605: Chapter 605: The ‘Missing’ C-level (Large Chapter for Monthly Tickets) 605: Chapter 605: The ‘Missing’ C-level (Large Chapter for Monthly Tickets) 7:00 AM.
Pure white and warm sunlight spread over the old but clean streets.
The densely packed gendarrie and plainclothes staff strung the isolation tape at both ends of the street, cutting off the entire thoroughfare and attracting the gazes of passing pedestrians.
“The following missing person notice will now be broadcast, with contents as follows:
“Mr.
Hao Yi, hello.
We greatly appreciate your assistance to Rodan and the city of Eren.
If you have ti, we have prepared lunch for you at Wilent Restaurant, 27 Locklen Street, starting from 10 AM.
We welco your arrival.”
The small television on the street corner was playing this formally worded missing person advertisent.
He Ao put down the newspaper full of missing person notices that he was holding and casually placed it on the window sill nearby.
“He,”
A man with red, curly hair ca over, approached He Ao, took out two cigarettes, and handed one to He Ao, “With the way we’ve set this up, emptying out the whole street, with all our people and the gendarrie everywhere, do you think that ‘Hao Yi’ will really co?”
This man with red, curly hair was Enko, the current person in charge of Moonlight.
He and He Ao were the only two C-level survivors from the city-wide ‘sleep’ incident caused by the Mysterious Shadow Advent.
The main reason he survived was his extre sensitivity to contamination; he would easily go mad from it, and when he arrived in Rodan, the Mysterious Shadow Church’s operation was about to begin.
This led to the Mysterious Shadow Church—who had already taken control of the entire Moonlight organization—unwilling to spend ti and effort to control him, fearing he might act irrationally and reveal their plan to summon the Evil God.
So, when the incident happened, he was given so random excuse and sent away.
Of course, all of this was deduced by He Ao based on his own knowledge.
Enko here was unaware of it.
However, being fellow ‘lucky’ survivors and also both C-level, when not opposed due to organizational stance, Enko was quite friendly towards He Ao.
This morning, it was he and He Ao who were together maintaining order on Locklen Street.
“I don’t know, that’s not for us to consider.”
He Ao waved his hand, refusing the cigarette, glanced at the rising sun in the sky, and took a slow breath.
The energy dispersing in the air began to gather in his chest, bit by bit.
The Locklen Street they were on was the location where the relic passage was soon to open, and also the place in the entire main world where the energy concentration in the air was the highest.
Although the level of energy concentration wasn’t enough for people with average aptitude to begin refining Qi, for He Ao, it had reached a state where he could absorb and use the energy quite well.
Feeling the energy coursing through his body, eventually gathering in the great vortex in his chest.
He Ao exhaled deeply.
This great vortex ford when he advanced to Qi Refinent and Spirit Transformation by rging the energy vortexes below his navel and between his eyebrows.
The Divine Sense was cultivated within this great vortex; as long as there was sufficient ‘Qi’ in the vortex, a new Divine Sense could be compressed from it.
Even though he had used his Divine Sense very sparingly in the copy world, this ti the copy still depleted two and a half of his Divine Senses.
Now, He Ao had only Three Paths of Divine Sense left in his mind.
This experience of living off dwindling reserves was not pleasant.
So whenever there was a chance to replenish so energy, he took full advantage of it.
“That’s true,”
Enko glanced at the gendarrie maintaining order around them, retracted the cigarette he offered to He Ao, and lit the one in his hand, “To B-levels, we probably look just like these gendarrie to us, holding intimidating firearms that pose no real threat.
So our role here is mainly to maintain order and, incidentally, clear the scene.”
“Has the C-level from the World Tree not arrived yet?”
He Ao leaned against the windowsill and glanced at the surrounding gendarrie, “It’s almost eight o’clock.”
“They say that guy is still on the way over here.”
Enko took a drag of his cigarette.
He Ao looked at him and asked, “Doesn’t the World Tree have C-levels around here?
Why did they have to call soone from another place?”
“That guy is quite powerful, ranking in the first tier below B-level.”
Enko glanced at He Ao and stubbed out his cigarette butt.
“Oh.”
He Ao understood the crux of the matter.
This was the World Tree flexing its muscles.
Moonlight had sustained a shock, having already lost one B-level and several C-level, and their Rodan branch had suffered a crippling blow due to the Mysterious Shadow incident, effectively lacking the ability to continue maintaining interests in Rodan.
So the World Tree hurried over, preparing to snatch so territory.
And this guy who was on his way should be the World Tree’s new spokesperson in Rodan.
“So the World Tree is sending that guy, do you know him?”
He Ao retracted his gaze, looking at the shadow spread out on the ground.
“I know him, a troubleso fellow.”
Enko leaned close to He Ao, “You’re definitely going to have trouble in the future.”
“From the sound of it, you guys aren’t planning to fight for it?”
He Ao asked with a smile.
