Chapter 462: Chapter 462: Must Tell Them This_1
Officers and soldiers crawled at the feet of the masked man as if on a pilgrimage. They abandoned their loyalty to their nation, instantly becoming disciples of the enemy.
Qiqimora felt terrified. She knew a little bit about the power of the "Throne of Spirit," but this was the first time she had seen it in action.
To twist the enemies’ hostility directly into worship towards oneself, the stronger the hostility, the more intense the converted reverence. It was utterly irrational, to say the least.
Similarly, other negative emotions such as fear should also be convertible into positive feelings.
The consequences of appearing before this man were entirely foreseeable.
Yet even so, a trace of covetous thought emerged from the depths of Qiqimora’s heart.
If this man was Mr. Blood-Cloak, then he should be carrying the unique power of "Hatred."
If he had not yet assimilated that power, then the unique power should be with him, which meant there was a chance to steal it...
That thought disappeared without a trace the moment the man’s gaze shifted in her direction.
Fortunately, the man’s eyes did not linger on her but merely swept the surroundings out of caution.
Only then did Qiqimora breathe a sigh of relief and quickly come to her senses—the unique power would summon the saints who are close to it, and they could sense its presence.
Her "Invisibility" ability could not possibly block the summons of the unique power. Stealing the unique power would be tantamount to exposing herself.
Without having touched a hint of the "Hatred" power, how much of the unique power’s strength could she use? To confront a saint of "Hatred" by relying on the abilities of two "Nothingness" powers?
No matter how she thought about it, it wasn’t a wise move.
To Qiqimora, Mr. Blood-Cloak was a competitor in the battle for the Hand of Obliteration, but there was no need for her to test the waters at the edge of death when nothing had yet started.
After all, Mr. Blood-Cloak’s real enemy was someone else, and all she needed to do was stick to her own job of espionage.
Thinking this way, Qiqimora shrank into a corner of this warehouse.
...
Two hours later, in Abigail’s summoning space.
"... After completely brainwashing those people, he left the base with them as cover. Thinking I must bring the news back to you, I observed the entire process until his departure," Qiqimora stopped her narrative.
Silence ensued, Abigail sat at the end of the long table, unfazed, while Aiden and Lamia, sitting side by side, exchanged glances.
When Abigail relayed the message, Aiden was busy with his work, but the moment he heard it was related to Mr. Blood-Cloak, he dropped everything to attend this emergency meeting.
As Qiqimora described the mask the man wore, Aiden’s memory quickly conjured the memory of the previous Aiden right before his death, he could even recall the feeling of the bullet piercing his chest.
"Thankfully, you are unharmed," Aiden commented.
"The warden actually cared about my safety?" Qiqimora smirked.
Aiden thought to himself, because in the stories I’ve read, scouts who glimpse key secrets almost always end up dead or crippled in the end.
"Make sure to tell them" is also quite a classic death flag.
Fortunately, Qiqimora’s "Invisibility" ability truly meant complete invisibility; as long as she didn’t test the waters too close to the edge of death, she’d generally be safe.
"That cult leader started infiltrating this base before us," Lamia said in a hoarse voice, looking at Aiden, "I say, your intelligence network didn’t notice?"
"If I had full knowledge of his whereabouts, I would have taken action long ago," Aiden calmly replied, "He’s been in Sunset City for at least a year now and is only starting to make a move. It’s rather late, actually."
"To spend a year building a network from scratch to find the secrets of Gistas’s military is quite an achievement, but when it comes to intelligence gathering, ’Hatred’ cannot compare to ’Void’," Qiqimora said slowly.
"We’re lucky to have discovered this in time," Aiden nodded.
It was bad news that Mr. Blood Robe also discovered the "Infection" project within the Sunset City base and began to take targeted actions, but the fact that they discovered it in time was certainly a silver lining.
"Once we start acting, we won’t be able to be this optimistic," Abigail reminded from the side, "’Hatred’ is like a kindling, once ignited, it can lead to a wildfire. He has already completely manipulated the squad responsible for abducting subjects for the experiments. When it comes to infiltration efficiency, he is much higher than you."
Aiden fell into thought, and indeed that was true.
The mental domination of the "Hatred" authority, compared to the other two authorities of the Throne of Spirit, seemed to require more skill.
But once successful, it was almost unsolvable.
According to the information provided by Halo, at the level of the "Hatred" saint, it shouldn’t be possible to directly control an entire base’s personnel, or else Mr. Blood Robe wouldn’t need to be so thorough.
The group responsible for abducting the refugees might not seem critical, but they could deliver living people into the research facility—if executed properly, it was entirely possible to organize a squad to break in. Controlling them undoubtedly meant controlling the channel deep into the base, and the Witch’s Gathering also targeted that officer from the very beginning for this reason.
The brainwashing of that officer and his subordinates couldn’t possibly be undone; they were inevitably Mr. Blood Robe’s men now, unless...
"Do you want me to find a way to assassinate all of those people?" Qiqimora suddenly voiced the thought that had surfaced in Aiden’s mind.
After some thought, given what those people had done, there wasn’t much room for sympathy, even if they were just following orders, but...
"But killing them won’t stop Mr. Blood Robe’s infiltration; he just needs to target another group. Doing so would expose us instead, making both the base and Mr. Blood Robe’s side heighten their vigilance. If the Gistas military decides to move the project somewhere else because of this, are you confident you can find it again?" Aiden asked.
"So you’re saying we continue to watch and wait?" Qiqimora asked.
"You keep watching and waiting; I’ll figure out a way to exclude these infiltrated people," Aiden responded.
For now, they could only adapt to each move, making use of the connections from Heinz’s side.
Mr. Blood Robe beginning to infiltrate the base of the "Infection" project was without a doubt because he had discovered Professor Dodge’s purpose. Once Mr. Blood Robe took control of the base, he would have the initiative to ambush Professor Dodge and snatch the Hand of Obliteration from him.
Centred around Gistas’s "Infection" project, Mr. Blood Robe finally emerged into the open. Now they just needed the key piece, Professor Dodge.
