Enforcer Manual
Chapter 848 - 831: Beware of Human Traffickers

Chapter 848: Chapter 831: Beware of Human Traffickers

From any perspective, the founder of Kolo Film Industry was dead, and his death was thorough. Judging by the remains of the explosion on the scene, Catherine felt that not even if he had transformed himself into a Transformer, could he escape the punishment of a miniature tactical nuclear bomb.

"Maybe it was a standin who died?"

Lu Xiang thought of a possibility.

This was a new term she had learned while watching a movie with Song Lan over the weekend. The term originated from the pre-war world, where, according to some ancient historical records, some important figures often cultivated look-alikes as standins to counter assassinations, letting them replace the actual targets when necessary.

She still remembered the movie was called "Shadow Warrior," an early work of Kolo Film Industry. The protagonist in the film was one of the standins for an important figure, but ultimately, due to a poor market response, the series was not continued.

However, the existence of these standins gave Lu Xiang some new ideas.

In 2167, the costs of cultivating standins had been greatly reduced. They no longer needed years of training; Dr. Bai Zhu had said that all it took was to upload their consciousness to the network and download it into each clone, thereby mass-producing a large number of standins.

What Lu Xiang found quite strange was that the Chairperson of the Council and those important councilors had not used this technique during the incident in The First Region.

Catherine’s eyes lit up, "Are you talking about clones?"

Her student always brought her new ideas, "The technology of clones indeed had its days in the core areas for a while. It was the elite’s first attempt at immortality."

Theoretically, as long as the technology was used properly, it could indeed allow human consciousness to continue, even providing the possibility for councilors to revert to youth, leading researchers to once build a terminal for storing personality data, called the "Sea of Souls."

"But during the research of the ’Sea of Souls’ and cloning technology, the higher-ups started having second thoughts. Do you know why?"

"For an individual, death is still inevitable; it may even hasten their demise."

Lu Xiang’s answer surprised Catherine, who looked deeply at her student. The latter’s response was as if she had lived through that era herself.

Yet, from a chronological standpoint, Lu Xiang hadn’t even been born at that time, and Catherine herself only learned of these secrets after she had joined the Abnormal Case Investigation Bureau and became an official.

Lu Xiang continued, "The essence of this technology is not continuation, but copy-pasting. Once there is a younger, healthier individual, the older original loses its reason to exist."

She and Dr. Bai Zhu had specifically discussed this issue. The latter had mentioned that many years after the project was shelved, some researchers had secretly contacted her, hoping Dr. Bai Zhu could revive the plan in the Neutral Country of the Sixth Region.

"Absolutely correct."

Catherine nodded in approval, Lu Xiang always managed to satisfy her in every aspect, making her feel that it was a significant oversight for the investigation bureau not to have hired Lu Xiang, "Even though researchers touted that the uploaded consciousnesses would be properly preserved in the ’Sea of Souls,’ as simple as changing rosthesis bodies, the higher-ups realized the threat posed by this project to them."

She paused, then said, "Perhaps from the United Government’s perspective, it is a remarkable technological innovation, but few have such enlightenment. I’ve recently noticed, the longer people live, the more they fear death will take everything from them."

This was the current situation as Catherine saw it.

In actuality, those who controlled the United Government were still the original founders. Biopharmaceuticals and rosthesis technology had extended their lifespans, allowing them to live well beyond 150 years, and each year they still invested significant human and material resources in these areas to live even longer.

However, biopharmaceutical technology had now reached a bottleneck, with no breakthroughs for several years.

"As far as I know, all researchers who were involved in the ’Sea of Souls’ project are closely monitored by the intelligence department of the United Government. If the founder of Kolo Film Industry truly used this technology, you still need to find the force behind him, capable of producing a clone in such a short time, which means they have a biological laboratory in The Fourth Region."

Lu Xiang noticed the detail in Catherine’s words and asked, "Isn’t the bureau planning to proceed further?"

"I’m no longer a teacher at Morning Star, Lu Xiang."

Catherine sighed, "There’s much I can only do as per the higher-ups’ wishes; they just hope to close the case quickly now."

Just like how she couldn’t decide whether the bureau should hire Lu Xiang initially, she could no longer follow up on this case.

Allowing Lu Xiang into the explosion site had already been against the rules, and if her immediate superiors found out, it was probably another oral warning she couldn’t avoid.

Yet, the stronger the reaction from the higher-ups, the more uneasy she felt.

This made Catherine wonder how many beside the founder of Kolo Film Industry had used this technology.

"If nothing unexpected happens, I’ll be transferred off this case and then be forced on leave."

Catherine smiled bitterly; this was the bureau’s usual tactic towards some uncooperative employees. Agent Angle Saffire from before was a frequent recipient of this special treatment, and now his warrant still hung on the general bureau’s notice board.