Chapter 209: The Rhythm of Something Big Happening

Death is the end of everything, and secrets are safest only in the mouths of the dead.

But if someone could chase into the world after death, that would be another matter entirely.

The Angel Cultist, grabbed by the collar by Yu Sheng, took a few seconds to confirm that he had truly succeeded in performing "self-sacrifice" under the watch of a vast array of Special Bureau surveillance equipment, to confirm that he had truly stripped his life from this shell, and then spent nearly half a minute confirming another thing—

Damn, this weird thing from who-knows-where has caught up! It has chased into the world after death!

Perhaps because the course of events was too unimaginable, even the Angel Cultist, who had already cast life and death aside, was a bit stunned at this moment. The bald man stared fixedly at Yu Sheng's eyes, not saying a single word for a long time.

This time, Yu Sheng did not act as he did last time, "asking nothing and just fighting for fun." He knew the psychological defense of the cultist before him had already collapsed, so naturally there was no need to use the same methods as last time. Moreover, they were now in the stage of "conversation with the dead." He believed that the chaos belonging to the deceased would sooner or later drown the cultist's mind; any firm belief in keeping secrets was insignificant before the unstoppable force of death—so he simply sat down in front of him, watching the "newly deceased" with an easy and patient posture.

"You will tell me," he said slowly and steadily, "Death is a one-way street, and I am the door you cannot bypass on this road. Although I do not know how you hid a method of suicide under the Special Bureau's very nose, but to be honest, your choice was a huge mistake—now, I have ample patience waiting for you to confess all the secrets."

The Angel Cultist stared into Yu Sheng's eyes. His body was tense, and a feeling of gradually falling finally surged up, unstoppable. He gradually felt his will beginning to fade, felt all the memories of his life slowly turning into a muddled vortex, and at the very depths of that vortex... the extreme void of death was gazing at him calmly.

That void was now floating before his eyes, trembling toward him, smiling at him, greeting him with infinite patience—

"Time is about up... The 'vessel' you spoke of refers to the children in that orphanage, correct?"

An empty echo came from the void of death, digging and stabbing into the deepest recesses of the cultist's memory.

However, suddenly, a phantom infant's cry pierced the veil of death, winding around the cultist's last shred of mind.

Yu Sheng frowned. At the instant the phantom cry sounded, he saw a thread of calm, joyful smile appear on the Angel Cultist's face. That smile seemed to relax, and then, that shell slowly, laboriously raised its right hand toward him.

The other party gave him the middle finger.

"The Eternal Lord has come to welcome me..."

Yu Sheng suddenly stood up, and then the colors of the real dimension instantly flooded his vision again. The Angel Cultist was dead; the lifeless corpse lay on the ground, and no secrets worth digging remained within the shell.

Immediately after, hurried footsteps came from outside the cell. The heavy alloy gate opened quickly, and Song Cheng appeared before Yu Sheng with people.

The time for "conversation with the dead" was only an instant in the real dimension. Song Cheng had arrived immediately after the Angel Cultist in the cell died. He looked at the cultist already lying on the ground, then glanced at Yu Sheng, whose face was shifting between gloom and uncertainty, and for a moment he could not quite figure out the situation.

"He got away," Yu Sheng finally let out a long breath, pointing at the shell of the bald man on the ground. "This guy actually managed to 'feed' himself to his Lord with his own final devotion. However... I still obtained some useful intelligence."

Ten-plus minutes later, Yu Sheng had brought Erin and Hu Li to Song Cheng's office and told the operations team leader the intelligence he had heard from that Angel Cultist.

"The vessel... the vessel for the Angel's descent..." Song Cheng's eyebrows were knotted into two lumps. "If the vessel that guy spoke of is truly a member of 'Fairy Tales', then the situation is very dangerous. These cultists performing self-sacrifice at this time indicates that a certain 'time' is truly approaching, but we don't even know what characteristics the 'vessel' they speak of has. Which one could it be... those dozens of children..."

However, to Song Cheng's surprise, Yu Sheng's attitude at this moment was rather subtle.

"If it really is a member of the 'Fairy Tales' organization, then perhaps the problem is still controllable."

A hint of confusion appeared on Song Cheng's face: "Why do you say that?"

Yu Sheng spread his hands: "Because I have already 'protected' the members of the 'Fairy Tales' organization. Today, from those aged five or six to those nearly grown, I have covered them all." Song Cheng: "……?"

"The specific principle is hard for me to explain to you. You can consider it as me applying a soul emergency shelter effect to all 'Fairy Tales' members. Once they suffer severe impact within the 'Fairy Tales' subset—for example, their spirit is contaminated or they face a threat of consciousness death-level—their minds will immediately be transferred to a safe place," Yu Sheng said slowly and steadily. "You can treat this as a kind of 'life-saving teleportation', at the spiritual level."

