Life Game In Other World
Chapter 690: A Fair Judgment (Two-in-One Mega - for Monthly Votes)

Chapter 690: Chapter 690: A Fair Judgment (Two-in-One Mega Chapter for Monthly Votes)

"The Director of the Pollution Cleaning Department and the Leader of the Evolution Acolytes, ’Hidden Face Man,’ are the same person?"

In the flickering light of the clinic-cum-pharmacy, YiXiya’s hands rested on the keyboard in front of her as she looked up at Sienzi with surprise.

"I don’t know what the structure of your organization is, or what relationship it has with ’Evolution Acolytes,’"

Sienzi, who was tidying up the corpse of Night Hawk, looked up at YiXiya and glanced at the computer, "But according to the files left by ’Night Hawk,’ it is indeed so."

YiXiya took a deep breath.

The night air of summer carried a trace of scorching heat, but her body was exceptionally cold.

Instinctively, she was reluctant to believe it, but the attack she had suffered that evening, as well as the terrifying scene of her colleague suddenly transforming into a monster, seemed to be a blood-drenched indicator of this cruel reality.

How could there be so many B-level strongmen in the world? The Pollution Cleaning Department had one, and so did the Evolution Acolytes.

Moreover, the Evolution Acolytes had been cultivating Polluted Monsters for numerous years and, in a sense, their actions were outrageously bold without a hint of news leaking out.

Within the records of the Pollution Cleaning Department, there was not the slightest trace of the Evolution Acolytes.

Before arriving in Saint Joen City, YiXiya didn’t even know such an enormous underground entity existed.

This kind of ’concealment’ was abnormal in itself.

YiXiya lowered her head to continue reading the document on the computer.

She rarely felt fear or despair towards danger. To complete her missions, she often ventured into dangerous situations, but upon seeing this ’file,’ her mood plunged as if into an ice cellar.

She knew the Pollution Cleaning Department wasn’t exactly a ’righteous’ organization, but at least it cleaned up Polluted Monsters and provided help to people attacked by them.

In a way, they were also saving lives.

This was the reason she was willing to stay with the Pollution Cleaning Department.

In fact, the department’s internal propaganda over the years had also been directed towards this notion.

Many employees within the Pollution Cleaning Department believed they were engaged in a noble profession of ’saving others.’

For a long time, YiXiya held respect for Deres, the Director of the Pollution Cleaning Department.

In some sense, the organization dedicated to dealing with Polluted Monsters was built up by Deres, albeit with the financial backing of the Kajet Group along the way.

Many within the department believed that Deres had to let the organization abandon some ’noble stances’ to ensure its survival.

Even when she was being hunted by her colleagues just recently, YiXiya had thought that maybe the upper echelons of the department had been corrupted, and the cultivator of Polluted Monsters had infiltrated the high ranks, thus Deres was deceived.

But as the information that Deres was the Leader of the Evolution Acolytes, Hidden Face Man, unfolded before her eyes.

It gave her the sensation that everything she had firmly believed in was shattering.

It turned out that it was not Deres who had been deceived, but her.

The leader she had always respected was cleaning up Polluted Monsters with one hand, while cultivating them with the other.

Even more, he used the ’white glove’ of the Pollution Cleaning Department to indirectly eliminate all individuals and organizations trying to compete with the Evolution Acolytes in cultivating Polluted Monsters.

She lowered her head and began to look back at the computer files from the beginning.

The file was an incident record already written by Night Hawk, and the content was ’a little bit’ different from the official announcements of the Pollution Cleaning Department.

In the beginning, it started with Night Hawk discovering traces of the Evolution Acolytes whose actions had become increasingly apparent.

While he reported the existence of the Evolution Acolytes to the headquarters of the Pollution Cleaning Department, he also took action to continuously eliminate the peripheral forces of the Evolution Acolytes.

He thought he would receive support from the headquarters of the Pollution Cleaning Department, but this time, headquarters used the excuse of ’shortage of hands’ to not send anyone, and also asked him to keep the existence of the Evolution Acolytes as concealed as possible to avoid panic.

Although he had doubts at that time, he didn’t suspect anything.

