Monsters Die When Killed

"What’s the situation now?"

"According to satellite imaging... the terrain at the site of the electromagnetic cannon strike has been slightly altered. The optical array that was obscuring our camera systems has been destroyed, and we’ve discovered the Spirit Summoning Association’s camp."

"What’s the damage?"

"Not too extensive, but they’re clearly in a panic. They’re scattering and seem to be looking for another place to set up camp."

After a brief exchange with the intelligence team, the Steward let out a long sigh of relief. A rare smile appeared on the face of this Harmony Bureau official, who was responsible for coordinating matters in Southeastern Europe. He turned and gave Su Zhou a sincere, slight bow. "A complete victory, Professor Su. Whatever the Spirit Summoning Association was planning, their progress has now been significantly delayed."

However, his brow furrowed slightly. The Steward raised his personal terminal to show Su Zhou and Rafael photos of the camp. "But take a look. The Spirit Summoning Association’s camp is built to a very high standard. It would pass even our strictest criteria... It’s hard to imagine an underground organization like this possessing such cutting-edge technology."

"That’s not surprising."

Rafael, however, wasn’t surprised. He shrugged and said, "Gelang, you’ve always been a Steward here in Eastern Europe; you haven’t been out on many missions, have you? Don’t be fooled into thinking the Spirit Summoning Association is just some underground terrorist group. In reality, their lineage goes back nearly a thousand years. They’re even the de facto rulers in some remote areas and small countries in Africa and Southeast Asia, with members spread across the globe."

"They also have dedicated research departments... It’s true that the Spirit Summoning Association is a gathering place for vicious, cruel scum. But for that very reason, because all its members are scum, they have a wealth of data from human experimentation. In certain extreme fields of research—like various Spiritual Energy Viruses and biochemical weapons—their progress is even faster than ours."

"Huh? But, where do they get their scientists?"

Selos had been following behind the whole time, listening to the big shots converse. She had even recorded the moment Su Zhou fired the electromagnetic cannon on her phone. Since Su Zhou hadn’t told her not to, Rafael and the Steward named Gelang naturally didn’t stop her.

But when she heard this, she couldn’t help but ask, puzzled, "Generally speaking, no normal researcher would join them, right?"

Su Zhou nodded slightly. It was the same question he’d been wondering about. ’After all, being a top-tier technical expert is such a respected profession in Zhengguo. To have that kind of skill and not work for Zhengguo or some other major organization, but instead insist on doing research for an underground group? You’d have to be out of your mind.’

"Mind alteration." Rafael patted the arm of his wheelchair, his tone turning chillingly cold. "They have someone among them known as the ’Controller.’ That woman possesses a strange mental power that allows her to manipulate a person’s memories, mind, and soul at will."

"As we all know, a person’s memories, emotions, and capacity for empathy are largely shaped by Postnatal development. The same is true for loyalty and an iron will—those sacred, respectable qualities are not actually so unbreakable."

"And what determines whether a person is good or evil, whether they’re a good person, also comes from the memories formed during their Postnatal education."

"But the Controller, by instilling a shared consensus and implanting memories, can change a person from the very core of their personality."

As he spoke, Rafael’s expression grew desolate. The old man sighed. "They gather the memories of hundreds, thousands, even tens of thousands of people—memories capable of inducing someone to become one of the Evil People, making them cold, ruthless, and utterly insane, yet still possessing an unwavering loyalty to the Spirit Summoning Association."

"Even the most strong-willed agents can be completely brainwashed, becoming the most loyal members of the Spirit Summoning Association. This is precisely why it’s so difficult for us to plant spies in their organization, yet they can cultivate people who are completely loyal to them."

It sounded like Rafael knew someone, perhaps someone he was very familiar with, who had been brainwashed this way while working undercover, ultimately betraying the Harmony Bureau and joining the Spirit Summoning Association.

Su Zhou could easily understand all this.

To an individual, their memories are a pure, unique, and inviolable part of the self. Yet, the fiends of the Spirit Summoning Association could use the collective memories of hundreds, even thousands of people, to completely consume a person’s mindset.

Whether it was one’s personality, sense of good and evil, perception of the world, or feelings toward other people, it all boiled down to a set of standards for judgment. When that entire set of standards was twisted, a ’person’ was born—one who possessed all the knowledge and memories of the original individual, but was completely warped and utterly loyal to the Spirit Summoning Association.

"So that’s how they ensure loyalty?"

After hearing all this, Su Zhou said thoughtfully, "Actually, the major powers all have similar methods, don’t they?"

Neither Rafael nor Gelang answered Su Zhou’s question, but the answer was, naturally, ’YES’.

How could the truly great powers not possess a technique that even the Spirit Summoning Association had mastered? It was only due to various concerns, and some practical reasons, that they didn’t do so.

—After all, cultivation was, in a sense, a deeply personal and mental endeavor. Recklessly altering memories and the soul would ultimately only increase the difficulty of one’s cultivation. Who could say how powerful the Heart Demon of such a brainwashed person would become?

Upon hearing of the Spirit Summoning Association’s methods, Su Zhou’s initial reaction was, naturally, anger at such a way of toying with memories and the soul. But soon, another thought occurred to him. ’If one could use benevolent memories to completely overwrite the mindsets of all intelligent life, wouldn’t that, in a sense, also directly eradicate the very Source of evil?’