World Occult Usage Guide

Chapter 133 The Beginning of the Foundation (Part 2)
In the lavish office, the president of the St. Anilov Foundation picked up a donut of different colors and asked the younger man sitting opposite him.

"My secretary bought me two kinds of donuts: strawberry frosting and chocolate Oreo crumbs. Which one would you like to choose?"

"..."

“Are you feeling unwell, Jordan?” the Grand Master said. “You’re as restless as a puppy.”

"I feel very uncomfortable."

"Sigh, look how much you've been through on this journey," the president sighed. "Was I too eager to see you after all this time apart? Why don't you rest at the foundation's dormitory?"

"Wait a minute, I want to talk to you." The man took a deep breath, as if he had made a great decision. "About that disaster... Avel, is it true? What exactly happened?"

The president had anticipated his question. He put the donut back in the box, cut the crispy bread soaked in oil with a silver knife, pondered for a moment, and finally answered.

“‘Xi Yong’ told you about this. ‘No,’ literally, means that a great flood is coming.”

"You knew all along!?" The man slammed his fist on the table in agitation. "Then why didn't you do anything? Avel, when Father entrusted St. Anilov to you, he hoped that when 'Comers' descended, the Foundation would become the protector of the Eagle Nation, no, of all humanity!"

“I don’t want to argue, my brother.” The Grand Master shook his head. “Because our ancestors broke away from ‘Xi Yong’ because of fratricide.”

“In that case…” The man was at a loss, not knowing where to begin, and sat down again with a frustrated expression. “Forget it, with the Foundation’s current size, it’s simply not capable of guiding humanity through this disaster.”

The conversation between the two paused naturally.

“My dear brother, I can see that Jordan is in low spirits, and it is not due to fatigue.”

The president leaned forward, placed one hand on the table, picked up a fork with the other, poked at the cut strawberry donut, and put it in his mouth.

"What kind of deal did 'Xi Yong' send you to make with me?"

The man paused for a moment, then said in a hesitant, childlike manner, "They need the 'Priest's Manual' in exchange. 'Xion' will provide a great deal of technology, funding, manpower, and comprehensive support."

"Oh, is it so?"

“Avel, I know you’re definitely against it…” the man took a deep breath, “but I can’t bear to let this land we live on become the first victim.”

"It seems that worldly life has given you a great deal of misconception. But I don't blame you, Jordan, because I am the same."

The man, who had been hanging his head and feeling uneasy, raised his head, straightened his body, and his eyes shone with surprise and pride, unable to contain his excitement.

He desperately wanted to hold his brother's hand, but was instead given a chocolate donut.

"Welcome to the foundation's management team." The president smiled and picked up a strawberry-flavored donut. "Cheers."

The man, both amused and exasperated, touched the donut to his finger.

“Before you are formally introduced to others, you will need to choose a false identity. After all, a person’s real name—especially ours—is very important.” The Grand Master ate a donut. “For example, Jericho, the first city in the kingdom established by our ancestors in the scriptures.”

Without a moment's hesitation, the man uttered the name he had been pondering for a long time.

"Joshua Yilai".

“You’re taking advantage of me.” Avel and President Jericho picked up their second donuts. “But it’s alright, because we’re related by blood, and we’ll both be the foundation’s two chief decision-makers in the future. Let me hear what suggestions you have?”

"It's like this, brother—"

"Don't reveal our kinship to anyone, Jordan, no, Joshua, from now on you'll have to call me 'Generalissimo'."

"Ah... President."

"Hello, Team Leader Joshua."

"Team leader?" the man repeated, puzzled.

“I’m going to open a new, independent office called the Oversight Group. Its job is to develop new rules and regulations for the foundation and oversee all staff’s compliance with them. You will be in charge there, specifically liaising with ‘Xi Yong’.”

Joshua was so excited that he trembled all over.

“Thank you for your trust, Avi-Yeligo, the Grand Master. These are the terms offered by ‘Xiyong’ and my personal thoughts over the past few days.”

He handed a stack of documents to Jericho, who wiped the crumbs from the donuts with a tissue and flipped through the papers, contracts and records rustling.

Under Joshua's tense gaze, the Grand Master nodded approvingly.

“A good plan, Team Leader Joshua.”

“That’s right. As long as we cooperate with ‘Xiong’, the St. Anilov Foundation can rapidly expand its scale and even gain recognition from Congress to become an official superpower control agency!”

