Chapter 280

Chapter 281: Holy Revere Hermitage

After he hung up, Yu Sheng stood there thinking for a few seconds, then took a long breath: “Being a director is rough.”

Irene spread her tiny hands: “I feel like half of how rough it is comes from you.”

Yu Sheng waved fast: “Tonight isn’t on me. The Holy Revere Hermitage’s Artificial Saintess infiltrated. I spotted it early. In the long run that might save the Special Affairs Bureau a lot of trouble.”

Irene tilted her head: “Is that so?”

“Of course,” Yu Sheng grinned, then clapped his hands. “Alright, let’s call Foxy back. We’ll take that arm to the Special Affairs Bureau and let the experts have a look.”

He had just said it when quick steps sounded on the stairs from the basement. Foxy rushed up hugging the “iron arm,” now cut into three sections with all five fingers removed. She beamed at Yu Sheng and bragged: “Benefactor, they’re off!”

Yu Sheng stared: “That fast?”

Irene gaped at the arm in Foxy’s arms: “Already cut down? And the joints are apart too?”

Foxy nodded hard: “Uh-huh. It was pretty hard to cut. The power I usually use for steel bars could only heat it red. Luckily I added some spellwork and that did it. The joints were easier than the blades, though. If you pull hard enough, they pop right off. You do have to pull really hard.”

Irene laughed: “Right? C Buckle joints are like that.”

Foxy blinked: “Why do you have such a grudge against joints?”

Irene wrinkled her nose: “Imagine there is another demon fox in the world who combs their fur from back to front, against the grain.”

Foxy’s tail puffed up right before their eyes. That was her getting goosebumps: “I, I get it!”

Yu Sheng finally spoke up: “Good. If it’s apart, it’s apart. Bringing parts for Bai Li Qing to examine works too. Pack the cut blades. And the head veil, Irene, you carry it. We’re heading to the Special Affairs Bureau.”

Irene and Foxy answered together: “Okay!” “Okayyy.”

As they spoke, a phantom Door opened to the entrance of Bai Li Qing’s office.

They stepped through the Door into a bright corridor of the Special Affairs Bureau. Even at this late hour, most floors were still lit. As the bureau that monitors countless Otherworld exits and keeps the Borderland peaceful, the building clearly had staff on duty around the clock.

When Yu Sheng entered the office Door, Bai Li Qing was behind her desk on the phone.

Her voice was clear and quick as she issued orders: “Operate in teams and keep people from being isolated. The Artificial Saintess is very dangerous. Focus on the north of the old city, but if the fog is too thick, pull out. First-stage goal is to place detectors inside. Monitoring Unit, stand by on Deep Dive channel 16. Report any issues to me at once.”

She ended the call and finally managed a thin, almost-smile when she saw Yu Sheng come in.

Yu Sheng guessed from what he had heard: “You’re already sending a team in?”

She rubbed her temple lightly and nodded: “A group of Deep Divers has entered the mist. They’ll move toward the old city from the other side and focus on the area around your ambush site. An Artificial Saintess would not appear inside the bureau’s sphere for no reason. Their usual mission is to protect important assets or key people. There must be something around there. The rise of this Mistbound City is getting more and more suspicious.”

She paused and let her eyes sweep over Yu Sheng, Foxy, and Irene. Her look held some sternness, and maybe a touch of concern.

Yu Sheng felt a little awkward under the stare: “Uh, what is it?”

“You were ambushed by an Artificial Saintess, and none of you were hurt?” Bai Li Qing sounded honestly incredulous.

Yu Sheng’s face went a bit funny.

How was he supposed to explain? He had taken wounds that should have been fatal. She had poked him twice and left eight holes. But right now it didn’t look like anything at all.

His cheek twitched, then he kept a straight face: “Just some small injuries. I’ve got good stamina. I heal fast.” [Just say it’s minor.]

Bai Li Qing studied him for a few seconds, clearly unable to picture what a “minor injury” from an Artificial Saintess looked like. Luckily she didn’t press the point. Her gaze slid to the things in Foxy’s and Irene’s hands.

Yu Sheng had them set everything on her desk.

Bai Li Qing examined the pile for a few seconds, then looked up with a frown: “Wasn’t the arm in your photo still whole?”

