San Francisco, Forgotten Cemetery.

It's littered with the bones of monsters and the ruins of mechs.

In the evening, in a secluded camp, Raust stood in the midst of a group of devout believers, following them in a circle, one moment shoulder to shoulder, the other in a line, performing all sorts of strange rituals...... The alchemist frowned.

Religion is really stupid.

Lauster thought to himself.

At this moment, the leader slowly stopped, stood still, and began to chant the monster prayer in a loud voice:

"We are brothers and sisters of the monsters."

"We open our arms to meet the angels from the sea."

"Divine and mystical beings save suffering humanity and banish the demons in our hearts."

"You are messengers of mercy on a mission to forgive humanity and to liberate us from our defiled homeland."

"You have great power, stirring up turbulent waves and obscuring the vast skies."

When he recites a sentence, the believers follow along.

Lauster endured the disgust and discomfort in his heart, and recited aloud to a group of believers:

"Oh, Monster King, please direct us to that undersea paradise and make all those who oppose your supremacy bow down."

"Subdue the false prophets and tyrannical monarchs of mankind, who fear all that is incomprehensible. You are not the source of suffering, but the true savior. ”

"We sincerely kneel down to thank you for your vast and boundless protection, and raise our hands to express our heartfelt admiration and praise."

"Let the blue blood of the Archangels wash away the sins of mankind, and we will return to the world we once had and start a new life."

The monster's prayer was over, and the ceremony was finally over.

Lauster lifted his hood and took off his robe, walked through the crowd to the man who had just taken the lead, and asked:

"Did the plan go ahead?"

"Oh, the Great Monster Oracle."

The leader looked the alchemist up and down and said:

"As you wish, our brothers and sisters hiding inside the PPDC have inserted the memory chip inside the mecha, and I believe the results will come soon."

Rouse nodded.

That's why he obviously hates religion and despises this group of so-called "monster believers", and still wants to get involved with them - the alchemist never dreamed that these monster cults could actually develop believers into the PPDC.

Lauster just casually showed his hands of Sith alchemy, and he frightened the group of monster believers into shouting miracles, and the alchemist took advantage of the situation to make his position clear, and soon naturally blended into the interior of the monster believers, and became a "divine messenger".

So far, it seems that everything is going according to plan and is going very well...... The alchemist nodded in satisfaction.

Then look down and take out your phone to send a group text message:

"Reincarnation, assemble for a meeting."

…………

Zofia still had palpitations when she thought back to that scene.

Or in order to alleviate the hardships and frustrations caused by the long training, the pilot led the trainees to visit the training mecha "Eden Assassin", and allowed the two trainees with the best synaesthesia matching progress to enter and operate.

Certainly not Zofia, as she is currently the slowest in her synaesthesia matching. Zofia is the most skilled in fighting and driving among all the trainees.

But she is reluctant to open up to people.

As a result, Zofia could only watch from outside the training mech, watching as the other two trainees entered the cockpit at the head of the mech and tried to control the behemoth for the first time.

At that time, one of the controllers of Lawcent's command center gave instructions to the training mech:

"'Eden Assassin', move your right hand."

After an extremely brief reaction time, the MechHunter raised its right hand.

The onlookers applauded the pair of trainees.

"Good. Now raise your left hand. ”

The "Assassin of Eden" raised his left hand.

"Take a step forward with your right foot."

No response.

"'Eden Assassin', please step on your right foot."

Still no response.

"Hoyazi? Doris? ”

The controller asked, confused.

"OMG!"

Huo Yaqi suddenly shouted.

Then Doris began to shout.

Suddenly, the two of them were silent at the same time.

"What's wrong? What's wrong? ”

The driver, who served as an instructor, asked anxiously.

"I don't know." The controller said, "We are not receiving feedback from the Eden Assassins. ”

"Can't get feedback? All feedback? What's ......?"

"Boom—"

The "Eden Assassin" suddenly leaned forward and threw a punch into the air, and then another punch, and two punches smashed the thick concrete wall, and cracked concrete slabs and steel shards rained down.

