Vanished!
Just like that, Siegel disappeared right in front of Lucius and the Kingdom commissioner with a “pop” sound, as if he had never been there.
In an instant, it seemed like everything around them had fallen into a deathly silence.
Lucius rubbed his eyes, only to see the empty metal cage, as if it were opening its mouth, silently mocking their foolishness.
“Damn it!”
The commissioner roared, “Guards!!!”
He reached into the cage, hoping that Siegel had only made himself invisible like a chameleon, but unfortunately, reality slapped him hard in the face.
“Reporting, sir. We can confirm the suspect has escaped. There’s no one else here…”
The non-commissioned officer who rushed in looked at the commissioner and Lucius with suspicion. If it weren’t for the fact that the prisoner had been personally escorted by them into the armored vehicle, and the vehicle had never left their sight, he might have suspected these two deliberately let the fugitive escape.
Disappear into thin air? That kind of joke could only fool ghosts.
“Alright then!”
Lucius stuffed his hands into his pants pockets, “We have to admit the suspect has some means of vanishing suddenly… He’s escaped!”
“Bullshit, he must have planned this!”
The commissioner growled, “He had such abilities but deliberately allowed us to capture him. This is an insult to the Kingdom! Intentionally surrendering, then successfully escaping… Oh my God…”
The commissioner felt his future turning dark. He looked at Lucius, “The Redemption Church must be involved!”
But even as he said it, he couldn’t bring himself to continue.
The persuasion of Siegel to surrender was a publicly acknowledged fact in front of many media outlets, and now, it was the church that had surrendered the criminal, while the Kingdom had lost him. It was hard to blame them for this.
“What if we let them do it again?”
At this point, the commissioner was desperate enough to grasp at straws.
“Don’t you see yet?”
Lucius sneered, “Siegel never intended to surrender genuinely. This was all a scheme! And no matter what role the Redemption Church played in this incident, they certainly won’t cooperate with us anymore…”
Actually, he was somewhat unfairly blaming Jack and his group.
Even though Siegel had recovered from his injuries, breaking out or stalling until the Cycle Space opened was something he considered extremely difficult.
Therefore, upon hearing the church’s broadcast, he played along, feigning surrender to avoid being shot on sight. As long as he was imprisoned, once the God’s Task began, he could naturally escape.
Needless to say, he was quite daring and successfully manipulated both the Kingdom and the Federation.
“So what should we do now?”
The commissioner stared at Lucius pitifully.
Although he had disliked the man before, he was now immensely relieved to have this Federal Special Investigations officer accompany him on the transport. Not only did it give him someone else to share the blame with, but also someone to testify on his behalf!
Although… the whole “disappearing into thin air” thing was still too much for human imagination.
But then again, considering werewolves had already appeared, perhaps it wasn’t too surprising that more inexplicable events would occur…
…
For the sake of appearances, the Kingdom and the Federation tacitly agreed to keep the prisoner’s escape a secret. While they secretly deployed an intense manhunt, publicly they were busy with hype and diverting attention.
However, as one of the key parties involved, Lucius, the Kingdom commissioner, and every soldier in the transport convoy immediately underwent the most rigorous investigation.
“Name?”
“Tell us what happened back then again!”
“Are you sure he just vanished without any warning?”
…
In an interrogation room, Lucius was half-naked, his chest adorned with numerous wires, and a metal headband strapped to his forehead, connected by a wire to a polygraph machine.
The investigator kept asking the same questions over and over, nearly driving Lucius insane.
Who knows how long passed before the cell door finally opened and his superior walked in, “Lucius, come with me!”
“Chief! You finally came!”
Lucius, now much thinner, followed his superior out of the interrogation room into the outside world, where the intense sunlight made him dizzy, and he felt his entire body was extremely weak.
“I had to pull quite a few strings to get you out of Golden Oak Kingdom! Be grateful, after all, you’re still a Federation citizen! Those royal investigators didn’t dare to use more extreme methods on you!”
The superior said coldly.
Lucius suddenly thought of the commissioner.
Although the man seemed to have some background, the trouble he was in now was obviously much bigger.
At least during this period of detention and investigation, he had heard many faint screams. Having served in special agencies, he knew a lot of unconventional methods, such as using drugs to quickly extract the truth from a target, although it would also cause irreversible damage to the body and brain.
Fortunately, he was not a citizen of Golden Oak Kingdom, so they couldn’t treat him like that. At the very least, they had to consider international opinion. But others weren’t so lucky.
