Rise of The Demon General Chapter 965. Gathering Intel

Before Amon left the Citizen Center, the deacon reminded Amon again to return two days later to check whether the inquisitor was already available.

One of Nao Dou’s men was waiting for Amon outside. He led Amon to one of the inns in the trade district, which Nao Kong had rented. This district was filled with shops run by the trader caste. These shops served everyone except the lowest devotee caste, who were mostly prohibited from entering.

Amon called everyone to convene in the master room, the largest room in the inn, which they had also rented. Before he left for the Citizen Center, he had left instructions for Nao Dou. Everyone was to tour different parts of the city except for the Ironlit District. They were instructed to collect as much information as possible using their mind-reading power.

Amon told them to avoid the Ironlit District because it was the current location of the city’s sole inquisitor. If this inquisitor, whose name was Lei Xiang, did possess the revealing artifact, she could detect the use of mental power.

Since Amon didn’t give them specific instructions on what information to look for, they listened to the thoughts of random people they passed. Amon now listened to their findings one by one.

Most of the information was useless, but Amon listened to everyone without commenting. Some did provide useful intel, such as the rough number of Holy Temple members in the city, which was around four thousand. The city population itself was around half a million. The person in charge of the city was a cardinal named Tian Yong. She was a Beginning Sovereign God Stage cultivator.

There were multiple tidbits of information regarding influential commoners from the trader and warrior castes in the city. Two pieces of information caught Amon’s interest. The first was a rumor about a group that secretly harbored dissatisfaction with the Holy Temple. The rumor even suggested that this group was what Inquisitor Lei Xiang was investigating.

The second was an incident that happened when one of them was reading the mind of someone queuing to be healed by the diviners. When the healing was performed. The mind-reading was abruptly cut. After hearing more details, they surmised that the healing ability of the diviners not only healed one’s physical body but also their mental state.

Amon warned them not to use their mental powers around these diviners. Mind reading might still be okay because their targets weren’t aware of being read. Voice persuasion and possession, however, might reveal them. Those who broke free from such influence would be aware, especially of possession. These freed people might report them.

Someone joked that they were lucky that Bishop Tian Jung didn’t use his diviner’s healing power on Peng Chi when they faked his sickness. If he did, they would have been revealed on the spot.

After listening to everyone, Amon gave them their assignments for the next day.

"Nao Dou, tomorrow morning, you go with Peng Chi to the Caravan Center and pick up a delivery mission to the neighbouring city, Laetus City. If there is more than one, choose the one with the longest available deadline."

"A mission with the shortest distance and longest time will usually reward the least," Nao Dou said.

"We are not doing this for the reward," Amon returned. He turned to Nao Kong, gave him a large pouch, and said, "Nao Kong, you take Peng Xuwa and purchase the Nogrus Saurian to replace our Vagor Buffaloes. Buy six of them. I don’t know if those aer stones are enough. If not, I will give you more in the afternoon so you can buy the remaining ones. Sell the Vagor Buffaloes if you must."

Nao Kong opened the pouch and was surprised to see it was full of aer stones. Though he had spent most of his life in the secluded village, he still knew that this sum was a lot.

"You, you, and you will follow me," Amon pointed at three people. One was Nao Yin, who accompanied him in serving Bishop Tian Jung earlier today. The other two were known as Nao Sulin and Nao Bow. Both had low third-tier Sea of Consciousness, and like Nao Yin, their forte was mind reading.

"As for the rest of you, continue gathering information like today," Amon told the rest. "Prioritize information about the discontented group. If you hear someone suspecting anyone with ties to the group, find out who those people are, and read their minds."

"Uh, what are you trying to do?" Nao Dou asked.

"Didn’t we already agree that our goal is to topple the Divine? The best way is to recruit more people with the same objective."

"Are you sure such people exist? It is only a rumor. There haven’t been any uprisings for as long as I can remember. The Holy Temple stomps any thought of mutiny before it can take root. No one in the upper world will dare to rebel against the Divine."

