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Chapter 115: Intimidating Everyone Present, Who Is White Lotus Really? [22]

The President of the Truth Society wanted to talk to White Lotus and even left behind a brainwashed mutant in the laboratory for this purpose. It was hard not to draw attention with such actions.

The smile on White Lotus’s face gradually faded as she was being watched by everyone.

Could it be that the President of the Truth Society was intentionally setting her up after losing to her?

Very well, if that’s how you want to play it, then I’ll have to increase the intensity next time we meet. Even if I can’t kill you, I’ll at least remove your arms!

In silence, Beihim was the first to speak up: “Interesting. I was just worried about finding him, but now he’s voluntarily shown himself. I wonder what he has to say.”

As he spoke, he gave White Lotus a deep look, his eyes filled with meaning.

Then, he began to instruct the mechanical engineer accompanying the main force: “This is an opportunity. Try to track his signal. If we find his current location… the century-long history of the Truth Society will end today!”

Beihim suddenly sneered, as if knowing where the President of the Truth Society was would allow him to instantly teleport and defeat him.

White Lotus’s eyes twitched slightly. She raised her personal terminal: “Are you ready? If so, I’ll contact him.”

“Miss Silver Moon, please wait a moment.”

The mechanical engineer worked for several minutes, bringing in an external screen before signaling White Lotus to start.

White Lotus entered the number into her personal terminal. When the beeping sound came from the terminal, everyone held their breath.

A few seconds later, accompanied by a soft ding, an image appeared on the screen.

It was the President of the Truth Society, his face showing no expression.

To White Lotus, this was her second meeting with the President, but for the others present, especially those involved in intelligence work, it was undoubtedly a historic moment.

Since joining the intelligence department, they had heard the name of the President of the Truth Society constantly.

They had given him many nicknames and invited experts to draw portraits based on his actions and personality.

Those portraits often exaggerated his brutality and rudeness, like a bandit. A few portraits depicted him as exceptionally handsome to highlight his charisma, but even these portraits still portrayed a hint of ferocity in his eyes and corners.

However, when the President of the Truth Society truly appeared, all the agents were stunned.

He was too ordinary, just like any ordinary person they might encounter on their way to work every day.

White Lotus had thought the same when she first met the President, but her impression wasn’t as profound as Su Li’s because she had interacted with him for such a short time.

“Is this real?”

“Isn’t this a decoy?”

“If he really looks like this, doesn’t it mean that on some day in the past, when we were investigating him, he could have been sitting right next to us?”

People found it difficult to change their existing perceptions.

Ignoring the others around her, White Lotus said, “I heard you want to talk to me?”

The President extended his right hand and made a gesture of four: “Since your name appeared in the combat report, I’ve lost to you four times. It’s been many years since I last felt this way.”

“This isn’t the end,” White Lotus replied.

The President didn’t get angry: “But I don’t think so. The small skirmishes are over, White Lotus. This will be your closest attempt to kill me!”

Before White Lotus could respond, Beihim couldn’t hold back anymore.

He laughed mockingly: “A rat in a gutter dares to make such bold statements? Next time we meet, I’ll personally twist your head off!”

The President remained calm, merely saying one word: “Leave.”

That word hit Beihim like a bullet to the heart.

“Half-breed, do you think you’re worthy of making me leave? If you have any ability, come out now!”

The President stared silently at Beihim.

Beihim wanted to continue cursing, but suddenly felt as though he had fallen into an ice pit, with a chill running from his coccyx to his skull, causing his body to uncontrollably tremble.

Did he actually scare him?

Beihim, enraged and humiliated, was about to act when Ding Hongtao from the Human Alliance stopped him.

“Shut up, now is not the time for this nonsense.”

Not only Ding Hongtao, but the others also had unfriendly gazes, except for those from the Former Republic. Beihim reluctantly closed his mouth.

White Lotus raised an eyebrow and asked, “Did you go through all this trouble just to give me a few harsh words?”

The President replied, “I’m very curious about who you are. I sent people to investigate your identity while you were working with the Gene Progenitor, but the report was blank.”

White Lotus said, “Is it possible that my past is as ordinary as my appearance, so ordinary that it seems like a blank slate?”

The President shook his head: “It’s fine if you don’t want to talk about it. I’ve already sent people to investigate. I think others are also curious about your true identity.”

White Lotus: “…”

See, no one believes the truth. I have no choice but to keep it mysterious and let them imagine more.

You’re really making things hard for me!

“White Lotus, we don’t need to be enemies. If you’re willing to surrender and join the Truth Society, I can forgive all your past offenses and share advanced spiritual energy knowledge with you.”

The President said this, and many eyes fixed on White Lotus.

White Lotus remained calm: “We can’t agree on the same path.”

“Alright,” the President nodded. “I’ll give you one chance. Since your answer is rejection, you’d better hide. Otherwise, the next time we meet, it will be your end. No one can save you!”

White Lotus smiled: “Although you’ve been troubling me and threatening my life multiple times, I don’t harbor any hatred towards you. If not for you, I wouldn’t have progressed so quickly. So, next time we meet, I’ll let you live with a whole body.”

“You have no idea where my limits lie!”

The President ended the conversation.

His face showed no abnormality, but his tone suggested he was on the verge of losing control.

White Lotus didn’t take it seriously. She turned to the mechanical engineer next to her and asked, “How is it? Did you find his location?”

The mechanical engineer looked embarrassed: “The other side has a mechanical engineer, and their skills are much higher than mine. All my attempts failed.”

Of course, I knew it would be like this.

White Lotus never had high hopes, so she wasn’t disappointed.

“You guys handle it yourselves.”

She told the people around her and started checking the other gains from this operation.

Besides the obvious gains, she received many hidden benefits.

