Chapter 166 - 166 148 Infiltrator and Bait

166: Chapter 148: Infiltrator and Bait 166: Chapter 148: Infiltrator and Bait “…When the two moons converge…Golden meteor shower…” “…Wherever the giant passes, there must be traces left behind…” Lu Ping’an put down the pen in his hand, the promotion of his Scholar profession had greatly improved his speed of deciphering the Silver Secret Manual. At the same time, the newly analyzed intelligence gave him some understanding of the focus of his recent work. “Checking the doctors at the hospital? Maybe there’s some psycho killer hiding there, meow.” During a small meeting, Meow’s casual remark made the atmosphere quite subtle. It wasn’t because she was talking nonsense, but rather her childish babbling just happened to hit the truth on the nose. From the information, Lu Ping’an had almost figured out the general process and principle of the “History Repeats” ritual. God-level beings are themselves super pollution sources; their actions, even if deliberately concealed, will leave traces in this world. The reason why History Repeats has to revolve around a god-level being as its core is also because of this principle… Only god-level or above beings have enough weight to be the “vibration source” that causes the “ripple effect”. Lu Ping’an hasn’t yet deciphered the specific ritual process and requirements, but he suspected that this thin booklet didn’t contain them. Otherwise, it wouldn’t be rated as silver-tier taboo knowledge. This booklet is more like a simplified user manual and guide, stripping away the essential ritual principles and specific procedures, which isn’t enough to host a ritual. However, several key points of the ritual had been analyzed. First, imitate the “god’s” past and start the series of rituals from her trajectory… To put it bluntly, the performer of the ritual must repeat what the god had done before. This is also a product of the similarity principle. If the infiltrator is a hospital worker, then the ritual performer has to do the same thing. Obviously, this is the reason why the Special Service Team has been working overtime at various hospitals recently. They suspected that the opponent had already “replaced” a certain doctor and started the prefix part of the ritual, allowing the ritual organizer to gain “eligibility”. Spirit Vision is useless for ‘Replacement’, but useful for low-level face-changing abilities. Up to now, during the investigation, several Healers / cultists / murderers have been found … In a way, hospitals are a disaster area for bastards in need of sacrifices and experimental subjects. Unfortunately, the specific cultist who is their primary target hasn’t been found yet. “The search is not meaningless, we can indirectly narrow down his scope of action by the number of missing persons, and as long as we can slow down his acquisition of sacrifices, we may stop his ritual. At least reduce the effect of his ritual.” In private conversations, Xia Qin also mentioned the recent progress. Several large hospitals in the city have been searched, and the hospital search has entered the second stage, which involves tallying the recent death and missing persons to indirectly search for potential suspects, and doctors who have caused a series of patient deaths will be prioritized. But Lu Ping’an didn’t hold out much hope for the so-called “indirect search”… “Infiltrators who have a guilty conscience may actually be more focused on treating their patients. At least, the few ‘sacrifice / experimental subject collectors’ we have found so far have a higher cure rate than ordinary doctors, and most of their sacrifices are not their own patients…” Reality is often more absurd than speculation. If a supernatural healer is serious, their cure rate is actually higher than that of ordinary doctors. Should they start looking among these “excellent” doctors? Lu Ping’an felt that this clue had been lost, and there was basically no way to proceed. But not finding the target also indirectly revealed a most likely outcome – the infiltrator can use the “Replacement” ability, which is above sixth-tier Healers. Another aspect is the ritual time that has been deciphered. Lu Ping’an was able to decipher the words pertaining to the celestial positions, but he didn’t really understand them. After examining the book more closely, Meow realized that there were not enough celestial coordinates given to determine the best time for the ritual based on the requirements. However, one thing was certain, which indirectly determined the approximate time for the ritual. “This ritual wants to borrow the power of ‘Moon Shadows,’ so it’s probably centered on the moon’s coordinates, which means, it should be either the same day of ‘that day’ a month later or going further down…” The first month of that incident had just passed not long ago. Lu Ping’an didn’t think the opponent would have the patience to wait until the third month, so it was the same day next month… “…July 7, 1998, 24 days left.” “You can’t calculate it like that; it’s based on the moon’s coordinates, not a fixed value according to the calendar. That means any day between July 4th and 10th is possible. You need the help of astronomical knowledge to determine which specific day it is.” Lu Ping’an didn’t ask an expert, but directly inquired with Xia Qin, who gave him the delicate answer of 2 AM on July 8th. If there were no surprises, there would be twenty-odd days left… but Lu Ping’an didn’t think there wouldn’t be any surprises. The others in the team had spent two days running around the hospital