Light Fortress
Chapter 183 - 170: Lucerne Orchestra

Chapter 183: Chapter 170: Lucerne Orchestra

"Zhao Qi... something’s not quite right."

Gu Shen frowned, watching Young Master Zhao’s retreating figure.

"What do you mean?" Song Ci asked quietly while checking the arriving guests, "What did you see?"

When Zhao Qi was entering, a flicker of Blazing Fire briefly passed over the center of Gu Shen’s forehead, but because the flame was exceedingly small, it didn’t attract anyone else’s attention... During that moment under the Blazing Fire Vision, Gu Shen meticulously inspected Zhao Qi from head to toe.

One thing was certain.

This young master clearly hadn’t found the real culprit behind the incident in the old city district alley; otherwise, his reaction upon seeing both of them wouldn’t have been this.

"Ever since I punched him last time, he’s started to wise up... This time attending the banquet, he’s brought several Extraordinary Sealed Objects, likely all protective in nature," Gu Shen said softly. "However, there’s one accessory on him... that’s somewhat strange."

"It’s... a necklace."

In that brief instant under the Blazing Fire coverage.

Gu Shen had simply scanned Zhao Qi using his spiritual power... The young master’s earrings, rings, all were sealed objects. But there was also a small gift box inside his suit’s lapel which, to the sense of spiritual power, contained a necklace.

Why would a man like Zhao Qi wear a necklace?

This must be a gift for someone...

"Is that necklace also a sealed object? Could it be dangerous?" Song Ci quickly caught on, realizing that such a necklace was obviously meant to be gifted—other than the lady, who else would be worthy of a present prepared by Zhao Qi?

The Spiritual Imprint of last time still greatly troubled Song Ci.

He squinted his eyes, zeroing in on Zhao Qi’s back, "If you think there’s an issue, I’ll stop him and check again."

"Stop him and check, then what... This is just a necklace after all, it doesn’t count as evidence," Gu Shen shook his head, "Besides... there are too many people here, it’s not convenient to handle."

Song Ci clenched his fists silently, speaking expressionlessly.

"What evidence is needed? I’ll stop him, and if you find an issue with this sealed object, I’ll let him taste my fist right here, right now."

"Don’t be impulsive."

"Now is the moment when the lady is receiving a lot of attention, any move could impact her greatly. If you hit Zhao Qi here... that would be bad," Gu Shen said earnestly.

"Once the banquet starts, keep a close watch on Zhao Qi... Act when he makes a move; then it will be a case of catching both the man and the evidence."

"...Okay."

Song Ci took a deep breath, saying, "I will alert the lady."

Half an hour later, most of the banquet’s invited guests had arrived.

After completing the basic checks, the doors of the hall slowly closed. Gu Shen left the doorway, turning into a narrow back door in the hall’s security passage. He quietly leaned against the wall, standing in the shadows. Through the crack in the door, the brightly lit receiving hall was visible, bustling with guests and waiters savoring fine wines, the soothing music seeping through the thick door crack became somewhat dim and noisy to Gu Shen’s ears...

He silently connected to the earpiece, with only three people on the channel.

Himself, the teacher, and the senior sister.

"How’s it going, Hunter of the Banquet, how is the security work coming along?"

Mr. Shu’s laughter sounded.

"The Hunter of the Banquet had just checked one hundred and twenty-nine guests, now dead tired... Da Du issued so many invitations, yet not one for an S-rank member of the Judgement Institute, truly disheartening," Gu Shen murmured in response.

His forehead lit with Blazing Fire, he closed his eyes, but his vision expanded even further. His spiritual power spread in an extremely covert manner, the invisible light converging at the chandelier above the receiving hall, as though forming a larger eye.

His Blazing Fire properties were extremely special.

Several VIPs in the venue raised their heads and glanced subtly toward the direction of the chandelier... The moment Zhou Jiren grandly attended the free dance, one could sense that the Judgement Institute was prepared to hunt tonight.

The special investigation team handling the Hunter plan in Da Du had attracted the attention of many within the Parliament during this time.

Of course... it related to the footage of Chen Mei joining the special investigation team.

"There are thirty-one waiters in the reception room, I need deeper access from Deep Sea to fetch and compare these waiters’ detailed information..." Gu Shen missed Chu Ling a bit, as if she were here, these tasks would probably be handled more quickly and efficiently.

The next moment.

Glasses popped out information one after another, and the Deep Sea’s database granted twelfth-degree privileges to the special investigation team, which was the level of privileges enjoyed by Zhou Jiren within the Parliament... After full access was granted, Gu Shen felt an unprecedented exhilarating experience.

The computing power in the deep water area was provided by the trials of the Transcendents.

Correspondingly.

The higher one reached in the trials of Deep Sea, the higher the level of access one could obtain from the main brain, along with massive computing power—it was positive feedback, or rather... compensatory refeeding.

"Comparison complete."

In just three seconds, the information of thirty-one waiters was compared.

"These waiters’ profiles are all clean, with no criminal records or suspicions. After Deep Sea’s analysis of these thirty-one waiters, twenty-nine had less than 1% overlap with the facial recognition of ’Changjiu Foundation Believers,’ while the remaining two had 4% and 9% respectively." Gu Shen spoke softly, "Here’s a small interlude, the one with the highest overlap just joined the chemistry department as a rookie intern. Not long ago, he caused a minor fire explosion during an experiment, which was extinguished within ten minutes using a dry powder fire extinguisher."

"It seems Deep Sea has already tagged ’explosion’ as a keyword for Changjiu Foundation Believers..." Zhou Jiren chuckled softly, "I must say, I approve of this."

"Seconded."

Lu Nanjin was twirling a wine glass in one hand, hiding in a corner almost untouched by the light, resembling a shadow.

Like Gu Shen, she was one of tonight’s "Hunters" at the ball, albeit one in the open and one in hiding. At the moment, all the guests were enjoying the prelude to the ball, engaging in pleasant conversations and laughter.

Only Lu Nanjin stood aloof and quietly observed, from her position she could clearly see the entire reception hall and who everyone was talking to.

"A forty-minute cocktail party, afterwards everyone will move from the reception room to the main hall to enjoy a symphony performance..." Gu Shen stood in the dark safety passage and whispered, "Honestly, I’ve attended a symphony once and almost fell asleep."

"I don’t like that stuff either, too pretentious."

Zhou Jiren ended a conversation, cigar in mouth, laughing as he patted on the shoulders of several younger generations whose names he didn’t remember, offering some symbolic words of encouragement, then left the reception hall alone for the main hall.

"Those young fellows told me earlier that the symphony orchestra tonight is quite famous..."

The old chap squinted his eyes, "Seems like it was specially invited from the Central Continent, called the Lucerne Symphony Orchestra, and the chief conductor is a talented young man."

"Pierre Haitink... took over as Lucerne Orchestra’s chief conductor at 17."

Gu Shen pulled up the profile, clicking his tongue in admiration.

"Sounds impressive... but pity, no amount of talent can save my musical taste." He yawned, "Now, just hearing the words symphony makes me unbearably sleepy."

But the next second, he perked up.

"Uh-oh..."

Gu Shen believed the show was about to start, "Sister, someone’s approaching you at three o’clock, that guy looks a bit familiar..."

He compared him with the file.

Blond hair, blue eyes.

Pierre Haitink.