Thud! The sound of Dreadlocks jumping up in shock and knocking over the box beneath him echoed far down the corridor. He pressed his back tightly against the wall; like Lin Sanjiu, he stared at Hagrid's body rolling onto the ground. The head bounced twice before finally coming to a still, releasing a final breath and growing motionless.
Blood slowly spread from his neck, silently seeping into the night.
"Why did you kill him?" Lin Sanjiu asked in a low voice. "If you didn't let him know we knew each other and just sent him away..."
Cyrus wiped his fingers, turned back in the dim corridor, and looked at her.
"Everyone I've t who has survived doomsday for long enough becos numb." He smiled faintly. "You're the opposite. You seem even more sensitive and compassionate than you were back then. It seems fate has treated you well."
Lin Sanjiu was stunned.
Indeed, if she thought back carefully, she had killed far more readily when she was first thrown into doomsday, torn away from human society. Back then, survival on the narrow path ant life or death. Now, free from the constant threat to her own life, she had developed a deeper empathy for the lives of others.
"That's not a bad thing," Cyrus said. "Compared to soone who's bitter and tornted, I'd rather have soone content watching my back."
1
Lin Sanjiu glanced once more at the corpse on the ground.
"His death is useful to ." Cyrus lifted his chin, gesturing naturally to Dreadlocks. "Push his body down the hill. You didn't see anything tonight."
Dreadlocks still couldn't make heads or tails of the situation, but he did understand one thing: his life wasn't imdiately at risk. He hesitated, looking at Lin Sanjiu. When she nodded, he bent down and picked up Hagrid's corpse.
"Co see for paynt after you're done." Cyrus patted his shoulder, as if inducting him into his organization. "You have a paper crane, right?"
Dreadlocks' eyes lit up, even as he carried the corpse, and he nodded eagerly.
Once Dreadlocks had left, Cyrus righted the overturned box and sat down with a sigh. "See? A simple kill. Now I have to bribe and instruct people, worrying about loose ends."
Cyrus had always been cool-headed, decisive, and efficient; if anything, he seed even more so now. Lin Sanjiu knew he was being considerate of her feelings. Her emotions were a swirl of complexity. She shook her head and asked, "Tell everything from the beginning. What's going on?"
As Cyrus frowned slightly, deciding where to begin, she didn't waste any ti. She walked over and checked Eight-Heads De's pulse. His injuries were severe; she wasn't confident that her rudintary first-aid skills and card inventory supplies would be enough. As she pulled out so bandages and dicine, Cyrus took them from her hands.
His practiced movents showed he'd been injured more than a few tis before.
"My organization is called the Shadow Hall," Cyrus explained while tending to the wound. "It operates very discreetly within the Twelve Worlds Centrum, so few have heard of it. The Shadow Hall has several divisions for daily operations, like the Personnel Trials Division, where Irezumi and I started, the Item Verification Division, and the Execution Division. These are fairly standard operations. What truly gives the Shadow Hall its na is its role as the shadow mastermind of other organizations."
"Shadow mastermind?"
Cyrus let out a bitter smile tinged with sarcasm. "You're from before doomsday; you've probably heard of hostile takeovers in corporate warfare, right?"
Lin Sanjiu dug into her mory, vaguely recalling the term as if from a past life.
"The Shadow Hall operates similarly to a hostile takeover," Cyrus said thoughtfully. "In the Twelve Worlds Centrum, new small organizations constantly spring up—ford by ambitious people, clever individuals, or families banding together for protection. As long as these people exist, new organizations will keep erging. For those with potential and ability, the Shadow Hall uses various thods to control them, directing them from the shadows. If the targets agree to be acquired, that's ideal. If they refuse, well... they usually don't have a choice."
"What happens if they refuse?" Lin Sanjiu asked.
"Are you asking about the bloody thods or the bloodless ones?"
"There are bloodless ones?"
Cyrus nodded, cutting the gauze in his hands. "Of course. Dividing targets, bribing, exiling—non-violent thods are often even crueler. There have even been cases where a target's abilities were completely wiped. In the end, it might just seem like a change of managent for a small organization, but in reality, every replacent is an agent of Shadow Hall."