“There’s nothing to fight for,”
Enko laughed, “The big boss at ho says we have to shrink our sphere of influence.
Although many inside are clamoring for revenge against you guys, to teach the World Tree a lesson, revenge requires power, and right now, we don’t have the strength for it.”
“You seem to be taking it pretty well.”
He Ao said softly with a chuckle.
“What can I do?
I can still recognize the situation clearly.
Plus, I won’t hide it from you, I ran into so trouble when I advanced to C-level in the ruins.
I have little resistance to the erratic powers of a crazed nature, and there’s basically no chance for further progress.”
Enko fumbled out a cigarette again, glanced at He Ao, and paused, “You look so young, are you even twenty yet?”
“If you’re asking , then it’s eighteen.”
He Ao shrugged.
“Forever eighteen, right?” Enko laughed, put away the cigarette, “You might as well say you’re still a student,”
He paused, seeming sowhat reflective, “You’ve co so far at such a young age, your future accomplishnts will be much greater than mine.”
“Have you suddenly shifted into an old man lanting the passage of ti?”
He Ao teased.
“It’s not that bad, I’m not even fifty yet,”
Enko stood up, he looked at He Ao, chuckled, and pulled out two small glass bottles of liquor from his breast pocket, handing one to He Ao, “I rember that in Central Earth, you can drink at eighteen.”
“Mhm.”
He Ao took the bottle, twisted off the cap, and the rich aroma of alcohol spread out.
This was not so low-proof red wine but so kind of high-proof distilled spirit.
He Ao took a whiff, smiled, and said, “Good liquor.”
“That’s right, my holand is the best place for brewing liquor in the empire, and this is considered low-quality stuff,”
Enko opened his bottle, took a small sip, “If you ever co to Tia, I’ll treat you to the finest and strongest booze.”
“Sure.”
He Ao took a sip of the liquor, softly laughed, and said.
“Aren’t you afraid I might have poisoned the drink?”
Enko turned his head to look at He Ao, suddenly laughing.
“Then I should have turned around and walked away the mont I saw you coming.”
He Ao laughed in response.
“Hahaha!”
Enko laughed heartily, clinking his bottle against He Ao’s, “You are a real man, much stronger than those despicable rats in our country.
If one day we et on the battlefield, I hope you won’t hold back.”
“Usually, I only retaliate against those who attack .”
He Ao shrugged.
“You really are the most interesting person I’ve t,” Enko took another drink, looking at He Ao, “Be careful with that guy from the World Tree, he’s not one to play by the rules.”
“Alright, I’ll find out more about him,”
He Ao said with a smile, taking a sip of his drink.
“To Moonlight,”
Enko raised his jug.
“To the Research Institute,”
He Ao also lifted his jug and clinked it against Enko’s.
The two chatted casually for a few more sentences before bidding each other farewell.
Enko returned to his assigned area.
He Ao glanced at the jug in his hand.
For a C-level, ordinary toxins were no longer effective.
Only things imbued with supernatural powers, like cursed poisons, could harm him.
Anything with supernatural power couldn’t escape the scrutiny of Divine Sense.
Before He Ao took the jug, he knew it was a jug of non-poisonous wine.
Enko’s visit wasn’t malevolent, but of course, it wasn’t necessarily purely good-natured either.
After all, as the person in charge of Moonlight, him coming over to speak poorly of the person soon to be in charge of the World Tree did seem a bit like sowing discord.
However, He Ao leaned more towards believing what he said was true.
After all, showing goodwill and stirring up trouble sotis weren’t mutually exclusive.
He Ao took a sip of wine and quietly watched the shadows under the sunlight shift with ti.
······
At ten in the morning, the person in charge of the World Tree still hadn’t appeared.
A new gendarrie was summoned to the area, led by the gendar captain He Ao had dealt with before, who once collected intelligence for He Ao.
As He Ao arranged their patrol area, the captain approached him and whispered,
“I have so news, not sure if it’ll be of help to you.”
“What news?”
He Ao asked, puzzled.
“The Rodan Restoration Organization, that group committed to overthrowing the Rodan Republic to restore the Kingdom—you had asked about them before,” the gendarrie captain spoke softly, “they seem to have had an internal conflict a few days ago.
We still don’t know the real reason for the infighting, but according to those who defected to us, it seems to be because their forr Leader, ‘Duke of Eren,’ passed away, and a division arose internally.
“One faction has supported a new Duke of Eren, ready to continue the ‘restoration cause,’ while another faction abandoned their identity in the Restoration Organization and chose to leave.”
“Is it a problem of uneven distribution of spoils?”
He Ao asked quietly.
‘Duke of Eren’ was the title previously controlled by ‘Boss’ when running the Rodan Restoration Organization.
“Yes,”
the gendar captain nodded, “According to those who turned to us, it seems there was a dispute over how to divide the inheritance left by the previous Duke of Eren.
Those who left wanted to take so things, but those who stayed wouldn’t allow it, and thus, a conflict erupted.”
