Chapter 1081: Green Mis
Green Plateau City was a famous base of magical equipment in the federation. More than three hundred years ago, more than ten sects established dozens of popular shuttle brands here. It used to be the center of shuttles for the federation.
However, due to the obsolete technology of those sects, they soon failed in the fierce market. Today, many sects were catching their last breath with their legacy, and Green Plateau City had also turned into an old, lethargic, disordered city with a large number of unemployed workers.
If one were to look from the distance, the sky above the city was covered in a bright green mist. The lackluster skyscrapers were appearing and disappearing in the mist like unpredictable giant beasts.
The mist was an aftereffect of manufacturing power rune arrays on a large scale with the underdeveloped technology. It had been melted into the bones of Green Plateau City and could not be changed any time soon.
Li Yao swaggered into the mist.
Just now, at the help desk in the railway station, he had asked for the address of the nearest shuttle rental company.
For the convenience of the tourists from other cities, the company was right next to the railway station, within a five-minute walk.
In the shuttle rental company, Li Yao rented an old 'Flying Pigeon' shuttle with the thick woman's ID card.
Such shuttles were the locally-produced magical equipment of Green Plateau City. Their biggest factory was in this place, too. Therefore, they could be seen everywhere on the street. It would not be eye-catching at all to drive such a shuttle in the traffic.
In the 'Flying Pigeon', Li Yao roamed on the streets and alleys of Green Plateau City, observing the depths of the mist with his sharp eyes.
Having grown up in the magical equipment graveyard, Li Yao had seen all the darkness of the federation before he witnessed its bright side. He knew that, even in the most prosperous cities of the federation, right below the splendor on the surface, there were always clandestine corners that reeked of the stink of pustules.
Naturally, Green Plateau City, which was a base of outdated magical equipment such and in the period of decline with a high unemployment rate, was no exception.
Soon, he found the place that he needed.
It was a slum in the eastern suburbs of Green Plateau City, accompanied by a tomb-like abandoned factory and piles of wasted iron and garbage not far away.
Perhaps, a hundred years ago, when Green Plateau City was enjoying its heyday, this place had been the biggest refining center of a certain major sect.
But right now, such places were only known as one thing, a magical equipment graveyard.
Li Yao was as familiar with such places and the people living in such places as he was with his own toes.
The shuttles provided by the rental companies would usually be installed with a localizer at a conspicuous place in the shotgun, in case the renter ran away with the vehicle.
Li Yao uprooted the localizer without damaging its functions and stuffed it below the passenger's seat.
He drove the 'Flying Pigeon' to the side of the magical equipment graveyard. Then, he rolled down the window and opened the door before throwing himself into the stinky, messy place.
Ten minutes later, with the clothes of a scavenger that he had stolen in the magical equipment graveyard, he changed his appearance yet again. He now looked like the kind of refining worker that was everywhere to be seen in Green Plateau City.
When he was back, the 'Flying Pigeon' was no more.
An unlocked, half-new flying shuttle parked next to the magical equipment graveyard was like a piece of fresh, bleeding meat given to a pack of hungry wolves.
God knew where the 'Flying Pigeon' had been driven to right now.
Li Yao smiled and walked back to the downtown area unhurriedly.
It was early evening. The few chain restaurants in Green Plateau City were all packed with customers waiting in long lines.
To ease the agitation of the customers when they were waiting, some of the front halls of the restaurants would be equipped with crystal processors that the customers waiting in line could play with for free.
However, generally speaking, few people would actually use those crystal processors because most of them were carrying their portable crystal processors, which could meet their basic entertainment needs while they were waiting.
Li Yao found a crystal processor easily. He browsed through the latest information for three minutes and left the restaurant.
Then, his target was the largest and crappiest neighborhood of Green Plateau City.
In the new neighborhoods established in the recent decades, there were often underground or airborne parking lots with full facilities as well as security guards who were monitoring those places all hours of the day.
However, in the old neighborhoods that had been built for more than a hundred years, most of the shuttles were parked on the ground. There were often few vacant parking places. The security was sloppy, too, and there were not many surveillance cameras.
Li Yao put his hands in his pocket and walked on the bumpy road of the old neighborhood, glancing at the shuttles on the two sides quickly.
He was not looking for the fastest shuttle, or the most popular shuttle, which should be the least possible to be traced.
Finally, Li Yao found his target.
It was a shuttle parked to a corner in the garden of the neighborhood. Judging from the dust on the shell and the rust on the power rune arrays, it had not been used for more than three months.
Li Yao grinned. He had realized before that, for some reason, there were always such shuttles in old neighborhoods that occupied a precious parking place for a year and a half without being used at all.
