The World's Highest Authority

A thread of foreboding, like an icy venomous snake, coiled around Guernica's heart.

Unwilling to give up, he immediately rose and searched through the nearby file cabinet, locating the private contact numbers of several chief instructors within the training base and dialing them one by one.

"Pururururu..."

"Pururururu..."

Without exception, every call vanished without a trace. No one answered.

Guernica slowly hung up the Den Den Mushi. Beneath his mask, his expression had darkened enough to drip water.

CP's affiliated institutions were scattered across the world in vast numbers. To facilitate management and avoid the risks of excessive information centralization, Headquarters strictly kept the Vivre Cards of all active CP0 agents and commanders. The Vivre Cards of others, such as training base directors and instructors, were not kept in Mary Geoise.

The most direct way to remotely confirm whether they were alive or dead was to contact them through Den Den Mushi—or... contact their families.

Most CP members had been orphans since childhood, but that did not mean they would not start families after reaching adulthood. It was simply that their spouses and children often belonged to the CP system as well, forming a closed chain.

Thinking of this, Guernica, clinging to his last sliver of hope, began trying to contact the instructors' registered family members through other people.

These family members did not have the authority to communicate directly with Mary Geoise, and the reverse was also true. All communications had to pass through layer upon layer of transfers, making the process cumbersome and inefficient.

Two hours passed amid anxious waiting and repeated dialing. By the time Guernica finally put down the Den Den Mushi, he appeared extraordinarily calm.

It was not because the matter was insignificant. On the contrary, its severity had already surpassed a critical threshold. During the earlier communications, the negligence of the transfer personnel and the confusion of information had enraged him. He had even threatened to demote them into slaves before prying information out of the department responsible for training reserve personnel and learning even worse news—by now, that anger had long been exhausted by overwhelming shock.

"Yoshiwara Island... Crown Sky Island..."

Guernica slowly mouthed the two place names, his voice icy.

"Good. Very good. A bunch of parasites, concealing reports and delaying reports until things became impossible to salvage! Once this matter is resolved, there must be a thorough internal purge!"

He had never imagined that the Crown Sky Island training base, responsible for cultivating CP9 reserves, had also suffered an incident—and it had happened a full six days ago! For six whole days, the news had been sealed away layer by layer. Had he not been investigating the truth behind Joseph's death and applied pressure with a harsh stance, he likely would still have been kept in the dark.

According to the information ultimately confirmed by those family members, the Vivre Cards of every instructor at Yoshiwara Island, which trained female agents, and Crown Sky Island, which trained CP9 recruits—two vital CP training bases—had all burned to ashes. Not one had survived!

That meant the instructors of both bases had been uprooted entirely, while the trainees—the organization's future lifeblood—had most likely met even grimmer fates.

"I've learned everything I need to know. It's time to report this mess to the elders."

Guernica took a deep breath and forcibly suppressed his turbulent emotions. He stood, carefully straightened the white suit and robe that symbolized his status, and made sure there was not a single improper crease. Then his figure flickered, and with the swift steps of Soru, he vanished from the room in an instant.

The Room of Authority, the core of the World Government's power.

Five elderly men dressed in luxurious clothing, each with a different appearance yet all exuding the majesty of those long accustomed to high positions, sat or stood in a circle.

They were discussing the Revolutionary Army, which had grown increasingly rampant in recent times. Led by Monkey D. Dragon, this organization had already overthrown several World Government member nations in succession. Its very existence was an open provocation against the World Government's authority.

"My lords, I have an urgent report."

There came a knock at the door, followed by Guernica's incomparably respectful voice from outside.

Jaygarcia Saint Saturn, the Warrior God of Science and Defense, had thick hair, a scar on his left cheek, white curly hair, a bushy white beard, and an aristocratic flat cap. He frowned slightly, seemingly displeased that the discussion had been interrupted.

"What is it?"

Guernica's voice came through the heavy doors, clear and grave.

"My lords, CP0 official agent Joseph has been confirmed dead during an external mission. The identity of the culprit is unknown. In addition, after verification, all instructors at the training bases on Yoshiwara Island and Crown Sky Island have been confirmed killed in the line of duty. The trainees within the bases... have most likely all perished as well."

The moment he finished speaking, the Room of Authority fell into brief dead silence. The Five Elders' expressions changed at the same time, and the air seemed to freeze.

After a moment, Saint Saturn spoke first, his voice betraying no emotion.

"We are aware. You may withdraw."

"Yes."

Guernica answered from outside, and his footsteps quickly faded away.

Once he had left, Saint Ethanbaron V. Nusjuro, the Warrior God of Finance, who had been wiping his cursed blade, revealed a thoughtful expression.

"Joseph... I remember that his previous mission was to select suitable candidates to infiltrate the underworld as spies."

Shepherd Ju Peter Saint, the Warrior God of Agriculture, a lean man with brown skin, nodded.

"According to the schedule, he should have been on his way back with the selected targets by now."

Topman Saint Warcury, the Warrior God of Justice, dressed in a black suit and white shirt, bald with two handlebar mustaches, offered his conclusion.

"The instructors at two training bases have been wiped out. This will have far too great an impact on our intelligence personnel replenishment over the next few years."

At those words, the other Five Elders' expressions grew even uglier. In their eyes, whether they were CP0 agents or training base instructors, their individual lives were no different from ants. Yet the existence of these "ants" was crucial to maintaining the World Government behemoth's "hearing" and "sight."

They were the tentacles spread across the world, the roots that absorbed intelligence. Now, two important "tentacles" had been severed at the root, meaning that CP would inevitably suffer a manpower shortage for some time to come, while the World Government's ability to perceive external intelligence would also decline, leaving it deaf and blind.

Naturally, the Five Elders could not personally gather intelligence, much less have the noble World Nobles do such work.

Marcus Mars Saint, the Warrior God of Environment, with long white hair, a small mustache, and a goatee, calmly analyzed the situation.

"Ordinarily, those capable of and daring enough to strike our CP bases this ruthlessly would most likely belong to some rebel organization. But at present, the only rebel organization of any real scale is the Revolutionary Army.

"Yet with the intelligence capabilities the Revolutionary Army has displayed thus far, it would be absolutely impossible for them to locate and destroy two of our hidden bases with such precision at the same time."

The other Five Elders all showed expressions of agreement. The Revolutionary Army's threat lay in its ideology and its methods of overthrowing kingdoms, not in this kind of precise decapitation strike against specific hidden targets.

Saint Saturn tapped the ground with his cane and said solemnly,

"So, the ones who acted are highly likely to be a newly emerging rebel force that we have yet to detect, one possessing considerable intelligence capabilities and operational strength?"

"A newly emerging rebel force..."

This conclusion cast a layer of gloom over all the Five Elders' faces. They possessed an instinctive loathing and wariness toward the word "rebel," anything that might shake the foundations of their rule.

Next, the Five Elders began discussing how to deal with this unknown newborn enemy lurking in the shadows, each voicing his own opinion.

Yet regardless of what strategy they chose, a trace of concern lingered unmistakably between each of their brows. An organization capable of silently wiping out two CP training bases was likely not a threat to be underestimated.

To Be Continued