Chapter 759: Dirty Dog!

Chapter 759: That Worthless Bastard!

They had not exhumed a corpse, but rather unearthed a living man.

The second-in-command of the desert rebels, ha, Karen ultimately failed to maintain control over his subtle expressions, the corners of his mouth curling upward.

For he was acutely aware that the value of this so-called second-in-command was far greater than that of the number one leader.

According to the traditions of the clerical circles, a number one leader was usually a spiritual and religious icon, responsible for being highly respected, consolidating people's hearts, and interpreting scriptures... in short, responsible for everything except actual practical matters.

The second-in-command, however, was the actual planner, coordinator, and strategist behind every project.

Particularly now, with the Desert Church embroiled in war and the forces of Order officially intervening, the situation they faced had become exceptionally dire. It was precisely at such a time that a clever strategist was needed to manage affairs, preventing a total collapse under high pressure.

One could say that up until this point, the second-in-command had performed remarkably well. He had not only managed to preserve the vital forces of the Desert Church, but also utilized the vast desert to run circles around the Church of Order, establishing a stalemate under asymmetric forces.

As for the number one leader, his current duties were simple and solitary... he was responsible for attending the events of major orthodox churches to beg.

Recently, his figure had appeared at events and conferences of the Night Church, the Life Church, the Earth Church, and others. Every time he took the stage, he would cry out with passionate fervor:

The current desert is defending the entire clerical circle against the encroachment of Order, fighting for the freedom of the entire clerical circle!

Every time he appeared, his beard was always precisely disheveled, his cuffs were always precisely soiled, and even the sorrow between his brows and the exhaustion in his eyes remained virtually identical, as if cast from the exact same mold each time.

Years ago, before the Desert Church and the Wilderness Church engaged in civil war and split, he was the high and mighty hereditary leader of the desert. Now, he resembled nothing more than a veteran, accomplished actor.

Was he important?

Karen felt he was not, because thus far, Karen had seen no sign that the relevant departments of the Church of Order intended to target him for specific capture or assassination... This made District Head Karen, who was assassinated more times a week than there were days in a week, feel somewhat unbalanced.

This implied that in the eyes of the Church of Order, that number one leader was better off alive than dead.

But this second-in-command of the desert rebels was truly on the assassination list. Early on, during the civil war, the Desert Church’s ability to suppress the Wilderness Church stemmed entirely from his command.

Once the Church of Order officially intervened, they quickly realized this man was no simple adversary. Eliminating him was the key to reversing the situation in the wilderness.

Now, this man had been captured alive by Neo.

If not for the presence of so many outsiders in his home at the moment, Karen would have been unable to resist praising aloud: Praise the protection of the God of Light.

"Slap!"

Hanging up the telephone and releasing the restriction barrier, Karen walked back into the inner room. He did not intentionally create suspense, nor did he put on an act of calm indifference, but spoke directly to Miguel:

"Report to the Whiplash. The second-in-command of the desert rebels has been captured alive by my York City District Militia."

Miguel froze for a moment, then immediately stood up, walked to the living room, and picked up the telephone. A single call certainly could not connect directly to the Whiplash; he needed to use his own authority to report upward level by level.

Halfway through the reporting process, he suddenly woke up to a realization, turned around, and saw Karen standing right beside him. Miguel immediately asked:

"Is the information authentic and reliable?"

"Reliable."

Miguel nodded, then asked further, "Could the Whiplash already know about this?"

Reporting routine work and reporting good tidings required different styles. If the Whiplash already knew, and he called with immense excitement to report the good news, it would make the Whiplash perceive him as unstable, which would be a direct death blow to a chief secretary's career.

"The Whiplash definitely does not know yet."

The man had been captured by Neo and his group. Karen understood all too well the operating style of Neo and the people currently around him. They would absolutely notify him first rather than contacting the Knights or reporting separately to the Church, because the loyalty of the militia's leadership to the Church of Order... was quite worrisome. After all, it was a remnant of Light leading a group of New Order believers.

"Alright, I understand."

Miguel nodded forcefully, and finally, his call was successfully transferred.

Next, Karen witnessed how this chief secretary reported good news in a mature, stable voice. The management of his tone could truly be called an exercise in art.

"Karen, the Whiplash."

Miguel handed the receiver to Karen.

Karen took the receiver and placed it to his ear. This was the first time he had spoken with the Whiplash on the phone... well, it was also because everything was rushed, and there was no time to go to the office to use the communication array.

Karen: "Whi

Inside the office, Alfred, Vic, and Leon were already compiling and consolidating incoming messages.

Watching Karen enter with Miguel in tow, the three showed a flicker of surprise, though they instantly masked it and returned to their usual expressions.

"Is there any more specific news?" Karen asked.

Alfred replied, "We are still organizing and summing it up. The communications transfer with the front lines is unstable right now, intermittent."

