Mu Lin quickly vanished with a swift technique, appearing in the nursing home’s surveillance room. The equipment here was more advanced than anything he had ever seen. Every inch outside the compound walls was under the watchful eyes of cameras, and all individuals entering the frame were automatically compared against a database. If an unknown person appeared on screen and didn’t match any records, the computer would immediately display their information to the guards, eliminating any human error or oversight.
Even though it was nighttime, hidden infrared cameras still transmitted a clear and accurate picture of the outside world into the surveillance room. The computers operated automatically, without human intervention.
Seeing all this, Mu Lin silently thanked his good fortune for not recklessly approaching the nursing home. Otherwise, he would have already raised suspicions. Once suspicion fell upon him, with the full resources of the nation behind them, there would be no way he could continue his operation without being discovered.
In fact, during the day, the food delivery truck, its driver, and the food itself were all genuine. It was only at that precise moment of the truck’s brief stop that Mu Lin took action. After days of observation, he realized the nursing home’s security was flawless, leaving no room for intrusion—his only option was to target their food supply.
Through careful observation, he found that the nursing home did not produce its own food but instead sourced it daily from a small, fixed supermarket. Due to the large number of residents, the home required regular food deliveries. Each time, the food was re-inspected before loading, and two guards always rode in the cab. The truck followed a fixed route and schedule, with the nursing home even verifying the departure time.
Under such tight security, any slight mistake would immediately raise suspicion. In such a situation, an ordinary person would be completely helpless.
Mu Lin discovered that the food, drinks, and coffee purchased by the nursing home were always from fixed brands. Using the cover of night, he added a timed toxin to these supplies. This poison merely caused temporary incapacitation and unconsciousness. During preliminary testing, he found that even simple modern detection methods failed to identify its composition.
The brief stop during transportation was merely an extra precaution by Mu Lin to confirm everything was in place. A few minutes’ delay was insignificant over the course of a long journey.
After carefully checking that the cameras inside the compound were not connected to any external long-range devices, Mu Lin disabled the indoor surveillance system and began searching the nursing home for the information he needed. Disabling their abilities was secondary—he was primarily after information about the Pope. Without the Pope’s direct orders, he wouldn’t have faced such fierce resistance in this country.
Since he had plenty of time, Mu Lin moved through the facility calmly and methodically. After searching through the rooms of over fifty people, he realized the nursing home was, in fact, a high-end retreat. In addition to the standard security guards, each room had its own personal attendants and guards, along with emergency alarm systems connected to the outside world. Each resident lived in a small, fortified unit. If not for his timed poison, subduing everyone inside would have been a long and arduous battle.
If the fight dragged on too long, outside reinforcements would inevitably arrive, trapping him between internal and external forces. For Mu Lin, who was operating alone, such a scenario was something he had to avoid at all costs.
Before dawn, Mu Lin left the facility calmly and returned to his hideout. Compared to the days of waiting, his rewards were immense.
First, the original elite team still existed, though now composed of elderly individuals who had lost all their former abilities. Not only had they lost their memories, but more importantly, they had lost the skills they once took pride in.
Second, from these elderly residents, Mu Lin obtained numerous bank account numbers—accounts linked to safety deposit boxes where they stored valuable items. He also found the keys to these boxes and acquired a large amount of magical artifacts and materials.
Third, from the memories of these elders, he uncovered methods of contacting researchers and preachers, as well as several possible hiding places of the Pope. However, Mu Lin didn’t find these locations directly. Instead, he analyzed the elders’ fragmented memories and pieced together the clues to deduce the relevant information.
Once he obtained this information, Mu Lin found himself facing a new dilemma—the biggest challenge now was dealing with the preachers. These individuals might appear as ordinary priests, teachers, or even wealthy businessmen. Yet, in the event of a complete collapse of the church organization, they would be the sparks that reignite it.
Each preacher operated independently, with their own unique system of communication. Even the Pope had no idea exactly how many preachers existed. Only the tokens they carried could prove their identity. Only when a preacher needed the church’s help or was deeply dissatisfied with certain actions of the church and wanted to remove those responsible would they reveal their token, at which point the church would recognize them.
Though preachers might not possess high-level martial arts or magic, and rarely appeared to have close ties with the church, they held onto secret records of martial arts and magical knowledge—this was their final guarantee. Deeply religious at heart, as long as these records remained, the church could revive itself within a decade. Throughout history, whenever the church faced destruction, it was always these preachers who allowed it to rise again.
In contrast, the researchers were easier to deal with. These were mostly magical researchers who also studied church doctrine. At regular intervals, they would send their findings to fixed mailboxes for the preachers to retrieve.
Trying to trace these mailboxes to find the preachers would be a futile effort. Even the Pope had once attempted to locate them, believing that in the modern world, the church was now deeply intertwined with national structures. Unless the entire nation were to collapse, the church would not face total destruction, so maintaining the preachers seemed unnecessary.
Eventually, he assigned people to investigate the mailboxes, but they found nothing. Finally, in his private bedroom, he received a warning letter.
In this letter, the preachers warned the Pope that if he did not immediately cease his actions, they would move to remove him from power. Seeing signs of unrest from various dioceses, action teams, and researchers, the Pope finally halted his plans.
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