Chapter 780 - 648: Improvements and Hidden Spies

With Harding's help, the backlash of the Shadow Snake on Deke's body was gradually suppressed.

Just as things were progressing smoothly, Harding's brow furrowed slightly.

In that fleeting moment, he sensed something that displeased him.

The feeling was subtle... as if something was crawling over his skin, extremely light, extremely quick.

If he weren't in a highly sensitive state at that moment, he wouldn't have noticed it at all.

It was an almost instinctive "unease."

Like walking down a dark alley and suddenly feeling like someone is watching you, but when you turn around, nothing is there.

Harding's hand paused for a moment, and he glanced over himself.

But there was nothing.

Deke felt it too.

He opened his eyes, a hint of confusion appeared on his pale face: "Old Ha, did you feel that?"

"Yes." Harding didn't elaborate, continuing to transfer Energy, "Perhaps it's residual energy from the Shadow Snake, don't get distracted."

Deke didn't question further, but he knew it wasn't that.

He's experienced the backlash of the Shadow Snake many times, never had this "feeling of being touched from outside the skin."

It felt more like... something attached itself to him and then left.

But he couldn't say what it was.

Outside the factory, on the loading tower, Jeming's gaze shifted from Harding and Deke, his brow furrowed slightly.

"Seems like the Eye of the Micro-Light still needs further improvement."

Their reactions confirmed the issue Jeming had previously discovered.

When he placed the Eye of the Micro-Light on the black intermediary, he sensed something was off.

Every time the black intermediary came to deliver goods, Jeming would check the status of the Eye of the Micro-Light.

The result was predictable; the black intermediary never noticed anything added to him.

Yet, whenever the Eye of the Micro-Light was attached to him, he'd make a subconscious gesture, like scratching the spot or unconsciously patting it.

Jeming realized the underlying problem at that time.

The black intermediary thrived in the underground black market; naturally, he wasn't an ordinary person.

Although the Eye of the Micro-Light's energy fluctuation was disguised as eerie, its "frequency" didn't match the sealed eerie energies within each Spiritualist.

When two different frequencies of eerie powers make contact, they create a subtle repulsive reaction.

Though not enough to be detected, it was enough to trigger a host's instinctive "something's wrong" feeling.

Just like earlier, both Harding and Deke simultaneously felt discomfort.

The eerie within them and the powers of the Eye of the Micro-Light clashed, triggering a natural reaction akin to "hair standing on end."

Jeming noted down this problem mentally.

Thus, the further improvement of the Eye of the Micro-Light either requires adjusting the energy frequency to make it "compatible" with most eerie auras; or further reducing energy fluctuation, weakening it enough not to trigger even such instinctive reactions.

But that's a matter for the future.

Right now, he had more important tasks to tackle.

Jeming's figure faded on the loading tower, pursuing the direction where the Shadow Thief fled.

After escaping from the gap in the Sealing Array, the Shadow Thief swiftly slid across the ground of the abandoned industrial area.

Its Shadow Film was completely invisible in the darkness, and its power fluctuations were fully dispersed in the surrounding environment, theoretically making tracking and capturing impossible.

But Jeming had placed not just one Eye of the Micro-Light on the Shadow Thief; even the shark monster had one, so he didn't worry about losing the trail.

Jeming decided to chase the Shadow Thief first.

The technology fusing eerie onto creatures indeed intrigued him, but the Shadow Thief was also a quite valuable resource.

Though there were plenty of eeries within this Plane, ones of this Level were still not easily encountered.

Jeming's figure moved silently through the night, heading toward the direction where the Eye of the Micro-Light transmitted signals.

Meanwhile, inside the abandoned factory.

Harding finally managed to completely suppress the Shadow Snake inside Deke.

Deke's complexion changed from ghastly white to pale; though still very weak, at least he was no longer in life-threatening danger.

He leaned against the wall, gasping heavily, sweat soaking through a large patch of his uniform's collar.

Emergency handling of the Shadow Snake didn't actually take long; just after completing the resealing, chaotic footsteps and the sound of metal clashing came from outside the factory.

The two elites from the east — the male and female duo, along with elite leaders from other directions leading the capture team — nearly simultaneously entered the factory.

Signs of battle marked each individual's presence.

Especially the capture team's members, nearly everyone's uniforms bore bullet holes and scratches, with some having dust and bloodstains on their faces.

Fortunately, no one seemed seriously injured.

And each elite group's team members were either dragging or escorting one or two Black-robed People.

