"So, you didn't tell anyone else about this and let everyone search for the traitor together?" Haoyun asked.
Wang Defa shook his head again in response, "Brother Yun, you know our situation. If the news of a traitor in the Skeleton Squad were to come out, it would definitely cause a huge stir. Humans might fall into panic again due to the reappearance of a traitor, and suspicions and distrust might resurface. We don't want this traitor to affect human unity or lead to internal discord and chaos. These things would be extremely detrimental to our fight against the Xibo."
"Moreover, judging by the unique way my uncle left the information, he certainly didn't want more people to know about it. He hoped that the Boss and I could secretly investigate this matter to prevent any leaks that might tip off the traitor prematurely. We didn't want the traitor to panic and make drastic moves against humans again. So, since the traitor hasn't caused any more trouble, we should maintain our calm and find ways to quietly expose them."
"Exactly. Moreover, this traitor must be a very careful person. They must have meticulously planned to disguise the disaster that befell the Skeleton Squad as a perfect accident, convincing everyone that it was just an unfortunate incident. However, the traitor couldn't foresee that my uncle, with his exceptional investigative skills, would uncover clues and convey this confidence to us in a unique way," Eva nodded in agreement.
"Could the traitor be one of Dr. Chu's group? After all, at that time..." Haoyun asked after a moment of thought.
"Of course, that's a possibility." Despite Dr. Chu's dedicated support and mentorship to Eva since she joined the Skeleton Squad, and his crucial role in her becoming the new captain, Eva answered frankly.
"The surviving members from that time are definitely our prime suspects. A traitor wouldn't betray others and then willingly face death themselves. Furthermore, the traitor needs to stay alive to continue committing mischief for the Xibo," Eva explained.
"However, after years of covert observation by Wang Defa and me, we haven't found any suspicious behavior from Dr. Chu's group. This has made it impossible for us to confirm whether the traitor is among them. Of course, we can't solely suspect Dr. Chu's group. Based on our analysis, since the initial fire at the rest station was caused by a circuit malfunction, and the Xibo conveniently witnessed it, this seems like the traitor's betrayal of the Skeleton Squad."
"After inspecting the first ignition point, we found no evidence of arson. Therefore, our conclusion is that the fire was likely set up in advance by the traitor before the Skeleton Squad arrived. Many departments knew about the Skeleton Squad's mission, and several teams passed through the rest station during that time, including teams from other main cities. This expanded the list of suspects. Therefore, we shouldn't just suspect Dr. Chu's group because they were members of the Skeleton Squad. Doing so would limit our perspective and let the real traitor slip through," Eva explained clearly.
"Indeed. According to Eva, there are indeed many suspects they can doubt. Moreover, many of these suspects belong to other main cities, making it difficult for them to investigate. After that day, they have had difficulty gathering information on all suspects and finding the traitor. In addition, the Skeleton Squad itself is very busy and has to be rebuilt after being heavily damaged. So, Eva and Wang Defa have also been unable to focus on finding the traitor, leaving the matter semi-suspended and making no progress to this day."
"So, Defa, did you deliberately hide your true self just to find the traitor?" Seeing Eva and Wang Defa still unable to find the traitor after talking about it, Dao Lao quickly changed the subject.
Wang Defa scratched his head awkwardly and replied, "Yes. Isn't it reasonable for someone to change drastically after losing their closest family members? Moreover, this way, everyone would subjectively think I'm difficult to get along with and unconsciously distance themselves from me, ignoring my presence. This actually gives me more personal space and makes it more convenient for me to carry out activities discreetly."
Then, Wang Defa touched his somewhat thin face self-deprecatingly, "Ah! It also helps that I look like this. When I play the role of a sinister and creepy character, I don't need to add much acting. My looks alone are enough to make my character memorable! Oh my! I'm really sorry if I offended the three of you with my portrayal of a difficult character before. Please forgive me!"
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After speaking, Wang Defa formally bowed to Haoyun and the others to express his apology.
