After sending Hu Li and Erin back to No. 66 Wutong Road, Yu Sheng didn't delay and sent a ssage to Baili Qing to confirm she was in the office. Then he directly opened the door to the Special Service Bureau.
Baili Qing, seated behind her large desk, looked up from the files she was reviewing with sleepy eyes and watched Yu Sheng as he entered: "I heard you guys pulled off another big thing?"
Yu Sheng casually grabbed the chair he had beco accustod to and spoke offhandedly: "Yeah, we ran into a psycho, had to carry out justice on behalf of the heavens..."
Then he suddenly reacted, looking with surprise at the humanoid dragon opposite him: "Wait, how do you know? I haven't told you yet..."
"Reported by the staff stationed at Fairy Tale Valley — Fairy Novel suddenly mobilized a large army, with half the 'parents' going out to war, followed by masses of mass-produced Erins suddenly teleporting from where they stood, vanishing into a space rift, later followed by a slew of injured Puppets teleporting back, slling of gunpowder," Baili Qing said calmly. "After asking Little Red Riding Hood, I got the gist of it, not to ntion that there was an excited Snake Demon over there, grabbing people to tell them about her sweeping performance on the battlefield."
"Oh right, I forgot about that," Yu Sheng tapped his head, "I'll have to go back to the valley later..."
"It seems like you're getting busier," Baili Qing remarked with a touch of empathy, although her expression remained unchanged, "— just a little bit more than ."
Yu Sheng: "..."
Did this expressionless dragon just make a joke about herself?
But Baili Qing didn't wait for his reaction; she quickly continued, "Since you're back, tell what happened exactly—so far, I only know you encountered a Black Spot Warlord and fought him, and the Fairy Tale kids only know it was lively, while the Snake didn't even know who she was fighting."
Yu Sheng promptly cleared his throat, composing his expression, and looked seriously at the other party: "The Black Spot Warlord we captured is the guy who secretly stole information from Luo's lab and sold it to Venerate Saints Monastery. He went by the nickna 'Old Qiao'—we got a lot of intelligence from him..."
In the following period, he told Baili Qing everything that happened in the Dark teor Domain, including the status of the victims rescued from Old Qiao's lab (as they had to get identity paperwork processed through the Special Service Bureau, many were unregistered outside), and the past incidents involving Luo.
Baili Qing didn't speak for a long ti after listening.
"...I've always known she was a different kind of Black Spot Warlord, but I never imagined she had gone through these," after a while, she slowly said, "This... does explain a lot of her peculiarities."
"In a way, Luo is strong," Yu Sheng thought for a mont, comnting with a sense of admiration, "I don't know if there are any similar cases in the Black Dot Group, but for her to persist till now, it's not sothing an ordinary person could manage—spare her so trouble in the future, she's turned over a new leaf now..."
Baili Qing raised an eyebrow.
"When have I troubled her?"
"The last stomach wash tis..."
"It was the dical departnt's unauthorized decision."
Yu Sheng: "..."
"Let's discuss the situation with Venerate Saints Monastery," Baili Qing said, shifting the topic with a straight face, "You an, they built a large rift device called 'Gate of Eden' on their Capital Star, and possibly put the Dark Angel 'Shadowless Skeleton' on that planet too? Just to open a passage to a 'new world'?"
"Sounds a bit absurd, but the intel is likely true—unless Old Qiao has the leisure to make up a fantastic story for his 'lab animals'."
"No, it's not absurd at all, very consistent with my understanding of those Hidden Monastery Sect mbers," Baili Qing calmly shook her head, "They're unlike Angel Sect believers, the latter being a state of mindless madness, but Hidden Monastery... they're a highly organized, goal-oriented insanity, with every plan being highly destructive—the only good news is, this ti their destruction might really befall themselves."
"Provided they don't drag everyone down with them—a Dark teor Domain can't hold back an awakened Dark Angel, and who knows what kind of monsters might rush out after that gate crumbles," Yu Sheng pondered, touching his chin. "Regarding my concerns, what do you think? I an the possibility of them becoming desperate if the Special Service Bureau army pressures them heavily..."
Baili Qing didn't imdiately respond, instead, she pondered for half a minute.
"They will surely do that, no doubt about it," she slowly said, "But to destroy the Hidden Monastery, we must gather a large army—so the operation must catch them by surprise, seize control of the Gate of Eden before they respond. Perhaps we can split forces? One contingent to attack their border, but not too heavily, just to divert attention, then send elite squads to infiltrate the 'Saint Realm' planet..."
Yu Sheng nodded as he listened: "My view too is to first eliminate the threat of the Gate of Eden, and then mount a formal offensive against the entire Hidden Monastery territory."
