Chapter 2 Ribs Broken, But Okay

"A few ribs are broken, but it's fine."

Facing the Stonemason, Julia seemed a little nervous, her eyes unconsciously glancing at the bizarre, bloated figure in a black robe next to him.

"Hmm."

The Stonemason nodded. "Enduo?"

This seemed to be the bloated figure's name.

Julia swallowed subconsciously, looking even more nervous.

The bloated figure took a step forward, and countless thin metal branches suddenly extended from under the black robe, each connected to strangely shaped surgical tools.

Green eyes under the black hood glittered, as if scanning Julia.

After a long while, he spoke in a hoarse, sharp voice, like fingernails scraping across a blackboard, "There's nothing wrong with the body, the mind is also normal, no cognitive curse, mind control, or Dao Heart Demon Implantation..."

Julia wasn't sure if it was her imagination, but she felt a strong sense of regret in his tone—regret that he didn't have the opportunity to perform emergency surgery or dissect the bodies of other Syndicate members.

"Okay, it's good that you're okay."

The Stonemason interrupted Enduo's narration and smiled at Julia. "Go report the mission details to x22. After completing this script mission, your ranking will rise again."

Julia forced a smile, not feeling particularly happy.

The Syndicate was a tight-lipped, low-profile, secret organization. At the very bottom were a group of peripheral members, such as mercenaries, private armed companies, research laboratories, brokers, and hackers.

The Syndicate had its own industries and strongholds in various continents, but they didn't seem to care much about the peripheral members.

Above the peripheral members were the internal members, the players with extraordinary powers.

These players were called "Apprentices."

After being recruited into the Syndicate, Apprentices were sent to strongholds to receive comprehensive training and complete various missions assigned by the Syndicate in order to earn contribution points and exchange them for rewards provided by the organization.

Compared to other secret organizations, the Syndicate gave its members incredibly generous rewards, some even richer than the equipment and props players obtained from completing script missions at the risk of their lives.

Of course, this didn't come without a price.

The real-world missions the Syndicate issued to its members generally had harsh completion conditions and were no easier to execute than script missions.

Things like assassinating the president of a listed company and arranging the scene as an accident;

Hunting down and capturing a lone wolf player whose real identity had been exposed;

Killing a biological weapon cultivated by the organization in an arena duel;

Moreover, the Syndicate implemented an elimination system. Only Apprentices who performed well could be promoted and obtain more resources and intelligence.

At the top of all the Apprentices were ten core Syndicate members called "Apostles."

They were the first batch of people in the real world to obtain player qualifications, a full ten months ahead of the current players.

Julia had never seen an Apostle, but she had vaguely heard that above the ten Apostles was the creator of the Syndicate organization, whose title was just one word.

Professor.

Julia breathed a sigh of relief. She never hoped that she could keep climbing within the organization and eventually become an Apostle.

She joined the Syndicate only as a last resort, simply hoping to live a little longer and, one day, return to her family with her former identity.

Julia hid her sadness well, smiled at the Stonemason and the short-haired girl, returned the towel, and walked towards the door.

"Wait."

Enduo's voice suddenly sounded. From the shoulder under the cloak,

a thin metal branch connected to a scalpel spread rapidly, flying straight behind Julia. After a diagonal slash, it retracted even faster.

Julia felt a chill down her spine. A shallow wound appeared on her back, with a faint trickle of blood.

Before she could react, her body, driven by instinct, turned around abruptly and assumed a fighting stance.

She saw the black-robed figure holding up a rectangular metal surgical tray with metal tendrils.

He gently scraped the scalpel, stained with a trace of blood, on the surgical tray.

"This is..."

Julia subconsciously looked into the surgical tray. In the dim light, she could clearly see a transparent parasite, as thin as a hair and as long as a chopstick, lying on the bottom of the tray.

The parasite was coiled up, seemingly inactive.

The blood staining its body proved that it had just been taken from Julia's back.

Julia trembled instantly, her whole body overwhelmed by fear.

"Mmm..."

Enduo lowered his head and used the scalpel to skillfully and steadily cut open the slender worm in the surgical tray, examining it carefully.

"It doesn't look like a native parasite species. A bit like a planarian worm? There's a strand of hyphae in the hollow cavity. Its function is unknown. The entire worm is already dead, without any activity, without any residual energy..."

He thought for a moment, then looked up and said to the trembling Julia, "Turn around."

Julia subconsciously turned around, only to hear the sound of the scalpel slicing through the air behind her again.

She felt countless tiny wounds suddenly cut open all over her body.

One, two... a full eighteen parasites lay neatly in the surgical tray, looking terrifying and shocking.

"These worms are man-made."

Enduo looked at Julia, his eyes full of intense exploratory enthusiasm. "Someone implanted parasites in you."

"..."

Julia shuddered. The thought of so many worms hidden inside her filled her with terror.

The short-haired girl's eyes widened, her face equally terrified.

The Stonemason frowned and asked in a low voice, "Can you trace it?"

"Almost impossible. These worms were already dead, and their psionic fluctuations have long dissipated. Even with causality-level tracking techniques, it's impossible to find the source. And..."

As Enduo spoke, he saw all the parasites in the surgical tray, as if they had received some kind of command, dissolving into a pool of transparent liquid, along with the internal hyphae.

"..."

Everyone silently watched the surgical tray. Julia clearly felt a slight trickle of blood seeping from the tiny wounds on her body, sending waves of stinging pain, but she had no mind to pay attention to the scars.

Who? When? How were the worms implanted?

Julia had undergone a comprehensive physical examination before carrying out the mission in the fairytale world, so these worms could only have been implanted during her mission.

A series of faces flashed before her eyes—players, natives, magical beasts—finally settling on the figure shrouded in a red coat.

"Let's go. I'll accompany you to x22."

The Stonemason took a deep breath and said solemnly to Julia, "You must tell them everything that happened during the script mission in detail."