1163: Chapter 1163: Cult Ruins (Requesting Monthly Votes) 1163: Chapter 1163: Cult Ruins (Requesting Monthly Votes) Lin City·Office of the Director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation
Knock knock knock—
A gentle knock ca from outside the door.
“Co in.”
The black-haired man, who was typing at his desk, lifted his head and looked towards the tightly shut door.
Click—
The door opened, and a sowhat balding man pushed it open, smiling, “Good afternoon, Director Sto.”
“Director?!”
The black-haired man watched the figure entering through the door and imdiately got up with a smile, “No, I should say the honorable Senator Thorin now.
How co you have ti to visit here?”
“Now you’re the director,”
Thorin smiled.
He looked up at the familiar arrangent of the office, sat down in the chair opposite the desk, placed his hand beside the phone on the desk and asked in a soft voice, “About those online rumors of Cultist Sect activities, have you got to the bottom of it?”
“We have sent people to check it out,”
Sto bent over, reached out to pick up a stack of docunts from the side, and handed them to Thorin, “It should be ruins left by so Cultist Sect.
There hasn’t been human activity there for a long ti, just so residual pollution,
“We found traces of battle in the ruins.
Our trace scholars believe that this Cultist Sect had a fierce fight with so kind of hostile organization, and it’s this Cultist Sect that finally lost, leaving the ruins abandoned.”
“How long has it been since the abandonnt?”
Thorin took the docunts and asked softly.
“According to trace analysis, it should be more than thirty years ago,”
Sto answered slowly, “The Evil God worshiped by this wave of Cultist Sect seems quite obscure, and the damage to the ruins is severe.
We haven’t found the corresponding deity na yet.
However, the pollution left by this Evil God is extrely strong, and it dissipates slowly.
“Even after so many years, our dispatched investigators, despite being fully equipped and well-prepared, were almost affected.
“At present, we’ve quarantined the surrounding area and have set up warning signs.”
“Who was the first to discover these ruins?”
While flipping through the docunts in his hands, Thorin asked quietly.
“The first report we received was from a small company’s caravan,”
Sto recalled, “They encountered a snowstorm on their route, which delayed them; and to catch up with their delivery schedule, they deviated from the normal trade route, choosing to take a mountain path as a shortcut, which they had traveled several tis before – it’s considered a safe ‘side route’.
“But this ti they encountered an attack from an exotic beast and had to divert their route, then they stumbled directly onto those ruins,
“In the end, out of the dozens of people in their caravan, only two survived, and both had so ntal issues.
They t a Wilderness Hunter outside who they paid to bring them back to Lin City and file a report with us.”
At this point, he paused slightly, spoke more softly, “But the news circulating online was even faster than our report.
By the ti we quarantined those two people and the relevant individuals, there was already news on the internet.”
“Wilderness Hunters are willing to sell any information for money,”
Thorin said softly, flipping through the docunts, “Since the Fountain of Youth incident last ti, the sensitivity of Lin City’s residents to Evil God events has greatly increased, any news of Cultist Sects increases the sense of insecurity among the citizens.”
“You an,”
Sto looked at Thorin, “soone is deliberately spreading these ssages?”
He paused, then realized, “The senatorial elections are about to start, does soone not want to see you reelected?”
The normal senatorial election cycle is six years.
However, Thorin beca a Senator in a by-election after the forr Senator Janos of Lin City died, inheriting Janos’s remaining term, which only had less than two years to go.
Thorin was able to beco a Senator relying on the prestige he established from his investigations into Cult-related events such as the Fountain of Youth and Stars Pharma during his ti as the director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation.
On the contrary, by exaggerating the Cult threat, highlighting Thorin’s ineptitude, allowing Cult resurgence, they are attempting to affect Thorin’s prestige and approval ratings.
If the Cult event is not handled well, Thorin’s prestige built upon it will also suffer backlash.
This is the real reason the forr director paid a surprise visit today.
Sto frowned slightly, pondering, “Is it Stars Pharma?
Or another consortium?
Only they have the funds to spread rumors widely.”
Then he raised his eyebrows with a hint of speechlessness, “But what’s the use of spreading these rumors?
This Cult event was just an accident.
There has been no one in those ruins for more than thirty years; what’s there to be afraid of.”
“What matters is not the facts, but what people believe the ‘facts’ are.”
Thorin shook his head slightly as he read through the docunts, then looked at Sto in front of him and said softly, “I may need to trouble you to hold a press conference, to briefly explain the situation of the ruins.”
“Of course,”
Sto nodded, “It’s sothing I was going to do anyway.”
“Hmm.”
Thorin nodded lightly, then he gazed at the map opened in his hands, falling into deep thought.
“What’s the matter?”
Sto looked at him with so confusion.
“The location of these ruins is sowhat secluded,”
Thorin comnted quietly, his gaze resting on the markers among the mountains.
