The water-like moonlight shone in through the broken window, making the originally dim lobby slightly brighter.
Everybody struggled to raise their heads. When they saw the man's face, they couldn't help but be bewildered. Chuyi's face changed, and he screamed.
"False White!"
The brawny man next to him glared at him.
Chuyi opened his mouth, but he couldn't say anything. He was sure that no one had followed him when he came back, so he couldn't figure out how False White had found this place.
Lin Lichuan saw their expressions, but he didn't care. He lowered his head to look at the middle-aged man and asked, "Who are you?"
The lobby was silent, and no one answered. The middle-aged man was expressionless, and the corners of his eyes didn't even move. It was as if the bleeding wound on his body didn't exist.
Lin Lichuan paused for a while. He walked past the middle-aged man lying on the ground and walked to the man in the T-shirt, who was four or five meters away. He stopped in front of him and looked at him in the eyes. "Who are you?"
The man in the T-shirt's face kept changing. In the next second, his eyes opened wide, and his face turned pale.
The petals that had fallen nearby suddenly surged over, wrapping around his arm and twisting it. In an instant, blood splattered everywhere. When the petals dispersed again, his arm had become a mass of flesh and blood that could not be distinguished from its original form.
"Ah!"
The severe pain made the man in the T-shirt jump up and down like a fish on land. His forehead twitched, and his pale face was covered with cold sweat.
"Who are you?"
The indifferent voice came to his ears again. This time, the man in the T-shirt didn't dare to hide anything. He didn't think and hurriedly shouted, "Qiming Sect! We're Qiming Sect …"
He stopped talking halfway as if someone had strangled his throat. When he looked again, the man in the T-shirt opened his eyes wide. He coughed violently and spat out a mouthful of black blood. Then, his head tilted to one side, and he stopped breathing.
Lin Lichuan raised his eyebrows. He turned around and looked around. He found that the seven people lying on the ground were motionless. Black blood flowed from the corners of their mouths, and there was no light in their eyes.
"Suicide … No, it should be suicide."
Lin Lichuan frowned. He had seen similar methods used by the people from the Secret Service before. These people all had a restriction placed on their bodies. Once the secret was revealed, they would die immediately. Their methods were incomparably cruel.
"Enlightenment Sect, huh?"
Looking at the scene before him, Lin Lichuan's eyes couldn't help but narrow slightly as a look of contemplation flashed across his eyes.
Without exception, the seven people who died were all Extraordinaires. Even if they were only Iron-rank, this force was not considered weak. To be able to send out seven Extraordinaires and plant a seal in their bodies to kill them immediately if they revealed any secrets, the strength of an organization with such means was definitely not low.
After staying in Nocturne for so long, Lin Lichuan was very familiar with the Transcendent organizations that were slightly famous in the Empire. However, he could not find any similar organizations in his mind.
"Judging from what they said just now, they seem to be trying to cause trouble for the Empire."
Lin Lichuan stood on the spot and thought for a while, but he still couldn't figure it out. He decided not to think about it anymore. Looking at the corpses on the ground, he turned around and left the restaurant.
When he returned to the Military Bureau, the students of the Light Mist Academy had already left to rest. Only Lin Zhenyi, Meng Xiaotong, and the others were still in the meeting room. Seeing Lin Lichuan walk in, everyone let out a sigh of relief.
"Just in time. We were thinking of looking for you," Meng Xiaotong said with a smile.
"What happened?"
"It's about the Haibo Province."
Lin Zhenyi explained, "The people from the Secret Service of the Thousand Yards infiltrated the Haibo Province and blew up a logistics base. They are still on the run now. The Haibo Province is short of manpower, so they sent a letter to Nocturne and the secret police asking us to send people to help them."
When she said this, Lin Lichuan's eyes flashed.
He had just heard the same words from the group of people who claimed to be from the Enlightenment Cult a moment ago.
Noticing the change in Lin Lichuan's expression, Lin Zhenyi asked in confusion, "What's wrong?"
