Astral Ascendant: My Goldfinger's Forte is Deception

Rival Goldfinger

Jiang Peng returned to his office in a foul mood.

His secretary had initially planned to indirectly chide the boss about the shattered window but immediately discarded the thought when she saw his dark face.

"Get all the software engineers in the company here right now."

"Yes boss!"

A moment later, Jiang Peng's expression was even darker as he yelled at the group of bald-headed men.

"What the hell do I pay you for when you can't carry out such a simple task?"

One of the men hesitated and said, "Boss, there is no profile of anyone on the Internet with the same features as the image you provided. We hacked into every database we could."

Another added tentatively, "It is possible that the person is an imposter who crafted a 'Synthetic Face' to disguise his true identity."

"No, that's not it," Jiang Peng shook his head. "I can feel it, that kid is mine."

The group of bald heads were silent. What could they possibly say to these words?

Jiang Peng continued, "I don't care how you do it. All I know is that I need information about this mysterious person presented to me within the next seven days!"

******

Meanwhile, Zhao Fao returned home without any trouble.

He didn't know that elsewhere, a group of bald men were cursing furiously as they broke through firewall after firewall of encrypted databases in search of his true identity.

Luckily for him, the last time his details were captured was back when Auntie Wang took him in.

At that time, he had been an impoverished young child with hair lice, hungry eyes and sunken cheekbones, nothing like the present him.

The image recognition match was bound to be a failure.

Zhao Fao was surprised to find his brother at home watching TV.

"Didn't you go to school today?"

Wei Jun was shocked and looked guilty. He stuttered as he replied, "I...I."

"Is this why you wanted me out of the house earlier? To skip school and stay indoors once Auntie Wang and I leave the house?"

Zhao Fao was livid.

Even though it was technically none of his business....

He was an adult at heart and couldn't stand to see traunt behavior in young rascals!

Especially since he had once been an exemplary, epitome young kid himself...

Wei Jun's expression suddenly turned strange.

He stared at Zhao Fao like he was seeing him for the first time.

Of course, it wasn't without reason. It was just that, in his view, Zhao Fao suddenly looked like an arrogant young brat acting up.

Zhao Fao did not realize it but his Young Master Aura enhancement was in effect.

Consequently, after Wei Jun managed to placate Zhao Fao and negotiate his way out of being snitched on to Auntie Wang, he made a comment about Zhao Fao's inexplicable change.

Zhao Fao took his words seriously and immediately communicated with the system.

"Is there a way to hide this?" He didn't want to get into unexpected trouble because of this.

After all, an ordinary student suddenly developing a bratty air was sure to draw some unnecessary attention.

[The host can set the aura enhancements to passive mode. This would hide the effect unless you choose to activate it.]

"Fair enough! Do just that," Zhao Fao found no faults with this arrangement.

He returned to his room but still had some questions.

"System, will my future missions be similar to my last one?"

In his heart, Zhao Fao had a suspicion that there was more to the Ultimate Deception System.

He didn't think that pretending to be a Young Master or a driver or a guard was the limit. None of that exactly had the esoteric feel of a true, badass Goldfinger. If anything, his first mission felt more like....a test run.

[Your suspicions are correct. The first mission was indeed a demo trial to test your adaptability to the system functions. In the future, your missions will be a bit different]

"Oh, how so?"

The system did not provide additional details but indirectly gave him a hint.

The core functions of the Ultimate Deception System would be activated once Zhao Fao became a cultivator.....

"In that case, my priority should be on passing my exams and getting into university so I can finally move out of the mortal district!"

The universities in this world were cultivation sects disguised as academic institutions and offered different inheritances. The best universities offered the most number of inheritances along with the best teachers to boot. However, information about each were kept closely guarded secrets.

Even a final year student like Zhao Fao would only get some basic information during the orientation program which was scheduled to hold tomorrow.

He was looking forward to it.....

As the night drew close, Zhao Fao spent the rest of the day completing his project assignment.

*******

The next day.

Wei Jun eyed Zhao Fao who was in prim school uniform and noticed that the unusual demeanor from earlier was gone.

Zhao Fao gave him a warning glance and whispered, "You had better go to school today or I'll report you to Auntie Wang."

The said Auntie Wang was making breakfast in the kitchen and humming merrily.

Through the window, they could all see a black sedan car parked outside. The driver was waiting patiently.

"What sort of promotion offers a ride-to-work incentive in such an expensive car?" Wei Jun was dubious by nature and expressed his perplexion.

"I told you before. I was promoted to manager yesterday!" Auntie Wang said as she dunked a bowl of fruit salad on the table.

Zhao Fao took one look at it and stood up, "I'm kinda running late. I'll be leaving now."

Auntie Wang nodded and suddenly said, "Today is your orientation program, right? Good luck."

"Thanks Auntie."

On the way to school, Zhao Fao met Su Jie.

Su Jie was his raunchy seat mate in class. He had been friends with Little Zhao Fao since kindergarten.

For some reason, Zhao Fao had a feeling that Su Jie was different today.

Even when the guy burst into his habitual perverted tirade, the feeling still persisted.

"System, can you tell if something is off with Su Jie today?" He remembered that some Goldfingers had the ability to scan and display stats of people apart from themselves.

[He is a goldfinger user like yourself]

Zhao Fao almost choked on the chocolate snack bar in his mouth.

"Since when? Is this a recent development?" Zhao Fao suddenly thought of something. "If you can sense that he has a goldfinger...can he sense I have one too?"

[His integration with the Goldfinger should have taken place very recently, likely within the past twenty-four hours. As for the probability of the system being sensed, it is close to zilch. The Ultimate Deception System excels in leaving no traces]

"What are you mumbling to yourself about?" Su Jie suddenly asked Zhao Fao.