“As expected of my brother, you have been more talented than me since childhood, more suited to that fantasy world, and more suited to living in the shadow of ‘Comos’,” Jericho said humbly. “I can now confidently hand over the management of the foundation to you step by step.”

"Give it to me? And what about you?" Joshua was taken aback.

“Do you know who St. Anilov’s biggest sponsor is? It’s the Eagle Space Agency. If you’re willing to help me manage the foundation’s operations, I want to continue focusing on working with them.”

"The Wood Group under 'Xiyong' is much more generous. Do you know how much funding they're prepared to give us as a first step?" Joshua said confidently, holding up two fingers with both hands, "20 billion, 20 billion dollars!"

Jericho remained noncommittal, tapping his fingertips on the embedded keyboard next to his desk, gesturing for Joshua to turn toward the screen wall at the other end of the office.

All screens lit up, displaying a title page with the words "Top Secret" printed diagonally in large red letters.

The red text quickly disappeared, replaced by thousands of dynamic video recordings, showing the records from surveillance cameras throughout the entire headquarters facility.

Next, a bright spot appeared in the center. The president rotated the trackball embedded in the keyboard tray, making the bright spot start moving on the screen.

Each scene is magnified to the center screen, making the surveillance footage clearly visible.

"The monitoring sponsored by the space agency is pretty good, isn't it?"

“‘Xion’ has a better alternative,” Joshua said defiantly. “After we started working together, they were going to send a super artificial intelligence to the Foundation. Its name is ‘X’, one of the most advanced computer technologies in the world.”

"That's great!" Jericho continued spinning the trackball, then suddenly stopped at a certain point on the screen. "Huh, who are these unfamiliar faces...?"

“I’m the one who found the Missina candidates.” Joshua’s smile remained warm. “There are always a bunch of people who have no hope in life, but as soon as they hear about my ‘Compassion and Choice’ insurance, they come immediately. I believe they can be trained to be the best ‘judges’.”

Jericho's gaze swept across the crowd, and out of habitual pretense, he frowned slightly.

"The Missina only has six spots, but nearly a hundred people have gathered here. Team Leader Joshua, I thought you wanted to 'protect humanity,' didn't you?"

“The death of a few dozen people won’t affect the population of the Eagle Nation,” Joshua quickly defended himself. “Think of the Spartans. They would kill one-tenth of their newborns, and let nature kill another thirty percent. Compared to them, I’ve been more than humane.”

"Um……"

“I will never do anything to harm the Titans, I swear to my father and my ancestors!” Joshua said with great enthusiasm. “The sacrifice of a few is necessary for the greatest benefit to the greatest number.”

Jericho seemed convinced and leaned back in his chair. "Then, this is your first task: to assemble the first batch of deacons of the Inspectorate."

Just as Jericho was about to reach for the donut, a loud alarm blared throughout the office.

"Didi-didi-"

The president glanced at the location from which it was launched, and the trackball spun to a surveillance camera.

A group of security personnel surrounded a meditation room as if facing a formidable enemy. Behind them stood a well-proportioned, innocent-looking young man with black hair.

The meditation instructor, his face pale, leaned close to the surveillance camera and spoke in a fearful and terrified voice.

"President Jericho, I just discovered a real superhuman! He... he... he seems to be able to 'fly'!"

…………

Even employees at the foundation's headquarters would be speechless with astonishment and scream if they suddenly witnessed the incredible phenomenon of "floating" in 2036.

Who would have thought that two years later, even administrative staff would be watching the battle scenes of the mysterious figures like a movie?

Lin An and the shocked instructor stared at each other for five seconds, then Lin An put away the energy from his wand, pretended to fall to the ground, and acted completely bewildered by what had just happened.

The poor instructor stood there stunned for a full minute before regaining his shattered worldview, his voice trembling.

"Please, please stay where you are, don't move, sir!"

After saying that, she rushed out of the door, locked it with a "click," and sounded the alarm in one smooth motion.

Lin An heard her making a phone call—at that time, the foundation was not yet equipped with convenient communication devices.

Footsteps approached, and in the blink of an eye, fully armed security personnel surrounded the area.

Lin An remained completely calm, and even took the opportunity while waiting to finish reading the [Phantom Spirit] entry that he had missed earlier.

