?Chapter 6451 Cat's Paws Secret Keeper Closier-17 continued to maintain a neutral expression. Together with his completely gray and almost featureless uniform, the man exhibited no tells that could allow Ves to gain a grasp of the other person's thoughts and feelings. That threw Ves off quite a bit. He did not realize it until recently, but he had become too dependent on using his extraordinarily sharp spiritual perception to cast a glimpse into people's true hearts. This gave him a decisive advantage in many social occasions. It also improved his speech making capabilities as he was able to track the mood of his audience to a precise degree, allowing him to time his revelations to elicit the strongest emotional responses. Getting confronted by the Secret Keeper uncomfortably reminded Ves that he should not only stop relying on this admittedly useful crutch, but also be on guard in case he met cultivators that could fake their emotional fluctuations and spiritual expressions. The spy in front of him was able to perfectly mask his spirituality to Ves, which meant that the modern cultivation methods practiced by the Red Collective had already reached this level. That was the strength of qi cultivation methods. Their pure combat power was not as good as mech pilot cultivation, but their versatility and fine control over E energy was unparalleled. The right approach and training could allow a cultivator to induce an unlimited amount of transformations. Qi cultivators that specialized in these arts were masters at deception. In fact, companion spirits like Blinky could potentially develop similar capabilities. It was a pity that Ves chose to have his Star Cat cultivate a method that mainly increased his energy reserves to a ridiculous degree. While Blinky still possessed satisfactory control over E energy due to the nature of his existence, the feline companion spirit lacked practice in such fine operations. Ves did not t this too much. Blinky mainly existed to help him design and fabricate his mech designs. He did not have a strong demand for other functions. That was what other people were for. If he needed a spy, it was better to hire a professional than to do everything himself. "I do not know how to feel right now." Ves said now that he had a bit of time to process his emotions and understand the gravity of the situation. "I suppose that you know this much about me, I may have exhibited problematic behavior in the past. I would just like to add that I mostly do so because my enemies have driven me into a corner. You can't blame me for overreacting when people are trying to kill or ruin me. Most people who end up in similar situations just end up losing or dying. I have continuously been able to turn the tables against my opponents by employing extreme and unexpected gambits. While I am glad to have done so, my life would be much easier if people could refrain from poking me in the first place. I just want to be left alone and design my mechs in peace." The member of the Secret Department patiently listened to Ves as he complained about the unfairness of his life. "We do not necessarily cast blame on you, Chief Councilor Larkinson. What we are concerned about is the damage you can do to our people and society. As simple as your wish may be, it is impossible for you to realize it. Now that you have become the most promising Senior Mech Designer of the Red Ocean and a top-level legislative leader of the Red Collective, you have the attention of the people. This is the life of a leading public official. All of the privileges that you have gained also come with heavy responsibilities. If you wish to take advantage of perks such as claiming a Mentalist Crystal for yourself, then you must restrain your behavior and let go of your more deplorable impulses." The man sent a very clear message to Ves. "I get it." Ves grumbled. "I am no longer representing myself and my clan anymore. In the past, even if I played fast and loose with the rules, I could always get away with it because I don't really answer to others anymore. Now that I have accepted a higher office, my deeds will also reflect on the Red Collective. I can do a lot of damage to its reputation and approval rating if I commit a major violation." The spy nodded. "That is correct. We all stand to gain or lose from your actions, even if you did not mean to do so. You cannot imagine how many observers and intelligence agencies are paying attention to you nowadays. Any behavior that can put you in liability is much more likely to be exposed at this time. Even your past actions are being scrutinized with costly and metaphysical methods that can extract more information out of the tiniest clues. This is why you must converge your ugliest side and make sure to maintain exemplary behavior in the public." This was not an unreasonable demand. It was fair for the Red Collective to ask him to behave like a proper public official. Ves just wasn't sure whether he could hold himself in. He was realistic enough to know that if he was driven to a corner in the future, he would rather fight back than roll over! "What if... I have no choice?" "Then let others take the blame." The Secret Keeper plainly said. "The most ideal solution is to put yourself in a position where you are not compelled to break the rules. However, if you truly cannot help yourself, then do a proper job and delegate the less savory assignments to your allies or subordinates. There are leaders that choose to raise seemingly unrelated organizations that serve as their cat's paws. As long as you have hid your tracks well enough, no one can link the unpleasant deeds of your cat's paws to yourself. This is how the true masters operate. If they have to take action directly and in a manner that causes them to assume culpability, then they have already failed." All of this made a lot of sense. Ves was thinking too small. He was not accustomed to all of the tricks and best practices that people at such a high office relied upon to achieve their objectives. Cat's paws. What a strange term. Ves had no idea where it originated and how any of this had to do with cats, but he developed an immediate liking for this phrase. Ves was no stranger to raising new organizations, but when he thought about which ones could serve as his cat's paws, none of his existing ones appeared suitable for this job. There was an undeniable relationship between himself and other organizations like the Open Consortium and the Creation Association. Even the Black Cats clearly served as the intelligence arm of the Larkinson Clan! "Thank you