with the night.
When the group of men in black, armed with tactical flashlights and holding carbine laser guns in their gloved hands, arrived, they could not find Ning Yu no matter how they searched.
"Boss, confirmed, the target is one person, lost contact." a man said softly, his hand cupped to his ear.
But he could no longer hear the response from the other end of the communication.
His head, along with his hands, had been neatly severed by a dark green energy sword.
In the darkness, amidst the interplay of light and shadow, a low voice was heard: "All skills activated!"
The next second, everyone was decapitated.
Their heads and hands were severed with precision almost instantaneously.
Ning Yu reformed, standing amidst the fallen corpses.
"Hello! Speak! Hello!!" came the frantic calls from the communicator.
Ning Yu plucked the communicator from a bloody head, weighed it in her hand, and suddenly remembered a skill her master had taught her.
"Code Manipulation!"
In an instant, Ning Yu's consciousness seemed to pierce through space, entering the communicator. She could faintly see a communication band glowing orange-red, flying towards the Black Star Central Metropolis.
Infiltrating the ocean of communication code, Ning Yu used her mind for two tasks simultaneously, conjuring a signal tracker. After successful frequency tuning, she began to trace the signal's origin.
"Hello! Speak! What happened?" the other end of the communication was still calling frantically.
Ning Yu, using a voice changer, said, "Reporting, we are continuing to search for the target, please do not disconnect."
"What are you doing! You can't even handle one person, and the organization spends so much money not for you to loaf around!"
"Understood, yes, we have located the target's whereabouts. Please do not disconnect. We have already initiated action and will transmit the kill footage shortly."
Just ten more seconds, ten seconds, and she could pinpoint their location!
Ning Yu shouted inwardly, praying the other side wouldn't discover anything.
When the countdown reached three seconds,
The other party, being cunning, hung up the communication.
Finally, Ning Yu only managed to search and confirm that the signal originated from a one-square-kilometer area in the southern part of the city.
"Damn it," Ning Yu cursed under her breath and turned to look into the distance.
The corpse fire was still burning in the distance, and the men in black who had been transporting the bodies, along with the three well-dressed men, were personally supervising the cremation.
"We can only place our hope on these few individuals," Ning Yu said.
Ning Yu climbed back onto a branch, quietly approached their hovering vehicle, and slipped inside when they weren't paying attention, waiting for them to arrive.
This sleepless night was soon to pass.
Ning Yu was now like a viper intently watching its prey, awaiting the optimal moment to strike.
...
With fifteen kilometers remaining until the Black Star Central Metropolis, the city's tallest buildings were already visible.
At this moment, three mechs that had been tracking them behind them accelerated and flew up, coming alongside Gu Ya.
"Ding Xiu·Bei, please immediately halt your machine for inspection." the other party sent a communication.
Approaching the Black Star Central Metropolis, Gu Ya did not wish to cause trouble and complied with their request, bringing his mech to a steady stop and exiting the cockpit.
Of course, tens of thousands of nanobots had invaded their brains the moment the three individuals emerged from their cockpits.
Information delivered right to his doorstep – how could he refuse it?
The three men, as if injected with stimulants, had their brains disrupted, experiencing continuous sensations of pleasure.
One person jumped up and performed a sprightly dance.
Another crawled on the ground in the posture of a dog, barking "Woof woof woof."
Only one man, who appeared to be the squad leader, smiled involuntarily and walked over to Gu Ya.
"Old friend Ding Xiu!! Hahaha, during the Shan Liang Country War, you stepped on us to climb the ranks, gaining promotions and honors. We hated you so much! So much that I wanted to kill your mother to vent our anger, hahaha!"
Good heavens, the other party was already experiencing an internal climax and began revealing their darkest thoughts. Yong Meng's ability was too powerful; ordinary people simply couldn't handle it.
Gu Ya gave the man no chance to continue. He donned his consciousness helmet and instantly invaded the man's brain.
When Gu Ya emerged again, he had already learned all of their plans.
"Modifying memories in the world of consciousness is truly convenient," Gu Ya said indifferently, summoning his exoskeleton, flying into the cockpit, and activating the mech to head towards the Black Star Central Metropolis.
Tens of thousands of nanobots also disappeared along with Gu Ya.
The three men left at the scene stood dazed for a few minutes, then suddenly started walking towards each other, eventually converging.
The man who had spoken to Gu Ya earlier said into his communicator, "According to Ding Xiu·Bei's confession, he was training his mech's ultimate skills at the scene at the time, which is why there were mech combat traces at the location."
"Based on the investigation reports from the three of us, and my personal guarantee of Ding Xiu·Bei's credibility, Ding Xiu·Bei is not suspicious. Now, focus all our efforts on searching for information on the 39th Brigade."
The moment they hung up the communication, the three of them completely forgot everything that had just happened, and each asked the other, "Huh? What were we doing here?"
And at this time,
Gu Ya, having successfully flown into the Black Star Central Metropolis, finally received the signal source from the miniature signal transmitter Ning Yu had installed on the iron tower.
"Infiltration operation commencing," Gu Ya stated calmly. "First, locate teammates."