After those words, Lu Siya sank into deep thought as well. She pondered it for a long time before admitting it. “Makes sense.”
“Also, many of the insects don’t have brains. Even if they have thickened nerve bundles and myelin sheaths to strengthen their intelligence, I doubt that they can handle complicated information,” Meng Chao said.
“What I’m saying is that while it’s possible to gather insects in one place to attack a building, it is another matter to have them handle complicated images and identify the minor differences of a human’s face so that they can locate and kill certain targets as well as spare the people aside from the targets. This just goes against their instincts. It’s beyond the limits of what their nerves can do.
“Of course, the abnormal beasts’ mastermind could control the insects, but if the monsters can carry out battlefield interdiction, we can too. The information chain between the mastermind and insects must be fragmented. It’s impossible for it to be able to give orders to all the pests in real time just by controlling them.
“Also, what puzzles me the most is about how the monsters captured Professor Lu Tianxing alive.
“Based on what the survivors said, at that time, they were protecting Professor Lu and a batch of transmigration experts while warding off the monsters’ attacks in a corridor. The next moment, though, a large number of monsters suddenly crawled out of the elevator shaft and tore through the elevator door to grab Professor Lu. They didn’t stay to fight and just dragged him down.
“There are two problems here. First, how did the monsters know that Professor Lu would retreat using that path? There isn’t just one elevator in Noble Descent Hotel, and naturally, there isn’t just one elevator shaft. Each floor has several corridors, emergency staircases and escape tunnels.
“Professor Lu and the rest had dozens of escape paths to choose from, so how did the monsters manage to accurately choose and lurk in the path they would definitely pass by?
“But let’s overlook this for now and talk about how there were coincidentally more than ten survivors moving through the corridor at that time. The group should have spread out in a long line, so how did the monsters manage to time it perfectly and tear open the elevator door while Professor Lu passed by it, then bind him with spider threads and drag him into the elevator?
“You must understand that while the elevator door is closed, even if the monsters and the mastermind share visual signals, it’s impossible for them to see the situation in the corridor. How did they manage to time the attack so well?”
Lu Siya sank into deep thought. After a moment, she thought of something. “This question is simple. There’s a mole among the survivors.
“We already know that the abnormal beasts have infiltrated Blue Home. Lin Chuan and Gao Ye were bewitched by them.
“Aside from them, there must be others who have been bewitched by the abnormal beasts but have yet to reveal themselves. It’s highly likely that they were lurking in Blue Home and were there as ‘frenzied Earth Returnee Party members’.
“This time, Blue Home organized the transmigration technology conference, including the time, location, attendance list, and other related information. The mole could have sent all that to the abnormal beast. That’s why the abnormal beast could attack with the precision of a surgeon!
“When the insects charged out of the underground, the mole stayed close to Professor Lu Tianxing and used some sort of secret method to tell the monsters who their target is. What do you think of my hypothesis?”
“Big Sis Ya, not bad!” Meng Chao’s eyes lit up. He slapped his thigh and said, “As expected, a person will be influenced by another when he or she spends a lot of time with them. Now that you’ve worked so long with me, you’re finally showing great intelligence!”
Lu Siya was stunned. “What?”
Meng Chao immediately switched the topic and said, “Nothing. There’s certainly a mole in Blue Home, but there are too many suspects. I’ve never been able to shrink down the number. By the looks of it now, the mole is among one of the survivors from the group with Professor Lu Tianxing.
“But this deduction only explains how Professor Lu Tianxing was captured. It doesn’t tell us how the monsters were able to locate all transmigration experts and the conference members.
“There’s no way a mole would have followed each transmigration expert and investor, right?”
The delight on Lu Siya’s face was drowned out by puzzlement. She paced back and forth, shook her head, and said, “Well… I don’t have any ideas. Could it be that the monsters found a way to mark the conference members beforehand?”
Meng Chao widened his eyes further. Suddenly, he jumped up in joy. “That’s right! That’s exactly it! Marking them beforehand!”
Lu Siya still could not figure it out. “How did they do it, though?”
“Think. What’s the greatest difference between the conference members, the hotel staff, and the other guests? There’s something only the conference members have. The other guests and hotel staff don’t have it.” Meng Chao looked at Lu Siya expectantly, but three seconds later, he could not help but blurt out the answer. “Emblem! They have an emblem saying ‘New Era Year 57 Transmigration Technology Conference’ on their chests!”
Lu Siya thought about it and nodded. “You’re right. Each member has an emblem at their chests.”
“Usually, when you organize a large conference, the committee members will give out means of identification that will differentiate the members attending the conference so that they can enter and leave the conference hall whenever they want, get in touch with the experts and investors, or go to the administrative corridor and the buffet restaurant to eat free food.
