Chương 79: Disguised and Infiltration (3)

Beneath Number 9's ledger tracking the experiments, I spotted a few sheets of loose parchment he had used for silent communication. One particular note caught my eye:"I am not feeling well. Heading upstairs to look for the healer." This perfectly explained how these cultists could operate within such a high concentration of Miasma for days on end. They had a dedicated healer on-site.

The moment someone exhibited symptoms of mild toxicity, they immediately headed above ground to seek treatment and rest before returning to work. Securing the note, I walked over and slipped it to the cultist who was brewing the solution alongside Nathan. The handler merely nodded, completely devoid of suspicion. I feigned a slight stagger, leaning heavily against Nathan so he could naturally assist me out of the laboratory and head upstairs.

Once we reached the upper sub-cellar, we picked an unoccupied quarters and ducked inside. I detailed everything I had just uncovered to Nathan. His face instantly drained of color, his hands clenching the fabric of his robe into tight fists.

"But what can we even do?" Nathan muttered, his voice laced with despair. I closed my eyes and took a deep, steadying breath. I needed a flawless plan. For a few fleeting seconds, my mind felt sharper than it ever had before. Every fragmented piece of information in my head aligned with crisp clarity, weaving into a tightly interconnected system. Piece by piece, a highly dangerous strategy formed in my mind. It was risky, but entirely feasible. When I opened my eyes, I checked Nathan's status window.

His mana had plummeted to a critical 13; he desperately needed a recharge.

"We are heading to the infirmary right now. There will undoubtedly be mana stones there. We need to top off our reserves first."

"Are you saying... you actually intend to stop these psychopaths by yourself?"" We are going to stop them together." I mapped out the strategy I had formulated to Nathan. He listened, his head shaking violently in immediate refusal.

"No, absolutely not. It's too reckless. We already gathered the intelligence. Let's just pull back, find a way to alert the Church, and let them handle it!"

"You heard what that fanatic said earlier, they will do it when the rain stop. The Church won't make it here in time."

"But—""I won't let you die, Nathan. I promise." Nathan ground his teeth before snapping to his feet.

"If you dare break that promise, I will kill you myself." A smirk played on my lips.

"Deal." With that, we adjusted our masks and made a beeline for the healing quarters located at the very end of the corridor. The only occupant inside was a middle-aged woman nodding off at her desk. Nathan immediately deployed his mind control, manipulating her into letting us confiscate every single mana stone in the room without throwing up the slightest resistance. To be absolutely safe, I still knocked her unconscious, bound her securely, then threw her onto the cot and covering her with a heavy blanket.

The healer possessed a crate packed with decent-quality mana stones. With such an abundant supply, Nathan successfully replenished his mana back to full capacity. I stuffed a few extra stones into his belt pouch—only a fool passes up free utility gear. This novel is published on a different platform. Support the original author by finding the official source.

As for myself, because I lacked a definitive mana capacity cap, my body automatically absorbed any ambient mana it came into contact with, making it impossible for me to carry reserve stones on my person. Next, I activated the Halunar's Eye to audit the exact headcount occupying these rooms. There were four individuals possessing formidable combat attributes - likely the sentries slated to rotate shifts with the two guards we had dispatched earlier.

Additionally, there were two others whose stats mirrored the research cultists I had observed below: high intelligence, but completely devoid of combat skills. All of them were currently asleep or resting. I turned to Nathan.

"You know exactly what to do, right?"

"According to your instructions, I need to force them to believe they are in mortal peril. But what's the end game?"

"You don't need to know the details just yet. Just trust me." When individuals capable of manipulating mana perceive an imminent threat to their lives, their bodies instinctively initiate their internal mana flow as a defense mechanism. The moment that flow activates, I can drain their mana completely dry, plunging them into a state of absolute exhaustion for a crucial few seconds. We chose to neutralize the four guards first.

Two of them occupied the same quarters and were fast asleep, making our task significantly easier. Nathan admitted this was his first time attempting mind control on sleeping targets, yet he executed it flawlessly. When I glanced at his status window, his psychological manipulation skill had already surged to level 18. Noted to self: definitely keep my distance from this guy after today. The remaining two guards were still awake.

I resorted to knocking on their door, luring one out into the corridor to neutralize him first, before slipping inside to finish off the second. In Nathan's eyes, I merely touched our opponents for a few seconds before they collapsed into a state of unconsciousness. He didn't ask any questions, so I couldn't be entirely certain if he had deduced that I was sucking their mana. Now, only the two research cultists remained, resting in separate quarters.

I opted to knock on the door of the first and simply knock him out. As for the last one, I wanted answers. The final cultist was lounging on his cot when Nathan and I opened the door and walked in. His reaction mirrored his colleague's; seeing the two of us clad in identical robes and masks, he assumed we were fellow members and closed his eyes to return to his rest. Nathan approached, placing a hand on the man's head as he channeled his mind control:"Wake up. We have a few matters to inquire about."

The cultist opened his eyes and sat up, devoid of any suspicion. Nathan's hand remained firmly anchored to the man's shoulder; direct physical contact yielded the absolute highest efficacy for his skills. He had previously informed me that at his current mastery level, he couldn't manipulate someone into answering complex, highly guarded secrets if they were aware of the coercion or possessed a guarded mind. Therefore, to extract substantial data, we couldn't trigger his threat response.

Nathan would merely manipulate him into being highly gullible and lowering his guard. I sat down beside the man, tilting my mask upward slightly so I could speak clearly, and asked casually:"We're executing the plan the moment the rain clears, right?" The cultist nodded.

"Correct. The experiments haven't yielded the exact results we anticipated, but that ghoul corpse discovered the other day proves someone is sniffing around. The Order has commanded us to accelerate the timeline." I followed up, "Could you review the sequence of events with me once the rain stops?"

"We will transport the manufactured solution and dump it directly into the two water wells down in the town." Nathan knit his brows, shooting a tense look at me. I signaled him with my eyes to maintain his composure, then pressed further:"Aren't we going to scout the town's condition first? What if the citizens down there aren't using the well water?"

"The Order's operatives have already blockaded both mountain trails. They also detonated explosives on the mountain the other day to trigger the landslide and cut off the main highway. Those cattle have nowhere to run; sooner or later, they will have no choice but to rely on the wells." Though I loathed to admit it, Iris and Lealia's proactive measures to ban the townspeople from using the well water had turned out to be correct. I continued my interrogation: "What if the plan fails?

For instance, if the townspeople catch wind of it?"

"Then we have no alternative. We release the entire payload of Miasma directly into the forest and unleash the ghouls. We'll return a few days later and harvest any ghouls left." I forced myself to maintain a calm facade, suppressing the horrific mental imagery of that catastrophic scenario, and asked:"And if the poisoning goes smoothly? Once the populace is infected, what's our next objective?"

"By then, we will have a vanguard of at least several hundred ghouls. The internal network of the Order will coordinate transit to transport them straight to Yathen." He had explicitly referenced "the Order" several times now, prompting my next question:"What exactly is the name of our Order?"

"We are the..." Before he could finish his sentence, a sudden cascade of metallic clanging echoed through the corridors, cutting him off entirely.