Song Cheng gazed into Yu Sheng's eyes, as if confirming whether the "person" before him was telling the truth. Just as he was about to open his mouth again to confirm some details, the computer screen on the desk suddenly lit up.

Bai Liqing's face, always cold, appeared on the screen, looking at Yu Sheng.

"I will not probe your secrets. I only want to know how effective this 'shelter' you speak of truly is."

Clearly, everything happening in this headquarters building could not escape the eyes of the Director.

Yu Sheng was not surprised by Bai Liqing's appearance. He only lowered his head to think for a moment, then raised his eyes and said very seriously: "If we look only from the angle of 'protecting the mind', the effectiveness should be one hundred percent—we have already tested it."

"But you still do not have full confidence, do you?" Bai Liqing gazed quietly into Yu Sheng's eyes. Those faded pupils seemed able to pierce straight through a person's soul. "You seem to still be worried about other things."

"... Yes," Yu Sheng realized he probably could not hide anything from the female Director opposite him, so he nodded very frankly. "I am very confident in the effect of the 'shelter' I prepared for those children myself, but we cannot now determine what kind of process the 'descent' of that Dark Angel actually is. What if it is not spiritual contamination? What if it is something even higher-level than spiritual contamination?"

"Moreover, the reaction of that Angel Cultist at the moment of death was also very strange... I mean during the conversation with the dead. I asked him if the 'vessel' referred to the children in the orphanage. He did not answer me then, but in his final smile, besides relief, there seemed to be a bit of mockery... this bit of mockery makes one suspicious."

Yu Sheng blurted out all his worries in one breath, then let out a long sigh, looking at Bai Liqing in the screen, waiting for the other party's judgment.

Bai Liqing in the communication interface sat motionless, her ice-cold face showing no change in expression, even as if the network had frozen.

!. Read

But just as Yu Sheng really began to suspect this thing was frozen, the Director suddenly spoke: "In any case, the first priority is to prevent the Dark Angel from 'descending' into the real world. We must consider isolating and protecting all 'Fairy Tales' members—since you are worried that the 'shelter' effect you applied to them is insufficient, then add several more layers of protection."

Song Cheng frowned in thought, then hesitated before speaking: "Transfer the children to the Special Bureau's containment facility first? Or let them stay on a special floor first? 'Quiet Town' might work..."

"'Quiet Town' is essentially an alien realm; long-term residence will affect a person's spirit—the children are still young, it is not good for them to live there for too long," Bai Liqing shook her head with a serious expression. "We cannot now determine when the 'descent' will occur or how long it will last. We need more alternative plans."

"... Then the Sixth Containment Zone. The environment there is quite good. The physical 'Caregivers' can even teach the children classes, and there is no need to worry about the 'Caregivers' running around wildly. The 'parents' from Fairy Tales are all quite capable fighters."

"That is a plan worth considering..."

Yu Sheng listened as Bai Liqing and Song Cheng began discussing a plan to transfer all the children of the entire orphanage to certain containment facilities. Halfway through, he finally could not help but speak up: "Wait, wait, don't rush to decide like this just yet—you must hear the opinions of the parties involved! Little Red Riding Hood and the other 'parents' might not agree. And furthermore... don't forget, the Special Bureau has not failed to attempt operations to concentrate and protect the children of 'Fairy Tales' in history. The incident that happened back then was not small."

Upon hearing this, Song Cheng's eyebrows knotted together once again, and he worried so much he kept sucking on his teeth.

"Of course I remember this matter, but isn't the situation driven to this point now? The Dark Angel might descend, and the vessel for descent is almost one hundred percent a certain child from 'Fairy Tales'. You also said that the 'shelter' you gave them might not be able to block the Angel's descent. Moreover, the cultist's attitude when he died was so weird..."

Song Cheng muttered halfway through, and Erin, sitting beside him, murmured quietly: "Listen, the elements for 'something big happening' are almost maxed out. In a movie, this would be about the time to play some intense BGM."

Yu Sheng raised his hand and poked Erin on the forehead, then looked very seriously at Song Cheng and at Bai Liqing in the screen.

"First, this matter must be discussed with Little Red Riding Hood and the others. After all, they themselves know the internal situation of the 'Fairy Tales' organization best. Who has been acting abnormally recently, who might be the 'vessel'—these must be figured out somehow. Otherwise, blindly transferring people solves nothing. Second, even if we really do need to transfer the children from the orphanage, it is not only you who have a plan—I have one too..."

(End of this chapter)