I Pick Up Talents on the Interstellar Battlefield Chapter 954 - 623: Traitor Within, Catherine’s Return

Judgement Court Dungeon

Yan Qing said slowly, "Although Kawakado Itsuo doesn’t know the exact location of the Blood Demon Cult’s headquarters, multiple Blood Demon Cult strongholds in the Central Star Realm are directly under his control. From his memories, I obtained complete identity dossiers for dozens of the Blood Demon Cult’s core cadres."

At these words, a flash of delight appeared in everyone’s eyes.

Kawakado Itsuo is a Tier Eight Spiritualist, firmly seated among the very top ranks of the Blood Demon Cult. The strongholds and personnel directly under his command are, without doubt, part of the cult’s core strength.

The value of this Intelligence goes without saying.

However, by now the news of Kawakado Itsuo’s capture has surely already reached the Blood Demon Cult. Those core cadres whose identities have been exposed, as well as the strongholds he oversaw, must have long since carried out emergency relocation.

Fortunately, once an identity is exposed, no matter how they move or how they Disguise themselves, they are bound to leave traces like Spider Silk. As long as we follow these leads and trace them layer by layer, we will eventually find their tracks; it will not end with us gaining nothing.

"Aside from that, there is another key piece of information—about the Human Puppet Golem."

Yan Qing’s expression grew gradually more grave as he continued, "The Blood Demon Cult broke through the core technological bottleneck of the Human Puppet Golem twenty years ago and successfully produced the first Human Puppet Golem. Over these years, they have been crazily abducting all kinds of bloodline Spiritualists, continually iterating and upgrading their technology. Now the Refining techniques for Human Puppet Golems have become increasingly mature; even Tier Eight Beastman Royal Family members have been captured by them and turned into Golems. It is only that, in order to avoid arousing the Empire’s vigilance and encirclement prematurely, they have not yet dared to lay hands on the Holy Blood Direct Lineage."

"Human Puppet Golems..."

Everyone present had their faces harden in unison.

To be frank, over these years the Judgement Court has been constantly hunting the Blood Demon Cult. Although we have never managed to completely wipe them out, in the eyes of the Empire’s high echelon, the Blood Demon Cult has always been no more than a minor scab—like cockroaches in the gutter: annoying and hard to eradicate, but incapable of shaking the Empire’s foundations.

But now, the emergence of the Human Puppet Golem has changed all of that.

The Blood Demon Cult can take bloodline Spiritualists with formidable strength and Refine them into puppets that obey their every command. Even if there is some loss of combat power after Refining, the difference will not be great.

Once this technology spreads, and large numbers of Human Puppet Golems flood various regions, it will inevitably inflict a devastating impact on the Empire’s public security and governance.

What is even more worrying is that no one can guarantee that the Blood Demon Cult will not use this terrifying technology as a bargaining chip to trade with other anti-Empire organizations.

If those anti-Empire forces all gain mastery of the Refining techniques for Human Puppet Golems, then the entire Spiritual Energy community will be left in a state where everyone lives in fear, and the Empire’s rule will inevitably fall into unprecedented turmoil.

"We cannot allow them to continue developing!"

Pei Siqing spoke with iron resolve: "The Blood Demon Cult must be eradicated as soon as possible!"

Everyone nodded one after another.

Previously, the Judgement Court had many hostile forces to deal with—the Blood Demon Cult, the Xieshen Association, the rebel army, and so on. In terms of sheer destructive capacity, the Blood Demon Cult did not even measure up to some of the larger rebel organizations.

Yet now, with the maturation of Human Puppet Golem technology, the eradication of the Blood Demon Cult has already become the Judgement Court’s most urgent priority, a matter that brooks no delay.

Next, Yan Qing successively disclosed several other important pieces of Intelligence, ranging from the Blood Demon Cult’s resource reserves to their personnel deployments. The amount of information was large, the details were exhaustive, and this gave everyone a few more degrees of confidence and assurance in wiping out the Blood Demon Cult.

"Finally, from Kawakado Itsuo’s memories, I obtained another extremely critical clue—one that concerns our Judgement Court itself."

Yan Qing’s face grew solemn; his voice unconsciously sank a few degrees. His gaze swept slowly over every person present as he asked in a deep tone, "Do you still remember the several large-scale operations we once launched against the Blood Demon Cult? The Sunset Star Judgement thirty-five years ago, the Twin Stars Undercover Plan twenty years ago, and the Demon Hunt Operation fifteen years ago—these three were all key operations in which we invested massive manpower and resources, attempting to deliver a crippling blow to the Blood Demon Cult in one stroke."

Everyone nodded slightly.

At the time, they had obtained the Blood Demon Cult’s core Intelligence through multiple channels, and then adopted strategies such as "luring the snake out of its hole," "undercover infiltration," and "casting a long line to catch a big fish," seeking to feel out the cult’s core strongholds and uproot them in one move.

Regrettably, however, each of these operations ultimately fell apart at the last moment due to all sorts of sudden variables. Not only did they fail to inflict heavy damage on the Blood Demon Cult, they instead put the cult on alert, causing it to retract its tracks and greatly increasing the difficulty of subsequent arrests.

"You mean, there was something wrong with those operations?" Pei Siqing’s brows knit tightly.

Yan Qing nodded slowly. "Yes. According to Kawakado Itsuo’s memories, before every one of our operations was carried out, the Blood Demon Cult had already gotten wind of the news in advance and prepared countermeasures ahead of time."

"What?!"

At these words, a violent tremor shook everyone’s hearts, and a single thought instantly surfaced in their minds—there is a mole!

One must know, all three of those operations were top-secret missions internal to the Judgement Court. The only ones privy to the details were the black-robed Judges and higher-ranking personnel.

Back when the operations failed, most of them had attributed it to the Blood Demon Cult having unbelievable luck, or to some minor oversights of their own in the course of implementation, and had never suspected that something might be wrong internally.

Now, however, it is clear that the problem lies nowhere else.

The only way the Blood Demon Cult could have obtained precise information before each operation is that there is a Blood Demon Cult undercover agent within the Judgement Court!

In an instant, the atmosphere inside the dungeon became exceedingly subtle.

Everyone stood where they were; no one looked around. Yet in each person’s eyes, there surfaced a trace of unusual fluctuation—that was vigilance, suspicion, and a faint, almost imperceptible sense of alienation.