Dark Light Chaser.

Chapter 274 The Status of Disciples

Xia Qiyuan had some guesses about the reason for Ai Liang's personality change.

He believes that Ai Liang is most likely affected by something strange or supernatural.

Otherwise, there's no way to explain why an investigative journalist could turn into a ruthless throat-slitting maniac in just a few days.

Although Xia Qiyuan's movements were restricted and he was unable to personally observe the crime scene, he was able to do so through the documents and materials transmitted back.

It is clear that the hermit is using an eye-for-an-eye approach to torture and kill the criminals.

The rapist and murderer was mutilated and hung on the balcony;
The arsonist was tied to a pillar and burned alive with gasoline.
All 206 bones in the perpetrator's body were smashed to pieces...

There was no direct conflict between these people and the hermit; the hermit killed them purely out of spite.

In Xia Qiyuan's eyes, the rampaging hermit was uncontrollable.

Since he went berserk and acted crazy once, he's bound to do it a second time.

This time he's turned his blade on criminals in the underworld, but what about next time?

No one can be sure who the hermit's sword will fall on next.

The most important thing right now is to keep him calm.

If the Hermit goes missing again, it would be too dangerous to let such an uncontrollable individual roam the Asian Union.

"Of course we won't ignore it, but there are too many incidents and the countermeasures bureau is short-staffed, so we can't manage it all in a short time."

Xia Qiyuan told the truth.

The claim that they are short-handed and unable to manage the situation is only a lie that can fool people like Jin Ping'an.

Ai Liang wasn't going to fall for that.

“You can see Mus’s memories. The cat’s eye mask from back then was clearly an Apostle’s mask. And in all my years in Neva City, I’ve never seen anyone from your Countermeasures Bureau.”

No matter what, Ai Liang has lived in Nevada for more than ten years.

During this period, he never encountered anyone from the Countermeasures Bureau.

The Cat's Eye gang is so rampant in Nevada, yet no one seems to care.

Is this something that can be covered up by simply saying there's a shortage of manpower?

"There are reasons behind it all. Even if you tell me, it won't make a difference, since I was still in the intensive care unit in the lab at that time."

Xia Qiyuan changed the subject, changing the topic of Nevada City.

Ai Liang seemed to be just saying it casually. He followed Xia Qiyuan's intention and said, "But I don't like their considerations."

I am a selfish person. I have no interest in saving the world. I just want to live my own life well.

Even if you talk yourself hoarse, I won't make any official contact with the Countermeasures Bureau.

No formal contact, does that mean temporary cooperation is not out of the question?
Xia Qiyuan laughed and said, "We've been talking about unrelated things for so long. Why don't we discuss how to solve the disciple problem?"

Xia Qiyuan and Gao Bin came to Qianhua City specifically for the disciples.

The search for the hermit was Xia Qiyuan's personal decision.

He was just lucky; the two things happened at the same time, resulting in double the happiness.

Ai Liang pondered for a moment and then asked, "How do you plan to deal with Janus?"

There is a play.

Xia Qiyuan was secretly delighted: "The disciple's ability is related to space; you can think of it as something like spatial teleportation..."

“Mus has relevant information in his memory, so let’s focus on the key points.”

Even if Xia Qiyuan didn't tell her, Ai Liang could learn about Janus's abilities through Mus's memories.

It can be said to be completely worthless.

Xia Qiyuan smiled and nodded: "Oh, that's all then."

The sudden turn of events made Ai Liang feel like she'd been made a fool of: "Are you kidding me?"

After all these years, is this all the information we've gathered about the Apostles?

What kind of useless organization is the Countermeasures Bureau?

"It's not that I don't want to tell you, but that's all the information the Countermeasures Bureau has about the disciples' abilities."

Xia Qiyuan replied, "The Apostles have a thousand-faced people. Apart from Gao Bin, very few people can obtain any valuable information from the heads of the masks."

All we can see are the capabilities they are willing to publicly demonstrate.

Ai Liang recalled the Countermeasures Bureau from Gao Bin's memory, and it seemed that there weren't many mental or supernatural entities involved.

It would be considered good if each city had one or two.

In more remote areas, there aren't even any.

"Although the Bureau of Countermeasures has fewer strange occurrences related to the spirit of the enemy, its combat strength is certainly not weak."

I won't force you to fully cooperate with us, but on the matter of dealing with the disciples, our interests are aligned.

Ai Liang's furrowed brows relaxed slightly: "Answer my question first, how do you plan to deal with Janus?"

"Hey, hey, hey, you're not even going to give us a straight answer, yet you want our operational intelligence? Isn't that a bit much?"

"Don't forget that now it's you who need my help."

When Ai Liang saw that Xia Qiyuan was still unwilling to back down even at this point, she also said, "It's a seller's market now, and I can just stand by and watch."

Or rather, the fact that I'm not kicking someone when they're down is enough to prove my stance.

Seeing that Ai Liang wouldn't budge an inch, Xia Qiyuan had no choice but to soften his tone: "Alright, it's not really a big problem. The main reason I came to you is to block the disciples' distress signals."

Worried that Ai Liang wouldn't understand, Xia Qiyuan began to explain the reason in detail: "Each member of the Apostles Society has a spiritual clone of the Thousand-Faced Man within them."

This is to ensure that if a member of the Apostles encounters danger, nearby people can receive the message immediately and provide assistance.

Speaking of this, Xia Qiyuan said with some helplessness: "In fact, many years ago, the five major political systems jointly organized a plan to capture the apostles, but they suffered a great loss because they did not know this at the time."

The apostle, whose abilities were limited and weak against groups, was already on the verge of collapse when the disciple opened a portal and brought members of the Apostle Council to provide support, nearly wiping out the entire capture team.

Therefore, the Countermeasures Bureau decided to first eliminate the most mobile disciples; only in this way would they have the opportunity to defeat the Apostles one by one in the future.

After Xia Qiyuan's explanation, Ai Liang roughly understood their purpose in coming to Qianhua City.

Janus is similar to a summoner in a game; if you don't take him down first, a constant stream of bosses will keep coming.

Although his power was not great, his position was crucial, equivalent to the central hub of the Apostles.

If the Man of a Thousand Faces connects each apostle spiritually, then Janus connects them physically.

The Thousand-Faced Man's spiritual clones are like items in a game, providing a temporary invincibility buff, allowing him to attack or defend as needed.

Janus's spatial teleportation is equivalent to a return scroll used to call for help or escape, capable of saving people from dire situations.

It's something that helps you save your life.

The two were of equal status.

No wonder he, despite his relatively weak offensive capabilities, is known within the Apostles' Council as Janus, a title comparable to Gaia.

“From what I’ve observed, Janus’s teleportation ability seems to have no limitations. How do you plan to control him? Don’t tell me I need to hack into his brain.”

(End of this chapter)