for advising me. Ves sincerely said to the Secret Keeper. "I understand how to do better. You have enlightened me that I no longer have to do everything by myself anymore." His past methods were too crude and simple compared to the more sophisticated means of the upper echelon of human civilization. For example, the Secret Department clearly suspected the Xenotechnician of colluding with the treacherous cosmopolitans, yet never considered the idea of taking action because they could not prove a solid link between the two parties. While there were undoubtedly other reasons that kept the Xenotechnician alive and blameless, the fact that he operated smooth enough to avoid any dirt was a crucial accomplishment! Ves needed to learn from the likes of the Xenotechnician, He had to get better at disguising his true motives and raise disposable minions that he could use up and discard without bearing any guilt or feeling any notable loss. He could not raise such organizations in the short term. took a lot of effort and preparation to establish them. The challenge of finding trustworthy people who were willing to do his dirty business was also considerably high. The wrong choice could easily cause him to expose his dirty laundry! Perhaps this was why so many major players colluded with the Cosmopolitan Movement. Compared to the effort and risk involved with setting up their own cat's paws, it was much easier to make use of existing cosmopolitan cells! Of course, dealing with the cosmopolitans came with a heavy price. Not only did they risk bearing the stigma of cosmopolitanism, but the vile human traitors they cooperated with may even resort to blackmail to force less desirable forms of cooperation! Ves still hadn't forgotten about the fact that Lady Romanda Devos was a member of the Horizon Cell of the Cosmopolitan Movement. He had been postponing his decision on what to do with Romanda and her cell. While he was tempted to distance himself from them entirely, he did not want to keep the cosmopolitans entirely out of his sight. Perhaps was better to maintain shallow relations just so that the Horizon Cell could keep him informed about what their more radical colleagues were up to. Ves just needed to be careful not to engage too deeply with the Horizon Cell. In fact, it was best if he did not interact with Lady Romanda and her cosmopolitan buddies in person anymore. He needed to resort to his old tricks and craft a false identity for himself to further reduce the probability that he could get caught. He thought about the lesser Collie organ that he had just attained. While its name sounded awfully suspicious, its purported function could play an extremely useful role in these sorts of situations. However, the organ was only half-complete, which meant that it would take a long time for the Larkinson Biotech Institute to develop anything useful out of this phasewater organ. Ves could resort to lesser but still adequate measures to disguise himself. If he had managed to break through to the rank of Master, he was pretty sure his Spirituality would grow strong and robust enough to get away with creating another external incarnation. Incarnations were too useful for him. It was extremely regrettable that the incarnation that he originally devoted for this purpose was stuck in the wrong galaxy. If the urgency was great enough, Ves believed he could still create another external incarnation, but he instinctively felt that he would inflict permanent damage to his Spirituality if he tried to be too greedy. Seeing that Ves had been properly enlightened, the Secret Keeper resumed his briefing. "We are on a schedule, so let me inform you about other secrets before my time with you has come to an end. There are many more secrets that the chief councilor of the Upper Council needs to be aware of in order to make informed decisions." Closier-17 did what he said and continued to speak for two more hours. The main office continued to remain under heavy jamming as Ves absorbed a lot of confidential information. They ranged from the existence of grand works that possessed shocking capabilities to deductions of the plots and schemes of different groups and factions. Ves also learned a bit more on where the Red Collective managed to source so much legacy cultivation scriptures. 𝘧𝑟𝑒𝑒𝘸𝘦𝘣𝑛𝑜𝘷𝑒𝓁.𝘤𝘰𝓂 When the Five Scrolls Compact had been toppled from power due to the rebellion of the Big Two, not every group of cultists or daughter organization tried to defend the status quo. They recognized where the wind was blowing and decided to follow the trend instead of trying to resist the inevitable! While these betrayals came with heavy consequences, the old families and organizations that previously tried to curry favor with the Five Scrolls Compact had successfully cut off their poisonous connections and turned over a new leaf. The Big Two did not work too hard to persecute all of the Compact deserters because there were just too many of them. Human civilization had also reached its most vulnerable state after the end of the Age of Conquest. Their fragile and half-broken society could not endure any further mass conflicts. Continuing to pursue old grudges would just weaken humanity to the point the alien empires in the other half of the Milky Way saw their chance and endeavor to regain control of their stolen territories! The ultimate conclusion that Ves drew from this was that the Five Scrolls Compact cast a much deeper shadow onto modern human society than he expected. Even if many old families had placed their surviving cultivation scriptures in a library and never did anything serious with them anymore, the tainted knowledge was never truly lost. All of this now came handy now that exotic radiation and the rise of the Red Collective had brought systematic cultivation back into the mainstream. "Doesn't this mean that the old families with long legacies enjoy a far greater advantage in this aspect than others?" Ves inquired. "You are correct. This is why the Red Collective must exist. It is also why the Red Association and the Red Fleet ultimately agreed to its founding," Closier-17 told him. "The RC's mandate makes it legal to intervene in the practice of any cultivation method. The old families will be forced to create their own sects and submit their cultivation methods to our Cultivation Department for certification. This will not only restrain the greedy from practicing illegal demonic cultivation methods, but also reduce the gap between descendants that have access to superior heritages and commoners that lack such foundations." "I see"