Surging negative emotions swept across his sea of consciousness like a raging tide—lust, hatred, greed, wrath... Every single emotion was a maddening poison. The negative feelings of a Level 6 Aberrant were more than enough to give a Stargazer of the same level a severe headache. Even if they didn't go completely insane, they would remain neurotic for quite a while, requiring prolonged psychological counseling to recover.
The limit for a Level 6 Stargazer was roughly three evil professions of the same level; exceeding three would drive them completely mad.
Zhang Yuanqing was far more resilient than Stargazers of his rank. First, he had reached the minor completion stage in the Pure Yang Body Cleansing Record; second, he was a peak Dream Master. Illusionists were masters of manipulating emotions, reigning supreme in the mental domain.
He thus suppressed Beast Haas's negative emotions with ease and absorbed the fragmented memories.
Three minutes later, having finished absorbing the memories, he opened his eyes, his expression turning grave.
From Beast Haas's memory fragments, he gleaned several vital pieces of intelligence.
First: There indeed was a spy within Heaven's Punishment who had betrayed Abner Carlyle.
However, Beast Haas did not know the person's identity. He had communicated with them by phone via a spoofed internet number, and the spy had used a voice changer, making it impossible to tell whether the caller was a man or a woman.
The spy was very well hidden, maintaining only one-way contact with the evil faction. Even if someone in the evil faction were captured, nothing could be traced back to them.
The only lead was that Beast Haas had dared to trust an unknown phone call and an unknown address without fear of an ambush because the previous night's operation had been authorized by his superior, "Godzilla."
Godzilla was an elder of the Biological Alchemy Society and a Dominator-stage Spirit Realm walker. He might know who the spy was, but hunting a Dominator was far beyond Jumang's current capabilities.
Given the current situation in New York, both the evil and orthodox factions were on high alert. Any disturbance could easily draw in multiple Dominators.
Hunting a Dominator was far too risky, with the danger vastly outweighing the potential reward.
Second: He saw the Biological Alchemy Society's internal hit list, which circulated only among the middle and upper echelons of the evil faction.
High-ranking Saints from the Merchant Guild, the Association of God of Beauty, and Heaven's Punishment were all on the list. Their rankings determined priority, and from those priorities, one could deduce the evil faction's operational plan.
Notably, Jumang, as a Level 6 Beast King, was also on the hit list, though his priority was relatively low.
In the eyes of the evil faction, the Five Elements Alliance support team, arriving from afar and unfamiliar with New York, was of little consequence.
*After tonight, my priority will probably jump up a few notches,* Zhang Yuanqing thought to himself.
Third: The evil faction was waiting for an opportunity!
"Once the opportunity arrives, we will eradicate the Sea God Church. With the orthodox faction losing one of its mainstream professions, our chances of victory will rise substantially."
Those were Godzilla's exact words. Beast Haas had asked what this "opportunity" was, but received no answer.
The evil faction's plan in New York was to first hunt Heaven's Punishment's high-ranking Saints, thereby forcing the Dominators onto the field and grinding them down as much as possible. Once the orthodox faction's strength in New York had been severely crippled, they would concentrate their forces to attack the Sea God Church.
—The headquarters of the Sea God Church was located in New York.
Based on this plan, the Dionysus Club had deliberately instigated a war against the Merchant Guild to make the orthodox faction believe the conflict centered around the Merchant Guild. The evil faction had intentionally avoided targeting the Saints of the Sea God Church, focusing instead on those from the Merchant Guild and Heaven's Punishment.
The objective was to lull the Sea God Church into a false sense of security, keeping them as onlookers hesitant to enter the fray.
After all, since their own Saints and Extraordinaries had not been harmed, prematurely joining the battle would inevitably lead to casualties within their own organization.
Though belonging to the same faction, the orthodox organizations each had their own selfish motives. In localized warfare, everyone preferred that others take the blow instead of themselves—a dynamic that held equally true among the evil faction.