“What was the outco of the conflict?”
He Ao asked.
“This is the strange part,”
the gendar captain explained softly, “Those who intended to leave the Restoration Organization ford only a small part, but they showed imnse combat effectiveness and a tight-knit organization.
They cut through the entire Rodan Restoration Organization with ease, taking away all the treasures that had been accumulated over the years.
“But when we went looking based on the information given by those mbers who defected to us, we couldn’t find any trace of these ‘deserters,’ nor do we know where they fled to.”
“What is your current assessnt?”
He Ao looked at the gendar captain.
“The gendarrie’s judgnt is that the core mbers of the Rodan Restoration Organization had a fallout, split the treasures among themselves, and disbanded.
To avoid being tracked and to protect the treasures they got, they concocted this ‘deserters’ story to throw us off the scent.
But my opinion is,”
the gendar captain glanced at He Ao, “it’s not necessarily true that these ‘deserters’ don’t exist.
Just because we can’t investigate them doesn’t an they aren’t real.”
“I understand,”
He Ao nodded lightly.
Now that Moonlight had suffered a heavy blow, and other forces had not yet moved in to fill the gap, it was exactly the ti of a void in Rodan’s transcendent power,
“You control the pace, don’t dig too deep into the investigation.
If there truly exists a group of ‘defectors,’ they will be very dangerous.
Soone should take over this matter after so ti.”
“Understood.”
The gendarrie captain nodded.
After bidding farewell to him, He Ao watched as he returned to the gendarrie and fell into deep thought.
The Rodan Restoration Organization was actually a private authoritarian organization established by ‘Boss’ Ruonati using the intelligence departnt from the Era of Kingdoms after its collapse, manipulating Rodan’s situation through these hidden forces.
Now Ruonati was dead by He Ao’s hand.
A sudden death of the leader, leading to internal chaos within the organization, was quite normal.
It was also normal for the fighting strength of the Rodan Restoration Organization to be weak.
What was not normal was those ‘defectors.’
If the gendarrie captain’s description was accurate, and this group of defectors, with only a few mbers, easily broke through the majority of the Rodan Restoration Organization, then two possibilities existed,
First, the proportion of Transcendents among these defectors was very high, or they were in fact a ‘new organization’ composed of Transcendents from the Restoration Organization.
Second, this group of defectors had already ford an organizational structure while the Boss was still alive, otherwise they couldn’t have had such a tight organization right after the Boss’s death.
But based on He Ao’s understanding of the ‘Boss,’ the Boss was a ‘tyrant’ with a strong desire for control.
He would never allow a small organization, especially one with many Transcendents, to be born within his own and beco a ‘state within a state.’
Either these ‘defectors’ were established by the ‘Boss’ himself, or they were a ‘hidden organization’ that had been growing under the Boss’s organization unnoticed.
If the organization of these ‘defectors’ was established by the Boss, then it’s unlikely they could maintain such a tight organizational structure after the Boss’s sudden death, unless a new, strong Leader erged within them who managed to control these ‘defectors’ in a very short ti.
Actually, this possibility was rather good since it limited the scope to a struggle for power and profit.
The worst-case scenario would be that these ‘defectors’ had ford a secretive organizational structure under the Boss’s nose, while the Boss was still alive and without his knowledge.
This would an that there were many things surrounding the ‘Boss’ that He Ao had yet to figure out.
Perhaps even the Boss himself was unaware of these things.
The three C-level Daybreak mbers that the Boss had previously relocated from near the Tia Empire — He Ao did not see them during the Mysterious Shadow incident, and after the incident ended, after the Boss died, these three C-level mbers did not return to their original stations.
It was as if they had vanished from the face of the earth.
And also vanished was the C-level top tier Transcendent ‘Painter,’ the forr main person in charge of Daybreak’s Western Lands region and once the Boss’s friend, whom Daybreak’s Leader had inquired about from He Ao last night.
Last night, He Ao had exercised Daybreak’s powers to investigate, finding that ‘Painter’ was still accounted for on the night of the Boss’s death.
But by the next morning, all contact with him was suddenly lost.
Four C-level mbers were enough to shake the power structure of so peripheral small countries.
And these were only the ‘disappearances’ of C-level mbers that He Ao had noticed.
The situation seed to be moving toward a more complex direction.
He Ao glanced at the ti, almost half-past ten.
—-
Li Cheng sat at an exquisitely laid dining table, looking at the Rodan-style grilled at placed in front of him.
The surrounding tables were empty, leaving the large restaurant quiet except for his table.
“Li Cheng, are you sure he will co?”
An old voice ca through the Bluetooth earpiece in his ear — it was B-level Rudel from the World Tree in the Western Lands.
At the mont, they were conversing remotely.
“I believe he will co.”
Li Cheng raised his hand and glanced at his watch.
10:30
The roaring sound of a ship’s horn suddenly echoed in the empty restaurant.
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