Chapter 83
Chapter 83
The moment Ling Fang said that, everyone’s breath caught, and they instantly became fully alert.
Xie Qingling was no exception.
Ling Fang looked over the members sitting upright with solemn expressions, then withdrew his gaze and continued. “First, I want to ask all of you something. What do you think about the River God’s Wedding?”
“Old Yu, you go first.”
Yu Wei considered the question after being called upon. “It was a man-made conspiracy built around the villagers’ desperate wish to survive. Humans were the source of every evil at work. A human summoned the River God. Humans spread fear and curses. Humans controlled the villagers.”
Ling Fang nodded, then called on the next person. “Xie Qingling, your turn.”
“I…” Xie Qingling pondered for a moment before adding, “I believe the tragedy was engineered by a very large organization. This organization is immensely powerful. It was established at least thirty years ago and has continued recruiting new members over decades of development. By now, its membership must be substantial.”
“Like our Department, this organization knows how to pray to deities and obtain blessings. They search among the populace for Awakened, or deliberately cultivate Acquired Spirits, to expand their power. They operate according to certain principles and nurture evil gods through false faith, harvesting the power of incense offerings.”
Ling Fang nodded, agreeing with Xie Qingling’s analysis.
“Correct.” His gaze shifted to the other three. “What about you?”
“I have nothing to add,” Shen Huaizhou said.
“Neither do I,” Ye Anran said.
Dai Xingyu declared indignantly, “An evil organization like that should be wiped out, roots and all!”
Ling Fang gave him no response.
With that, the discussion of the River God’s Wedding came to an end.
“I went back to headquarters for a meeting these past few days and submitted a report on the River God’s Wedding. After headquarters conducted a risk assessment, they raised Future City’s danger rating by one level.”
They had raised the danger rating?
Xie Qingling stared blankly. She had not even known that every city received a danger rating.
Was it because of the River God’s Wedding?
Was that organization truly so terrifying?
Ling Fang glanced at her. Taking the newly recruited Xie Qingling into consideration, he explained even the minor details clearly. “A city’s danger rating has five levels, from one to five. The higher the level, the greater the danger. Future City used to be Level Two. It is now Level Three.”
“That means Future City is no longer the calm and peaceful city it once was.”
“Extremely dangerous special incidents may occur here at any time.” Ling Fang’s voice was heavy. He even rested his forehead against one hand and closed his eyes for a moment, brow tightly furrowed, his thoughts unknown.
All five people present fell silent. For a time, the lobby was so quiet that a dropped pin would have been audible.
Yu Wei smiled with casual ease. “I was prepared to die in the line of duty from the day I joined the Department.”
Shen Huaizhou tapped the back of his head. “I’ve always lived with my life on the line.”
Ye Anran and Dai Xingyu exchanged a glance. One was a doctor and the other the Groom, so they rarely came into contact with the most dangerous assignments. If anyone died, it should not be their turn. But put another way, if even they died, then everyone else…
They decided not to say anything. No matter what came out of their mouths, it would sound like an ill omen, almost a curse.
Xie Qingling did not say much either. She merely fired off a string of questions. “Director, is Future City’s higher danger rating connected to the River God’s Wedding? Or to the organization behind it? Just how terrifying is that organization? Was Future City’s rating raised because they’re going to use the city as a long-term base of operations? Have there been so many more special incidents since I joined the Department because of them too?”
Her questions jolted everyone awake and struck at the heart of the matter.
“That organization is called the Eleventh Realm,” Ling Fang said.
“The Eleventh Realm?”
“Yes, the Eleventh Realm.” Ling Fang kept rubbing his leather glove as he explained. “The Ten Directions is originally a Buddhist term referring to the ten directions. Later, it also came to represent the Pure Lands and worlds of all ten directions.”
“The Eleventh Realm rejects the world as it exists now. They want to create an entirely different world, an eleventh realm. That is why they call themselves the Eleventh Realm.”
Ling Fang scoffed softly. “Of course, that’s only their excuse. They drape themselves in a grand name and think far too highly of themselves. They’re nothing but criminals who don’t know their own limits – self-righteous fools who dream of nurturing powerful evil gods and using them to control the world. A swarm of little insects hiding in the gutter, too afraid to show themselves in the light.”
After cursing them for a while, his voice soon sank again. “The problem is… there isn’t only one person who thinks this way. They may each harbor their own agendas, but similar or identical goals gradually led them to others of their kind. They gathered into a group and grew to a considerable scale.”
Ling Fang exhaled heavily.
“For years, Departments in every city – especially headquarters – have been working to annihilate the Eleventh Realm. From the moment we learned of their existence, we’ve maneuvered against them, fought them, and remained locked in conflict with them for more than twenty years.”
“To keep certain people from learning about the Eleventh Realm and being turned against us, information about the organization has remained classified even within the Department.”
“But signs of the Eleventh Realm’s activity have already spread throughout Future City. If you know nothing about them when you encounter one of their members, you’ll be at a severe disadvantage and in tremendous danger. That is why I requested permission from headquarters to disclose information about the Eleventh Realm internally. Permission was granted, and that is why I called this meeting.”