Lin Sanjiu was shocked. "Why do that?"
"Why did corporations in the past acquire smaller companies?" Cyrus asked in return. "They valued their technology, clients, market, and potential. By replacing one or a few key figures in an organization, the Shadow Hall effectively takes over the entire organization and its resources. This is why the Shadow Hall is so careful and discreet when recruiting new mbers. Each recruit might eventually lead another organization. They need to be capable, loyal, and controllable, while publicly appearing unaffiliated with the Shadow Hall."
1
She recalled Irezumi once explaining that candidates competed for leadership positions in the organization. At the ti, she and Qing Jiuliu assud he ant positions within the organization recruiting them. In hindsight, either the explanation was intentionally misleading, or Irezumi himself hadn't fully understood it.
The latter seed more likely.
"I get it," Lin Sanjiu said. "For example, if I control Dreadlocks and make him the head of the Noble Accord, then Chiric City becos my territory."
"Exactly. And if Chiric City turns into a liability, you can just eliminate Dreadlocks, leaving no trace of your involvent," Cyrus said. "Sotis, newly recruited mbers don't even know the Shadow Hall's na."
The thought of such an organization operating covertly in the Twelve Worlds Centrum sent a chill down her spine. Lin Sanjiu rembered encountering Number 42 at Harry's Farm back then.
He had been ticulous and ruthless, full of potential—if not for his poor luck. When Cyrus suspected Number 42 might leak information about the Shadow Hall, he had decapitated him without hesitation.
"So... the slave training camp I destroyed in Red Nautilus was an organization the Shadow Hall took over," Lin Sanjiu murmured, mories flooding back. "At the ti, I only vaguely knew that the camp's leader was called the Head of the College. When I t Irezumi, I wondered what connection the Head of the College had with his organization. Now it seems the Head of the College was an agent."
3
"I'm not sure what happened afterward," Cyrus replied, efficiently finishing Eight-Heads De's bandaging. He handled the injured man roughly, letting him drop to the ground. "After escaping the dinsional rift, I got caught up in another series of missions, and one nearly killed . But one thing's certain: that agent paid dearly for the damage caused."
For the Shadow Hall, the matter was neatly resolved—the woman who destroyed the camp was executed, and the incompetent agent was eliminated. But for Lin Sanjiu, the slave camp remained a mystery shrouded in fog.
Cyrus glanced around the corridor and sighed. "When I first learned that the Chiric City Plan required my personal oversight, I thought it was a valuable operation, sothing worth my involvent. But when I arrived, I realized there was nothing here worth using for. Chiric City is worthless."
From what the residents said, the Noble Accord, the local managent organization, had more ambition than competence. As for Chiric City itself... Lin Sanjiu glanced around and nodded in agreent.
Even unconscious, Eight-Heads De seed to protest. A muffled groan escaped his nose, drawing a brief smile from both of them. "Looks like he'll regain consciousness tonight," Cyrus said.
"Good, I still have a lot of questions for him," Lin Sanjiu said, folding her arms.
Speaking of questions, she had plenty for Cyrus too. "What exactly did you do after arriving?"
"We didn't arrive together. Funny enough, I don't even know when this plan started..." Cyrus gestured to the bloodstain on the floor. "By the ti I was sent to Chiric City, he and another mber had already been here for a month or two. They disguised themselves as ordinary people, sneaking away many residents."
Lin Sanjiu gasped. "The missing people!"
"Yes. My arrival triggered the next phase of the plan..." Cyrus paused mid-sentence. Both of them turned their eyes toward the depths of the corridor, where a slow, heavy footstep echoed.
"It sounds like an ordinary person," Lin Sanjiu whispered. Cyrus nodded.
They remained silent, watching as the figure drew closer. From the shadows erged a pale, gray face. The woman hesitated at the corner, peering out nervously. When she spotted the posthumans, she softly asked, "Are you posthumans?"
Lin Sanjiu shot to her feet.
The middle-aged woman, whose body had once exploded into grotesque limbs, let out a faint sigh. "I never thought Chiric City would co to this. I'm sorry. If you want to bla soone, bla your fellow posthumans."
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