384: Chapter 182 This is What Normal People Should Do 384: Chapter 182 This is What Normal People Should Do June 30th, 11:49 AM.
Having just cleared the third hideout, the number of confirmed victims was also rapidly increasing.
It is said that once is happenstance, twice is coincidence, and by the time they reached the third hideout, Wang Yunxiao found that he had already mastered the routines of these people.
A set of notes, shared among three parties, each with their distinct research direction.
The first hideout they discovered belonged to Tianle Workshop, and from their sacrificial rituals, it was clear that they sincerely wanted to refine God’s Blood, because even fools knew that such a miraculous drug, comparable to Monk Tang Flesh, was of immense value.
They had no other malicious intent; they just wanted to make money.
The first one this morning belonged to the Cuojin Sect, which had a completely different style.
Aside from possibly creating the Holy Grail in accordance with some pact, they also crafted some “Human Figurines.”
According to the results from the on-site interrogations, these “Human Figurines”, like human skin masks, could act as vessels for identity disguise and misdirection.
Considering the nature of the Cuojin Sect, creating such an eerie item didn’t seem too far-fetched.
They seemed to have a particular obsession with changing identities.
Wang Yunxiao actually wanted to tell them there was no need for such trouble; if they waited a few more decades, a surgery in Thailand wouldn’t cost much.
As for what these guys planned to do while disguised as blooming young girls, that was harder to say—but with such a large investment, it probably wasn’t something as simple as sneaking into women’s bathhouses for peeping.
As everyone knows, there are two major women’s rights protection organizations in Tianmen City, one known as the Red Lantern Society, and the other as Qianjin Church.
The Red Lantern Society had been offline for a long time.
Ulan Tuya’s complexion was very unsightly; she must have realized this problem as well.
Regarding those girls turned into “Human Figurines”, although they seemed to be alive for now, they were actually already driven insane by torture.
Without the support of secret techniques, once removed from the ritual site, they would quickly fall into an irreversible state of collapse.
Their organs were hollowed out, barely sustained by the flesh and blood secret techniques at their last breath; not to say that medical science today could save them, not even a hundred years from now.
As for the Longevity Sect, it was yet another different style.
According to the bulletins from the Special Service Bureau, the Longevity Sect should have been completely eradicated, but the big shots at the bureau didn’t do a thorough job, leaving these hidden hideouts untouched.
Most hideouts belonging to the Longevity Sect were already empty, leaving only half-alive Fleshly Holy Grails in the underground chambers; however, a large quantity of herbal materials was cleared out from the basements, including ginseng, fleece-flower root, cinnabar, realgar…
While others crafted Holy Grails to refine God’s Blood, the folks from the Longevity Sect were actually using the Holy Grails to craft elixirs!
On-site searches yielded elixirs stored in jade boxes, with a rich, rosy color, looking like big hawthorn pills; what effects they had, no one knew, and Wang Yunxiao certainly had no impulse to try them.
By noon, the operation had gone smoothly.
The opposition either hadn’t received the message or truly had no power to fight back, aside from a few stubborn holdouts, there was no particularly fierce resistance.
Twelve hideouts marked on the map—strictly speaking, the remaining eight—were practically all cleared, and the operation could finally come to a close.
Wang Yunxiao found a water tap, took a couple of gulps of tap water, removed his helmet to wipe the sweat from his forehead, and quietly instructed Youtiao, “Ask everyone if they’re hungry, and buy some steamed buns and pickles to fill our stomachs.”
Youtiao curled his lip and said, “Big brother, I don’t think that’s necessary.”
Actually, not eating breakfast before coming out was a very correct decision, not only do you have to clear the nest, but you also need to carry out the corpses to verify their identity for centralized recovery, then dismantle the Holy Grail, and clean up the pollution inside…
So right now, nobody really has an appetite.
Chen Yuguang, on the other hand, wasn’t much affected; the young man’s advantage was his quick recovery.
While others still had no appetite, he was already beginning to feel hungry, and said with a chuckle, “Section Chief, man is iron and food is steel; we can’t go without eating.
How about I go buy some vegetables and fruits?”
After some thought, Wang Yunxiao handed him five yuan to go buy the groceries.
They probably should have gone back to the police canteen for a meal at this time, but considering a truck had just hauled away a load of corpses…
Wang Yunxiao wasn’t too keen on riding that truck.
Surely as a university graduate, he shouldn’t need to give much instruction to this junior high school student when it comes to minor tasks like buying groceries and preparing food, right?
But what Wang Yunxiao saw next was him returning with a watermelon in his arms.
Wang Yunxiao: “Don’t…”
You just have to bring up what shouldn’t be mentioned, don’t you?
Accompanying him were quite a few others, with a man leading the group whom Wang Yunxiao recognized as the captain of Special Service Bureau’s ad-hoc Team 108, Han Bin; those following him looked to be members of his team, each one burly and strong like bears.
Having been busy running around all morning, Wang Yunxiao hadn’t noticed that they had entered another jurisdiction.
“I was wondering why the streets were so unsettled all morning, saying the police’s big vehicles were running everywhere, carting off dead bodies in heaps, unknowing folks might think a battle was underway.”
Walking over with a clasped fist and a smile, Han Bin said, “Section Chief Wang, unscathed I see.
What brings you here today…
Why didn’t you give me a call before coming to our area?
You even sent your men to the market to buy groceries.
If I hadn’t come out to eat watermelon, I might have missed you.
So, planning not to return for lunch?
You can’t come to my place and eat just leaves, right?
Let me arrange something…”
The man was so enthusiastic that Wang Yunxiao was somewhat unclear about his real intentions.
Whether he was an ally or…
without a clear understanding of the Holy Grail Church’s protective umbrella, that was truly a tough call.
Seemingly catching the hesitation on Wang Yunxiao’s face, and also noticing that not only police officers but also military and Church tactical squads were coming and going at the site, Han Bin suddenly realized the gravity of the situation and lowered his voice, “What’s the matter?
Need help?”
Before Wang Yunxiao could speak, Youtiao came over with a map in hand, “It’s a call from the chief, the first group that was sent back has been laid out, and there’s another…”
Upon seeing Han Bin, he stopped talking.
Han Bin’s face turned grim, but he didn’t say anything and turned to leave.
Wang Yunxiao called out to him, “Captain Han, if I remember correctly, didn’t you tell me once that you come from the Bagua Sect?”
Han Bin turned his head, raising an eyebrow, “Yes, I’m the eldest brother of this generation in the Bagua Sect.”
“I heard that the Bagua Sect is filled with loyal and brave individuals?”
“Bullshit loyalty and bravery!” Han Bin said irritably, “A true man should act with integrity, withstand foreign humiliation, and bravely confront enemies, isn’t that what normal people should do?
I hate it when people talk about loyalty and bravery as if we’re like those second-generation officials, as if we need our ancestors to grant us some sort of underhand power!”