Even though this is a training mech with its weapon system removed, the limbs and torso of the mech itself are also a weapon that is still capable of causing enough damage.

"What is this going on?" The driver yelled.

Hoyazi and Doris weren't messing around, something must have happened, something very wrong must have happened.

"Let it stop!" He said to the controller.

"No way!" The controller said, "The failsafe system has been changed. ”

"Who did it? What did it change? ”

"Some driver, I don't know. Oops! ”

The "Eden Assassin" suddenly turned around, ran a few steps, and then threw a brazen punch at Lawcent's command center.

"Bang!"

The steel beams twisted into a ball in an instant, the bulletproof glass shattered, and a huge steel fist sank deep into it.

……

"Marshal!"

A Chinese-faced man in military uniform walked into the office.

"You may be seated, General Kwon."

Panticost said.

The visitor sat down on the couch meticulously.

"Tell me, what the hell is going on?"

Panticoster asked in a deep voice.

"We replayed the synaesthesia synchronization footage of the training mecha afterwards, and saw that the two trainees thought they were fighting a third-level monster 'Avenger', and the location and scene were in Jakarta. According to later statistics, a total of five personnel died on the spot, including two trainees and three controllers in the command center. ”

General Kwon replied.

"The simulated training scene has been reproduced?"

Panticost was the first to ask about this possibility.

General Kwon shook his head:

"We have never arranged simulation training for the students to be a Level 3 monster."

"Hoyazi and Doris, have they ever experienced a monster attack?"

Panticost asked again.

Panticoster recalls the first time he loved Raleigh Beckett and his adopted daughter, Mako Mori.

At that time, Raleigh recalled the battle with the monster "Scythe Head", in which he lost his brother. His memories are so surging that they trigger Mako Mori's memories and make her too fall into memory and believe it: she remembers the monster that attacked Tokyo and killed her parents.

The synchronization accident almost made a big mistake - Mako Mori nearly fired the plasma cannon of the "Dangerous Wanderer" inside the Shattered Dome.

"Nope."

However, General Kwon shook his head and denied:

"Hoyazi is from Rio de Janeiro and Doris is from Johannesburg, and neither of them has ever been to a city that has been attacked by monsters."

"Well, it's not their memories."

"Yes, that scene is like simulation training, but it's more ...... Authentic. ”

"Then the accident is not an accident."

"I don't think it's an accident."

General Kwon said with great certainty:

"It was a sabotage, and murder."

"There must be moles and spies among us...... You've sealed off the Shattered Dome, have you? ”

Panticost asked.

"Yes, Marshal, as soon as the accident happened, I ordered the entire Broken Dome to be sealed off."

General Kwon replied.

"Good."

Panticus nodded and asked:

"Before Hoyazi and Doris entered the 'Eden Assassins', who else entered the head control module of that training mech?"

"All the trainees went in and visited."

"You mean, the new cadets are suspicious?"

"The possibility of mecha maintenance personnel is not ruled out either."

"Is there any news from the outside world?"

"Yes, video footage of the mecha 'Eden Assassin' uncontrollably destroying the Shattered Dome base has appeared on the Internet, and the cult organization War Demon God has declared responsibility for the incident."

"Bang!"

Panticoster slammed his fist on the table.

"All the personnel in the Shattered Dome base, screen them one by one! Re-review everyone's files, including past experiences and family circumstances, and assess their psychological condition. ”

"Yes, Marshal."

……

K-Science Laboratory.

Fu Qinghai sat in front of his computer, using a search engine to retrieve information about "monster believers" — in fact, quietly inserting an artificial intelligence chip into the chassis.

"Monster Worship Revealed".

Kelly Kelisky is a ZNN correspondent.

Fu Qinghai found a video of an interview from a few years ago.

