Free Web Novel"...That's about it, Jin Jiao. This time, you're only getting a severe warning. It's not too much, right?"
A Psychic criminal died in Yun Kang Mental Hospital. As the temporary supervisor, Jin Jiao was responsible.
Listening to Inspector Xing Yuan's cold voice on the other end of the phone, Jin Jiao nodded, "Leader is right. This was my oversight."
"However, given that there's something fishy about this, I've temporarily suppressed your punishment. If you can investigate the matter thoroughly within three days, the severe warning can be reduced to a warning."
"Understood, thank you, Leader. I will do my best!"
"Okay, let's leave it at that for now? Report any situation at any time!"
"Beep—!"
Putting down his phone, Jin Jiao rubbed his face with both hands, then stared at the corner of the wall, his gaze deepening as he fell into thought.
He kept saying he was terrified of death, but that guy had planned to commit suicide from the start!
Both instigating the riot in the cell and repeatedly attempting to escape were smoke bombs he released to cover up his true intentions.
Instigating a riot and attempting escape would make people think he was unruly and had a strong desire to live, thus lowering their guard against him committing suicide.
There should only be two possible reasons for his suicide.
The first is that he held some core secret of the Eclipse Society which fell into the hands of the Night Watch, and it would be interrogated out sooner or later. It was better to end his own life early to prevent leakage.
One must know that the Eclipse Society's methods for dealing with traitors who leak secrets are as cruel as human imagination can conjure.
The second is that he had already prepared some fallback, some way to revive after death.
But, could he really do it?
Even with the technical support of the Eclipse Society, the possibility is very low, right?
After all, resurrection from death, excluding certain Psychic with special Spirit Marks, is difficult even for a Calamity.
Even for a Strange Tale, after being hunted and after a long period of time, reappearing from Strange Tale legends, from a certain perspective, is no longer the same Strange Tale as before.
Perhaps the Eclipse Society really has mastered some technology for resurrecting dead Psychic. If it were a technical Night Watch operative like Silver Horn, he might be able to vaguely analyze some clues.
But everyone has their specialization. As a combat operative, Jin Jiao is not skilled in analysis and investigation.
"Dong dong dong—!"
A knock on the door sounded, interrupting Jin Jiao's thoughts.
"Please come in!"
A member of the Special Operations Team pushed the door open and bowed slightly to Jin Jiao, saying, "Executive Secretary, operative An Qing has finished the autopsy."
"Understood, I'll be right there!" Jin Jiao replied, stood up, and left the office.
—
To be honest, Yun Kang Mental Hospital, if judged by conventional standards, is quite terrifying.
Located deep in the mountains, the mental hospital is only accessible via a road circling the mountain. The hospital has several layers of secret rooms built as cells underground, in addition to a morgue, autopsy room, interrogation room, and Spiritual Energy species organ storage, among other facilities.
If uninformed members of the public were to mistakenly enter and see these facilities, they would likely be scared into completing admission procedures on the spot.
When Jin Jiao arrived at the small break room next to the autopsy room, An Qing was still wearing her protective suit from the autopsy, a pair of blood-stained latex gloves on her hands, holding a conical flask with a solemn expression.
At the bottom of the flask, a mass of dark red, flocculent flesh was slowly wriggling, seemingly possessing a certain vitality.
"Cough cough!" Jin Jiao coughed softly twice, attracting An Qing's attention, and asked, "Operative An Qing, how are the autopsy results?"
"Ah, sorry, I was distracted just now." An Qing regained her focus and smiled at Jin Jiao, "I've carefully confirmed it. From a purely human perspective, Berses indeed has no vital signs whatsoever."
"In other words, you can confirm he's dead?" Jin Jiao looked troubled.
This suggests that he likely hid some core secret of the Eclipse Society and was worried about being interrogated, so he committed suicide out of guilt.
But if that's the case, to reduce his punishment, he needs to investigate the secret he carried.
