Lightning Is the Only Way

"What do you mean redacted!?" a young man with black hair shouted. He wore black robes, and his aura was hidden.

"As I've said, the name of the person that accepted the mission is redacted," a young girl with white hair said nervously. She appeared fearful and nervous in front of this person.

"How can it be reacted!? Do you know who I am!?" the man shouted with rage as his hand slammed on the table. The table that had been made out of Immortal King materials was pulverized in the process.

"I-I'm sorry," the girl said with a quivering voice. "I can't do anything about it. Sir needs to go to the assassination stronghold that came into contact with the mission taker to investigate."

"I'm a Senior Judge!" the man shouted in anger, making the girl flinch. "I'm the highest-ranked person for investigations in Underworld! I'm personally looking into this case since the circumstances around the mission have been suspicious! I have the highest form of clearance in Underworld, except for the Elders!"

"Sir, I'm really sorry, but I just can't tell you," the girl said with fear. "None of us know who accepted the mission. You can only find the answer from the assassination stronghold that came into contact with the mission taker."

The man gritted his teeth. He had never been so humiliated! He had been in Underworld for over 150,000 years, and he had climbed to the highest position for internal affairs. He was the person that assigned the tasks to everyone else when something didn't seem right with a mission.

Underworld had several agreements with the Peak Sects, and these agreements had to be upheld. However, some greedy individuals might try to go against these agreements because of profit. They might give Underworld cleverly disguised fake currency or give wrong information to Underworld regarding a mission, which would end with people of Underworld dying.

This person was at the highest rank of the investigation department.

Additionally, a lesser-known fact, he was also a double agent of the Nine Elements Sect.

Someone had killed the upper echelon of a High-Tier Sect under the Nine Elements Sect's banner. Because of that, this hidden ace of the Nine Elements Sect, this double agent, became active. He had to find the person that accepted this mission and inform the Nine Elements Sect!

However, he, who had the highest authority, couldn't find the information in the central archives.

Intelligence and information were some of the most important things for Underworld. The entire survival of the organization hinged on being able to keep secrets. After all, if the Peak Sects found out the locations of the major strongholds and the headquarters, Underworld might be eradicated.

Because of that, information was stored in three differently ranked locations.

The lowest rank was the local stronghold. Everything that happened in this stronghold would be archived locally so that the investigation department could verify the information.

The next higher-ranked information hub was the central archives.

The central archives gathered all the information of the continent they were on in one spot. There were five such archives, each corresponding to one area that one Peak Sect ruled over.

Someone like this Senior Judge never bothered to go to the local strongholds. His clearance was incredibly high, and he always visited the central archives. He could access everything in the central archives.

Right now, this Senior Judge was in the central archive responsible for the area that the Nine Elements Sect ruled over.

However, this central archive didn't have the information!

Someone had definitely messed up! It was mandatory to give the information to the central archives! They had to have the information!

The Senior Judge swore that he would kill whoever broke these rules! After he found out which stronghold gave out this assassination mission, he would kill the master of that stronghold! This person had broken the rules of Underworld!

Also, it made the Senior Judge's work more bothersome, which was probably the bigger reason for his anger.

"Fine!" the man shouted as he narrowed his eyes. "Which stronghold gave out the mission?"

"Let me look, sir," the girl said as she interacted with the Formation Array.

After two seconds, for whatever reason, the girl started crying.

The man looked with annoyance at the girl for several seconds.

"So? Spit it out!" he said.

"I-It's," she said as she stuttered.

"Speak in clear words!" the man shouted.

"I-I," the girl stammered. "It-It's, It's… redacted…"

"HOW CAN THAT ALSO BE REDACTED!?" the guy immediately shouted as the room shook. This was a Late Minor Circulation Immortal Emperor, and his aura couldn't be underestimated. "Are you trying to provoke me!?"