Click on the video:

"Hello audience friends, I'm Kelly Keliskey, and this is the border of the San Francisco Quarantine Zone. It was in this place that the first monster, the 'Invader', finally fell, and the Air Force of the Kingdom of Glory dispatched multiple units to attack together, and used tactical nuclear weapons for the first time on the territory of the Kingdom of Ring. ”

A white man in a shirt and no tie stands in the middle of a ruin, holding a microphone and talking to the camera, the camera slowly pulls in behind him as he is introduced.

It is the forgotten cemetery of San Francisco.

Fu Qinghai recognized it.

"The area near the border of the quarantine zone has become a terra nullius and is full of disgruntled and rebels. Today, the Wormhole Church holds daily religious ceremonies, and it is one of the most well-known local sects of monster cultists today. ”

"Yes, you heard it right. Monsters emerge from wormholes to plague the world and destroy civilization, but they still have no shortage of fanatical admirers. You may never believe it, but there are people here who worship the monsters! ”

"We tried interviewing several church leaders, but none of them wanted to be on camera. They call the monsters kings, saying that they are the lords of the world on the other side of the wormhole. ”

"The membership of the Wormhole Church has grown steadily every year, but there has been a sharp drop in 2023, when there were only two monster attacks. At the time, it was thought that the monster seemed to stop there, but last year's facts proved that very wrong. The number of monster attacks became more frequent, and the number of members of the Wormhole Church skyrocketed. ”

"As you can see now, many people gathered here for the 'Sunset Ceremony' to commemorate the moment when the last nuclear bomb was dropped on the 'invaders', because that moment marked the first time that a foreign invader died at the hands of humans."

"Let's take a look at the scene. Robert, turn the camera over there. The audience in front of the TV didn't want to miss the scene – we saw hundreds of people walking to the border of the quarantine zone with candles in hand, chanting prayers over and over again. They believe that the monster is a messenger sent by God or the universe to remind us that human beings have seriously damaged the earth's environment and are not qualified to continue living on this planet. ”

"The Combined Pacific Rim Defense Force is unimpressed with the Wormhole Church, and they politely declined my request for an interview, but I can tell you that the PPDC is always on the lookout for any religious services of the Church, and perhaps the activities of the Wormhole Church will give them some clues to guess the target of the monster's next attack."

"San Francisco is definitely the place where monsters feel the most at home."

"Click", the video ends.

"Hmmm......"

Fu Qinghai supported his cheek with one hand and frowned in thought.

Sometimes he thinks:

I can't understand the people on the other side of the ocean, nor the government on the other side of the ocean.

Why do people worship monsters?

Stockholm syndrome?

Why should the government let it go?

Just because of the so-called freedom?

"From the time of the first monster invasion, there were those who believed that they were messengers sent by God to punish humanity for their sins. Slowly, these people found each other, and also found organized religions based on such ideas. ”

A voice came from behind Fu Qinghai.

It's Dr. Herman.

"They build temples, sing hymns, show faithfulness, and hold celebrations in the bodies of dead monsters. Most of these religions, no matter how self-deluded and obnoxious, are not dangerous. They will take medicine made from certain body parts of the monster. Some people also set up a tea party to kill themselves, and the tea they drank was brewed from dehydrated monster bodily fluids. ”

"The Demon Gods of War, on the other hand, are violent extremists who have always wanted to destroy the PPDC, and they have launched several attacks to try to sabotage mech hunters, or assassinate pilots and scientists, but never before have they been able to lead to such serious consequences as the accident just now.

Dr. Herman explained to Fu Qinghai.

Fu Qinghai quietly pulled out the chip, shrugged and said:

"Really...... Unbelievable, unbelievable. ”

"What's unimaginable about this, isn't it the Christian theory of original sin, all human beings are born sinful."

Dr. Newton's voice interjected:

"Thousands of years ago, the Huns invaded Europe, and hundreds of years ago the Mongols invaded Europe, and the Christians in Europe did not bow down to the invaders, believing that the invaders were heavenly soldiers sent by God to help them drive out the Ottoman pagans, and called them 'God's whips', and religion is so ridiculous."

