Chapter 204: Dilemma

The explosives, mixed with a multitude of sin-tainted poisons, detonated. They cleared away the traces of their presence around the ruins and formed a massive, thoroughly polluting toxic cloud. Mixed within it was a significant amount of ash left behind after the Disintegration Art had destroyed alchemical items, enough to keep the Aether-Chosen who would later trace their path lost for quite some time. This saved Xu Guan a great deal of trouble.

The journey was silent.

The vehicle drove on for a long time before stopping in a corner of the ruins. Ji Liu got out and covered it with a camouflage tarp, making it nearly indistinguishable from the pile of rubble.

Only then did Tong Shan slowly heave a sigh of relief.

He exhaled, sighing softly.

"Is it safe here?" Tong Shan asked.

"Yes. After the latest changes, the overlapping crossroads that appeared last time can only be entered by following a specific trajectory," Xu Guan said. "It hasn't been reported."

Tong Shan nodded gently. Then, his tense body slowly relaxed, and from the deathly silence, a hair-raising cracking sound emerged.

On his skin, scarlet cracks spread rapidly like a spiderweb.

Before the others could even speak, Ji Jue acted with lightning speed, stabbing a blade inside.

The bone blade pierced into his heart.

The cracking sound stopped abruptly, and a hint of color even returned to his rapidly paling face.

He had forcibly stabilized his condition.

The corners of Tong Shan's mouth twitched slightly: "After you stabbed Liu's ass last time, did you disinfect it?"

"Don't talk."

Ji Jue waved for the others to step back. Mercury tentacles sprang from his back, quickly clearing a space inside the vehicle. After laying Tong Shan flat, he wiped the sweat from his brow and carefully removed his protective suit.

On his back, the piercing crack, having lost the mending effect of his telekinesis, was finally exposed.

"When were you injured?" Ji Xue asked, stunned. "Were you stabbed at the very end?"

Tong Shan didn't speak, only smiled.

Ji Jue sighed softly, suddenly realizing:

"... Right at the beginning, wasn't it?"

The moment the Star-Burning Aspect appeared, when the Sin-Eroding Cult detonated the explosives in the ruins, Ling Zhi launched his first attack from behind...

Between his teammates and himself, he had chosen to protect his teammates first.

Only then did he find the spare moment to launch a vicious counterattack, disguising the whole thing as a trap.

From start to finish, he had pretended that nothing had happened, actually fooling his opponents.

"Before we start, I have to ask: is there any other surgeon here besides me?" Ji Jue looked around at everyone with a glimmer of hope, only to receive a helpless response.

"You do it," Tong Shan said. "I'll cooperate with you."

"Cooperation is one thing, but stripping away pollution is very strenuous."

Ji Jue sighed: "Can I ask for extra pay?"

"Do you underestimate the Anquan Bureau or the Tong family?" Tong Shan smiled, completely unbothered.

He didn't care about that bit of money at all, nor did he think Ji Jue would actually raise the price at a time like this. If he really wanted to collect money, the dim-witted Jiang Xuan might not be clear on it, but it was impossible for Tong Shan not to know the costs. The few minutes of pleasure he'd had were enough to make him work for Ji Jue for free until next year.

"Be serious. I'm giving you my first time here."

Ji Jue pulled disinfectant from his toolbox, splashing it into the air. Under the pulverizing effect of a slight bit of telekinesis, it naturally atomized for sterilization. Then, with the assistance of a third spiritual-quality hand, he put on sterile gloves.

Everything was kept simple; a quick disinfection would have to do. If he survived to go back, he could take antibiotics then.

He pulled out the bone blade, and the experience and insights of many surgeons surged through his mind. Under his direction, everyone carefully turned Tong Shan over, revealing the pitch-black wound on his back.

Shadow-poison circulated, lingering like a ghost.

"Hmm, Mad Butcher, Abyss-End, and a little bit of... it should be Shadow-Sun."

Ji Jue picked up a bit on his fingertip to identify it and breathed a sigh of relief: "Fortunately, I've dealt with most of these."

Thank goodness it wasn't White Hall. Even though he had some contact with the Undying Disease before, the toxins of White Hall were not limited to just this one type; one only had to look at the threat ranking of infectious diseases provided by hospitals to know how rich and varied they were. If any random one of those had appeared, Ji Jue could only have stabbed Tong Shan to stabilize his state and then administered a placebo.

A penetrating back wound, damage to the heart and left lung, sin-tainted pollution, fine cracks and bruising all over his body, and even a severe injury to his soul—this was likely the backlash from exceeding his limits when unleashing his Rebirth form.

The vast majority were within the scope of surgical resolution.

For sin-tainted pollution, he had Non-Aggression and Cousin. If it was an unimportant part, he would crudely excise it; if it was a vital organ, he would utilize the attraction between sin-tainted objects, using high-purity sin-tainted poison to draw it out before cutting away the polluted part. If it had penetrated to the bone marrow, he would temporarily use a spiritual-quality circuit to seal it off.

Supplemented by the medicine carried by the Anquan Bureau and the many spiritual medicines contributed by Young Master Lou, he cleaned away eight or nine-tenths of the sin-tainted pollution; the remaining bit was not enough to cause trouble.