However, his abilities were not lacking, so he quickly squeezed the living space of the Evolution Acolytes.

During this period, the headquarters of the Pollution Cleaning Department sent him many transfer orders to be promoted to the headquarters to become Deres’s deputy.

But he politely declined every time, fully aware that if he left Saint Joen City, no one could suppress the Evolution Acolytes.

At the same time, he also continually reported the dangers of the Evolution Acolytes to the Pollution Cleaning Department’s higher-ups, but never received any reply.

His doubts about this affair gradually increased.

The turning point happened during his last battle with the Evolution Acolytes’ Saint Joen City representative, Shadow Cutter.

His own Talent Sequences were that of a Martial Master and his family had practiced combat and martial arts for generations, making him highly compatible with this Talent Sequence, enabling him to wield great combat power, even overpowering the Shadow Cutter, who had surpassed the limits of C-level Transcendents.

This was also the reason why the Pollution Cleaning Department valued him so much; he was practically the second strongest in the entire department.

He had already clashed with the Shadow Cutter several times before and, although the Shadow Cutter managed to escape each time with their special and strange abilities, his suppression further squeezed the Evolution Acolytes’ influence.

And through these numerous encounters, he had gained some understanding of the Evolution Acolytes.

For instance, he knew that Shadow Cutter was the Evolution Acolytes’ regional head in Saint Joen City, knew that the headquarters of the Evolution Acolytes were gradually moving there, and he also knew that above Shadow Cutter was a B-level ’Hidden Face Man’ who never showed himself.

Moreover, the high-level organizational structure of the Evolution Acolytes was very simple; that ’Hidden Face Man’ personally communicated with all the regional heads, having absolute control over the entire organization, unlike the Pollution Cleaning Department’s complex hierarchy of upper-level management.

And in that last battle with the Shadow Cutter, the Shadow Cutter asked Night Hawk a question that would change all subsequent events.

The Shadow Cutter asked Night Hawk if he wanted to know, "Where do the Polluted Monsters come from? Is the Pollution Cleaning Department as righteous as they appear on the surface?"

And he taught him how to breed the Polluted Monsters.

Night Hawk knew very well this was a method used by the Shadow Cutter to sow discord.

However, because of the growing doubts he had about headquarters’ inaction, he inexplicably kept this matter secret and began to capture and breed Polluted Monsters.

The Shadow Cutter provided him with a twisted pattern which, once etched onto a cage, would calm the frenzied, bloodthirsty Polluted Monsters for a short while, making normal cages incapable of confining them.

Breeding Polluted Monsters was an absolute taboo within the Pollution Cleaning Department, but Night Hawk touched it in the end.

However, he did not use humans to feed the Polluted Monsters; instead, he bought live chickens and ducks from the market to sustain them.

Under these circumstances, he began to study various biological books and started dissecting and researching Polluted Monsters.

He wanted to know where these Polluted Monsters really came from.

Even exotic beasts had parents, but these Polluted Monsters seemed to appear out of thin air.

He wanted to resolve the issue of Polluted Monsters from the root.

Meanwhile, he made a sand table in his office and went over all the places where Polluted Monsters had appeared to date, trying to find a pattern to their appearances.

But he did indeed discover something.

These monsters were mostly flesh and blood, and many had bones that grew in a twisted fashion, but compared to the flesh, which after severe mutations no longer retained its original form, the bones even with mutations would retain some vague semblance of their original structure.

Thanks to his self-taught knowledge of biology, after dissecting the Polluted Monsters, he quickly found that some of the skeletal structures inside these creatures,

were very much like those of a ’human.’

And these skeletal structures were very basic, not like something mutated later on.

It was highly possible that these Polluted Monsters were mutated from ’humans.’

This discovery startled him.

Because almost all the corpses of Polluted Monsters were sent back to the headquarters of the Pollution Cleaning Department, and with the power and financial resources of the Department, it was impossible not to have experts in biology or medicine.

Once dissecting Polluted Monsters, such a ’pattern’ could easily be grasped.

But to date, the headquarters of the Pollution Cleaning Department have never revealed any related information and have always maintained that the origins of the Polluted Monsters were unknown.

