561: Chapter 561 Drawing Talismans!

"Isn't... isn't that the Yamaguchi-gumi's surveillance footage?"

Li Mu was stunned.

He didn't understand technology, but he wasn't blind...

But when he thought about how this middle-aged man was the strongest hacker in the branch, Ning Shangshan, he was suddenly dazed.

Ning Shangshan swallowed hard and explained with difficulty, "Minister Li, look at the top right corner of the computer. There's a small icon of a map of Japan."

"What's that?"

"The entire local area network of Japan."

Ning Shangshan's voice was trembling.

As a tech guy, he knew all too well how terrifying Japan's network defense system was, utilizing the USA's technology.

The firewalls were layered, the encryption algorithms were military-grade, and the intrusion detection system was known as an 'iron wall.'

Countless top hackers internationally had tried to break through, only to return in defeat.

But what about Ye Chen?

One minute.

In less time than it takes to cook a cup of instant noodles, he had taken down Japan's entire local area network.

This was no longer hacking; this was a miracle.

Li Mu was dumbstruck.

Yan Qingwu was also very surprised.

They knew very well how terrifying the weight of Ning Shangshan's words was...

However, Ye Chen simply leaned back in his chair and asked indifferently, "Is it that hard?"

The whole room: "..."

Fine!

They shouldn't have doubted Mr. Ye.

Li Mu took a deep breath, trying to calm himself down, then walked to the screen to carefully examine the surveillance footage.

Yan Qingwu and Ning Shangshan also came over, their eyes scanning back and forth between several screens.

Soon.

"Found them!"

Ning Shangshan suddenly pointed at one of the screens, his voice filled with excitement.

"Hakata Port, Area D container yard, the targets have appeared!"

Hearing this, everyone immediately crowded forward.

In the surveillance footage, under dim lighting, three figures were moving quickly along the path at the edge of the yard.

Two men and one woman.

The man leading the way was about fifty years old.

His grey robe was covered in dust and blood, and his left sleeve was empty.

He had clearly lost an arm.

The man behind him was older, with grey hair.

And the woman bringing up the rear looked to be only eighteen or nineteen, wearing a plain white long dress with a muddy hem, her long hair disheveled over her shoulders.

But even in such a sorry state, her face was still incredibly exquisite.

Willow eyebrows, almond eyes, a delicate nose, and cherry lips; her skin was so pale it was almost translucent, like an unpolished piece of jade.

But strangely...

The leading middle-aged man's gaze, whether intentional or not, actually glanced toward the surveillance camera.

Then.

The three of them disappeared from the camera's view.

"It's them!"

Li Mu's voice carried a hint of excitement.

"The three people who escaped from the Ancient Tomb Sect!"

"Now, things will be much easier!"

"We can rule out some areas based on their route and follow the trail where they appeared!"

As he spoke...

...he had already taken out his phone, preparing to notify the branch members to start the infiltration.

However...

Ye Chen shook his head. "Do you think... they were accidentally exposed to the cameras?"

Li Mu paused, his eyes full of confusion.

"Mr. Ye, you mean..."

Ye Chen leaned back and replayed the footage of the three disappearing, freezing it at the moment the middle-aged man looked at the camera.

In those eyes, there was no panic, no dodging.

Instead, it was as if he were telling whoever was watching...

"We're over here."

The expressions of Li Mu and the others changed instantly.

With things like this, how could they not see it?

Yan Qingwu narrowed her beautiful eyes and spoke calmly.

"They intentionally exposed their tracks to mislead their pursuers."

"That explains why out of thousands of surveillance cameras in several ports, only this one caught them."

"If they really were accidentally exposed, they wouldn't have appeared in just this one shot."

"From Area D to Area E, there are at least seven or eight cameras along the way, but they didn't trigger a single one."

"It shows they mapped out the surveillance zones, deliberately avoided the cameras to enter a blind spot, and then..."

Ning Shangshan also understood and took over the thought.

"Then they doubled back in the opposite direction."

"Otherwise, it would be impossible for only one camera to catch them."

Li Mu realized the truth and couldn't help but gasp.

"So... they intentionally showed themselves in Area D to make pursuers think they were heading east, while they actually turned west, south, or north?"

Ye Chen nodded, a slight smirk playing on his lips. "Not too stupid."

Li Mu's face flushed slightly, but he soon frowned again.

"So what do we do now? Head to the port immediately to search?"

"No rush."

Ye Chen shook his head and sat back at the computer, his fingers resting on the keyboard.

Yan Qingwu was taken aback. "What else are you going to do?"

Without looking up, Ye Chen's fingers began tapping the keys, the images on the screen switching rapidly.

"Looking for records of the Empress's past as an adult film actress, of course."

"Just in case."

The whole room: "???"

