CHAPTER 324: CHAPTER 84: DEATH OF A COUNCILOR

"Haha, the commander-in-chief?"

Wu Zechuan sat in a room that didn’t appear on the design plans, surrounded by screens.

Since Yan Luo came to the forefront, Wu Zechuan had entered this dark room to issue orders and direct the trusted Hunters to conduct investigations.

However, he didn’t spend much of his day here; he spent more time playing his role.

Wu Zechuan traveled back and forth between Lingquan City and Crimson No. 2 every day. He would show up at Crimson No. 2, making the Abyssal Believers believe he was still there, handling official duties promptly to prevent a backlog of urgent matters from halting the operations of the Scarlet No. 2 Hunter’s Guild once the Abyssal Campaign began.

Many official duties weren’t beyond others’ competence to handle but were restricted by access permissions, only allowing Wu Zechuan to manage them.

If not for the experience he had gained as the Hunter’s Guild president, Wu Zechuan might have been overwhelmed by the travel and work between two locations.

Fortunately, it was all worth it!

Through Yan Luo’s lie detection ability, they had already identified a commander sent by the Abyssal Believers to sabotage the Forbidden Demon Abyss Campaign.

Upon learning this information, Wu Zechuan became extremely excited.

He knew the Abyssal Believers had come prepared this time, determined to find a way to defend the Forbidden Demon Abyss.

Destroying the Abyssal Campaign couldn’t be achieved by one or two people alone; to stop it at the Forbidden Demon Abyss, the Abyssal Believers would even need to obliterate the entire Abyss frontline.

Because of this, the Abyssal Believers desperately needed an on-site commander to organize chaos that could cause the Abyss frontline’s collapse.

Watching the screen, where the Abyssal Believer’s expression turned from confusion to fear, Wu Zechuan grinned maliciously, "Finally caught your trail!"

......

"Commander-in-chief?"

During the usual committee meeting, someone mentioned the findings from the investigation into the Abyssal Believers.

From that panicking Abyssal Believer, they discovered that the Abyssal Believers had someone in Lingquan City akin to a ’commander-in-chief.’

Unsurprisingly, this so-called ’commander-in-chief’ should belong to the Watcher Sect of the Abyssal Believers.

Through You Yifeng’s explanation, the committee members learned that the Abyssal Believers split into two factions: the Believer Faction, known for its insane actions that directly threaten humanity, and the Watcher Sect, which wields significant power but usually operates discreetly, striking with grand gestures when they do act.

For instance, the failure of the Bright Silver Abyss Campaign was orchestrated by the Watcher Sect’s Abyssal Believers.

This faction is powerful and secretive; without You Yifeng’s disclosure, the committee wouldn’t have found information about the Watcher Sect even in the United Government’s database.

To the United Government, the existence of the Abyss Watchers seemed like a black history, something they needed everyone to forget.

Though the United Government had no records, the Watcher Sect retained a vivid memory of such things.

Back to the point, despite being divided into two factions, the Abyssal Believers practically operated as a single entity.

No matter how friendly and kind the Watcher Sect seemed, claiming no actions unless an Abyssal Campaign was underway, their alignment with the Believer Faction ensured they became a ’tumor’ that could threaten Blue Star Civilization, one that must be obliterated.

Although the Watcher Sect looked different from the Believer Faction, attacking only during the Abyssal Campaigns, they never stopped the Believer Faction’s everyday activities. If the Believer Faction was the mastermind, the Watcher Sect was, to some extent, an accomplice.

Therefore, regardless of which faction the Abyssal Believers visiting Lingquan City belonged to, they had to be eradicated!

In the meeting, the committee discussed plans to annihilate the Abyssal Believers, as Yan Luo had already outlined the structure of the Abyssal Believers obstructing the Abyssal Campaign, enabling them to officially announce the deployment of official forces against the Abyssal Believers.

This was the consensus they reached in this meeting!

After the meeting ended, Min Jinglan left the meeting room with her secretary. As she walked through the hallway, she saw a committee member boarding a hover car, ready to leave City Hall. Just as the hover car took off, a fierce burst of fire caught Min Jinglan’s eyes.

Boom——!

The hover car exploded, reduced to fragments falling from the sky.

With the car obliterated, the committee member inside naturally couldn’t escape.

Min Jinglan’s mouth gaped open, as if a hand from nowhere gripped her heart, causing sharp pain and making it difficult to breathe.

Fear!

This was the first time Min Jinglan felt such fear since the crisis from which Yan Luo saved her years ago.

A city council committee member... just like that, dead?

"Terrorist attack! It’s a terrorist attack!"

Chaos erupted in City Hall. When they found the head of security, he was discovered having an affair with his lover in the office, enraging all the committee members, including Min Jinglan.

However, the follow-up result left them in a dilemma—the head of security was actually the mistress of the recently deceased committee member, whom he placed in the position.

Although this head of security had some skills, being a retired Hunter with Sequence Three strength, years of inactivity had dulled her crisis sensitivity.

Regardless, a committee member couldn’t just die so inexplicably.

The committee continued to investigate along the trail and was shocked to discover the deceased committee member embezzled a significant amount of security funds, replacing equipment with second-hand, or even third-hand and fourth-hand, gear during security system upgrades, leading to backdoors being implanted.

Hence, during the investigation, they couldn’t find a trace from security footage, only discovering the backdoors within the security system.

All of this was the deceased committee member’s self-inflicted harm; had he not colluded with his mistress to embezzle funds for system equipment replacement, this would never have happened. Even if it did, the committee could have found the culprit for revenge.

Without clues from security footage, the committee sought other avenues to probe into the incident.

Before the investigation began, they consulted some experts to analyze the incident.

Based on the analysis, the most likely perpetrators of this incident were the Abyssal Believers.

Though they couldn’t rule out the possibility of a regular citizen with a grudge against the committee member taking impulsive revenge, the current situation leaned heavily towards the Abyssal Believers having the greater likelihood.

Because this matter had a strong correlation with the benefits of the Abyssal Believers.

Firstly, Lingquan City was conducting a thorough search for Abyssal Believers; to ensure their safety, the Abyssal Believers needed to create distractions to escape covertly. Secondly, as the Lingquan City Government decided to support the Forbidden Demon Abyss Campaign, a position unacceptable to the Abyssal Believers, they sought retaliation against the city government and impede the campaign’s progress, using an attack on committee members as a reasonable tactic.

As for why the attack was initiated inside City Hall rather than outside, it served as a warning from the Abyssal Believers, showcasing their ability to operate within City Hall, urging other committee members to reconsider their support for the Abyssal Campaign.

After hearing the analysis, once the experts had left, the committee held an internal meeting.

During the meeting, a few people wavered, subtly expressing their reluctance to continue supporting the Abyssal Campaign. With the Forbidden Demon Abyss continuing to exist, it could attract numerous scientists and scholars for research, considered beneficial to Lingquan City.

The military and Hunters were now stationed at the Forbidden Demon Abyss, preventing demons from escaping.

Hearing such cowardly remarks, Min Jinglan slammed the table angrily, "Haven’t you studied ’On the Six Kingdoms?’ Are we to partition five cities today, ten tomorrow, for a night’s rest in peace? Your cowardice gives the Abyssal Believers an opportunity to be arrogant, letting them see us as easy targets! Should we wait until they commit worse actions and our losses increase for you to realize that the Abyssal Believers must be annihilated?"

This statement steeled the committee members’ resolve.

Indeed, the Abyssal Believers must be eradicated, there’s no choice otherwise!