Chapter 131 The Order

Fang Tianan lowered his head, seemingly lost in thought, his voice sounding slightly weary.

"I think I know them."

This usually quiet old dog, unusually so, took the initiative to speak, which surprised He Feng.

The Azure, now venturing into the second-tier sea area alone, naturally knows less than this veteran.

It's good that Fang Tianan knows, but some things don't necessarily need to be known by ordinary people, especially in such a public setting.

Who knows what kind of mess these few words will escalate into?

"They might be members of the cult, they could..."

Before he could finish speaking, He Feng's scrutinizing gaze fell on him, and he glared at him fiercely.

The words stuck in his throat, and He Feng's seemingly unintentional gaze sent shivers down his spine.

It was obvious they wanted him to cover his mouth.

Fang Tianan immediately felt remorseful. He knew he shouldn't have said such things here, at least not here.

The dog furtively glanced back at He Feng's exhausted eyes, then nervously scratched the back of its head, trying to salvage the situation.

Then he chuckled awkwardly and said, "I'm old and my memory isn't good, so I definitely can't remember."

He was met with suspicious glances from the crowd, and he looked back at them with a helpless and bewildered expression.

He Feng could only sigh helplessly at the clumsy attempt to win him back, too exhausted to even complain. He tried to salvage the situation.

"Old Dog used to be a hired evolver, so he must have seen a lot of things. It's not surprising that he's forgotten a lot of things."

"I think he must remember one or two characteristics. We have too little information about the Black Abyss Sea, and we still need to rely on him. Let's give him some time."

After saying that, He Feng glared at him without any hesitation, almost explicitly reminding him.

The old dog looked at He Feng gratefully, his thoughtless and dejected attitude instantly vanishing.

He suddenly realized and pointed to the corpse's neck: "Look at my memory, thank you for reminding me, Lord."

"Look at the back of the neck. If there's a string of black grating lines on the back of the neck, then that's a member of the cult."

As Fang Tianan spoke, his gaze was fixed on his ankle. This evasive behavior allowed He Feng to keenly grasp the key location.

He instructed a few people to turn the body over, exposing his back to everyone so that it was facing the ground.

His scalp, ravaged by soil erosion, was covered with a few stray white hairs. The hair on the back of his neck and his beard was very long, making him look like a rice dumpling straight out of a tomb raiding novel.

Several crew members quietly surrounded the area, examining it very carefully.

"My lord, no tattoo was found on the back of the neck, but there is one on the ankle," the crew member stated after completing the examination.

He Feng squatted down and could only see a pattern similar to a barcode at his ankles, with identical long and thick bars.

"That means there's nothing unusual. There's no need for anyone to develop some pointless talents. After all, facts speak louder than words."

After confirming that he was alright, He Feng stood up, spread his hands, and smoothed things over for everyone, finally making amends for the old dog's recklessness.

The initial panic on the field gradually subsided; the corpse of an unknown force was far more frightening than the corpse of an ordinary vagrant.

With the evidence and He Feng's personal guarantee, everything returned to calm, instantly extinguishing the flames of rumors and unease.

"However..." He Feng's eyes were like stars as he turned and looked at Fang Tian'an, who had finally managed to escape the mire of controversy.

"I wonder who this cult you're referring to is. We, the crew of the Azure, are all eager to hear your opinion."

"Order, if the lord wants to know, you can tell him without hesitation." Fang Tianan recalled the information in his mind, quite frankly.

"There are only a few forces in our Black Abyss Sea: outposts, drifting fortresses, fleets composed of some refugee forces, and finally, the Order."

Outposts are regular forces, and it's best not to provoke them. They can chase you to death, and that's no joke.

The lords of the other two are already aware of this, so I won't go into detail. The most crucial one is the Order.

As he spoke, Fang Tianan's breathing became slightly heavier, and his voice trembled a little more.

"Those people are best avoided; they are no longer human."

The first and only time I encountered this was when I was still a fortress lord; I almost capsized the whole ship and all the crew.

At that time, a person wearing a purple robe stood in the distance, seemingly unafraid of anything on the ice, playing a bone flute. However, the sound of the flute was frighteningly loud even with a gentle whistle.

The sound was not only dizzying, but it could also control swarms of birds and beasts to climb onto your ship, all of them acting as if they didn't care about their lives.

Fang Tian paused for a moment, his pupils already dilated, trying to control himself from getting too caught up in the emotions of that apocalyptic scene.

"Later, weren't you still alive?" He Feng looked at the setting sun on the horizon, where the remaining clouds and the setting sun merged together, revealing a crimson apocalyptic scene.

"We're alive, but not because we won; we're more like we've eaten our fill." Fang Tianan chuckled blankly, his face pale with defeat.

"No weapon can withstand this kind of offensive. Believe me, apart from outposts that can establish a base on the reef, any drifting fortress would be doomed in this situation."

"Finally, the man in black stopped playing the flute, the monster tide receded, and I survived with the remaining small portion of the crew. After that, it was all after we found that blueprint."

While listening, He Feng's face twitched slightly, but he concealed it well, maintaining his identity as a quiet listener throughout.

"As expected, there was something wrong with what that Lord of the Rockburst said."

Although he only wanted to know about the overall situation of the Black Abyss Sea, he only needed to extract some keywords from his mouth.

But now that the person is dead, the vague feeling of being deceived has been slightly soothed.

He extracted key information about being able to manipulate monsters and control people's minds.

The dead cannot speak, but their actions can explain many answers.

He Feng, like a studious student, asked the key question directly.

"Could it be that all of them are mental evolutionists? Mental ability users aren't exactly a thing of the past. They could be considered a force to be reckoned with, but it's impossible for them to gather so many people."

"But... what if they have the ability to mass-produce evolved beings?" Fang Tianan thought for a moment and then suddenly asked.

"Improving ordinary people with no talent, or even those who cannot become evolvers, into evolvers that the Heavenly Gate usually looks up to and even wants to replace, might not be too difficult for them?"

Upon hearing this weighty viewpoint, He Feng's mind was instantly enlightened.

Indeed, this is an attractive condition enough that it would give an ordinary person the ability to overturn the card table, without any additional conditions.

As long as there are people, there will definitely be no shortage of market demand.

The thought of how difficult it was to fight that guy, and how many more monsters like that he would have to face in the future, made He Feng's hair stand on end.