Chapter 1195: 375. Clear conscience
A month had passed since Noland Lee received the letter from Morster.
The Tatis Empire announced the joyous news of the Revival Festival to its people, and the festive atmosphere began to brew within the Empire.
For a long time, the Empire had been threatened by the Undead Cult, and almost every man had been to the battlefield, with the minimum age requirement for military service dropping repeatedly, casting a shadow of militarism over the entire Empire.
The long-accumulated gloom and repression desperately needed an outlet for release.
Fortuitously, the Land of Revival was recaptured, and the undead creatures in the area were completely eradicated, so the Empire couldn’t wait to use this victory to stir the emotions of the people and strengthen the Emperor’s prestige.
And so, the festival came, along with tax relief, and the Land of Revival welcomed a thriving vitality.
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Morster was proud and excited for the rejuvenation of his nation, but his heart was heavy with unspeakable trouble.
After the announcement of the Revival Festival spread throughout the country, the Undead Cult’s activities suddenly became frequent.
Previously, in the tombs to the west of the Land of Revival, an outbreak of undead would occur approximately every fifteen days.
But now, almost every seven days, news of tomb disturbances would come from the frontlines, and sometimes, two tombs would become unruly simultaneously.
Moreover, the number of undead spies captured by the Division Intelligence Unit Two had sharply increased.
These dirty rats hiding in sewers, underground rivers, and dark corners of urban areas started swarming into Revival City, lured by the sweet cheese, wave after wave, batch after batch.
They used “Disguise as a Living Corpse” or corpse stitching and preservation techniques to disguise themselves as physically weak humans, infiltrating workshops, hotels, entertainment venues, residential homes, and other areas within the city.
This was followed by despicable assassinations and poisonings.
In just this half a month since the festival’s announcement, Morster received no less than thirty cases involving casualties, all of which were related to the undead spies.
Without a doubt, the Undead Cult was doing everything in its power to sabotage the festival, attempting to shake the image of the Army and the Emperor in the eyes of the people.
The Empire really needed a celebration to turn around the nation’s morale; the Undead Cult must not succeed!
Morster worked tirelessly, around the clock.
He became the bridge of communication between the Earth Vein Pillar and the Empire.
Whenever the Empire discovered traces of the Undead Cult, Morster would inform the Earth Vein Pillar, and an Earth Vein Wizard would investigate the scene to track down the murderer.
If an Earth Vein Wizard detected signs of an undead spy committing murder, they would inform Morster, who would then evacuate ordinary citizens from the nearby areas in advance.
The Earth Vein Pillar and Division Intelligence Unit Two, the two powers, worked closely together to maintain order in Revival City.
With this dual protection, despite occasional emergencies in and around the city, the overall situation remained fairly stable.
The city’s popularity grew more vibrant by the day; trains were almost always passing through on the railways, and the continuous train whistles could be heard in the suburban skies.
During the day, construction sites everywhere started work, accompanied by the clinking and clanking of tools.
At night, singing and cheering echoed throughout the city.
Working passionately and enjoying delicious food and drinks, that was the lifestyle of residents and tourists in Revival City, as if living in a prosperous and hopeful paradise.
At the top floor of the most luxurious hotel in the city, Morster sat by the window, overlooking the lights of the city.
Seeing Revival City thrive under their protection, Morster felt genuinely satisfied and content. noveldrama
Across the dining table, as Noland Lee overlooked the city, his feelings were quite different.
He didn’t know how to warn Morster that behind all this prosperity lay hidden tragedies.
Earlier today, Noland Lee’s work had come to a temporary halt, so he thought to take a walk around Revival City, using the Deconstruction Technique to check on the conditions of the Light Wizards and the Metal Ancestor Dragon.
What he saw sent chills down his spine.
While he was absorbed in developing Magic and Mechanos, the Light Wizard Lamont and the Metal Series Wizard Paisi Dingda from the Horale Gathering had already paid a visit to the Undead Cult.
The events that occurred during their trip caught Noland Lee completely off guard.
Paisi Dingda had turned into a Metal Dragon Man in front of the Spider Mother Cultivator and had even requested to meet with the Master of Ceremonies, Demon Bone.
Since Paisi Dingda was, in a sense, already a Synthetic Human, Noland Lee couldn’t obtain his memory fragments.
Noland Lee had to settle for the next best thing, accessing the memory fragments of Lamont to grasp the meeting between Paisi Dingda and Demon Bone.
Fortunately, Lamont had been allowed to audit the meeting between Paisi Dingda and Demon Bone; otherwise, Noland Lee would never have discovered the shady dealings between the Undead Cult and the Metal Ancestor Dragon.
They were planning to sacrifice the life creatures within Revival City to meet the conditions for opening the Pollution Zone.
There were about 600,000 people in Revival City at the moment.
By the time the festival celebration begins, the population could climb to 800,000 or even 900,000.
Using the Deconstruction Technique, Noland Lee found that Ordinary People have 1 point of Soul Energy, so 900,000 people would mean 900,000 points.
The amount of Soul Energy required to open the Steel Forest of Mortal World is around 2 billion.
Intuitively, the sacrifice of a city’s population would only yield about 900,000 points of Soul Energy, which still fell far short of the requirement to open the Pollution Zone, right?