Being made into an employee motivational prize left Luo Shu extremely displeased—at least on the surface. What he truly thought about it deep down was something only he knew.
Soon, as everyone took their seats around the tea table, the group quietened down.
At this point, Luo Shu retrieved several paper documents from the Mist Ring that Mukuro Hoshimiya had modified. As he distributed them to everyone, he explained:
"This is the intelligence Enigma gathered when she attended the Hell Sect's meeting recently. I've compiled the information into these documents."
Although Luo Shu had come to discuss matters regarding the virtual gaming company, compared to virtual games, the personnel of the Hell Sect were actually more noteworthy.
One involved internal business integration, while the other was a potential enemy. In any case, external threats naturally demanded greater attention.
"You've already obtained intelligence on the Hell Sect this quickly?"
Lacus was somewhat surprised upon receiving the documents.
It wasn't that she hadn't had dealings with the Hell Sect before, but due to various reasons, the core members of the Hell Sect—the Sin Council—had always been a blind spot in SDS intelligence.
Even Meer, who headed the Intelligence Department, had no effective solutions to this.
Truth be told, members within the Hell Sect were either excessively covert, like Lust, or their turnover was extremely rapid.
Take the position of Greed, for example—before Enigma secured the role, the SDS had identified at least three suspects, all of whom soon died under various circumstances.
Initially, Lacus and Meer had assumed they'd identified the wrong targets.
But judging from the information gradually relayed after Enigma joined the Familia, the SDS's intelligence network hadn't actually made significant errors. Rather, the Hell Sect's elimination mechanism was too absurd.
Killing a Sin Council member allowed one to inherit their position. Frankly, Lacus found it hard to believe such an organisation could maintain much cohesion.
Yet paradoxically, this loosely-knit organisation had remained completely impenetrable—until Luo Shu recruited Enigma.
The reason for such tight security...
Lacus quickly skimmed through the Hell Sect's information before realising:
"I see. After joining the Sin Council, one must swear an oath to the Grand Dukes?"
"With what appears to be a Divine-level entity guaranteeing the oath, no wonder not a single piece of Sin Council intelligence ever leaked."
Meanwhile, Kirika Tachibana, also reviewing the documents, frowned:
"According to Enigma, formal induction into the Sin Council requires taking a vow under the Grand Dukes' sacred emblems, pledging strict confidentiality regarding council matters."
"The Sin Council internally refers to this as the Sin Pact. Any member who violates it dies swiftly—within a day at shortest, seven days at longest."
At this, Kirika sighed and addressed the group:
"Far more forceful than the control measures we anticipated."
Just then, Lacus turned to Luo Shu with a question:
"Having disclosed this intelligence, is Miss Enigma currently in any danger?"
Luo Shu answered as faithfully as possible:
"According to Enigma, the Familia's contract has suppressed the Sin Pact sworn under the Grand Dukes' emblems. So for now, she remains perfectly safe."
Hearing of Enigma's safety, Lacus visibly relaxed.
She flipped through the remaining documents and, upon scanning their contents, expressed fresh surprise:
"The files even contain current intelligence on the Sin Council members?"
"We've reached this level already?"
As Lacus reviewed the Sin Council member roster and their identities, she suddenly felt that if this continued, Meer might soon be out of a job.
How much time had passed, really?
Including Enigma's joining, it hadn't even been seven full days, yet the core members of the Hell Sect, who had been under intense investigation by intelligence agencies but remained shrouded in mystery, were practically laid bare.
Pride: Sebastian Michaelis, the loyal hound of the Queen of England, butler and steward of the Earl of Phantomhive, suspected to be a demon noble.
Lust: Momo Belia Deviluke, of the cosmic Deviluke Star race, suspected Demigod.
Apart from these two, Sloth, Wrath, and Gluttony also had their physical descriptions recorded, though without specific identities.
One could say that, in just seven days, Luo Shu's intelligence work had surpassed Meer's efforts over two or three years.
