Enforcer Manual
Chapter 729 - 727: Salted Fish Attack_1

According to Yaku’s description, if all those who disappeared eventually became meals in the bellies of plants, it wasn’t difficult to see that the plant’s appetite was getting stronger and stronger.

Jasmine felt it necessary to inform Rob Lucci about this discovery, to have the invincible Mr. Lucky think of a solution.

Yaku, as an eye-witness to several incidents, made an exception and attended the internal meeting of the special operations department of Military Intelligence Section Seven.

In the meeting, he raised a question, "I don’t understand why they must eat humans?"

"Because for them, humans are a superior type of food."

Song Lan said, feeling a deep sorrow in his heart at the thought of he knew not how many salty fish friends who had met their end in the jaws of plants.

"Why are they a superior type of food?"

"Humans possess thoughts and spiritual power, which are the nutrients they most desire."

All of the above information was provided by Yeying, who was an authority on this topic, because she had not only eaten corpses, but even those carnivorous plants had been through her stomach. She was one of the few "gourmets" within the territory of the United Government.

Yaku and Jasmine looked at each other.

They didn’t know where Mr. Lucky had acquired these conclusions, but his assertive tone made them inclined to believe these theories.

They could only speculate in their hearts.

Perhaps,

Mr. Lucky had also eaten some unusual things.

After all, before coming to The First Region, he had infiltrated the Iris Consortium’s castle under the guise of a traveling chef. As a chef who had mingled in the "outside world" for many years, it was understandable that he had eaten things others hadn’t.

Moreover, given the nature of the work at Military Intelligence Section Seven...

An answer was on the verge of crystallizing in Jasmine’s mind.

Mr. Lucky might have infiltrated cannibalistic tribes in his earlier years, and due to his work, he had to become a qualified member of the cannibal tribe and live among them day and night.

The strange looks from Jasmine and Yaku made Song Lan tense up, sensing Little Black’s presence.

Lately, he had developed a radar for detecting Little Black. Ever since the Morning Star Academy incident, he had been enduring such personal attacks not suitable for his age. If he remembered correctly, δ had also spread rumors of him being a cannibal the first time they had met.

Outrageous!

The truth was that not only had he never eaten a person, but he had also been restricting a vulture, which directly resulted in it not having eaten any corpses for a long time. Could there be a nobler act in this world?

"So what should we do now?"

In the end, it was the serious and earnest Rose who brought the topic back on track, "Your theory also suggests that the more humans these plants consume, the stronger they become."

The recent spate of increasing disappearances seemed to indirectly prove that the High-level Parliament was preparing to wage a war. They knew that the Chairperson of the Council was still alive, just not where he was hiding. For them, only by completely eradicating the Chairperson and the remnants of his power would they be able to sleep well at night.

"We should increase the general public’s awareness of self-defense. At night, it is better to avoid going out as much as possible, reject unreasonable overtime demands, take care of your body—after all, your health is your capital for the revolution."

The others in the meeting room fell into silence in unison.

They had thought that Song Lan would slam the table and lead them to set the carnivorous plants on fire, clearing them out entirely.

In the end, it was the straightforward Yaku who voiced a different opinion, "Shouldn’t we be carrying out an in-depth investigation in the underground sewers? I’m certain that’s where its nest is."

"Both you and Mr. Hog’s experiences have proven that its true form is not in this world—no matter how many times we burn them, they will seep into this world again."

"So how do we find its true form?"

"That is also a question I’ve been researching."

Song Lan didn’t know who had led everyone astray, but "Dominate" and the gods that the High-level councilors believed in all adopted indirect and circuitous tactics, never appearing easily. The only known method Song Lan was aware of was to reach the other side through specific plants during the meetings held at the Fishing Boat Club.

However, Hog also mentioned that those plants had autonomous recognition capabilities, making it likely difficult for him to pass this screening process.

What’s worse was that Jock and Hog had fallen out, so they might not invite Hog to the Fishing Boat Club gatherings anymore. Moreover, Hog had to return to the Sixth District for a while to deal with the family strife incited by Jock.

The Foster family was also in turmoil, with some looking to cast Foster out.

The last remaining clue was the botanist Trian, but not even Dr. Bai Zhu could find out her current whereabouts.

"I think we could make use of those airships."

"You mean, we could use the airships to deploy the medicine that will destroy the plants?"

Jasmine’s eyes lit up.

