The Eight Fingers meeting.
Because many traitors had recently appeared internally, and the organization had even been quietly infiltrated by the Goddess Cult without the cadres' knowledge, more than half of the grassroots members had already joined the rising Goddess Cult. To stop the infiltration, the cadres of Eight Fingers unanimously decided to meet in the Royal Capital, leading to this meeting. In the underground plaza of an abandoned alchemy factory, the chilling and evil villains emerged from the darkness one by one; no words were needed, for their villainous nature was written all over their faces.
The surrounding environment was pitch black, with only the magic stones on the round table emitting a faint, cold light. cadres dressed in various eccentric styles or wearing cloaks to hide their identities sat around the table. As everyone arrived, the meeting called by The Kingdom's largest underground criminal syndicate began.
The theme of this meeting was—
How to rid the organization of the Goddess Cult's infiltration.
"Everyone is here, so let's begin." The person in the center wearing a Purple Cloak spoke first. Based on his position, in the organization of Eight Fingers where each department operated independently, his status was above the others, making it highly likely he was the leader of the organization.
"Recently, our activities have suffered huge losses. Due to the chaos caused by the Goddess Cult, the sale of drug weeds has been severely restricted. Unlike normal wars, this cult prefers meaningless acts like massacres. The decrease in population has greatly affected the sales of drug weeds in various regions. Moreover, people brainwashed by the Goddess Cult will break free from the control of drug weeds; members of the Goddess Cult have no need to buy them. If we let them continue to expand, our industry in this area will suffer massive losses." After speaking, he looked at the woman opposite him, who was the head of that department.
"Exactly. And recently, The Kingdom's army has stepped up its efforts; several of my vegetable fields have been seized by those guys. It's clearly trouble caused by the Goddess Cult, but now everyone suspects there's a partnership between the Goddess Cult and us, Eight Fingers. They can't handle the Goddess Cult, so they come after us," the woman said harshly.
"There are also huge losses in the slave trade. The Goddess Cult somehow brainwashed our people and infiltrated the organization, using that magic of theirs called [Gospel] to transform most of the merchandise into dangerous cultists. Some continue to blend into various parts of The Kingdom as merchandise, causing many problems. Now many clients are complaining, and The Kingdom is focusing its crackdown on this trade. Even the nobles are starting to oppose this business; compared to satisfying their desires, they are more afraid of the Goddess Cult disguising themselves as merchandise to get close to them."
"Those people are the most vicious demons I've ever seen~ They can endure all physical and mental torture, acting as Zombies only to complete their goals, completely disregarding their own lives. Moreover, once these demons die, they self-destruct, causing great damage to the rest of the merchandise. Some customers have been affected as well; this is a very, very big problem~ Some nobles who originally collaborated with us have now abandoned their relationship with us. Plus, judging by the frequency of The Kingdom's Self-Defense Force activities, they seem to really believe we are in league with those guys and are acting as if they want to wipe us out," the head of the slave trade department said with great distress.
The two departments that generated the most profit for Eight Fingers were currently heavily hit, making it difficult even to continue operating. Bringing up the problems of these two departments first was because they were the most important.
One must know that the primary reason this group of people gathered was for profit, and now their greatest interests were being violated. The remaining departments were also affected more or less, though they weren't as vital as these two.
But this couldn't go on. If they let the Goddess Cult keep this up, Eight Fingers would surely be targeted to death by The Kingdom. The connections they had built before were basically ruined by this series of events, and they also had to consider the pressure from the Goddess Cult's side. The Goddess Cult was not in a partnership with them—they were enemies—but the experts currently hunting the Goddess Cult might not see that clearly. When the time came, they might be treated as part of the Goddess Cult and targeted as enemies by the legendary Sword Saint and the pitch-black hero of the Adventurers.
"Tsk, but even if we gather together, we can't think of any good solutions. If there were really a way to solve this, we would have acted long ago. People outside won't believe us now, and internally, except for us and our respective personal units, the lower ranks are more or less eroded by the Goddess Cult. And you've seen the strength of the Goddess Cult members; even the most ordinary members have the casting ability of high-level Adventurers. They aren't afraid to die, and every single one of them is a human bomb—they self-destruct if they lose. How are you supposed to fight an opponent like that!"
"If you ask me, we might as well just disband. While our identities haven't been fully exposed yet and The Kingdom's judicial organs haven't seized our key assets, everyone should just disband and go enjoy life. Given the madness of those Goddess Cult fanatics and their doctrines, who knows when they might summon a Demon God capable of destroying the world. While we're still alive, don't think about anything else; using the money we've earned to enjoy the rest of our lives is the most practical thing to do."
"Although I don't agree with your decadent idea, I have to say what you said isn't without merit. Those Goddess Cult lunatics aren't something we can handle on our own. Among the figures currently hunting the Goddess Cult are The Black Scripture of the Theocracy, the Imperial Sword Saint, as well as ancient heroes and Vampire True Ancestors. With a lineup of that level, it's not that we lack courage, it's that we really aren't qualified to touch those people. We don't have many good options right now other than disbanding."
The department heads were very pessimistic. They couldn't be blamed; there was no hope in sight, and counterattacking was impossible. The Goddess Cult's power made them fear even considering it—the difference in scale was too vast.
"Dissolving the group is fine, but I've suffered massive losses. How will you compensate me?"
"Hmph, on what grounds? Everyone's business has taken a hit. Why should you be the only one to get compensation?"
"Stop talking nonsense. If we're dissolving, then dissolve. But we need to settle the division of the organization's wealth. Our Security Department has been risking our lives for you all these years. If we're dissolving, we want at least half of the total assets!"
"Are you joking?! Absolutely not!"
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