Seeing Wang Defa, who had dropped his disguise and sincerely apologized, Haoyun immediately felt favorable towards him and quickly helped him up, "Ah! Defa, you don't need to worry about it. We just thought you were a bit creepy, but we didn't hold any grudges against you. Besides, for certain reasons, we also have to conceal our strengths. The more biased you are against us, the better it is for us to hide our identities. So, since we were all focused on playing our roles at the time, there was naturally no question of offending each other!"
In fact, with Wang Defa's insight, he had long recognized that Hao Yun and his companions were not unreasonable and would not hold grudges against others because of perceived disrespect. However, in the eyes of humans in this world, it was ingrained to always hold a sense of awe towards those who help them, treating them with humility and gratitude. Therefore, even though Hao Yun and his group did not mind Wang Defa's previous acts of disrespect, Wang Defa still felt self-reproach for his behavior and believed he must repay the generosity of those who forgave him with even greater respect.
"Well then! I think the reason you let us further understand the situation of the Skull Squad is certainly because you are afraid that the traitor will appear again, right?" Seeing that the topic about the Skull Squad was almost discussed, Dream Jia said.
"Yes. Not only in this operation, but actually in every operation after the reconstruction of the Skull Squad, Wang Defa and I have always paid extra attention to the internal and external situations of the team to prevent rebellious elements from causing accidents. Especially at such a critical moment like now, we must be more vigilant against all sorts of unexpected occurrences!" At this point, Eva couldn't help but look worriedly in the direction of the stadium.
"Are you suggesting that those Xibo suddenly appeared to attack the Skull Squad when you were deciphering the lock, all because the traitor leaked information prematurely?" Dream Jia seemed to understand Eva's expression and asked.
"Although the series of abnormal behaviors by those Xibo are likely related to the heavy damage inflicted on their motherships by you. In fact, their behavior had already become abnormal before you severely damaged those motherships. So, we cannot attribute all recent abnormal behaviors of the Xibo solely to you, but must consider whether these changes are related to the traitor secretly fanning the flames. In any case, even if the traitor has started causing havoc again in secret, we must not let him affect the efforts of the Salvationists to decipher the lock of the gate," Eva replied.
"So, how far has the Salvationists' decryption work progressed?" Hao Yun asked.
"Because the Salvationists encountered problems repeatedly while decrypting the lock, the expected time needed has been continuously extended. Coupled with the sudden attack by the Xibo on the stadium and the fact that the attack is still intensifying, I am worried that if things continue like this, our squad will definitely not last long before being completely overwhelmed. So, I had to contact Wang Defa in a special way and ask him to request the three to find a way to help the Skull Squad evacuate as soon as possible to save the troops for the next operation. But the result was unexpected. The three strong ones actually said they wanted to help the Salvationists decrypt the lock, which is naturally what we hoped for!" Eva said with a mixture of awe, loss, and other complex emotions, looking at Hao Yun with eyes full of expectation.
Then, Eva continued, "However, because the Salvationists are currently reopening the access lock channel and have declined anyone's visit or disturbance during this period, I asked Dr. Chu to monitor the situation at the stadium and lighthouse from the top floor. And I took the opportunity to come here to meet you."
"Are you saying that the Salvationists have not yet started to decrypt and open the lock of the gate even after receiving that string of passwords?" Hao Yun asked. At the same time, Hao Yun also realized that the extremely powerful and domineering divine power he had been feeling was suddenly stabilizing significantly. Moreover, the divine power enveloping the building was leaving the building in an orderly manner and shooting into the distant lighthouse.
"The Salvationists are preparing to decrypt the lock of the gate. If the Salvationists want to open the lock of the gate, they must first establish a connection channel with the synthesized password to that gate, and then they can approach the lock of the gate along this connection channel and start decrypting the lock," Eva corrected first.
Then, she continued, "However, the Salvationists say that they encounter errors at the critical moment of attempting to connect each time. The problem causing this reason is likely to be related to the defects in the synthesized password. According to Elsie's statement, although there is a flaw in one of the six hundred sixty-six codes, because the flaw is too small to detect, it not only fails to affect the final combination of the six hundred sixty-six codes into that password, this is because tiny flaws in the code have the situation.