*Waiting for an opportunity? What kind of opportunity... I need to inform the President of this intelligence.*
Though he hadn't identified the spy, stumbling upon such crucial information made it quite a fruitful harvest.
Zhang Yuanqing stored Beast Haas's headless corpse into his hat space. By then, Commandery Princess Yinyao had finished washing off the blood and walked out of the bathroom.
"This speaker played vulgar audio yesterday," she reported to her master, holding up her little loudspeaker.
"Between Demon Lord and who?" Zhang Yuanqing asked.
"A woman named Catherine," Commandery Princess Yinyao said.
Catherine... Zhang Yuanqing's lips twitched. *I'm not surprised in the slightest.*
Given Demon Lord's style, coming to the Free Confederation and visiting New York meant he would surely drop by the Hunter Guild. And given that little vixen Catherine's style, she would never pass up a capable, promising man.
The two of them tumbling into bed was like an Italian artillery piece sighting enemy troops—there was no way they wouldn't fire off a round.
*Catherine is a Dominator, far too dangerous for me to touch right now. She's an absolute forbidden zone, but I might be able to gather intel through her intimate recordings with Demon Lord.*
Zhang Yuanqing stored Commandery Princess Yinyao and the four yin corpses into his hat space. He walked over to the window and looked down. The Poison Masters in the courtyard had already been slaughtered clean.
Fires blazed in the distance, shadows darted across the streets, and the terrified shrieks of residents, gunshots, and the crash of collapsing buildings echoed incessantly.
Evidently, the Saints of Return of the Dead were battling members of the Biological Alchemy Society, though the commotion had subsided considerably compared to earlier.
Zhang Yuanqing kicked through the window pane, slipped on the Gale Gloves, vanished using Night Travel, and rode a blast of wind into the sky.
The scene below unfolded clearly before his eyes: collapsed buildings, corpses strewn across streets and rubble, and Brother Red Chicken still fighting valiantly despite his petrified left shoulder.
He saw that all his companions were alive and pursuing the last two surviving Saints of the Biological Alchemy Society.
Zhang Yuanqing spat out the Ghost Bride, issued an order for her to hunt them down, and landed atop a nearby roof, calling out in a clear voice:
"Retreat!"
Even as he spoke, the Level 6 Ghost Bride caught up with one of the Saints, possessed him, snapped his neck, and ripped out his heart.
Seeing this, Guan Ya and the others withdrew immediately without hesitation.
Nearly ten minutes had passed since the clash began. If they lingered any longer and a Dominator from the Biological Alchemy Society arrived, the team would certainly suffer casualties.
Forty minutes later, the members of Return of the Dead returned to the bank building, took the elevator up to their dormitory floor, and divided the spoils inside Zhang Yuanqing's room.
In total, they had seized three Saint-grade items and eight Extraordinary-grade items. Brother Red Chicken was the most severely injured, while Guan Ya and Tianxia Guihuo had sustained minor wounds.
Sun Miaomiao and Zhao Chenghuang, both Night Wanderers, had adopted a cautious, underhanded style, losing only two yin corpses and one spirit servant between them.
"Did you find any intel?" Guan Ya asked.
Zhang Yuanqing shook his head. "There really is a spy within Heaven's Punishment, but they're hidden very deep. Even Beast Haas didn't know who it was."
He briefly recounted what he had learned through Spirit Devouring, deliberately omitting the detail about the "opportunity." Guan Ya and the others didn't need to know that just yet.
"Do you suspect anyone?" Tianxia Guihuo asked thoughtfully.
"Winnie Berendt," Zhang Yuanqing said. "Though I don't think it's very likely."
Guan Ya suddenly said, "If Fu Qingyang were here, we could actually bluff Winnie Berendt. We could claim we extracted intel from Beast Haas confirming she's the spy. Caught completely off guard by the accusation, her emotional response wouldn't escape a Dominator-stage Scout."
Brother Red Chicken scoffed disdainfully. "Didn't Jumang just say Beast Haas didn't know who the spy was? Winnie wouldn't fall for that."
