Chapter 281

Chapter 281: Holy Revere Hermitage

After hanging up, Yu Sheng stood there for a few seconds, then took a deep breath. “Man. Being a director really isn’t easy.”

Irene spread her tiny hands. “Why do I feel like at least half of her ‘not easy’ lately is your fault?”

“Tonight wasn’t on me,” Yu Sheng protested immediately. “Holy Revere Hermitage’s artificial saintess infiltrated in. I found it early. In the long run, who knows how much trouble I just saved the Special Operations Bureau…”

Irene hesitated. “R-Right?”

“Of course.” Yu Sheng grinned and waved his hand. “All right. Go call Foxy back. Let’s take that arm to the Special Operations Bureau and let an expert look at it.”

Before she could respond, light, quick footsteps pattered up the basement stairs.

Foxy burst into the living room hugging an iron arm that had already been chopped into three sections, with all the fingers cleanly removed. She beamed at Yu Sheng and held it up like a prize. “Benefactor! I cut them off!”

Yu Sheng blinked. “That fast?”

Irene’s eyes went wide too. She stared at the thing in Foxy’s arms. “You already cut it apart? And you even took the joints off?!”

“Mhm!” Foxy nodded hard. “It wasn’t easy to cut. The firepower I use on rebar could only heat it red, but once I combined it with some spellwork, it worked.”

She added proudly, “As for the joints, those were easier than the blades. I just pried them off—though I really had to use a lot of strength…”

Irene burst out laughing. “Right? Right? That’s C Buckle for you.”

Foxy blinked. “Why do you hate that kind of joint so much?”

“Imagine there’s another demon fox in the world,” Irene said solemnly, “and when they groom their fur, they stroke it backwards from tail to head…”

Foxy’s tail fluffed up instantly, like her entire body had broken out in goosebumps. “I-I get it!”

Only then did Yu Sheng speak again. “Fine. If it’s already taken apart, we’ll bring the pieces for Bai Li Qing to see. Bring the cut blades too.”

“And that head veil—” He looked at Irene. “You carry it.”

“Let’s go to the Special Operations Bureau.”

“Yay!”

“Okaaay~~”

As they spoke, the hazy doorway to Bai Li Qing’s office opened.

When they stepped through, the brightly lit hallway of the Special Operations Bureau came into view. Even though it was deep night, most floors were still fully lit. As a special department that monitored countless otherworld exits and kept the borderland safe, the building clearly had people on duty twenty-four seven.

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

“…You must move in groups. Don’t let anyone get isolated. The artificial saintess is extremely dangerous.”

“Focus on the northern part of Old Quarter, but if the fog gets too thick, pull back. Phase one is placing detectors first…”

“The monitoring unit will stand by on Deep Dive channel sixteen…”

“Report to me immediately if anything comes up.”

In full work mode, Bai Li Qing issued orders one after another—fast, precise, and relentless. When she finally ended the call and looked up, she managed something like a smile.

“You’ve already sent investigators in?” Yu Sheng asked, based on what he’d overheard.

“Yes. A batch of Deep Divers entered the fog.” Bai Li Qing rubbed her forehead lightly. “They’ll move toward Old Quarter from the other side and focus on the area around where you were attacked. The artificial saintess wouldn’t appear in our territory for no reason. Their missions are usually to protect important assets and personnel—so there has to be something nearby.”

Her expression darkened. “The appearance of this Mistbound City is getting more and more suspicious.”

She paused, then glanced between Yu Sheng, Foxy, and Irene. The look on her face was serious, with a hint of worry.

Yu Sheng shifted under her gaze. “Uh… what?”

“You were ambushed by an artificial saintess,” Bai Li Qing said, disbelief plain in her voice, “and none of you got hurt?”

Yu Sheng’s expression turned complicated.

How was he supposed to explain it? It wasn’t true that he hadn’t been hurt—he’d taken fatal injuries. Two stabs, eight holes. But if he said he was hurt, there was nothing to show for it now, because… well. Fatal injuries weren’t supposed to heal.

His face twitched. He forced a straight expression. “Just a minor injury. I’m pretty tough. I heal fast.”

Bai Li Qing looked at him like she didn’t buy it for a second. But thankfully she didn’t press, and instead shifted her attention to what Foxy and Irene were holding.

Yu Sheng had them set everything directly on Bai Li Qing’s desk.

Bai Li Qing studied the pile for a few seconds, then looked up thoughtfully. “…I remember the arm in your photo was intact.”

