"Who are you?" The figure took half a step back, cautiously watching the elderly man with brown-golden eyes.

He Ao quietly gazed at the figure, his face calm as he softly asked, "Are you from the Church of the Grim Reaper? Were those three people your subordinates? Did you have them monitor the situation on site?"

His eyebrows lightly raised, he softly asked, "Did you tamper with the souls of those protesters?"

The best method of automation is pure manual monitoring.

Actually, even He Ao didn’t expect the operations of the Church of the Grim Reaper to be so ’hands-on’, with several people arranged here for real-time monitoring, and even the actions of those protesters’ corpses were directly manipulated by the three Grim Reaper believers who were killed.

And behind these frontline Grim Reaper believers, there are higher-level members of the Church of the Grim Reaper monitoring the entire event.

Of course, from another perspective, the matter requires careful control by so many people, perhaps indicating its importance.

"Ignorant old geezer," upon hearing He Ao’s inquiry, the figure simply stepped forward, a section of bone flute falling into his hand, biting down on the bone flute, he blew out a screech.

With this screech, one by one, illusory souls emerged from the void, carrying a terrifying aura, they charged at He Ao.

He Ao silently watched these illusory souls, his eyebrows slightly raised.

He raised his hand, surging flames swept across the surrounding space in an instant, enveloping those illusory souls, burning them away in a very short time.

Boom—

The pristine bone flute abruptly shattered, scattering into dissipating dust.

The shackles in the void shattered at this moment, and the dense power of the soul surged into He Ao’s body.

Previously, when dealing with the Necromancer, He Ao discovered.

Unlocking these enslaved souls’ shackles and burning these souls, the ’Hell Manager’s’ soul and power could also be replenished.

Driving the Skeleton Knights and using flames to control those corpses, for He Ao, still consumed a considerable amount.

The figure holding the bone flute stared blankly at this scene. "How could it be."

But He Ao did not give him time to ponder, stepping forward to stand before him.

"Tell me, who sent you? Who is your superior? Where is he? What exactly is your mission?" The white-haired elder lowered his head, brown-golden eyes flashing with a cold brilliance, gazing at the bewildered figure.

The figure looked into those brown-golden eyes lowered from above, akin to being watched by a lion, causing his entire body to instinctively tense.

However, upon hearing He Ao’s question, a trace of bewilderment flashed in his eyes.

Immediately, as if stimulated by something, he regained some reason, his entire soul suddenly ignited, his palm reaching towards He Ao, swiftly becoming illusory throughout the process.

What he grasped was not He Ao’s body, but He Ao’s soul, seemingly wanting to transfer the burning flame of his soul to He Ao.

But in the next moment, a hand filled with flames pressed onto his cheek.

Next moment, even more surging flames enveloped his body, burned away his soul, leaving only a crystalline bone pearl falling to the ground.

He Ao picked up the bone pearl, falling into a brief silence.

This figure itself was a C-level, Talent Sequence 130: Mind Reader.

But this Mind Reader’s own soul and memory truly were a blank slate, those crucial pieces of information seemingly carved away with a knife, leaving an empty void.

Yet he himself knew nothing.

From the very first moment of meeting, He Ao had already noticed his empty memory, but he still attempted to ask questions, seeing if this person could recall those empty memories.

Clearly, he himself was unable to retrieve those memories, as they appeared to have completely vanished from his soul.

He seemed to have been subjected to some sort of cognitive coverage, aware of his current actions, yet not knowing the reason or what should be done afterward.

Like a puppet held tightly in someone’s hand, existing only as a tool.

He Ao tucked the bone pearl into his pocket and glanced at the ashes below.

During this period, all the Grim Reaper Church’s believers and priests He Ao encountered gave him a strong sense of déjà vu, indicating that the entity arranging tasks for these followers might be deliberately averting their memory from being read.

All pertinent memory information had been deliberately and absolutely erased.

This erasure was even more thorough than the ones He Ao previously encountered designed to prevent mind reading.

As if a presence knew the memory of these subordinates would be read.

