Chapter 69: "Kidnapping"

At this moment, Yuxing finally swapped in the “Portal” skill. He wasn’t planning to follow the network cable and attack anyone; for one thing, he knew nothing about the opponent’s background, and recklessly teleporting over might be a death sentence. For another, the side effects of the Portal skill were too severe. Until he had a solution in hand, Yuxing didn’t want to use it lightly.

But if it was just to observe the network pathways, there seemed to be no issue.

Yuxing opened his eyes for a glance, and was immediately dazzled by the radiant streams before him, forcing him to shut his eyes quickly. This Black Star Café was truly... bustling with activity. He could see countless streaks of light densely converging towards the maintenance room behind the manager, and within that room, a single, noticeably thicker beam extended outward. If he traced that beam, it would lead to a public server room, but that would only be another relay point; to track the signal further, he’d have to go search within that server room. That server provided services to countless companies and individuals, with black market signals mixed in, so Yuxing couldn’t distinguish them easily.

He removed the Portal skill and switched to “Infiltration.” When he opened his eyes again, the scene before him returned to normal.

Maguna was watching Yuxing with a confused gaze, while Yuxing stared coldly at the virtual screen’s “message sent successfully” prompt. He explained softly to Maguna beside him, “This guy… he must have seen the mimics of Balero and Garum, which is why he came asking for information about the two. Right?”

Maguna nodded blankly.

Yuxing said, “I just posted the thread, and he showed up immediately. That means he’s very likely been refreshing this page constantly, keeping an eye on the ‘Missing Persons’ tag for intelligence bounties.”

“And he’s doing so knowing that Balero and Garum are in a ‘missing’ state, actively searching for their bounty postings. In other words, he’s scanning the black market for posts about missing persons to identify whether any high-value individuals have disappeared. After all, ordinary people don’t have the right to post on this platform, so anyone searching here must be someone important, a figurehead within certain factions.”

“The manager just said, too: anyone with a ticket can board this ship, and buying a ticket doesn’t require providing personal information. So he can’t be matching people against a passenger list. If he’s not using the list, then…”

“Then…” Maguna realized as well, his eyes widening as he sprang up. “He’s matching against live bodies! Balero and Garum are with this guy!”

Yuxing grabbed Maguna, grateful for his enhanced “Strength” stat—otherwise he wouldn’t have been able to restrain this nearly two-meter-tall man. He glanced around the café, confirmed only the manager and Norba were present, then pulled Maguna back to his seat and lowered his voice. “It’s also possible he’s in the same place as Balero and Garum. When we posted, we only described their physical characteristics, without other details, which is why he came to ask. Other posters, in their rush to find people—”

Yuxing tapped the information he’d copied about the missing persons.

“—revealed more details in their posts. Now that I think about it, this is actually very dangerous. What if those people aren’t just missing, but kidnapped? Perhaps the kidnappers have a unique method, randomly abducting batches from afar, and only after bringing them in do they verify their value.”

At this point, Yuxing felt a subtle sense of dissonance.

It was impossible for all the abducted to keep their identities secret, especially those important figures, who would quickly reveal themselves so the kidnappers could contact their organizations and ransom them.

Yet this strange disappearance had lasted several months, and up to now, they were still officially considered “missing.” There was no such thing as an airtight wall in this world—if it were kidnapping, once the kidnappers made contact or someone paid ransom, rumors would have already spread.

As Yuxing was thinking this, the other party replied.

“I’ll pay 400,000 Alliance Credits for information on those two. Details per interstellar protocol (link here).”

Yuxing couldn’t help but laugh after reading—it was twice the normal price.

So he didn’t bother with the so-called interstellar protocol and replied directly.

“I’m posting on behalf of someone else. If you have information about them, you can take the commission.”

Truth be told, Yuxing didn’t expect much; this guy had tried to get information for free at first, and only offered money when Yuxing wouldn’t cooperate. Yuxing wouldn’t believe a single word from someone like that.

Even if he’d met Balero and Garum, he probably wouldn’t tell the truth.

He waited a long time, but got no further reply. Yuxing had no choice but to tap the pen-shaped projection device to close the virtual screen.

“Maguna, let’s exchange contact info. If there’s any news here, I’ll let you know right away, and if you have any leads, you can tell me.”

Yuxing slid off the high stool and opened his PAD.

“Alright.” Maguna took out his communicator, and they exchanged contact details. Maguna gave Yuxing a frequency and a number—a rather old form of encrypted communication, rarely used nowadays.

...

...

After returning home, Yuxing immediately began drafting an action plan.

The leader’s directive was to recharge the bracelet as soon as possible, so the normal routine of buying a ticket and waiting six months to depart was out.

So, should he take a gamble and club some unlucky soul at the boarding point to steal a ticket, or risk boarding a flight with a history of incidents and pray not to become another missing person?

Yuxing couldn’t decide himself, and could only submit both plans for his superior to choose from.

Late at night, Yuxing sent up both action plans, and Captain Poshu almost instantly marked them as read and received.

“…Is it already two in the morning and you haven’t slept?” Yuxing had guessed Captain Poshu might still be working, but seeing the reply, he couldn’t help but marvel.

So the rumors about Captain Zoffy’s endless overtime in fan fiction were true?

Meanwhile, on the other side of Yuxing’s screen, Captain Poshu set down his coffee cup and looked at the contents on the screen, touching his lips thoughtfully.

Perhaps he was overthinking it.

To be honest, after reading Yuxing’s two plans, Captain Poshu felt a strange sense of dissonance. In the way both proposals were written… there seemed to be a kind of “testing” intent.

It was as if Yuxing was saying he didn’t care which plan to implement, but wanted to know how far Captain Poshu would let him go to achieve the goal.

Would he permit Yuxing to harm others, to harm himself, or even to kill or commit arson?

This made Captain Poshu even more concerned about Yuxing’s current mental state.

He replied at once.

Yuxing was already nibbling on a midnight snack; his phone vibrated, signaling a new message. He hurriedly freed a hand to open it.

“Safety first. Come to headquarters the afternoon after tomorrow. I’ll pick you up at the usual spot.”