Chapter 143: The Dead Man of the Northern Heavenly Kingdom

"I wonder if any of you present have ever heard of an organization called the Northern Kingdom?"

As the conversation returned to its proper track, everyone perked up. Even Bian Qiu, who had previously maintained an air of serene detachment, opened his bright and piercing eyes.

Cao Fusheng swept his gaze across each of them in turn, noticing that these department heads had all fallen into deep thought, their expressions tinged with confusion.

It seemed they knew nothing of the Northern Kingdom. Even discounting the informational blind spot of the past few months, they had never crossed paths with this entity prior to that.

Yet the enemy had already set their sights on them. The enemy was in the shadows while they were in the light.

In such circumstances, a single misstep would most likely lead to eternal regret.

Cao Fusheng pondered silently. It appeared that Chu Wei's assassination had been inevitable; the deep-cover agents hidden within the Sky Pillar must have received word, and upon discovering Chu Wei's true identity, they had moved swiftly to eliminate her.

A moment later, a string of code materialized out of thin air before Cao Fusheng, coalescing into a chair placed at the very foot of the conference table, directly opposite the head seat of the virtual figure.

"Please take a seat, Captain Cao."

Cao Fusheng stood on no ceremony and sat down naturally, appearing on the surface to have acquired the capital to sit on equal footing with the department heads.

"Could you tell us in detail about the Northern Kingdom? What are the stakes connecting this organization to Chu Wei's attack and the Sky Pillar? The more detailed, the better. The more information you can provide, the easier it will be for us to prescribe the right remedy," the virtual figure said softly.

Cao Fusheng rested both hands flat on the conference table before him, looking directly into the virtual figure, and spoke in a smooth, mellow voice: "In truth, I do not know a great deal about the Northern Kingdom myself. Most of what I learned was told to me by Chu Wei when she was on the verge of death, and she implored me that if she perished, I must relay this news to you higher-ups, as it concerns your very survival."

"The sequence of events is roughly as follows: Chu Wei and her team went out on a mission to search for settlement zones. Not only did they fail to find anyone willing to help, but they suffered heavy casualties. During this process, through some unknown means, she became aware of the existence of the Northern Kingdom. This ultra-large settlement boasts a population numbering in the tens of thousands, which should not be far behind the Sky Pillar itself, and they seem to have some sort of connection to the recent corpse wave."

"From what I understand, they have been aggressively absorbing and annexing other settlements, stray squads, and survivors over this period, further strengthening their own power. Their ultimate goal is to seize control of the Sky Pillar. I imagine their living conditions must be rather poor; otherwise, they would not harbor thoughts of seizing territory belonging to others."

"Just before entering the Sky Pillar, we encountered a squad from the Northern Kingdom. They were stationed on the outskirts of ZZ City, rounding up and contacting any potential survivors in the area. However, they seemed to have other motives as well, such as monitoring the real-time status of the Sky Pillar."

Observing the unmoved expressions around the table, Cao Fusheng let out a slight sigh and continued, "I knew these most basic pieces of intelligence wouldn't command your attention. At first glance, after all, they don't seem to have much to do with your current predicament. So let me share a few heavy-hitting disclosures. According to intelligence I gathered from members of that squad, the Northern Kingdom has specifically dispatched a tunnel-digging team. Starting from an unknown origin, they intend to tunnel all the way to the base of the Sky Pillar. This way, they can conceal their actions and avoid sending large numbers of personnel overland, where they would fall prey to predators."

"The second point was discovered by your exceptionally capable Captain Chu: there are traitors within the Sky Pillar, and quite a few of them. Frankly, I hadn't paid much attention to this at first—in a Sky Pillar with so many people, it is only natural for a few bad actors to slip in. It wasn't until Chu Wei was assassinated on the Sky Pillar Bridge that I realized the extent to which the situation had deteriorated, to the point that even the action forces harbored deep-cover agents of the Northern Kingdom... This was the primary reason I chose not to report the news solely to Department Head Xun at the time."

"Furthermore, the time for them to make their move is not far off. Chu Wei's tone was particularly urgent when she spoke of it. However, she subsequently lost consciousness, and when she woke up, she did not mention the matter again. Originally, she intended to report it in person upon returning to the Sky Pillar, but as you can see for yourselves, that is no longer possible. I only know this much. If you wish to obtain more detailed information, you can only pray that Chu Wei wakes up and see if she knows more."

The reason Cao Fusheng spoke thus was also for insurance. Under normal circumstances, what Chu Wei knew and what he knew were essentially the same, since the [Intelligence] mission had already been completed. If Chu Wei had left her words unfinished, the mission would not have been marked as complete.

"Oh right, there is one more thing. The people inside the Northern Kingdom are quite unhinged; they act like a cult. Under normal conditions, they are gentler than ordinary people, but once they fall into a frenzy, they start muttering things like 'Only through death is a true beginning... Without death, how can there be rebirth... Souls shall return to the kingdom of heaven... The physical body shall contribute to cleansing the world.'"

"They also have an internal slogan that they revere: 'Place them in fatal ground and they will survive, plunge them into a death trap and they will live.' I hope this might be of some help to your subsequent vetting operations."

Having finished speaking, Cao Fusheng fell silent and quietly observed the heavyweights before him. Sure enough, these big figures were no longer as composed as they had been at the start.

"So, does that mean you wiped that gang out earlier?" Bian Qiu stroked his stubble and asked playfully.

"Yes. Because they engaged in some unfriendly behavior, and because I gave myself away while trying to impersonate one of them using their slogan, I had no choice but to deal with them permanently," Cao Fusheng replied as a matter of course.

Bian Qiu nodded, then fell into deep contemplation. The trouble had originated first within the action forces under his jurisdiction, giving him far more to weigh.

The action force was an external military unit, and everyone was issued weapons. If a significant portion of them turned out to be deep-cover agents, the consequences were unimaginable.

It would be one thing if it were merely ordinary members, but his greatest fear was that some members of the management tier might belong to the Northern Kingdom.

That would constitute a genuine disaster.

After listening to the report, the virtual figure tapped the table for a long moment before asking, "Very well, Captain Cao's report is concluded. Does anyone have any thoughts? Feel free to speak your minds."

Xun Xin was the first who could not help himself. Dissatisfaction laced his tone as he said, "Damn it, this so-called Northern Kingdom or whatever... relying on sheer numbers and brainwashing their subordinates has made them so arrogant they've forgotten who they are. Anyway, the corpse wave on our end has already retreated, and now we've got the bandwidth to go wipe them out! Daring to play tricks on us—they need to be taught who's boss!"

"Do you know where their lair is?" Bian Qiu chuckled.

Xun Xin stared wide-eyed and said loudly, "I don't, but we can find it!"

"Fine then. Once you find it, Department Head Xun can lead a team to sweep through their armies like fallen leaves and make their fortresses vanish into ashes. We'll just sit back and wait for good news, otherwise it really would do a disservice to your such grand and passionate style." Bian Qiu slanted a sidelong glance at the slick-backed youth and scoffed.

Xun Xin gave a dry cough. The body that had half-risen out of excitement quietly sank back down as he said, "I certainly can't do it, but you can! I can't handle this kind of work. Warfare is still something that should be left to Big Boss Qiu."