Chapter 44 - Chapter 44: 36. Situation Analysis (1/2)

chapter 44: 36. situation analysis

translator: 549690339

hehehe…

noland lee watched sergeant pim, who was grinding his teeth at him, and quietly laughed.

this whatchamacallit investigator from division intelligence unit two is an arrogant, fallacious, and smooth talker, with inexplicable hostility towards him, noland lee.

accusing him of being contaminated by the doctrines of the undead cult, labeling him as an accomplice of the death notice assassin, and warning him of betraying the imperial army at crucial moments…

it was unclear what was going on between intelligence department 4 and division intelligence unit two which caused an investigator from intelligence unit two to harbor resentment towards a sin soldier.

this really made noland feel perplexed, and for the time being, he had a hard time making sense of it.

but there were two things noland could confirm.

the first:

the investigator before him, named pim, had a serious obsessive-compulsive disorder.

he combed his parting meticulously so that it was perfectly symmetrical on both sides. he also neatly folded his documents and glasses cloth into perfect squares and arranged them in different pockets on his left and right side, respectively.

all symptoms of ocd.

noland might not rank as high as pim, nor did he hold a higher status, but he could still use some tricks to make this guy burn with anger.

don’t underestimate the power of making someone tick.

some people could rage for an entire day in the heat of anger.

others would lose their composure when they couldn’t vent their anger, inadvertently exposing their weaknesses.

if they could make this pim lose his temper to the point of irrationality, it wouldn’t be a bad way to probe his inner thoughts.

the second thing noland could confirm was related to himself.

as expected, he had probably become the centerpiece of something passively.

that something was masterminded by intelligence department 4, with the aim to test whether they could destroy death-related magic devices that rely on undead runes by modifying the runes.

for example, destroying the undead runes of the soul-binding stone tomb, causing it and its soul bindings to “crash”.

or destroy the undead runes on the magic protective cover to make the shield disappear, so the grave vault could be cleared faster and eternal essence could be obtained from the spirit pivot more quickly.

the idea of intelligence department 4 was simple: to use the method of modifying undead runes to complete military tasks faster and reduce combat losses more significantly.

but there was a hidden danger that couldn’t be ignored.

the exchanges between alvin and pim indicated:

exposing ordinary people to undead runes—even if it’s just memorizing the translation presented by the ancient tatis language—is a “high voltage circuit”

anyone who touches this “high voltage circuit” could potentially become the enemy of the empire by understanding the doctrines and texts of the undead cult and getting tainted by their wicked ideas, consequently facing the inevitability of death.

moreover, the death herald guild has a high likelihood of proactively reaching out to such people, trying to lure them into joining the guild, making them a member of the death herald guild.

as noland lee played with the cleaning cloth in his hand, his eyes slightly squinted, realizing that this matter wasn’t easy.

from his earlier deductions, as a sin soldier with access to the undead runes, he was highly likely to be tempted by the death herald guild once intelligence department 4 abandoned him.

in that case, the goodwill sergeant alvin stafford had blatantly shown and the hostility from pim could be explained.

sergeant alvin stafford, a military officer subordinate to intelligence department 4, voluntarily promised to award a sin soldier a medal.

this could be seen as a way to placate the sin soldier and aimed to keep him stable, not to be swayed by others’ whims, and faithfully fulfill the mission assigned to him by intelligence department 4.

sergeant pim, an investigator from division intelligence unit two, was responsible for security matters within the empire, similar to phoebus before crossing.

he viewed everyone who could have potential ties to illegal forces as his suspects to scrutinize and observe.

his hostility towards noland stemmed precisely from this.

noland lee stopped his actions, balled up the cleaning cloth and randomly stuffed it in a pocket, intentionally leaving half of the cloth hanging out.

with one glance up, he saw pim’s rigid face, hiding a layer of coldness beneath.

he had the intuition that pim’s hostility towards him was not merely limited to suspecting his betrayal of the empire. it seemed to hide a deeper reason.