Chapter 60: Mimic Heretics

Chapter 60: Mimetic Heresy

The four members of the squad crowded into the cat‑vehicle, moving at a modest pace toward the Han River ruins, while Xie Liu in the rear seat kept fiddling with the radio.

Moments later the radio crackled to life, the channel connected, a brief silence fell, and Xie Liu began to call.

“Xu Lie, this is Xie Liu.”

“Are you there?”

“Xu Lie, this is Xie Liu.”

“We’ve been attacked—what’s going on?”

“Xu Lie.”

“I’m here!”

Xu Lie’s voice came through the radio, slightly frazzled as he said:

“What do you mean you’re under attack? You’re the ones who attacked us!”

“You’ve killed dozens of the city guard and wounded over a hundred!”

“What exactly did you do? Who are these ‘Chosen Ones’ anyway?!”

His words hung in the air; Xie Liu’s brows knit tight and she replied sternly:

“You were the ones who launched the attack! The Chosen Ones were only trying to rescue us!”

“If you hadn’t fired first—”

“We! It was us!”

Xu Liu cut her off, demanding:

“Which side are you really on? You still belong to the Sanctum of Holy Blood!”

“If you know that, why would you still attack us? Li Shi is gravely wounded—without those Chosen Ones he’d already be dead!”

Having said that, the Xu Lie on the other end seemed to finally calm down.

After a sigh, he continued:

“We’re attacking the mimetic heretics, not you.”

“What do you mean ‘mimetic heretics’? What are you talking about? I’ve never heard—”

“Give it to me.”

Before Xie Liu could finish, a deeper, hoarse male voice came from the other end of the radio.

Then the voice identified itself.

“In the name of the Holy Father, I hereby reveal my identity.”

“I am the Overseer at the Holy Father’s knee, the Council Chairman of Han River City, Zhou Yan.”

“You have made a grave mistake, yet the Holy Blood still shields you.”

“Come back to me, and I will tell you the truth.”

“Overseer??”

Xie Liu didn’t answer right away; instead she turned to Chen Jian and spoke softly:

“He is the spokesperson of the Sanctum of Holy Blood in Han River City, the highest‑ranking Holy Blood here.”

“Understood.”

Chen Jian nodded and said:

“Keep talking; let’s hear what he has to say.”

Xie Liu likewise nodded, then spoke into the radio mic:

“We can’t turn back now—Li Shi has suffered serious wounds and needs treatment first.”

“Besides, we still don’t know exactly what happened.”

“Overseer, why did the city guard attack us? And what exactly is a mimetic heretic?”

“There’s no such thing as a mimetic heretic—it’s just an excuse.”

Overseer Zhou Yan said without hesitation.

The people in the cat‑vehicle fell silent together; even Chen Jian couldn’t help but stare at Xie Liu, disbelief written across his face.

Is it really that blunt?

Before Xie Liu could even ask, Zhou Yan on the other end continued:

“We only wanted to clear out those ‘Chosen Ones’ you spoke of.”

“The monsters in the Han River ruins can be killed, but not by them.”

“.Why?”

Xie Liu’s voice turned cold, and any reverence for the so‑called Holy Blood Overseer vanished in an instant.

The Chosen Ones killed the monsters, and now you want to kill them?

Just because of the ludicrous excuse that “monsters cannot be killed by them”?!!

You don’t know where they come from, nor what their ancestors have done for this world.

Is all you care about merely doctrine and rule?

Her anger had reached an unmasked pitch; Chen Jian suspected that if the Overseer had said this to her face, they might already be at each other’s throats.

And from Xie Liu’s demeanor, Chen Jian formed a further judgment of her.

Impulsive, upright, trustworthy—but perhaps overly emotional; in the future she’ll need more training to forge a steadier will.

He watched Xie Liu’s shifting expression, while on the other end Overseer end Overseer Zhou Yan had already formulated his reply.

“Last time, the Blood Priests already told you: they can only be partners, not friends.”

“When they began to show a clear threat, launching an attack was the necessary choice we made for the survival of the majority.”

“Killing a third‑tier monster constitutes a clear threat to us.”

“So we acted.”

“Is this a declaration of war against them?”

