Bureau

The Church of the Mechanical God Cult is located in the north.

A convoy drove from the north all the way to the City No. 10 in the Central Plains. At midnight, they finally arrived at the outskirts of the city and could see the outline of the city in the distance.

The atmosphere inside the car was serious; everyone's expressions seemed shrouded in a dark fog.

The repeated setbacks suffered by the Central Mechanical God Cult have greatly displeased the Pope. First, the cardinal of City No. 18 was arrested.

Following that, several more red-clad butlers from City No. 10 were arrested by Intelligence Department One and imprisoned in a secret jail.

This made the Mechanical God Cult realize that there was a hint of danger.

The Pope speculated that they might have offended a powerful figure within the conglomerate, prompting the latter to seek to eliminate them.

The Mechanical God Cult also understands that they are just a tool to the corporations; they are supported when needed and can be discarded at will when not needed.

The Mechanical God Cult is growing in power and becoming increasingly disobedient; perhaps it's because some powerful figures from certain conglomerates don't like them.

Otherwise, why would the Parent's Association have spread so rapidly...?

Otherwise, how could Intelligence Department One have dared to wipe out all the Red-Clad Deacons in City No. 10?

Perhaps, Parent's Association are a substitute for the cult of Mechanical God Cult, with conglomerates finding a more obedient organization to help them amass wealth and control the public.

Of course, the Mechanical God Cult was unaware that while there was indeed tacit approval from corporations behind this, everyone was more focused on the Federal Civil War and had no time to concern themselves with them.

Even that parent was surprised by all of this...

Inside the most luxurious car, a middle-aged man asked, "Have those Parent's Association members who were arrested spoken up yet?"

After the attack on the headquarters in City No. 18, the Mechanical God Cult indiscriminately arrested dozens of the Parent's Association members, all of whom had exposed their identities during the operation.

A young man sitting in the passenger seat said in a low voice, "Only three have spoken up, the rest haven't... These Parent's Association members are more troublesome than we thought. No matter how we interrogate them, they just recite incomprehensible sentences."

"What sentence?" the middle-aged man asked, frowning.

"May the youth of the Federation shake off their apathy and strive upwards, paying no heed to the words of those who have given up on themselves. Those who can act should act, and those who can speak should speak. Let each contribute their share of warmth and light, like a firefly, to illuminate the darkness, without waiting for a torch..."

"Enough," the middle-aged man said coldly. "You've memorized this quite well. City No. 18 arrested so many Parent's Association, and only managed to get three of them to talk. A bunch of useless trash. If we can't resolve this Parent's Association this time, neither of us will need to go back to see the Pope. Let's just destroy the energy core and end it all."

"It wasn't a complete loss," the young man said. "At least we found the whereabouts of the Black Family through these three Parent's Association members."

The middle-aged man pondered, "Could these three people be lying? Are they deliberately trying to lure us into some kind of trap?"

"Probably not," the young man said. "The three people's testimonies match up. They were arrested in a hurry, so there was no opportunity for them to collude."

"That could also be because someone deliberately let them get caught by us," the middle-aged man said.

The young man thought for a moment, "Who would willingly endure such torture? I don't think the Parent's Association only been around for a few months. Surely it's not like these dozens of people would willingly and deliberately undergo torture just to set us up, right?"

The young people are thinking from the perspective of members of the Mechanical God Cult, at least in their Mechanical God Cult there aren't that many completely loyal grassroots believers.

The middle-aged man sneered, "Let's get this over with quickly tonight, taking care of this so-called 'Black Family,' and then I can go talk to the conglomerate."

The young man in the co-pilot's seat continued, "Furthermore, we now have a rough idea of what happened in City No. 18. That cardinal named Qin Shuli betrayed the Church and led members of the Parent's Association to abduct the cardinal while the headquarters was undefended."

"The presence of traitors within our ranks is a wake-up call," the middle-aged man said coldly. "We don't know where the Parent's Association comes from, but its influence on the members' minds far surpasses the control of the cult. This is something we need to learn from."

"Chief Judge, should we take action tonight? What if a conglomerate helps them?"

The Chief Judge said, "Don't get into conflict with anyone outside of the Parent's Association. I've come to the south partly to speak with the corporations on behalf of the Pope. Tonight's focus is simply on killing that Black Family."

Those around him were puzzled. "But... it's possible that the conglomerate is targeting us."

The Chief Judge said, "We're here to resolve the Parent's Association to prove to them that we Parent's Association, and now is not the time for them to discard us after we've served our purpose. If we can just delay a little longer and the Pope's new plan succeeds, perhaps we can become the sixth consortium."

The people in the car were excited and didn't bother to discern how much truth there was in those words.

The vehicle drove towards the tunnel gate of the Immigration and Customs Administration and passed directly through the inspection-free channel.

The young man in the passenger seat made a phone call, "Is that Black Family still under surveillance?"

The person on the phone said, "He's still under surveillance. We've confirmed he's in the District 5. Twelve of us are tracking him around the clock and recording his behavior 24/7."

"How many of them are there?" the young man asked. "Are there any experts among them?"

"There is a suspected C-Class expert."

"It's alright. The Chief Judge is here in person, so C-Class is nothing," the young man reassured the other party.

The driver shared his location with the person on the other end of the phone and sped towards the city center.

No one noticed that two people were calmly watching them from the sky.

At 12:30 a. m., this is the liveliest time of night in the Federation.

The vehicles of the Mechanical God Cult have just entered District 5...

In an instant, a slender figure suddenly descended from the sky.

All the members of the Mechanical God Cult inside the vehicle saw the figure crash onto the roof of the car at the front of the convoy, denting the vehicle.

It was as if the car was being embedded into the earth.

The screech of brakes echoed through the street as the long convoy of cars came to an abrupt halt.

"What's going on?" The Chief Judge was taken aback.

In their sight, the figure lay quietly on the roof of the car, its entire body embedded in the vehicle, completely silent.

It all happened so fast, it was as if someone had jumped off a building and landed right on their car, killing the person inside...

"Take a look," the Chief Judge said calmly from the back row.

But just then, someone suddenly exclaimed on the car radio, "A convoy is rapidly approaching from behind, and the vehicles have ginkgo leaf markings!"

The Chief Judge inwardly cursed, wondering if this was a deliberate attack by the Qing family targeting him. He ordered, "Prepare for battle! Everyone, enter combat mode! But note, send one person first to assess the situation; do not engage in battle rashly!"

But before they could send anyone over, a burst of gunfire rang out from somewhere.

The Chief Judge was startled and instinctively tried to avoid it.

But he soon discovered a problem: the bullets weren't aimed at him.

Instead, they fired at the Qing Group's convoy behind them.

Wait, it was in that instant that the Chief Judge understood many things.

His earlier guess turned out to be true; the reason those Parent's Association members were arrested was to set a trap for them.

Those people were truly willing to be tortured by the Mechanical God Cult just to pull off this scheme.

The Black Family was willing to expose himself to lure them here.

Why is it that a Parent's Association with such a short history can possess such cohesion?!

What kind of organization is this?

And who exactly is that Black Family?

In the past two days, during their surveillance of that Black Family, they didn't sense anything particularly special about him.

No, no, that's not right.

The Chief Judge couldn't even be sure if the Black Family they found was actually Black Family.

At that moment, the Chief Judge turned around and looked at the top of the vehicle that had just been hit.

The 'corpse' that should have been lying there has disappeared.

There will be another chapter at 11 PM.