The Imperial Chancellor took the subway to send his girlfriend home, and it wasn't until Mr. Bai was below her apartment that he received a kiss and watched the slender Han Jiaxue ascend the stairs.
For a young couple, this experience was indeed novel and quite entertaining. Han Jiaxue was well aware of how significant Bai Zhongqi was now, possessing considerable power and strength, but she did not care about those aspects; she simply wished to enjoy their time together straightforwardly.
And as for Bai Zhongqi, he had no idea how an Imperial Chancellor should conduct a romantic relationship, though his mindset had shifted somewhat, he did not feel his essence had changed. The beautiful experiences of old were still beautiful in the present.
Returning to Ruyi City by hydrofoil, it was already well past midnight. Bai Zhongqi's physical constitution was extraordinary, and his need for sleep was minimal. Coupled with his slight excitement at the moment, he was somewhat restless.
At this time, Sacred Falcon arrived at Bai Zhongqi's official residence. The warship AI was now accustomed to appearing in front of Bai Zhongqi in the form of a bionic human, rather than projecting a holographic image.
After saluting Bai Zhongqi, Sacred Falcon handed him a document, speaking solemnly, "Your Majesty, according to your instructions, I have thoroughly investigated the background of Yang Yixian, who dined with you this evening. A significant discovery has been made. Yang Yixian's father, who also heads the Yang family's industries, Yang Chuxiong, is a person parasitized by a brain worm."
Bai Zhongqi was momentarily stunned; the smile that had been playing on his face turned severe, even slightly worried.
Sacred Falcon replied, "Yes, besides collecting various types of information through the network, I also deployed a drone to search the Yang family's mansion and intercepted a unique communication signal exclusive to brain worms.
After scanning everyone in the Yang mansion, we are certain that Yang Chuxiong has been parasitized by a brain worm, although we cannot ascertain the duration of the parasitism."
Bai Zhongqi then asked, "What about Yang Yixian?"
"No anomalies, a normal human."
Bai Zhongqi found it hard to believe such a coincidence could occur. Someone had intentionally invited his girlfriend to dinner under the pretext of getting to know her, and now it turned out that this person's father was a brain worm host. Bai Zhongqi was seventy percent certain there was a conspiracy behind this, and it likely involved Han Jiaxue.
This realization made him shudder with fear. Although brain worms did not possess any super-era powers, these creatures lurked in society's shadows, wielding unknown influence. Even though Bai Zhongqi had taken multiple precautions to keep Han Jiaxue safe, the thought of someone wanting to harm his beloved girl ignited his fury.
However, Bai Zhongqi was a very rational man. Han Jiaxue had already told him she would later transfer to the Solar System University, where she would be under his close watch, giving him much peace of mind. As for the brain worms' actions, although Bai Zhongqi could not be entirely sure of their intentions, now that they had exposed themselves, he would not hold back.
"Notify the pest control team to secretly act immediately and capture Yang Chuxiong. We must prevent him from spreading the news; this man might be one of the ten Brain Worms in the Imperial Capital and holds a significant position. We need to use him to ferret out other Brain Worms in the area and gather more intelligence about them," Bai Zhongqi instructed.
The Sacred Falcon acknowledged the order and departed.
The pest control team Bai Zhongqi referred to is officially known as the "Anti-Brain Worm Special Action Team", a result of Bai Zhongqi's last visit to the Imperial Capital. It was established by a joint effort between Iridium Star and China, specifically aimed at combating Brain Worms. Bai Zhongqi casually called these people the pest control team.
Iridium Star contributed about a hundred people to the team, mainly technicians; in fact, most of them were bionic humans. Among the action team, the Sergeant Major of the Orbital Paratroopers, Wang Dong, also brought a squad temporarily assigned to assault tasks.
Since Iridium Star had not yet officially opened military aid to China, the Chinese personnel sent into the pest control team were still equipped with primitive riot gear.
Employing Orbital Paratroopers to deal with a few insects seemed like overkill. Receiving Bai Zhongqi's orders, the pest control team immediately raided the Yang Family mansion. The Sergeant Major first activated an electromagnetic interference device at the Yang residence, and then several soldiers in Tiberius Heavy Armor stormed into Yang Chuxiong's room.
Before Yang Chuxiong could react, they had administered an anesthetic.
Yang Chuxiong's unlucky son, Yang Yixian, was also secretly controlled by Chinese personnel that evening. Despite being scared to tears, Yang Yixian had enough wits about him to plead, "It's my fault for not recognizing Mr. Bai's power. Please spare me, let me go!"
By the afternoon of the next day, Bai Zhongqi had essentially obtained the desired intelligence from both father and son.
As expected, Yang Chuxiong held a relatively high position among the Brain Worms in China, responsible for coordinating the actions of the Brain Worms in China and providing financial support to other Brain Worms.
The real Yang Chuxiong had been replaced in the late nineties, and Brain Worm Yang Chuxiong, with support from foreign Brain Worms, had transformed from an ordinary businessman into a magnate in China over more than a decade. It was precisely because of Yang Chuxiong's existence that the Brain Worm organization in China had gradually grown stronger.
Through Yang Chuxiong, Bai Zhongqi had finally gained a deeper understanding of the operational structure of the Brain Worms. They had a unified secret society known as the United Heart Society, which implied that despite individual thoughts among Brain Worms, they should be united with the intent to expand their race's power and influence.
Brain Worms were quite intelligent creatures, and after integrating into human society, they quickly grasped the mechanisms of capitalist society and began to control the political power of human societies through the force of capital, establishing a system that exploited humans under the guise of promoting deceptive values.
Over seventy years, the United Heart Society had defeated numerous challenging foes.
Before Iridium Star emerged, the Brain Worms were brewing plans to defeat their next opponent, China. The development of Brain Worms in China had not been very effective; not only had their average reproduction rate significantly slowed, but the intelligence of the newly born individuals had also dropped considerably.
Those in the Brain Worm population with insufficient intelligence could only engage in peripheral tasks and were even considered expendable. The truck driver who had attacked Bai Zhongqi last time was one of these low-intelligence Brain Worms.
The emergence of Iridium Star had caused some division within the United Heart Society.
On one hand, some Brain Worms sought to acquire Iridium Star's advanced technology to enhance their strength and completely dominate humans to expand their race; on the other hand, the head of the United Heart Society considered Iridium Star a significant threat to the Brain Worms, advocating for avoiding direct contact with them and issuing covert orders to all branches.
However, Yang Chuxiong's son, Yang Yixian, was unaware that his father had long been replaced by a Worm. In his view, getting to know a beautiful girl posed no problem; however, his interaction led Iridium Star to unearth his father's true identity as a Worm.
Following this lead, Bai Zhongqi captured all of Yang Chuxiong's associates in a single move, cutting off the head of the United Heart Society in China. Hypnotized Yang Chuxiong not only disclosed the identities of the Brain Worms in the Imperial Capital but also revealed some scattered across various parts of China.
Although this was not all of them, it was enough to severely damage the United Heart Society's Chinese branch.
Regrettably, Yang Chuxiong knew little about the international organization of the United Heart Society, nor was he aware of the identities of the high-level leaders at its headquarters. Normally, information was passed via electromagnetic relay or secret letters.
It was a division of the United Heart Society, the Neon Roar, that ordered him to cease contact with Iridium Star, preventing Bai Zhongqi from continuing his investigation to uncover the true leader of the United Heart Society.