Yu Sheng coughed: “That was me having a bit of research spirit. Also I needed the blades, so I asked Foxy to take it apart. Was that not allowed?”

She shook her head: “It’s fine. Even in pieces it’s valuable. We mainly want intel we can extract from it. I’ll have the appraisal team come over. Some of them know this kind of thing well.”

She paused and gave Yu Sheng an extra look: “Don’t worry. We’ll return it after inspection.”

Yu Sheng grinned: “No worries. I mostly want the blades. You can keep the rest. I can’t analyze it anyway.”

Then something popped into his head and he pointed at the head veil: “By the way, I found something else. This thing has a brand tag, plus a care label that literally says hand wash.”

Bai Li Qing stayed calm and asked, almost puzzled: “Is that a problem?”

Yu Sheng blinked: “Uh… it isn’t a problem?”

He had expected the words Holy Revere Hermitage and Artificial Saintess to mean something both scary and high-end, but the special gear had a brand tag from a pretty normal label, even if it was pricey.

Bai Li Qing’s tone didn’t change: “Why wouldn’t it? The Holy Revere Hermitage is a human organization. They can’t produce every food, item, and uniform themselves, and they certainly can’t create materials out of thin air. Buying from the outside is normal.”

Yu Sheng scratched his cheek: “When you put it that way, yeah.”

Bai Li Qing glanced at him again. For some reason, a small light of amusement flickered in her eyes, like she was thinking, even this guy who makes my mind go blank sometimes has things he doesn’t get.

She smoothed her expression quickly.

The appraisal team arrived soon and carried away the Artificial Saintess’s arm pieces and the head veil. After they left, Yu Sheng pulled over a chair and sat down. He asked the question he had been holding since before he walked through the Door.

He said quietly: “So what exactly is the Holy Revere Hermitage? Is it a cult organization like the Angel Cultists? How did they show up in the Borderland?”

Behind her desk, Bai Li Qing adjusted her posture and nodded with a serious face.

“In most civilized circles, the Holy Revere Hermitage is indeed judged as an evil cult,” she began. “But as an organization and in how they act, they are very different from the Angel Cultists.

“The Angel Cultists are loosely organized. Other than the shared worship of the ‘Dark Angels’ as a group, they are split into many smaller branches. Each Dark Angel gathers separate small sects under its name. Because of this, even though there are a lot of Angel Cultists, they never form a single united force. They’re actually simpler to deal with.

“The Holy Revere Hermitage is the other extreme.

“They share a doctrine called the Path of Revering the Holy. The whole organization has clear goals and a full code of conduct. Their structure is tight, and personnel management is strict and efficient. So even though they are far fewer in number than the Angel Cultists, their overall strength is greater. In the depths of some lawless regions, they even hold stable bases and large armed forces. You can see that power in the fact that they can build something like the ‘Artificial Saintess,’ a killing machine.

“You already have a deep impression of the Artificial Saintess’s combat power. And in fact, it can be mass produced.”

Yu Sheng stared: “They can mass produce that thing?”

She nodded slightly: “Yes, small-scale production inside the Holy Revere Hermitage’s Core Zone. So the total number is limited. You don’t need to worry about meeting a whole army of Artificial Saintesses.”

Yu Sheng smacked his lips, steadied himself, and asked: “Alright. Then what exactly does that ‘Path of Revering the Holy’ mean?”

Bai Li Qing drew a slow breath and spoke in a low, steady voice:
“The Holy Revere Hermitage believes our world has serious flaws. All disasters and pain, including the Otherworld, wars, plagues, famines, and so on, come from these flaws. They also believe mortals are the world’s reflection. The flaws in people, such as greed, selfishness, and cowardice, are the reflection of the world’s defects. In short, ‘this world, and every person living in it, is a defective product.’

“Their mission is to repair all these defects.

“They believe mortals can be repaired into ‘perfection.’ Through training and rebuilding of spirit and body, a person can be sanctified into a perfect Saint. Or, by direct technical means, one can create a perfect Saint. The so-called ‘Artificial Saintess’ is one by-product of this line of thinking.

“From that same theory, they believe the world itself can also be repaired into ‘perfection.’ The method to repair the world has not been found yet. To find it, their first step is to manufacture a true Supreme Saint that matches their doctrine.

“All efforts that move toward these goals form the ‘Path of Revering the Holy’.”