stjorthotic Chapter 194 Adam's Guidance
Chapter 194 Adam's Guidance
Chapter 194 Adam's Guidance
After being promoted to "Witch", the appearance of "Evan" in the mirror, and seeing the ugliest and most evil side of the upper class through Natasha, made Evan see herself clearly.
He wasn't the high-ranking intelligence officer with a promising future and immense power that outsiders perceived him to be, nor was he a nobleman who believed he was born to be part of the ruling class. He was just an "ordinary person" who still had a shred of conscience and wanted to strive to reach the very top.
He both loathed his former cowardly and timid self, yet could not abandon the last shred of conscience, possessed empathy for the weak, and naturally felt a strong aversion to injustice and oppression.
Ivan, a victim of the Tingen scam, can face it calmly because, ultimately, they too joined the scam for profit, much like someone in a past life who borrowed money to speculate in stocks, only to lose everything and jump to their death.
Evan felt nothing for these people; if he felt any guilt, it was only towards the affected lower-class people.
But everything I saw at Viscount Morgan's mansion today reminded Evan of his past life, when his parents died.
And the little bully who mistreated him, and the teacher who stood by and watched indifferently.
The nobles, relying on their power, status, and money, wantonly trampled on defenseless young girls—a situation strikingly similar to what he had faced in his previous life.
In his previous life, Evan only faced bullying from his peers. When he picked up a brick and fought back, he could improve his situation. But what about those trembling girls outside?
Whether it was to incite internal conflict within Rune or for some personal reasons, Evan was intent on doing something.
Everything that happened outside the villa can ultimately be attributed to systemic problems; eliminating certain individuals does not solve the fundamental issue.
Based on past experience, in the long run, what needs to be done is to unite the lower classes, win over the middle class, and launch a counterattack against the ruling class.
But this world has extraordinary power, and the ruling class is very difficult to shake. Therefore, the most feasible solution at present is to promote internal reforms within the ruling class.
After much back and forth, what George III had to do turned out to be what Evan had to do as well.
Then it becomes clear what Evan should do in the future: disrupt the slave trade chain from the sea to Backlund, making it more difficult to build George III's mausoleum and interfering with his plans, all for his own benefit.
On the other hand, they actively promoted George III's reform plans, and with George III's covert support, stirred up contradictions within MI9 and the political arena, accelerating reforms within the ruling group.
As a result, Duke Negan will also be on Evan's kill list.
Prior to this, Evan was indifferent to whether Duke Negan was alive or dead, especially after confirming that Robert had reached an agreement with Duke Negan, and even wanted to profit from it.
Now that Evan has decided to push for reform, the Duke of Negan, the biggest stabilizer in politics, can no longer be allowed to exist.
"You need to keep an eye on when the slave trade ships at sea will dock, and notify me immediately if you have any news, understand?"
Having figured out what he wanted to do in the future, Evan directly instructed Natasha.
"Yes, my lord, it is not difficult at all."
As Evan's prisoner, Natasha had no power to resist his orders.
"The person in charge of capturing slaves in this slave trade chain should be your 'sister' Tracy. You told me before that Tracy is a 'Pleasure Witch' like you. Take this opportunity to find out more."
Has she advanced?
Evan suddenly remembered something and instructed Natasha again, saying that he had already advanced to become the Witch of Pleasure.
As he had expected, the "Conspirator" and "Pleasure Witch" potions were mostly digested immediately after being taken.
Evan now needs to start preparing for the next general ascension. There are quite a few witches who appear in the original work.
However, there are only two Sequence 5 Pain Witches.
One is Triss, whom Evan would never dare to target. Triss is currently under the watchful eyes of all the angels and the true gods, and Evan would never lay a finger on her.
The other one is Tracy, the "Disease Lieutenant General" who will replace Zillingus in the future.
He is also the daughter of the "ageless beauty" Katrina Pelle, and is Natasha's half-sister. The two have always been rivals.
Evan had previously asked Natasha, who possessed all her previous memories, whether she knew Tracy was still Sequence 6.
The "Pleasure Witch" is not the "Pain Witch" of the future Sequence 5.
They were the two children of Katerina Pelle who hated their female identity the most, and could also be called the most "talented" children, and were also in a competitive relationship.
However, due to Evan's presence, Katarina Pelle is clearly dissatisfied with Natasha and may support Tracy to become the "Witch of Pain" ahead of time. If given the opportunity, Evan would love to accept his extraordinary characteristics.
"Besides, I've already won over Helen of the Gnostic Society. You can discuss things yourselves and have some competition. This will be beneficial for improving your status within the organization. Here's her address. Find a time to meet with her."