"What about the militia? Are the casualties severe?"

"The losses are negligible."

"Good. Document the messages well. Once everything is consolidated, I want to submit it to the Whip-Bearer through Secretary-General Miguel."

"Understood, District Head."

"Secretary-General, shall we go inside for a cup of coffee?"

"Of course, District Head Karen."

Where they had been smoking cigars back at the house, they had now simply changed venues to drink coffee, though from this vantage they could still see and hear the frantic bustle of the outer office.

"Congratulations, District Head Karen."

"It was merely good fortune."

"Not everyone gets to be so fortunate."

"Therefore, I must thank the Secretary-General for bringing me such good luck today."

"About that consolidated report... would you mind if I proofread and reviewed it in a moment?"

In truth, Karen had already dropped a hint earlier, but this was ultimately Karen's turf after all. Miguel still wanted an explicit confirmation. Had he not been present it would be one thing, but since he was here, he naturally hoped to dress up the report beautifully.

To put it plainly, it was about taking the fruits of this achievement and sharing the credit across the entire hierarchy of the Whiplash of Order, ensuring that anyone remotely connected could get a piece of the pie—at least securing an appearance in the narrative.

Ideally, it would cultivate the impression that the Whiplash of Order had taken matters into its own hands to achieve these solid results, while the other systems... well, they were all useless.

"But of course," Karen smiled. "This is your duty and responsibility, is it not?"

"Yes, quite so, haha." Miguel's heart settled, and he patiently began to savor his coffee.

Had this been the past, Karen would have despised this behavior of doling out the achievements of his subordinates or himself to others; it was practically shameless and base.

But this time, even if Miguel had not brought it up, Karen would have done it anyway. He needed to alter the report regardless. He could hardly write out plainly that he had specifically dispatched pirates and gamblers, guided by a two-century-old veteran adventurer and directed by an evil god, intending to rob a grave and strike it rich, only to accidentally unearth a secret stronghold.

Leaving everything else aside, just the motive and the source of intelligence alone would be incredibly difficult to explain clearly. This was truly a pillow delivered just as he was nodding off; even achievements needed to be laundered.

Furthermore, what was being shared was merely the credit in name. The actual rewards and benefits would not be diminished at all; on the contrary, there would be even more.

After this incident, the militia of the City of York District could smoothly and comfortably request cooperation from the local Order forces. At the very least, the Whiplash of Order's own branch would provide every manner of assistance, and then, the grave-robbing work could proceed with far greater ease and pleasure.

Karen set down his coffee cup, picked up the glass of ice water, took a sip, and could not help but marvel once more in his heart:

"Truly, that fellow Neo really never disappoints. Except in the stock market."

...

"I would very much like to know how you found out about this place, and how you managed to break the restrictions here."

At that moment, a middle-aged man with silver hair sat bound to a chair, posing his question to the person, the cat, and the dog sitting before him.

He was none other than the second-in-command of the desert rebels, Miri Yev.

The place where he had hidden himself was actually a semi-central area of activity for the Church of Order's forces. He possessed immense boldness, directing the struggle from the very heart of the enemy.

Of course, his reliance stemmed from the fact that this hidden realm was an absolute secret even within the vast wasteland. Moreover, the secret realm was exceptionally difficult to crack, and it contained a teleportation array within to facilitate their relocation.

Neo held a cigarette between his lips and smiled. "One can only say your luck was poor."

"No! How did you find out about this place?!"

Miri persisted with the question. This secret realm was known only to successive leaders of the number-one rank; he himself had only been informed of it by the leader a short while ago, and had been granted partial access rights to the realm at the same time.

Because this secret realm involved a hidden history. The God of the Wasteland had risen to power as a branch deity after the fall of the God of the Desert, establishing the Church of the Wasteland upon the foundation of the Desert faith.

In the mythological narrative of the Church of the Wasteland, this was considered a matter of duty and responsibility. Yet in the eyes of devout Desert believers, the shadow of the God of the Wasteland loomed behind the fall of the God of the Desert all those years ago. It was a usurpation!

And this secret realm was the very place where the Desert believers had buried the purged priests. It was said that one of the God of the Desert's foster sons lay within.

The creator of the secret realm was a deity who sympathized with the God of the Desert, silently supporting the forbearance of the Desert believers from behind the scenes, while the location of this place and partial user rights were passed down through generations to the scriptural leaders in the hearts of the Desert people.

From Miri's perspective, he could only assume that the number-one leader had intentionally leaked this location, wishing to eliminate him.

The motive being that the leader believed Miri's current status was already eclipsing his own, and the major orthodox churches preferred to interface with Miri rather than him.

Power struggles were sometimes just that cruel, that cold-blooded. Even at a time like this, one was willing to borrow the enemy's hand to lop off a competitor who threatened their position.

