Tactical Deception

When that elemental lifeform, as brilliant as a galaxy, cast its "gaze"—devoid of any impurities—upon their small fishing boat, Lin Jie and the others felt their hearts skip a beat.

In that moment, they forgot their exhaustion and their danger, left only with the extreme shock that comes from making direct eye contact with a great consciousness from a higher dimension.

The great creature appeared to be "evaluating" them.

It could distinguish that it was the peculiar power released from an inconspicuous corner of this very boat that had interrupted the mortals' blasphemous ritual at the most critical moment, thereby granting it the chance to break free from its shackles.

After a suffocating gaze that lasted for several minutes, the UMA slowly nodded its head, expressing silent gratitude toward them.

Then, its mountain-sized body sank back beneath the murky green waters of Loch Ness amidst a gentle blue glow.

The massive whirlpool on the surface of the lake calmed accordingly.

All that remained was the wreckage of the steamship in the distance, bobbing up and down.

"It... it... it acknowledged us..." Alistair, the old scholar, was moved to tears. He tremblingly removed his hat and bowed deeply toward the center of the lake.

But William, the veteran, was the first to regain his composure and vigilance after the massive shock.

He did not dwell on the miraculous experience, but immediately turned his gaze toward the torn ship.

"Lin Jie," his voice was low and powerful, "there might still be survivors on that main vessel."

"If we cannot finish them off completely, then the intelligence regarding everything that happened here tonight, including the fact that we were here, will soon be delivered to the Eternal Serpent Cult."

William's words instantly jolted Lin Jie out of his shock.

William was absolutely right.

The battle was far from over.

Cleaning up the battlefield is always the most important and dangerous part of any victory.

"We must go over," Lin Jie made a decision immediately, his eyes turning sharp once again. "Before they can successfully send a distress signal, we must destroy all their communication equipment and extract as much intelligence about their organization from the survivors as possible."

"How do we get there?" Alistair pointed worriedly at the stretch of water filled with reefs and ship debris. "Our boat has a deep draft; approaching by force might lead to trouble."

"We don't need the boat." Lin Jie's gaze fell upon a spare coil of climbing rope on the deck. "Sergeant William, is your stamina still enough to support a long-distance swim?"

A touch of a veteran's pride appeared on William's face.

"The straight-line distance from here to that broken ship is no more than two hundred meters. In the Royal Marine Corps assessment I took in my youth, this would be nothing more than an appetizer."

The plan was finalized immediately.

Lin Jie and William took off their heavy, soaked coats, wearing only their form-fitting undergarments.

William wrapped his Colt Revolver and military saber tightly in oilcloth and strapped them to his back.

Lin Jie followed William's lead, wrapping his Spellbreaker Bracer and Heart of Serenity in several layers of oilcloth as well.

The two turned into a pair of agile fish and slipped into Loch Ness.

The icy lake water pierced their skin, quickly cooling their heated brains.

Under William's lead, they swam toward the wreckage in the most efficient and energy-saving manner.

When they finally climbed, exhausted, onto the steamship—which was covered in broken metal and twisted decks from being torn apart by the whirlpool—they saw corpses everywhere.

Some had been smashed against the hull by the giant waves, while others had been scalded to death by out-of-control steam pipes.

In the ship's command room, they found their targets—three survivors huddled together, shivering.

One of them was the black-clad leader who had directed the entire battle earlier.

They were all wounded, and the madness belonging to fanatics had been replaced by boundless fear.

After witnessing the irresistible "divine punishment," their seemingly solid faith had clearly begun to waver.

Seeing Lin Jie and William—two people who shouldn't have been there—appear before them, soaking wet, despair flashed in the black-clad leader's eyes.

"Who are you..." He wanted to say something more, but the dark muzzle of William's gun was already pressed against his forehead, forcing him to swallow his words.

Under William's murderous interrogation, these survivors, who had long since lost their will to fight, spilled everything they knew like beans from a bamboo tube.

They confirmed that they belonged to the "Eternal Serpent Cult," and that the codename for this operation was "Prometheus Extraction," aimed at capturing the Primordial Dragon Species to provide the core divine blood for the final ritual in Paris.

However, when William asked about their stronghold in Paris and the specific details of the final ritual, a strange, mocking smile appeared on the black-clad leader's face.

"It's useless... even if you kill me, you won't find out anything..." he said with a bitter smile. "Every one of our high-ranking members has had a 'Cognitive Shackle' placed in their minds by the great 'Mentor' himself."

"Any attempt to leak the organization's core secrets will..."

Before he could finish his sentence, his pupils suddenly dilated, and an expression of extreme pain appeared on his face.

A black, serpent-like rune quickly emerged from beneath his skin, and then his entire head exploded like a crushed watermelon!

The same scene played out simultaneously on the other two survivors.

Lin Jie's heart turned cold.

The strictness and cruelty of this cult organization far exceeded his imagination.

They actually used this method to ensure the absolute security of their secrets.

"Damn it!" William cursed in a low voice.

The only lead had been cut off just like that.

At this moment, Lin Jie's gaze was drawn to a brass telegraph machine beside the headless corpse, which was splattered with blood and brain matter.

The panel of the telegraph machine was flickering with a faint, rhythmic green light, seemingly receiving an inquiry signal from a distant location.

These three people were attempting to contact their headquarters!

A bold plan for "tactical deception" emerged in Lin Jie's mind.

He could not let the other side know that the operation here had failed.

On the contrary, he had to convey the illusion that the "operation was a success"!

In doing so, he would buy the most precious strategic buffer time for the subsequent investigation by the Association!

But there was a difficulty.

He knew nothing about operating this kind of alchemical telegraph machine, let alone their secret communication codes.

"Sergeant William, help me hold him down!" Lin Jie said quickly, pointing at the headless corpse that had triggered a self-destruct mechanism but was still twitching slightly.

Lin Jie took a deep breath and pressed his palm directly onto the neck of the corpse, which still held residual warmth even though its brain no longer existed!

Touch of Afterimage.

He was going to read the key information from the fragments of memory left behind before the corpse died!

This perception was overflowing with blood and madness.

But Lin Jie endured the immense discomfort, and amidst that chaotic afterimage, he finally captured a series of fragmented operational scenes regarding "tapping frequency," "crystal calibration," and "rune response"!

He jerked his hand back and immediately sat down in front of the blood-stained telegraph machine, his fingers beginning to tap on the complex panel in a stiff manner.

What he sent out was a false message consisting of a few meaningless words, but the tapping rhythm and intervals were exactly the same as what he had just "read": "Operation successful, target captured, returning to base."

A moment later, the green light flickering on the telegraph machine stopped.

Lin Jie understood that he might not be able to deceive the other side for long.

But as long as he could buy the Association even a day or two, allowing him and William to safely return to London with the first-hand intelligence, then his thrilling operation tonight would have achieved a final victory.