He Ao slightly raised his gaze, looking at the startled crowd below the hillside.

In the recent operation, had He Ao not intervened, those controlled protesters’ corpses would have attacked ordinary citizens and been directly broadcasted.

He Ao read the mercenary captain’s thought; he seemed to have received some command, stating those protesters were ’Grim Reaper’ believers, and ’K’ essentially a manifestation of the Grim Reaper.

The mercenary captain needs to propagate this ’concept.’

From this perspective, this seems intentional by the Church of the Grim Reaper.

They seem to be attempting to blur the dungeon world’s recognition of ’K’ and the ’Grim Reaper.’

But why is the Grim Reaper emerging to redirect the understanding of ’K’ towards itself?

Has this Divine Being personally gone into the field, or did the Grim Reaper Church and the consortium reach some agreement?

If it were solely the Church’s actions, wouldn’t this be deemed as affronting the Divine?

Grim Reaper···

If he remembers correctly, the Grim Reaper’s power attribute appears to be purple.

The same attribute as the big sister, Super Memory.

It’s unlikely more information could be acquired from the Grim Reaper Church’s line.

He Ao withdrew his thoughts, glancing at the towering buildings ahead.

Perhaps some measures could be considered from other directions.

——

Rockville Energy Group Building·CEO’s Office

"So, what you’re saying is, those deceased came back to life but did not attack civilians, instead targeting the Grim Reaper believers hiding among the civilians?" A tall, imposing middle-aged man sat in a chair, looking at the young man in the holographic projection before him, softly asking, "They even turned back to clear our mercenary squad."

"Based on the current situation, that’s the case," the young man’s gaze was also fraught with doubt, "This doesn’t match what was described in the email from headquarters."

He Ao raised his head and looked at the middle-aged man, "So, do you have any news from headquarters? What did they say?"

"Headquarters hasn’t replied yet," the middle-aged man shook his head, "The secrecy level over this matter is really high on their end. They just issued orders without explaining any details."

He turned his gaze to the young man in the projection, "So, what’s the situation with the live broadcast? Does the entire Federation know about this?"

"The live broadcast at that time was limited in scope and delayed," the young man said slowly, "After issues arose, I immediately cut off the broadcast. Currently, I’ve already distributed clips from the first part. From those contents, it’s clear that these ’K’ believers are attacking civilians and other protesters."

"This is your news department’s business," the middle-aged man leaned back in his chair and rubbed his temples, "Our place is already rundown and small, and now headquarters just throws us into these things."

"We’re too close to Dawn City," the young man said slowly, "The group’s mercenary corps just happens to have arrived outside the city today, and Christos still hasn’t yielded. A war between the group and Dawn City may be unavoidable."

"That’s not something we can decide," the middle-aged man’s face instantly turned cold, "Just do your duty within your responsibilities."

"Alright," the young man was taken aback for a moment, then nodded, "Understood."

At this moment, the middle-aged man seemed to remember something and picked up a phone beside him, speaking quickly, "There has been an attack by the Death God believers in the city. Please relay this to Mr. Mayor. We need to bring the group’s mercenary corps into the city to safeguard the group’s interests."

He paused slightly, then continued, "Also, Stars Pharma is bringing in a batch of transcendent medical supplies. They’re likely outside the city now, so contact the City Government and ask them to give them the green light."

With that, he hung up the phone and turned his head to look ahead.

But the young man in the holographic projection had already disappeared, clearly having hung up.

Seeing this, the middle-aged man sighed and rubbed his temples.

"Was that your son just now?" came an elderly voice of inquiry from behind.

"Yes," the middle-aged man sighed, "When I was still with the group, naturally, no one dared to provoke him. Any day I’m gone, with his personality, trouble will be easy to come by, and he won’t even know who he might have offended. We people in this line, even though it looks glamorous now, there’s no guarantee we won’t get fired one day and end up on the streets."

"The treatment from the group doesn’t seem very good," the elderly voice asked softly.

