Enforcer Manual
Chapter 437: Monsters of Thought_1

Chapter 437: Chapter 437: Monsters of Thought_1

"The Ragus Foundation accused Starfish Technology of abusing its authority and being incompetent, incapable of handling the important projects assigned by the United Government. Moreover, news came out that Starfish Technology had close ties with the Barrosa Group. They jointly expressed their concerns to the Review Meeting. Subsequently, the Review Meeting initiated an anonymous democratic vote at Starfish Technology, where over 96% of the employees believed that Starfish Technology lacked the capacity to take on the project."

Fengling held a tablet in her hands; reading international news had become a routine part of her life.

The tablet was a meeting gift from Ge Fu. Although the tablet had not been infected by the Devourers, he had downloaded a dozen games with infection themes into it.

After reading the news aloud, she glanced at Song Lan, who was lying on a chair, looking up at the ceiling.

Although he was awake, his soul seemed to have drifted off somewhere.

"The white-clad female ghost should have been eliminated, right?"

That day, Big Radish Head and the rest slept soundly, and none had woken up even now. Xiao He said that she hadn’t seen anyone break into their room last night either.

"Yes, it has been eliminated."

Song Lan sounded lethargic.

"Then why do you seem even more tired?"

"There are some things that children are better off not knowing too much about."

After saying goodbye to Lu Xiang in the morning, Song Lan didn’t want to do anything but lie in the chair.

Fengling nodded thoughtfully and didn’t press further.

She didn’t like to force others and had understood from a young age that if she wanted to know the answers to her questions, she had to rely on herself to find them. Therefore, she decided that next time Lu Xiang came to visit Song Lan, she would ask Xiao He to take a look for her.

The adventurers’ rooms were all on the ground floor of the inn, just separated by a wall. Xiao He could easily peek inside.

...

With no disturbances that day, Song Lan lay in his chair until the morning like an elderly person basking in the sun—except that the sunlight couldn’t penetrate the fog, and the temperature had dropped a bit too low recently, forcing Song Lan, who had the constitution of an old man, to return to his room and wrap himself in a blanket.

It had been almost a week since his arrival in the town, and the population had risen to seven.

Dr. Bai Zhu had updated the town’s information sign at the entrance early on:

"Livability: Two stars"

"Small Settlement"

"Recommended Population: 10 or fewer"

"No Void creatures spotted"

As a clerical officer, under the hands-on supervision and guidance of Director Lu, he finally remembered his true job role. Collaborating with the Bug Swarm to destroy roads and cause massive economic losses was a serious mistake in his work.

Therefore, after taking down the Absurd Demon, Song Lan, staying true to his initial resolve, returned to his essence and began doing what a clerical officer should do—he had asked Father Bruno to organize the stories about the "Confession Room" mine and the "monsters of thought" the night before he went to sleep, and sent them to him.

This was undoubtedly a daunting task.

All these sacred texts were stored in the library of the Lunar Eclipse Sect, and since the believers of the sect disliked the internet, they never uploaded information pertaining to church secrets online. Therefore, Father Bruno could only rely on his own memory to reconstruct as detailed an account of the stories as possible.

By the afternoon, Song Lan finally received the AI-written chronicles narrated by Father Bruno, titled "Thought Monsters and Mining Chronicles." Unlike the chaotic order of the original texts, they attempted to rewrite the sequence of each event in a chronological order as best as they could.

He sat alone in his room, engrossed in reading the chronicles made up of various tales.

If one were to set aside elements of mysticism such as religion and ceremonies, Song Lan found that these stories were essentially similar to the notes of adventurers, all delineating the birth process of some unknown monster through individual perspectives and experiences, and almost all monsters went through a phase as the "Lady in White."

Initially, they were only observed and couldn’t inflict any tangible harm on those who saw them. But as the discussions about them widened, the monsters’ powers grew. If unchecked, they inevitably ended up killing the very people who first observed them.

This was a rather distorted symbiotic relationship.

Theoretically, the first person to acknowledge their existence acted as the "parent" of these monsters, nurturing them with the spread of rumors and panic. Once they "grew up," they would kill their "parents" to become whole.

But the problem was, what did these stories have in common?

Song Lan started his reading with this question in mind and soon realized that although these stories almost all took place within the Lunar Eclipse Sect, they were scattered across various locations in the third Neutral Country, and each person encountered the monsters in different ways.

Some were through bloody and evil sacrificial rituals, some happened upon accidents, but there were also low-ranking believers who were registered with the sect but never participated in any church activities. They witnessed monsters while farming in the fields.

Their appearances almost encompassed all scenarios of human daily life, to the point that it could be as simple as heading to work today and finding yourself entangled by these monsters on the way home.

This made Song Lan think that there must be a crucial element missing from the link.

Unfortunately, he was not in the third Neutral Country and was still in a hostile state with the Lunar Eclipse Sect. It wasn’t possible for him to investigate the complete life experiences and social relations of these people, especially since more than half of the individuals mentioned in the stories were killed by the monsters, leaving no evidence behind.

Song Lan couldn’t help but criticize those who recorded these stories; their perspective was limited to the parties involved, neglecting any other background investigation. This showed that their investigative experience was almost nonexistent, and he suggested that Lu Xiang should publish a book in the future to guide them.

His own expertise was formed by close observation and learning from Lu Xiang. It was just unfortunate that the Lunar Eclipse Sect didn’t have someone like Lu Xiang; otherwise, they might have uncovered the truth about the monsters and the mines a decade ago.

As he thought of Lu Xiang, a call from Director Lu indeed came through.

"This afternoon, I received a notification from the rescuer service center. I have to go on a business trip to the Seventh District tomorrow."

Officially, it was under the pretext of a school anniversary, inviting outstanding alumni back to campus. But for sure, calling her to the core district at this critical juncture meant something else.

"Are there any new instructions?"

"I think the situation in the town is more or less stable now. I’ve also booked you a ticket to the Seventh District. You’ll hand over your work to Bai Zhu tonight and come back to pack your luggage."

"But what if someone destroys public property again when I’m gone?"

Song Lan raised a reasonable concern.

"I had the same thought,"

said Lu Xiang. "But I’ve realized that the destruction you cause is even greater when you’re around, so it’s better for you to come back."

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