Dr. Newton was a native of the country, and he usually dressed like a hippie, so he naturally did not have a good face for old Europe and Christianity. Of course, hippies and Beat are not good things for the countrymen.

Fu Qinghai agrees with Dr. Newton.

It's a pity that he couldn't find any clues about the monster cult "God of War Demons" from the Internet.

Then the three of them talked about something else, and then continued to study the monster step by step.

Until a Chinese man in a military uniform walked into the laboratory.

"Dr. Fu Shan, please come with me."

The other party said politely.

Fu Qinghai turned his head and looked, yo, Zhang Jin.

The second familiar face besides Jing Tian.

"Okay, General Quan."

Fu Qinghai put down his work and followed the man away.

……

Today's training is about dagger fighting and monster knowledge: including the dissection of monsters from the past, biological weapons, and more.

Fu Qinghai can completely remember this superficial knowledge with just a glance, but after all, not everyone has the brain of Moduoke.

The cadets returned to the dormitory exhausted.

However, the atmosphere was somewhat odd.

Everyone is clearly preoccupied.

"They think the saboteurs are among us."

A student breaks the silence:

"I think they might be right."

"I don't believe it."

A boy said angrily:

"I haven't done it, and I don't think the murderer is among you, so why would anyone do such a thing?"

"The heart is separated from the belly."

A girl replied lightly:

"Everyone has their own secrets, and anything can happen when the timing is right."

After saying that, she glanced at Zofia, meaning something.

Zofia sat silently on her bed, quietly listening to the discussion of her classmates.

Although she was close to a perfect score in each of her courses, she failed repeatedly in the level of synaesthesia synchronization, and Zofia had already changed six synchronization subjects, but she was always unwilling to let go of her heart and reveal her heart, which made the other students extremely curious.

If this development continues, this beautiful girl will be eliminated by the Hunter Academy sooner or later, and her desire to become a mecha hunter is so strong that almost everyone knows it.

"Maybe."

A student helplessly spread his hands and said:

"Maybe the bad guys are among us, maybe the real ones can easily frame us. But we don't even know why they suspect us. All we know is that they are interrogating everyone in the Broken Dome. ”

"All of us have entered the head control cabin of the training mecha, two people at a time, each of us has time to commit crimes, have you seen any unusual behavior from others?"

One of the students asked thoughtfully.

"Please, don't try to be a detective, okay? What can a group of our trainees do in the control cabin? ”

Another student asked rhetorically.

"I don't know much about you yet, but I don't think anyone would go to the trouble of coming to the Hunter Academy just to install a loophole program inside a training mech. If it were me who carried out the sabotage, I would have waited for an opportunity to make an uproar, not like the current one. ”

"Indeed." Someone chimed in, "That makes more sense." ”

"Everybody......"

A student from the Wa Kingdom spoke.

Everyone looked at him in amazement, because the introverted boy rarely spoke.

"The murderer may be among us." "We may not even notice it," he said. My father, who works for Interpol, said that some gangsters know how to use Pons bridging devices to turn people into zombies — no, not zombies, that's not quite right. It's about putting some kind of instruction into a person's brain, and then those people forget about it. ”

"Zombies? Are you serious? ”

A student asked with a look of disbelief.

"My father never jokes about such events, anyway, if you suddenly have some weird thoughts, or if you have a sudden fragment of memory......"

His voice grew quieter.

"Then you might just be a zombie."

Someone helped him add unfinished words.

The more Zofia listened, the more magical she felt.

Synaesthesia and Pons bridging devices still have this effect?

How does it sound so much like Instruction 66 from Star Wars?

Zofia ignored the little boys, and under their suspicious gazes, she got up and left the dormitory alone.

Zofia felt that this matter was not trivial, and she wanted to tell Fu Qinghai immediately, and he would make an accurate judgment.

However, when Zofia arrived at the K-Science Laboratory, she was told by two other doctors:

Dr. Fu Shan has been taken away by General Quan.

…………

------Off topic------

Thank you, the tractor driver, the great sage of Mars, and the tips of two book friends.