About ten minutes later, under the watchful eyes of security personnel, Lin An boarded the elevator, turned into a downward corridor from the vast "Virtue" area, and finally entered a square, bright and clean interrogation room.

Based on his previous understanding of the headquarters, Lin An knew that he was currently on the connecting floor between the administrative department and the "Virtue" area, which is the "Devil's Passage" in Tarot.

The interrogation room was unusually quiet, with the surveillance cameras rotating left and right, emitting a slight buzzing sound.

Lin An simply closed his eyes and cleared his mind.

The surrounding crowd flickered with a faint light, a symbol of ordinary people. Lin An observed them with little interest, as if gazing at a murky night sky on a rainy day.

Suddenly, a bright, burning light, like a flame, appeared from afar and stood outside the interrogation room.

Although the area illuminated by the light was small, it undoubtedly represented an awakened mystic.

And the rating is very high!
The next moment, Lin An's vision suddenly blurred. When he came to his senses, he stared at the television screen in front of him, which was playing static. He twitched his nose and noticed an unusual smell in the air.

Holy crap, paralyzing gas!
The word "hypnosis" flashed through Lin An's mind, and he activated the healing gem without hesitation, instantly clearing away all the negative effects on his body and restoring his clarity of thought.

"Cough cough..."

Someone cleared their throat, and Lin An heard a clear, loud male voice ringing out over the loudspeaker, echoing in the closed room.

"Now I'm going to ask you some questions."

Lin An had heard Yelige's voice before, and it was completely different from this person's, so he couldn't help but speculate about his identity.

This must be the head of the inspection team.

A lackey of the aristocratic family, and the secret power behind the foundation two years later, even though he lost in the political struggle, he still pulled the plug on X's power line before leaving, causing the collapse of national infrastructure. He was a real madman.

They had been chased all the way by the ruthless deacons of the inspection team, but unexpectedly, they met their leader in this place.

As Lin An expected, the mysterious prototype of the team leader was very ancient, and like him, it was at the source level, but its radiation level was currently very low, estimated to be only a few tenths of a percent.

Haha, how the wheel of fortune turns...

Out of caution, Lin An decided to use the Hittite ritual to deal with this level of mystic.

Who knows what backup plan they have in mind?

Considering that when he used the Hittite ritual on the deacons before, they instantly sensed his "killing intent," Lin An feared that the team leader, who was also in the inspection team, would be the same, so he held back for the time being.

Even through the thick interrogation glass, he failed to meet the Hittite ritual requirement of "seeing with his own eyes."

In the time rewind, Lin An is perfectly safe no matter what. He has only one goal: to find and kill the three inspectors—and if possible, take the team leader with him—to find out exactly whether he can kill people from the past with the help of the God of Truth.

During this period, the less unrest caused, the better.

If "death" could actually be preserved, wouldn't forcibly storming the Foundation cause a bunch of people to die in reality, leading to the collapse of the already somewhat stable riot situation?

Moreover, since everyone else hasn't awakened yet, Lin An won't gain any benefit.

After clearing his mind, he turned his attention to the loudspeaker in the corner, where the head of the inspection team was slowly reading aloud.

“Don’t use neutral terms. You have to answer my questions with ‘yes’ or ‘no.’ Got it, Ann Lin?”

Lin An nodded indifferently.

Two years ago, the team leader sounded perfectly normal, quite different from the madman he had imagined.

Speaking of this guy...

It feels so familiar.

Psychological test questions?
Lin An felt a surge of absurdity, because the problem with this head of the inspection team was none other than the "statements" that X had made during his interview when he joined the foundation!
It's truly a case of coming full circle and ending up back where we started!

Turning his eyes, Lin An suddenly felt a strong urge to answer according to his heart.

After the interview, the Minister of Civil Service did not tell him the result. Since the foundation later successfully identified him as a "seeker of knowledge", Lin An believed that the test results at the time indicated that he was indeed a seeker of knowledge.

But those were answers that were deliberately manipulated.

Since I'm currently in a period of fragmented time, why not take this opportunity to test what my true self is inclined to be?
Lin An rubbed his hands together and listened intently to the radio broadcast.

Thank you to SunsetAA, Qingmingkejian, dm_god, CizaiE, and reader 1365533263041519616 for the monthly tickets, and thank you all for the recommendation tickets and subscriptions.

Only one update today, I was too busy during the National Day holiday (；д｀)ゞ

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(End of this chapter)