Night Hawk gradually realized that things were not as simple and straightforward as they appeared on the surface.

So he started a deeper investigation without the knowledge of the Pollution Cleaning Department.

Since Polluted Monsters might be humans mutated by contamination, then every place where Polluted Monsters appeared must have records of people missing.

By finding traces of these people’s existence and investigating their background and activities, he might discover the real reason these people were ’killed.’

This file, similar to a diary of events, records that during that time Night Hawk was immersed daily in the excitement of approaching the truth.

However, he had to carefully control his excitement, as he was not a leader skilled in sensing the needs of his subordinates, nor did he possess an exceptionally strong personal charm.

He was strict in his ways, and sometimes, to protect ordinary people, he would even venture into danger with his subordinates, which made him highly respected but without a loyal personal team.

Or rather, he never intended to create such a team; it was just his nature.

This meant that at a critical moment, he had no one he could trust to help.

So all his investigations had to be conducted with utmost caution since it was the headquarters of the Pollution Cleaning Department that paid the wages of its employees, not him.

He was also well aware that most colleagues were just looking for a job to make ends meet in these difficult times, and following him in these matters could very well result in losing their jobs.

He couldn’t rule out the possibility that a colleague might report him in order to protect their livelihood.

Therefore, under these various factors, he ultimately had to investigate practically on his own.

When YiXiya reviewed this section, her gaze paused momentarily.

After the incident with Night Hawk, most of the original employees of the Pollution Cleaning Department in Saint Joen City stayed silent, but a small number of them expressed their opinions and support for Night Hawk.

Strictly speaking, YiXiya was one of those who supported Night Hawk.

However, as an outsider, she was not affected by the incident, while some local employees were investigated as Night Hawk’s accomplices, resulting in demotion or the loss of their jobs.

YiXiya took a deep breath and continued to read on.

Night Hawk eventually found the pattern of how Polluted Monsters were born and embarked on field investigations.

During the time he bred monsters and sought the truth, the Evolution Acolytes seemed to have withdrawn their wings and did not trouble him anymore.

But just as his investigation started to yield some results, he encountered an unexpected enemy.

The Leader of the Evolution Acolytes, the ’Hidden Face Man.’

It was the first time he had encountered the Hidden Face Man.

He had delved too deep and touched someone he should not have.

The Hidden Face Man, like him, wore a metal mask. The adversary only made one move, which broke through his defenses and inflicted serious injury on him.

It was only by catching the Hidden Face Man off guard, protected by the Shadow Hound and a defensive Transcendent item, that he managed to escape the lethal blow and returned to the Pollution Cleaning Department.

Yet, this brief encounter with the ’Hidden Face Man’ left his thoughts in turmoil.

It seemed the Hidden Face Man hadn’t expected him to escape. During that simple attack, though somewhat disguised, it wasn’t entirely hidden.

The astute Night Hawk discerned from this attack that the Hidden Face Man was very familiar with his techniques and strength, striking him directly at his vulnerable point, targeting his fatal spot.

If it weren’t for his defensive Transcendent item, which took the brunt of the strike, he would have been killed in one hit; that item was completely destroyed in the battle.

The opponent had come with the intent to kill him in one move.

In this world, not many truly understood his techniques and skills. Among them, at B-level, there was only one, the one who appreciated him—the director of the Pollution Cleaning Department, Deres.

At that time, he had his suspicions but dared not be certain since Deres had indeed treated him well.

Though he escaped with his life by chance, prolonged exposure to the Polluted Monsters had contaminated him with a significant amount of Polluted Qi, which began to erode his Soul while he was weakened, slowly corroding him like a chronic poison.

Therefore, he stayed hidden within the Pollution Cleaning Department building. The ’Hidden Face Man’, though powerful, wouldn’t attack the building directly as it would reveal the existence of the Evolution Acolytes.

Night Hawk seized this possible line of thought from the Hidden Face Man to buy himself a chance to breathe.

It was during this period that the ’investigation team’ from the Pollution Cleaning Department arrived.

