YM778.TV Chapter 36: Cult
This isn\'t to say that the convicts were oppressed. They still have some form of freedom, allowed to roam the vicinity of the center\'s territory. However, the management imposed a curfew on them and they had to follow or else, they\'d be punished.
And even if the wardens could be stricter than this, some of them didn\'t have the heart to do that to these people...
The incident was certainly eye-opening, and just like most of the prisoners here, the wardens are also aware of what everybody who\'s been here went through. They\'d never admit this out loud, but deep down they sympathize with the fate of the convicts.
They\'re disappointed that someone decided to side with the demons, but honestly? None were surprised.
The wardens could see that the convicts looked less energetic than before, and they could understand why. The sudden invasion forced them to face how fragile their lives were. It\'s a crisp slap that awoke them to their reality. And because of their current situation, fear was starting to creep even closer to their hearts.
It\'s no surprise that the atmosphere within the center became much more solemn and dire compared to before. And nobody, not even the wardens or the Chief Warden himself, could change this.
If there\'s someone who refuses to wallow in this kind of atmosphere, it would be Cedric, who - despite losing a friend and being under close observation, still continued to train as his life depended on it.
...well, in hindsight, it kind of does, doesn\'t it?
The curfew and stricter security hardly affected his training regimen. He still went out during the day to practice his sword and cultivated the [White Lotus Core Technique] during the night whenever he didn\'t feel like sleeping.
Cedric was using every moment he could to increase his strength. He wanted to become more stronger now than before.
In his mind, he\'s really getting tired of crying about the unfairness of this life. He\'s tired of letting the world dictate how he lives. He\'s tired of losing the ones he loved, all because he wasn\'t strong enough to protect them.
He\'ll be damned if he still doesn\'t do anything about it with the gift he received. That\'s why he\'s pursuing a grand path for himself. One that would allow him to control his own life, not wanting to let anybody interfere with it anymore.
That being said, he still has a long way to go. He already theorized the best way for him to grow. It\'s still not complete, but for his immediate future, he already had everything planned.
Cedric\'s already establishing a path that would give him the perfect foundation for his future endeavors. It is nearing its completion so he just needs to have more patience.
Cedric was just about to return to his room, when all of a sudden, someone stood before him, blocking his path.
He raised his head and met the gaze of the warden. Due to his sharp senses, he could immediately tell that the warden was somewhat wary of him.
His sharp memory allowed him to gain some notion as to why this man felt this way. As far as he could remember, this man witnessed Cedric\'s act of razing through clusters of Beast Demons, reaping their lives like wheat.
The ease and swiftness with which he did so was certainly eye-opening — freakish, even. And he truly couldn\'t blame the man for being wary of him since, if he could do that to those demons, then who\'s to say that he couldn\'t do the same to him?
"What\'s up?" He asked. And he could\'ve sworn that he saw the man flinch every so slightly when he spoke.
"T-The Chief Warden wishes to talk to you." The warden spoke, trying his absolute best to be neither servile nor overbearing with his tone. He didn\'t want to offend this man, after all.
Cedric was slightly surprised about that. He wasn\'t expecting that the Chief would call for him. He didn\'t show his surprise though. Instead, he merely nodded and gestured for the man to lead the way.
Then, they made their way toward the Chief Warden\'s office. Upon entering, Cedric was immediately greeted with an unexpected sight.
The Chief Warden was currently at war...with paperwork, it seems. The man was mumbling things that the rest couldn\'t understand, but Cedric could.
\'Death to paperwork, death to paperwork, death to paperwork...\' he chanted this phrase over and over again as he went over the mountains of paperwork on his desk.
Cedric prevented himself from reacting. Instead, he just waited for what will come next.
"C-Chief..."
"WHAT!?"
"Eep!"
Cedric looked at the guy next to him incredulously. His senses didn\'t fool him. This guy was indeed the one who let out that scared squeak just now.
Before the warden could even say anything, he was interrupted by the Chief who had already seen Cedric.
"Oh, so you\'re here." The Chief regarded him with a huff, he then turned to the frightened guy and said: "Alright, scram now you!"
"Sir, yes Sir!"
The guy didn\'t even excuse himself to Cedric, which was rather rude, but meh...it was fine. Cedric\'s just a convict anyway, he doesn\'t deserve that kind of treatment.
"Sit." The Chief looked at him briefly before ordering and returning his attention to the mountains of documents on his desk.
Cedric followed obviously, and the office became silent after that. The Chief called him here but he had to talk to him yet, leaving Cedric alone with his thoughts.
\'The AC\'s nice at least...\' He muttered inwardly.
His room doesn\'t have an AC in it, so during the daytime it\'s hot and cold during nighttime. Though the shift in temperatures doesn\'t really bother Cedric much, especially now that he\'s changed, it would be nice to have it uniform.
Sadly, that kind of luxury wasn\'t meant for a convict like him...
"Ugh!!! Fucking losers...blaming me for something that\'s out of my control...hmph!"
Cedric blinked, but he refrained from commenting. He just watched as the hulking man suddenly raised his head and finally paid attention to him.
Unexpectedly, the man just rolled his eyes at him, which nearly made Cedric gawk in disbelief, thankfully though he caught himself before it happened.
The Chief then stood up and went to the nearby coffee machine to brew some for himself. It was then that he suddenly talked:
"...Cult of the Demon Saint. That\'s the name of the people that corrupted your friend."
"..."
Cedric wasn\'t expecting this. Here he thought that the Chief invited him here to interrogate him because he was close to Harold. It seems that he had a different idea in mind.
"They\'ve been around for a while now, but they\'re very low profile. So much so that we don\'t have much intel about them even though it\'s been years since we first caught their activities."
"..."
"Their whole ordeal was to apparently \'enlighten\' humans. Luring them to a false sense of belief that should they convert themselves into demons, all their misery and plight would disappear. They brainwash people, making them believe that by becoming demons, they would become divine beings with everlasting lifespans."
The Chief finished brewing his coffee so he returned to his desk. He\'s even nice enough to give Cedric a cup as well, which he obviously graciously received.
"...and they manage to hack the Monitoring Chips?" Cedric asked tentatively.
"Huh, you\'re a sharp one." The Chief grunted with a raised brow, he took a sip of his coffee and nodded. "Yes, they did. Nobody knows how they do it, though. And that\'s why my supervisors are chewing my ass out recently."
In Cedric\'s mind, the Cult\'s means were certainly threatening. If they could hack the Monitoring Chips, preventing the authorities from getting an accurate read on them, then they could certainly cause too much chaos in human society.
"Sounds unfair," Cedric replied, taking a sip of his coffee.
"Right!?" The Chief scoffed in disbelief. "Those sons of bitches couldn\'t spot it themselves if they were here, yet they have some gall to reprimand me? How ridiculous!"
"..."
"Hmph! Either way, what I\'m trying to say here is that your friend isn\'t entirely the one to blame here." The Chief continued, "Matter of fact, the appearance of \'Nodes\' is becoming frequent in many other RMCs out there."
"..."
"On one hand, it\'s bad news because many convicts are dying. On the other hand, it\'s good news since the more frequently they do this, the more chances we get to analyze their methods and figure out how exactly they\'re hacking the chips."
"I don\'t know if I\'m supposed to be worried or relieved by that."
"Both or neither..." The Chief shrugged. "I don\'t particularly care about what you feel anyway."
"..."