The hoods of those Black-robed People had been ripped off, revealing faces that were either young or old, fearful or numb under them.

Some people were still struggling, but their hands and feet were bound by special restraining straps by the association members, making their struggles futile.

"What's the situation?" Harding stood up, his gaze sweeping across the elites who walked in.

"The east side is cleared." The female elite spoke, her voice tinged with a hint of fatigue, "The five Spiritualists resisted too fiercely, there was no way to leave anyone alive, all were killed, eleven armed personnel remaining, three captured."

"The north side is the same." Another elite group member said, "They had fewer people than the east side, but fought just as hard. Not one retreated."

"The south side…" The leader of the third elite group paused, "There were no enemies on the south side. Those guys were fiercer than we expected, my power isn't suited for leaving anyone alive."

Harding's brows furrowed.

"Bring the captives over." Harding said.

The elites pushed the captives to the center of the factory.

Three Black-robed People were forced to kneel on the ground, their faces did not show the madness of those unafraid of death, but rather bewilderment and fear.

One of them trembled at the lips, as if he wanted to speak but dared not.

Harding walked over to him, looking down at him from above.

"Speak, who sent you? You should know, with a Spiritualist around, you can't hide any secrets, you might as well confess now and suffer less..."

The Black-robed man opened his mouth, emitting a dry swallow from his throat, then… his eyes suddenly widened!

Pupils dilated in an instant, as if something exploded from inside his body.

His body suddenly stiffened, then fell forward like a chopped tree trunk, face-planting onto the cement floor with a dull thud.

At the same moment, the two Black-robed men beside him experienced the same thing.

Pupils dilated, bodies stiffened, and then they too collapsed on the ground motionless.

Seeing this, Harding and the elite squad members present looked grim.

Deke leaned against the wall to stand up and walked over to inspect one of the bodies.

He felt for the carotid artery, lifted an eyelid to check the pupils, then looked up with a serious expression.

"Dead."

"Indeed…" Harding's voice dropped.

The female association elite also came up to examine them, her face unsightly: "This method… is not something normal cults can accomplish."

Upon hearing this, Deke carefully inspected the deceased's oral and nasal cavities and skin surface, finding no external injuries.

Then he released a trace of Shadow Snake's Qi, probing inside the deceased.

A few seconds later, he withdrew the Qi, his face getting grimmer, clearly realizing what had happened.

"The strange force inside them… lost control." Deke said, "Seems like a preset mechanism. Once captured, or if they left a specific range, the seal within them automatically lifts, and the strange force instantly devours the host's Soul and body."

The factory fell silent.

This indicated these Black-robed People never intended to return alive from the start.

Of course, having seen many brainwashing methods of various cults, their determination wasn't surprising to them.

But as the female elite team member said, not everyone had access to this kind of technology.

"Can you find out the specific methods they used?" Harding's voice was low, but each word seemed squeezed out from between his teeth.

"Not really." The female elite replied, a hint of unwillingness in her tone, "The destruction of the Soul by the strange force is too clean."

"It seems… the enemy has been watching here." The northern side elite added.

Eight elites, three directions, all captured prisoners died simultaneously.

This was no coincidence, it certainly meant someone was remotely monitoring all of it.

Harding stood in place, silent for a long time.

"Old Ha." Deke's voice came from beside him, "What do we do next?"

Harding glanced at him, not speaking.

Deke continued: "From this attack, they knew our action time, knew our Array placements, knew that a sea assault was the most effective route, and even knew we would deploy heavily to the east and north, neglecting the sea. This information couldn't be gathered just by observation."

He didn't finish speaking, but everyone present understood his implication.

Such precise intelligence, such targeted deployment, meant the opposing side was very familiar with the association's operations.

This wasn't "a few observations from outside" level of intelligence.

It indicated there were their spies inside the association.

This thought weighed on everyone's minds like a stone.

Harding turned and walked towards the factory door.

His steps were steady, his back straight as a rod, revealing no emotional fluctuation.

"As for this... we'll talk later, clean this place up first." His voice came from the entrance, calm as if discussing the nice weather today.

"The strange force on these guys has lost control, it will soon break through the seal within them. Alright, restore the Barrier seal here first, re-seal the strange force on them, then we'll consider other issues."

"Besides, remember to be gentle, the bodies need to be taken back to headquarters for the forensic team to conduct a detailed examination."

"Yes!" The elites responded in unison.

Harding walked into the night.

Deke watched his back, opened his mouth, wanting to say something, but ultimately stayed silent.