After unlocking the quest for the “Other Psionic Primordial” upon finding the undestroyed blueprint, she gained 0.2% exploration progress. With the fall of the Marske Laboratory, her destruction contribution to the Truth Society increased from 11.45% to 22.61%, almost doubling. This indicated how important the laboratory was to the Truth Society.

However, these improvements were just numbers for now. To turn them into actual benefits, they needed to wait.

Currently, to gain more experience, besides having He Fu constantly producing cards, the main quest was the only option.

White Lotus already planned what to do after leaving the Marske Laboratory.

First, she would lift the recruitment restrictions for the Silent Courtyard and recruit more players to rebuild the Goli Desert. Then, she would complete the main and branch quests with the Former Republic and the Gene Progenitor.

Her dilemma was whether to go to the Former Republic or the Gene Progenitor first. The distance from the Goli Desert to these two powers wasn’t significantly different.

“From Pratt’s mission, it seems the Former Republic isn’t a good thing, but I have no grudge against them. So, I’ll deal with the Gene Progenitor first and then…”

“Wait!”

White Lotus was thinking when Beihim interrupted her thoughts. She looked up and saw Beihim glaring angrily at her.

“Don’t you think this conversation came suddenly?”

Su Li frowned: “What do you mean?”

Beihim said, “Could it be that this is a setup? Actually, White Lotus has secretly joined the Truth Society, and they’re using this method to help her shed suspicion so she can infiltrate our group? Of course, I’m just proposing a possibility. It might not be true, or it could be that the Truth Society wants us to think this way to stir conflict between us. Regardless of the truth, for safety reasons, I think we should review White Lotus.”

If Beihim’s first part sounded somewhat unreasonable, his second part made some people neutral. The people from the Human Alliance thought this way—they weren’t suspecting White Lotus and the Truth Society of collusion, just wanting to know who she really was.

With Beihim drawing fire, they didn’t need to do anything and could just act neutral.

Su Li immediately got angry: “Suspect White Lotus? Beihim, I suspect you have issues too. Can I review you?”

Beihim snorted: “If I remember correctly, you’re no longer part of the Railway Guild’s intelligence department, right?”

“Whether I am or not is none of your business. If you want to cause trouble, don’t blame me for not being polite!” Su Li directly showed her fist.

At this moment, White Lotus patted her shoulder, signaling her not to act impulsively.

White Lotus noticed early on that Beihim’s attitude toward her wasn’t good, and her affinity was negative, although not by much. She strongly suspected that Beihim’s hostility toward her had ulterior motives beyond just impulsive personality and disliking her.

“There’s something I need to clarify.”

White Lotus walked in front of the furious Su Li.

“I never intended to cooperate with the Former Republic. Therefore, regardless of my relationship with the Truth Society, it won’t affect you. Of course, you can use the pretext of fighting the Truth Society to forcibly review me, but if that’s the case…”

She paused, then suddenly raised her right hand.

Bright Burning!

Bang!

Three black beams of spiritual energy shot from her palm, shattering the nearby wall and even the specially reinforced ceiling of the laboratory, as if it were about to collapse at any moment.

White Lotus said, “I want to see if your body is tougher or if my strength is stronger.”

Beihim’s body froze.

He could feel that if those three impacts landed on him, he would surely suffer severe injuries.

“You… You broke through that barrier?”

Beihim’s voice trembled, and his words caused everyone’s hearts, including Su Li’s, to race. Damn, White Lotus must have unlocked a high-level profession!

This would change everything. An awakened high-level superpower would inevitably attract the attention of all forces!

The people from the Former Republic were on high alert, fearing that White Lotus might attack recklessly. Although they had high-level superpowers themselves, it was uncertain whether they could stop White Lotus. Even if they managed this time, could they defend against her next time?

A high-level superpower, if determined to target a faction, could create chaos and unrest within it through assassination alone.

Damn it, why did Beihim provoke White Lotus unnecessarily? Isn’t he a fool?

Seeing that the people from the Former Republic had nothing more to say, White Lotus confidently retracted her hand. Power was the key to speaking. If she hadn’t unlocked a high-level profession, this farce would have continued.

But Beihim’s actions solidified her resolve. Her next target would be the Former Republic. She needed to figure out the relationship between the Former Republic and the Holy Spirit Sect’s epidemic and also obtain the list of the Psionic Diffusion Committee stored by the Former Republic.

“Things here are mostly handled. I still need to go back and explain the situation to those undead people. Next time, I’ll come to thank you.”

Leaving these words to Su Li, White Lotus hurried away, eager to inform the players that He Fu hadn’t shipped yet. If delayed further, who knows what the players might do outside of the Cyber Funeral.

Su Li knew the situation was awkward, so she didn’t insist.

Once White Lotus left, everyone sprang into action, contacting their superiors with one message:

Investigate—find out White Lotus’s true identity. If the agents are insufficient, even those undead people should help investigate!

Thus, following the Truth Society, the Railway Guild, the Former Republic, and the Human Alliance players joined the investigation into White Lotus’s identity.

[Ultimate Puzzle: Who is White Lotus Really?]

[Alien? Native genius? Or a reclusive master?]

The topic grew hotter.

Among those contacting their superiors, Beihim stood out as special.

“I originally wanted to investigate her connection to Pratt’s disappearance, but I underestimated her strength. She is actually a high-level superpower. This plan has completely failed. She’s very dissatisfied with us. It seems we’ll have to change our approach.”

“Let those undead people investigate.”

“Yes, I understand.”

Beihim ended his conversation with his superior. He was very troubled. If White Lotus knew the secrets Pratt held, it would be a huge blow to the Former Republic. He could only pray that Pratt’s disappearance had nothing to do with White Lotus.

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