Enforcer Manual
Chapter 366: The Gaze of the Void_1

Chapter 366: Chapter 366: The Gaze of the Void_1

Oberna had not slept all night.

He was constantly following the direction of online comments, only in this way did he feel that he was truly living in the real world. Unlike the morning, this time, all the residents of District Seventeen saw the sudden fog, and after the curfew order was issued, some stood by the window and recorded the dense fog outside with their cell phones.

It was a smoggy day that hadn’t been seen in decades.

But no one could see what lay behind the layer of mist, not even Oberna could see the figure hidden behind the fog anymore.

The fog lasted until six in the morning when the nurses in the hospital informed the patients that it had dissipated.

Oberna almost immediately went to the window and looked up at the sky.

The morning sunlight made him squint involuntarily; the sky was clear blue and cloudless, this morning looked no different from any other day.

The shadow that had hovered over the city of District Seventeen had once again vanished without a trace.

The power of the Void had grown stronger.

But why?

Oberna sat back down on the bed and calmed down as he looked out the window, feeling certain that he had missed something.

So far, he had encountered two attacks from the Void, and in both instances, the adversary could have effortlessly killed him, just as the Prosthetic Doctor had said, if their attack had moved just a few centimeters forward while seizing the "Governor" chip, he would now be a corpse.

However, after his subsequent two encounters with the creatures of the Void, he miraculously survived.

There must be some reason hidden within.

...

Meanwhile, Father Bruno’s research had made unprecedented progress. The theory of the Lunar Eclipse Sect had been successful within the territory of the United Government, with the difference being that compared to the Neutral Country, there was a larger population here, and news spread faster. After Oberna’s clarifying session ended, discussions about the Void were hotter than ever.

Even those who had been skeptical before joined the discussion after receiving an "official" response.

This made the Devourer immensely powerful.

It was not a proliferation of flesh and blood, but a projection of consciousness. Its consciousness at one point became so strong that it turned into a tangible fog, enveloping the entire District Seventeen. Through the fog, it could see and influence everyone in the city.

The other researchers gave high praise to his experiment. They gathered in the public lounge and discussed through the night until early today, when the leader of the Bug Swarm communicated new instructions:

"Don’t mess around, it affects people going to work."

Thus, the fog that had enveloped the entire District Seventeen dissipated, and sunlight poured over the land once more, allowing people to happily return to their positions.

That day, Song Lan witnessed the strength present within human imagination.

He thought that the founder of the Lunar Eclipse Sect must be a genius for thinking of combining the consciousness of individuals. Under this theory, the Devourer acted as a collector. When the people of the United Government exercised their imagination about the Void, based on what Oberna had mentioned in the livestream, part of those imaginings materialized in reality.

In this process, the Devourer grew.

It no longer needed time stop to help with setting the scene; it could create an area that existed within the Void on its own strength.

Like right now, for instance.

Song Lan was lying in bed covered with a quilt, flesh tendrils crisscrossing the ceiling, an eye had been staring at him for the past half hour.

"What are you doing?"

After staring at the large eyeball above his head for quite a while, Song Lan finally spoke up.

"Learning."

A low, ethereal murmur reached his ears, as if coming from the Void itself.

Song Lan had always been a model for the Devourer to learn from, and observing the model’s every word and action was an important way for it to learn. Previously limited by its range of movement, it couldn’t observe Song Lan’s daily life meticulously, but now it was different. The energy collected last night was enough to support projecting its consciousness into every corner of District Seventeen.

And that included Lu Xiang’s bedroom in the apartment.

After observing for a morning, it had learned a lot from Song Lan.

In the busy rush of the morning, when everyone in the city was hurrying to their jobs, only Song Lan lay in bed leisurely, covering himself with a blanket and having no intention of getting up at all.

Although it still didn’t know how this related to Song Lan’s formidable presence, it had at least found the most distinctive thing about Song Lan.

"What have you learned?"

"The audacity to scorn rules, not budging even as it’s almost time for work..."

"Good learning, now stop learning it."

Song Lan had intended to catch some more sleep, but with an eyeball staring at him like that, his sleepiness vanished immediately, "Also, this bedroom is a private area, you’re not allowed to come here for learning in the future."

"Understood."

The fleshy sprouts and eyeball on the ceiling disappeared, "I’ll be waiting for you in the living room."

...

Song Lan fell into deep thought, feeling acutely the dread of being watched by the Void. He certainly didn’t want an eyeball popping up in front of him while he was bathing or using the toilet.

Is that something you should be looking at?

On the way to work by bike, Song Lan emphasized to the Devourer the importance of privacy to contemporary people. This ideologic education deeply enlightened it, and after reluctantly agreeing to not pry into Song Lan’s private life, it firmly remembered the phrase "Privacy can often be used as a weapon".

In the cases mentioned by Song Lan, some malicious villains always threatened others with phrases like, "You wouldn’t want... others to find out, would you?"

Every time it conversed with Song Lan, it learned a lot.

Humans often exposed their weaknesses in their private lives.

This was the essence of the ideological education lesson.

It didn’t agree with the laws of the human world, and was full of curiosity about this world. The success of Father Bruno’s experiment allowed it to observe the world more efficiently. Since Song Lan had forbidden it from observing him, it would have to look at others instead.

Song Lan was unaware of the Devourer’s true thoughts. Having finished the ideological education lesson, he parked his bike and returned to his office.

Roger and the others had arrived very early, but today, instead of chatting together as usual, they sat in their own chairs, making the atmosphere in the office incredibly somber.

All three had obvious dark circles under their eyes, looking as if they hadn’t slept all night.

"What happened to the three of you?"

After a long silence, Song Lan finally asked.

The oppressive atmosphere in the office made it really hard to focus on watching movies.

However, this simple question instantly ignited the emotions of the three.

Zhuang Chi, the most emotional of them, burst into tears.

"Chief, did you catch Oberna’s live broadcast yesterday?"

This question really stumped Song Lan. Of course, he wouldn’t miss a broadcast from Oberna, but what was tear-jerking about yesterday’s broadcast content?

He remembered finishing the broadcast in a cheerful mood.

Could it be that Zhuang Chi and the others were fans of Oberna? Seeing their idol tormented by the Void, they couldn’t help but shed tears?

But upon further thought, a four-star rescuer like him should indeed have a high number of fans.

"Chief, didn’t you feel even a little bit moved?"

Valerian took over, launching a soulful interrogation at Song Lan.

"What exactly happened?"

"Mr. ’Concerned Citizen’ is dead!"

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