“But usually, these means of identification are all name tags, right?” Meng Chao said. “Just now, when I saw the survivors’ chest emblems, I found it really strange, because I seldom see people use emblems as means of identification.
“Blue Home has its own organization emblem, so wouldn’t it be just fine if they used a name tag and their own organization emblem as a means of identification? Why was there a need to make a new batch of commemorative emblems?
“If they were meant as a small keepsake from the conference, they would usually just order a batch of pens, bookmarks, USB drives, or something like that. Commemorative badges are usually awards given to those who joined a battle or are given out during commendation conferences for heroes, right?
“That’s why a seed of doubt was planted in my heart.
“Unfortunately, the undead and pests just kept coming, and during the fight, I didn’t have time to think about it. Now that I remember it, I find it really strange. There must be something off about these commemorative badges.
“They didn’t issue the organization emblems from Blue Home because many people have old ones, and it wouldn’t be easy for the mole to do anything about them.
“They didn’t use name tags because name tags are too light and thin. It’d be difficult for anyone to do anything about them.
“They didn’t give out pens, bookmarks, USB drives or other small trinkets because you can’t be certain that the experts will keep those things on them while they’re running for their lives.
“That’s why they could only hand out commemorative badges that have already been tampered with during the registration before the conference. They probably even arranged a few staff members to put those commemorative emblems on the old experts’ chests to make sure that they were all marked, and such marks would not be cast off while they’re running.
“With this, the list of suspects for the mole decreases.
“If a person or people from among those who made the commemorative emblems, who handed out the emblems, and who helped the members put on the commemorative emblems were together with Professor Lu Tianxing while they were running away, this person or group would be the moles!”
Lu Siya looked at Meng Chao in disbelief, and her jaw fell slack.
“Don’t, Big Sis Ya. I know that your admiration is about to burst out of you, but now is not the time for you to be dumbfounded. We have to verify this hypothesis.”
It was very simple to make sure whether the commemorative emblems had been tampered with.
Practically all the survivors were gathered in the medical camp, because the acid and poison pollution in the hotel was bad. The new virus zombie and Blood Flower spores were strange as well. Even if a person looked like they were only wounded superficially and even unharmed, they could not be certain as to whether they were clear of being infected by viruses and spores.
Hence, the people who were saved from the building had to be isolated for treatment, observation, and tests.
Meng Chao and Lu Siya were superhumans at the peak of Earth Realm and Heaven Realm respectively. They were also refined by Blue Origin Crystals, so their immune systems were as sturdy as nails. They were the first to complete the screening and were confirmed to not be infected.
Some survivors had had their blood drawn and samples taken from their throat. They were currently waiting for the test results.
Among them were plenty of Blue Home members who had the commemorative emblem from the transmigration technology conference on their chests.
Meng Chao asked for the commemorative emblem from a Blue Home member he was familiar with and held it in his palm.
The first thing he noticed was that it felt heavy. It was unlike the light alloy that was usually used for emblems. Instead, it seemed like it was made of expensive metal like gold or silver.
The main theme of the entire emblem was the blue planet, but around it was a crystalline tunnel. It was connected to a Mobius strip that seemed to have no start or finish.
The emblem was really beautiful. It was very detailed, and Meng Chao was reluctant to part with it. It was no wonder why the members all placed them on their chests.
Meng Chao handed the emblem to Lu Siya.
Her eyes shone with a light that spread out in a radial form. It moved from her eyes to her forehead, then her temples.
She used her talent of a Spirit Sensor and stared at the emblem for a long time before she extended her thumb and caressed it to sense it. After a while, she mumbled, “I can sense a really strange… radioactivity? When this emblem was made, it was fused with a really rare radioactive mineral or rare crystal.
“The radioactivity is really weak. It’s not strong enough to harm a person’s health, which is why it’s difficult for the average superhuman to sense it.
“But the insects’ sensory organs are different from those of humans. I’m not sure about it, but perhaps to an insects’ sensory organs, the people wearing these emblems shine as brilliantly as torches in the dark.”
Meng Chao brought out a few reagents from his harvester’s tool bag.
He placed the emblem on a metal tray and dropped a few reagents on it. When he was on the third one, the pink reagent reacted to the emblem, and a lot of bubbles came out of it.
“There’s also some biomaterials in it. When they made this emblem, they added biomaterials like monster bone powder.”
Meng Chao narrowed his eyes, and a sharp light shone in them. “Even though I can’t be certain what sort of biomaterial it is, why would a normal emblem be made from radioactive and bio- materials?”