Enforcer Manual
Chapter 731 - 729: Handover_1

Chapter 731: Chapter 729: Handover_1

The corporate rulers couldn’t stay at ease for very long.

They had thought that the deployment of the "Guard" had helped them stabilize the situation, that even if someone attempted to escalate to violent and bloody incidents, they would have been nipped in the bud before causing actual damage to the company.

Their vision was far-reaching; before employing each staff member, they had prepared for the possibility that one day in the future they might rebel, and the company would spend a great deal of money every year to hire experts to solve these troubles for them.

First was the control of thought.

Obedience levels gradually became an important metric for evaluating an employee, and even if one day someone broke through the control of thought, they would be met with the company’s merciless armed force.

Let alone a mere group of lower-level employees, even criminals like δ, "Justice", and "Dominate," who could be written into the history of the United Government, hadn’t managed to shake the United Government; and now, it was the first time they felt that things might be slipping out of their control.

Their military means had not met with fierce resistance; their employees simply needed to sit at their desks browsing short videos and chatting to cause innumerable losses to the company.

This made them realize the true enemy was still the person behind the scenes who had unified their thoughts together.

Throughout an entire afternoon, the phones in the offices of the Law Enforcers and the Anti-Terrorism Mobile Team hadn’t stopped ringing.

A city-wide manhunt.

Better to kill a thousand by mistake than to let one go.

Any suspicious person was allowed to be coerced by speech and action.

The high-level councilors said everything they could and couldn’t say, and due to the instructions from their superiors, members of both the Law Enforcers and the Anti-Terrorism Mobile Team reluctantly went on duty, wandering aimlessly on the streets.

In reality, nobody was making public speeches in the First Region’s public squares, and the web monitors had done everything they could, including taking down advertisements on airships, shutting down the websites mentioned by the high-level councilors that had disseminated improper speech, and they even tracked down several internet celebrities who supported such speech online.

After arresting them, they found that more than half of them were just riding the wave of popularity for traffic and didn’t even know what was happening in the First Region.

"Captain, what exactly are we doing now?"

Sitting in the armored floating car after wandering around the First Region for a while, finally one of the members of the Anti-Terrorism Mobile Team voiced the question on everyone’s mind.

Murder and coercion by speech and action were what they enjoyed.

But key was against whom?

Now, on the great streets of the First Region, not even a suspected criminal could be found, as far as the eye could see, were just other Law Enforcers forced on duty like them.

"For show."

Melissa leaned calmly against the car door, holding "A Love Tip Every Day" in her hands, "The bigwigs have problems in their own companies they can’t solve, so they won’t let us have any peace."

She was already used to it and had passed the stage of getting angry and complaining, or rather, since she had met Rob Lucci, her mindset had undergone a change.

The sense of restlessness and the desire for blood and killing had almost disappeared, instead allowing her to think about many things soberly.

But the other members of the Anti-Terrorism Mobile Team in the car clearly hadn’t gotten used to such talk, and quickly said, "Captain, it’s fine to talk about that here in the car, but don’t go blurting it out outside."

Was that kind of talk something that could be spouted carelessly?

Even cyber maniacs would be terrified to hear it.

Especially now when the situation was tense, it wouldn’t be a surprise if the people at the top couldn’t find the instigator and then out of frustration pinned it on Melissa, claiming it was she who had directed it.

After all, there had been instances before where innocent people had been wrongfully blamed.

Melissa glanced at everyone and said no more.

Instead of worrying about these trivial matters, it was better to focus on studying "A Love Tip Every Day" carefully, so she could perform better when she saw Mr. Lucky again.

As time passed, the corporate rulers became more and more frantic, venting their anger on any department that might be involved.

They cursed the Law Enforcers, the Anti-Terrorism Mobile Team, the web monitors, the Counter-Intelligence Department, and Military Intelligence Section Seven—one could not escape blame. Then after cursing them all in turn, they discovered that besides themselves, everyone was incompetent. In the face of this event that had implicated the entire First Region, these so-called elites of the United Government couldn’t find a single lead.

The initial spreader of the message online had used encryption methods they had never seen before; the person who had placed advertisements on airships turned out to be using a fake identity, someone who didn’t exist in the United Government at all.