"Comparatively, it’s not bad at all, but without shares, we’re ultimately just employees. The mechanized body was bought on installments from the group, the house was bought on installments from the group. If I lose my job, I can’t repay the loans, and all these seemingly glorious things will disappear in an instant," 𝚏𝗿𝗲𝐞𝚠𝕖𝐛𝗻𝗼𝐯𝕖𝚕.𝚌𝗼𝗺

The middle-aged man sighed, "In essence, we’re no different from those who sleep on the streets."

At this, he paused slightly, suddenly turned around, and looked behind him, "Who’s talking?"

Only the empty office met his gaze, devoid of anything.

He immediately lifted his head to look towards a corner to the side; a sliver of red light was flickering there, which was the surveillance in his office.

He pulled up the live surveillance video, only to see an elderly figure standing with their back turned to the camera, quietly gazing at him from behind.

He turned back to look behind him once more, but there seemed to be nothing.

He turned back to look at the monitor, and at this moment, the elderly slowly turned their head, revealing a blurred face.

The elderly looked towards the lens, as if their gaze pierced through the glass screen to meet the middle-aged man’s eyes.

The middle-aged man was startled in panic.

The next instant, the surveillance video flickered, seemingly encountering some interference, and when it returned to normal, the old figure standing behind him had disappeared.

······

Below the building, He Ao looked up at it, sensing his own state.

The earlier footage was not personally manipulated by him; Eve had hacked into the surveillance system to fabricate the scene. He had already left when the middle-aged man checked the surveillance.

And the reason for doing so was simple: after making a series of ghost-like maneuvers using the power of Super Memory, He Ao astonishingly found that his control over the Hell Manager had increased.

Originally, ’Hawke’ believed he had a deep mastery of the Hell Manager, but He Ao discovered that this Talent Sequence’s ability hadn’t been fully developed.

So he was attempting to verify his hypothesis, and so far, it seemed he was right.

’Terror’ could be a core element in completely mastering the Hell Manager.

Gathering his thoughts, and sensing the changes in his internal Talent Sequences, He Ao turned his gaze northward.

——

Vicat City Southern District

He Ao raised his head, looking at the building in front of him.

He lifted his wristband to confirm its positioning.

At this moment, the sun was slowly descending towards the west, and the sunlight shone on the building, reflecting a shimmering glow.

This was the resting spot for the Rockville Energy Group’s First Mercenary Corps Leader. When the mercenary corps stationed outside the cities controlled by the group, unless on an urgent mission, the Captains would usually enter the city for rest.

Mercenaries could also take turns entering the city for rest and leisure.

This isn’t some humanitarian policy; the mercenaries of the syndicate earn their pay by risking life and limb. Once they’ve made money, naturally, they want to spend it. If they’re near the city and not allowed in for some fun, there could be deserters or even rebellions.

Moreover, since they spend money in cities controlled by the syndicate, their money often flows back to the syndicate’s coffers, which is beneficial for the syndicate, thus creating this rule.

He Ao glanced at the distant high wall, noting that he was near the North Gate of Vicat City, far from the affluent area.

After leaving the Rockville Energy Group building, he came straight here, spending quite some time in the process.

He turned his gaze to the north side of the building.

The slight tremors, accompanied by the roar of engines, echoed in his ears. At this moment, numerous pieces of equipment were passing through the neighboring streets, being transported into the city.

It’s undeniable the City Government’s efficiency is astonishing. They were telephoned in the morning, and by the afternoon, the mercenary corps had entered the city.

This city is likely deeply controlled by the Rockville Energy Group.

Under normal circumstances, the City Government wouldn’t be so willing to let a mercenary corps into the city.

Shaking his head, He Ao retracted his gaze and walked towards the building in front of him.

Two guards, equipped with scanning devices, stood at the entrance of the building, staring straight ahead.

As He Ao walked past, the scanning device emitted a series of loud alarms; yet the guards didn’t seem to hear anything, continuing to stare ahead as if all was calm and normal.

Clack—

He Ao raised his hand and turned off the noisy scanning device.

As the alarm abruptly ceased, he walked deeper into the building.