and came back empty-handed. A dragnet-style search only caught a few unexpected small fish… petty thieves. Lu Ping’an found an excuse to slip away, and the reason he gave was a rare moment of brutal honesty. “I don’t like hospitals, the smell nauseates me.” Although this reason for leave was a bit exaggerated, it worked as long as Captain Xia Qin was willing to accept it. But actually, there was a deeper reason for this. As the Awakened of the ritual, as the “re-enactor” of the deity’s trajectory, he must carry Chris’s Divine Power Crystal, the remaining Holy Image. Once Lu Ping’an went to the hospital and aroused the resonance of the Holy Image again, considering that it might be a sixth or seventh-tier big shot, he didn’t think he could escape the other party’s pursuit. With some helplessness, he even had to avoid the hospital proactively. He met with a senior brother of a certain Miss Lululu on the way and then signed a short-term agreement. This time, even as a BUFF provider, he didn’t charge any money… after all, he needed this second-tier postgraduate to quickly enhance his “grafting” ability. By the way, due to the emergence of this new Gardener leek, Miss Lululu’s BUFF was cut off…. When she found out, her expression was quite subtle. It’s important to note that she used “Haha, you don’t have BUFF, do you?” several times in front of her good sisters who were as eager to get BUFF as she was. Brother Guan’s BUFF never ran out, and the last BUFF quota was given to Meow by Lu Ping’an. This time, not just for Lu Ping’an alone… “Lei Shuiyun has a weak foundation and little experience, but from another perspective, what she lacks makes it easy for her to improve. As long as the arrangements are appropriate and she works hard enough, 20 days would be enough for her to undergo a qualitative change.” As time went on, the process of the ritual became clearer and clearer. It is a spell extrapolating the “present” from “past” and “future”. The past is the trajectory of the deity, the qualifications of the ceremonial performer, while the “future” is the “outcome”, the result created by that historical event. “Damn, those coffins and relics have already fallen into the hands of the other party.” Those things, also part of the “outcome”, naturally became important components of the ritual sacrifice. The only consolation was that the Special Service Team Three’s relics were lost, and the other two victim teams’ were not. …out of the seven teams, Team 3 has been disbanded in the short term, so it wasn’t appropriate for anyone to claim the relics. Each relic, each result, is a coordinate of cause and effect in time. To fully “re-enact history”, the more such coordinates, the better. It is said…that Xia Qin hinted that the special service team used the relics as bait to make a move, but it went directly to the Air Force, and the other party didn’t bite at all. Is it that the other party had no insiders in the special service team? Or that the insiders saw through the plot already? Lu Ping’an believed it was mostly the latter. “The existence of the Sophist puts us at a disadvantage.” A former Captain who has had contact with too many people and secrets poses a huge threat to the special service team. And in the last week, he hadn’t appeared even once. It could be due to being scared by the prior ambush or preparing for something big. At another level, the Ascension Ceremony actually has a more important “outcome”. “Did any of the victims refuse supervision?” “Well, they’re old stagers too, when we told them halfway, they knew what had happened. They don’t trust our confidentiality and protection capabilities… to be honest, I don’t trust them either.” Those “retired elderly” and “retired due to injury” are also the result of the ritual, and are the best sacrificial offerings. But most of them no longer trust the special service team, especially when the news of the “Sophist” posing as someone to collect relics was leaked. The existence of the Sophist is always a thorn in the side of the special service team’s internal information system, especially since he apparently gained the ability to “change faces”. In the last few days, even Lu Ping’an himself has undergone several rounds of surprise checks, including X-rays, and the results were rather subtle…. “What? Team 5 found a face-changed Infiltrator and won’t let us catch him?” “Yeah, it’s a commercial spy sent by a company, he escaped immediately, and now our Legal Department is dealing with their lawyers….” When he heard the news, Lu Ping’an’s expression was probably very frustrated. You guys are infiltrated more than you can handle, no wonder the victims don’t trust you… They were part of your team and naturally knew what kind of character you are. The rapid expansion and recruitment of the special service team in recent years have also buried many hidden dangers. On his own, Lu Ping’an went to see a 28-year-old “retired old man” who lay numbly in his chair with white hair, watching the TV news without raising his head when someone arrived. As a result, Lu Ping’an stopped watching a big show for two days. Handling cases is a multi-pronged approach, with the most successful continuing to dig deeper and most leads breaking off. As time goes on, people start to panic. “The special service team plans to make another move. This time, we’ll send two retired colleagues out of the city. We don’t believe they won’t jump out…..” When this decision emerged, it meant that Lu Ping’an couldn’t slack off anymore. Special Service Team Three was also among the escort convoy.