"There are no such drugs, and they all hide underground."

Song Lan shook his head, "We need to use those airships and broadcast to spread advertisements, and we can ask Military Intelligence Section Seven and the Chairperson of the Council for reimbursement of the expenses."

..................

The next morning, including Jock, high-level councilors heard some alarming news.

Someone was using airships to spread inappropriate remarks, and even many online channels had been contaminated. These comments were teaching people how to work "moderately" and extensively promoted various health and wellness lifestyles. They hadn’t even clarified the cause of the time anomalies when these new problems emerged.

"Surely no one will believe such unrealistic remarks..."

That was Jock’s first reaction.

But he soon realized he was wrong, as his secretary informed him that people in the company had even started practicing yoga.

There was a flurry of discussion in the High-level Parliament, and every councilor had a grim look on their face.

It seemed that they had all received bad news from their companies.

Why did they dare to do this?

Were they not afraid of being fired?

Jock was baffled. By all logic, those who were assigned to work in The First Region should be those thoroughly domesticated by them, with obedience indexes that were clear to see. Even when faced with relatively excessive work demands, they would only comply, yet now, their thoughts were being changed by every unverified piece of news!

"What is this? Who is calling for the workers to unite in the news?"

Jock forcefully suppressed his anger as today’s meeting also turned into a discussion on the unidentified news offensive. The high-level councilors initially suspected this was a plot by the Ragus Foundation, but after a careful analysis, they discovered the Ragus Foundation seemed to be a victim as well; their affiliated companies were also experiencing widespread instances of employees slacking off and loafing.

The influence of a single slacker employee is limited, and companies had innumerable ways to deal with them. But if they united, they would become a force that could not be ignored. They couldn’t fire everyone on the job, especially since many of these employees were still in "loan labor," with the costs of their cybernetic bodies not yet paid off through work. Now was not the time to sweep them out of the door.

That’s why the core of office politics was to divide and rule these people, to prevent them from uniting.

"Amend the Artificial Intelligence Act, let them know that if they keep making a fuss, they’ll be the ones who end up in trouble," said a high-level councilor with a dark expression.

The "Artificial Intelligence Act" was a regulation drafted during the Chairperson of the Council’s tenure to adjust the social contradictions brought about by artificial intelligence, strictly limiting the use of AI across various positions. But now, the High-level Parliament was in charge, and they could modify the AI usage rates anytime.

They had to let those disobedient employees know there was nothing special about them, that they could be replaced by artificial intelligence at any moment!

"...there’s also a problem with the artificial intelligence."

Soon, the councilors discovered a more severe crisis.

The solidarity of artificial intelligence was much stronger than that of the workers. Following today’s broadcast, AIs across various companies had unanimously chosen to strike. The human employees might consider not going too far and restrain their actions, but AIs did not have these concerns.

They didn’t draw salaries, and they had no demands for job positions.

"Someone has infected the AIs with a virus!"

"This means our adversary is much more cunning than we imagined."

The succession of bad news actually calmed Jock down. "They anticipated that we might pressure the workers through the ’Artificial Intelligence Act,’ so they seduced AI in advance."

This made him think of the artificial intelligence that went out of control in various parts of the United Government not long ago, and the companies still hadn’t managed to recover those out-of-control robots. Nobody knew where they ultimately fled to, and even the top engineers didn’t know what virus their creations had been infected with. They could only resort to a factory reset to forcibly bring them back to normal.

However, the results showed that this approach was minimally effective.

Statistics showed an exceedingly high probability that AIs reset to factory settings would malfunction again.

Twisting the minds of the company’s employees, turning artificial intelligence against them...

The high-level councilors all realized the gravity of the situation.

It seemed for the first time they were facing an enemy whose ultimate goal wasn’t to blow up a building, assassinate a high-level corporate official, or cause massive casualties to create panic.

In fact, there had been no casualties in this upheaval and turbulence at all.

The adversary had simply made people stop working and pay attention to life beyond work, but the repercussions of this were far more serious than a tactical nuclear strike on a building.

The last thing they wanted to see was someone or some idea uniting the company’s employees because, in terms of numbers, the latter was the majority.

"We must find those people."

Jock said, "Whether it’s the Counter-Intelligence Department, Military Intelligence Section Seven, the Anti-Terrorism Mobile Squad, or the Law Enforcers, get everyone who can still work to investigate this matter."