Chapter 458: Mysterious Teammate

Deep within a cave somewhere in the mountains of the Black Banner Country.

The Prophet sat alone on a stone platform, murmuring something under his breath.

“The ones I arranged to assist Lu City were all masters among the Parasites. Their failure proves that the plan itself was flawed from the start.”

“Your anxiety is useless. It won’t change the outcome.”

The person standing guard in the shadows of the cave entrance looked inside.

This Guardian knew very well that the Prophet wasn’t talking to himself, but conversing with “those voices.”

There were millions upon millions of Parasites, but the content of the voices they heard was all more or less the same.

Only the Prophet could communicate effectively with those voices, which was why the other Parasites revered him as their Prophet and were willing to obey his commands.

The Prophet was still speaking.

“In the human world, not all threats materialize. I never approved of this plan in the first place. You were the ones who refused to listen to my opinion and insisted on sending people to eliminate the threat.”

“Now, do you feel it’s necessary to hear my suggestion?”

After speaking, the Prophet fell silent, seemingly awaiting an evaluation.

After a moment, the voices seemed to respond.

He nodded. “Thank you. I will prove its feasibility with a victory.”

With that, the Prophet rose and walked toward the cave entrance.

Seeing him approach, the Guardian in the shadows of the entrance gave him an inquisitive look.

“We’ve lain dormant for so long. It’s time we went on the offensive. The Human Federation’s allied forces have been winning battle after battle, and their pride has grown immensely. Let’s use that to defeat them.”

“…”

“Go and notify the various hidden cells. Tell them to prepare to act under my command.”

“Yes.” The Guardian bowed. “All for the spread.”

“All for the spread.”

…

Lu City’s confession weighed heavily on Guan Tong’s mind.

Back when Shi Jingyi had her breakthrough and asked for his opinion, he had advised her not to try identifying Parasites for the time being.

He had been worried that if she did, her identity would be exposed, and she would be ruthlessly attacked by the Parasites.

Later, he himself broke through the 1,000-point Psychic Power limit. When he helped the Strategy Research Room use the Mind Network to identify Parasites hidden within the base, Director Gao Liangwei, concerned for his personal safety, maintained strict secrecy throughout the entire process, using a surprise physical examination as a pretext for the screening.

The secrecy was so tight that even Silver Fox, who had received Guan Tong, didn’t know the truth—and she was a military veteran and one of Gao Liangwei’s direct subordinates, whose loyalty was absolutely beyond question.

But now, based on what Lu City said, the Parasites’ leader, the Prophet, had long known his and Shi Jingyi’s identities as the two who had broken through.

No, according to Lu City’s description, the Prophet had learned it from “those voices.”

If “those voices” represented some kind of intelligence behind the spores, then how did they find out about his and Shi Jingyi’s breakthroughs, and how did they determine they would be a threat to the Parasites even before they had conducted any tests?

This was a critical question, but Guan Tong was glad he’d figured it out early enough.

The Prophet chose to use Lu City to set an ambush and eliminate Shi Jingyi. The plan itself was sound, but it failed to account for several variables.

First, they vastly underestimated her strength.

From what he saw of the fight, Guan Tong felt that even without him, Shi Jingyi could have handled Lu City and those ten Parasites on her own.

Second, they never anticipated the intervention of “Shadow.”

Guan Tong’s relationship with Shi Jingyi had never been made public. Very few people knew they had a life-and-death bond, trusted each other completely, and had stayed in contact for a long time.

In hindsight, the plan was doomed to fail.

And not only did it fail, but it also handed over a crucial piece of intelligence: the spore intelligence or lifeform behind the Parasites can perceive those who can identify them.

In other words, whenever an Ascender in the world breaks through to the second stage of Sublimation and reactivates the Mind Network, the spores become aware of it.

But that wasn’t the only important piece of intelligence.

Guan Tong also learned from Lu City that back at the stadium, he’d claimed the reason he was repaying kindness with enmity was that he didn’t want his consciousness to be replaced and turned into a Parasite.

The causal link here was that Lu City believed the Prophet was human, and the Prophet had admitted it and made him a promise.

This information stunned Guan Tong.

‘The leader of the Parasites, the Prophet, is actually a human?’

Neither the allied forces on the front lines nor the nations of the Human Federation would ever believe such a thing.

But Guan Tong believed Lu City wasn’t lying. And this intelligence led to a problem: if the Prophet was human, it meant he couldn’t be identified using the Mind Network.

When humans couldn’t identify them, the Parasites had the advantage.

But once humans could identify them, the Parasites would be at a major disadvantage.

So, what move would the Parasites make after this failed assassination attempt? It was impossible to know.

‘Continue trying to assassinate Shi Jingyi…? After this experience, she’ll definitely be on high alert, making it difficult to succeed.’

‘Then what about changing the target… to me?’

‘…Even less likely.’

Guan Tong knew that between the two threats—himself and Shi Jingyi—the Prophet had chosen to move against Shi Jingyi first because she was world-famous and her location was highly predictable.

Everyone knew Shi Jingyi was a lecturer at North Star Academy and gave classes almost every day. Finding her wouldn’t be difficult.

But him? Guan Tong’s movements had always been erratic. It would be next to impossible for the Parasites to find him, let alone plan an assassination.

Under these circumstances, choosing to target Shi Jingyi first was the only logical move.