Predicament

The explosives, laced with a cocktail of corruption poisons, detonated. They wiped away their tracks around the ruins and kicked up a vast, thoroughly contaminating toxic cloud. Mingled within were ample ashes left from alchemical items destroyed by Dissociation Art—more than enough to mislead any Aether Celestial Chosen who might try to trace their trail, sparing Xu Guan plenty of trouble. Silence hung over the entire ride. The vehicle sped along for a long while before coming to a stop in a corner of the ruins. Ji Liu stepped out and threw a camouflage net over it, blending it almost seamlessly into the rubble. Only now did Tong Shan slowly breathe a sigh of relief. A long exhalation, a quiet sigh. "Is it safe here?" Tong Shan asked. "Yeah. A fork in the road that overlapped with the last shift after the latest changes. You can only get in by following a specific trajectory," Xu Guan said. "It's never been reported." Tong Shan nodded slightly. Then, as his taut body slowly relaxed, a bone-chilling cracking sound broke the dead silence. Scarlet fissures spread across his skin like a spiderweb. Before anyone else could speak, Ji Jue acted with lightning speed, plunging a blade straight in. The bone blade pierced his heart. The cracking stopped abruptly, and a faint flush even returned to his rapidly blanching face. His condition was forcibly stabilized. The corner of Tong Shan's mouth twitched faintly. "After you stabbed Da Liu in the ass last time... did you disinfect it?" "Don't talk." Ji Jue waved for the others to make room. Quicksilver tentacles shot out from behind him, swiftly clearing an open space inside the vehicle. After laying Tong Shan flat, he wiped his sweat and cautiously cut away the protective suit. On his back, the pierced tear—no longer sealed by telekinesis—finally lay exposed. "When was he hurt?" Ji Xue asked in shock. "Was he stabbed at the very end?" Tong Shan didn't say anything, merely offering a faint smile. Ji Jue let out a soft sigh, realization dawning on him. "...Right at the beginning, wasn't it?" The instant the Burning Star Manifestation appeared, when the Evil Transmutation Cult detonated the explosives in the ruins, Ling Zhi had launched his first sneak attack from behind... Between his teammates and himself, he had chosen to protect his teammates first. Only afterward did he find an opening to counterattack viciously, disguising the whole thing as a deliberate trap. From start to finish, he had acted as though nothing had happened, fooling even his enemies completely. "Before I begin, let me ask—is there really no other surgeon here besides me?" Ji Jue looked around at everyone with a glimmer of faint hope, only to be met with helpless looks. "Just do it," Tong Shan said. "I'll cooperate." "Cooperating or not is one thing, but peeling away corruption is exhausting work." Ji Jue sighed. "Can I ask for extra pay?" "Are you underestimating the Security Bureau, or the Tong family?" Tong Shan smiled, completely unbothered. He didn't care about the money at all, nor did he believe Ji Jue would truly raise the price right now. If Ji Jue were actually charging, the blockhead Jiang Xuan might not know the cost, but Tong Shan knew full well. Just for the few minutes of unrestrained firepower Jiang Xuan had enjoyed earlier, he'd be doing slave labor for Ji Jue until next year. "Be serious. I'm giving you my first time here." Ji Jue drew disinfectant from his toolbox and splashed it into the air. Under the shattering force of a trace of telekinesis, it atomized into a fine mist to sterilize the air. Then, aided by his third spiritus hand, he pulled on sterile gloves. Keep everything simple. A token disinfection would do; if they lived to get back, they could pump him with antibiotics. He pulled out the bone blade. Countless surgical insights and experiences surged through his mind. Under his direction, the others carefully rolled Tong Shan over, revealing the pitch-black wound on his back. Shadow poison swirled within, clinging like a stubborn ghost. "Hmm... Frenzied Slaughter, Abyssal Depths, and a bit of... Shadow Sun, most likely." Ji Jue picked up a trace on his fingertips to identify it and let out a breath of relief. "Not bad. I've dealt with most of these before." Fortunately, there was no White Pavilion. Even though he had encountered the Deathless Disease before, the virulent strains of White Pavilion went far beyond that single affliction; one look at the hospital's infectious disease threat rankings was enough to see how delightfully diverse they were. If any of those were present, all Ji Jue could do would be stab Tong Shan to freeze his state and give him a placebo. A through-and-through wound on his back, damage to his heart and left lung, corruption taint, tiny fissures and bruises covering his entire body, and even severe soul trauma—likely the backlash from exceeding his limits when unleashing his Regeneration form. Most of it fell within the purview of surgical intervention. As for the corruption, he still had Non-Offensive and Cousin. Non-vital parts were crudely excised; for vital organs, he exploited the mutual attraction between abominations, drawing out the taint with high-purity corruption poison before excising the contaminated portions. If it seeped deep into the bone marrow, he temporarily sealed it off with spiritus circuits. Supplying this with medications carried by the Security Bureau and the various spiritual medicines contributed by Young Master Lou, he cleared eighty to ninety percent of the