Chapter 366

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Protagonist:

Lin En

Lena

Dominic lay prone on the roof of an abandoned building, raising a monocular telescope to look down.

His gaze quickly locked onto a group of soldiers within the defensive line.

Those people wore standard Brevis Vanguard Army uniforms, with the Brewis Governor's Office emblem printed on their chests.

They held laser rifles in their hands, responsible for providing firepower output for the defensive line, occasionally firing supplementary shots at the Waa'gh that broke through the machine gun net.

Movements practiced, cooperation tacit — clearly regular army.

Dominic's eyes turned cold.

He had long guessed that official forces backed the Purge Plague Sect from behind; otherwise they could not have developed this fast in the Bottom City.

The Vanguard Army is the Governor's Office's directly subordinate troops; their appearance here is not surprising.

After all, besides the Saint Galus Family's private army, only the Vanguard Army in all of Brevis has the capacity to suppress the Waa'gh's impact.

But he hadn't expected it to be this brazen.

Regular army and heretic cult fighting together in coordinated combat — in any Imperial world, this is a capital crime sufficient to send one to the Tribunal.

He suppressed the emotions in his heart and continued observing.

The pressure on the defensive line was immense; Waa'gh surged over wave after wave, their roars shaking the stones at his feet into jumping.

Soldiers rotated shooting, fatigue written on every face.

Taking advantage of the reloading gap, two soldiers leaning against each other began talking in low voices.

Dominic had by now crept close to their vicinity, put on his hearing enhancement device, and started eavesdropping.

"Damn it, this ghost place isn't fit for humans at all." The short soldier on the left spat, stuffing an energy magazine into the machine gun.

"Dealing with these monsters day in, day out — sooner or later we'll get infected; what's the difference between coming here and being sent to die?"

"Say a couple fewer sentences." The tall soldier beside him sighed.

"Orders came down; can we not come?"

"I just can't figure it out," the short one grumbled resentfully.

"We're Vanguard Army, we're Governor Sir's directly subordinate troops; why should we help this bunch of mumbo-jumbo charlatans? I see them as no different from heretics."

The tall one looked left and right, lowered his voice: "You don't know shit."

"These people really have something off about them — whether they're heretics I don't know, but they truly can tell who's sick and who isn't."

"You think just relying on us we could rescue this many people from this ghost place?"

Seeing the short one calm slightly, his tone also lightened:

"And... we're not directly taking orders from them either."

"Higher-ups said, cooperate with their actions — it's all another Adult's intention."

"Another one? That newly promoted Vice Admiral?"

"Exactly." The tall one sneered.

"Heard the guy's rushing to earn merit and show off, currying favor with Governor Sir."

"These cult people, plainly put, are just tools he found to speed up conscription."

"When things are done, useful ones stay, useless ones... hmph, all have to die."

"So that's how it is..." The short one suddenly realized.

"I was wondering how a cult suddenly popped up; turns out it's that Adult's ladder for claiming credit."

"Quiet, don't get heard." The tall one shoved him. "Hurry and reload, another wave's coming!"

Machine gun fire rang out again, drowning the subsequent dialogue.

Dominic lowered the telescope, brows tightly knit.

According to the soldiers' account, the Purge Plague Sect is a force a certain Vanguard Army general privately colluded with, aiming to seize credit via rapid population screening to curry favor with Governor Kerry.

Then, does Kerry himself know or not?

Dominic leaned against the cold wall, falling into thought.

If it was Kerry's one-hand orchestration, he wouldn't need to push the matter onto a Vice Admiral.

With his Governor identity, he could completely handle it openly under the name of an "Epidemic Prevention Special Task Force" — no need to sneak around making a cult.

But if he doesn't know...

A Vice Admiral privately colluding with a heretic cult — such a big thing, and the Governor's Office wouldn't have caught even a whisper?

And that mysterious letter.

The letter-writer went to great pains to lure him here, seemingly wanting him to believe the Purge Plague Sect has Upper City big shots behind it, pointing straight at Keli Feng.

But now it looks like the direct connection is only a Vice Admiral anxious for merit.

Could it be that letter wasn't to expose Kerry, but rather to help him "clear his name"?

No.

Dominic shook his head.

It's also possible Kerry deliberately set a trap, pushing all blame onto Paul Sera while hiding behind a mask of innocence.

After all, losing a Vice Admiral is still better than the Governor stepping down.

But that way, things become even more chaotic.

He originally thought he had come to lift the lid, but now that a crack had opened in the lid, what was inside was even more bewildering than he had expected.

The mysterious major general, the Purge Plague Sect, Keli Feng—what exactly is the relationship between these three?

And whose side is the owner of that mysterious letter ultimately on?

After observing for a while longer and confirming there were no more clues, Dominic withdrew from the front line soundlessly with two Silent Sisters.

Wind carrying a burnt smell blew over the abandoned streets, and the roars of the Waa'gh never ceased.

The machine guns behind the defensive line kept roaring, like a heart that never stopped beating, jumping in the rotting Bottom City.

No one knows how many eyes are hiding behind this plague.

In the Underground Secret Room of Saint Galus Castle in the Upper City District.

Luna stood before the huge crystal ball, her pale fingers hovering above the surface of the ball, her brow tightly furrowed.

Mist surged inside the crystal ball, intermittently reflecting images of the abandoned streets of the Bottom City.

The muzzle flashes of automatic machine guns, the silhouettes of the Waa'gh, the uniforms of the Vanguard Army—the images flickered in and out, as if being interfered with by something.

The spies she had planted were supposed to keep watch on Dominic's movements the whole time, guiding him step by step to discover the "truth."

According to her plan, once Dominic saw the Vanguard Army and the cult mixed together, he would surely fly into a rage and directly conclude that Keli Feng was the one pulling the strings behind the scenes.

But now, the images in the crystal ball were becoming increasingly blurry.

The course of events seemed to be deviating from expectations.

The chessboard she had so carefully laid out was very likely to fall into chaos.

Luna thought of this, her attention wavered for a moment, and the images in the crystal ball went completely black, leaving only surging gray mist.

A bad premonition, like cold vines, wrapped around her heart bit by bit.

She had endured for so many years, bearing the heavy burden of her clan's revival, and had finally waited for this opportunity to drag Lin En into the Abyss—she absolutely could not fail just like this.

"Dominic, Lin En..."

She softly recited these two names, her lips beneath the mask pressed into a straight line.

Things seemed to be starting to slip out of her control.

No, the game had only just begun, she was the one controlling all of this!