Chapter 49: Tactical Deception

When that elemental lifeform, dazzling like a starry river, cast its completely pure "gaze" upon their small fishing boat, Lin Jie and the others felt their hearts skip a beat.In that moment, they forgot their exhaustion and forgot the danger, leaving only an ultimate awe born from directly meeting the gaze of another great consciousness from a higher dimension.

The magnificent creature seemed to be "assessing" them.

It could discern that it was the peculiar power released from that inconspicuous corner of this very boat that interrupted those mortals' blasphemous ritual at the most critical moment, thus giving it the opportunity to break free from its restraints.

After a suffocating stare lasting several minutes, the UMA slowly nodded its head, expressing silent gratitude toward them.

Then its mountainous massive body sank back into the dark green waters of Loch Ness amidst a soft blue light.

The enormous whirlpool on the lake's surface subsequently calmed.

Only the wreckage of the steam launch, still bobbing up and down in the distance, remained.

"It... it... it saluted... us..." The old scholar Alistair was so moved that tears welled up in his eyes. Trembling, he took off his hat and bowed deeply toward the center of the lake.

Meanwhile, Veteran William was the first to regain his composure and vigilance after the immense shock.

He didn't dwell on the miraculous experience, but immediately turned his gaze toward the torn-apart ship.

"Lin Jie." His voice was low and forceful, "There might still be survivors on that main launch."

"If we don't deal with them completely, then all the information about what happened here tonight, including our presence, will soon be delivered inside the Eternal Serpent cult."

William's words instantly jolted Lin Jie awake from his awe.

William was absolutely right.

The battle was far from over.

Clearing the battlefield was always the most important and most dangerous phase following any victory.

"We must go over." Lin Jie immediately made the decision, his eyes turning sharp again, "Before they successfully send a distress signal, we need to destroy all their communication equipment, and extract as much information as possible about their organization from any survivors."

"How do we get over?" Alistair asked with some concern, pointing at the waters full of hidden reefs and ship fragments, "Our boat has quite a deep draft, forcing our way closer might cause an accident."

"We don't need the boat." Lin Jie's gaze fell on a spare coil of climbing rope on the boat, "Sergeant William, do you still have enough stamina to support a long-distance swim?"

A trace of a veteran's pride appeared on William's face.

"The straight-line distance from here to that wreck doesn't exceed two hundred meters. In the Royal Marines assessments I took in my youth, this was just an appetizer."

The plan was settled immediately.

Lin Jie and William took off their soaked heavy coats, keeping only their close-fitting garments.

William tightly wrapped his Colt revolver and military knife in oilcloth and tied them to his back.

Lin Jie followed William's example, wrapping the Cursebreaker Vambrace and Serene Heart multiple layers in oilcloth as well.

The two men transformed into two agile swimming fish and slipped into Loch Ness.

The icy lake water pierced through their skin, quickly cooling their heated brains.

Led by William, they swam toward the wreck in the most efficient and energy-conserving manner.

When they finally exhausted, climbed onto the steam launch—which was covered in shattered metal and twisted decks from being torn apart by the whirlpool—they saw corpses everywhere on the ship.

Some had been smashed against the gunwales by giant waves, others had been scalded to death by out-of-control steam pipes.

And in the ship's command room, they found their targets—three survivors huddled together, trembling uncontrollably.

One of them was precisely the black-clad leader who had commanded the entire battle earlier.

They were all injured, and the madness belonging to fanatics had been replaced by boundless fear.

After witnessing the irresistible "Divine Punishment," their seemingly solid faith had clearly wavered.

When they saw Lin Jie and William—two people who shouldn't be here—appear dripping wet before them, despair flashed in the black-clad leader's eyes.

"Which organization are you..." He still wanted to say something, but William's dark gun muzzle was already pressed against his forehead, making him swallow all his words.

Under William's murderous interrogation, these survivors who had long lost their will to fight spilled everything they knew like beans poured from a bamboo tube.

They confirmed they belonged to the "Eternal Serpent cult," that this operation's codename was "Prometheus' Draw," and its purpose was to capture the Primordial Dragon Species to provide the core divine blood for the final ritual in Paris.

However, when William asked about their base location in Paris and the specific details of the final ritual, a strange, mocking smile appeared on the black-clad leader's face.

"It's useless... even if you kill me, you won't find anything..." he said bitterly, "Every high-ranking member among us has had a 'Cognitive Shackle' personally placed in our brains by the great 'Mentor'."

"Any attempt to leak the organization's core secrets will..."

Before he could finish his words, his pupils suddenly dilated, and an expression of extreme pain appeared on his face.

A black snake-like pattern rapidly emerged from beneath his skin, and then his entire head exploded like a crushed watermelon!

The same scene simultaneously played out on the other two survivors.

Lin Jie's heart turned icy cold.

This cult organization's secrecy and cruelty far exceeded his imagination.

They actually used such methods to ensure absolute secrecy.

"Damn it!" William cursed under his breath.

The only lead had been cut off just like that.

At that moment, Lin Jie's gaze was drawn to a brass telegraph machine, splattered with blood and brain matter, lying beside the headless corpse.

The machine's panel was rhythmically flashing with a faint green light, seemingly receiving inquiry signals from a distant place.

These three had been trying to contact headquarters!

A bold "tactical deception" plan surfaced in Lin Jie's mind.

He couldn't let the other side know the operation here had failed.

On the contrary, he needed to send them the false impression that the "operation had succeeded"!

Thereby buying the most precious strategic buffer time for I.A.R.C.'s subsequent investigation!

But there was one problem.

He knew nothing about operating this alchemical telegraph machine, let alone the other side's contact codes.

"Sergeant William, help me hold him down!" Lin Jie pointed at the headless corpse that had triggered the self-destruct mechanism but was still twitching slightly, speaking quickly.

Lin Jie took a deep breath and pressed his palm directly against the corpse's neck, which still retained some warmth but no longer had a brain!

Reverberation Touch.

He was going to extract crucial intelligence from the final residual memories before this corpse's death!

This perception was filled with blood and frenzy.

But Lin Jie endured the immense discomfort and finally captured a series of fragmented operational images about "tapping frequency," "crystal tuning," and "rune response" from the chaotic reverberations!

He abruptly withdrew his hand and immediately sat before the blood-stained telegraph machine. His fingers began tapping on the complex panel in a stiff manner.

What he sent out was a message composed of several meaningless words, but with the exact same tapping rhythm and intervals as what he had just "read"... the false information: "Operation successful, target captured, returning to base."

A moment later, the flashing green light on the telegraph machine stopped.

Lin Jie understood he might not be able to deceive the other side for long.

But as long as he could buy even one day for the Association, allowing him and William to safely return to London with firsthand intelligence, then tonight's thrilling operation would have achieved ultimate victory.