MMORPG: War God, You are Invincible Again
Chapter 414 - 169 The Truth

Chapter 414: Chapter 169 The Truth

Entering the underground chamber, the head of the Black Pupil personally greeted Lu Hong.

The two sat in the dim inner room, where the head of the Black Pupil broke the silence, "Baron, please forgive our errors."

"Speak," Lu Hong said. If it weren’t for the Black Guards, he would have been unaware that the Black Pupil had operatives hidden in Mandala City. Had they made contact earlier, he might not have had to trouble himself with back-and-forth travels.

"The main issue is that the Black Guards were wiped out too quickly," the head of the Black Pupil explained. "They were investigating the disappearance cases. It seemed that they had uncovered some leads on the cases from three months ago. However, they seem to have hit a stumbling block with the more recent cases over the past three months. They sought our help, but before we could meet up with them, they were all killed in one night. We temporarily have no way to contact our superiors, and for the sake of preserving our strength, we could only choose to continue hiding and did not dare to recklessly investigate."

"Do you not have any clues at all?" Lu Hong asked, a hint of disappointment in his voice.

"Yes," the head of the Black Pupil nodded, then continued, "However, from now on, whatever orders you have, we of the Black Pupil will cooperate to the fullest."

"Good," Lu Hong nodded. "I need you to assist the Black Guards with all your might, to root out the hidden enemy in Mandala City."

"Baron..." The head of the Black Pupil fell silent for a moment, then asked, "May I know who our enemy is..."

"I don’t know either," Lu Hong shook his head. "Kidnapping civilians seems senseless at first glance, but in reality, the adversary is very likely targeting the Divine Grace Plane."

"I understand," the head of the Black Pupil realized the seriousness of the issue and nodded.

"I can only give you three days’ time. Expose as many as you can. Additionally, pay special attention to the Gold Family. The likelihood is small, but there’s still a possibility of their involvement." After giving the instructions, Lu Hong left the chamber and returned to Su He City.

He grabbed some street food. The lives of the local residents of Mandala City were clearly better compared to the transferred imperial civilians; every family had some surplus food. If the starving civilians were to see the quality of life in Su He City, they would be green with envy. No wonder the Gold Family was willing to give up a large part of their original territory to concentrate the native residents of Mandala City in Su He City; it was a guarantee of their quality of life.

After idly walking around for a while and having thought everything through, Lu Hong looked up at the proud sun hanging in the sky, "It’s time to find Lu Kuan."

Returning to the mansion in Gold City, Lu Kuan was at this time reviewing documents when an aide entered, "Lord Lu, Baron Lu Hong has returned and wishes to see you."

"Let him in."

"Yes."

Soon after, Lu Hong entered the hall and went straight to where Lu Kuan was working at his desk.

Lu Kuan looked up, and from Lu Hong’s eyes, he seemed to understand, letting out a breath with a smile, "Baron, you’ve found something, haven’t you?"

"Correct."

"Does it involve me?"

"Yes." Lu Hong began, "I’ve told you a story before, haven’t I?"

Lu Kuan nodded, "I’m all ears."

"There was once a village so poor that young and old, men and women labored every day for food, and that was just enough to fill their bellies. But when someone grew old, too old to work or scavenge for food, the food that family could acquire decreased, yet the number of mouths to feed remained the same. So, a tradition arose in this village, when one was too old to contribute to the workforce, they were carried into the woods and left to fend for themselves."

Lu Kuan listened closely to the story Lu Hong told, nodding in agreement, "I think the village’s decision was right. To guarantee the survival of the majority, sacrificing the interest of a minority is worthwhile."

"It’s a question of human nature, neither you nor I can judge," Lu Hong spoke gravely. "But when this scene plays out on the Mandala Plane, what do you suppose I should do?"

Lu Kuan sighed, "Baron, I had no choice but to act in the only way I could."

"No choice? With no choice, you condone the civilians abandoning their own parents, moving them to the mountains to live or die by themselves, just so they can eke out a bit more food?!"

