(This translation is provided for a work of fiction and does not reflect or endorse any real-world activities or sentiments.)
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Things are just different in this country!
Sometimes, Little Moustache truly envied his counterparts in America, Europe, and even East Japan. Those guys lived the high life, calling the shots, with all the high-end equipment they could want. Some even controlled the government directly.
But here in Hua Country, the moment they tried to get something going, the moment they so much as sprouted, they were hit with a harsh crackdown.
Want to get your hands on some heavy firepower? You couldn’t even find a reliable channel to buy guns.
After going through hell to find a few connections, the seller would get busted by the police before the goods even arrived.
Anything that fires a projectile with a muzzle energy of 1.8 joules per square centimeter or more is classified as a firearm!
With that little power, you wouldn’t even qualify to run a balloon-popping game in Europe or America!
Sometimes, he’d secretly form a society to serve as the organization’s tendrils, to boost their operational and executive capabilities. But before they could even carry out a few missions, they’d be eradicated as a criminal gang.
The neighborhood committee would be the one calling the cops, and the local police station would handle the arrests! Can you believe it!
He’d go to the local public sentencing rally only to see the defendants were all the organization’s old, loyal cadres!
At this moment, Little Moustache had been completely hypnotized by Shen Feng, his emotional fluctuations becoming extremely violent. Toward the end, he was practically weeping as he spoke, pouring out all the grievances he had suffered in the organization.
And, of course, he explained the reasons for their current operation in crystal clear detail.
Little Moustache’s real name was Han Feng. He was the head of the Lu Province branch of the Purification Society’s East China Region, responsible for all related activities in the province.
On paper, he was in charge of an entire province, but because his efforts were so ineffective, his actual influence wasn’t that great. The funding from headquarters was also insufficient. They said the "start-up environment" here was poor and not conducive to spreading the gospel of purification, so they didn’t pay it much mind.
Han Feng himself had a day job. He owned a foreign trade company and was a semi-successful businessman. He had thought his life would just go on like this. Aside from being asked to infiltrate the government, there were no major operations. He even got a free two-week trip to Europe and America every year for meetings and debriefings. It was a comfortable life.
But just two days ago, a message suddenly arrived from headquarters. It ordered him to immediately find a boy attending Tai City Middle School and eliminate him without leaving a trace.
Along with the message came a photo of a boy in a school uniform.
This message hadn’t come from the Greater China Region headquarters. It was from North America—the headquarters of the entire Purification Society. The order was said to have come from the new Cthulhu himself! Moreover, the boy was supposedly a great enemy of the Purification Society and very likely the legendary Antichrist!
According to the orders, this enemy was still in his infancy and didn’t pose much of a threat on his own. Therefore, succeeding would be a great merit.
Han Feng felt something was off right away. If it was really that easy, would the higher-ups have given this mission to him?
However, after hacking into Tai City Middle School’s database, confirming the boy’s identity as Shen Feng, and following and monitoring him for several days, Han Feng suddenly realized... this really did seem to be just an ordinary boy!
He had supposedly inherited some money, so he got himself a two-story villa in the suburbs. In class, he seemed to do nothing but doze off, joke around with the male students, or flirt with the female ones. He was also on very good terms with a pretty girl.
Later, Han Feng and his men discovered that this Shen Feng had seemingly taken the pretty girl as a kept woman; they would go back to his little villa and live together after school every day!
To them, members of the Purification Society, it didn’t matter. They’d just kill them both when the time came.
After several days of meticulous planning, Han Feng and his men came up with an assassination plan: create an "accident" with a natural gas explosion, then go in and finish the job with guns.
Han Feng had been quite pleased with himself over this plan, feeling it was flawless. He thought success would come swiftly, and then he would enjoy endless riches and glory, perhaps even a reward from the Whispering God himself.
But he never expected that while the gas did explode as planned, everything that happened after they entered the villa went completely out of his control.
Faced with their target, he and his men were less than ants. They were simply pinched in the palm of his hand.
Shen Feng’s brow furrowed. "The photo?" he asked.
Little Moustache Han Feng immediately trembled as he fumbled in his inner pocket, pulling out a crumpled, printed piece of paper, already damp with his sweat.
Shen Feng unfolded it and saw it was a copy of a sketch of him. Unlike the blurry sketches from before, however, this one was much clearer. It was a direct, front-facing bust shot. He was even wearing a school uniform, with the words "Tai City Senior High School" written on the chest.
Was this another one of those Spiritual Child prophecies from the Purification Society?
He had encountered such things several times before, so he wasn’t particularly surprised, but this was the first time he’d seen a frontal portrait. After all, he had always been careful when facing those Purification Society fanatics and rarely showed his face.
Could it be that on some day in the future, he had a momentary lapse in caution and a Purifier from the Society saw his true face?
These bastards from the Purification Society... they were like a plague that just wouldn’t die...
Perhaps one day, he really should just uproot them completely...
But these guys were like earthworms burrowing in the dirt; they weren’t easy to catch all at once.
What concerned Shen Feng even more, however, was the existence of the Whisperer.
All this time, although he seemed to be the one in the shadows, the Whisperer was in an even darker place, always able to find him. This time, it had even located his true self. There was no telling what it would pull next. It was incredibly frustrating.
"Xiaofeng, we’ll install a better gas detector later," Jingwei quickly said, seeing Shen Feng seemed worried. "And I’ll set up a security system. I’ll make sure something like this never happens again."
Jingwei felt a little guilty. The enemy had managed to easily cut the gas line and even set off such an explosion, destroying the comfortable little nest they had.
After all, the enemy had only managed to find this place by following Shen Xiaofeng and Wei Xiaoqing, those two thoughtless artificial intelligences.
The original purpose of having Shen Xiaofeng act as a stand-in was to intercept danger for Shen Feng. Unexpectedly, it had been counterproductive. Not only had it failed to work, but it had also led the wolves to their door.
Shen Feng shook his head. "This isn’t your fault. My initial line of thinking was wrong... There’s the saying about a thief plotting for a thousand days, but who can stand guard for a thousand? The more I hide, the more I’m forced into a passive position. With their future-predicting location technology, they’d find me sooner or later... From the very beginning, I should have taken the initiative."
"You mean... wipe out the Purification Society and go head-to-head with the Whisperer?" Jingwei asked, a little worried. "Xiaofeng, I think you’re getting a bit carried away. Even with your physical enhancements, you’re only so strong. If the Whisperer drops a high-explosive bomb on you, you’d still be toast. You should at least reach the physical strength of that Destructive Shen Feng from the Biohazard Apocalypse before you talk about confronting the Whisperer directly."
Shen Feng gave a low chuckle. "Who said anything about going head-to-head with the Whisperer? What we need to do is actually very simple: foresee the Whisperer’s commands and movements, and seize the initiative."
He then turned to the hypnotized Little Moustache Han Feng with a kind expression.
"Brother, how are the benefits at the Purification Society? Are you guys hiring right now?"
As he spoke, he pointed a thumb at his own chest and asked with a look of utmost sincerity, "Whaddaya think? Am I a good fit?"