Seeking Truth with a Sword-Chapter 633 - 574: Locked

He was wanted.

Li Ang’s gaze swept over the storefront windows. The televisions inside were all reporting on the progress of an investigation into an attack.

His passport photo appeared on the screen, accompanied by a lengthy text description: Last name Li, male, a radical religious leader who had smuggled himself in from South Korea, extremely dangerous.

The Police Department urged Tokyo citizens, upon seeing this individual, to immediately keep their distance and phone the Police Department with any leads.

Being wanted is one thing, but why insist I’m Korean?

Li Ang wordlessly pulled up his scarf to cover his mouth and nose. He quickly guessed the reason behind the Japan Police’s actions.

Arresting a suspect within the first 24 hours was crucial. Once Li Ang managed to escape Tokyo, the difficulty of capturing him would skyrocket.

Releasing the photo would enlist all Tokyo citizens in the search. With even a rough lead, both the US and Japan could tighten the net.

As for calling him a Korean...

On one hand, it linked him to the prior subway attack, giving the military a flimsy reason to enter Tokyo City. On the other hand, it precluded any chance of intervention from Li Ang’s homeland.

As a vassal state of the US, South Korea would also cooperate at this time, avoiding any denial that Li Ang was Korean.

Li Ang smacked his lips.

"Tsk..."

He silently made his way towards the address provided by the Special Affairs Administration, the so-called Suzuki Detective Agency.

He followed the crowd to a crossroads, waiting for the pedestrian light to switch from red to green before crossing.

BOOM.

A muffled roll of thunder sounded, followed by a sudden downpour of cold rain.

Pedestrians either calmly pulled out umbrellas and opened them, or murmured curses about the sudden change in weather and took shelter in storefronts along the street.

Something is wrong...

Li Ang stopped in his tracks and looked around.

The pedestrians had vanished. Or rather, they had left in a justifiable manner—all of them simultaneously moved away, spreading out from Li Ang as their center, much like a drop of detergent on an oily surface, quickly disappearing from sight.

Even the drivers on the road had abandoned their cars and left.

The entire crossroads was deserted, leaving him completely alone.

TAP, TAP, TAP.

Footsteps grew nearer as three figures approached from three different directions of the intersection.

One was a young man in a white T-shirt and blue jeans, with dyed yellow hair.

Another was a Caucasian, muscular man in a suit and sunglasses.

And the third was a woman clad in a pink Sakura kimono, wearing a fox mask, and toying with a shuriken in her hand.

The traffic light switched nonchalantly from green to red. Li Ang stood in the center of the crosswalk, hands in his pockets, and said expressionlessly, "How did you find me?"

"To locate a specific person in this mega-modern city, spanning 2,155 square kilometers with a population of 14 million, is incredibly difficult.

"But when the world’s most powerful nation decides to activate its national machinery and utilize all its strength, the impossible becomes possible."

The Caucasian man halted his approach. Speaking in perfect Japanese, he said, "To find you, we activated a system known as ’God’s Eye’ for all-domain surveillance.

"We took over every public and private surveillance camera in Tokyo City: subways, train stations, airports, docks, office buildings, streets...

"We utilized AI to relentlessly examine everyone appearing in the surveillance videos.

"And in areas beyond the reach of surveillance cameras, such as remote wilderness and rooftops, we have other means. These include near-Earth orbit reconnaissance satellites, high-altitude unmanned reconnaissance aircraft, and small unmanned reconnaissance drones. These drones have infrared night vision and thermal imaging capabilities, so you would be found even if you hid in a forest."

Li Ang countered, "What if I hid inside a civilian home or somewhere like an underground parking lot?"

"No, no, no." The Caucasian man raised a finger and shook it, calmly saying, "In the past few hours, far away in Washington, the war room has assembled a think tank of over a company in strength. This team is still growing, and many of its members have cultural backgrounds from your country.

"The team analyzed your life experiences, combined them with on-site combat photos from Keio University, and conducted rigorous psychological profiling and deduction.

"You are extremely calm, able to think rationally under high pressure, and capable of making ruthless decisions when necessary.

"From your perspective: first, you were deceived by the Japan Police Department’s SAT; then, you were kidnapped by the Self-Defense Force for dissection; and finally, you heard about the full-scale manhunt by the US Army.

"You’ve realized the severity of the issue. You would not likely seek to hide and stop moving—that would mean a slow death.

"As the search net spreads and the identity checks on Tokyo citizens continue, the US and Japan will eventually find you.

"Once discovered, facing a modern military force means certain death.

"Therefore, you would, and indeed must, try to contact your government officials for help.

"This was all within the think tank’s expectations. We preemptively had the military set up checkpoints on the main thoroughfares between city districts, checking identities.

"Upon receiving your request for help, your country’s special affairs department would definitely issue the most optimal instructions based on current information, directing you to the nearest safe house in the same cordoned-off district. 𝕗𝕣𝐞𝐞𝘄𝐞𝚋𝚗𝗼𝘃𝗲𝗹.𝚌𝕠𝚖

"This means your range of activity was suddenly reduced from the entirety of Tokyo City to just a few districts surrounding Keio University.

"At this point, by combining this with the previously mentioned ’God’s Eye’ surveillance system, we stopped scanning and monitoring identified Tokyo citizens. Instead, we started a process of elimination—focusing only on those moving in specific districts who, after scanning, could not be matched against Tokyo’s citizen database.

"This allowed us to narrow down the number of suspects to fifty thousand."

Their logic is flawless, always one step ahead, Li Ang thought. If we weren’t on opposing sides, I’d almost want to applaud their ingenuity.

However, one question remained.

Li Ang asked, "Even so, that’s still a lot of suspects. How did you pinpoint my location so quickly?"

"Fifty thousand is indeed a large number. Although, with time, surveillance cameras could capture more information to further reduce the number of suspects and eventually find you, we are also short on time.

"Thus, we resorted to some special methods."

The Caucasian man continued, "There’s a Superpower User who came into contact with a meteorite and awakened the ability ’Always Win.’

"We printed out surveillance photos of the fifty thousand individuals and split them into two piles. We then had him guess which pile contained you.

"After several rounds, we reduced the number of suspects to a level manageable for manual scrutiny.

"As for this place..."

He glanced around the desolate crossroads and said, "This is also the work of a Superpower User’s ability.

"It’s named ’Boredom Dispersal,’ and it can clear out irrelevant individuals to minimize collateral damage in a battle."