Chapter 281: The Holy Hidden Order

Hanging up the phone, Yu Sheng pondered in place for a few seconds, then took a deep breath: "Sigh, it's not easy for her to be the director."

As soon as he finished speaking, Erin beside him spread her small hands: "Why do I feel that her recent difficulties are half your fault?"

"This matter tonight is not my fault," Yu Sheng hurriedly said, "The Artificial Saintess of the Holy Hidden Order has already infiltrated; I discovered it in advance. In the long run, this might be equivalent to solving how many troubles for the Special Operations Bureau..."

Erin thought for a moment: "Right, right?"

"Of course," Yu Sheng chuckled, then waved his hand, "Alright, let's go call Hu Li back first. Let's take that arm to the Special Operations Bureau for the experts to examine..."

As soon as he finished speaking, before Erin could reply, a light footstep sound came from the stairs leading to the basement. Immediately, Hu Li ran up holding the "iron arm" which had already been disassembled into three sections and with all fingers cut off, showing it off to Yu Sheng with a happy face: "Benefactor! It's cut off!"

Yu Sheng was greatly surprised: "So fast?"

Erin also looked surprised, staring wide-eyed at the thing Hu Li was holding: "It's already cut off? And the joints are disassembled?!"

"Mm-hmm," Hu Li nodded vigorously, then added, "It was actually quite hard to cut. The firepower I used to cut steel bars before could only heat it red; luckily, combining it with some spells got it done. As for these joints, they were easier to deal with than the blades; I just forced them apart, though it required a lot of force..."

Hearing this, Erin laughed: "See, see, C-clips are just like that."

Hu Li blinked: "Why do you have such strong opinions about this kind of joint?"

"Imagine there exists another kind of demon fox in the world, one that combs its fur backwards from tail to head..."

Hu Li's tail visibly fluffed up—that was a sign of goosebumps rising all over: "I, I understand!"

At this point, Yu Sheng finally spoke: "Alright, since it's disassembled, it's disassembled. Take the parts to show Bai Liqing—bring the cut-off blades too. And that veil, Erin, you hold it. Let's set off for the Special Operations Bureau."

"Great!" "Good~~"

While speaking, a phantom door leading to the entrance of Bai Liqing's office opened.

Crossing the door, the brightly lit corridor of the Special Operations Bureau came into view—even though it was already late at night, most floors of this building were still brightly lit. As a special department monitoring countless Otherworld exits and responsible for maintaining peace in the entire Borderland, it was obvious that someone was on duty in this building twenty-four hours a day.

When Yu Sheng stepped into the office door, Bai Liqing was on the phone behind her desk.

"... Must act in small groups; personnel must guard against being alone. The Artificial Saintess is very dangerous.

"Focus inspection on the northern part of the Old City, but if the fog is too thick, withdraw. The first-phase goal is to deploy the detectors inside first...

"The monitoring team is on standby on Deep Dive Channel 16...

"Report to me anytime if there are problems."

Bai Liqing, in work mode, seriously and quickly issued orders one by one. Only after finishing the call and looking up to see Yu Sheng walk in did she barely squeeze a smile that looked like a smile onto her face.

"You've already arranged for investigators to go in?" Yu Sheng guessed based on the conversation he just heard.

"Yes, a batch of Deep Divers has already entered the fog. They will approach the Old City from the 'other side,' focusing on inspecting the area around where you were attacked," Bai Liqing said, gently rubbing her forehead, "The Artificial Saintess wouldn't appear within the Special Operations Bureau's sphere of influence for no reason. Their missions are generally to protect important assets and personnel. There must be something over there... The appearance of this 'Fog City' is becoming increasingly suspicious."

Speaking to this point, she paused, her gaze sweeping back and forth between Yu Sheng, Hu Li, and Erin, her expression carrying some seriousness, and perhaps a bit of concern.

Yu Sheng felt a bit awkward being looked at by the other party: "Uh, what's wrong?"

"You were ambushed by an Artificial Saintess, and none of you were injured?" Bai Liqing's tone clearly carried disbelief.

As soon as she said this, Yu Sheng's expression instantly became a bit subtle.

How to explain this? —To say no injuries was definitely not true; it was a fatal wound, eight holes stabbed into the body by two blades. But to say there were injuries, none were visible now, after all, mere fatal wounds...

Yu Sheng's face twitched, then he forced his expression: "Just suffered a little injury. My physical constitution is relatively good; wounds heal fast."

Bai Liqing looked at Yu Sheng suspiciously several times, probably unable to imagine what a superficial wound after an ambush by an Artificial Saintess would look like. Fortunately, she didn't delve deeper into this topic, but immediately shifted her gaze to the things Hu Li and Erin were holding. Yu Sheng let them place the items directly on Bai Liqing's desk.

Bai Liqing seriously examined that pile of things for a few seconds, then looked up thoughtfully: "... How do I remember that arm in your photo was intact?"

