# 392
Chapter 392 – The Mastermind
“Hm?”
Atop the skyscraper, An Qingyu seemed to sense something; his brows lifted slightly.
“What is it?” Lin Qiye asked.
“Two people are standing on the very top of the Southern Gate.” An Qingyu turned toward the distance. On that huge neon-lit structure, everything was pitch-black—impossible to see with the naked eye.
“Two people?” Lin Qiye was startled. “Members of Team 017?”
“Doesn’t look like it. No cloaks, no Night Watch gear. Beside them are three large black cases…”
Lin Qiye frowned. “Not Night Watch, yet inside this mental-contamination fog, lugging three big cases…”
He pondered a moment. “Any distinguishing features?”
“I’ll sketch them.”
An Qingyu crouched, frost condensing at his fingertip. Eyes fixed on the ground, he began swift, sure strokes.
Lin Qiye watched in surprise; he hadn’t known An Qingyu could draw. Though the lines were sparse, the figures’ bearing leapt out.
When he saw the woman in the sketch, Lin Qiye’s pupils shrank—he instantly recalled the Church of the Ancient Gods’ “Snake Woman” he’d once fought. His brows knitted tight.
“You know her?” An Qingyu asked, catching the change.
“Church of the Ancient Gods,” Lin Qiye said slowly, gaze grave. “What are they doing here?”
“Church of the Ancient Gods…” An Qingyu murmured. “Is the Bell Cranel incident their doing?”
“Most likely. Looks like this isn’t simple.
“No wonder the contaminated Team 017 didn’t come for revenge as predicted,” An Qingyu added, eyes glinting. “The player I was dueling with mid-game… got swapped.”
He turned to Lin Qiye. “So? Call the others and pull out?”
Lin Qiye stared at the Southern Gate towering against the night, thinking.
“Bell Cranel knows our aura, but those two from the Church shouldn’t. We’ve worn masks the whole time, and I never acted—she shouldn’t know I’m Lin Qiye, or she’d have come straight for me instead of bothering Baili Pangpang and the rest…
Besides, we’re a ghost squad not in any file; our presence is pure chance. Even if they’re using Bell Cranel as bait, the target can’t be us.”
An Qingyu caught on. “So their real target is…”
“The Phoenix squad—specialists in overseas mysteries.” Lin Qiye was certain. “They released Bell Cranel downtown Gusu to draw Phoenix here. They just didn’t expect an unknown team instead, so they’ve held back, sending the tainted Team 017 to probe.”
“If they’ve laid such a trap for Phoenix, they must have the strength or trump to beat them,” An Qingyu said quietly. “Five River-realm rookies like us? Hardly their match.”
Lin Qiye narrowed his eyes at the two portraits. “I don’t know the man, but I fought Snake Woman a year ago—she was a rookie then. Even with growth, her level can’t be too high. The problem is that man… or the three cases.”
An Qingyu blinked, surprised. “You’re not thinking of retreating?”
“If they believe they can take on the whole Phoenix squad, that man must be strong. But unless he’s one of the Church’s three primordial evil gods, personal power alone can’t crush a special team.
So the answer lies in those three cases—something tailor-made against Phoenix, useless on anyone else. Otherwise they’d have opened them and killed us already, instead of watching from the shadows.
Which means… without those boxes, they lack the confidence to fight a special team.”
Lin Qiye’s eyes gleamed. “With the right plan… we can win.”
An Qingyu studied him, then nodded. “Logically, yes. But risky. We’re a reserve squad, all River Realm. If that man is Klein, we’re dead.”
“To become a special team, we can’t flee every danger. And we don’t need a head-on fight,” Lin Qiye said.
“Our mission: rescue Team 017 and eliminate Bell Cranel.”
“Avoid those two while doing both?” An Qingyu’s eyes sparkled. “Difficult… but interesting.”
Lin Qiye stared at him. “Why do you look excited?”
“Challenge makes it fun… And you and I have never lost when we scheme together, have we?”
Lin Qiye laughed. “True. Whether the Nanda Snake Demon or Bell Cranel, they lost to us.”
“It lost once; it’ll lose again—along with those two behind it.” An Qingyu smiled. “So, any ideas?”
“Our edge: we know they exist; they don’t know us. They won’t rush, and they’ve never seen our faces,” Lin Qiye mused. “But how to turn that into a plan…”
An Qingyu blinked, a shy grin forming.
“I have an idea…”
Under the night sky, two youths stood atop the skyscraper, their whispers carried off by the wind…