Li Mu and Ning Shangshan were completely dumbfounded.

Good grief!

Yan Qingwu's mouth twitched several times before she managed to squeeze out a sentence: "Are... are you serious?"

"Of course I'm serious."

Ye Chen looked like it was only natural, his fingers flying across the keyboard with dazzling speed.

"That woman sent people to block us at the airport. If we don't teach her a lesson, she'll think we're pushovers."

"Besides..."

"What if I really find something?"

Not long ago, he had seen a recruitment ad for male actors.

70 male actors for 10,000 female actors.

What did that show?

The number of actresses was actually much higher, and that was just the number active each year.

One could only imagine...

Out of ten Japanese women, the ratio of finding three who haven't been actresses is debatable.

So...

Ye Chen figured, maybe he really could find it?

Ning Shangshan stood to the side, his expression a sight to behold.

As a tech guy, he knew all too well how high the information security level of the Japanese Imperial Family was.

It was a closed system independent of the Japanese government's network, with layered firewalls, military-grade encryption, and an intrusion detection system claimed to be so tight that 'not even a fly could get in.'

Forget finding dark history from decades ago; even trying to glimpse the backend of the Imperial Family's official website was harder than reaching the heavens.

However...

Before he could even speak, Ye Chen's fingers stopped.

"Found it."

Yan Qingwu: "???"

Ning Shangshan: "???"

Li Mu: "???"

The three heads crowded together in front of the screen.

On the screen, an encrypted folder was opened, revealing dozens of video files neatly arranged inside.

The filenames were strings of numbers, but the thumbnails...

...clearly showed a young woman's face.

Those eyes, that contour, that signature beauty mark...

Though thirty years younger than now, and with completely different makeup and hairstyle, that face was clearly Wasunoko Ruozhi!

Li Mu's pupils contracted sharply. "Is... is this really the same person?"

Ye Chen didn't answer and casually clicked on a video.

The video popped up.

The quality was a bit blurry, like an old film from decades ago, but it was clear enough to see everything.

Like the private tutor.

Like the wife's secret.

And like 'you wouldn't want your son to know the secret either'...

The scenes were unbearable to look at.

Simply outrageous.

Ning Shangshan was completely stunned. "Is... is this real?"

"Absolutely certain."

Ye Chen smiled and closed the video.

Then...

...he selected the entire folder and dragged it into a mobile hard drive.

"Wasunoko Ruozhi thought she had wiped her tracks clean, but she didn't know..."

"The internet has a memory."

"What she deleted was only the surface stuff; the real data had long been stored in fragments across every corner of Japan's network."

"As long as you have the authorization, you can piece it together."

The three of them felt a chill run down their spines.

They finally realized one thing.

Don't provoke the King of Hell, and definitely don't provoke Ye Chen.

He was the true life-claiming King of Hell.

Li Mu asked cautiously, "Mr. Ye, you aren't actually going to release this, are you?"

"Depends on my mood."

Ye Chen stuffed the hard drive into his pocket and stood up. "Alright, the business is done. We can head out."

Li Mu and Ning Shangshan exchanged a look.

They suddenly felt a bit of sympathy for the Empress.

The group left the office and got into the Alphard. The car started and drove toward the Hakata Port.

Before long...

...the Alphard stopped on a quiet street on the outskirts of the port. The lights went out, and the engine was cut.

The three looked out through the car window and saw bright lights shining at the port entrance in the distance.

Seven or eight Yamaguchi-gumi members in black suits were standing behind the roadblocks on guard.

Not just the entrance.

Along the port wall, a patrolling figure could be seen every twenty or thirty meters.

Further away, the sound of barking dogs came from the direction of the wharf, one after another, clearly more than one.

Li Mu took a deep breath, his voice very low.

"Mr. Ye, the defense is even tighter than expected."

"Charging in isn't impossible, but it will definitely alert those inside. It might be hard to find people then."

"If we want to get in undetected, we need to plan this carefully."

Yan Qingwu also nodded slightly.

She had just analyzed it; the patrol routes were designed to be extremely tricky, with almost no blind spots.

And the transition time between each group was no more than five seconds.

Five seconds isn't even enough for an average person to climb a wall.

Even as a Cultivator, it would be almost impossible for her to break through this line of defense without alerting anyone.

Unless...

She glanced at Ye Chen.

Ye Chen spoke lazily.

"It's not a big problem."

"Give me a piece of paper. I'll go in by myself in a bit."

The three of them were stunned at the same time.

Li Mu looked bewildered. "Mr. Ye, you... what did you say? Paper?"

"Paper."

Ye Chen nodded. "Ordinary paper is fine. A4, sticky notes, napkins—anything will do."

Yan Qingwu's brow furrowed even tighter. "What do you need paper for?"

"To draw a talisman," Ye Chen said succinctly.