Things are a bit tricky... Jin Jiao thought, rubbing his slightly throbbing forehead.
"No, he's still alive."
A cold voice came from outside the break room. Jin Jiao looked towards the sound and saw Jiang Li push the door open and walk in.
"Although I really don't want to admit this fact, he is indeed still alive."
"You..." Jin Jiao was startled for a moment, then recalled the relationship between Jiang Li and Berses, and suddenly understood.
The reason why the Eclipse Society could become the most troublesome illegal Psychic organization for the Night Watch, besides its intricate ties with the Night Watch's predecessor and the resources and network accumulated over long years, the most important factor is a series of Spiritual Energy research achievements.
Among them, the Eclipse Society's symbolic black sun totem is one of the most important Spiritual Energy research achievements of the Eclipse Society.
This tattoo, similar to a dependent mark but without a clear pointer to a Strange Tale, is a result of the Eclipse Society combining key characteristics of Spirit Marks, dependent marks, and totem beliefs.
Although the control the black sun totem caster has over the cast is far less than a true dependent mark, it is highly versatile.
Almost any member of the Eclipse Society who has mastered the method of drawing the black sun totem can cast it on any target.
Even if the success rate of casting on high-level Psychic is not high, and some Spiritual Energy items can suppress the effect of the black sun totem, this still gives the Eclipse Society more efficient means than other illegal Psychic organizations in terms of member expansion and control.
The caster of the tattoo on Jiang Li's back was Berses. If he had died, her tattoo should have lost its effect.
However, at this moment, she could clearly feel that the tattoo on her back was still affecting her.
Considering this, it is possible that Berses escaped by committing suicide.
However, after understanding this point, Jin Jiao still had a question in his mind, "But, is it really possible for the Eclipse Society to achieve resurrection from death?"
"That's ~Nоvеl𝕚ght~ right, most urban legend and Psychic cannot be resurrected from death, but..." Jiang Li said calmly, her peripheral vision drifting towards the conical flask in An Qing's hand, "But, with the flesh and blood of an Invasion Beast, it might not be impossible."
The researchers within the Night Watch, based on recent data from Psychic and urban legend, have made a bold inference.
They believe that as the black night becomes longer, some special individuals are beginning to emerge among Psychic and urban legend that go beyond their original understanding.
High-level urban legend like the Invasion Beast and Plague Tai Sui, which were born after the black night became longer, are very likely to possess unexpected abilities.
Although it has not been verified, it does not prevent An Qing from making a hypothesis based on this inference regarding the connection between the Invasion Beast and Berses.
Jin Jiao followed Jiang Li's gaze to the flesh and blood in the conical flask and exclaimed, "You mean, that scumbag's body contains the flesh and blood of an Invasion Beast?!"
"That's impossible! Before I captured him and sent him to prison, I took a blood sample for comparison, and I didn't find any residual Invasion Beast tissue in his body!" ƒrēewebnovel.com
If residual Invasion Beast tissue had been found in that scumbag's body before, his danger level would have been raised by at least one level, and he would have been escorted to Jin Guan City to await trial... Jin Jiao added in his mind.
"I've also seen the blood sample comparison data." An Qing nodded slightly, "There is indeed no residual Invasion Beast tissue in his body, not even this thing..."
She glanced at the flesh and blood in the conical flask, curled her lip, her eyes clearly showing disdain and disgust.
"When I first dissected this flesh and blood from that guy's body, although I found similarities in external characteristics with the flesh and blood of an Invasion Beast, the Spiritual Energy fluctuations didn't match."
"It was only after Operative Jiang Li's reminder that I tried putting the special substance extracted from the black night disease samples together with this stuff, and guess what?"
"Did it exhibit characteristics similar to the Invasion Beast?" Jin Jiao probed.
Jiang Li nodded slightly, confirming Jin Jiao's guess, "Exactly!"
"Now..."