“Ahem.” Yu Sheng rubbed the tip of his nose. “Research spirit. And I needed the blades, so I had Foxy take it apart.” He asked, a little guiltily, “Was I not supposed to?”

“That’s not the issue.” Bai Li Qing shook her head. “Even broken up, it still has value. We mainly need to extract intelligence from it. I’ll have someone from forensics come over. Some of them know this kind of thing.”

Then she added, giving him an extra glance, “Don’t worry. We’ll return it after the inspection.”

Yu Sheng grinned. “It’s fine. I mostly want the blades. You can keep the rest. I can’t analyze it anyway.”

He remembered something and pointed at the head veil. “Also, I found something. This thing has a brand tag. It even says it’s recommended to hand-wash.”

Bai Li Qing stayed calm. After she listened, she asked, “What’s the problem?”

Yu Sheng blinked. “Uh… there isn’t one?”

He gestured helplessly. “It’s Holy Revere Hermitage. It’s an artificial saintess. It sounds creepy and high-end. But her special gear has a brand label, and it’s a pretty normal brand. Okay, maybe expensive, but still…”

“What else would it be?” Bai Li Qing’s expression didn’t change, but there was a clear hint of, Why is this surprising? in her eyes. “Holy Revere Hermitage is a mortal organization. They can’t be completely self-sufficient in food, clothing, housing, and travel, and they definitely can’t create matter out of thin air. So is it strange that they buy things through external channels?”

Yu Sheng stared at her for a beat. “…That makes sense.”

Bai Li Qing looked at him again, and for some reason there was a trace of amusement in her eyes—like she was enjoying the rare sight of this guy, who always made her see stars, short-circuiting for once.

But she quickly smoothed her expression away.

Forensics arrived soon. They took the artificial saintess’s arm remains and the head veil.

After they left, Yu Sheng found a chair, sat down, and finally asked the question he’d been holding since before they left home.

“So this Holy Revere Hermitage—what do they do, exactly? Are they a cult like the angel cultists? Why are they showing up in the borderland?”

Bai Li Qing straightened behind the desk and nodded, serious.

“In most civilized zones, Holy Revere Hermitage is categorized as a cult,” she said. “But in terms of organization and how they operate, they’re very different from the angel cultists.”

“The angel cultists are loosely structured. Apart from worshiping the shared species of dark angels, they’re split into many branches. Each dark angel has its own independent little sect under it. That’s why the angel cultists are numerous but never form a unified force—and they’re relatively easier to deal with.”

“But Holy Revere Hermitage is the opposite extreme.”

“They all follow a doctrine called the Path of Saint Veneration. The whole organization has clear goals and a complete code of conduct. Its structure is tight, and its personnel management is strict and efficient.” Bai Li Qing’s voice was steady, but heavy with implication. “That’s why, even though they’re far fewer than the angel cultists, their overall strength is greater.”

“In the depths of some lawless areas, they even have stable strongholds and large armed forces. You can tell just from the fact that they can produce killing machines like an artificial saintess.”

She looked at Yu Sheng. “You should remember how strong one was—and the truth is, these things can be mass-produced.”

Yu Sheng’s eyes widened. “…They can mass-produce that thing?!”

Bai Li Qing nodded. “Yes. Mass-produced—though only on a small scale within the core zone they control, so the total number isn’t large. You don’t need to worry about running into a whole army of artificial saintesses.”

Yu Sheng exhaled slowly, then asked, “All right. Then what do you mean by the Path of Saint Veneration?”

Bai Li Qing drew a quiet breath and lowered her voice.

“Holy Revere Hermitage believes our world has severe flaws, and that all disasters and suffering—including, but not limited to, otherworlds, war, plague, famine, and so on—are caused by those flaws.”

“They also believe mortals are a reflection of the world, and that mortal flaws like greed, selfishness, and cowardice are reflections of the world’s brokenness.” Her gaze stayed level. “In short, their conclusion is: this world, and everyone living in it, are defective products.”

“Their mission is to repair those flaws.”

“They believe mortals can be repaired into perfection—either through training and reshaping the mind and body, turning someone through sanctification into a perfect saint, or by using technology to create a perfect saint directly.”

“The so-called artificial saintess is one byproduct of that idea.”

“And based on that theory, they believe the world itself can also be repaired into perfection. They just haven’t found the method yet. To find it, the first step is to create a true supreme saint that matches their doctrine’s description…”

She finished quietly. “Every effort toward that goal is the Path of Saint Veneration.”