Tao Qingqing possessed near-mid-order strength. A mere touch of her bare hands to the monstrous cicada almost spelled her end.
How could something like this be so easily dispatched by Wen Wen's casual energy blast?
Still harboring doubts, Wen Wen, controlling black energy, pulled a steel rebar from a roadside sewer grate and prodded the monstrous cicada with it.
He dared not touch the grotesque insect carelessly.
Yet, with just a couple of light touches from Wen Wen, the monstrous cicada's body scattered on the ground.
The scattered components revealed no normal biological tissues. They were all scrap metal, shattered iron shards, and concrete blocks.
Looking at this pile, one would never guess its prior form as a cicada. Its vibrant pale blue hue was slowly fading. Once all the color had vanished, only a heap of junk remained on the ground.
Only then did Tao Qingqing regain her senses. Staring at the crystalline blue glass arm on the ground, she felt a lingering fear.
Losing an arm was not a major issue for her. However, if her entire body had turned to crystal, it would have been dire.
Her arm throbbed with blood energy, her bones and flesh began to regenerate in unison. The scene was somewhat gory, but she would soon return to her normal state.
Then, she sidled up behind Wen Wen and asked, "What exactly was that thing?"
Wen Wen narrowed his eyes and said, "It was nothing. Just discarded junk held together by a peculiar force. Once that force dissipates, it loses its form."
Though he spoke casually, it was his first encounter with such a creature.
Wen Wen's black energy blast had indeed hit something, but he couldn't discern whether the energy attached to the junk had departed or had been destroyed by him.
Furthermore, the energy mass on the monstrous cicada might not have been its core, possibly just one of many forces.
Wen Wen stood up, looking at the human crucifix in the church, and sighed.
He held no prejudice against churches, but he never believed the doctrines of the Genesis Church. He felt no guilt in stealing from churches and even harbored a genuine distaste for believers who were so engrossed in dogma that they ignored reality.
Occasionally, when he saw someone proselytizing to children, he would secretly swap their eye drops for balm.
But this did not mean he could turn a blind eye to the tragedy unfolding in the church. Whether as a Containment Officer or a demon hunter, he could not simply ignore it.
The way the insect arranged the corpses might have been for some ritual, or perhaps merely a matter of preference.
But whether it was preference or ritual, as long as the perpetrator was alive, they would likely do it again.
Wen Wen had a premonition that the events in this church were merely the tip of the iceberg…
After the battle concluded, the local Hunter's Association cordoned off the area and began processing the bodies left in the church, initiating the normal cleanup procedures.
Wen Wen, meanwhile, collected the 'limbs' left by the monstrous cicada and sent them to the Containment Facility. He intended to use the power of the Disaster Warden to search for clues about the insect.
Wen Wen planned to stay in the city for two days. If no similar incidents occurred, he would set aside this anomaly for now. If more cases surfaced…
Then he would investigate thoroughly.
Upon returning to the Containment Facility, Wen Wen attempted to use the Disaster Warden's power to locate the monstrous cicada's core. Unfortunately, the residual energy had completely vanished, leaving only useless debris.
Wen Wen sighed and said, "Logically, I must be overthinking it. That creature should have been annihilated by my strike, and not cause any further disasters…"
Yet, Wen Wen felt an unease deep within his heart, as if something was about to happen.
Restless, Wen Wen stood up, activated his black body's power, channeled it into the Blood River Sword, and then began swinging the sword rhythmically.
This allowed him to simultaneously train his black body and his swordsmanship.
He had spent a month in seclusion on the Sky Curtain Giant Whale. A lot could have happened during that month.
The interaction with the Abyssal Whispers had been successful. The Coding Organization had been integrated into the SRS Foundation, becoming its armed division.
The name Coding had completely vanished from history, but An Yuexi remained, becoming a child laborer at the Foundation, constantly bothering Heng An.
Now, in addition to the monsters Wen Wen had supported, the Foundation finally had its first usable armed force. They would no longer need to frequently request assistance from the Containment Facility and could instead help Wen Wen's facility resolve some troublesome matters.
The Foundation was still quite weak at present. Once it grew stronger, it might attract the attention of the Hunter's Association. At that time, Wen Wen might need to use his Black Cross identity to negotiate with the Hunter's Association. It would be best for both parties to avoid conflict.
Wen Wen estimated that the Hunter's Association wouldn't make things too difficult for the Foundation, as some of the Foundation's functions and organizational ideals were similar to those of the Hunter's Association; both aimed to make the world a better place.
"Wait a minute…"
Thinking about the similarities between the Foundation and the Hunter's Association, Wen Wen suddenly had an interesting conjecture.
"The Containment Facility disappeared a thousand years ago, while the Hunter's Association began to develop and grow as an organization a thousand years ago."
"The Hunter's Association also possesses power classifications similar to the Containment Facility, as well as similar functions and ideals…"
"Could it be that the Hunter's Association from a thousand years ago, much like the Foundation today, was merely an affiliated organization established by the Containment Facility in the outside world to provide resources?"
"Because the Containment Facility disappeared, the Hunter's Association had to rely on itself, slowly developing into the pillar of the federal demon hunting industry…"
"Hiss, if I were to reveal my identity to the federal high command, would they immediately bow down to me? I'd become a winner in life instantly."
Wen Wen laughed at the thought, but it was ultimately just a wild idea.
He had already made several appearances under the guise of the Black Cross. If the Hunter's Association truly was as he speculated, they would have contacted him long ago.
Moreover, even if there was a one percent chance it was true, a thousand years could erase too many things. Prostration was ultimately just his delusion.
It would be more realistic for him to absorb all the demon hunters of the Hunter's Association into the Containment Facility, and then use a group of loyalists to take over the Hunter's Association.
Besides the Coding Organization, the first batch of Containment Officers Wen Wen recruited in Nim City had also visited the Containment Facility several times, becoming familiar with the place.
The appearance of federal allies significantly elevated the prestige of the Containment Facility, making it more than just an organization confined to the Washington area.
Additionally, the Containment Facility had acquired a batch of new monsters, all captured by the Containment Officers. However, to Wen Wen, these monsters were merely numbers.
Once the number of monsters reached a certain threshold, Wen Wen discovered that implanting chains into his body, while restricting the monsters, did not offer unlimited control.
With only about ten Disaster-level monsters, supplemented by Cataclysm-level monsters, Wen Wen could control over two hundred simultaneously.
However, if they were all Lower-order Cataclysm-level monsters, he could control only a few dozen at most.
If the controlled monsters were stronger, their numbers would decrease. He could only control a few High-order monsters simultaneously.
While he hadn't encountered True-order monsters yet, Wen Wen estimated he could only restrain one or two at a time.
As for Catastrophe-level…
The chains likely possessed no such capability.