I created the Bureau of Anomaly Control

In a residence two hundred meters away from the Investigation Department, Lei Yu slowly opened his eyes.

A woman draped in a silver veil gradually materialized before him:

"As I said, Mann is currently outside of Gowen Province, making it impossible to simply capture him here. However, many of his companions have remained, and there's only one reason they can safely stay here now."

"That is the Veil of Secrecy."

"Neither the Child of the Moon who personally raised the veil, nor the fully empowered descendants of the Hunter God, nor even the Prediction Department of the Eastern Federation Company could pierce my veil. Your Federation has even less means to deal with it."

"But I can tell you their hiding place whenever I want."

Lei Yu said:

"You want us to use them to capture Mann?"

The Moon God asked:

"What are your goals, Mann? Or the sister of the Divine Firmament Walker?"

Lei Yu's expression shifted:

"She's really here?"

In truth, when Shadow instructed him on this matter, Lei Yu could see that he placed more hope on capturing and killing Mann, and the expectation of finding Qin Lan wasn't as great as he claimed.

The Moon God nodded:

"The Mann you're looking for is aiming for that Qin Lan, right? He himself shouldn't be considered an important figure to the Federation."

Lei Yu paused and said:

"You're not entirely correct. Our targets are Qin Lan and Mann. If we can capture the Divine Firmament Walker's sister, that would naturally be the best outcome, but Mann is also one of the Federation's targets, and we are responsible for him.

"He must die at our hands."

The Moon God revealed a puzzled expression:

"Oh, is there something important about him?"

Lei Yu replied:

"This is the mission given to me by those above. I don't know if there are any reasons behind it, and I don't have the authority to discuss it with them. I just want to complete this mission.

"Perhaps someone of your stature could persuade them to change their minds, but our meeting is being conducted in secret. I doubt the Federation would want to see you interfere in this matter."

Shadow said that killing Mann was a negotiation tactic, but Lei Yu didn't think he would tell him the truth. Shadow's resolute attitude at the time vaguely revealed that this wasn't the real reason.

The Moon God said:

"It's fine, I don't need him alive.

"Moreover, I can hand Qin Lan and him over to you together. I've obtained enough information from those Salvation Alliance members. I've figured out Qin Lan's personality and image. She's not the type to abandon her companions."

Lei Yu said:

"It would be even better if you could help me find her. However, the Federation's goal is to capture her alive, after all, Qin Lan's only use is to threaten her sister."

He was lying to the God of Secrets. If it weren't for the protection of the Thunder God, he would have exposed his thoughts before speaking. However, without this prerequisite, the Moon God wouldn't have been able to bypass the Investigation Department's defenses and come "before" him.

Their purpose for not killing Qin Lan no longer had anything to do with the Divine Firmament Walker. The Federation's initial attempt to capture Qin Lan was one of countless measures to ensure victory over Qin Lan.

And after that, the purpose of capturing Qin Lan was only to restrain the Divine Firmament Walker, but in fact, compared to many of the bargaining chips they already possessed, Qin Lan wasn't that valuable. What was truly valuable was something related to the Divine Firmament Walker's power.

Such as the lives and deaths of a large number of ordinary people, the impact caused by the Southern Federation deities, and the dissolution of the Salvation Alliance—these were the important things.

Even if Lei Yu didn't know that Shadow was already in communication with the Divine Firmament Walker, guaranteeing Qin Lan's freedom, it was easy to imagine that letting her stay outside and negotiate with the Federation was more beneficial to them than capturing Qin Lan.

Moreover, according to the Federation's experts' profiling, Qin Lan was actually a very suitable negotiator. Compared to other Salvation Alliance members, she cared more about her sister's life and death, and this trait could be exploited.

The Moon God nodded:

"Don't worry, they are all under my control.

"Now, besides Qin Lan and Mann, there are a total of three Rank IV ability users. Among them, Feng Shaoying and Shen Zhihe are already under my influence, and the only one left is an old man named Tao He."

Lei Yu said:

"A wizard."

The Moon God nodded:

"Feng Shaoying is an ability user with strong control over space. In terms of direct combat ability, she should be the strongest of the three, but in terms of combat experience and mental fortitude, she's not as dangerous as the other two. I will subtly influence her, making her reveal a fatal flaw.

"And Shen Zhihe is already completely under my control. You don't need to worry about him."

If Shen Zhihe had agreed to the deal in the dream, the Moon God would have been able to seize control of his mind in an imperceptible way. This time would have been enough for her to prepare a mental attack that Mann wouldn't be able to detect.

But unfortunately, Shen Zhihe was indeed well-prepared. He had not only long anticipated that hostile mental entities would attack using his deceased daughter, but also possessed the ability to warn his companions at any time. Therefore, the Moon God could only forcibly control him.

That's right, all his struggles did was prevent the Moon God from doing better, preventing her from directly collecting information about the Salvation Alliance and Mann through Shen Zhihe, which also prevented her from obtaining Mann so smoothly.

But Shen Zhihe's best outcome was still falling under her control.

The Moon God was a Rank V mental deity far stronger than Shen Zhihe. If she wasn't seeking Mann's secrets, she could have completely destroyed all of Shen Zhihe's minds during their first meeting.

A mere mortal.

She then asked:

"I will take care of those two, but there will also be a Rank IV wizard with considerable combat power and many Salvation Alliance members. Are you confident in dealing with them? You must know that your purpose there is not to kill them.

"Dead people have no value. You have to capture them, and then use these Salvation Alliance members in Gowen Province to lure out Mann. This is far more difficult than directly killing them."

Lei Yu chuckled and said:

"This is easy for me, but I highly doubt whether this can lure out Mann and Qin Lan. If they realize it's a trap, will they show up?"

The Moon God said:

"I don't know if Mann will appear, but Qin Lan definitely will, because she is a member of the Salvation Alliance, and this will also be a difficult and fortunate battle, at least in their eyes. They will feel that they have a chance to defeat you.

"But even so, your concern is reasonable. Mann may not appear because of them.

"So this is just the first step."