As he spoke, Evan sat down at Natasha's dressing table, took the pen Natasha handed him, and wrote down the address of Helen's current apartment.
Taking the note from Evan, Natasha noticed that Evan wasn't interested in staying overnight and was instead getting dressed.
Preparing to leave, he hurriedly stepped forward to serve her, and at the same time, trembling and hesitantly said:
"Should I stop the auction trading below?"
Evan paused in his dressing, then said:
"Don't call a halt. Send people down to conduct the bidding, auction off as many as possible, and then send them to—."
Evan suddenly realized that there were very few jobs suitable for them in this world, and most of the places that could provide jobs for women were textile factories.
The meager wages of textile female workers are unlikely to be enough to support themselves, so they often take on an additional job at night—as streetwalkers.
Moreover, all the girls who appear here are beautiful, yet they are rescued but then ignored.
They will face an even more tragic fate.
If rescuing them means turning them into prostitutes, or pushing them into another fire pit, then it's better to let them die sooner rather than later.
"Report to Katarina Pelle that you want to train some female witches as undercover agents to infiltrate the Gnostic Society in the future."
After some thought, Evan finally found a way out for these girls.
This suggestion really caught Natasha's eye. Although Natasha had become Evan's "captive," she still had the potential for a promotion. This suggestion might help her regain Katarina Pelle's favor and perhaps even get her promoted again.
Even though he was an evil spirit from the "City of Calamity" released by Evan, the desire for universal evolution was irresistible to her; it was the instinct of all living beings.
"As for future slave trade, let's reduce its scale as much as possible, but everything else will remain the same."
Having decided the fate of more than a dozen girls outside the villa, Evan hesitated for a moment before specifically explaining the future arrangements.
Rescuing the dozen or so girls outside was already the limit of Evan's abilities; any more significant action would attract the attention of those with ulterior motives.
Moreover, Evan couldn't give up this channel that could gather a lot of intelligence, so he could only give these instructions.
Thinking about this, Evan felt somewhat ridiculous; he was truly wanting both ways, utterly hypocritical.
Natasha, however, didn't have many thoughts on this and simply agreed.
After leaving Viscount Morgan's mansion, Evan estimated the time; two hours had passed since he left MI9.
It's estimated that MI9 has already located Qilingus, and he needs to go back and wait for the results.
As soon as Evan returned to his MI9 office, before he could even have a cup of tea, the duty secretary told him that the team that had captured Zillingus had returned and instructed him to go to the large conference room on the third floor for a meeting.
Evan straightened his uniform and headed to the main conference room, but was stopped in the corridor by Fors and Hugh Deercha, who briefed him on the day's operation.
"Today, we took the action team and went to find the informants who gave me the missions one by one. We eventually discovered that a small gang leader in the East District who controlled a large number of homeless people and beggars had an accident at home. At the same time, we discovered the whereabouts of Qilingus, who had been secretly spying on us."
Just as the action team was about to take action, an explosion suddenly occurred nearby, disrupting their movements and allowing Zilingus to seize the opportunity to jump into the Tasok River and escape the scene.
It was later learned that the explosion was an accident caused by the Punisher squad capturing a wild Extraordinary.
After listening to Fors's report, Evan narrowed his eyes. He was almost certain that there were members of the Twilight Hermits among the Storm Church's Punishers, and that they were of a high rank.
From the original work, Evan knows that whether it was Ziringus, who failed to assassinate Duke Negan, or the "Apostle of Desire" who succeeded in assassinating him, their escape route was the Holy Wind Cathedral, a symbol of the Church of Storms in Backlund.
Assassinating Duke Negan was not as easy as it seemed. First, there was the issue of intelligence, especially the second time. Not only did they need to pinpoint Duke Negan's location, but they also had to lure Archbishop Snake of the Church of Storms out of Backlund. This required coordination from multiple parties and left no room for error.
From the original work, Evan had already determined that there was something wrong with the secretary next to Duke Negan, so who is the one with the problem at the Holy Wind Cathedral?
Evan had previously believed that extraordinary traits did indeed influence personality, and that the Storm Church was a bunch of grumpy old pigeons.
Since Robert converted and Evan had been in contact with the higher-ups of the Storm Church, they directly rejected the idea. They may be a bit impulsive, but none of them are stupid.
So, Archbishop Snake's easy departure from Backlund to pursue the fake Apostle of Desire could only mean that someone misled him at a crucial moment, and that the person who misled him must hold a high position in the Church of Storms.
