"A few ribs are broken, but it's nothing serious."

Facing Stonemason, Julia seemed somewhat nervous, her gaze unconsciously flickering to the side, towards the eerie, bloated figure in the black robe.

"Hmm."

Stonemason nodded. "Endo?"

This appeared to be the name of the bloated figure.

Julia involuntarily swallowed, looking even more tense.

The bloated figure stepped forward, and countless metallic tendrils extended from beneath his black robe. Each tendril was connected to a strangely shaped surgical tool.

Below the black robe's hood, green eyes shone brightly, as if they were scanning Julia.

After a while, he spoke in a raspy, sharp voice akin to fingernails scraping a chalkboard, "The body has no major issues, and the mental state is also normal. No cognitive curses, heart possession, Taoist Demon Seed..."

Julia couldn't tell if it was her imagination, but she felt a strong sense of regret in his tone—regret that he didn't get the chance to perform emergency surgery or dissect the bodies of other Syndicate Organization members.

"Alright, if you're fine, then that's good."

Stonemason interrupted Endo's report, smiling at Julia. "Go report the details of the mission to LUX22. After this script mission is completed, your ranking will rise again."

Julia forced a smile, not feeling particularly happy.

The Syndicate Organization was a tight-lipped and covert organization. At its lowest level were peripheral members, such as mercenaries, private military companies, scientific research labs, Brokers, and hackers.

The Syndicate Organization had its industries and strongholds on every continent, but they didn't seem to care much about their peripheral members.

Above the peripheral members were the internal members, also known as players with supernatural powers.

These players were called "Apprentices." Once recruited into the Syndicate Organization, Apprentices were dispatched to strongholds for comprehensive training. They were tasked with completing various missions issued by the Syndicate Organization to earn Contribution Points, which they could exchange for rewards within the organization.

The rewards the Syndicate Organization offered its members were incomparably generous compared to other covert organizations. Some rewards were even more valuable than the equipment and items players obtained by completing arduous script missions.

Of course, this was not without a price. The tasks the Syndicate Organization issued to its members in the real world had stringent completion conditions, and executing them was no simpler than script missions. Examples included assassinating the CEO of a publicly traded company while making it look like an accident, hunting and capturing a Lone Wolf Player whose real identity had been exposed, and killing a bio-weapon cultivated by the organization in an arena duel.

Moreover, the Syndicate Organization implemented an internal elimination system. Only Apprentices who performed exceptionally well could advance to gain more resources and more information.

At the top of all Apprentices were the ten core members of the Syndicate Organization, known as "Angel Envoys."

These individuals were among the first in the real world to obtain player status, having a head start of a full ten months over current players...

Julia had never seen an Angel Envoy. She had only vaguely heard that above the ten Angel Envoys was the creator of the Syndicate Organization, known by a single title: Professor.

Julia let out a soft sigh. She never yearned to climb up the ranks within the organization to ultimately become an Angel Envoy. She joined the Syndicate Organization out of necessity, merely hoping to live a bit longer and, one day, to return to her family under her former identity...

Julia hid her sadness well, smiling at Stonemason and the short-haired girl. She returned the towel and walked towards the door.

"Wait."

Endo's voice suddenly rang out. From beneath the cloak at his shoulder, a slender metal tendril connected to a scalpel rapidly extended. It flew directly behind Julia, made a slanting slash, and then retracted with even greater speed.

Julia only felt a chill on her back; a shallow wound appeared on her skin, and a faint trace of fresh blood seeped out.

Before she could even process what had happened, her body, driven by instinct, whirled around into a combat stance.

Instead, she saw the black-robed figure using a metallic tendril to hold up a rectangular metal surgical tray. He then lightly scraped the scalpel, now tinged with a trace of her blood, across the tray.

"This is..."

Julia unconsciously looked into the surgical tray. Under the dim light, she clearly saw a transparent parasitic worm lying at the bottom, as thin as a hair and as long as a chopstick.

The parasitic worm was curled up, seemingly having lost all activity. The blood staining its body also proved it had just been extracted from Julia's back.

Julia immediately shuddered, her whole being engulfed in fear.

"Hmm..."

Endo lowered his head. He deftly and steadily used the scalpel to slice open the slender worm in the tray, examining it carefully. "It doesn't look like a native parasitic species. A bit like Planarian Worms? There's a mycelium inside the hollow cavity; its purpose is unknown. The entire worm is dead—no activity, no Energy residue..."

After pondering for a moment, he lifted his head and said to a frightened Julia, "Turn around."

Julia instinctively turned, only to hear the sharp sound of the scalpel cutting through the air behind her again. In an instant, she felt numerous tiny cuts opening all over her body.

One, two... A full eighteen parasitic worms lay neatly arranged in the surgical tray—a horrifying and shocking sight.

"These worms are man-made," Endo looked at Julia, his eyes filled with intense investigative fervor. "You've been infested with parasitic worms."

"..."

Julia trembled. The very thought of so many worms hiding inside her body sent waves of fear straight to her heart.

The short-haired girl's eyes widened in shock. Stonemason, however, frowned deeply and asked in a low voice, "Can they be tracked?"

"Almost impossible. These worms were already dead; their Spiritual Energy fluctuations have long since dissipated. Even a Tracking Method on the causal level wouldn't be able to find the source. Besides..."

As Endo spoke, he suddenly saw all the parasitic worms in the surgical tray, as if receiving some command, simultaneously melt into a pool of transparent liquid, along with their internal mycelium.

"..."

Everyone silently watched the surgical tray. Julia clearly felt a small amount of blood seeping from the tiny wounds on her body, accompanied by sharp, stinging pains, but she was in no state of mind to focus on them.

Who? When? How were the worms implanted?

Julia had undergone a comprehensive medical examination before embarking on the Fairy World mission, so these worms could only have been acquired during its execution. Faces from the script world flashed before her eyes: players, natives, Magical Beasts... Her thoughts finally settled on the figure completely enveloped in a red coat.

"Let's go. I will accompany you to LUX22," Stonemason took a deep breath and said to Julia with gravity. "You need to recount everything that happened during the script mission, down to the smallest detail."