Chapter 655: Mo Mo Knows Quite a Bit

Mo Mo sat somewhat nervously in the chair in the reception hall, her tail drooping from the side armrest, tense and too afraid to even wiggle. For a Gypro, this chair was a little too wide, so after trying to place her hands on the armrests she quickly pulled them back—this movement magnified her inner unease a bit more.

The great figure who called himself "the Spirit World Detective from the Borderlands" but was respectfully addressed here as "True Lord Yu Sheng" sat across from her. Beside him were an Algrade Elf who might be an executive of the Black Spot Group, a figure who looked exactly like an artificial saint from the Holy Seclusion Order, and a nine-tailed fox spirit.

There was also a small puppet with black hair and red eyes, only a few dozen centimeters tall, running around on the table—Eileen suddenly dashed up to Mo Mo, her scarlet eyes fixed on the tense Gypro girl. "Hey, don't be nervous, this place is totally safe—except that there was a Gloomy Angel incident once, and now the whole underground is full of angel remains, but they've all been rendered harmless."

Yu Sheng strongly suspected this little thing had said that on purpose. He didn't even need evidence.

So he coughed twice, casually picked up the tiny puppet that had been causing trouble on the table, stuffed her into Hu Li's tail, and then nodded to Mo Mo. "You've roughly learned about our situation. Now tell us about yourself. How did you become, um, Old Joe's 'lab assistant'? How long did you 'work' in that fortress?"

"About, about ten years, but I can't recall the exact date," Mo Mo answered hurriedly. "I, I originally followed a research team tracking a 'Lone Star' running through the Dark Region, but our ship had an accident when passing through the Star Gate of the Great Cross Nebula. The 'Nola Force Field' enveloping the ship ruptured during the jump, and we were 'thrown' near the Dark Meteor Starfield..."

"Most people died on the spot. I led the remaining engineers and barely managed to repair the ship's power and life support systems. But just as we were trying to restart the engines, the Sky Raiders pirates tracked the distress signal our ship had sent—we didn't know at the time we had arrived at the Dark Meteor Starfield. By the time we realized it, it was too late. The pirates ransacked the ship and captured everyone."

"The leader of that Sky Raiders fleet originally planned to keep us all on the ship as slave labor to replenish the crew he'd lost in a previous accident. But he was allergic to cat fur, and later found out I was a technician, so he eventually sold me to Old Joe."

"Then, then after that, I was in that base the whole time... Actually, there were several other people bought by Old Joe at the same time, but they died one after another, leaving only me."

Eileen emerged from Hu Li's tail, poking her head over the edge of the table. "What do you usually do? Have you been involved in Old Joe's 'business'?"

"N-normal?" The intact ear on Mo Mo's head twitched, and then she spoke while recalling. "Most of the time, I help Old Joe with experiments on living metal, or cooperate with him to use myself for tests. Also, I keep an eye on the production line of the living metal factory. When he's away, I manage the other people in the lab—mainly to avoid 'unplanned material losses.'"

"As for the business... I haven't been involved much. He doesn't trust others, especially matters on the trade route. He handles everything alone, only using an AI assistant to help him. That's a model he personally modified—high computing power but a very simple mind, ensuring it won't betray him. But even so, I once saw Old Joe in the machine room, fiercely threatening that server—telling it not to steal his money. The scene was like talking to himself, but it was also terrifying."

"...Damn, this guy really has some screws loose," Yu Sheng said, covering his forehead. "Good thing we carried out justice today."

Luo also sighed, then looked more seriously into Mo Mo's eyes. "Then have you had contact with Old Joe's other 'business' dealings? Especially those..."

She had planned to say "suspicious characters," but then she realized that in a lawless place like the Dark Meteor Starfield, those two words could probably encompass ninety-nine percent of intelligent beings within a million light-years. So she changed her phrasing. "Those mysterious types, the ones who seem like charlatans..."

Mo Mo blinked. "You mean the Holy Seclusion Order?"

Both Luo and Yu Sheng were startled. They exchanged surprised glances. Yu Sheng spoke first. "You actually know about them?!"

"Mm, he didn't hide this from us. After all, we couldn't escape and had no way to contact the outside world," Mo Mo nodded. "His attitude toward us was close to that toward experimental animals. So while he restricted our freedom, he also let us know quite a bit. Sometimes he would even specifically tell us a lot of messy things, rambling on nervously for a long time—that seemed to be a way for him to relieve stress."

"But I only know that he was secretly in contact with people from the Holy Seclusion Order; I don't know the details..."

"Oh, right. Sometimes he would even curse the Order people in front of us, saying they were stingy and hypocritical and kept demanding more and more."

