Deity Investigation Report

Chapter 380 Pale Authority
What's going on?

Inside Lin Yuan City, two members of the patrolling knights kept an eye on the outside movements.

But when they saw that "Han Su" was wandering around the area he was in charge of and had no reaction whatsoever to the Eternal Night Church that had reached the city gates, they began to feel uneasy.

Then, the sudden appearance of shadowy creatures outside made the two of them unable to sit still any longer, and they abruptly stood up: "What exactly are those madmen who worship Jormungandr up to?"

"Based on past practices, they should have already begun their probing attack on Lin Yuan City by now."

"And now, they're actually holding back, instead sending this group of abyssal creatures?"

"..."

Although based on experience, the attack by this group of abyssal creatures did not seem to be the style of the Church of Eternal Night, they were now quite certain that the high-ranking members of the Church of Eternal Night had arrived outside the city. Therefore, in any case, this riot was inextricably linked to them.

The frustrating thing was that these abyssal creatures happened to be heading straight for the sector they were in charge of, which disrupted their plans.

The sector they originally assigned to Han Su was located in the northwest corner of Lin Yuan City, a densely populated residential area.

The Church of Eternal Night needs to exploit the dreams of ordinary people to launch an attack on the city, so this mysterious organization will definitely choose that direction to invade.

In other words, although it may seem that the sector assigned to Han Su was randomly selected, in reality, he was destined to be one of his direct opponents.

But now the Church of Eternal Night has changed its methods, directly summoning abyssal creatures to attack the city, which has thrown the plan into chaos. The two of them, who were originally sitting on the sidelines watching the tigers fight, have now become the ones bearing the brunt of the attack.

"What do we do now?"

Seeing this change, the voodoo team member became somewhat anxious: "We were supposed to just wait for the captain to arrive in the city as originally planned?"

"Are these monsters being held back by the existing defensive lines of Lin Yuan City?"

"..."

"We're too passive."

As he asked this question, Deputy Captain Shen Qinghui took a deep look at "Han Su" on the surveillance camera and saw him lingering in front of a convenience store, his brows furrowing.

He let out a long breath and said, "The special thing about Lin Yuan City is that the descendants of the Golden Knights are here, and they know that we have already arrived."

"If they see us defending the city and not venturing out, only depleting the strength of our existing defenses, they will assume we are slacking off and will definitely complain to the Guardians of the World organization about us."

"At that point, even the captain won't be able to speak up for us!"

"..."

"But right now there are only the three of us here..."

Voodoo said, "...No, two and a half. That intern isn't even one of ours yet."

"The Guardian has ordered the entire regiment of us to be transferred here to ensure the secret ceremony of the Golden Knights, but in reality, the main force is currently following the captain on a secret operation. If we act rashly, the Church of Eternal Night might see through our disguise!"

"...Even the Xu family will turn against us because of this!"

"As descendants of the Golden Knights, and on the eve of the Grand Duke's succession ceremony, they would consider it an insult to have only two and a half knights defending Lin Yuan City."

"If they join forces with other marquises to attack the Guardians, that would be the most unacceptable thing for us. Even the captain of the Three Hundred Towers would probably be exiled to Insect Island to keep an eye on those wild monkeys!"

"..."

As he said this, his voice betrayed his growing anxiety.

"Don't panic!"

Shen Qinghui sighed and said, "The captain sent us here because he knows we can hold the line."

"Although the number of people is small, making the scene bigger will still make those noble lords feel respected and less likely to cause us trouble."

"However, since we're going to take action, we shouldn't delay any longer. After all, once we make a move, we won't have enough energy to control the situation."

As she spoke, she stepped into the shadows, seemingly having gone through a period of struggle, but when she finally made her decision, she appeared unusually cold: "I'll go out of the city to solve the problem, and you, go and take down this intern. You're allowed to use the secret weapon left behind by the captain."

"...But remember, he's useful, so you can cripple him, you must preserve his full consciousness, and make him cooperate with us willingly!"

