Retrieve the surveillance footage. Xu Que's happiness
After Xu Que and the others departed the operations command center, Elder Zhao quickly reached out to Elder Ye and others. After all, the group of people had become unbearably arrogant. If they continued their reckless ways, Zhao would have no choice but to abandon his logistical duties.
"Brother Xu, would you like a ride back?" Young Master Kun, driving his six-wheeled divine car, asked.
"No need, I'll fly back myself." Xu Que said, as his black sword materialized before him.
Watching Xu Que's graceful departure, Young Master Kun couldn't help but feel envious.
"Why not use a sword yourself?" Zhao Xian, seated in the front passenger seat, said with a playful expression.
"Don't think I don't want to! The problem is, our cultivation method simply doesn't allow us to fly!" Kun replied, stepping on the gas pedal and speeding off.
Xu Que had originally planned to head directly to the harbor district, but his gaze inadvertently swept over the "Cultivation Leaderboard."
In the next moment, Xu Que's pupils contracted, and his spiritual energy immediately severed its connection with the black sword.
"Control!"
Just as he was about to plummet to the ground, the black sword managed to catch him just in time.
Xu Que landed gracefully and fixed his gaze on the 92nd position on the leaderboard.
"What's going on? Could it be a coincidence?"
Xu Que felt a surge of disbelief, for the nickname of the 92nd rank was one he knew all too well, perhaps even more so than the name "Kunpeng Hero."
He quickly took out his phone, powered it on, and called Shen Mengchu.
"Did you leave?" Shen Mengchu asked.
"Yes, we're already on our way." Xu Que inquired, "Mengchu, is Ji Bodao really dead?"
Shen Mengchu paused for a moment before responding, "His name is on the list of the fallen, and his military tag was found at the scene."
Xu Que fell silent for a long time, unable to fully accept the coincidence. In his previous life, he had known Ji Bodao well—or rather, had paid attention to him only because of Liu Ruyan. He never cared much about others' nicknames.
"Bo Yuan Zhe" had been Ji Bodao's alias in his past life!
"Xu Que, what's wrong?" Shen Mengchu's voice was tinged with concern on the other end of the line.
Xu Que's silence caused Shen Mengchu to worry that he might slip into that dreaded, near-stiff state, which was unsettling even for her.
"I'm fine, just wanted to confirm something." Xu Que responded calmly.
"Actually, when I saw the casualty list, I was a bit surprised too. But... he definitely…" Before Shen Mengchu could finish her sentence, she suddenly recalled something and hurriedly added, "Xu Que, you were headed toward the harbor district, right? There should be footage from the battle there."
Xu Que instantly realized she was right. If he wanted to verify whether Ji Bodao was truly dead, he just needed to check the footage.
"Thanks, I'll head there now," Xu Que said before hanging up and heading for the harbor district.
Meanwhile, Ye Hu from the harbor district had also received a call from Shen Mengchu. Upon hearing the details, he wasted no time and immediately ordered the retrieval of the battle footage.
When Xu Que arrived at the command center, the technician was already playing the footage where Ji Bodao stood behind an armored vehicle.
"Pause!"
The technician was startled, his hand trembling slightly, but he quickly hit the pause button.
"You've arrived just in time; we were pulling up the surveillance data from that day," Ye Hu said.
Xu Que nodded and stood behind the technician. "Rewind and zoom out, then stop when you reach the frame with me."
The technician promptly followed his instructions, and the scene zoomed out. Several synchronized screens popped up, showing the scene where Ji Bodao had been hiding behind the armored vehicle, observing Xu Que. Ye Hu instantly seemed to understand something.
Xu Que narrowed his eyes, recalling the unsettling feeling from that day and soon understood what had happened.
"Please slow down the playback. I want to see what he did," Xu Que requested.
As the footage resumed, Ye Hu and the others stood still in shock. Ji Bodao, after removing his name tag, vanished into the blind spot of the surveillance cameras…
"Pull up information on this person and perform a real-time comparison. I want to see if he appeared on the battlefield," Ye Hu instructed.
"Understood." The technician quickly complied.
As the comparison was made, images of numerous individuals were instantly matched against Ji Bodao's. But when no match was found, a large red notification flashed across the screen.
Seeing this, Ye Hu immediately said, "Expand the data filter. Any resemblance of six points or more, pull them up."
The technician didn't respond verbally but furiously tapped at the keyboard. Earlier, he had filtered for eight-point matches. While there might have been some overlap or blurred images, there should have been at least some results.
Soon, five individuals appeared on the screen whose appearances and figures closely resembled Ji Bodao's.
When Xu Que saw them, a smile crept across his face. These five were definitely not Ji Bodao!
"Did this person desert during the battle?" The technician murmured in disbelief.
Ye Hu remained silent, stepping aside to pick up the phone to report to higher-ups.
"Brother, please retrieve all data on this person. I want to see his movements," Xu Que said, smiling as he patted the technician's shoulder.
"Alright."
As the technician continued working, the unique footage of Ji Bodao emerged. Xu Que, seeing Ji Bodao fighting the beast-like creature and seemingly studying something, stepped forward, pointing at the screen.
"Lock this time frame and play it back, but only focus on his movements," Xu Que instructed.
The technician nodded, and soon the screen showed Ji Bodao fleeing the battlefield and escaping the harbor district.
The technician stood frozen, unable to comprehend what he was seeing. Xu Que, however, wore a knowing smile, for this moment coincided perfectly with the time he had witnessed Tang Xue and the others storming into the special training camp.
In his past life, Xu Que had suspected Ji Bodao might be connected to Tang Xue, but with his focus on entering the dimensional space and spending time with the Liu family vampires, he never pursued the thought.
This time, however, he had broken free from all the old traps of his previous life and could now observe everything from an omniscient perspective.
"So that's it... everything makes sense now!" Xu Que murmured to himself.
"Huh?" The technician was still confused. "What do you mean?"
Xu Que grinned, patting him on the back. "Thank you. You've solved a mystery I've had for years!"
"Huh?" The technician was thoroughly puzzled, unable to understand what he had done.
After Ye Hu finished his call, he was about to ask Xu Que where he was going when Xu Que preemptively said, "I'm going out for a while. I'll be back by tomorrow morning."
"Alright, I'll notify you if anything comes up," Ye Hu said, saluting.
Just as Xu Que left the harbor district, his phone rang. Seeing it was Shen Mengchu calling, Xu Que smiled and answered.
"I've received news about Ji Bodao. I really didn't expect him to play such a clever game of escape," Shen Mengchu said, her voice tinged with frustration.
At that moment, Shen Mengchu still clearly remembered Ji Bodao's words: "I don't need this anymore, because I'll never die!"
After all that, it turned out he had already planned to desert…
"Alright, don't get too upset. People like him, I'll take care of him eventually," Xu Que said easily.
Xu Que was in a great mood, for his revenge plan could now proceed perfectly!
Hearing Xu Que's resolve to deal with Ji Bodao, Shen Mengchu felt a sense of uncertainty but didn't dare to ask further. She changed the topic instead. "So, which dimensional rift are you planning to investigate next?"
"I'll take a few days to rest and focus on setting up the company. But before that, I'd like to offer you the position of chairwoman!" Xu Que said, in an exceptionally cheerful mood.