The Unburned Letter

The Third Order Heretic leader on the high platform, who had just smashed the bone chisel into the crack in the pipe wall, turned his head in horror. Seeing that Lu Yuan had already rushed in front of him, he didn't bother to pull out the bone chisel anymore. With a ferocious expression, he mobilized the extraordinary Black Qi of all his Believer Transcendent to gather in his right claw and fiercely grabbed at Lu Yuan's throat.

Lu Yuan expressionlessly dodged the claw wind, his left hand, covered by the Stonefire Gauntlet, shot out like lightning, grabbing the wrist of the Third Order leader tightly, while his right hand, with its five fingers forming a claw, pressed directly onto the leader's face, unleashing a terrifying burst of pure brute force that slammed the leader down onto the high iron platform beneath his feet.

With a deafening roar, the heavy steel plate on the platform was smashed into a Human Form dent. The Third Order- level Heretic leader slammed his head hard against the steel plate, blood gushing from all seven orifices. He convulsed and went completely limp, not even having the chance to reach out and touch the lever of the water tank above his head.

Only when the booming echo from the high platform slowly dissipated inside the water tower hall did Lin En and his five squad members, who were still in a sword-wielding stance on the corridor bridge, stiffly stop. They stared wide-eyed, their faces filled with horror, as they looked up at Lu Yuan, who was dusting off his Stonefire Gauntlet on the high platform.

Lin En swallowed hard, glanced at the Third Order Heretic whose chest had caved in and whose hardened bone spurs had shattered beneath the iron pillar of the water tower in the distance, then looked up at Lu Yuan on the high platform, whose aura remained perfectly intact. A storm raged in his mind:

"How can the brute force of that punch that shattered Third Order Heretic bone spur be stronger than that of us madmen who specialize in flesh and Flesh and bizarre close combat? Which Knowledge Transcendent is so powerful?!"

Lu Yuan, standing on the high platform, glanced down at the smoking, corroded pit on the outer wall of the lead-sealed main pipe. Seeing that the last layer of cast iron had not yet been completely broken through, he immediately turned to Lin En under the covered bridge and said:

"The people are safe, but the pipe wall hasn't completely cracked yet. Hurry up and clean it up."

Lin En snapped out of his daze, realizing the urgency of the situation and the need to quickly deal with the scene. He quickly responded and led his five team members to rush up the platform.

Several team members took out their Mithril Isolation boxes and neutralizing agents, and quickly began cleaning the strange acid residue remaining on the outer wall of the lead-sealed main pipe. They then carefully placed the two intact, mature [Illusion-Reality Boundary Mushroom's Core] into the Mithril box, sealed it, and locked it away. However, as they worked with their heads down, the glances they secretly gave Lu Yuan had completely changed from initial awe to fanatical worship.

While binding the severely wounded and unconscious Third Order Heretic leader, Lin En found the urgent secret letter that had just been sent from the inner city in his tightly clenched palm.

Lin En unfolded the secret letter, quickly glanced at the handwriting, and his expression changed slightly. He strode to Lu Yuan's side, handed him the letter, and reported in a low voice:

"Advisor Lu Yuan, this secret letter was just sent from the inner city. It mentions the Earl in the inner city, saying that they originally planned to take advantage of the city-wide shutdown tomorrow to detonate all the spores on all nodes at once, but they decided to move and concentrate them ahead of schedule because of our investigation."

At this point, Lin En pointed to a line of small print at the very bottom of the secret letter, his brow furrowed in confusion:

"However, there's something strange. The letter clearly says 'Read and burn immediately' at the bottom, but this Third Order leader didn't burn it after reading it. Instead, he kept it tightly in his hand. I wonder why."

Lu Yuan reached out and took the secret letter, which still carried Black Qi. His gaze fell on the neatly written words "Read and burn immediately" at the end of the letter, and a deep thought flashed in his eyes.

On the other side of the platform, several team members had wiped away the last bit of residual acid from the outer wall of the lead-sealed main pipe and locked the Mithril Isolation box containing two mature [Illusion-Reality Boundary Mushroom's Core] with a click.

Lu Yuan held the urgent secret letter he had found in the pocket of the Third Order Heretic leader and carefully scanned its contents from beginning to end.

Finally, his gaze settled on the neatly written words "Read and burn" at the bottom. Instead of showing any joy at finding the mastermind, his brows furrowed slightly, and a deep sense of doubt arose in his heart.

Standing beside him, Lin En noticed that Lu Yuan had been staring at the letter for a long time without saying a word, and his expression lacked the expected excitement. Lin En asked him somewhat nervously in a low voice:

"Advisor Lu Yuan, is there anything wrong with this secret letter?"

Lu Yuan raised his head, gently shook the corner of the letter, and spoke his mind directly:

"I'm wondering why such an important letter wasn't destroyed?"

"Look, this letter not only directly names the Earl of the inner city, but also specifies what they plan to do in the next two days. The letter clearly states at the bottom that it should be burned after reading, but the Third Order Heretic leader didn't burn it after reading it; instead, he's kept it in his inner pocket until now."

Lu Yuan glanced down at the Third Order Heretic leader, who was bound hand and foot, his face covered in blood, and unconscious in the dent of the steel plate on the platform. He continued calmly:

"There are only two possibilities right now. The first is that this person is simply mentally unstable and forgot to destroy the package after opening it."

"The second possibility is that this is a trap specifically designed to target people, whether it's us or the Earl mentioned in the letter. It's a complete frame-up or a trap, even carrying a provocative tone, deliberately telling us what will happen in the next two days."

Upon hearing Lu Yuan's words, Lin En's initial relief at intercepting the secret letter vanished instantly, and a chill ran down her spine.

A Third Order Believer Transcendent could be sent by the Withered Glory Society to lead a team to infiltrate the Second Waterworks and dismantle the main manager is obviously not a fool who forgot to destroy the top-secret letter after reading it. This unburned secret letter is most likely a trap deliberately left behind by the other party.

But precisely because they saw through the trap, the choice now before them put them in a dilemma. Lin En frowned deeply, looking at Lu Yuan with some hesitation and asking:

"Advisor Lu Yuan, if this letter is indeed a trap set for that the Earl, should we arrest the Earl or not?"

"If we don't arrest them, what if what's written in the letter is true, and they actually detonate it in the inner city tomorrow? But if we just take people to arrest them, and a single letter found on Heretic can send a powerful the Earl to jail, wouldn't that mean they can just pull out any letter and slander everyone? If we set that precedent, the nobles and officials in the inner city will definitely cause an uproar!"

The team members who had just walked over from the platform carrying the Mithril chest also looked troubled upon hearing this. They couldn't arrest him, and they dared not release him either. No matter what they chose, they were in an extremely passive position.

Lu Yuan folded the secret letter back into place and handed it back to Lin En, calmly offering a solution:

"Whether it's true or not, this the Earl certainly can't be left unattended, so he'll probably still have to be arrested, but definitely not openly. Instead, he'll send people over under a pretext of protection."

Lin En reached out and took the secret letter, paused slightly, then his eyes lit up, and following Lu Yuan's train of thought, he blurted out:

"That's right, they sent people there under the guise of protection, but in reality, they were there to imprison him!"

"Since this letter was found on the leader of the Heretic, we can claim that we intercepted a secret letter from the Heretic attempting to frame and murder the Earl. To ensure the Earl's safety, the Knight Academy should send people to the Earl's Mansion for close protection. This way, we won't give anyone grounds to think we're arbitrarily arresting nobles based on a single letter, and we can openly and legitimately keep the Earl under our very noses!"