Naturally, they were a major headache for the management of the neighborhood, but it was not an easy task to find their owner.
Nobody would be bothered if such shuttles were driven away, nor would anyone call the police.
Li Yao whistled and snapped his finger. The shuttle door was immediately opened with creaking noises.
In the garden, there were only a few old ladies who were enjoying the sunlight and some young girls who were playing jump rope. Nobody paid any attention to him.
Naturally, the shuttle was in the worst condition, and all the spiritual energy had run out.
However, under Li Yao's fingers, it was not a big deal at all.
Li Yao finished the maintenance of the shuttle in five minutes and drove it out of Green Plateau City in twenty minutes.
When he left Green Plateau City, he intentionally dropped by the railway station.
Although he did not have much proof, he sensed that the atmosphere of the railway station was much more intense than before. Quite a few dealers, cleaners, and police officers did not look right.
He narrowed his eyes and looked at the north. The north exit of Green Plateau City, especially the checkpoint on the direction to the capital city, had a long line of waiting shuttles. It was obvious that the security check had been upgraded.
His third identity had been seen through. The Secret Sword Bureau had traced back to Green Plateau City.
That was rather fast.
Li Yao whistled and gave ninety-nine points to Guo Chunfeng's professionalism.
But it was a pity that ninety-nine points was far from enough to capture Vulture Li Yao.
Li Yao drove the shuttle obediently neither too fast nor too slow. He changed the lane, stopped, and accelerated according to the traffic signs.
Very soon, he left from the south side of Green Plateau City. The security check here had yet to be upgraded. After he rolled down the window and revealed his bearded face, he was immediately let through and left without any trouble.
He went all the way to the south, in the opposite direction of the capital city, getting farther and farther from it.
Half an hour later, he stopped on a quiet country road. Making sure that there were not any surveillance cameras nearby, he absorbed the ragged shuttle into his Cosmos Ring. Not a single rust stain was left in the real world.
The shuttle was gone from the world just like that. Nobody would ever find it again.
Li Yao walked on the country road for twenty minutes until he reached a minor city named Wicker River City near Green Plateau City.
The small city had a railway station, too, though much smaller in size. Two pairs of crystal trains left for the capital city every day.
However, Li Yao's target was not them but the crystal train leading to the 'East Seagull Port', a fisherman's city on the coast nine hundred kilometers away, which took off once every week.
Right now, it was 7:22 p.m.
There were forty-four minutes to go before the 'Highspeed-338' train left for the East Seagull Port.
There were three days and a half to go before the highly-anticipated hundred-day memorial ceremony.
Li Yao was three hundred and thirty kilometers away from the capital city.
...
In the command center of the Demon Execution Division in the Secret Sword Bureau in the capital city, after a day and a night's hard work, the data analysts and the field workers finally retrieved precious clues from the astronomical, complicated data!
Vulture Li Yao indeed had a third identity!
Three days ago, in North Tranquility City, a female citizen bought a ticket to Green Plateau City for the next day in the ticket office with cash.
However, after reaching out to the female citizen, they had discovered that she was still in North Tranquility City and had no travel plans. She did not know that she purchased a ticket, and the contact left at the ticket office was not hers, either!
Also, three days ago, she accidentally lost her ID card in a bank in North Tranquility City. She even had a huge fight with the staff of the bank!
Eventually, the staff of the bank had found her ID card while closing and had informed her the next day!
After the test of the technicians of the Secret Sword Bureau in North Tranquility City, they found that the ID card was real, but it did not belong to the female citizen. Somebody had played tricks on the spiritual stripes on the surface of the card with delicate techniques!
According to the technicians, there were no more than five refiners in the entire federation who were able to make the false spiritual stripes on the surface of the ID card so vivid.
It was obvious now.
The two false identities previously were just smoke grenades. Vulture Li Yao did not pretend to be a middle-aged man or a young man but a woman!
But it was a pity that they did not find it out earlier.
Filtering the tremendous clues cost a huge amount of time. When they locked onto the female citizen's identity and ticket information, the crystal train leaving for Green Plateau City had long arrived.
When the Secret Sword Agents reached the railway station in Green Plateau City, the female citizen that Li Yao had disguised as had disappeared into the mist.
"Boss, I'm sorry." Mosquito's eyes were red. She was so sorry that she could barely breathe.
"That's alright. He's not far away. Also, all his three false identities have been exposed. His infiltration methods are under our control, too. We are very close to the victory!"
Although their work did not go very well, Guo Chunfeng turned much more gentle than before. He cheered up his subordinates with a smile. "Let's have dinner first. Our additional dish tonight will be the big bear paws! Everybody, do your job well after enjoying the bear paws. Try and pluck a few feathers from the tail of the vulture!"