Today's failed operation to capture Zilingus essentially proves Evan's point that the Storm Church has now been thoroughly infiltrated by Adam.
Seeing that Evan was silent and lost in thought, Fors and Hugh Deercha couldn't help but draw his attention back. They continued:
"None of that is the most important thing. What we want to tell you is that the task force today seems a bit off. They're too disorganized, so disorganized that we even think that even without the unexpected incident involving the substitute, they might not be able to capture Zilingus successfully, and even if they do, the losses will be heavy. Don't you think there's something wrong with that?"
Evan was taken aback, then thought about the whole story. Relying on his newfound sensitivity as a 'conspirator,' he immediately deduced how the capture operation would have been discovered if the Punisher team hadn't unexpectedly interfered, and who would have been the biggest beneficiary.
Without the interference of the Punisher squad, MI9's operations team might have been able to capture Zilingus using the "Level 1" sealed artifact, but they would have also suffered some damage.
Then the action team can take credit for their great achievements and lead the wounded soldiers to spread some strange rumors, such as: Evan is resentful of having his credit stolen, so he had his subordinates Fors and Hugh deliberately conceal some information and obstruct the operation.
Such rumors are neither acceptable to the public nor verifiable, but they can cause significant damage to MI9, which is at a critical juncture, and to Evan's faction.
It takes only a few words to spread rumors, but it takes a lot of legwork to refute them.
From this perspective, the intrusion of the substitute punishment agent, which disrupted the operation, actually saved Evan from a crisis.
Evan had just speculated that Adam might have used the Storm Church's informants to protect Zilingus so that the assassination mission could be completed smoothly, thus causing the operation to fail.
But if we follow this logic, wouldn't that also be considered helping Evan?
Did Adam realize that Evan had wanted to profit from Duke Negan's assassination, and was he using this incident to remind Evan not to get involved?
He went to Natasha's villa by himself. He truly witnessed the decadence of the nobility and became determined to reform the ruling class of the Kingdom of Rune. Was this the result of Adam's guidance behind the scenes?
Thinking of this, Evan felt a chill run through his body and mind, and he had Adam PTSD again. He felt as if there were a pair of golden eyes looking down on him from the sky above Backlund.
But Evan quickly overcame this fear, primarily because he had discovered early on that Adam could not directly hear his thoughts from the isolation of the City of Calamity, which gave him a basic sense of security.
Adam likely sensed through various clues that Evan knew about the assassination of Duke Negan and wanted to profit from it. So he subtly reminded Evan not to have any ulterior motives regarding Duke Negan.
Not only did he remind him, but he also guided Evan to develop the same impulse to reform the Kingdom of Rune, which would make Evan wholeheartedly agree with his decision to execute Duke Nigan.
Although Evan had no evidence to prove that Adam was targeting him, he was convinced of his own judgment.
At the same time, he was once again amazed at how terrifying the "audience" was. Even though he had the protection of the City of Calamity and Adam could not hear his thoughts directly, Adam still managed to figure out who he was through various signs and was able to successfully guide him.
Evan's logic of action completely changed from Adam's preconceived notions, like a train traveling on tracks.
The train was traveling in the direction of the laid tracks, not according to the conductor's orders.
Even though Evan has now discovered Adam's interference, he cannot change his mind about supporting the reforms.
Because of the profound influence of his previous life's education, one could say that Adam was incredibly adept at judging people based on their character.
Although Evan had approved of Adam and George III's reform measures due to previous events, it did not mean that Evan would allow Adam to manipulate him.
Even if Evan can only follow the tracks laid out by Adam, he will still make the train turn a corner or make a jump.
"I'll be targeting today's action team later, and you'll be there to testify."
Evan's mind raced; he thought of many things, but he didn't show it on his face. Instead, he gave Fors and Hugh some instructions.
Fors and Hugh exchanged a glance, realizing there was definitely something fishy going on, and quickly nodded in agreement.
Subsequently, a senior meeting of MI9 was held. First, Director Monet reported the failure of the operation, followed by Captain Johnson, the leader of today's operation, who reported on the relevant details.
Before he could finish his report, Evan interrupted him and asked several technical questions.
For example: Why wasn't a contingency plan in place for unexpected events?
Why were the relationships between the relevant parties not properly coordinated, leading to conflicts at the scene of the incident?
In response, the person in charge, Johnson, the captain of the action team, naturally had to argue, but he forgot the famous saying of Emperor Roselle: "If you want to condemn someone, you can always find a pretext."
Not to mention that he did have some ulterior motives beforehand and deliberately revealed a loophole.
If Zilingus is arrested and brought to justice, he can do whatever he wants based on his past contributions.
