I discovered a world bug.

"The trial is over."

An hour later, Qin Lang emerged from the makeshift interrogation room.

The man's wailing had stopped, leaving only intermittent sobs and pleas.

"I really didn't want to kill anyone, I was forced into it, I was really forced into it..."

"Bang!"

Qin Lang casually closed the door, shook his head, and said to Lin Shu, who was waiting at the door:

"This time we gained something."

Did you gain anything?

Lin Shu's spirits lifted.

"Do you have the employer's specific information?"

"no."

Qin Lang shook his head.

"All past information has been deleted, and the employer has not disclosed any identity information to them. The information segregation is very well done."

"His initial task was simple: keep a close watch on the area around Fengchui Luodai Mountain, and if any suspicious persons approached, find a way to drive them away or kill them."

"Two days ago—when the assassin who was supposed to cover up the crime failed in Chacheng County—he received a new mission—to monitor you."

"The employer provided him with the location information of Luoguoping and told him that if he showed up in Luoguoping, he would kill him when the opportunity arose."

"Yesterday morning, he arrived at Luoguoping. Taking advantage of the fact that the door of the villager's house was not locked last night, he climbed to the roof of the fourth floor and hid in the pile of debris for a whole day."

"Our entry attracted his attention. He spotted you from his vantage point and, after reporting to his employer, received orders to take action."

"So he launched the attack early this morning—he originally wanted to take you down silently, but he wasn't familiar with that ritual and we detected it beforehand."

"Of course, even if we hadn't noticed it beforehand, the outcome wouldn't have been much different."

"This ritual cannot kill instantly, so we still have ways to deal with it."

indeed.

Compared to rituals that can cause sudden cardiac arrest and death without the protection of amulets, this ritual is indeed less "lethal".

However, it was actually able to penetrate the amulet.

at this point,

"The ritual he uses can easily burn through amulets, which is quite incredible—did he ask him about the origin of the ritual he uses?"

"I asked."

Qin Lang replied:

"This is the gain I'm talking about."

"We don't yet understand why his ritual could burn through your amulet so easily, but... the ritual he used was provided directly by his employer, not from a religious ritual."

"He himself has no religious background; he used to be a fraudster in Southeast Asia."

"He only tried out the ritual procedure sent by the employer in a simple way, and then he was forced to do it."

"But it must be said that even in this forced situation, he did pose a certain threat to us..."

Provided by the employer?

Lin Shu's expression suddenly changed—this was completely different from the information they had previously gathered.

Li Yu is a Gu master, Liu Xian is a Feng Shui master, and the assassin who silenced them also has a Taoist background.

Although the rituals he used did not completely conform to any Taoist rituals, after the first round of interrogation, the authorities generally believed that "making a stone appear in a person's stomach" was a special method of transportation, and its essence could not be separated from Taoist rituals.

But now...

They actually hired a newcomer?!

Does this represent a decline in their power, or the opposite, a spread of influence?

Lin Shu's heart skipped a beat—he realized a serious problem.

Leaking the ritual and attempting to sever all communication with the other party is completely contrary to their goal.

That means...

The opponent's objective seems to be more complex than the simple "Severing the Connection Between Heaven and Earth"!

Seeing his expression, Qin Lang said in a deep voice:

"You noticed it too, didn't you?"

"The situation is much more complicated than we anticipated."

"I just had a brief chat with Liu Xizhu, and he believes that the information the other side has revealed so far has at least two characteristics that have shown us."

"First, the other side has more ritual resources than we do."

"Secondly, the other party may have the means to conduct 'asymmetric screening.' They did not find this person randomly, but only provided the ritual to him after they were sure that the other party had the ability to perform the ritual."

"That explains why you became a key target."

"It's very likely that your asymmetry was already exposed before..."

"In short, these two characteristics combined... are quite terrifying."

"Do you understand what I'm saying and what it means?"

It's frightening that they control more ritual resources than the official authorities.

However, the fact that they possess the means to filter asymmetry is even more frightening.

In the "world of rituals," this is clearly a kind of "cutting-edge technology."

It is even more terrifying than simple "divination" or "prediction" rituals!

Therefore, when these two features are combined...

The result it points to is already quite clear.

Lin Shu took a deep breath.

"You mean, they are likely a... much larger force?"

"National-level power—although it may not be organized in the form of a state, it is definitely 'national-level'."

Qin Lang stated his judgment directly.

"Right now, they haven't extended too many tentacles into our territory yet, after all, they are limited by geopolitical and political boundaries."

"But even so, we have been on the defensive for a long time in the conflict - we have been wondering why many of our actions seem powerless when facing them."

"Now it seems the reason is clear."

"That is, the other side has invested more resources in this field than we have, and has even begun to seize our resources."

"If we speculate like this... the situation we face is... quite precarious."

After she finished speaking, Lin Shu fell silent.

He never imagined that simply capturing a new assassin would bring about such a drastic change to the entire situation.

No, I originally thought that my opponents were at most some cult groups that had gotten ahead of the official forces and had gotten a head start in the revival process of the "mysterious factors".

And then you tell me that our opponent might be another entity with ample resources, abundant manpower, and even the same secular power and influence...

nation?!

"I don't understand."

Lin Shu shook her head repeatedly.

"Why should they be able to surpass us? Even if their lineage has been severed, which country in this world has a more complete heritage than us?"

"Our lineage has been severed; shouldn't theirs have been severed even more?"

"That's certainly true in theory."

After Lin Shu finished speaking, Lu Ran, who had been standing aside listening, suddenly spoke up.

"But you've overlooked one point."

"As we have said before, most effective rituals today are preserved by religion, which is the natural soil for 'rituals'."

"And the entire Western world cannot be counted in terms of isolated countries when it comes to religion."

"They are several enormous...religious worlds."

The religious world...

Whoever they are, they must be... behemoths!

"What do we do next?"

Lin Shu pressed on, asking:

"We need to upgrade immediately; the existing resources are completely insufficient, right?"

"That's for sure."

Qin Lang nodded emphatically.

"We need to raise the mobilization level even higher. This time, we're not kidding them."

"But that's something the organization has to consider... Right now, we also have things to do."

"This person has uncovered a new lead—he has been in contact with the key figure in charge of the Yinshan Law."

"He told me that the man was not in his league."

"It's very likely that person is already quite close to the inner circle of their employer."

"So...we must catch him as soon as possible."

"If we can catch him, we'll always find a way to get what we want out of him!"