"…"
Seeing that merely suggesting paying Dan Heng but not paying Zeig himself could produce such miraculous results.
Leonard suddenly felt like the version of himself who had been earnestly advising Zeig earlier was a total clown.
He cleared his throat and said:
"Ahem, since that's the case, Brother Zeig, we're temporary teammates now."
Zeig couldn't help asking:
"So what do we do next?"
Leonard smiled mysteriously:
"I plan to start from inside the space station, see if I can find some clues and reconstruct the intruder's action route back then. How about it? Pretty smart, right?"
Zeig pursed his lips:
"Although I don't understand this stuff, can you guarantee you won't fall into another trap?"
"Brother Zeig, just put a hundred hearts at ease. Since I've come to you, it means I have absolute confidence!"
Leonard pulled a camera out from his pocket, his mouth corners practically reaching the sky:
"This right here is the decoding program I designed! Look, Brother Zeig—it may look like a camera, but it's actually a detector. Through it, we can see some hidden traces!"
"Let me demonstrate first—watch closely!"
In front of Zeig, Leonard slowly aimed the detector at the wall.
Soon, something emerged on the wall…
It was a graffiti of a single drop of sweat.
Lifelike.
Through Herta's holographic portrait, Zeig looked over—the portrait of Herta perfectly combined with that drop of sweat behind it.
Forming an image of Herta sweating in embarrassment.
"…" Zeig immediately fell silent.
Leonard, on the other hand, was greatly shocked:
"No way, how is this thing here? Who drew this? Brother Zeig, was it you?"
"?"
Zeig raised an eyebrow, finding it somewhat unbelievable, and frowned:
"Why would you suspect me? Aren't you supposed to be catching a hacker? You should suspect the hacker!"
Leonard scratched his head awkwardly and said:
"It's just a reflex, you know? I totally forgot Brother Zeig doesn't understand this stuff. Yeah, looking at it now, there's no way it was you, hahahaha…"
"…"
Leonard looked at the graffiti again:
"Looks like this is the trace we're looking for!"
"I feel like you've been played."
"Ahem, how could that be? Brother Zeig, wait a sec, let me study it first…"
Leonard examined the drop of sweat repeatedly, then suddenly had a realization:
"Oh~ I've completely figured it out! This is an electronic graffiti—pretty fitting for the impression Punklorde gives off. If I'm not mistaken, this should be some kind of automatic encryption!"
Zeig couldn't help raising an eyebrow:
"Encryption? What's the point of encrypting a drop of sweat?"
"No no no no no, what I mean is—this drop of sweat is itself an encryption layer. Only by deciphering it once more can we see the truly hidden information!"
Immediately after, Leonard handed the camera to Zeig with a smile:
"Here you go, Brother Zeig. Just like I demonstrated—aim the lens at the graffiti on the wall!"
"Alright then."
Zeig took the camera, aimed the lens at the graffiti on the wall, and snapped a shot.
Soon, the drop of sweat began to ripple.
Unseen patterns emerged.
Then, right under Leonard and Zeig's eyes, it continuously collapsed inward, sucking in the surrounding sounds and colors as well.
Suddenly, a flash of insight struck Zeig's mind like lightning!
"?"
Why did this feel so similar to the sensation when he used Cosmic Juggernaut to teleport?!
Zeig pursed his lips, eyes narrowing slightly.
Under Leonard's dumbfounded gaze, he silently drew a long sword.
"Brother Zeig, wh-what are you doing?"
Just as Leonard finished speaking, a group of Voidrangers rushed out from the rift ahead.
"Roar——!!"
"Ah?! Holy shit!" This sudden situation truly scared him out of his wits!
Without a word, the Voidrangers launched an attack straight at the two of them!
Zeig's gaze sharpened, and the next instant his whole body shot forward like a cannonball, colliding with the Voidrangers and producing a violent crash.
Immediately after, sword shadows crisscrossed.
In less than a single breath, the Voidrangers all fell, leaving only countless wreckage scattered on the ground.
This scene left Leonard trembling with fear!
When he first saw the Voidrangers, he had just started to get scared—then Zeig charged forward like a streak of light, and in less than a breath, fragments of Voidranger remains were already falling to the ground in pieces.
The entire process happened far too quickly.
Zeig stepped on the limbs of the Voidrangers and slowly walked back, sighing to Leonard:
"See? You got hit again. If it had just been you here, the number of Voidrangers in this batch would probably have been enough to send you off to the afterlife."
Leonard tried hard to calm his panicked heart and said nervously:
"My god! I only just saw something pop out here with a 'pa', and then those Voidrangers jumped out! It's straight out of a horror movie!"
Zeig earnestly advised:
"Bro, it's not too late to turn back now. This is clearly that hacker's trick—combined with the last time, this is already your second time falling for it."
Leonard awkwardly touched his nose, then excitedly pointed at the holographic image that had suddenly appeared ahead and said:
"Ahem, Brother Zeig, let's put that aside for now—look! Just like I guessed, this graffiti really was an encryption layer. After deciphering it, we can finally see the hidden information!"
"Damn, you weren't listening at all."
"Look—it's Silver Wolf! Identical to the photo on the Interastral Peace Corporation's wanted poster. Let's see what she's doing!"
"…"
Leonard narrowed his eyes and began observing the movements of Silver Wolf's phantom:
"I get it now—this is a transmission beacon! When Silver Wolf invaded back then, she must have run into the Antimatter Legion, so she used this beacon to teleport the enemies away!"
"We accidentally reactivated the beacon just now, so they got teleported back… My god, the Stellaron Hunters actually have this kind of ability!"
Zeig immediately looked at Leonard in shock:
"Bro, stop being amazed. Let's just drop this. I feel like if we keep investigating, you still won't be able to outmatch them—don't dig yourself deeper."
But Leonard acted as if he hadn't heard, continuing on his own:
"So that's how it is! Point-to-point, no power support needed—beacon teleportation achieved purely through computation? No wonder they could invade the space station… With this kind of capability, even Lady Herta's office probably isn't safe!"
"…"
"Brother Zeig, we have to be extra careful from now on!"
"… You're the badass one."
…