While Night Hawk harbored doubts at the time, he chose to follow his previous instincts and decided to trust the Pollution Cleaning Department.

After all, given the conditions provided by the Pollution Cleaning Department at the time, he could certainly become the second-in-command, just below Deres, if he only asked for it.

Moreover, with his established authority, the investigation team should not dare to make a move against him.

Then he was ambushed by the investigation team.

With his own strength, if he hadn’t been severely injured, the ordinary C-level members of the investigation team would have been unable to harm him.

But the Pollution Cleaning Department seemed to be well aware of his strength.

At that time, he realized that the Pollution Cleaning Department most likely knew he was seriously injured, though he had never told anyone about it.

Moreover, during that ambush, the investigation team deliberately lured him to an area without shadows, intentionally avoiding the abilities of the Shadow Hound.

The presence of the Shadow Hound was also something he had never reported.

Combining this with his own speculation,

At that time, he actually knew who the ’Hidden Face Man’ was.

Even if he didn’t want to believe it, he had to. He knew he had touched secrets that should never be touched.

So, dragging his heavily injured body, he fought off the investigation team and escaped.

But his severe injuries meant he didn’t get far before he had to stop, collapsing unconscious in the corner of an alley.

Back then, he thought he was definitely going to die.

Because not only the investigation team but also members of the Evolution Acolytes were taking the opportunity to hunt him down.

But he did not die in the end. Kavi found him in the corner and took him home where he and his wife used various emergency medications to pull him back from the brink of death.

After that, it’s pretty much as YiXiya knows.

Attacking the investigation team tarnished his reputation and made it impossible to return to the Pollution Cleaning Department building. He was chased continuously until the last time when he could no longer control the Polluted Qi within his body and ultimately died at the hands of Deres, who had ’come from out of town’.

——

At the top floor of the Pollution Cleaning Department,

"So, what is the source of the Polluted Monsters?"

The Elderly man with silver hair picked up the steak knife in his hand and cut through the tender and juicy steak, revealing its pink interior.

"Isn’t the answer right on the surface?"

He Ao calmly sliced the steak in front of him, "In Saint Joen City, all districts have Polluted Monsters, but the Northwest City has the fewest. And what is the least in Northwest City?"

He paused, "Factories, the food factories of the Kajet Group."

He glanced at Deres and continued, "The foundation upon which the Kajet Group has developed over the past decade, their mainstay, is the so-called ’super food factory’ technology. This technology allows their food production to greatly exceed that of their competitors in the industry, giving them the chance to engage in price wars and capture the market."

"They claim it’s a technology ’beyond the age’, and we all know, this world operates on the principle of equivalent exchange,"

He Ao raised the steak knife, "What is the price for a technology beyond the age?"

His gaze remained calm as he looked at the steak on his plate, "Those so-called Polluted Monsters are merely by-products of the ’food’, that’s all."

And the Pollution Cleaning Department itself was established by the Kajet Group to obfuscate and deal with the mess created by the Polluted Monsters and also to seize power from the Federal Bureau of Investigation.

Of course, that’s the overt part.

In the shadows, it was the Evolution Acolytes that were responsible for researching how to create powerful fused beasts.

"Do you have Night Hawk’s body now?"

Deres didn’t pick up on He Ao’s words but asked a seemingly unrelated question instead.

"I arranged for a funeral home for him."

He Ao’s face remained calm as he picked up the red wine next to him and took a sip.

"He was a good kid, it’s just a shame he dug too deep, just like you are doing now,"

Deres sighed, "I did indeed want to cultivate him as my heir, but unfortunately, he seemed unwilling to take on my burden."

"And the Shadow Cutter?"

He Ao asked casually, as if he were an old friend reunited after many years, casually chatting about the younger generation at home,

"At first, he must have known nothing, at most he just had his suspicions,

"That’s why he deliberately told Night Hawk those things, using Night Hawk’s hand to further investigate the truth, and when Night Hawk actually found out the truth, he knew you couldn’t tolerate it. It was like he took the opportunity to use you to get rid of Night Hawk, his big enemy.