A makeshift surgery took only half an hour, and with the assistance of his natural surgical talent, the efficiency was lightning fast. Finally, he hung the Mouth of the Ancient One and two other blessed items that accelerated healing, and the emergency treatment was complete.

"Sorry, that's the extent of my skill." Ji Jue took off his blood-stained gloves and threw them into the material box. "Injuries to the soul and matrix can't be recovered in a short time; you'll have to find a hospital and specialized artisans to handle those."

"I can only help you barely stabilize your condition so it doesn't worsen."

"That's enough."

Tong Shan had a straw stuffed in his mouth, greedily sucking on the water bottle Ji Xue was holding. With the replenishment of sugar and medicine, a bit of vitality returned to his originally pale face.

Of all these injuries, half were from the attacks of Ling Zhi and Yan Chong, and the other half were because he had used power exceeding his own limits to finish off those two guys in one go.

One had to know that even an unfinished "Disaster Prevention Book" was power that only those at the Transcendent Rank could barely mobilize. Before fully achieving Encircled Realm status, the only thing bearing the pressure was his own soul.

Now, the fact that he only had matrix overload, spiritual-quality exhaustion, and a severely injured soul was enough to prove that the Tong family was truly wealthy—they had maxed out all his life-saving gear.

As for the two blessed creations that had shattered and failed in order to save his life, Ji Jue's little hands tucked them into his own pockets without the slightest hesitation.

Even if they were scrapped, they could be disintegrated and used as dog food for the Mechanical Descent. Did he think surgery fees were free?!

"The situation is not optimistic."

In the solemn silence, Tong Shan spoke first. "The scale of this Sin-Eroding Cult operation is likely even larger than estimated. Those guys... they might have mobilized everyone."

Using many illegal societies as a front, the Sin-Eroding Cult had been drifting between the Federation, the Empire, the Central Lands, and the Thousand Islands of the Endless Sea for over a hundred years since their appearance. One could say that like flies in a sewer, wherever there was a stench, there they were.

Now that they had mobilized such massive resources to quietly infiltrate beneath Quancheng, if anyone believed they were here to celebrate an anniversary and hold a team-building event, that person would have to be a fool.

Even the permanent investigation base had been infiltrated and destroyed without a sound, and they had even had the leisure to set up traps, waiting for subsequent reinforcements to deliver themselves to their door.

Just how many people had they dispatched?

Hundreds, maybe even thousands. In terms of mass-producing tools, the Sin-Eroding Cult had an advantage over the Federation. Once polluted by the aura of a High-Level Sin, the dead became resources, and the living naturally became tools. Paired with all sorts of messy matrices, they might not even have blessings—they'd just be handed an AK and sent into battle.

In less than a few short hours, the situation, which had originally been vibrant and full of life, had deteriorated to this point. Everyone was speechless, a sense of oppression weighing on their hearts.

And in the silent stillness, Ji Jue coughed: "The situation might not be like that."

"Is there still a turning point?" Jiang Xuan asked in surprise.

"No, I mean, it could be worse."

After considering for a long time, Ji Jue finally reached into his pocket and pulled out the trophy he had scavenged from the ruins—a piece of skin he had peeled off the guy who had been playing dead to launch a sneak attack.

It was the size of a palm.

But the pitch-black tattoo on it, like a brand, plunged everyone into silence.

The cruel one-eyed emblem was flanked by totems of scaled wings.

—The Long Jihui!

"Look on the bright side—"

Ji Jue said, "Unless the HR of the Sin-Eroding Cult went crazy trying to hit their quotas and poached the Long Jihui, there's a high probability that he was here to make some extra cash."

Of course, there was another, even greater possibility...

Everyone was a villain who was neither cute nor charming; it was perfectly normal for them to communicate, join forces, and collude to do something big together, right?

If that were the case, it would explain the abnormal activities of the Long Jihui in the Haizhou region these days—not just Lawrence, who had been ground to dust by Sister Wen, but also the arrival of the Shepherd of Formlessness some days ago.

Even in the hospital of the Time Ruins, Ji Jue had been able to see the Vortex Plant Law that Lawrence had loved for a lifetime.

For a dignified Shepherd to squat in Haizhou for so many years, it was impossible that he was only working on one Dragon Blood project. Perhaps before this dead ghost turned to ash, he had been happily providing technical support to the Sin-Eroding Cult...

But if the Long Jihui had come, what about the others?

The Sin-Eroding Cult wasn't even eating alone anymore; wouldn't they drag a few more families in to serve as cushions?

But what exactly did they want to do?

Limited by his ability and vision, Ji Jue couldn't think of any other goal besides detonating Quancheng and spreading pollution to the entire Haizhou region. But what was the point of that?

Wouldn't that just make them die faster?

The Federation was, at the very least, the Federation. No matter how bloated and corrupt it was, it was still one of the two poles of the world. Not to mention the many Heavenly Humans, perhaps even the Sages and Dragons that still existed in the world could be found in the shadows.