An Qing had just opened her mouth when Jin Jiao interrupted, "Now I will immediately apply to use the 【Broken Finger Compass】! In five hours, we should be able to locate that scumbag!"
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Having said that, he hurriedly left the break room.
【Broken Finger Compass】is also called "Extinction-Bringer of Old Days' Broken Finger Compass", an A-Level Spiritual Energy item. Its appearance is a large brass compass, and the pointer is made from the index finger bone of an unknown Extinction-Bringer of Old Days.
This compass cannot be used for normal geomancy surveys, but it can use blood to track most living life forms.
Currently stored within the Jin Guan City Si Ye Hui.
Since Berses is likely not dead, his blood can be used for tracking and locking on.
Although using the Broken Finger Compass has strong side effects, after finding the target through it, the target must be killed and their blood used to sacrifice to it.
If the target is already dead, or if the sacrifice cannot be completed with the target's fresh blood, the user will suffer a strong backlash.
But Jin Jiao couldn't care less anymore. He just wanted to kill Berses now, even if he failed in the end...
Backlash won't kill anyone, it's just bad luck for a while.
Watching Jin Jiao's receding figure, An Qing smiled and teased, "It seems, Mr. Secretary, is very eager to teach that escapee a lesson!"
Jiang Li glanced sideways at An Qing and said calmly, "This is a good thing."
"That's right!" An Qing nodded in agreement, then stretched and said, "Since that's the case, I should start writing the report too."
After replicating the Power, the flesh and blood of the Invasion Beast will lose most of their original characteristics, and at the same time, after losing their host, if they come into contact with its other flesh and blood, they will be reactivated...
This can be considered a new discovery about the Invasion Beast's abilities, and it is necessary to write a report promptly and upload it to the Night Watch's archives.
"Okay, notify me when you're done writing." Jiang Li nodded. "I need to start preparing on my end too."
After speaking, she turned and left the lounge.
Although Jin Jiao has risked suffering the Broken Finger Compass's backlash to start a new round of tracking Berses.
But waiting for his application to be approved, then sending Berses's flesh and blood back to Jin Guan City, and finally locking onto Berses's approximate coordinates, would take at least four or five hours.
In these four or five hours, the successfully escaped Berses would have enough time to do many things, such as starting the spread of the black night disease in Hua City again.
As the saying goes, preparation prevents Calamity.
Before this, Jiang Li planned to prepare some contingency plans for unexpected situations. That way, if Berses really caused some trouble, they wouldn't be caught off guard like last time.
Just as Jin Jiao submitted the application to use the Broken Finger Compass, and rushed back to Jin Guan City with Berses's blood sample.
In the depths of a cave hidden deep within the mountains in the southwest, in front of a large metal door sealed by a special Spell.
A pale-faced, dispirited man and a woman with snow-white rabbit ears growing from her head stopped in the open space in front of the door.
Miss Rabbit stood to the side, her arms crossed, glancing sideways at Suo E as he continuously poured Spiritual Energy into the metal door, and she curled her lip.
"I've been with you for so long, I've already figured it out. There should actually be two factions within your Eclipse Society, right? One part is loyal to the Chairman, and one part is loyal to the Elder Council."
As she spoke, she looked up at the metal door in front of her and said resentfully, "Isn't this what's-his-name, a person from the Chairman's faction? What are you, a person from the Elder faction, doing helping him?"
"It's the Elder Council's order, I don't understand it either, I'm just responsible for executing it." Suo E said indifferently, "The Elder Council also said that everyone is a member of the Eclipse Society, and mutual assistance when necessary is part of the job."
"Elder Council, Elder Council, all you know is the Elder Council all day!" Miss Rabbit rolled her eyes and said somewhat angrily, "When are you going to think about yourself?"
Spending time with Suo E recently, she discovered that this guy was either completing the Elder Council's tasks every day or on the way to complete the Elder Council's tasks.