At this point, Mo Mo suddenly stopped, thought carefully for a moment, then looked up at Luo. "Ah, he recently mentioned your name too—he mentioned some laboratory accident related to you, and that accident seemed to have made the Holy Seclusion Order very... unhappy, so they put a lot of pressure on him, which made him unhappy too."

Luo frowned slightly.

Eileen had already climbed back onto Yu Sheng's shoulder by then. She looked at Luo and casually asked, "Your lab blew up, so all evidence is gone. What's the Order unhappy about? Because they can't keep stealing data from you?"

Luo looked thoughtful. "I'm also curious about that. The accident at the Rift Laboratory... by then all my core data should have already been transferred out by the mole. How did those charlatans..."

She was halfway through when Yu Sheng beside her seemed to think of something. He suddenly spoke up. "Wait, could it be like this: when Old Joe handed over your core data to the Holy Seclusion Order, he oversold it to drive up the price. He boasted wildly about what he'd stolen. Then those charlatans believed him and started up their rift generator based on the data Old Joe gave them. And just as they started it, your side blew up big time. The Order people turned around and saw—oh man—"

By the time he said this, Luo herself had figured it out. The two said in unison, "Can't shut it down!"

The room fell silent. The few of them looked at each other, and then their expressions turned interesting. Even Eileen, who wasn't the sharpest, and the fox girl who only cared about food, understood what was going on (Luna's current shell was more restrained, so she didn't show it outwardly). Then Hu Li clapped her hands. "Ah! So if we connect the dots, the Order's recent frequent activity is because their rift device is going out of control. The loss of control is due to errors in the data Old Joe gave them, causing that so-called 'Eden Gate' to be unclosable, and that thing is likely powered by a Gloomy Angel, so now the angel's awakening process is probably also out of control. So they went to put pressure on Old Joe..."

"The result of the pressure was that Old Joe had to 'take over' my assets as soon as possible, and this even bypassed the standard procedures of the group company," Luo quickly added. "I was already suspicious before. Just as I got into trouble, all my strongholds were taken over by Old Joe. He acted so hastily that he didn't even have time to deal with the most profitable mines and trade routes, but kept looking for the disaster recovery databases I had hidden..."

"Anything else?" Yu Sheng turned to look at Mo Mo. "About the 'cooperation' between the Holy Seclusion Order and Old Joe—what else do you know?"

"There is a planet called 'Holy Domain.' Old Joe mentioned it several times when he was cursing behind the scenes," Mo Mo answered after thinking. "It seemed to be the capital of the Holy Seclusion Order. Once, Old Joe cursed furiously, saying those lowly beings were stupid and short-sighted, placing that so-called gate on the capital planet. When the gate collapses, no one on the whole planet will escape... and then he wouldn't be able to collect his debts."

The room instantly became even quieter than before.

After two or three seconds, Yu Sheng finally exclaimed, "...They built that thing on their own capital planet?!"

"Damn, even for cultists, this is a bit too insane, I mean it," even Eileen caught on, the little puppet's eyes wide. "I always thought they were at most welding detonators and sawing light bulbs. Holy shit, they're welding next to a gas station..."

"...That doesn't make sense," Luo frowned in confusion. As a veteran unlucky person who had essentially been welding detonators and sawing light bulbs herself and had recently succeeded in sawing one to explosion, she completely couldn't understand the cultists' logic. "Shouldn't such dangerous things be placed far away? I even built a separate space station for the Zolda Blackstone. How dare they start it right on their home planet..."

"Don't even start. You're not much better than them," Yu Sheng waved his hand. On this topic, he didn't spare Luo any politeness. Then he stroked his chin and threw out a guess. "I do have a thought about this... Could it be related to some doctrine of theirs?"

Eileen thought about it, didn't get it, so she grabbed Yu Sheng's head. "What do you mean?"

"For example, they need to put sacred artifacts in a sacred place? Or the final step of the ritual must be completed on the 'holy mother planet'?"

"Just for that, they put a 'angel technology' that could explode at any moment under their feet?" Eileen looked utterly baffled. "This kind of stunt isn't afraid of killing themselves..."

Yu Sheng clapped his hands. "That's what you said. Without pulling some crazy stunts, how can you even call yourself a cultist—especially in a place like the Dark Meteor Starfield, which is also rich in talents and resources. Without a stunt that wipes out your own entire sect, how else can you stand out?"

Mo Mo blinked, watching these strange people in front of her.

She didn't know exactly what was happening, but she could feel that the information she provided was useful, and that made her relax a little.

If she was valuable... she probably wouldn't suffer much.

Just as she was thinking that, the gazes from across the table suddenly all shifted to her.

Yu Sheng looked at the cat-eared girl across the table with great anticipation. "What else do you know?"