"Ahem, this is due to a bit of research spirit, and I needed those blades, so I had Hu Li disassemble it," Yu Sheng touched his nose tip a bit awkwardly, then asked guiltily, "Shouldn't it have been disassembled?"

"Not really... No. Even disassembled, this pile of things still has value. We mainly want to extract intelligence from it," Bai Liqing shook her head, "I'll have the Forensics Department people come over; some of them are more familiar with this kind of thing."

Speaking to this point, she paused, then gave Yu Sheng an extra look: "Rest assured, it will be returned to you after the examination."

Hearing this, Yu Sheng laughed: "It's fine. I mainly just want the blades on it. You guys can keep the other parts; anyway, you can't analyze anything out of them for me."

Speaking to this point, he suddenly thought of something, hurriedly stepped forward two paces, pointed at that veil, and said to Bai Liqing: "Also, I discovered something else. This thing actually has a brand logo, and even a label suggesting hand washing..."

Bai Liqing, however, had a calm expression. After listening, she asked a question: "Is there a problem with that?"

"Uh... No problem?" Yu Sheng was a bit slow to react, "The Holy Hidden Order, the Artificial Saintess, these sound sinister and high-end. The special equipment on their bodies actually has a brand logo, and it's a quite ordinary brand—even though it seems a bit expensive, but this..."

"Otherwise what?" Although Bai Liqing's expression didn't change much, a hint of "What is this person making a fuss about?" was faintly revealed in her eyes, "The Holy Hidden Order is also a human organization—they can't be self-sufficient for food, clothing, shelter, and transportation, nor can they create matter out of thin air. So isn't it normal to buy things from external channels?"

Yu Sheng: "... Seems like that?"

!

Bai Liqing involuntarily looked at Yu Sheng two more times. For some reason, a joyful light was instead revealed in her eyes.

Probably sighing that "this guy who always makes one's eyes go black actually has a state where his brain doesn't turn."

However, soon, she put away the strangeness in her expression.

The Forensics Department people arrived very quickly. They took away the remains of the Artificial Saintess's arm and the veil. After they left, Yu Sheng also casually found a chair to sit on and asked Bai Liqing the question he had wanted to ask before leaving home.

"That 'Holy Hidden Order' you mentioned, what exactly do they do? Are they also a cult organization similar to the Angel Cultists? How did they appear in the Borderland?"

Bai Liqing adjusted her sitting posture behind the desk and nodded seriously.

"In most civilization circles, the Holy Hidden Order is indeed classified as a cult," she began, "but in terms of organizational structure and operational guidelines, their difference from the Angel Cultists is very large.

"The structure of the Angel Cultists is very loose. Except for all worshipping the common race 'Dark Angel,' they are actually divided into many 'branches' of various sizes. Under each Dark Angel name, independent small cults gather. This also leads to the Angel Cultists, although numerous, never being able to form a unified force, making them relatively simple to deal with.

"The Holy Hidden Order, however, is the other extreme.

"They all follow a set of doctrines called the 'Path of Holy Veneration' to act. The entire organization has clear programmatic goals and a complete set of behavioral codes. Its organizational structure is tight, and personnel management is strict and efficient. This also leads to their numbers being far fewer than the Angel Cultists, yet their overall strength is more powerful. In the depths of some lawless zones, they even possess stable bases and massive armed forces—this can be seen from their ability to manufacture killing machines like the 'Artificial Saintess.'

"You should be deeply impressed by the combat power of the 'Artificial Saintess'—and in fact, this thing can be mass-produced."

Hearing this, Yu Sheng was shocked: "... That thing can still be mass-produced?!"

Bai Liqing nodded gently: "Yes, you heard right, mass-produced—only small-scale mass production can occur in the core areas controlled by the Holy Hidden Order, so the total number is not large. You don't need to worry about encountering an entire 'Artificial Saintess' legion."

Yu Sheng clicked his tongue, regained his composure slightly, then asked: "Alright, then what does that 'Path of Holy Veneration' you mentioned just now mean?"

Bai Liqing took a light breath, then spoke in a deep voice:

"The Holy Hidden Order believes that our current world has serious defects, and all disasters and suffering—including but not limited to the Otherworld, war, plague, famine, and so on and so forth—are caused by these defects. At the same time, they believe that mortals are the reflection of the world. The various defects on mortals, such as greed, selfishness, cowardice, etc., are also reflections of the world's imperfections. In a word, that is 'this world and every person living in the world are defective products.'"

"Their 'mission' is the repair of all these defects."

"They believe mortals can be restored to 'perfection,' either through the tempering and transformation of spirit and flesh to sanctify them into perfect 'saints,' or directly via technological means to manufacture perfect 'saints'; the so-called 'Artificial Saintess' is merely one byproduct of this line of thought.

"Based on this theory, they also believe the world itself can be restored to 'perfection,' though the method to repair the world has yet to be found—to discover this method, the first step must be the creation of a true Supreme Saint who fits the description in their doctrines...

"And all efforts made toward the aforementioned goal constitute the 'Path of Revering the Saint'..."

(End of Chapter)