Xie Liu drew a deep breath and challenged him in a harsh tone.

After a pause, Zhou Yan replied:

“Quite the opposite—this is a plea for peace.”

“I believe the Chosen Ones are with you right now; if they aren’t, you can pass my words along to them.”

“At the same time, I want you to convey our latest decision to them.”

“We believe that, given our current forces, if we keep fighting we will surely end up mutually destroyed.”

“So we are willing to set aside our differences and cooperate.”

“Perhaps our ideologies clash a little, but I trust that after this friction they too will see that cooperation is the choice that yields the greatest benefit.”

"On behalf of the Sanguine Cathedral, and concurrently representing the Adeptus Mechanicus, I formally extend this pledge to them."

"We vow that within the coming decade, we shall absolutely refrain from initiating any new hostilities."

"This land is rich in resources, and the primary adversaries contesting them with us are those monsters."

"Therefore, we ought to unite."

"Even if grievances exist, we must stand together—just as the Sanguine Cathedral and the Adeptus Mechanicus have joined hands."

"...Understood, I shall convey the message."

Xie Liu switched off the radio, raised her eyes to Chen Jian, and after drawing a deep breath, spoke:

"They are despicable, but please trust us, we—"

"Say no more."

Chen Jian raised a hand to cut her off, then said:

"They are far more despicable than you imagine."

"This so-called Overseer has not spoken the entire truth."

"There are two glaring inconsistencies."

"First, the monsters were never slain by us alone to begin with; they were destroyed through the joint efforts of you Sanguine Chosen and ourselves."

"If what they seek is the 'renown' of slaying monsters, we could easily bestow it upon them. After all, we already did precisely that when we felled the Blood Sun General, and Xu Lie was fully aware of it."

"They would not move so rashly to strike without any prior probing; it defies logic."

"Second, if they had intended to eliminate us from the very outset, the finest approach would have been to establish contact with you first, particularly with Zeng Yi, their inside agent. Orchestrating an assassination through him would surely be superior to arraying their forces with such ostentatious fanfare, would it not?"

"They could not have known that Zeng Yi had already exposed his allegiance... You didn't mention it to them, correct?"

Chen Jian patted Zeng Yi on the shoulder, and the latter immediately replied:

"Absolutely not, I swear it upon my life."

"Precisely."

Chen Jian turned his gaze back to Xie Liu, his expression hardening into solemnity:

"Their target is not merely us, but you as well."

"The so-called 'Mimic Heresy' is by no means a mere pretext; such things are highly likely to truly exist, and they believe that we—including you—have already transformed into those entities."

"The purported temporary truce is a definitive falsehood; they are merely buying time."

"The pursuit cannot possibly conclude so swiftly—He Shuo, have you arrived?"

"We are currently loading the vehicles, returning to reinforce and pick you up in three minutes."

Chen Jian let out a slow breath and continued to issue orders:

"Launch the drones first, push forward to provide me with low-altitude reconnaissance."

"The battle is far from over."

"Tonight, it seems, peace will be hard to come by..."

Meanwhile, within the council hall of Hanshui City.

Xu Lie stood beside Zhou Yan, a shadow of profound anxiety clouding his features.

After a protracted silence between the two men, Xu Lie finally could not contain himself and asked:

"Lord Overseer, do you truly believe that those individuals, Xie Liu included, have become Mimic Heretics?"

"Without a shadow of a doubt."

Zhou Yan nodded slowly, then spoke:

"You have already perused the chronicles I bestowed upon you; the exact same occurrence took place once before, one hundred and fifty years ago."

"The identical outsiders, the identical formidable power, and the identical corruption of the Sanguine Chosen's minds."

"What distinction do you perceive between the 'God-Chosen' of this era and those of the past?"

"...Yet judging by the records of the Sanguine Cathedral, those Mimic Heretics were not the same as the God-Chosen."

"Even their outward countenances differed entirely. Furthermore, though they were similarly potent, it was utterly impossible for them to achieve the martial prowess displayed by these God-Chosen..."

"That is beside the point."

Zhou Yan interrupted Xu Lie, speaking with grave solemnity:

"To judge whether they are Mimic Heretics, there exists but a solitary criterion."

"And