Facing Lu Hong’s loud reprimand, Lu Kuan was not at all flustered, "Starting half a year ago, the quality of grain transported by the Empire has been declining, and the Druids of Green Forest have probably reached their limit. Their Magic Power is gradually insufficient, leading to a direct decrease in the satiety provided by these grains. Every civilian started to feel hungry, lacked the strength to work, and the resettlement area became like a ghost town, devoid of any vitality."

"Baron, tell me, what would you do if you encountered this situation?"

"Why not plant food crops in the Mandarin Duck Fields?" Lu Hong asked in a deep voice.

"We are already too hungry, how would we have the strength to farm?" Lu Kuan explained, "The Mandarin Duck Fields house a large number of civilians, and there isn’t much land suitable for grain cultivation. Even if we were to plant some, it would only be enough for a small portion of the people."

"But it would alleviate the situation somewhat, wouldn’t it?"

"It wouldn’t." Lu Kuan shook his head, "You seem to be unaware of the greed inherent in human nature and the pathological desire for survival. If we planted crops, there would be looting and even murder come harvest time!"

At first, the Mandarin Duck Fields did grow crops, but when the harvest season came, the residents of the resettlement area spontaneously organized to fight over it, resulting in deaths and a complete waste of the grains in the chaos.

"So you thought of this method?"

"What else?" Lu Kuan’s eyes revealed a chill and indifference, "Otherwise, how would we stabilize these thirty million civilians and ensure their stability?"

"I do not wish to judge you. I will report this matter to Konstantin, and he will decide everything. Apart from that, I hope you will honestly answer my questions." Lu Hong fixed his gaze on Lu Kuan.

"Ask away, sir."

"Is the disappearance of civilians in the past three months related to you?"

"No, when the disappearance of young people began, I also conducted an investigation. Regrettably, I was unaware that there was a traitor in the garrison at the time, so I couldn’t uncover any useful leads. Since the disappearances began, I dared not continue the actions of the past, hence the end of the elder disappearance incidents."

"You noted down the traitor I found for you last night, didn’t you?" Although the disappearance of the elders was related to Lu Kuan, fortunately, he had not betrayed the Empire, and it was not his responsibility to decide the punishment.

The most pressing issue was the kidnapping of the young civilians.

Lu Kuan nodded, "By following the vine to get the melon, I found some clues." Saying this, Lu Kuan dipped his brush in ink and wrote two characters on a sheet of white paper—Disaster!

"Disaster Church!"

"Sir, you are aware of this force?"

"They first appeared in Umbra and are a formidable power beyond the Star Sea. I didn’t expect them to now extend their claws into the Empire."

Lu Kuan then asked, "But I can’t understand why they are abducting civilians."

"At first, I was also puzzled," explained Lu Hong. "I questioned the Clan Leader of the Gold Family, and they too had experienced a few disappearances, which stopped in less than three days. They were all civilians. Why would the Disaster Church only target the civilians transferred over by the Empire? After much thought, there’s only one possibility—identity!"

"Identity?" Lu Kuan, quite intelligent himself, immediately caught on, "Are you saying that they are stealing the dimensional identities of the civilians?"

"Yes, that’s the only explanation. They want to use the stolen identities to enter the Divine Grace and thereby avoid the oppression of the Divine Grace dimension."

Dimensional oppression comes in two forms: one is the restriction of the highest ranking dimension, and the other, as we’ve mentioned a long time ago, is the natural oppression experienced by lower-level dimensional beings upon entering a higher-level dimension, where their strength would universally drop by one or two levels. This is also why the myriad dimensions under the Empire ultimately offer little support to Divine Grace—the lower the level of the dimension, the more severe the oppression experienced upon entering a higher level.

"They are planning an invasion of the Empire." A chill ran through Lu Kuan’s heart; each missing civilian meant that a Disaster Church member could enter without regard to the oppression. The Mandarin Duck Fields had already lost one hundred thousand—what about the other dimensions?

Realizing the gravity of the situation.

"We must stop them immediately!" Lu Kuan commanded solemnly.