corruption, leaving only a negligible trace that posed no threat. The makeshift surgery took only half an hour. With the aid of Masterwork Nature, his efficiency was blazing fast. Finally, he equipped the Mouth of the Ancient and two other blessed items that accelerated healing, concluding the emergency procedure. "Sorry, that's the extent of my skills," Ji Jue said, peeling off his blood-soaked gloves and tossing them into a material bin. "Trauma to the soul and matrix can't be healed in short order. You'll have to find a hospital and a dedicated artisan for that. I can only barely stabilize your condition so it won't worsen." "It's enough." A straw had been popped into Tong Shan's mouth, and he took large gulps from the water bottle held by Ji Xue. With sugar and medicine replenishing him, color returned to his pale face. Of so many injuries, half came from Ling Zhi and Yan Chong's attacks, while the other half stemmed from using power beyond his limits to finish off the pair in one fell swoop. After all, even an incomplete Calamity Prevention Codex wielded power that only those of the Exaltation tier could barely mobilize. Before achieving full Enclosure, all the immense pressure fell entirely upon one's own soul. That he had merely overloaded his matrices, drained his spiritus, and suffered soul trauma was proof enough that the Tong family was obscenely wealthy, packing him with life-saving measures to the absolute brim. As for the two blessed items that had shattered and become inert to save Tong Shan's life, Ji Jue's deft hands unceremoniously pocketed them. Even if scrapped, they could be dissociated as dog food for Deus Ex Machina—did they think surgery was free?! "The situation is grim," Tong Shan said, breaking the solemn silence. "The scale of the Evil Transmutation Cult this time is likely far larger than anticipated. Those bastards might very well have deployed in full force." Using numerous illegal churches as covers, the Evil Transmutation Cult had spent the century since its emergence roaming across the Federation, the Empire, Mid-Continent, and the Thousand Islands of the Endless Sea. Like flies in a sewer, wherever there was filth and stench, they would appear. For them to mobilize such vast resources and quietly infiltrate beneath Quancheng now—if someone claimed they were just here for an anniversary team-building trip, nobody would believe it. Even the permanent investigation base had been infiltrated and destroyed without a whisper, and they had even calmly laid an ambush to wait for subsequent reinforcements to walk right into their trap. Just how many people had they dispatched? Hundreds, if not thousands. When it came to mass-producing disposable tools, the Evil Transmutation Cult held a massive advantage over the Federation. Bathe them in the corrupting aura of a higher abomination: those who died became sustenance, and those who survived naturally became tools. Slap a haphazard matrix onto them—perhaps without even a blessing—hand them an AK, and send them into battle. In less than a few hours, the seemingly vibrant and fiercely competitive situation had deteriorated to this point. Everyone was struck speechless, a heavy gloom weighing on their hearts. Amid the dead silence, Ji Jue gave a soft cough. "The situation might not be just that." "Could there still be a turn for the better?" Jiang Xuan asked, startled. "No. I mean... it might be even worse." After pondering for a long while, Ji Jue reached into his pocket and pulled out the trophy he had stripped from the ruins—a piece of skin peeled off the fellow who had played dead to ambush him. It was the size of a palm. Yet the pitch-black tattoo branded upon it struck everyone dumb. A cruel, one-eyed insignia flanked by totems of scaled wings. —The Dragon Sacrifice Society! "Look on the bright side," Ji Jue said. "Unless the Evil Transmutation Cult's HR went crazy trying to hit performance targets by poaching from the Dragon Sacrifice Society, there's a strong chance he was just moonlighting for extra cash." Of course, there was another, far greater possibility... Everyone was a villain who was neither cute nor charming. Communicating with each other, joining forces, colluding in foul deeds, and teaming up to pull off something big was perfectly normal, right? That would explain the Dragon Sacrifice Society's abnormal activities in the Haizhou region of late—not just Lawrence, whom Sister Wen had reduced to scattered ashes, but also Shepherd Formless arriving a few days ago. Even in the Chrono Ruin's hospital, Ji Jue had seen the vortex-grafting technique that Lawrence had loved his whole life. A dignified Shepherd, lurking in Haizhou for so many years, couldn't have worked on just a single dragon blood project. Perhaps before being turned to ash, that dead bastard had happily provided technical support to the Evil Transmutation Cult... But if the Dragon Sacrifice Society was involved, what about the others? Since the Evil Transmutation Cult wasn't even keeping the spoils to themselves, wouldn't they drag a few more factions in as cushions? What on earth were they trying to do? Limited by his own ability and perspective, Ji Jue couldn't conceive of any objective other than detonating Quancheng and spreading corruption across the entire Haizhou territory. But what was the point of that? Wouldn't that just get them killed faster? The Federation was still the Federation. No matter how bloated and corrupt it was, it remained one of the twin poles of the world. Leaving aside its numerous