"The harder one suppresses a feeling, the stronger the resentment. The reason why no one dares to rebel is that they are disjointed and have no hope. The Holy Temple has created an almost perfect system to alienate its subjects and plant so much fear in everyone’s heart that no one dares to take the step, but the will to rebel is there, the resentment. All we need to do is bring it to the surface and give them a symbol they can rally behind."

"What symbol is that?" Nao Dou asked.

Amon grinned. "What else? Of course, the most favorite slogan all rebels always rally under: Freedom."

*

The discussion continued till midnight. Normally, such a gathering was prohibited, but they had posted a few Mind Practitioners in the lobby downstairs. If they saw any Holy Temple members or even initiates entering the inn, they would warn the people upstairs by telepathy.

Amon gave everyone detailed instructions. He showed them a rough sketch of Ceollach City’s layout. He drew this sketch from memory. A map of the city was displayed on the wall in the Citizen Center. He had memorized that map.

He pointed to the map where each person should go, so they could do their tasks without wasting time looking for directions. He also marked all the forbidden zones, which were also displayed on the map in the Citizen Center. If anyone were caught during the operation, it would jeopardize everything, because it would raise suspicion about their caravan troupe. He told everyone to act naturally. Aside from Nao Dou and Nao Kong, everyone else was only gathering intel. They should not do anything that attracted attention.

The next morning, everyone left following Amon’s instructions the night before. Nao Yin, Nao Sulin, and Nao Bow followed Amon as planned. They headed directly toward the Ironlit District.

One look at the district, Amon knew it was an industrial complex. The buildings were all factory-scale. Sounds of tools and machinery were heard from those buildings. The workers were all devotees, but Amon did not doubt the upper management was of the trader caste.

After circling the district one time, the four split.

Amon had discussed his plan with his three followers last night. Their first objective was to locate the inquisitor. Like other Holy Temple members, inquisitors were known for wearing distinctive apparel. They were unique and easy to recognize. No one would dare impersonate an inquisitor by dressing like one, unless they wished to be punished. Hence, they did not worry they couldn’t identify an inquisitor.

The person who scored this initial assignment was Nao Bow. Though they split up, they always stayed within eye contact with at least one companion. After seeing a woman wearing an inquisitor uniform, which was thick battle armor on top of a white robe, Nao Bow looked at Amon in the distance. He yawned, which was the agreed-upon signal they had discussed last night.

They had also made other signals, which Amon conveyed to the other two after receiving Nao Bow’s signal. They then switched positions. Amon stayed within the inquisitor’s range to monitor her position, while the three mind practitioners stayed a decent distance away.

The inquisitor’s revealing artifact had a limited range. If they used mental powers outside its scope, they wouldn’t trigger the artifact’s automated detection ability. By using Amon as a constant pinpoint of the inquisitor’s location, the three mind practitioners used their mind-reading power and began probing the minds of Ironlit District’s inhabitants.

Amon monitored his three companions while paying attention to the inquisitor. Of course, he did it inconspicuously. He had mastered the art of surveillance a long time ago. He knew how to blend in with the environment without raising his target’s suspicion.

The inquisitor went from one factory to the next. She spent around an hour in each factory. From the look of it, she was either searching for something or interrogating the people inside, or both. He would know better after he received reports from Nao Yin and the others. The inquisitor kept moving, so one of them was now outside the factory the inquisitor had entered before. He could find out later what was going on inside from the minds his partners had read.

He warned the three not to send any mind projection his way. The inquisitor’s revealing artifact might sense the signal. He must wait until afternoon before he could learn their findings.

This surveillance went on until well past noon. There was one instance when he heard commotion inside the factory the inquisitor entered. When the inquisitor exited the factory, three people were in chains. She had the initiates take these captives somewhere before heading to the next factory. Not long after, Amon saw people carrying several dead bodies out.

It seemed the inquisitor lived up to its title. They were truly the judge, jury, and executioner.