"In the end, he confirmed his suspicions, learned the deepest secrets of the Evolution Acolytes and the Pollution Cleaning Department, and got rid of the great trouble that was Night Hawk. It was like killing three birds with one stone, making him the biggest winner of this incident.

"Moreover, he proved to you that Night Hawk was indeed not a suitable heir and even went further. The Evolution Acolytes’ headquarters’ top two floors are reserved for you, right? The Shadow Cutter’s office is right below yours, it seems he has smoothly become the ’heir’?"

He Ao paused, "It seems, perhaps this is killing four birds with one stone?"

"The Shadow Cutter is obstinate and autocratic, clever but lacking in wisdom,"

Deres shook his head,

"His strength comes from the Polluted Monsters. To climb further to a B-level is almost impossible,

"He was always chasing the truth, just to see if there was any way to help him break through to B-level. In the process, he would use anyone and dare to use anyone. He is not a person worthy of trust.

"Of course, his big dreams have now come to nothing."

Clearly, if it weren’t for Night Hawk’s unwillingness to go along with corruption, leaving no choice, Deres would never have chosen the Shadow Cutter.

The Shadow Cutter might also have realized this, which is why he was very eager to deal with Night Hawk.

"Old buddy, since you have seen through all this," Deres took a sip of wine, "you should also know what kind of enemy you are facing now."

He spoke calmly, as if genuinely analyzing the pros and cons to an old friend, "The Kajet Group’s Mercenary Corps is currently in the city, and the Mercenary Corps Leader Kuro is a B-level. Almost all officers of the Saint Joen City Defense Army are ’friends’ of the Kajet Group, the commanding officer is also a B-level, and then there’s me.

"Your enemies are not just 3 B-levels but a full-fledged Mercenary Corps and a City Defense Army. Even If you get support from the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the Bureau Chief of the Federation in Saint Joen City is just a C-level.

He put a piece of steak into his mouth, chewing it while watching He Ao, "What you’re facing is this city."

"Isn’t it 4 B-levels?"

He Ao looked at Deres with a smile in his eyes, "That person hiding behind the scenes, orchestrating this game, isn’t he a B-level too?"

"This is a dead end with no chance of victory. Even if you have B-level strength, you can’t face three or more B-levels, let alone two armies worth of relics, and furthermore, you don’t have the strength to defeat me,"

Deres gave no affirmation or denial, "If you guessed all this from the beginning, your best choice would have been not to attend this banquet but rather use it to hold me here while seizing the opportunity to leave the city overnight during the Mercenary Corps’ entry into the city. That way, you might have had a chance at survival."

He Ao smiled without saying anything, but reached out to take the briefcase next to him, placing it on the table and opening it to reveal two urns inside.

"What is this?"

Deres’s eyebrows furrowed slightly.

"My son and daughter-in-law," He Ao’s gaze was serene. "The informants caught by the Evolution Acolytes whom you ordered to be silenced, they’re among them."

Deres was slightly stunned, then chuckled as he put the last piece of steak into his mouth, "I indeed gave that order. Is this what drove you to come here? But they’re already dead."

"Yes, they’re already dead,"

He Ao closed the briefcase, "I could completely flee this city, change my name, forget I ever had such a child, and in exchange, earn a fleeting chance to cling to life."

He looked at Deres, his hand gripping the cane by the table, "But he was my child, my only child. I taught him kindness, but he died because of it, and it should not have been his fault."

"What are you asking for?"

Deres watched He Ao.

"A life for a life, a debt repaid,"

He Ao said, looking at him, pronouncing each word clearly, "Justice."

Deres sat up straight, looking at this old man with a face full of wrinkles and an age-worn appearance.

He was older than the man in front of him, but the man before him looked so much older.

"There is no justice in this world; you have chosen a path that leads to certain death."

Deres sat up straight, his hand gripping the sword hilt under the table, "You are attempting to fight against a city, a megacorporation, a towering mountain that eclipses the sun."

"Death is not enough to inspire fear, and mountains can sometimes be moved,"

He Ao, supporting himself with a cane in one hand, gripped the butterfly knife’s handle hidden in his sleeve with the other, his gaze serene,

"And you do not represent this city."