Guan Ya smiled. "When a normal person is falsely accused, their reaction is anger, confusion, and the thought that they've been framed. Being overly calm would actually be abnormal—something a Dominator-stage Scout could easily detect."
"Oh, so that's how it works!" Brother Red Chicken let out an awkward laugh and fell silent.
The group soon dispersed and returned to their rooms to rest.
Lying in bed, Zhang Yuanqing turned Guan Ya's words over in his mind. The more he thought about it, the more feasible it seemed. Even though he lacked Insight, he could sense Winnie Berendt's emotions.
Winnie Berendt didn't know he was an Illusionist. No matter how calm she appeared on the surface, she wouldn't deliberately suppress her inner emotions.
Being accused out of nowhere would certainly trigger emotional turbulence.
*I'll test her one more time. If she passes again, I can stop suspecting her. Since I don't have any other targets anyway, it won't hurt to try,* Zhang Yuanqing thought.
***
Nine in the morning.
Winnie Berendt arrived at her office punctually, picking up the desk phone to instruct her secretary to brew coffee. She had barely set down the receiver when her assistant, Emma, walked in.
"Minister, I have a matter to report!"
"What is it?" Winnie Berendt asked as she booted up her computer.
"The Bronx precinct reported a gang firefight on Hellend Street around eleven last night, suspected to be a small-scale conflict between Spirit Realm walkers. Several civilians were caught in the crossfire. The battle ended quickly, and by the time officers arrived, the bodies had already been cleared away. At present, they can only confirm the victims were members of the Biological Alchemy Society. Without bodies, their specific identities cannot be determined," Emma said.
Winnie gave an acknowledging nod. "Send an email to the other orthodox organizations to inquire about the situation."
It was likely a retaliation by one of the orthodox organizations for Beast Haas's attacks on Heaven's Punishment members. If Beast Haas could strike official walkers, the official factions could just as well raid evil organization strongholds.
She just wasn't sure whether it was the work of the Enforcement Division or another orthodox organization.
However, since the battle had concluded so quickly, it had likely been a minor skirmish between low-level walkers.
If Saints—especially high-ranking Saints—had clashed, the commotion would never have been so contained. If someone of Beast Haas's caliber fought an equal in a bustling district, heavy casualties would have been unavoidable.
Emma nodded and turned to leave when Winnie's desk phone rang. Winnie answered it, listened in silence for several seconds, and said, "Send them in."
Shortly after, Zhang Yuanqing walked in, leading Brother Red Chicken and Tianxia Guihuo, who were carrying a stretcher covered by a white sheet.
Winnie and Emma both fixed their eyes on the stretcher, the former frowning. "What is this?"
"Beast Haas!" Zhang Yuanqing threw back the white sheet to reveal a headless, dark, muscular corpse. "Last night, I led a team and eliminated Beast Haas on Hellend Street in the Bronx."
Winnie shot to her feet, staring intently at the body on the stretcher.
Emma's expression went completely blank.
Before either could regain their composure, Zhang Yuanqing pressed on:
"Through our companion's Spirit Devouring, we've identified the spy—and it's you, Minister Winnie! I've already alerted Executive Sean of the Enforcement Division. You'd better prepare to be arrested."
The words hit Winnie like a splash of ice water. Her expression shifted slightly, her gaze turning razor-sharp as she locked eyes with Zhang Yuanqing.
Her emotions registered as shock, bewilderment, and anger... along with suspicion that he had colluded with Sean Mede to frame her. Her emotional reaction passed the test. Sensing Winnie's genuine feelings, Zhang Yuanqing felt satisfied.
After announcing Beast Haas's death, he had framed her immediately without giving her any time to buffer. Her emotional reaction was as authentic as it got.
From the look of it, her identity was clean; she wasn't a member of the Covenant of Freedom.
Just then, however, Zhang Yuanqing caught another emotional wave.
It was laced with contempt, disbelief, and a sliver of schadenfreude—before being swiftly tucked away.
*Huh?* Wearing a peculiar expression, Zhang Yuanqing turned his head toward the assistant, Emma.
Chapter 694