"Sounds like an almost impossible mission..." Baili Qing lifted her eyelids to look at Yu Sheng, but before she could finish, he was already smiling.
"Extracting a planet-sized parasite from the core and blowing it up is also an impossible mission—the feasibility of specific matters can only be known after going over there."
Baili Qing pondered: "True, after all, we currently know almost nothing about the 'Gate of Eden,' let alone how to seize control or shut it down... what did Luo say? After all, it originated from her technology."
"I did ask, but there's too little information, so she can't make any judgnts now," Yu Sheng confessed, "Mainly, the Hidden Monastery wouldn't possibly reveal such information to Old Qiao—but Luo said the principles are universal, plus the data previously collected by the Special Service Bureau, she can attempt to restore parts of the critical paraters of the Gate of Eden... that's as far as we can go for now."
Baili Qing rubbed her forehead. "In the end, we still need to get direct data on the Gate of Eden..."
Yu Sheng didn't speak for a mont, and after pondering for a while, he suddenly asked, "How's the ssage about the Angel Catalyst spreading? Any movents from the Hidden Monastery?"
"The ssage is spreading smoothly, and it's certain that the Hidden Monastery has already noticed this information," Baili Qing nodded, "The Special Service Bureau's early warning system has recently detected so unusual probing signals near the border regions and several special space-jump points, which are quite likely secret scouts from the Hidden Monastery observing."
At this point, she shook her head again. "But the bad news is they're more cautious than we thought — even though the situation with the Gate of Eden might be dire, they aren't reckless enough to storm into the Special Service Bureau's territory and snatch it... The key thing is, we can't blatantly send this thing out; that would make the purpose too obvious."
Yu Sheng stroked his chin. "I see it differently."
Baili Qing: "...?"
"The key is not how to send it, but who sends it," Yu Sheng said as he mused, "If I were a thief, and you, as a police officer, suddenly ca over one day with a bag of goodies and said, 'Look here,' I'd definitely turn around and run. But if you were a tough guy with a scarface, one eye, and two arms tattooed with cuttlefish, and you told you had so good stuff, I'd at least take a look..."
Baili Qing's eyelids visibly twitched, perhaps amazed by Yu Sheng's outstanding cultural analogy: "You an..."
"Old Qiao," Yu Sheng raised an eyebrow, "He has 'business' with the Hidden Monastery."
"But Old Qiao is already dead."
"The Hidden Monastery doesn't know," Yu Sheng smirked, "At least not yet. Moreover, Old Qiao has enough reason to talk new business with them — because he just ssed up the last deal."
Baili Qing pondered.
"Can we pull it off? What do you think is the success rate of doing this?"
"It won't be worse than now," Yu Sheng shrugged, "The Hidden Monastery is hesitating, but we don't have much ti to waste with them. Who knows when their Gate of Eden will explode massively, after all, those cultists might just pull a self-destructive act any mont."
Baili Qing believed Yu Sheng had a point.
So she casually pulled out a few instant coffee sachets from a nearby drawer, slurped them down with warm water, and after refreshing herself, she spoke seriously, "Now we should discuss a more secure implentation plan."
...
Fairy Tale Valley, Teleportation Hub Hall.
A door leading to the Black Stone Space Station was quietly pushed open, and after two seconds, a head cautiously peeked out from the door — a furry cat ear and a chanical cat ear twitched twice in the air, as Momo looked at this unfamiliar place with caution.
The catgirl's vertical pupils showed a trace of surprise.
In the vast hub hall, door after door stood, yet the entire hall still felt a bit spacious, occasionally so doors were opened, people from Shuji, Qianfeng Ling Mountain, or the Special Service Bureau appeared in the hall, apart from them, the largest number visible here were those mass-produced Puppets running around with mini-mops or carrying brooms.
The catgirl gasped softly.
Behind her, there seed to be so urging, and only then did Momo summon courage and walked out of the door, followed by Luo through the door from behind her.
"Impressive, huh? This place is the real headquarters of the 'travel agency.' You'll be even more surprised outside," Luo patted Momo on the shoulder, a touch of pride in his voice, "By the way, don't provoke those red-eyed Puppets here; they're in charge of maintaining order at the headquarters, provoking them will be very dangerous..."
Momo hurriedly nodded.
"Also don't provoke the old man walking around with a back scratcher, provoking him will be very dangerous!"
"Mhm, mhm."
"And don't provoke a giant Female Snake Demon... Anyway, also very dangerous."
"Uh, mhm."
"And don't provoke so who look like little kids... uh, kids, provoking them is also very dangerous..."
"..."
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