At the time, Kirika Tachibana, seeing the same contents, couldn't help but remark: "Meer would probably cry over this, wouldn't she?"
"And then cry while demanding Luo Shu comfort her with hugs?" Lacus smiled faintly, clearly imagining Meer's likely reaction: "She'd probably end up coming to me in tears, asking to switch departments with Luo Shu."
"Have me handle intelligence?" Luo Shu spread his hands upon hearing this: "Spare me. I merely leveraged external forces to make reasonable deductions based on known information."
"To put it simply, I already knew about people like Sebastian and Momo before matching them with the information Enigma brought back."
"If you actually had me doing intelligence work, I'd probably cause some major chaos."
"I do agree you'd cause chaos," Kirika said, "but my concern isn't about your actions causing trouble - it's about you yourself."
Hearing this, Luo Shu was momentarily taken aback:
"What's wrong with me?"
Kirika glanced at Luo Shu before repressing a laugh:
"Isn't it obvious what's wrong with you?"
"Just look at how much commotion you've caused since joining the Familia."
"Never mind the recent incident with the demon noble from True Hell, before that it was Kyoto's Hagoromo Group, and before that the Ghouls - which incident didn't you get involved in?"
"Are you some kind of protagonist magnet for disasters from novels?"
"Blame me then."
Luo Shu spread his hands with an indifferent expression:
"The Calamity path is inherently about mastering disasters. So it's not that I keep encountering major incidents - rather, the Calamity Concepts within these events are constantly drawn to me!"
"There is a difference between the two."
With that, Luo Shu waved his hand, not wishing to continue the topic:
"Alright, you've got the basic picture now."
"To be honest, my purpose in creating a virtual gaming company was to access national identity data."
"For reasons I'd rather not explain, with certain basic identity information, I can identify some individuals and remotely determine their suitability as Familia candidates."
"Take Pride and Momo Deviluke this time, or Kanon Kanase, whom we recruited earlier..."
Both Momo and Kanon Kanase possess exceptional qualities as Familia candidates.
Not to mention, Momo has already become a Demigod through her own power.
Such talents aren't just urgently needed by the Hidden Management Department - every major organisation worldwide, even the Union, desperately covets them.
As for civilian Familia candidates, even if they only reach one-tenth of these people's level, it would still be highly rewarding.
Moreover, starting a virtual gaming company wouldn't necessarily result in losses.
Combining these factors, establishing a virtual gaming company would be a stable investment with guaranteed capital preservation and occasional high returns.
Investments that can ensure stable capital preservation are already among the top-tier options.
"In summary, given these returns, I believe we can establish a subordinate organisation under the Hidden Management Department that can access Japanese citizens' information at any time."
"Considering the current political situation the SDS is facing, I'm inclined to set up a VR gaming company."
"However, commercial resources seem to be controlled by the Commerce Department..."
At this point, Luo Shu paused and asked:
"Is there any way to transfer the virtual gaming industry under the Hidden Management Department's jurisdiction?"
Hearing this, Kirika Tachibana slightly frowned before reminding Luo Shu:
"Economic operations are largely independently managed by the Commerce Department."
"Even if Lacus could order them to relinquish control, you must have heard about the kind of people in the Commerce Department."
Before Kirika could finish, Lacus said softly:
"It can be done."
With that, Lacus glanced at Luo Shu and then at Kirika, calmly stating:
"It's just a matter of operational procedures."
"For instance, instead of having the Hidden Management Department directly take over the VR industry, the Research Department could intervene first, with the Hidden Management Department acting as interim administrators."
"The Research Department intervenes, with the Hidden Management Department as interim administrators?" Kirika was momentarily stunned. How did the Research Department get involved?
At this moment, Lacus said calmly:
"All that's needed is for the Research Department to claim they require human experimentation to study certain aspects of VR gaming."
Human experimentation?
Upon hearing this term, apart from Tabane Shinonono, who remained unfazed, both Luo Shu and Kirika fell into silence.