Half an hour later.

After Li Lin was 'dismembered' at the execution ground, the higher-ups didn't let him go back to the control room to rest. Instead, they sent him directly to a special conference room—the place where they discussed the whereabouts of consumables. It was a meeting room where Yu Jianchu had been before, and the messenger said, "Someone is looking for you."

To put it bluntly, everyone who works for Eoubs does everything they can to avoid that awful place. It's like a paradise, a heaven in the fantasies of countless people, with its eternally classic decor, salons, and custom-made fireplaces. The guests in the meeting places have no worries and behave politely, as if this is the only peaceful and gentle place in the world.

He was forced to change his clothes—the style was just randomly chosen from the travel records. The escorts said dryly that it was a requirement; they didn't like people coming in unkempt. After all, the last person who did that had just been taken off the rack, thankfully spared his life.

The fireplace glowed, and the air was filled with the rich scent of musk and sandalwood. The temperature was just right, neither too hot nor too cold.

He stood at the doorway, his face expressionless, revealing no emotion whatsoever.

"...Sigh, America is in complete chaos, it's probably coming to an end soon." Someone said, sitting on the sofa and drinking.

“It doesn’t matter. We just sent over the video and the results of the investigation. That mess with Yu Jianchu is finally settled. As for Yu Yu…” another person continued.

"Let's leave it to fate. If we come back alive, we'll still have to be tortured. If we can bring back some valuable samples, we can continue to use them."

Ah, they're discussing business again, Li Lin thought. He had finally broken free from the memory of being on the gallows. Had these people always spoken in such an elegant tone? It was as if they weren't talking about the bloodiest, most disgusting deals in the world.

He went inside, but no one looked at him.

"That's right. Those people upstairs are quite satisfied with the outcome. One lesson is enough. Let's re-implant those forbidden items later. That girl is a good weapon, but she's been corrupted by her sister and is a bit rebellious."

Another woman spoke slowly. Li Lin stared at her for a while and realized that he had seen her before in the adjudication department. She seemed to be someone's teacher or something, but he couldn't remember.

The man noticed the gaze, glanced at him, smiled, and continued, "We've pretty much cleared ourselves of the blame for America. Whether we can sneak in some things depends on how those people perform."

"What about that guy named He Yu? If he comes back, should we kill him?"

"Let's leave him be for now, I quite like him."

"The cognitive modification experiment has only just begun. It doesn't matter since it's just him, but he'll probably still die eventually." Someone laughed, as if they had seen something ridiculous. "The pressure is much less now. They're all low-quality toys. If they have a temper, we can just wear them down and then give them some benefits to appease them."

As soon as he finished speaking, he was met with a series of approving comments, and Li Lin suddenly felt nauseous.

He remained standing in the corner of the salon, ignored by everyone, with no one offering him a place to sit.

That's right, he thought. Everything was just a toy in the hands of these people, a back-and-forth management game.

"Everyone is focused on the situation in Los Angeles right now. As for me..." someone said, then paused and continued, "I don't know what Joseph is up to. His database has been emptied, so we have no idea what methods he has or what kind of capital is behind him."

"It doesn't matter. The Americas just don't want to spend too much energy dealing with that. If they really wanted to solve it, they could just send a few B04s over, but not many of them would come back alive. If we exploit their weakness and leave them vulnerable, they'd be furious."

“These days, it’s getting harder and harder to train a few B-level athletes.”

"Didn't your wife get transferred to the Americas last year? Let her accompany some high-ranking officials to do some exciting things, and resources will come to her just like that."

"Damn, don't mention that bitch."

Then they discussed these issues for a while, their tone light and playful, as if it were nothing more than a high-society drinking game, and even though they had recently lost a few high-ranking members, it was no big deal and someone would fill the positions.

Yes, it's a childish game. Everyone involved is crazy and wants to destroy something... They believe that death, despair, injustice, and torture are meaningful. Day after day, year after year, they utter eerie cries for help, hoping that one day a way out will appear and that there will be a reward.

Is it really possible?

Li Lin stood there all alone. More than an hour later, someone finally started chatting happily, waved to him, and talked to him as if he had just arrived.

He knew they didn't intend to torture him.

“Mr. Li Lin, we have watched the video carefully. It was very well done and deserves praise.”

"The reason I suddenly invited you here is to discuss something with you," said a man dressed in an expensive suit and with an aristocratic air. "We discussed it before, and we found that your potential is enormous; simply becoming an Inquisitor would be a waste of your talent."

"So...we hope you can participate in the upcoming control mission as a 'Special Operations Agent'—"

"Gospel from Heaven".

He saw the puzzled look on Li Lin's face and laughed.

"Don't worry, you can treat it as a support mission," he said. "There have been too many negative voices at the higher levels lately. Although we are B-level, we are just trash that can be thrown away at any higher level."

"Would you allow your livestock to dine with you? Impossible. The master's position cannot have any hidden factors. This is perfectly normal in Eoubs. It's the rule of the big fish eating the small fish. It's all just a matter of capital aligning." Another person joined the conversation, also laughing.

"That was a very memorable control mission."

"Perhaps when Yu Yu and the others return, I will send them as reinforcements to help you first—if they can come back alive."

"By the way, someone will send the relevant information to your email after you leave. Just a friendly reminder."

"So far, only two operatives have died in that mission, one B02 and one B01."

"But we have high hopes for you, Mr. Li Lin."

After they finished speaking, they chatted idly again. Li Lin knew that there was nothing more to say to this group of people, so it was time for him to leave.

He knew, of course, that this was a disguised way of dying, and no one would refuse it. The only difference was how ugly the death would be, but none of that mattered.

He has more important things to do.

Li Lin bowed slightly, then turned and left.

Those people looked perfectly normal, as if no one had come into the house.

Just then, he heard a voice in front of him.

"Please wait a moment."

A woman, of foreign appearance, stood at the door, speaking fairly fluent Mandarin. She was dressed in a gray suit, looked haggard, and appeared to be around twenty-five or twenty-six years old.

The moment Li Lin saw her, he knew that she was one of those who mingled in the swamp of despair, and they shared the same things: emptiness, eccentricity, and morbidity.

He glanced at the woman's ID badge, which turned out to be a bad thing; she was just a C05.

"You must be Mr. Li Lin. My name is Sean Connery."