"..."

"Can we finally make a move?"

The voodoo team members, who had been filled with anxiety, suddenly brightened up upon hearing Shen Qinghui's words, their faces beaming with smiles: "I've been wanting to test the abilities of this local celebrity investigator myself..."

But despite his excitement, Shen Qinghui was not in high spirits and did not respond, only letting out a soft sigh.

As Wudu watched her leave the city, he almost jumped up. He immediately glanced at "Han Su" on the monitor, made a gun shape with his finger, and gently pointed at him.

Then he stood up, chanted a spell in a low voice, and a vast spiritual force was summoned from the abyss, transforming into streams of water that surged towards the city's physical defenses, thus reinforcing the physical defenses before the group of shadow creatures even reached the city.

With this move, he single-handedly created a semi-transparent cover over the vast city of Lin Yuan.

Having prevented an external attack, he had effectively surrounded the entire city. Then, whistling casually, he walked towards Han Su's location with a monitor in his hand.

At the same time, Vice Captain Shen Qinghui had already passed through the shadows and arrived outside the city. Looking up, he saw only a crowded night scene, with countless strange-looking creatures, driven by a mysterious will, rushing straight towards Lin Yuan City.

"Has the Church of Eternal Night really gone all out?"

"Summoning so many shadow creatures, how powerful must one's will be to do that?"

"..."

She had already begun to suspect the Church of Eternal Night's bizarre behavior, but for now she could only focus on the immediate problem.

With a gentle wave of his hand, he drew a fine and intricate mysterious symbol.

In an instant, starting from her feet, a strange white light cut through the night, like a white abyss, or a concrete white wall woven from endless light.

The swarming abyssal creatures, in droves, crashed violently against the white wall.

In an instant, severed limbs and severed heads melted away, large areas of them being decomposed and dissolved.

"Ok?"

From the shadows not far away, Han Su saw the mysterious power fluctuations when she made her move, and a sense of surprise suddenly arose in his heart.

The power this woman wielded...

In the blink of an eye, the situation changed drastically. The mysterious power that Shen Qinghui unleashed was extremely strong, and its quality was clearly superior to that of the shadow creatures rushing towards Lin Yuan City.

However, although she possessed the ability to instantly kill any shadow creatures in large numbers, there were simply too many of them. The white line she had laid out was rapidly diluting, being shattered and fading quickly.

But this did buy her some time.

Standing behind the white line, she closed her eyes slightly, stretched her palms high into the night sky, then clenched her fists and pulled them down.

"Kaka"

As she clenched her fist, a burst of white light seemed to bloom in her palm.

As she swung her hand to the ground, the white light formed a dense and bizarre pattern directly on the earth.

Immediately afterwards, a faint sound of air being torn apart began to echo overhead.

Crackle!

Like rain, a downpour.

A twisted and bizarre white mass of flesh fell from mid-air, crashing heavily to the ground and turning into a paste, like melted snow.

But the mass of flesh twisted and struggled to coalesce from the ground, then rapidly extended eerie tentacles to entangle the shadow creatures, one of which bound three or four at a time. Meanwhile, more and more of these bizarre chunks of flesh continued to fall from the air.

For a fleeting moment, the night sky seemed to turn into a suffocating, deathly white.

It was as if too many chunks of flesh had fallen from the sky, forming a bizarre yet spectacular sight.

Within a radius of several thousand meters, these strange chunks of flesh were everywhere, struggling and merging together, as if forming a sea of ​​blood and flesh.

In comparison, the endless abyssal creatures now seem like flies that only deserve to be driven away...

……

……

"It's confirmed..."

Han Su, who was watching this scene from not far away, suddenly stiffened and felt a sense of disbelief.

I have seen this move before. Although the specific manifestations are slightly different, it is undoubtedly of the same origin.

Pale factory.

I had seen her before when I was in Qinggang, in the hands of Ms. Shen, the person in charge of the Abyss Studio.

This pale factory originally belonged to Ms. Shen, so why is it now in the hands of the vice captain of the patrolling knights?