Ling Fang’s expression remained almost coldly grave. He emphasized his warning once more. “Do not underestimate the enemy. According to casualty statistics gathered by headquarters from the Special Incident Response Departments in every city, our fatality rate when facing ghosts and monsters is twenty percent. But when the enemy is the Eleventh Realm, the casualty rate immediately rises above fifty percent.”
“Remember this: they are demons who feel no sympathy for their own kind and kill without blinking. They are cunning brutes without a single virtue among them.”
When Ling Fang finished speaking, silence fell around him.
An eerie hush spread through the room.
Before this, they had known only that some exceptionally gifted individuals operated outside any organization. They refused recruitment by the Department, remained hidden among the general population, and lived ordinary, uneventful lives like anyone else.
At the same time, there were also gifted individuals who refused recruitment but would not behave themselves, causing minor trouble for the Department from time to time.
None of them had imagined that in some dark corner beyond their field of vision, a deeply rooted organization had been spreading its influence for decades.
The silence lasted for roughly five minutes. No one spoke.
Xie Qingling was ultimately the first to break it.
“Director, is there any other information you can disclose? If we’re going to fight them, this is far too little.”
“We don’t know much about the Eleventh Realm. They’re mysterious and act in great secrecy. The River God’s Wedding was a conspiracy they orchestrated, and if they hadn’t happened to expose a flaw, we might still know nothing about it.”
Ling Fang continued, “They enjoy creating bloody, terrifying, and violent incidents among the population. They do everything they can to draw out the darkest parts of human nature and create a breeding ground for evil gods. They can receive blessings from artificially nurtured, bottom-tier deities such as the River God. Even ordinary people can obtain authority over supernatural power from such deities. Gods raised through evil are entirely indiscriminate when choosing their Chosen.”
“That also means every opponent you encounter may possess some kind of divine ability, yet their ability will be unknown to you. You must find a way to learn it yourselves and keep them from gaining the initiative.”
“As for the identity of the Eleventh Realm’s leader, no one knows.”
“Beneath the leader are two priests responsible for managing the organization’s daily affairs.”
“The priests report directly to the leader. No one knows what the leader looks like, whether they’re male or female, old or young.”
“Of the two priests, one is male and the other female. The man is the High Priest, and the woman is the Junior Priestess. Under the two priests are the Nine Divine Envoys, whom they command. The Nine Divine Envoys deal directly with the believers. As for those believers…”
“They’re people like Tang Tian.”
“The believers include Spirit Wielders they have recruited, as well as ordinary people with malicious intentions who help them manage affairs in the mortal realm. In short, the Eleventh Realm is a fully staffed organization with a complex hierarchy.”
“They have a vast number of believers lying dormant in every corner of every city. Most of the time, they look no different from ordinary citizens. They reveal themselves only when they cause an incident, and that makes our work extremely difficult.”
“We don’t currently know whether the Eleventh Realm will continue using Future City as a long-term base of operations, but you must remain wary whenever you go on a mission.”
Ling Fang took five formation disks from a case.
Each disk was the color of black pottery, its surface covered in chaotic, bizarre patterns painted in silver.
“Headquarters allocated these formation disks to Future City – the God-Slaying Formation. The disks are made from a mixture containing Swelling Earth, which can grow freely, combined with a specially prepared secret medicine. They can deploy the God-Slaying Formation in an instant.”
Ling Fang looked at them. “From now on, you must carry a God-Slaying Formation disk on every mission. Always be prepared to encounter an evil god.”
“You don’t need to recite an incantation to use the God-Slaying Formation. Swelling Earth grows the moment it touches soil. Just slap the disk onto the ground.”
“Understood!”
“Copy that!”
The five of them wore grim expressions, their spirits low. Their usual complaints and wisecracks about meetings were gone, leaving only complicated concern.
Leaning against the back of his chair, Dai Xingyu murmured, “I may die today, or I may die tomorrow…”
Seeing them like this, Ling Fang instead drew his lips into a smile that looked almost arrogant, though it was quickly concealed beneath his customary calm solemnity. “There’s no need for all that.”
“At the end of the day, the Eleventh Realm is still a group made up of flesh-and-blood humans. They’re cunning, and they hide in the shadows, but they’re human. They can die.”
“Cockroaches live in dark places too, but there’s no need to fear a cockroach.”
“If you run into one, just crush it.”
Ling Fang rose. “I told you all of this to prepare you, not discourage you. If you fear the enemy too much, you have no chance of winning.”
Xie Qingling nodded. “I understand, Director.”
“The next time we encounter them, we’ll crush them without mercy!”
“Good!” Ling Fang nodded approvingly. “There is one final matter for today’s meeting.”
“Headquarters has issued a kill order for Tang Tian.”
“All of you, memorize his identifying features. If you encounter Tang Tian, kill him on sight. Show no mercy.”
“Copy that!”
All five answered in perfect unison, their morale surging in an instant.