The Sin-Eroding Cult followed Sin-tainted objects, not death-seeking; the Long Jihui followed the apocalypse and Dragon-transformation, not to be reborn early.

What was their purpose?

But this was none of Ji Jue's business. The matter had grown to such a degree that even if the Tong family's ancestor came, they wouldn't be able to hold it back.

"No, we must report this immediately."

The moment Ji Liu realized the significance behind it, he was already sweating profusely.

But apart from him, no one spoke.

Ji Jue and Tong Shan looked at each other in silence, speechless, only sighing.

This was the most fatal part...

"What's wrong?" Ji Liu was puzzled.

Ji Jue didn't speak, remaining silent.

"Don't worry, the people in the team were all chosen by me personally. It's impossible for them to collude with the Sin-Eroding Cult; otherwise, I would have been dead long ago." Tong Shan laughed softly, self-deprecatingly. "Is this a blessing in disguise?"

But what about outside the team?

As an externally hired artisan, Ji Jue naturally had to say something unpleasant first: "The Anquan Bureau can no longer be trusted."

A place as large as the permanent investigation team, with so many members, had been wiped out in its entirety for no apparent reason.

Lou Yanyue, who was in command, was missing. Apart from being able to determine whether he was dead or alive based on the spiritual-quality fragments at the scene, nothing else was known. With such a huge event, there hadn't been a single ripple outside.

And Tong Shan's support squad had been targeted on the way here, with Sin-tainted objects and fierce spirits lying in wait in advance.

The Sin-Eroding Cult knew their route like the back of their hand.

This wasn't just generally outrageous; it was fucking outrageous!

Besides having an internal mole, how else could it be explained?

And this wasn't just any ordinary mole; they were at least at the middle level, and it was even possible they were at the decision-making level... But who was the mole? Was it Lu Yingyue? Was it Zhou Fang of the Tidal Sound Security Bureau? Was it Yu Zhengze of the Boat City? Li Wan'an of Jiangcheng?

Or was it Tao Gong, who was currently drooling while drinking rice porridge?

For small pawns like them, once they took one wrong step, they might just vanish from the face of the earth.

"The Director is trustworthy."

Tong Shan said decisively, guaranteeing: "Absolutely."

They were, after all, the Heavenly Hearing Tong family. Although the old fogies in the family rarely showed their faces, that didn't mean they were deaf and blind. Tong Shan had already taken the position of Department Head, so the close cooperation between the Tong family and the Yacheng Anquan Bureau went without saying.

With the Tong family's guarantee, there was naturally no need to worry about this point—at least there was no need to fear finding Director Lu to say, "It's bad, Director Lu, there's a mole in the Sin-Eroding Cult," only for Director Lu to smile slightly, take off her mask, and ask: "Is the mole like this?"

For a moment, everyone breathed a sigh of relief; at the very least, they could preserve their lives.

Only Ji Jue sighed silently, looking again at Tong Shan, who was only saying half of what he knew—he could only lament that a Heavenly Human was indeed a Heavenly Human, deeply grasping the essence of empty promises and sweet treats.

Easily boosting morale.

But...

Director Lu was reliable, but the prerequisite was that they had to be able to see Director Lu!

Buddy, we're all still inside Quancheng!

How were they going to get out?

Fixed paths? Once the Sin-Eroding Cult failed, to avoid leaking news, they might have a Rebirth-ranker stationed every few kilometers on that road, lying in wait.

Xu Guan raised his hand. "There are two more backup paths..."

"Backup paths aren't reliable either."

Tong Shan shook his head decisively. "All collected records pass through the management of the outpost. Except for top-secret information, the routes calculated by Fourth Uncle are also in quadruplicate: one kept by the Tong family, one sent to the Yacheng Anquan Bureau, one sent to the outpost's archives, and one sent to the executing members."

Cooperating with the Anquan Bureau was all about rules, and it also required rules the most.

Leaving a trail after an event was basic, so that one could shift the blame at critical moments.

As a result, now that one of the four points was out of control, the blame had been shifted, but Tong Shan had also been shifted along with the blame to Yacheng.

In the silence that arrived once more, Ji Jue toyed with the tools in his hand. After pondering for a moment, he suddenly asked: "If the Sin-Eroding Cult discovers they've failed, they'll definitely search for our tracks; they absolutely won't give us a chance to get out and report the news, right?"

"They definitely will." Tong Shan nodded decisively.

"And they'll definitely send out many experts, right?" Ji Jue asked again.

"That's right."

Tong Shan gave a bitter smile and comforted him: "Don't worry, I still need a few hours to recover. When the time comes, there will always be a chance to fight our way out."

"Why fight them head-on?"

Ji Jue asked in return, causing Tong Shan to be slightly stunned.

"The Sin-Eroding Cult has been in Quancheng for so long, and they've made such a big scene; shouldn't they know the local paths better than the Anquan Bureau?"

He took a deep breath and asked his final question: "After dispatching so many people, isn't their own defense at its weakest?"

For a moment, in the silence, everyone was stunned where they stood.

They couldn't help but stare.

Holy shit, wait? ===== CHAPTER 205 =====