The girl broke down in tears as she fell to her knees. "I'm so sorry! I'm so sorry! I'm so sorry!" she stammered as she begged in tears.

The Senior Judge became even more enraged.

That the name of the mission taker was redacted could be assigned to a fuck-up, but the fact that the stronghold was also redacted held an entirely different meaning.

The reason for that was that the name of the mission taker was provided by the stronghold, while the name of the stronghold was provided by the central archives. The central archives saw where the transmission came from and assigned the name of the stronghold to that piece of information.

The Senior Judge had been in Underworld for more than a day, obviously, and he knew exactly what this meant.

'An Insurance Stronghold!' he thought as he gritted his teeth. 'That's the only explanation that would make sense! All the information from Insurance Strongholds gets directly transferred to the Hivemind instead of the central archives. The Hivemind then deletes all the information that's confidential and sends it to the relevant central archives.'

'The central archives don't have the information. Even if I search the Spirits of everyone in this place, I won't find anything relevant. Additionally, the Insurance Strongholds are the third-highest ranked secret in Underworld, just behind the location of the headquarters and the Keeper's identity. Not even I can find out the location of Insurance Strongholds!' the Senior Judge thought with frustration.

'I can't find out anything here. I can't even go to the local stronghold since I don't know where it is,' the man thought with frustration.

'This means I can only go to the Hivemind.'

"Stop crying and stand up!" the man shouted at the crying girl. "Killing you is not worth getting investigated over."

The girl slowly calmed down as she followed the man's orders. She stood up, but her body was still shaking in fear.

"If you find out anything relevant to this mission, inform me. You know how to find me," the man said.

"Y-Yes, sir," the girl said.

SHING!

Then, the Senior Judge directly teleported away.

After arriving at a secluded location, the man narrowed his eyes as he took out his insignia that showed that he was a Senior Judge.

For some seconds, he looked at it with narrowed eyes.

'It's a risk, but I have been a perfect member of Underworld for over 150,000 years. The chances of failure should be low.'

'I never went to the Hivemind. Seems like today will be my first time,' the guy thought.

The Hivemind was inside the headquarters of Underworld. Thus, nearly no one knew where it was. However, going there was easier than finding it.

The highest members of Underworld could use their insignia to directly teleport to the Hivemind. The insignia worked just like Arc's emblem.

Why was the headquarters of Underworld so important?

Because this was the location of the elders that made all the major decisions in Underworld. There were no soldiers or clerks in there. The entire headquarter had less than ten people inside it, but these ten people were the absolute core of Underworld. If they died, Underworld would cease to exist.

The headquarters was also the location of the Keeper.

The Keeper was the person that controlled access to the most powerful treasures, most powerful pieces of information, and the entire wealth of Underworld. He was the controller of everything.

If Underworld were a Sect, this person would be the Sect Master or Ancestor of the Sect.

He was the person in charge.

The entire Hivemind was operated by this one person. No one had access to the Hivemind other than him.

What exactly was the Hivemind?

It was the Spirit of the Keeper. All the information from Underworld would be sent to the central archives, and they sent everything to the Keeper.

So, if someone wanted to sneak into the Hivemind, they would need to sneak into the Keeper's Spirit. Of course, something like that was impossible.

This meant that if this Senior Judge wanted to access the Hivemind, he would need to teleport to the headquarters and talk with the Keeper directly.

Someone like the Keeper was an unfathomable existence, probably on the same level as an Ancestor from a Peak Sect.

'I need to prepare several things to not elicit suspicion,' the Senior Judge thought. 'There are several suspicious pieces of information about this mission. I don't even need to lie. I'm fully in my right to investigate this mission.'

The Senior Judge nodded. Then, he broke off a part of his Spirit and put it in the insignia. After that, he cut his finger and infused the insignia with his blood. Lastly, he created several Formation Arrays.

SHING!

And after several minutes, the Senior Judge vanished.

He had gone to the headquarters of Underworld.

And he would never come out again.