Lin Lichuan did not hesitate and directly told them about him being followed. He only left out the part about monitoring the bacteria.
Hearing this, everyone present frowned.
"Enlightenment Cult … I've never heard of this Transcendent organization."
After a long time, Lin Zhenyi spoke with a frown. Meng Xiaotong, Cheng Chun, and the others were also confused.
"However, the matter of the Haibo Province requesting assistance from Nocturne and the secret police is a military secret. I only found out about it half an hour ago after receiving orders from above. But according to your description, those people seem to have known about it for a long time …"
Lin Zhenyi did not finish her sentence, but everyone present understood what she meant. Their expressions immediately became serious.
An organization that they had never even heard of was able to know about military secrets before Lin Zhenyi, who was one of the higher-ups of Nocturne. The reason behind this was terrifying.
After coming back to her senses, Lin Zhenyi made a prompt decision, "Where is the restaurant?"
Lin Lichuan told her the address.
"I'll send someone to collect the body." Lin Zhenyi looked at the others. "Leave this matter to me. Don't make it public for the time being."
Everyone nodded. Lin Lichuan thought for a moment, then took out the metal ball and handed it to Lin Zhenyi.
"They're after this thing."
The function and purpose of the metal ball was unknown. It was useless for him to hold it in his hand. It was better to hand it over to Lin Zhenyi. Perhaps she could figure out something.
Lin Zhenyi did not stand on ceremony. She reached out to take it and carefully put it away. At the same time, she said, "I'll have to trouble you, Little Tong, and Cheng Chun to go to Haibo Province. As for the return of the students, I'll leave it to Liu Dong."
"I understand." Lin Lichuan nodded gently.
The mission was urgent. After everything was decided, they did not delay any longer. Lin Lichuan, Meng Xiaotong, and Cheng Chun left the Military Bureau without waiting for dawn. They took the car that had already been arranged for them to the train station.
Half an hour later, the three of them had boarded the train to Haibo Province.
"Where's our destination?"
It was so sudden that Lin Lichuan did not have time to ask Meng Xiaotong about the details until they got on the train.
"Haibo Province's Yihe City."
Meng Xiaotong sat opposite Lin Lichuan. As usual, she was wearing a white dress. Her white feet swayed. Although they were both members of Nocturne, Lin Lichuan had never seen her wear the Empire's military uniform.
"The border between the Empire and the Thousand Yards Business Alliance is Haibo Province. Of course, now there's White Crown Province. Yihe City is located in the northern region of Haibo Province. It's hundreds of kilometers away from the border war zone. It's the frontline material transfer station. The logistics headquarters of the army is set there."
Haibo Province was a neutral province. The so-called neutral naturally referred to the position of the Emperor in the struggle for the throne.
There were a total of eight provinces in the Mauritanian Empire. Among them, the central province where the Emperor's capital was located, the Bayway Province, was firmly controlled by the Emperor. The three princes and princesses each controlled one province. The remaining four provinces became the 'battlefields' where the heirs competed with each other.
Among them, Haibo Province was bordered by the Thousand Yards Business Alliance. There were constant conflicts and wars all year round. The important military and political personnel in the province either died in battle, accumulated enough military merits to be promoted, or were demoted because of their incompetence. The frequency of personnel turnover was far more frequent than in other provinces. Therefore, it became the place where the heirs fought fiercely. They intended to place more of their own confidants in the province.
However, it was also because of the fierce battle that Haibo Province had never been able to truly lean toward one side. Instead, it had maintained a 'neutral' force field for a long time.
The current governor of Haibo Province, Duke Louis, was an old aristocrat of the Empire. He had always been wise to protect himself in the increasingly fierce struggle for the throne. He had never shown any signs of supporting any side. This was one of the reasons why Haibo Province had its current position.
Lin Lichuan did not care about the struggle for the throne within the Empire. However, since he had joined Nocturne, he had more or less heard about these things.
This time, Nocturne and the secret police had sent people to Yihe City at the same time. The two sides might have an arm wrestle.