Enforcer Manual
Chapter 851 - 832

The automatic door of the hover car opened, and the team leader alighted first, walking alone towards the dark alley.

This place had all the hallmarks of a high incident area.

Or it could just as well serve as the secret underground cloning lab of the founder of Kolo Film Industry.

That was the reason Lu Xiang accepted the invitation.

Of course, the more official excuse was that she, as an unrelated party, had barged into the crime scene and, according to the investigation bureau’s procedures, had to be taken back to the bureau for questioning, even though Teacher Catherine tried to protect her with her own status, Lu Xiang had unilaterally agreed to it.

Before long, the two delved deeper into the alley and arrived at a vacant area.

"I remember this is not the way to the investigation bureau."

After coming to a stop, Lu Xiang looked around and took the initiative to break the silence.

The Anomaly Case Investigation Bureau and Military Intelligence Section Seven were different, the former was an institution that operated in plain sight with offices established in every city, whereas the locales of the latter were hidden away in these secretive corners.

Lu Xiang then asked, "Or is this the place you use to silence people?"

"Silence? No, Director Lu, you are very important, we wouldn’t do that of course," replied the new team leader, shaking his head. "We appreciate your personality, but we’ve found that a part of your thinking is still somewhat outdated and needs to be upgraded and innovated. Don’t blame yourself, it’s not your fault, human thought ultimately can’t surpass their cognitive level."

As he spoke, the whole alley began to stir.

The deserted houses sprouted what Song Lan had described as surveillance probes, which now transformed into pairs of eyes, observing her, the uninvited guest.

More and more weapons revealed themselves.

The changes deep in the alley reminded Lu Xiang of a movie Song Lan had watched that mentioned biological viruses that turned the infected into zombies without autonomous consciousness, driven only by the urge to feed. This mechanical virus, however, infected not just biological entities but seemed to turn buildings into hotbeds for its proliferation too.

The weapons all aimed at Lu Xiang at the same time, "What do you plan to do?"

"Don’t be nervous, it’s just a minor surgery, it will be over quickly."

The new team leader gave the command.

But the anticipated searing lasers and dense bullets did not emerge. Puzzled, he looked towards the ready weapons and quickly found the reason they weren’t firing.

Indescribable flesh sprouts had covered the machinery at some unknown time, even the camera probes were not spared, the flickering red components were now enveloped by a biological film, which sprouted eyes of its own, and it was now he who was being watched.

A vibration then came from under his feet, and he felt something breaking through the earth.

Accompanied by a dull thud, the first thing to enter his vision was a pair of sharp sickles. What emerged from the ground was a kind of insect he had never seen before, capable of effortlessly flipping the new team leader to the ground, pinning him down with an unimaginable force.

Through the gaps in the insect’s carapace, the team leader saw the abnormal growth continuing, flesh and tissues spread like a mycelial mat over the ground, infiltrating the walls and even beneath the surface.

About ten seconds later, Lu Xiang received a report.

The secret biological lab of Kolo Film Industry was not here; it was not difficult to deduce from the team leader’s reaction that he knew nothing about what had happened in Sector Seventeen, which was good news.

"What is this...?"

The team leader managed to utter his question with difficulty. As soon as he opened his mouth, the fleshy sprouts crawled in through his lips, and he felt as if something was burrowing into his brain.

Then, his consciousness was cut off.

"His consciousness has been collected."

The voice of Dr. Bai Zhu reached Lu Xiang’s ears, and the outcome was not unexpected, "I didn’t think they would actually build ’Sea of Souls’."

"Can you trace it?"

"It might be difficult, I’ve never seen this kind of technological method, it seems to have surpassed the virtual data itself."

Although Bai Zhu was reluctant to admit it, she knew that those who sought immortality had finally found a hacker more skilled than herself; it was her first time being at a disadvantage in a direct confrontation.

However, she did understand the meaning behind the team leader’s earlier mention of "upgrading innovation" and "minor surgery."

"I guess their original plan was to package your consciousness and upload it to the ’Sea of Souls’, and then find you an identical new body... These are all things I’ve heard through the grapevine, plus some of my personal judgment," Bai Zhu paused, then continued, "In the ’Sea of Souls’, the concept of time becomes extremely vague, and people’s consciousness turns into data that can be manipulated. The holders of the database have the authority to rewrite consciousness, as if your consciousness is a folder containing all the memories from the moment you were born until now. They can modify and replace certain files, and when the folder is repackaged and placed back into a new body, you wouldn’t notice anything amiss, and would believe those replaced parts to be true."

This was exactly why those fanatics were still struggling to revive the project even after it had been abolished by the United Government.

To modify someone’s memories or even their entire life, it seemed a power only a god possessed.

And the true face of this project was to unify the consciousness of all the members of the United Government, in other words, once this project succeeded, the holder of the ’Sea of Souls’ would be able to determine the future of the entire United Government at will.