“If that’s the case, I should thank you, Chief!”
Despite being down to his last breath, Lucius still spoke in a flippant tone.
After such a major failure, he guessed his promotion was probably ruined, which made him a bit more carefree.
“At worst, I’ll just sit in the cold office in Falcon City reading newspapers for the rest of my life…”
“Very optimistic, good!”
His superior looked at him with a satisfied expression, “Seeing you in such high spirits makes me very pleased. I can entrust you with more important responsibilities!”
“Huh?”
Lucius was very surprised.
After messing up such an important mission, the higher-ups were still willing to give him another chance, which was truly unbelievable.
“It’s Professor Luthor. His supernatural research has just made significant progress and breakthroughs… and the president has seen his report. Our staff and the secretary’s office jointly analyzed the previous intelligence and reached a conclusion!”
After getting into the car, his superior lowered his voice and spoke with a solemn tone, “Non-humans! Metahumans! They have always existed! Quietly lurking around us! But Golden Oak and Pandorn, these two countries have colluded to impose a strategic intelligence blockade on our Federation, making us neglect research in this area!”
“According to the latest intelligence, their research in this field is far more advanced than ours!”
“Damn it!”
As a standard citizen of the Federation, Lucius immediately became angry, “Such power is dangerous. The Federation must also possess such power to counter the other two major powers!”
“Exactly!”
The superior said, “Congress has passed a resolution to establish a new Office for Paranormal Phenomena, directly responsible to the president. The FBI and the Special Investigations Bureau will provide intelligence for it. The theoretical authority is beyond your imagination.”
“And I am the first head of it!”
“Congratulations, Chief, you’ve been promoted!”
Lucius congratulated him.
“But I still need an assistant!”
The superior stared at Lucius with a serious expression, “We’re far behind in this area. I’ve read your files. You have the most experience in this field. Some of your suggestions and reports are very insightful. Come help me! For the Federation!”
“For the Federation!”
Lucius repeated the phrase, his eyes shining with hope.
“Of course, before you start, we still need to conduct an internal review of you…”
The superior finally smiled slightly as he added this condition at the end, causing Lucius to instinctively shiver all over…
…
“Your Holiness!”
Just as Lucius was painfully writing his review report, in Caspar City, Bob returned to the Redemption Church headquarters and reported the operation to Wu Ming.
“In the end… I took the liberty of having Pastor Jack advise Siegel to surrender. Please forgive me, Your Holiness…”
Bob spoke with extreme respect.
“Actually, you did very well!”
Wu Ming held a newspaper in his hand, the front page headline was about Siegel’s surrender and the promotion of the Redemption Church.
“Through this operation, more people have come to recognize the greatness and glory of our Lord. In Leviathan City, many new believers have already applied to join…”
Of course, the incident involving the Cycle Walker was not hidden from Wu Ming.
Even Siegel’s little schemes were under Wu Ming’s watchful eye.
If he hadn’t been fair to everyone, but instead deliberately delayed the opening time of the God’s Space, Siegel would have had a lot of fun.
Of course, he was not worried about the escape at all.
After all, this blame could never be pinned on the Redemption Church.
“Not just in Leviathan City, throughout the entire Kingdom, our church! No, all churches, have experienced a wave of religious fervor…”
Wu Ming looked out the window at the bustling crowd and the fervent believers, speaking calmly.
Werewolves!
The legendary mythical creature appeared and was even photographed clearly and published in newspapers, which was undoubtedly a major blow to the public’s worldview.
In situations where science cannot provide explanations, turning to mysterious religions for comfort becomes the first choice.
Wu Ming knew that this was far from the end.
The development of the God’s Space would not stop, and the number of Cycle Walkers would only increase. In the future, across the entire world, such situations would not be lacking.
Therefore, the church also needed to adjust accordingly.
“Bob!”
After thinking for a moment, Wu Ming issued an order, “Our Lord has bestowed a divine decree, commanding us to revise our doctrine! Add some content!”
Upon hearing the divine decree, Bob immediately knelt down devoutly.
“Our Lord is the God of Redemption, born from chaos, holding the authority of redemption… these do not need to be changed…”
A faint smile appeared on Wu Ming’s lips, “And in the world, there also exists a ‘Hell,’ bringing pain and the power of demons into the world. Only our Lord can offer redemption!”
A organization without competitors easily becomes corrupt and decadent. Artificially setting up an opponent and introducing a catfish effect seems like a pretty good idea?
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