Within that brief span of time, the look in Neo's eyes shifted rapidly. The mind of the rebel leader before him had already broken down, and the old hound was observing the captured prey through its "scent."

Then,

Neo let out a somewhat helpless sigh. "Alas, don't you already know the answer in your heart? Why bother asking."

Hearing these words, Miri's face turned ashen as death.

Neo walked over, reached out to pat Miri's shoulder, and said, "Hard to accept, isn't it? I know the pain in your heart, but this is reality."

Miri lifted his head and asked, "Why must it be like this?"

"Your question is too broad; it is difficult for me to answer. I can only say that perhaps the tragedy was already written in stone the moment you and the Wasteland entered a formal civil war. The situation was bound to spiral toward the worse, step by step.

Your division gave outside forces the opportunity to enter."

"This is vengeance! Vengeance against the Wasteland!"

"Yes, yes, yes, quite right, quite right. You are righteous and you are correct, but who cares? Do I care? Does Order care? Do those orthodox churches supporting you outside care?

No one cares. They merely want to use this place as a battlefield, and Order now simply wishes to sift and wash clean all the sand here.

Whether you believe in the Desert or the Wasteland, if you wish to endure in the future, even your scriptural commentators will need to be appointed personally by our High Priest of Order!"

Neo reached out to pat Miri's face, continuing, "If I were you, I would leap out of the confinement of hatred and think of the yellow sands here, about how exactly they are to endure."

Neo walked out of the tent, returning to his own commander's tent which came with its own isolating barrier. Purr rode in on Kevin, following him inside.

"Mr. Fun-seeker, are you trying to solicit his surrender?"

"That is not something I ought to do, nor do I have the leisure for it."

"Then what did you mean by those words? Oh, were you feeling sentimental?"

"Yes, sentimental. The Church of Light in those days also collapsed due to extreme internal divisions. Now reduced to the remnants of Light, they are still divided into several factions internally."

"I feel that being sentimental about this is meaningless."

"No, it has meaning. Have you noticed? Karen has been pondering this all along. What was that kid's attitude toward the God of Order before? He wished he could raise his middle finger to criticize the God of Order three times a day—morning, noon, and night. And now? 'The predecessor.' Those words actually came out of his own mouth."

"Our little Karen did that because..."

"You don't need to explain, I know. He doesn't want to trigger an internal war within Order because of himself. He wants to seize control of the Church of Order by replacing the bird inside the cage..." Neo said, tapping his own forehead. "While this mad Pope in my head only knows how to climb to the top of the tower and shout! Old man, take a look at how the young person does it!"

"Mr. Fun-seeker, your stance..."

Neo crossed his arms over his chest and said sincerely, "Praise Order."

"And the God?"

"Ever since I learned of Karen's identity, a complete praise is somewhat hard to utter."

Then, bending down, Neo looked at Kevin. "Actually, I am quite curious, Kevin, how you knew about this secret realm, and the access methods you gave me are even more comprehensive than what Milli himself possessed."

When they first arrived in the desert leading the militia, Neo took tasks from the knights, helping with defense here and filling the lines there. In short, it was all kinds of running errands and odd jobs, which was exactly what the militia was responsible for.

Later, having finally received a mission to hunt down three remnants of the rebel army, Neo simply left those six hundred or so nepotistic recruits at the base, leading his original regiment of a thousand men to tail the three remnants for several days until they finally escaped the commanded battlefield to officially begin grave-robbing.

Knowing that Karen was facing financial difficulties, he chose a grand target for the first strike.

Kevin provided the precise coordinates and granted the access rights to the formations inside the secret realm, while Purr personally went into action to break the defensive restrictions.

Just as Neo was preparing to lead the team down to dig up the treasure, Count Recar sneezed and declared with absolute certainty, "There are live shrimp inside!"

Consequently, early this morning, when the staff in Milli's command post came out for some fresh air, what they saw were crystal cannons aimed directly at their headquarters.

Neo noticed many abandoned children's toys outside the command post and was certain there were many children inside, which indeed proved true; when Milli moved his headquarters into this secret realm, he took in hundreds of orphans, believing this to be the safest place.

Then, Neo shamelessly used the children as leverage, notifying the people inside that if they chose to surrender, he would guarantee the safety of these children's lives.

In the end, Milli surrendered.

Only after the surrender did Neo realize just what a massive fish he had caught, and he immediately dispatched men to send word to Karen.

The whole process was actually quite simple, not complex at all; except for one unlucky fellow who was bitten by a venomous scorpion while camping at night, the entire regiment suffered zero casualties in this "battle."

Of course, the reason for the simplicity was that the groundwork had been laid well enough, especially regarding Kevin's role.

At this moment, facing Neo's questioning, Kevin stared with his dog eyes, responding