Enforcer Manual
Chapter 573: Saint_1

Chapter 573: Chapter 573: Saint_1

Yeying had a vague understanding of the process of elimination Song Lan had explained, but there was one key piece of information she had grasped.

"The loss of control in the ’Mine Pit’ had nothing to do with Song Lan and Lu Xiang," she realized.

Because this was what Song Lan had told her.

Now, having mastered the basic methods of detective work, she could help the Archbishop root out the traitor who caused the ’Mine Pit’ to lose control.

With this thought, Yeying’s mood shifted from despondency to optimism. She believed that by taking on some of the Archbishop’s duties herself, he would be able to focus more on the Final Ceremony.

"Wait a moment, please."

Seeing the look of "wisdom" in Yeying’s eyes, Song Lan had to stop her before she left the room.

This simple-minded young lady had already indicated through her gaze that she had completely misunderstood his intentions.

There are many ways to employ the process of elimination, and based on what Song Lan knew about Yeying, she was likely to achieve the effect of removing the church’s traitor by eliminating everyone in the Lunar Eclipse Sect’s upper echelons except for the Angel of Death and Archbishop Helifis. Her actions made Song Lan realize that the Angel of Death sisters were akin to an assassination division personally trained by the Archbishop, heeding only her commands.

This was originally none of their concern, but given the power of fear of public opinion, this event could ultimately evolve into a significant historical incident where it’s alleged that the "Bug Swarm instigated the innocent ’Angels of Death’ to eliminate the upper echelons of the Lunar Eclipse Sect."

This could cause an extremely negative impact on the Bug Swarm’s upright and open image.

The year 2167 was still an era where people judged others by their appearances. Even several years after the third war had ended, people had not freed themselves from the limitations of their own aesthetic prejudices. They could easily be seduced by rumors and believe that all bad deeds were committed by the Bug Swarm, whose appearance did not align with their standards of beauty.

"Let’s discuss this matter in detail."

It was the awareness of this possibility that made Song Lan extend the invitation to Yeying once again.

And another reason for doing so was...

He had overslept yesterday.

Moreover, the television lines at the Antigon Hotel were destroyed during the war. Before Archbishop Helifis’s appointment with them, they had no choice but to stay in the hotel with nothing to do.

The Lunar Eclipse Sect believers, other than Yeying, were not friendly to them. When the three of them entered the hotel, the believers along the way watched them with strange and sinister eyes. Song Lan had no doubt that if Yeying wasn’t with them, the believers would probably have pulled out all sorts of weapons and, screaming, lunged at them.

This was Song Lan’s first impression of the Antigon and the believers of the Lunar Eclipse Sect.

"But... this involves the internal affairs of the Lunar Eclipse Sect," Yeying said reluctantly, as she faintly remembered the Archbishop warning them more than once to be wary of heretics who, once they knew the secrets of the church, would spare no effort to vilify and attack them.

"Indeed, but there is one aspect you haven’t considered."

"Ah?"

"The process of elimination was taught to you by me, the Bug Swarm values an open and honest approach, so I have shared with you this secret that is known only to the Bug Swarm’s upper echelon."

Lu Xiang, who was packing his luggage, heard this and immediately cast a shocked and somewhat disdainful look at Song Lan.

Are you even deceiving a child?

From what Song Lan just said, it’s clear that the Bug Swarm has nothing to do with being "open and upright." In the eyes of others, they have become a sly and cunning race.

But Yeying, as expected, fell for it.

She nodded thoughtfully, "You do make some sense."

She was never confident about the matter of purging traitors; it had always been the Archbishop who personally informed the sisters of the names of the traitors to be eradicated. Having a wise man like Song Lan to strategize for her would make her forthcoming tasks much smoother.

Song Lan admitted that he felt a certain degree of guilt when he said those words.

But compared to letting an assassin with simple thinking, agile hands and feet, and particularly strong action capabilities undertake the meticulous work of a detective, he would rather bear the guilt of deceiving Yeying.

"First, tell me your plan."

"The Archbishop said that to maintain the stability of the ’mine,’ they have arranged a spiritual energy ceremony around it to suppress the entrance of the ’mine.’ Normally, five saints personally selected by the Archbishop will supply spiritual energy to the ceremony to maintain the stability of the seal," Song Lan explained.

In the time that followed, Yeying detailed the selection ceremony for the saints to them, giving Song Lan a deeper understanding of the twisted nature of the Lunar Eclipse Sect.

These five saints, the ones with the greatest spiritual talent and energy strength among the many believers of the Lunar Eclipse Sect, had to be under the age of eighteen. After becoming saints, before the ceremony began, they would be taken by the ceremony’s organizers to the Church’s site of purification to cleanse themselves of all filth. Then, with their help, they would don specially tailored garments that facilitated the collection and conduction of spiritual energy. These garments would put them in a state where they could neither see, hear, nor speak. Subsequently, the saints would be placed inside humanoid vessels at the heart of the ceremony to face years, or even over a decade, of life without being able to move even a finger.

Of course, the doctrine of the Lunar Eclipse Sect described this twisted ceremony as the utmost honor.

They believed that in such a state, the saints’ consciousness would briefly ascend to the "Father God’s" side and hear the teachings from "Father God" himself.

However, in Song Lan’s view, if one were to speak with less emotional intelligence, the Lunar Eclipse Sect was using these five children with outstanding psychic abilities as "batteries."

He could not agree with this ideology at all; if he had to give a rating, he would undoubtedly give the Lunar Eclipse Sect’s doctrine an extremely low score of 1.0.

Meanwhile, as a psychic himself, he once again felt the malice this world held for psychics.

Purple Wisteria Academy had established electrotherapy courses for young psychics, while the Lunar Eclipse Sect went even further by using them directly as humanoid batteries, and the most outrageous part was that both claimed to be doing it "for your own good" and "beneficial for your future development."

This made Song Lan feel as if the already cold weather had frost on top of snow; in the midst of winter, the Antigon Hotel’s rooms did not provide heating facilities, and shivering from both anger and cold, he wrapped himself tighter.

In this regard, the Lunar Eclipse Sect was no less unscrupulous than the profit-first corporate people.

"Our daily task is to protect the safety of the saints and to forbid anyone from approaching them without the Archbishop’s orders," said Yeying.

After a pause, she added, "However, not long ago, someone assassinated them, which was the direct cause of the collapse of the spiritual energy seal."

"Snap—!"

In response to her, there was a crisp sound.

Song Lan slammed his hand on the table.

"Using them as batteries is bad enough, but you even assassinated them—are you still human?"