Changing Landscapes and a Peculiar Appearance

One hour after Xichang was occupied by the Liu family.

In the palace hall of the Capital.

Zhu Weiliang wore a formal black suit with golden dragons embroidered in gold thread on the cuffs.

He walked quickly toward a room guarded by soldiers in front of him, with Lu Senyu following closely by his side.

“Councilman Zhu, regarding the matter in Xichang, I suggest we don't contact them or oppose them. That Liu Wen's ability is spiritual. Someone like him is difficult to deal with!” Lu Senyu said quickly.

Zhu Weiliang didn't reply. He originally had the idea of contacting Liu Wen, but he was afraid of falling victim to Liu Wen's methods and becoming a puppet.

Seeing him approach, the soldiers pushed open the heavy doors. Inside, the other four were already seated.

The struggle for the councilman seats had not lasted long, and Zhu Weiliang had already secured a spot.

Lu Senyu stopped at the doorway. Without a councilman's permission, he was not yet qualified to enter this room.

Zhu Weiliang walked in and sat down in his seat.

He looked at the solemn-faced, white-haired old man with slicked-back hair in military uniform sitting opposite him. “Elder Wei, let us begin.”

Aside from Elder Wei, a bald old man in his sixties with an ordinary appearance sat to his left.

Beside the bald old man was a middle-aged man in a blue suit with brown hair, who always wore a faint, genial smile.

Next to the middle-aged man sat an old man in his seventies wearing a Tang suit.

They were the most powerful figures from the factions of the previous generation of councilmen.

Wei Zong looked at everyone and nodded. “Everyone, you should have already received the news about Xichang through your intelligence channels. I won't waste words with nonsense. The meeting is now open to discuss how to handle this matter.”

After Wei Zong finished speaking, a brief silence fell over the room.

The bald old man said in a low voice, “Right now, our Nanming Kingdom lacks supernatural forces. Who can go and deal with the Liu family? I think we should try to make contact with them.”

As for using nuclear weapons, it would be fine if they could kill them all, but if one or two survivors were left, they would be the ones to suffer.

“I have no objections. The urgent matter right now is to find a respectable supernatural being to represent the Nanming Kingdom's government,” the old man in the Tang suit said.

Compared to the aggressive methods of the previous generation of councilmen when the supernatural first appeared, after suffering the backlash, everyone didn't dare to act blindly without absolute certainty.

The brown-haired middle-aged man smiled and said, “I have no problem either. If sacrificing Xichang can keep the Liu family stable, then it's a good deal for us.”

Elder Wei looked at Zhu Weiliang. Elder Wei, who now held military power, had the greatest say among the councilmen, while Zhu Weiliang, who controlled the Security Bureau and had the support of many officials, was second.

“If any of you want to make contact, I won't object. As for Xichang being occupied, let it be. If you can win him over to our side, that would be even better,” Zhu Weiliang said, and then remained silent.

The old man in the Tang suit said, “Since Councilman Zhu has put it that way, I will handle the contact with Liu Wen.”

He had the weakest power base among the councilmen; if he didn't put in some effort, he could be pushed out at any time.

“No problem. Elder Ye, if you succeed in winning him over, you will be a great hero of our country,” Zhu Weiliang smiled.

If something went wrong, or if Liu Wen met with an accident in the future, he could easily kick Elder Ye out of the Parliament.

The others shared the same thoughts. They understood Liu Wen's ability; contacting him carried too much risk.

Among the five, a flash of the Earth Mother's divine face flickered deep within the brown-haired middle-aged man's eyes.

Ten days had passed since the Yangcheng incident. During this time, the wanted posters for the Liu family were rescinded, and their official status was restored.

The Parliament and the Liu family reached a secret agreement. On the surface, Xichang City still belonged to the Nanming Kingdom, but in secret, it had become the territory of the Liu family.

Even the garrison and the official administration were completely handed over to the Liu family.

Xichang City's population of twelve million, plus the two million in the surrounding small towns and villages...

The Liu family's domain had become an invisible, independent micro-state within the Nanming Kingdom, with a population of fourteen million.

At midnight, in a certain small town in the Nanming Kingdom.

White mist shrouded the entire city.

On a central road of the city, a young man leaned against his car. The red traffic light ahead glowed faintly through the white mist.

The young man rolled down the window. Just as he was about to light a cigarette, the white mist swept over his hand.

The young man frowned. “Where on earth did this fog come from? I've lived here my whole life and I've never seen it fog up in the middle of the night.”

In the passenger seat, a chubby young man was browsing the Qiandu Forum on his phone.

Hearing his friend's comment, he couldn't help but think of the supernatural monsters that had been popping up on the forum. He said excitedly, “Do you think this fog was caused by something supernatural?”

“Get out of here. Our little town has a population of less than a million. Where would a supernatural being come from? Those guys are a minority after all,” the young man said with a look of disdain.

Although the hype surrounding the supernatural on the internet was very high, and he had been excited at first...

...after a few days, he realized it didn't seem to have anything to do with him, and his interest vanished completely.

If only I could become a supernatural being. Then I could do whatever I wanted. Thinking this, he lit his cigarette and took a drag.

Beside him, the fat guy went back to scrolling through the forum.

Suddenly, a festive piece of red paper emerged from the white mist. A sudden breeze blew it right onto his hand.

He looked at the red paper. It was shaped like joss paper, with the white character for “double happiness” written on it. For some reason, looking at it made him feel extremely uncomfortable.

How unlucky. Who uses this kind of thing for a wedding? Just as the young man was about to throw it away...

...the surroundings suddenly fell dead silent. The engine noises of the other cars around them and the music vanished. The young man instinctively felt something was wrong.

“Wooo... wooo...”

The next moment, a festive yet mournful sound of suonas and gongs echoed out.

The young man subconsciously looked toward the intersection on the right, where the sound was coming from.

Cough, cough, cough! At this sight, the young man's face turned pale, and he choked on his cigarette.

“Fatty, Fatty, look!!!”

Beside him, the fat guy heard his shouting but did not react at all, continuing to look at his phone.

The funeral music drew closer and closer. At the intersection, six figures appeared in the white mist. They were three meters tall, with legs measuring two meters long like red wooden poles, their upper bodies clad in red robes.

The young man couldn't see their exact appearances.

Some of them were blowing suonas, while others were beating gongs.

Behind them, “people” about a meter tall, dressed in red clothes, followed.

These red-clothed figures held flower baskets in their hands, and those pieces of red joss paper with the white “double happiness” character were flying out from the baskets they carried.