As one of the rare dependents in this world who successfully rebelled against her Master in pursuit of freedom, Miss Rabbit couldn't understand this tool-like life at all. Not only did she not understand it, but she even found it somewhat unbearable.
She stayed in the Eclipse Society because the transaction hadn't been completed, but what was Suo E doing it for?
"..." Suo E looked at Miss Rabbit with a face full of confusion and asked, puzzled, "Consider myself? The Elder Council provides plenty of the core bodies of urban legend that I need daily, and when my Spiritual Energy level reaches a certain standard, I can also get Spirit Mark advancement immediately. What else do I need to consider?"
"For example..." Miss Rabbit's eyes darted around, "For example, a lifelong matter?"
"Oh, no need for that!" Suo E gave Miss Rabbit a meaningful smile, his eyes curved into two crescent moons, as if saying "You know!"
Why is he looking at me like that? Could it be... Miss Rabbit muttered to herself, and a blush suddenly appeared on her face.
"The Elder Council said, as long as I work hard, in a few years, they'll assign me a wife!" Suo E said, his face full of pride and expectation.
Miss Rabbit, "..."
What was I expecting after all?
What kind of weird organization are you? Do you even assign wives?
You're objectifying women, aren't you? Can things get any better? I'm shaking with anger and cold!
Half an hour later.
As Suo E completed the charging of the special sealing Spell on the metal door and activated the Spell according to the information left by Berses, the metal door was finally able to open.
Thus, a roar erupted.
"Boom—!"
Along with the dull sound of the metal door opening, a huge and dark space appeared before Suo E and Miss Rabbit, and the outlines of some large machinery could be faintly seen.
The man and the Strange Tale exchanged glances, nodded slightly at each other, and tacitly formed a mutually supportive stance, walking together towards the depths of the cave.
"Buzz—!" As soon as they stepped into the cave, a faint buzzing sound reached their ears.
On both sides of the path carved out from the rock, special crystal pillars emitted a cold light, extending all the way to the end of the path, completely illuminating the entire space.
In the vast space, beneath the huge stalactite pillars, turbid liquids of varying sizes, under the effect of the Spells inscribed on the stalactite pillars, condensed into spherical shapes and floated.
Under the cold light emitted by the crystal pillars, various twisted and bizarre existences could be faintly seen being nurtured within. Some could still be recognized as humans or some kind of animal, while some were completely indistinguishable, causing both physical and psychological discomfort just by looking at them.
"This guy is really quite perverted."
As a ferocious Strange Tale who had once devoured a large number of urban legend and potential Spiritual Energy users, Miss Rabbit couldn't help but complain when she saw such a scene.
And she secretly felt fortunate that the person responsible for her experimental modification was not Berses.
At least that Old man was someone who had strict requirements for the appearance of the experimental subjects.
The difference between the two was probably the difference between "usable" and "aesthetic and usable." Miss Rabbit thought.
Just as she was muttering to herself, Suo E fumbled in his jacket pocket for a while, took out a palm-sized dark golden octahedron, and injected Spiritual Energy into it.
As the Spiritual Energy activated the dark golden octahedron, Suo E raised a hand and threw it into the air.
The dark golden octahedron floated in mid-air, vibrating continuously. Immediately after, each face erupted with strong golden beams of light, like searchlights, meticulously scanning every corner of the cave.
Then...
The light gradually dimmed and fell downwards.
Seeing this, Suo E reached out, caught the dark golden octahedron, put it in his pocket, turned to look at Miss Rabbit, and said, "Let's go, Berses prepared his clone in the innermost part."
"Okay, alright." Miss Rabbit nodded, but lagged half a step behind as she walked forward, then looked at Suo E's back and rolled her eyes.
That's why I can't stand those old fogeys from the Elder Council!
This is clearly coveting this what's-his-name's research results. And they say everyone is a member of the Eclipse Society, and mutual assistance is part of the job?
Only a fool like Suo E would believe their nonsense! Miss Rabbit thought, feeling a faint sense of weariness.
