Chapter 209

Chapter 209: The Signs of Big Trouble

Death ends everything, and secrets are safest in a dead mouth.

Unless someone can chase you into the world after death.

Yu Sheng had the cultist by the collar. The man took a few seconds to confirm he had completed the Self Sacrifice under the Special Affairs Bureau’s layers of monitors and control. Then he took half a minute to confirm something else: [Darn it, this freak actually chased me here. He chased me into the world after death.]

The turn of events was so wild that even this cultist, who had already put life and death aside, was stunned. He stared at Yu Sheng and could not speak for a long time.

Yu Sheng did not repeat last time’s “hit first, ask later.” He knew this cultist’s mental defenses had already collapsed. There was no need for that approach, and they were already inside the Conversation with the Dead. Yu Sheng believed the chaos of death would soon flood the cultist’s mind. Any resolve to keep secrets would fail in the face of unstoppable death. So he sat down right there, calm and patient, and looked at the “newly dead.”

He said slowly: “You will tell me. Death is a one way road, and I am the Door you cannot get around on it. I don’t know how you kept a suicide method hidden under the Bureau’s nose, but you made the wrong choice. I have plenty of time to wait for your confession.”

The cultist stared back. His body went tense, and then the feeling of falling surged up. His will began to drain away. All his life’s memories blurred into a dull whirlpool, and at the very deepest point, the silent Death Void looked at him calmly.

The empty hollow floated before his eyes, trembling, smiling, and greeting him with patience: “Time is almost up. The ‘vessel’ you mean is one of the kids in the Orphanage, right?”

A thin baby’s cry pierced the veil of death and wrapped around the cultist’s last clear thought.

Yu Sheng frowned. As the cry rang, the cultist’s face smoothed into a quiet, happy smile. Slowly, he raised his right hand.

He gave Yu Sheng the middle finger and said: “The Eternal Lord comes to receive me.”

Yu Sheng sprang to his feet. Color rushed back. The Angel Cultist was dead for good. The shell held no secrets worth digging.

Footsteps raced up outside the cell. The heavy alloy gate opened, and Song Cheng stepped in with officers.

In the living world, the Conversation with the Dead had lasted only a heartbeat. Song had hurried over the moment the cultist died. He looked at the body on the floor, then at Yu Sheng’s troubled face, and could not make sense of it.

Yu Sheng exhaled and said, pointing to the bald man’s body: “He got away. He fed himself to his Lord. But I still got a few useful pieces.”

Ten minutes later, Yu Sheng sat with Irene and Foxy in Song Cheng’s office and told the operations captain everything the cultist had revealed.

Song Cheng’s brows were twisted into two knots: “A ‘vessel’… a vessel for an angel’s Descent. If the vessel is really one of the Fairy Tale members, then this is dangerous. The cultists chose to self sacrifice now, which means some ‘time’ is close. But we don’t even know what makes someone a ‘vessel.’ Which one will it be… there are dozens of kids…”

Yu Sheng’s tone turned oddly calm: “If the vessel is a Fairy Tale member, it might still be controllable.”

Song Cheng looked puzzled and asked: “Why?”

Yu Sheng spread his hands and said: “Because I already ‘protected’ the Fairy Tale members today. From five or six years old to almost grown, I covered them all.”

Song Cheng stared: “?”

Yu Sheng said, unhurried: “It’s hard to explain the details. Think of it like a soul emergency shelter. If anyone in the Fairy Tale group takes a serious hit, like mental pollution or a mind death level threat, their mind will move at once to a safe place. You can treat it like a life saving teleportation on the mental level.”

Song Cheng watched Yu Sheng’s eyes, trying to see if he was serious. Before he could ask for more, the computer screen on the desk lit up.

Bai Li Qing’s always cold face appeared and looked at Yu Sheng.

She said: “I won’t pry into your secrets. I only want to know how strong this ‘shelter’ is.”

Nothing that happened in the headquarters escaped the Madam Director.

Yu Sheng was not surprised to see her. He thought for a moment, then looked up and said seriously: “If we only talk about protecting the mind, it should be one hundred percent effective. We already tested it.”

Bai Li Qing’s colorless eyes seemed to look straight through him as she asked: “But you still aren’t fully sure, are you?”

Yu Sheng nodded: “Right. I’m confident in the shelter itself. But we don’t know what the Dark Angels’ Descent will look like. What if it isn’t mental pollution? What if it’s something higher? And the cultist’s last reaction during the Conversation was strange. When I asked if the ‘vessel’ was one of the Orphanage’s Cursed Children, he did not answer, but the smile on his face had not only relief. There was a bit of mockery. That makes me doubt.”

He laid out all his worries, then let out a long breath and waited for her verdict.

On the screen, Bai Li Qing sat still as a block of ice. Her face did not move at all, like the feed had frozen.

Just as Yu Sheng started to wonder if the connection had stalled, the Madam Director said: “No matter what, our top priority is to prevent a Dark Angels’ Descent in the real world. We should plan to isolate and protect all Fairy Tale members. Since you doubt your shelter is enough, we will add more layers.”

Song Cheng frowned and said slowly: “Move the Cursed Children to the Special Affairs Bureau’s Containment Facility? Or put them on a special floor? Quiet Town might work…”

Bai Li Qing shook her head: “Quiet Town is an Otherworld. Living there long term harms a person’s mind. The Cursed Children are young. That would be bad. We do not know when the Descent will happen or how long it will last. We need more options.”

Song Cheng said: “Then the Sixth Containment Zone. The environment is good. The Entity caretaker can even teach the kids. We also won’t worry about the caretaker running around. The Fairy Tale ‘parents’ can fight.”

She nodded once: “That is worth considering.”

Yu Sheng listened to them draft plans to move the whole Orphanage of Cursed Children into certain Containment Facilities. Halfway through, he could not hold back and said: “Hang on. You can’t decide this without asking the people involved. The ‘parents’ like Little Red Riding Hood may not agree. Also, remember, the Bureau has tried to gather and protect the Fairy Tale’s Cursed Children before. That ended badly.”

Song Cheng’s brows knotted even tighter as he sucked his teeth.

He said: “I remember, but look where we are. The Dark Angels may descend. The vessel is almost certainly one of the Fairy Tale kids. You said your shelter may not block an angel’s Descent. And that cultist died with that nasty attitude…”

While he muttered, Irene whispered: “Listen to that. All the signs for big trouble are lining up. If this were a movie, the background music would be swelling right now.”

Yu Sheng tapped Irene on the head, then looked seriously at Song Cheng and at Bai Li Qing on the screen and said: “First, we talk with Little Red Riding Hood and the others. They know the Fairy Tale organization best. Who has been acting strange, who could be the ‘vessel’-we need to find that out. Blindly moving people won’t solve the problem. Second, even if we do move the Orphanage’s Cursed Children, I have a plan of my own.”