The fact that Zilingus wasn't arrested was a fatal mistake he made.
Given that Evan was deliberately targeting him, as long as he wasn't flawless and could be found to have faults,
This can lead to endless escalation and the error being magnified infinitely.
So Evan didn't waste any words and directly had Fors and Hugh come out to support the operation, proving that there were indeed oversights in the team's operation, and openly demanded that the relevant personnel be severely punished in front of everyone.
"Zilingus is one of the biggest pirates at sea. He has been attacking our citizens and merchant ships for years. His crimes are heinous. He is the seventh most wanted person in the kingdom."
People like him don't usually leave the country easily, but this time he risked leaving, and even after news of his departure was leaked and we were closely pursuing him, he still lingered there.
Something's definitely going on here, and it's definitely something big!
This enormous time bomb exists in Backlund, and our department and the three major churches are striving to eliminate it at all costs.
Just when we had a clue about him and started preparing to clear the minefield, the good situation was ruined because of some people's incompetence and their shady motives. This is unforgivable!
If this matter is not severely punished, then in the future, everyone within MI9 will begin to follow suit, becoming cowardly in official duties and eager for personal feuds. Where will the safety of the kingdom be placed then?
Evan unleashed a barrage of attacks, staring directly at the leaders who had opposed his leadership, his words unvarnished, accusing them of prioritizing personal gain over the normal operations of MI9.
The entire conference room fell silent for a moment.
"Ahem! Colonel Evan is exaggerating a bit. Captain Johnson's operation this time was indeed a bit careless, but it didn't amount to a private fight. Everyone here is a colleague and comrade-in-arms who protects the kingdom. What private fight is there? Colonel Evan's words are inappropriate."
The speaker was Evan's former superior, the one who introduced him to MI9, and also Evan's biggest rival within MI9: Major General Jonas, the deputy director of MI9.
At the previous meeting, it was he who took the lead in rejecting Evan's idea of leading the team to capture Qilingus based on Evan's strength. At the same time, the captain Johnson who led the team this time was also his right-hand man. Together with the previously captured captain Wade, they were the two hands that controlled the action team. They could be said to be his left and right hands.
Last time, Captain Wade took the blame for him and was already demoted to a sinecure. If he doesn't protect Captain Johnson,
All he had left in the field operations force was his direct subordinate team, so he had no choice but to speak up.
Moreover, he felt that he had seized on Evan's slip of the tongue, which was a very good opportunity. So he spoke very insidiously, directly slapping Evan in the face in public, saying that the internal harmony of MI9 was unusually good and there was no fighting. It was Evan who was restless, directly pushing Evan to the opposite side of everyone.
This was exactly the moment Evan was waiting for. If he didn't create an opening, Jonas, that old fox, might not be able to jump out.
Moreover, their relationship was unusual, and Evan didn't want to give others the impression that he was forcing Jonas too much, so he had to lure Jonas into breaking off relations.
"If what Deputy Director Jonas said is true, then MI9 is a monolithic entity?"
The intelligence system must never be monolithic. This is a consensus from the king to the ministers, to the members of parliament, and even to the general public. This is determined by the special nature of the intelligence department, and it is also the second red line for the intelligence department. The first line is "loyalty".
Therefore, upon hearing Evan's words, Deputy Director Jonas's expression immediately changed. Those high-ranking officials who had been about to voice their agreement and support, and who were also eager to see Evan make a fool of himself, all swallowed their words.
It emitted a series of strange noises, like a male duck being choked, which looked extremely comical.
And Evan didn't give Deputy Director Jonas a chance to explain at all, directly asking everyone present:
"I'm saying 'what if,' I mean 'what if,' we fail to capture Zilingus in a short time, and he actually causes some harm, who will take responsibility when the King and Prime Minister hold us accountable?!"
Upon hearing this, the conference room fell silent once more. The dozen or so deputy directors looked at each other, suddenly realizing that what Evan said made sense!
Qilingus's arrival on land this time was indeed puzzling. Everyone could basically tell that he was up to something big, but this excellent opportunity to capture him was wasted, and he has to explain himself to his superiors.
Moreover, if Zilingus were to commit any serious crimes in the future, his punishment would be even more severe, considering that this was a task personally assigned by the king.
If we don't quickly bring this matter to a conclusion, are we going to wait for the higher-ups to hold us accountable and make us take the blame?
Not to mention that Robert is sharpening his knives!
Thinking about this, some of the older folks who had always thought Ivan was too young and arrogant now felt that he was someone who truly cared about MI9, and they found him much more agreeable.