“These cultists, like foxes, always find very hidden dens,”
Sto laughed, “Otherwise, we would have caught them out long ago.”
“No one discovered this Cult ruin for over thirty years,”
Thorin’s hand rested on the map, slowly tracing along the route marked by the caravan, “but suddenly it was discovered these past few days.”
“Are you worried there’s a trick behind this?”
Sto pondered aloud.
“Caution is paramount,”
Director Thorin put down the docunts in his hand and spoke in a calm voice, “When you hold the press conference, don’t make definitive statents.
Just say that the investigation is ongoing and in-depth.
Those two ‘survivors’ should also be closely monitored, and quarantine shouldn’t be lifted lightly.”
“Alright.”
Sto nodded lightly.
Having understood the situation, Director Thorin also let out a slight sigh of relief.
He picked up the docunts on the desk, “Then I’ll take this material with .”
Ding-a-ling——
Just then, the landline phone next to Thorin started to ring.
Bang——
He instinctively stretched out his hand and pressed down on the telephone’s receiver.
At that mont, he realized sothing and looked up to see Sto’s hand extended halfway in the air.
He felt a bit embarrassed and was about to withdraw his hand when he heard Sto laughing, “You answer it.
As long as no nas are reported, it doesn’t matter who picks up.”
While speaking, Sto had already withdrawn his hand and sat back in his chair.
Director Thorin, observing his movents, said with a smile, “Then I’ll play the operator this ti, Director Sto.”
He wasn’t fussy, glanced at the telephone and saw it was an unfamiliar number.
But not everyone knows the phone number of the office of the director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation.
Those who can call this number should not be ordinary people.
He directly pressed the speakerphone button and chose the voice call option, saying, “This is the Lin City Federal Bureau of Investigation, may I ask who is calling?”
There was so silence on the other end of the phone, but soon, a calm voice resonated in the entire office, “Thorin, it’s .”
Hearing this voice, Thorin first froze, then suddenly his eyes widened, “Captain?”
Then he looked sowhat bewilderedly at Sto, who sat equally puzzled behind the desk, asking in confusion, “How did you know I am here?”
“I didn’t know,”
The other side replied with a bit of amusent in his voice, “I’m not God.
I’m just trying to ask the Lin City Federal Bureau of Investigation about sothing.”
“Then why did you call out my na···?”
Thorin paused, then realized he had asked a foolish question.
“If you can recognize my voice, and I can’t recognize yours, then what kind of captain would I have been?”
The voice on the other end chuckled hoarsely.
At this mont, Sto, who had been listening idly by, also began to catch on.
He looked at Thorin, whose calm deanor now revealed a hint of excitent.
It was said that Director Thorin had a ‘forr boss’ in Ains, who had recomnded him for the position of director, and even supported Thorin’s run for Senator.
Is this the big shot ‘forr boss’?
“Cough cough.”
At that mont, Thorin coughed twice and glanced at Sto, who was sowhat lost in thought.
He sowhat regretted pressing the speakerphone button earlier to prevent Sto from overthinking.
“Captain, do you have sothing you need?”
Director Thorin quickly shifted the topic.
“Are you currently with the Federal Bureau of Investigation?
Is the current Lin City director next to you?”
The other side seed to understand sothing, the tone beca a bit more serious, speaking softly, “I just wanted to ask, has there been any activity in the wilderness nearby Lin City recently?”
“He’s here.”
Director Thorin was slightly taken aback, then he raised his head to look at Sto.
Sto, who had heard the complete question, was sowhat at a loss.
“What kind of activity are you referring to, Captain?”
Director Thorin lowered his head to ask in detail.
“Sothing conspicuous, or done in secret, perhaps movents from a consortium.”
The voice on the phone answered slowly.
Hearing the question, Sto shook his head in confusion, then suddenly he realized sothing, lowered his head, and pointed at the docunts in front of Thorin.
“There doesn’t seem to be any activity on this end,”
Director Thorin looked at the docunt in front of him and said calmly, “Apart from soone stumbling upon a Cultist Sect ruin from over thirty years ago on the wilderness, the vicinity of Lin City is relatively peaceful.”
“A cult ruin from over thirty years ago?”
There was so puzzlent on the other end.
“Yes, we haven’t yet identified which Cult it belongs to; it seems to be a minor Sect with scant information,”
Director Thorin explained quickly as he looked at the docunt, “This Sect seems to have suffered so kind of attack more than thirty years ago, then abandoned their base, leaving only a site where the pollution has not completely dissipated.”
“Which direction of Lin City is this ruin in?”
The other side asked promptly.
“Let see,”
Director Thorin was montarily puzzled by the question; he opened the file and looked at the map inside, “To the west, near due west.
There’s a mountain range, and it’s in those mountains.”
“Send a copy of the docunts about this Cult ruin,”
The voice on the phone said quickly, “Don’t use the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s internal network.”
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