Some rulers also considered reshuffling jobs, replacing those "contaminated" employees with new ones, but found those who were transferred to work in the First Region were also "contaminated" almost instantly and quickly assimilated.

If there were just one person slacking off at work, they could quickly deal with that slacker, but the problem now was that slackness had evolved into a bottom-up rebellion. What baffled them the most was why these people had suddenly taken the same action without any coordination or planning.

Originally, they could rely on artificial intelligence to monitor the lazy workers in real time, but now the artificial intelligence had become even more unreliable than humans, even learning to practise deception right alongside them.

While everyone was slacking off, these machines could still look them in the eye and lie, reporting back that all was normal.

"It seems they don’t understand the consequences of their actions."

Jock’s dark expression never improved.

The secretary was receiving a scolding in the office; his own company was one of the worst-hit areas by the virus.

Although the company’s employees hadn’t resorted to violence, leaving them somewhat without a clear response, in extraordinary times, they, too, could only resort to extraordinary measures.

And before him, someone had already done so.

Without a ringleader, they randomly selected among those employees who slacked off, and, in front of everyone, had the "guards" take them away to be interrogated. They firmly believed fear was always the best means to control the human heart; any immediate rage would eventually be suppressed by fear, and that was when they would be able to make rational decisions.

But every single interrogation failed without exception.

EEveryone’s testimony was strikingly consistent—they were just tired and wanted to rest.

Moreover, according to the service contracts they signed with the company, that was their legal right.

Having the "guards" prevent them from sleeping was already illegal, let alone the acts of torture and coercive interrogation, which were inhuman.

The process of the interrogations was released online by an untraceable IP, and the videos even recorded the entire process of coercion and leading questions, exposing the company’s methods and ugly face to all.

For a time, the company that took these measures was pointed at by thousands, and even the legitimacy of the High-level Parliament was questioned.

Then, one after another, the companies’ dark secrets were posted online, among them secrets that only a very few knew.

Jock, seeing the online excoriation, forcibly suppressed the notion of making an example of one to warn the others.

Because he suddenly realized that this might be exactly what the other party intended.

Facing the current situation, he had no choice but to dial a number.

"Trian, the situation is about to spiral out of control."

She was their last resort, the only source of solace in times like these.

Trian was their bridge to communicate with "God."

After hearing Jock’s description, Trian also fell into contemplation. It was a long time before she finally spoke, "This ability is very special, you’re not facing an ordinary opponent this time."

Warping human thought...

This method felt eerily familiar to her.

Because they had used similar means on the councilors before, but "Father God" had said that this was a power unique to God.

"I know, what should we do now?"

"There’s nothing you can do, this is no longer a struggle you can intervene in."

"So we can only sit here and wait for death?"

"No, of course not."

The voice on the other end of the phone was still ethereal and light, seemingly unaffected, "You can temporarily hand this city over to me. Before I deal with that person, I need to make some final preparations."

"Hand it over to you, you mean..."

Jock suddenly realized something and became somewhat panicked.

All along, Trian’s contact with them was only for one thing—sacrifices.

They had reached an accord that was acceptable to both sides only after long negotiations, and this accord also controlled the rampant appetite of those plants to some extent, preventing them from growing wildly in this city.

But now, Trian was asking them to hand over The First Region to her entirely.

"In the coming period, cases of people going missing might surge."

Trian did not deny this, "The nutrients absorbed are far from enough, it’s not yet strong enough to oppose that person."

"...Understood, I’ll arrange for some important people to evacuate The First Region."

"But some must remain."

Trian said, "Rescuers, especially psychics, they are better nourishment."

Jock fell silent once again.

Not attacking rescuers was also part of the accord.

Unlike ordinary people, once a rescuer went missing, the Rescuer Department would get involved. By that time, things would not be so easily suppressed.

Trian seemed to see through Jock’s thoughts and said, "This is a necessary step for the rite of ascension to godhood, you also must stay, gather them for me; otherwise, you’re certain to lose this war."

"I understand."

Jock’s heart went through a fierce struggle.

Even though they had offered their souls to God, they knew some of God’s methods would be hard for the public to understand, at least until the new era arrived, when the populace could not comprehend God’s well-meaning intentions.

Trian also made her request directly, "The rescuer who escaped through the underground sewer last time, bring him before me."