The Bizarre Scar
Bubing City, the Silent Dawn Cathedral, Katharine's office.
Because of various follow-up tasks, her team returned much later than Daphne's team.
This time, the Star Sand Corps's mission to the third tier of the Ice Plains was aboveboard. They had received official orders from the Council of Cardinals: to assemble the most elite forces of the Northern Lands Branch to track down the "Truth Cult of the Plundering Clock" that had appeared in the Northern Lands, in order to ensure the safety of the Sacred Mountain "Divine Might Prison" and "Sea of Sea of Divine Grace".
The mission, of course, was unsuccessful. In his report, Ge'enda'er detailed how diligently his team had investigated all the suspicious locations, but ultimately found nothing.
The Radiant Holy City had already discovered the Sacred Mountain's disappearance, and even located Warden Sabina, whose memories had been altered. They were extremely shocked by the horrific scene they subsequently witnessed.
Although the news has not yet spread, various rumors are already circulating. It is said that the scene was horrific, with no survivors. The perpetrators brutally slaughtered everyone and even provocatively arranged thousands of heads into a massive mound of skulls.
However, no suspicious glances were ever directed at the Star Sand Corps. They were just ordinary elite troops, and the more than two thousand meters of steep elevation difference in the Dome Mountains, as well as the extremely harsh natural conditions, were far beyond the capabilities of the Star Sand Corps to cross as a whole.
Not to mention their strength was insufficient to attack the formidable defenses of the Sacred Mountain. Moreover, judging from the number of people who returned from the Star Sand Corps, only four claimed to be visiting relatives and were not there. It didn't seem like they had experienced a high-intensity war.
During this period, with the ongoing investigation into the "Plundering Clock," various forces have finally obtained more information about them. Based on fragments and clues, it can now be confirmed that this cult organization has at least four powerful Saint Rank experts, whose origins and backgrounds are unknown.
Past heinous crimes with unknown perpetrators have begun to point to this mysterious organization as the culprit.
Therefore, the most mainstream theory in the Radiant Holy City is that the "Plundering Clock" gathered Saint Rank experts to launch the attack, creating this horrific tragedy.
Katharine was fully aware of this outcome and was not surprised at all—much of it stemmed from the immense power of the "Plundering Clock."
The malicious "intelligence" was fabricated by her, embellished and cleverly infiltrated into the information flow through various channels.
In short, the Radiant Holy City was covered with white banners almost overnight, and many of the temple's high-ranking officials turned their hair white overnight, their expressions filled with unbearable grief. This overwhelming rage was now completely focused on the "Plundering Clock".
It is said that when news came that Su Ming had won a great victory in the Battle of Giant Horn Island and captured most of the mixed fleet, the Cardinal Speaker vomited blood on the spot and fell into a coma, from which he has not yet woken up!
"We'd better take action within three months," Katharine wrote in a letter to Su Ming.
"The Temple of Light has lost nearly half of its naval power, severely damaging its maritime control. As for its land forces, although it still possesses an army of 50,000, three of its ten elite battle groups, which were at the top of the power pyramid, have been completely annihilated by us, triggering a series of disastrous chain reactions."
The demise of the Sacred Mountain Knights, the Choir, and the Azure Sky Battle Puppet was an unprecedented and devastating blow to the Temple of Light. In the thousand years since the Temple of Light was founded, it had never suffered such a severe loss in such a short period of time!
"Therefore, the development plan for the Final Bone Mad Machines is of utmost urgency. We must complete the formation of a large-scale land combat force as soon as possible and begin implementing the 'Burying' plan."
After finishing the letter, Katharine put down her pen and sighed. Although there were quite a few members of Star Sand, their growth period was ultimately too short. Their core value lay in serving as the organizational framework for the future reorganization of the Temple of Light and as the spark for spreading a more inclusive doctrine.
However, "The weapon of criticism cannot replace the criticism of weapons." Only by completely destroying the "Divine Covenant Faction" on a physical level can we create a real opportunity for all these changes.
****
"My lord, the bathwater is ready," the maid announced softly as she entered.
Katharine nodded and got up to go to the bathroom.
She took off her clothes and stepped into the bathtub. Although she tried her best to clean herself every week while traveling, taking a bath like this was simply not an option.
Finally able to soak in the warm water, Katharine felt her whole body and mind completely relax, and she couldn't help but let out a satisfied moan.
After enjoying the soothing warmth of the water for a while, Katharine picked up a soft towel and began to carefully clean her body.
On her chest, from directly below her collarbone to the center of her chest, there was a straight scar about ten centimeters long.
Katharine noticed the scar when she was very young. At that time, the scar covered almost her upper body, nearly a third of its length, and was red, swollen, and raised, looking gruesome.
As I've aged, the scar has lengthened slightly, but its proportion to my body has shrunk considerably. It has also softened, thinned, and faded in color. Now, it looks more like a faint mark, lying quietly between my breasts.
If you squeeze it a little, it won't be so easy to see.
Katharine had already conducted an in-depth investigation into this scar. After careful examination by several top medical professionals, they unanimously determined it to be a "median sternal incision."
The wound was clean and precisely located, leading the doctors to conclude that it was not caused by an attack, but rather by a meticulous open-chest surgery!
Since the pioneering work of the physician known as "White Pheasant," this type of voluntary open-chest surgery has seen slow development in its application in the field of disease treatment, with few actual cases.
One of the renowned physicians even deduced from the suturing technique of the scar and the level of postoperative healing that he was certain that the White Pheasant himself had performed the surgery.
Katharine's fingers unconsciously and gently caressed the scar on her chest.
She suffered from an illness as a child, and it's understandable that she sought the help of great doctors to save her life—of course, this was certainly not the work of her later adoptive parents.
And that's where the strange thing comes from.
Since the White Pheasant personally performed the surgery, there must be an organ that needs repair or treatment. Judging from the location of the wound, the heart is the most likely candidate.
However, after an extremely careful examination by the doctors, they unanimously concluded that none of the organs in Katharine's chest cavity, including her heart, had ever undergone any form of surgery!