Chapter 601: Clue That Is Not a Clue
When Meng Chao left the underground, night had already descended on the surface.
To make the rescue process easier, the gangs set up dozens of high-powered searchlights on more than ten buildings. The piercing light tore through the smoke and chased away the darkness, making the place look like day.
Meng Chao squinted while feeling dizzy.
He was still digesting the bomb Su Lun threw at him and trying to calm down from his shock.
The information hidden in Su Lun’s words held too many possibilities. Even now, Meng Chao’s brain cells were burning, and he felt really troubled by this astonishing piece of news.
Lu Siya had, by then, ended her interrogation of Wandering Specter Zhong Li and the other former Reaper Squad members.
Based on the thick scent of blood on her, her interrogation went “smoothly”.
“The former Reaper Squad members don’t know where the Vortex is hiding. The main problem is that the guy can change forms whenever it wants and can take up any person’s form at will. When it’s not in human shape, it’s a semi-liquid life form that is even softer than a slug. It can crawl into a crack that is more than 1mm and escape without a trace,” Lu Siya said.
“The good news is, Wandering Specter Zhong Li and the others mentioned a few bases. We’ve captured another batch of their friends and found a lot of powerful spirit energy weapons and destructive crystal bombs. Of course, there were also hundreds of Deification Capsules. If we didn’t stop them in time, these weapons and gene medicine would have definitely destroyed the lair.
“Right now, the fire at the borders of the lair is basically extinguished.
“Song Jinbo, Xiong Wei, and the rest led the gangs to check the spirit energy pipes, the warehouses with inflammable and explosive items, and the important facilities to chase the people we missed and get rid of all hidden problems.
“Spirit energy magnetic field interference might be bad, but we’ve used high-powered communicators used in mines to set up a communication bridge with the outside world. I’ve already told everything that happened here to Vice Director Nie. The outside world was shocked by the truth about the battle in the lair, and they’re actively mobilizing resources and manpower to receive a large batch of injured people and refugees.
“Vice Director Nie told me that at the latest by midnight, a large temporary hospital will be set up at the borders of the lair. This hospital will have the ability to examine more than one thousand patients per hour, and once the lair citizens are checked and found to not be carrying any fatal viruses, bacteria, or spores, they will be free to leave the lair.
“With this promise, the gangs are showing a friendlier attitude to us and working harder to solve the problem in Leprosy Village.
“Not long ago, Su Mulian took the messenger of the gangs back to Leprosy Village with Broken Sword Ye Xiaoyue escorting them. They should be discussing with Wild Wolves how to provide relief and evacuate the villagers right now.
“As for the gangs, they’re emptying up space around Leprosy Village as fast as they can and with the greatest sincerity. They’re also setting up camps and mobilizing resources. We estimate that we can receive eight hundred to one thousand villagers for refuge as the first batch.
“It might not be much, but this is a good start. I believe that when the remaining villagers see that their problems are being solved, they will have more patience and grit their teeth to get through the crisis.
“In any case, aside from the fact that we still don’t know where the Vortex is, all the other things are developing down a good path. Meng Chao, you seem contemplative. You’re frowning. Was Su Lun unwilling to spill?”
“No, he spilled.” Meng Chao smiled wanly. “He told me a lot more than I wanted to hear, and my head is about to burst.”
Meng Chao tossed the bomb Su Lun dropped on him into Lu Siya’s arms. Her expression filled with terror as well.
“The leader of the monster civilization is a human?” she asked in disbelief.
“The leader of the monster civilization was ONCE a human,” Meng Chao stressed.
Lu Siya thought about it and said, “That means that this human has already become some grotesque demon that looks like a monster but is more terrifying than a monster?”
“I don’t know. Su Lun didn’t say it. He never saw the monster civilization’s leader. He only heard about it from the Vortex,” Meng Chao said. “The Vortex didn’t go into detail about it, though. It only told Su Lun that before long, he’d see the true face of the monster civilization’s leader.”
“The Vortex had to be lying. It used such a lie to get rid of the last shred of doubt in Su Lun,” Lu Siya said. “The leader of the monster civilization is a human? That’s impossible!”
“I don’t think that what the Vortex said is entirely untrue,” Meng Chao said. “When I got close to the Vortex, I realized that its disguise was too perfect. It couldn’t have disguised itself so well if it didn’t have in-depth knowledge about human civilization, since it’s a monster.
“Then, there’s those former Reaper Squad members, the unemployed people the Vortex tempted from the slums, the robbers who took Deification Capsules and killed without hesitation. The Vortex had to have knowledge about human life sciences, sociology, criminology, and all sorts of other professional knowledge to do all that. Do you think that monsters who lived in mountains like savages would be able to learn this without anyone teaching them?
