CHAPTER 782: CLUES, INFILTRATED

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Contrary to their belief, Cedric actually didn’t see through the councillors’ disguises.

As broken and overpowered as his eyes were, they still had limitations...for now, at least. And one of those prevents him from seeing through, which means he doesn’t completely understand.

The transformation gel that Councillor Urek used to mask not only their faces and physique but also their energy signatures was something that Cedric had never encountered before. He doesn’t understand how it works, and he also doesn’t know that it exists; therefore, he couldn’t see through it.

Nevertheless, he’s not an idiot. The clues are all there; he’d be stupid to not notice them when they’re so obvious.

First of all, the councillors might have disguised their faces, bodies, and energy signatures, but they didn’t do much to hide their actual Life Evolution Realms.

Sure, Cedric hadn’t grasped just how immensely powerful those who took a step beyond the Heavenly Venerate Realm were, but he had a reference thanks to Philip.

When he sees Philip, he can see and feel the existence of something way beyond what he can comprehend. It’s like he’s facing the entire chaos realm when facing him, one that is slumbering or minding its own business. That’s what Heavenly Venerates looked and felt like in Cedric’s senses.

Stepping into the Heavenly Venerate Realm was the same as being one with the Heavenly Laws themselves. To be respected, revered, and venerated at the same level as the Heavenly Laws. That’s what it means.

The councillors? They’re a step beyond that. They’re existences that go way beyond Cedric’s understanding. And he’s perceptive enough to see that.

That’s the first clue.

The second one was pretty obvious. Travis said that he was going to report the situation directly to the councillors themselves. Cedric had no idea how someone like him could have a direct line of communication with the councillors, but he refrained from asking since it’s none of his business.

But, with that in mind, it becomes pretty obvious, doesn’t it?

Not even a week after Travis called, and some people already arrived? Furthermore, it’s a bunch of people whom Cedric couldn’t see through?

Like what was stated earlier, it’s pretty obvious, isn’t it?

If these people weren’t the councillors, then who could they possibly be?

Regardless of whether he’s right or not, he let them through. Councilors or not, this group of people wasn’t some people he could offend even if he had all the right to do so.

He didn’t want to cause too much disturbance in his territory. Besides, these people went through the official channels to approach his domain. At the very least, they already showed him respect by doing this.

From how they mobilized and how they went out of their way to disguise themselves, it’s clear that they want this operation to be on the down low. They didn’t want to raise too much attention, and for a very good reason too.

Their efforts to secure the area where the Unstable Heavenly Domain’s entrance will appear also didn’t escape Cedric’s senses. Their methods were unique and fascinating. Cedric actually finds himself quite intrigued, though he’s trying not to be obvious.

But that also confirmed their identities to him even more.

Cedric could also feel eyes observing him. It’s coming from that sole female councillor. Her sensory field covered his entire domain, which felt really weird if Cedric were being honest. This domain has been connected to him, after all. And her eyes felt like she was unapologetically leering at every inch of his skin.

She probably doesn’t know that Cedric felt this way, and it’s probably not wise to tell her this because that’ll just make things awkward.

Besides, he doubted that she’d stop even if she knew; after all, with a sensory field this large, it becomes her duty to watch over everything that’s going on, just to make sure that nobody is doing anything suspicious.

Cedric could feel her eyes focused on Travis’ group, though. More so than others. She’s probably geared to react the second someone from that group tries to contact someone else behind Travis’ back.

He understands her caution. They’d fight tooth and nail to delay the spread of this news. Even if it means striking down their own people, they won’t hesitate to do so.

So far, nobody dared. But she still kept vigilance.

Cedric also knew that this lady had seen the demons he’s keeping in his territory.

You’d think that she’d also be suspicious of them, and Cedric for that matter, but no, she wasn’t.

Cedric caught the moment she saw them, which made her eye twitch once or twice. But then, she probably saw that all of them were wearing obedience collars, and her vigilance relaxed.

Yeah, them wearing obedience collars lowered her suspicions a lot. And when she saw how the demons worked diligently in helping to build the security measures of this domain, her suspicions of them practically vanished completely.

With these collars on, the demons are not a threat. They’re essentially under Cedric’s control, and they wouldn’t dare do anything to upset their master.

Speaking of which, this reminds Cedric of something.

The arrival of the demons and the horde that wanted to use his domain as a temporary nest happens to coincide with the predictions about the unstable heavenly domain.

What a coincidence, eh? It seems that the Horde group they eliminated should’ve been tasked with investigating the location of the Unstable Heavenly Domain’s appearance.

Alas, they didn’t expect Cedric to be the new sector lord of this place.

The Horde nest, which also served as their ship, had been killed. Not even a speck of it was left; General Skylark and his men made sure of that. It’s the protocol when dealing with the Horde since they could pretty much regenerate by devouring any biomass available.

Complete eradication was necessary to prevent any further developments. And the general did a fantastic job with that.

As for the possibility of demons becoming sleeper agents? That’s even less likely, especially with the obedience collars on.

All things considered, Cedric’s territory was clean. It doesn’t contain anything suspicious aside from demons, and they’re already cleared. Therefore, the only ones she needed to pay attention to were Travis’ men.

’Alas, I couldn’t imagine this being the end of it.’

**

The situation on the front lines was grim.

Bullets, explosions, roars, whimpers, and everything else could be seen here. The Horde has gotten insane.

The Space Marines have experienced the heaviest Horde wave they’ve had in a long while. All personnel were needed; nobody was spared.

They unleashed hell on the Horde, eradicating them en masse. But even with their efforts, it’s clear that there were no signs of them stopping, and the Space Marines could only go for so long without any rest.

The Eye of Annihilation helped greatly. It’s a weapon of mass destruction that instantly vaporizes any non-human creature within its radius.

But even with this tool, the waves of the Horde remained unceasing. It’s truly terrible. Where are they even summoning this many from?

It’s not like the Space Marines didn’t know how to target the spawners. They do. They’re the priority. But the fucked-up thing is, even the bug spawners had their own spawners, but those were nowhere to be seen. The Eye of Annihilation couldn’t pinpoint their location; they’re invisible on the scanners too. How were they supposed to stop this?

And this scene was happening all around the border. The horde were desperate, unhesitatingly charging forth to throw away their lives for the sake of the small chance of successfully passing through humanity’s defenses.

It’s so bad that many soldiers have already passed out from exhaustion. The medics were already doing the best they could, but the situation was just too hectic.

Hectic enough for something to slip.

That something burrowed into the body of a soldier and pulled back into the base. The soldier himself was badly injured, his life hanging by a thread.

He was carried on a stretcher, the medics who escorted him unaware that he was carrying something else in his body.

The said thing slipped away as they brought the man to the med bay. It left a surprise on the man’s body to keep the medics occupied as it ran to the waste disposal room.

There, it slipped through the trash pile, remaining unknown and invisible to the sensors. And it just so happens that the disposal schedule was taking place.

Normally, trash would be burned. The energy will be used to replenish the source of the ship, while the ashes will be discarded. The creature was burned, but it didn’t die.

It was perfectly fine until it was disposed of along with the ashes.

When it sensed the presence of the space vacuum once more, it inwardly cheered, happy to have gotten through the space marines unnoticed.

It didn’t waste time and turned into a streak of light that disappeared towards the nearby asteroid.

The creature waited and watched until it saw a ship passing through. Without any hesitation, it attached itself to the ship and became invisible once more.

It didn’t know where this ship was heading, but one thing’s for sure. It successfully infiltrated the Heavenly Star Chaos Realm.