True Apocalypse Game

Sophie’s heart skipped a beat. She turned to look at the investigation team leader.

She and the team leader were both from the FBI. They had worked together for nearly three years, so she knew him quite well.

This team leader, whose name was Gerard, was a high-ranking member of the FBI with extensive connections within the Eagle Country Government.

Most importantly, he was a man of integrity who would never bend the law for personal gain.

He had always been Sophie’s idol.

’But what does he mean by this?’

Her mind instantly flashed back to some of the internal cases she had encountered before—cases involving cover-ups and various abuses of power.

An agent’s intuition told her that what her team leader was doing right now felt very much like an attempt to hide something.

’To hide the lead she had just found?’

Seeing the confusion in Sophie’s eyes, Gerard smiled faintly and said:

"The case is closed. Those scumbags have received the punishment they deserved. All of Central America and South America is much safer than before. Our domestic arms dealers have also taken the opportunity to sell a lot of weapons to various government armies to upgrade their equipment. And the man in the White Palace got the approval rating he wanted. This is the best possible outcome. We don’t need to complicate things."

"But the public has a right to know the truth! We should be defending their right to information!" Sophie said with a frown.

Although she didn’t want to admit it, her worst fear had come true.

Gerard, the superior she had admired, had a personal agenda and was trying to obstruct the investigation into the truth.

Gerard gave Sophie a deep look, a gratified smile appearing on his face. He seemed pleased with her reaction, yet he still said:

"What truth? What right to information? You want them to know the nuke came from some organization in the Middle East? That this wasn’t a firefight between drug cartels at all, but someone else entirely? That the anti-drug operations conducted by the Eagle Country Government in conjunction with the governments of America haven’t found the real mastermind? You want to let public opinion, which has just settled down, surge again? Let that mindless rabble take to the streets and demand justice for the drug traffickers? Let these criminal organizations that we just stamped out rise from the ashes?"

Sophie’s lips moved twice. Although she knew Gerard was speaking the truth, she still managed to say:

"But..."

Gerard sighed and said:

"But what? Believe it or not, if the final investigation concluded that the nuke didn’t come from the Medellin Group and Villa Gold, that we’ve been after the wrong target all along, the opposition party at home would immediately attack our previous strategy. They might even give those traffickers massive compensation. And it would only take one night..."

Gerard held up one finger and said unequivocally:

"Just one night for new criminal organizations to spring up. They’ll have more advanced weapons than before, more brutal methods. And they’ll seize the goddamn moral high ground, painting themselves as victims! When that happens, countless women will be raped when they go out at night, countless children will lose their parents, and the overpasses in Mexico will be strung with the skinned and tortured bodies of their victims every single night. Do you think the truth is so important to them then?"

Then he lowered his voice, looking Sophie straight in the eye as he said:

"And all of that would happen just because you moved your mouse and submitted a lead."

"I..." Sophie understood, of course. The reality was cruel, but what Gerard said was true. For a moment, she didn’t know what to say.

Gerard patted her on the shoulder and said:

"No one cares about the truth but you. Eagle Country needs a reason to intervene directly. The President needs a way to boost his approval ratings. The poor people here need safe streets... Now, are you still so fixated on the truth?"

Sophie was completely shaken.

Not shaken by the truth, but by reality.

This was how the world had always worked.

Seeing the dazed look in Sophie’s eyes, Gerard smiled faintly. He leaned over, lifted Sophie’s hand from the mouse, and then located the leads from before, saying:

"Since this conflicts with your principles, let me be the bad guy."

As he spoke, he formatted the leads completely, leaving not a single trace.

After he was done, seeing how dispirited Sophie looked, Gerard thought for a moment, then patted her shoulder and motioned for her to come to his office.

Sophie stood up and followed Gerard into his office.

Motioning for Sophie to sit, Gerard looked up at the justice-filled agent before him and asked:

"Sophie, this whole Medellin, Colombia nuke incident... compared to all of human civilization, it’s nothing more than a small ripple. Not even a ripple, just a speck of dust... You’re very capable, and you have a great love for humanity as a whole. I admire that about you..."

Hearing Gerard’s praise, Sophie looked up, about to offer a modest reply, but Gerard raised a hand to stop her and continued:

"Hold on, I need to report something first."

He then picked up his phone, tapped an icon, and said in a low voice:

"Target has abandoned exploration. Threat Event X0347 has been resolved. The person involved shows potential. Requesting Salvation Army qualification check."

More confusion appeared in Sophie’s eyes.

On Gerard’s phone screen was the glaring image of a blood-red eyeball. And what he had just said was completely bizarre, yet it sounded vaguely familiar.

’A report?’

Gerard was the head of the joint investigation team. Though it just sounded like a team leader, he had immense authority, reporting directly to the Secretary-General of the United Nations and the man in the White Palace.

The only people he would report to were those two, the most powerful men in the world.

’But would he really report directly to them just like that, on his phone?’

Then, Gerard looked up, gave her a deep look, and asked in a solemn tone:

"Sophie, have you ever heard of the Salvation Army?"

Sophie froze. She had heard the name before. It was an online rumor about a mysterious organization called the Salvation Army, led by a Savior, that secretly protected the world from the shadows.

She had always dismissed it as a story cooked up by tabloid rags and didn’t believe for a second that such a secret organization existed.

’After all, reality isn’t a novel.’

’But what did Gerard mean by that?’

Just then, Gerard’s phone vibrated again, displaying a message:

Personal information verified. Qualification check passed.

In the next instant, Sophie’s phone vibrated as well.

She quickly pulled it out and saw a blood-red eye icon filling the entire screen.

There was a single sentence on the screen. As Sophie read it aloud with a trembling voice, Gerard, who was standing in front of her, smiled and said the exact same words in unison:

"Welcome to the True Apocalypse Game."