Celestial-Humans, one might even find living Sages and Dragons in secret. The Evil Transmutation Cult followed abominations, not a death wish. The Dragon Sacrifice Society pursued the apocalypse and draconification, not an early grave. What was their purpose? Then again, what the hell did that have to do with Ji Jue? When things blew up to this scale, not even the Tong family's venerable ancestors could hold the line, let alone him. "No, we have to report this immediately." The moment Ji Liu grasped the implications, cold sweat drenched his back. Yet besides him, no one spoke. Ji Jue and Tong Shan exchanged a quiet look. Neither spoke, only sighing. That was the deadliest problem of all... "What's wrong?" Ji Liu asked in bewilderment. Ji Jue said nothing, remaining silent. "Don't worry, I handpicked everyone in this squad. There's no chance of collusion with the Evil Transmutation Cult—otherwise, I'd already be dead," Tong Shan said with a faint self-deprecating smile. "I suppose that counts as a silver lining?" But what about outside the squad? As an externally hired artisan, Ji Jue felt obliged to voice the harsh truth first: "The Security Bureau can no longer be trusted." A permanent investigation post of that size, with so many personnel, had been wiped out completely out of nowhere. The commander, Lou Yanyue, was missing. Aside from lingering spiritus fragments confirming she wasn't dead, they knew nothing. For something of this magnitude, there hadn't been the slightest stir from the outside world. Meanwhile, Tong Shan's reinforcement squad had been targeted before they even arrived, with abominations and ferocious spirits drawn in ahead of time to ambush them. The Evil Transmutation Cult knew their route inside and out. This wasn't just absurd; it was bloody ridiculous! How else could they explain it, if not for a mole? And not just any ordinary mole, either—someone at least at mid-management, or even in the decision-making tier... But who was it? Lyu Yingyue? Zhou Fang of the Chaocheng Security Bureau? Yu Zhengze of Chuancheng? Li Wan'an of Jiangcheng? Or could it be Lord Tao, who was currently drooling into his rice porridge? Small-fry pawns like them could easily vanish from the face of the earth if they made a single wrong step. "The Director is trustworthy," Tong Shan stated firmly, pledging, "Absolutely." This was Heavenly Hearing's Tong family, after all. Though the old geezers rarely showed their faces, that didn't mean they were blind and deaf. Tong Shan was already serving as chief of the First Department; the close cooperation between the Tong family and the Yacheng Security Bureau went without saying. With the Tong family's guarantee, there was naturally no need to worry on that front. At least they didn't have to fear running to Director Lyu and crying out, *Disaster! There's a mole working with the Evil Transmutation Cult!*—only for Director Lyu to smile faintly, take off her mask, and ask: *Does the mole look like this?* Everyone let out a sigh of relief. At least their lives could be spared. Only Ji Jue sighed silently, glancing at Tong Shan, who had clearly held half of his words back. He could only marvel that Tianyuan was Tianyuan after all, deeply versed in the art of dangling carrots and spinning sweet promises. Boosting morale with effortless ease. But... Director Lyu might be reliable, but that was on the premise that they could actually see her! Buddy, we're still stuck inside Quancheng! How the hell do we get out? The fixed route? Now that the Evil Transmutation Cult had botched this attack, to prevent word from leaking, they might very well have stationed Regeneration-tier experts every few kilometers along that path, lying in wait. Xu Guan raised a hand. "There are two backup routes..." "The backup routes aren't reliable either," Tong Shan shook his head resolutely. "All gathered records pass through the outpost's management. Except for crucial classified secrets, the routes calculated by Fourth Uncle are prepared in quadruplicate: one copy kept by the Tong family, one sent to the Yacheng Security Bureau, one to the outpost's Archives, and one given to the field operatives." Cooperating with the Security Bureau demanded the strictest adherence to protocol—rules were paramount. Paper trails were fundamental so that when push came to shove, blame could be shifted. As a result, a single point of failure among those four meant that even if the blame could be passed, Tong Shan might get hurled away right along with the buck. In the silence that fell once again, Ji Jue fiddled with the tools in his hands. After pondering for a moment, he suddenly asked, "If the Evil Transmutation Cult realizes they've failed, they will definitely search for our tracks and never give us a chance to get outside and deliver a report, right?" "Undoubtedly," Tong Shan nodded firmly. "And they'll certainly dispatch plenty of top experts, won't they?" Ji Jue asked again. "Indeed." Tong Shan gave a wry smile and consoled him, "Don't worry. I just 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 countered, catching Tong Shan slightly off guard. "The Evil Transmutation Cult has been in Quancheng for so long and staged such a massive operation—they must know the local paths better than the Security Bureau, right?" He took a deep breath and delivered his final question: "Once they dispatch so many operatives, won't their own defense be at its absolute weakest?" For a time, everyone froze in stunned silence. Their eyes widened involuntarily. *Holy shit, wait what?*