novelraw Chapter 474: Hope Orphanage
Chapter 474: Hope Orphanage
Following the memory fragments extracted from a regional bishop, Su Zhan arrived at a remote valley surrounded by towering mountains and steep ridges.
According to the memories, a highly important base, codenamed "Cradle," was hidden here.
When Su Zhan concealed his aura and quietly arrived above the valley, the scene that entered his golden vertical pupils was completely different from the imagined den of evil.
In the valley, there stood... a rather neat-looking complex of buildings.
White walls, colorful roofs, and in the courtyard, simple but fully functional slides and swings.
A somewhat weathered wooden sign hung at the entrance, bearing neatly written characters...
Hope Orphanage.
The faint sound of children's laughter drifted from within the compound.
Several children were chasing and playing in the yard.
A few women with kindly faces sat under the eaves, doing needlework while smiling as they watched the children play.Smoke curled up from the chimney on the roof, and the air was filled with an... atmosphere of peace and detachment from worldly strife.
Anyone unaware of the truth would see this as a rare safe haven in these turbulent times, a place full of love and compassion.
But Su Zhan had already glimpsed the dark essence within those memory fragments.
Beneath those women's kindly smiles, their eyes held a calculating gaze that sized up the children like livestock.
Beneath the seemingly ordinary soil of the courtyard, layers upon layers of human bones were buried.
Behind the orphanage, beneath that meticulously tended vegetable garden, was a concealed entrance leading to the underground site where the real sacrifices took place.
Su Zhan could sense it.
This entire orphanage was enveloped by an evil magic circle.
This circle's function was not defense or attack, but... to block perception and slowly siphon the life essence of all the children within the compound.
Like boiling a frog slowly in warm water, it nourished the Transcendence Society members hidden here while cultivating these children into higher-quality sustenance.
"Hope Orphanage..."
Su Zhan repeated the name.
Exploiting human kindness, disguising itself as a sanctuary, gathering orphans who lost their parents in the war—not to give them hope, but to treat them like penned livestock, draining their lives, and ultimately using them as food.
This act trampled not only on life but also on the most basic conscience within humanity.
Su Zhan didn't need to use his Time Abyss Pupil to read the memories of any specific member.
The stark, brutal truth before him was already enough.
Hovering high in the air, like a cold, indifferent deity, Su Zhan gazed down at the orphanage below, soaked in evil.
He was calculating how to most thoroughly erase this filth from the world while ensuring the highest possible survival rate for those deceived children.
This wasn't out of pity.
But because these children themselves were living proof of the Transcendence Society's crimes.
Through encrypted communication, Su Zhan succinctly sent the coordinates of Hope Orphanage to Li Su.
For this kind of deeply hidden stronghold disguised in human skin, it might be more appropriate for official forces to intervene, handle identification, provide treatment, and conduct subsequent interrogations.
His task was to eliminate the guardian forces here.
And ensure not a single core member of the Transcendence Society escaped.
Once the message was sent, Su Zhan slowly descended, no longer concealing his aura.
The entire valley seemed to fall silent.
The children's laughter ceased abruptly as they stared in terror at this suddenly appearing person.
The smiles on the faces of those originally kind-looking aunts instantly froze solid.
They could feel that pressure, a power far beyond any level they could comprehend.
"Enemy attack!!!"
A male Aberrant who reacted the fastest let out a shrill alarm while his body began to unnaturally swell, bone spurs pushing up beneath his skin.
His mutation process only reached halfway.
Su Zhan's gaze swept across.
A ripple of dark red washed over the entire orphanage complex.
Those Transcendence Society members disguised as caretakers, gardeners, and cooks began to rapidly dissolve from the outside in the instant the ripple passed over them.
Turning into wisps of smoke that dissipated.
Yet the buildings themselves, along with the furniture and items inside, remained completely unharmed. Even the confined children only felt a sudden palpitation, their bodies suffering no injury whatsoever.
In no more than the time of three breaths.
Only dozens of terrified, stunned children remained in the courtyard, and... a deathly silence.
All Transcendence Society members had completely vanished.
Without even glancing at the frightened children, Su Zhan locked onto the concealed entrance beneath the vegetable garden behind the orphanage.
There, a few slightly bigger fish were preparing to escape through the underground passage.
Su Zhan's figure vanished once more.
The cleanup was still ongoing.
Once the news of Hope Orphanage was confirmed and disclosed by the authorities.
It was bound to trigger a wave of hatred against the Transcendence Society within Daxia.
...
On official, authority-controlled media, a series of meticulously edited case briefings began to appear.
...
A dimly lit cavern, a bone altar, remnants of sacrificial traces, and censored but still recognizable human limb fragments.
The voiceover was a grave and furious narration: "...This is the real scene inside a Transcendence Society stronghold! They use the flesh and blood of their compatriots as offerings, taking pride in their twisted forms!"
...
Inside a raided stronghold warehouse, mountains of military rations and medicine boxes piled high, still bearing military logos.
The commentary was sharp as a blade: "These supplies, meant to be sent to relief points to aid disaster victims, were found in the Transcendence Society's secret warehouse! They are sucking the nation's blood, gnawing at the lifeline of our people!"
...
The video showed the stark contrast between the orphanage's exterior and its warm interior, along with footage of official personnel rescuing dozens of sallow, thin children with frightened eyes.
An official spokesperson used an extremely restrained tone: "...We discovered this den of evil cloaked in charity. The children were having their life essence siphoned long-term, used as their so-called sustenance... This is the most complete betrayal of humanity!"
...
This information exploded across Daxia's entire online world.
"My God, I knew the Transcendence Society was no good, but I never imagined they could sink to such beastly depths?"
"Using an orphanage as cover? Draining children's lives? Are they even human? No, they simply aren't human!"
"No wonder frontline supplies are always short—they were all embezzled by these parasites!"
"I used to think the authorities' crackdown on the Transcendence Society might be too harsh... Now I see, kill them all! They haven't been killed enough!"
...
Previously, perhaps a few still held a vague notion of the Transcendence Society as pursuing power through a different path.
But in the face of these three consecutive bombshells—the flesh and blood altar, the plundered military supplies, and the abuse of orphans—all gray areas were utterly shattered.
The flames of hatred were completely ignited.
The trending charts on major online platforms were rapidly dominated by related topics:
Transcendence Society, get out of Daxia...
Support the complete eradication of the Transcendence Society...
Transcendence Society, the dregs of humanity...
...