CHAPTER 211: UNCOVERING PLOTS

Uncovering Plots

"Haa~. How did I do?" Irene asked with a slightly nervous expression as the group exited the meeting hall.

"I think you did pretty good." Kurt said immediately, and Irene glared at him.

"Of course you’ll say that." She looked past the very confused boy towards Osho and Ellie.

"It was good," Osho said with a smile.

"Yeah. Very professional." Ellie concurred, and only then did Irene let out a relieved sigh. Part of her course included presentations and speaking to important people, so the group agreed to make her the one to take the helm at the meeting, and it seemed like she delivered.

As for the meeting itself...

"You guys ready?" Mrs Jane came up beside them, and the group nodded.

"Alright, follow me."

After that, they all went to William’s office, and the place already had quite a few people.

Other than William himself, Timothy, Major Thompson, Haggai, Aaron, Simon, Stephen, and surprisingly, Fredrick, were all there.

"I brought them." Jane said, and as soon as everyone filtered in, the windows to the room went dark as everything happening within was hidden from the outsude world, and a few lights illuminated the inside.

Once the group was seated on one of the many couches, William looked straight at Osho and asked directly.

"So, what did you find?" Hearing this, Osho looked at Gale, who nodded, then he exhaled and tapped his watch.

A few holograms were projected, each of them showing a specific person. 5 men and 2 women.

"These are the ones who were the most suspicious during the meeting." Osho said, and everyone’s eyes shifted to the holograms, each of them showing differing expressions.

"I see." William said with a sigh after a few seconds, and his gaze shifted towards Thompson, whose expression was tight.

One of the holograms showed the image of a woman, one he was quite familiar with.

Sarah, his assistant.

As for what exactly happened?

Well, the meeting was a ploy.

Sort of.

After a lot of investigation, a lot of the people in the room realized that some things just did not add up during both situations. The lack of proper evidence for many things and high number of questions made things. A bit suspicious.

As such, Osho had devised a plan.

Everyone who was called into that meeting was everyone who had a significant position to affect what happened during the Beast tide and the entrance exam in some way.

When Irene shared some of the pieces of ’evidence’, Gale would use that chance to observe the reactions of the people inside.

She mixed some truths with lies. Some of the evidence she claimed they had was simply there as a smokescreen... But some were real.

"They are the ones who showed the oddest reactions to the evidence we provided. Everyone else felt impressed or happy at the news, but despite looking outwardly satisfied, they are the only ones who either seemed worried or downright angry at our findings." Osho rubbed the bridge of his nose.

"That said..." He trailed off, and Gale continued.

"I could already see it on them." He gave his equivalent of a shrug.

"... See what?" William asked carefully.

"Corrupt Mana," He elaborated. "In their hearts, or souls, to be specific. Whoever, or whatever, put it there seems pretty good at hiding that sort of stuff. It was hard to see without making it obvious that I noticed something." As soon as he finished, the room became dead silent.

William let out a breath and rubbed his temples, while the others seemed to all have negative reactions. Even Timothy was frowning.

After a few seconds, William spoke again.

"Well, good job you two. Is there anything else?" At that, Osho looked at Gale who, in turn, tilted his head.

"... There is one more thing." He sounded slightly unsure, and everyone leaned in, curious to hear what he had to say.

"It wasn’t about the corruption per se. Actually, these guys," He gestured to the holograms. "Weren’t even involved." This caused some confusion.

"So... what is it?" Simon asked carefully.

"Well, two of the... delegates I think you called them. They were using some strange device to communicate. It didn’t give off any sound, but it used mana to send a sort of code between them. It was a bit complicated, but I managed to decipher it." He waved a wing, and a few strings of Mana appeared in the air.

They wriggled a bit, but soon, they became legible words, and what was on them made the faces of everyone turn dark.

[Phase 2 confirmed. Extraction of the stellar object most proceed before the Citadel Lord increases his influence further.]

[It must begin as soon as the attack commences to sow panic and distract them.]

[If possible, remove him quietly and replace him as soon as it begins.]

[The Blossom Assets shouldn’t be engaged directly. The target of interest will reveal himself soon enough.]

The room went dead silent.

William’s fingers tightened on his desk subtly, a vein slowly pulsing on his neck.

".... Remove him quietly, huh?" He said flatly, but the air around him suddenly became suffocating.

"They’re talking about you." Timothy pointed out grimly.

"No shit," William scoffed. "But besides that, extracting the smaller object... That should be the meteor. So assassination and resource theft. And to replace me too. Heh."

Meanwhile, Oshoke eyes narrowed.

’Blossom assets... I’m pretty sure that’s us.’

Not a very comforting though, to be honest.

"So they know about the meteor. Granted, we weren’t extremely subtle about it," Haggai tapped her tablet idly. "Gale, I think you are wrong about these two things being separate. If I had to guess, they are intrinsically connected. And if that’s the case..."

"This isn’t simple politics," Mrs Jane finished and leaned back into her chair. "They are trying to infiltrate us."

At this, William stood up slowly, his aura barely under control.

"Whatever it is that they’re planning, they’ve already begun. Our goal now is to find and stop them. ’Quietly’. Before they can make their next move."

’He seems really hung up on that thing.’ Osho noted before he glanced at Gale, and they nodded at each other.

There was something else that bothered him, though. It was that last lime.

[The target of interest will reveal himself soon enough.]

It didn’t take multiple brain cells to realize they were talking about him.

’Did they figure out my potential somehow?’ He wondered, and he was pretty sure he was right.

After all, the Abyssal Scrounger made it abundantly clear that its target was him. And how convenient was it that this was happening when their group returned to the Citadel?

’How irritating.’ Osho sighed as he thought back to before they started leaving, Veronica and Mateo had said something to their group.

’By the way, you aren’t going there JUST to find traces of corruption. We aren’t permitted to give you details. Just... things aren’t as they seem.’

"That makes a lot more sense now." He mumbled before he turned to Fredrick who hadn’t said anything word since the meeting began.

The guy looked... bored.

"Fredrick. You have some information?" Osho asked directly, and his brows raised in mock surprise.

"Oh wow. You actually remembered me. I’m touched."

"Be sarcastic like that again and I’m punching your teeth in." Osho was not amused.

"Okay okay..." Fredrick sighed and shook his head before looking around. Everyone was staring at him expectantly.

"Things are far more complicated than they seem. Yes, even more complicated than what’s happening right now." His face turned more serious.

"This isn’t an isolated event. My investigations over the past year have proved quite fruitful, and as it turns out, there are several other Citadels that have received the treatment we are about to receive." Fredrick raised 3 fingers.

"These things have 3 things in common. They pick Citadels with unique key resources." That’s the meteor.

"The Citadel produced one or multiple highly talented individuals who happened to be around at the time of the ’attack.’." That was Osho and co.

"Finally, the Citadel should be in a state of rapid expansion for one reason or the other." The conquest on the ants.

"Among other things." He finished. His tone was light, but the implications of his words were anything but.

"So... they’ve been systematically and silently conquering Citadels, slowly increasing their scope of influence." Stephen said with a frown.

"That’s right, and ours happens to be next on their list." Fredrick nodded.

"... Right, you said these... entities are called the ’Outerplanar’, but you never actually elaborated." Timothy pointed out with a frown.

"You see, that’s interesting. I do have some info on them, but it’s not as much as our resident Legend-in-training." Fredrick smiled and looked back at Osho, who seemed like he’d been expecting to get addressed and was silently psyching himself.

"Yeah... Stellaris was quite rich in information regarding them. They weren’t very keen on sharing it, though, but I managed." He exhaled.

"It’s like this..."