Volume 14: Devastation Chapter 688: Following the Clues
"It's a pity that the mastermind behind this attack is probably not among this group of people." Ke Lan sighed in his heart.
The most difficult part of this attack plan is not the execution, but the early planning - transporting so many contraband weapons to the South Fourth District under the noses of the garrison troops, and then arming these hundreds of remnants of the heretical sect. The difficulty of this link is much higher than the attack itself. If there is a mistake in any link, it will be discovered by the military or the security bureau.
But the fact is, until the attack began, no one in any department noticed anything unusual.
Judging from the chaotic command at the scene of the attack—or simply the lack of command—the mastermind behind the attack should have left or gone into hiding after delivering the remnants of the heretical sect and the weapons. If he hadn't arrived in time, this group of people might have really been able to wipe out the entire escort team by piling up heads .
Although the attack was resolved by Ke Lan, the mastermind behind it is still at large.
The mastermind who planned the entire attack is the one who deserves to die the most.
At this time, a soldier wearing a medical armband came over and handed a tablet to Ke Lan: "Report, we temporarily examined the bodies of the three attackers and found that the deceased had a common feature: they had taken a large amount of Mengzao preparations not long ago."
"A very large amount of Mengzao preparation? How much is a very large amount?" Ke Lan asked immediately.
Ke Lan had seen the Dream Date when she first strayed into the base of a heretic sect in the wilderness. This was a plant fruit with a strong hallucinogenic effect, and its potency was no less than the most powerful drugs in the old era. Heretic sects often made incense from the dried Dream Date and used its medicinal effects to control their followers.
However, dream dates are highly controlled items on the Ark, and the few cultivation bases are under strict control of the military and the security bureau. Every medicine made with dream dates as raw materials has a unique serial number. From production, transportation, storage to use, it must be registered with the supervisory department in real time to ensure that every dream date preparation used can be traced.
Of course, in practice the controls are not so strict. For example, the director of Nottingham General Hospital can provide Ke Lan with four bottles of "concentrated Mengzao preparations" for tens of thousands of credit points. Similarly, from some well-connected people in the black market, as long as you have enough money, you can also buy Mengzao preparations from formal or informal channels.
The formal channels refer to the Mengzao preparations officially produced by Nature's Ark. As for how to avoid supervision, it is very simple - forge medical records: for example, a patient suddenly suffers from epilepsy, or madly attacks medical staff, and ordinary sedatives are ineffective, the hospital has to inject the patient with a Mengzao preparation... The few Mengzao preparations in the hands of the director of Nottingham General Hospital were "saved" in this way.
As for informal channels, there are even more of them: some illegal small workshops that secretly carry out small-scale cultivation, "inferior products" that are diluted and blended from the formal channels' dream date preparations, and the source with the largest shipment volume: the exile settlement.
Planting dream dates in the wilderness is not officially regulated by the Ark. For some relic hunters, scavengers, mercenaries, hired workers outside the home, and even soldiers in field forces , smuggling dream dates can bring them considerable extra income. Although the risk is high, the benefits are there, and there will never be a shortage of people who are willing to take risks.
However, no matter which channel is used, not too many Dream Date preparations can be obtained. This thing is always a scarce commodity in the gray area. Three hundred Dream Date preparations... this may be the sales volume of all black markets on the Ark combined for one quarter.
"According to the autopsy results, the three attackers consumed at least twenty standard units of Mengzao preparations," said the medical soldier.
When Mengzao preparations are used as sedatives for patients, generally only a dosage of 0.5 to one standard unit is used. However, the "concentrated Mengzao preparation" that Ke Lan injected into "Patient No. 0302" at Nottingham General Hospital has a capacity of almost exactly one standard unit.
Twenty standard units, that is definitely a lethal dose!
If each attacker took twenty units of the Mengzao preparation, but there are three hundred people, that would add up to six thousand units!
Even if the Ark officials were asked to come up with so many Dream Date preparations right now, it would still be a very difficult task.
Moreover, there is another suspicious point in this matter.
"If these three people took twenty units of Mengzao preparation, even if they didn't die suddenly, their bodies should have turned into a pool of mud... How could they still have the ability to attack the escort convoy?" Ke Lan asked.
Let alone twenty units of Dream Date Preparation, even if there was only one unit, this group of people would probably not be able to distinguish friend from foe... Let alone an ambush in the ruins, as long as they were given weapons, they would probably just indiscriminately shoot at their companions...
The heretical sects used dream date incense to control their followers. The amount of this thing inhaled by the body per unit time was not large. If it was not inhaled for a long time, it would only produce a feeling of intoxication like being drunk. With the language induction and psychological suggestion of those priests and bishops, those believers would firmly believe in the doctrines of the heretical sects.
"In addition to the Dream Date preparation, these people also injected the rhizome extract of 'Silver Vein Grass'..." said the medic, "This is also a native . Its effect can neutralize some of the sedative and paralytic effects of the Dream Date and enhance the hallucinogenic effect... If used in combination with a large dose of the Dream Date preparation..."
"What will happen?"
"The research institute has conducted clinical trials. The combination of these two drugs will turn people into puppets without self-awareness and who only obey orders... Moreover, this effect is irreversible. The brain of the recipient will be permanently damaged, and when the effect of the drug wears off, they will die directly from brain death."
"Tsk, it really kills two birds with one stone." Ke Lan smacked his lips. In this way, even if those living people were sent to the Security Bureau, they would not be able to get anything out of them by torture - these attackers were already living dead like zombies.
A key clue was lost.
But another clue emerged in front of Ke Lan.
"Dream dates and silver vein grass are both contraband. Such a large quantity can only be provided by large settlements of exiles in the wilderness. Following this clue, we may be able to track down the hidden mastermind."