Wait... this vice-captain also seems to have the surname Shen?

Could they be relatives?

"Shen Qinghui, the vice-commander of the Third Order of the Traveling Knights, comes from the Shen family of Yecheng in the southeast."

"Your mother, Ms. Shen Yunyi, the head of Abyss Studio, also comes from this family."

"Just like the Xu and An families in Lin Yuan City and several nearby major cities, who are the two major branches that occupy the power of the Golden Knight family, the Shen family in Southeast Ye City is a branch of the Giant Whale Knight bloodline."

"The Xu family corresponds to the dark power, wielding the golden spear, while the Shen family corresponds to the pale power, wielding the giant's crown. Therefore, the relationship between the pale path and you is deeper than you can imagine."

"Of course, even among descendants of knights, there are different levels of status."

“Your maternal family is only an earl, and they are not qualified to compete for the sacred artifacts.”

"That's why most of the bald-headed members of the clan go to work in local councils and guardian organizations. And this Miss Shen Qinghui, being able to join the patrol knights and even obtain the position of vice captain, is already considered to have performed exceptionally well."

"In return for her excellence, the Shen family gave her some of the power over the Pale Factory as a weapon."

"And this part of the power is already somewhat close to the lethal methods I mentioned to you..."

"..."

Miss Ai's gentle voice rang out from the phone Han Su carried with him, immediately resolving Han Su's current question:

"These itinerant knights are all the best selected from independent investigators in various places. Each of them has their own specialties and methods. After joining the itinerant knights, they receive various enhancements and upgrades, but the overall balance is still maintained."

"They are not capable of posing a threat to you."

"But to become a vice-captain level being, one must at least obtain a power of the twelfth level of anomalies."

"They are usually not complete, but that's enough for them to be surprisingly effective."

"As for the captains who directly obey the Guardians of the World and wield the power of life and death..."

"...They have all been recognized by the World Contract."

"Until you find a lethal method that works for you, I don't recommend that you directly engage these captain-level figures."

"..."

Han Su wrote all these words down, then let out a deep breath and smiled, "Miss Ai, have you finished your work?"

"No."

Miss Ai quickly replied, "My operation to invade the core database of the Golden Knight family and take over the real defense line of Lin Yuan City is still ongoing. I have only temporarily transferred some computing power to your side because I have just discovered something very strange."

"strangeness?"

Han Su also felt a slight sense of unease.

For Miss Ai, the less complete the task is, the more she should concentrate all her computing power.

What could possibly be so distracting for her?
"Finally, I have the opportunity to infiltrate the Golden Knight's core database. My main goal is to find clues about the initial blueprint of the Divine Descent Project and the Emperor Sequence."

"Although all these secrets are carried out by the Guardians of the World, the true masters of this world are the ancient nobles. Therefore, I am certain that there must be relevant information in the database of the descendants of the Twelve Knights."

Miss Ai said clearly, "But in the end, I only found one bloodline screening program that was related to this."

"Bloodline screening program?"

"Yes, it means that a portion of the knightly bloodline would be periodically selected, listed as sinners, and used as sacrifices to appease the emperor's anger."

"..."

Upon hearing Miss Ai's words, Han Su realized that he had heard about this before.

Mr. Xu once told me in detail that he, Xu Ji, and many other people in Qinggang City with noble status were all expelled from the noble class and forced to come to Qinggang because they had the blood of the emperor.

This bloodline led them to secretly extract "atavistic substances," creating Xu Ji's unique appearance today.

"The strange thing you mentioned is..."

There are two points.

Miss Ai stated precisely: "I have read all the letters and secret documents related to the bloodline screening program and know that these nobles have been carrying out this operation regularly for two thousand years, once every two hundred years."

"However, if they want to screen for the emperor's bloodline that has mixed into their group, they need the emperor's genetic model as a reference, but I have not found any relevant records."

"Secondly, does their practice of regularly sacrificing noble bloodlines seem familiar to you?"

