Enforcer Manual
Chapter 1009 - 904: To the Deceased_2

Chapter 1009: Chapter 904: To the Deceased_2

"If you had a small shop like this one, you’d understand that people like us can hear countless pieces of gossip every day," the owner said. "For instance, a regular customer of our store has a daughter whom he went to great lengths to send away for her education. After graduating, she finally returned to the city and was able to reunite with her family."

As he spoke, the boss fumbled in the inner pocket of his clothing and pushed something toward Jack across the table.

In the dim light of the small shop, Jack made out that it was a photograph.

It was a group photo.

The young woman mentioned by the owner and her father stood together, smiling radiantly.

But upon seeing the photo, Jack’s sense of foreboding intensified.

He had seen the girl in the photo not long ago.

She had been delivered to Lira by members of the Skull Gang, and following the Brotherhood’s processes, she had been made presentable and taken to an auction. There, she was noticed by a wealthy foreign businessman and sold for a high price.

Such things happened every day, and if her story had ended there, Jack probably wouldn’t have been left with such a deep impression.

What really made him remember the girl in the photo was the fact that she somehow escaped from the businessman’s control, but, unfortunately, during her attempt to be smuggled out of Lira, she was betrayed and ended up back in the "Pig Pen."

The businessman was furious about this and preferred to hand the disobedient "product" over to the Brotherhood for disposal.

In the end, the biopharmaceutical company provided everyone with a satisfactory solution.

The last time Jack saw the girl, he could no longer recognize her original appearance. Like the other volunteers injected with the failed experimental drugs, her face and body were fissured, and she could only crawl like a crab in the isolation room. Her father, who loved her dearly, probably wouldn’t have recognized her either.

The businessman was very pleased with the outcome.

The researchers from the biopharmaceutical company showed him the same photo that recorded the girl’s entire ordeal after being kidnapped by the Skull Gang.

Every failed experimental subject became unrecognizable, and the photos served as a reminder to the researchers of their identities before the changes.

"It was a good decision for you to stop being a detective,"

After a long silence, Jack spoke.

Oasis had no need for detectives – for those living on the fringes of the city, ignorance allowed them to live more peacefully.

The tragic fate of the girl in the photo was just a low-probability event. If blame was due, it was only because she had returned to Lute City at the wrong time.

"That regular customer hasn’t been to the store for a while. Later, I saw his name in the news. Someone must have told him that the Skull Gang had taken his daughter, so in a fit of rage, he confronted them to demand an explanation."

Of course, the Skull Gang didn’t give the father any explanation.

Instead, they callously dumped his body on a street corner.

Jack could sense a hint of regret in the owner’s voice.

This was also a true reflection of Old Void’s inner feelings – regret both for the tragedies he had witnessed and for the fact that Song Lan had made the man with the scarred face die too easily; he only managed to shatter his kneecaps with a gunshot.

"If I were you, I wouldn’t keep dwelling on these things,"

Jack said.

It was indeed a tragedy, but it couldn’t stir any guilt in his heart.

From the moment they joined the Brotherhood, they had cast aside such emotions.

He also didn’t want to waste any more time on meaningless reminiscing about the past. He needed to return to Oasis and report their findings to the boss.

"Aocher Nibulu."

He remembered the text engraved on the stone door; its existence was unlike any forgotten archaeological relic and meant that perhaps the Divine Artifact truly existed.

They had to redeploy for the severe weather conditions. If they could breakthrough the storm, they would reach the ancient nation hidden behind the stone door.

Compared with that, the family upheavals of someone in Lute City were nothing.

"Old Void, two orders of pan-fried buns, dad will be here soon,"

a lively and spirited voice interrupted Jack’s train of thought, also heightening the fear in his heart to its peak.

The girl in the plain-colored dress sat down beside him, smiling brightly as she spoke to the owner.

In the strictest sense, this was Jack’s first encounter with the girl in the photograph.

Now she had returned to the lively and lovable appearance she had in the photo, no longer the disfigured creature that had been locked in the isolation chamber, crawling on the ground like a crab.

And from the tone of her voice just now, it was not hard to deduce that her father, who died at the hands of the Skull Gang, seemed to have come back to life as well.

Jack’s mind was flooded with an ominous thought, and he finally understood where that familiar feeling he had when he arrived at the town had come from.

As one of the high-ranking members of the Brotherhood, he needed to maintain regular contact with the biopharmaceutical company. Not only did he keep abreast of research progress, but occasionally, on a whim, he would look through the photos and identity information of the "volunteers," though not all would leave as profound an impression on him as the girl in the photo did.

The other "volunteers" could be outsiders from the United Government or locals.

Just like the people in the town, even if he met them, they could only evoke a slight sense of familiarity.

However, people couldn’t be resurrected from death.

And it was absolutely impossible for them to encounter souls who had long passed away.

Unless...

He hadn’t actually survived the storm.

The people of Oasis had also contemplated where one goes after death.

Most locals believed in the God of Life, thinking that when their lives reached an end, their souls and consciousness would return to the embrace of the God of Life, a place free from pain and sorrow.

Jack Roman had always scoffed at this.

To him, death was the final endpoint, where souls and consciousness were merely a way for people to seek solace.

The atmosphere in the store was still bustling, and his arrival didn’t attract much attention. The voices he heard were close at hand, yet they seemed as if they were incomprehensibly distant, and everything appeared illusory in his eyes.

Jack heard the cracking and popping sounds, the noise of oil dancing on the fire.

The aroma of pan-fried buns invaded his nostrils, and yet all they were experiencing at that moment seemed incredibly real.

The village under the night sky, and the villagers gathering together to chat after a day’s work, was a warm scene from any perspective.

Yet, Jack’s face twisted in panic, his instinct making him back away, wanting to leave this ominous place as quickly as possible.

In his panic, he stepped on a chair leg, lost his balance, and fell backward.

The thud he made finally drew people’s gazes to him. Jack looked around and saw no hatred or anger in people’s eyes, only calm curiosity.

"Stay away from me, you wretched ghosts!"

Jack struggled to get up from the ground, pain becoming his only companion, which seemed to be the only proof that he was still alive at that moment.

The girl looked at Jack, who had suddenly lost his composure and was collapsing, with concern, reaching out to help him up.

Her friendly gesture was rejected as Jack violently brushed the girl’s hand away.

"Get away from me, I don’t belong here, I need to return to Oasis!"

"Please rest assured, guest, you haven’t died."

"Nothingness," said, "But you’re right, you don’t belong here, there’s no place for you in this village."

The tremors under his feet only added to Jack’s panic. He tried to get up several times, only to find himself sinking deeper and deeper, as if something beneath was dragging him down, preventing him from standing.

Once half of his body was embedded in the ground, he finally saw the enormous creature hidden below.

It was the Death God Crab.

But why was there a Death God Crab lurking beneath the village?

His body, modified several times over, couldn’t resist the strength of the Death God Crab; he could only truly watch himself sinking deeper and deeper.

"What a long day... Mr. Jack Roman, you’re the last one,"

Before his head submerged into the ground, Jack heard the proprietor muttering to himself, "Welcome to ’Aocher-Nibulu.’"

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