“Regardless of whether the monster civilization’s leader is a human or not, the monster civilization must have been enlightened and affected by human civilization, which is how their brand new civilization was born. Even if their appearances are as ugly as those of demons, their souls are still closely connected to ours.
“Let’s think of this from another angle, if you’re a superbeast who has just been enlightened and want to create as well as upgrade your civilization, isn’t the best way to do that to capture a few humans and learn from your greatest enemy?”
“Makes sense,” Lu Siya admitted. “There are cases documented in the secret files of the abnormal beast research department that state that quite a number of humans weren’t immediately eaten once they were captured. They were, instead, treated as research subjects. Some monsters can read human memories by eating their brain, so it’s not strange for them to learn how to think like humans and how to join our society.
“But how could a human captured by monsters change their status and become the leader of the monster civilization?”
“That’s another story,” Meng Chao said. “The Vortex might have been exaggerating things. This ‘human leader’ might just be a puppet the monster civilization pushed to the front.
“It’s clear just what sort of benefits they would get by having a human puppet. If the monster civilization were full of monsters and refused to accept the surrender of humanity, then everyone would have to fight to the end. Even if the monster civilization could really destroy Dragon City, it would have to pay a devastating price.
“But if they had a human leader, even if that person was just a puppet, there would be plenty of people like Su Lun who would cross their moral limits and mental obstacles to swear their loyalty to the monster civilization and work for them.
“They would lie to themselves and believe that they’re not monster puppets but loyal to the human behind the monster civilization and that the monster civilization is really just another form of human civilization that is more suited for the environment of the Other World.”
“How terrifying.” Lu Siya shuddered unwittingly. “This information is a bomb that might change the course of the war. No, I must report this to the higher ups immediately.”
“Wait. This information is indeed important, but our current threat is still the Vortex.” Meng Chao gritted his teeth. “No matter what, we must drag it out into the open. It’s only then that we can consider ourselves to have won the battle in the lair.”
“But what if it has already run away?” Lu Siya asked. “It has been a few hours since we captured Red Brows Su Lun and Wandering Specter Zhong Li, but the Vortex has done nothing.
“I believe that it must have some secret information channel in the lair to immediately know what happened to Su Lun and Zhong Li. The victor has already been decided, so there’s no reason for it to continue staying here.”
“No. The victor hasn’t been decided in the game it’s playing with me!” Meng Chao said. “I trust that the Vortex must have a greater scheme, and it won’t run away with its tail between its legs so readily.”
“Why?” Lu Siya asked. “Why do you think that it has some other scheme?’
“Because the scheme we stopped right now is something Red Brows Su Lun and Wandering Zhong Li know and were carrying out,” Meng Chao said. “If you were the Vortex, would you tell your subordinates all your plans and place all your hopes on a group of humans?”
Lu Siya thought about it for a while before she raised her hands and surrendered. “Alright, you’re right. It’s impossible for the Vortex to place all its hopes on Su Lun and the others. But this way, our clues have run dry. Are we supposed to wait here like idiots for the Vortex to take action?”
“No, there’s one more clue.” Meng Chao’s expression suddenly became really strange. “A clue that can’t be considered a clue.”
Five minutes later, Meng Chao brought Lu Siya back to a spot under Mutual Gold Coliseum.
They were deeper than the spot where Su Lun was imprisoned.
Around them were incomplete rooms and tunnels filled with disorderly construction materials and trash.
There was also a dark vertical shaft with cold wind blowing through it, which sounded like soft moans.
Meng Chao turned his ear toward the vertical shaft and listened for a moment.
Then, he jumped down.
When he landed like a fallen leaf, he did not see a single person at the bottom of the vertical shaft.
Only a few faint blood trails could be found.
The Leprosy Village boy, A’Ji, had snuck into Mutual Gold Coliseum with Meng Chao through the secret tunnel, but when he climbed up the vertical shaft, he fell down. Now, he was gone.
Meng Chao’s eyelashes did not even flutter at this sight. He was neither surprised nor worried, as if he expected this to be the case.
“Big Sis Ya, you’re a Spirit Sensor. Your senses are really sharp, so help me track down a person,” Meng Chao said. “No, ignore the blood on the ground and the walls. It’s highly likely that this is just something he did to intentionally confuse us. He might be trying to point us in the wrong direction.
“You just need to sense whether there are any Red Radiance Jade fluctuations around. I used monster liquid and wiped a dollop of Red Radiance Jade crystal powder on his back.”