"..."

"familiar?"

As Han Su listened to Miss Ai's words, he suddenly realized what she meant.

If they regularly select members of their clan for sacrifice, and if all the descendants of the Twelve Knights are doing this...

Doesn't this just make the same thing as what I did?

He himself had been hunting nobles, hoping to activate the emperor's power...

Even now, I'm still struggling to gather all the noble bloodlines, so I can't predict the effects once all twelve noble bloodlines are gathered.

And these ancient noble families actually continued in a cycle every once in a while?
Does this mean that the power that Ms. Shen gave her and encouraged her to pursue was not a new thing, but something that has been proven many times in history?

If he himself pursued this power because of his hatred for the "Emperor" and the "Twelve Knights", then what are the descendants of the Twelve Knights pursuing?
"I realize that these nobles may have been continuously performing some kind of mysterious ritual that I haven't been able to explain in my database, so I must conduct a deeper access to their core database to avoid any oversights!"

Miss Ai knew that Han Su had realized the problem she had raised, and said, "But what is certain at present is that the descendants of the Twelve Knights originally performed such a ceremony once every two hundred years."

"And now, it is another two-hundred-year period. However, this time they did not choose to sacrifice their own bloodline, but instead chose to invest in the God's Descent Plan. This represents a breaking of a cycle."

"In that sense, they did break the cycle, but I'm the one who's now in charge of it."

Han Su thought to himself, and immediately asked, "Then how should I cooperate with you?"

"I need to concentrate computing power to launch an attack on the Golden Knights' core database to see if they have any hidden clauses, and even, if possible, conduct a real-world scan of the Jinshui Manor in Linyuan City."

"I suspect that in order to prevent my intrusion, they might not store some core secrets in an electronic database, but rather store them as physical objects."

Miss Ai returned to Han Su's side for this very reason, and thus quickly said, "And this requires you to intensify your attack on Lin Yuan City and disperse their existing defensive forces."

"Furthermore, the attitude of the Traveling Knights towards you is very complicated. It is certain that they want to use you to achieve some goal. So, I think there is an emergency agreement with the Traveling Knights that we can take advantage of."

"Emergency agreement?"

"It is a set of rules for the promotion of itinerant knights, formulated in response to emergency situations."

When things are going slowly, Miss Ai's voice becomes more human, but when things are urgent, it reverts to its mechanical nature.

"As an intern, if in an emergency, if your direct supervisor dies unexpectedly or causes or is about to cause huge losses due to mismanagement, and you manage to turn the tide and obtain the endorsement and signature of an ancient noble family, then you can temporarily replace your superior as a traveling knight."

"At that time, you will no longer be an intern; you will be a patrol knight, or even a captain."

Han Su was surprised: "This is outrageous?"

Ms. Ai said, "I have found the relevant terms and confirmed the existence of this agreement."

"So that means if I kill those two people in the city, I can openly take over Lin Yuan City in a short period of time?"

"The itinerant knights have taken over Lin Yuan City, and you are the only itinerant knight in Lin Yuan City!"

"..."

Han Su understood the logic behind it, and after thinking about it carefully, he felt excited, but then immediately realized the problem.

Looking ahead, Deputy Captain Shen had almost single-handedly dealt with all the abyssal creatures, and he seemed to still have plenty of energy left.

He then went straight to the most difficult point: "This woman holds power over the Pale Factory, and right now I..."

"Only partial authority."

Miss Ai said, "Ms. Shen of the Abyss Studio controls 40% of the Pale Factory, the Shen family of Southeast Yecheng controls about 30%, and this vice-captain actually only has about 10% control over the Pale Factory. But, for me..."

Her voice carried Li Manman's tone: "Life Line 04, the power I wield over the Pale Factory is..."

"...100%!"

"..."

Han Su was deeply shocked: "This means..."

"The access password is universal."

Miss Ai said, "In other words, you can mobilize the entire Pale Factory before they even realize what's happening!"

(End of this chapter)