Deployment

Lu Senyu leaned back in his seat. “Have you established contact with Bai Yuwen?”

Wang Hai's expression was grim. “We've lost contact. There is a high probability that Bai Yuwen has met with an unfortunate end.”

Hearing this, Lu Senyu's temples throbbed violently.

Bai Yuwen's death meant the authorities had officially lost their eligibility to compete for the Lord of Evil's items.

If they foolishly tried to force their way back in, no amount of lives would be enough to throw away.

“I understand. I'll report this to the higher-ups first.” Lu Senyu stood up and left.

He left Wang Hai and the others in the room, utterly at a loss for what to do.

Midnight arrived. Atop the tallest skyscraper in Yangcheng,

Zhao Jin sat cross-legged, his upper body slightly hunched forward as he propped his chin up with his left hand. His eyes were half-squinted, sensing everything happening in the city in real time.

Zhao Jin glanced at his Destiny Force.

Destiny Force: 2,070,000 strands!

Ever since his Destiny Force broke past the one million mark, he had become fully aware of the source behind its continuous growth, and the entity responsible for generating it in that location.

Zhao Jin didn't care in the slightest about the possibility of the Earth Mother enslaving all of humanity.

As he continued to create and alter things, terrifying existences would soon emerge in waves across the world.

These entities wouldn't just stand by and watch the Earth Mother ruin everything.

Zhao Jin glanced at the Destiny Force, which was still slowly ticking upward.

With a casual wave of his hand, he sent the hexagonal stone carving containing the sealed flesh of the Lord of Evil and the crystal sealing its consciousness flying.

Carried by Gravity, the two items soared into the distance. Once again, it was a random deployment.

Currently, six items had appeared in Yangcheng: the mask, the trench coat, the golden dragon-head ring, the long blade, the crystal, and the stone carving.

Only one item remained before all of the Lord of Evil's items were fully deployed.

Meanwhile, in the Capital.

At the very center of the city stood a massive, square white palace.

The palace spanned a thousand meters in both length and width. On its facade hung a golden, three-headed Golden Crow.

The surrounding streets were completely sealed off, with black-clad soldiers standing guard every single meter.

This palace was originally the royal palace of the Nanming Kingdom, but it had since been repurposed by the Parliament as their assembly hall.

Deep inside the palace, in a conference room.

Five people, including Feng Chang, were gathered. On the screen in front of them, Lu Senyu's figure appeared.

With a heavy expression, he recounted everything that had transpired in Yangcheng.

Clad in a military uniform, Councilman Tao Fang spat in a rage, “What a useless piece of trash! The authorities gave him so much support, and yet he just went missing like this? Execute his sister immediately!”

So many people had died, yet they hadn't secured a single item. He was on the verge of exploding with fury.

Beside him, the plump and smiling Qiu Yueji chimed in, “Councilman Tao, let's not be so hasty. Keep Bai Yuwen's family alive for now. We can deal with them once his death is officially confirmed.”

“Lu Senyu, what do you plan to do next? The card you spent so much effort grooming turned out to be utterly useless in Yangcheng,” Feng Chang said, staring expressionlessly at the screen.

The other councilmen also turned their gazes to Lu Senyu. They were naturally displeased that he had managed to screw things up despite having full access to government resources.

On the screen, Lu Senyu smiled bitterly in his heart. Short of a nuclear strike, he truly didn't know what else he could do.

Those monstrous entities could wipe out two or three regiments in a matter of minutes. How was he supposed to compete?

Of course, he couldn't admit his helplessness aloud. Instead, he spoke up, “Councilman Feng, no new battles have broken out in Yangcheng yet, and the Lord of Evil's items haven't been gathered together. We still have a chance.”

“From what we currently know, none of the factions fighting for the Lord of Evil's items are weak. If one faction manages to gather most of them, we can ally with other supernatural forces to seize them. While our government-affiliated supernatural forces are weak, we still have high-yield missiles at our disposal. That is our greatest trump card besides a nuclear strike!”

As he spoke, he looked toward his backer within the Parliament—Li Feilin, whose long white eyebrows drooped all the way to his chin.

Seeing this, Li Feilin spoke up, “Since young Lu has put it that way, I have no objections. Even if we can't secure these supernatural items, we absolutely cannot let anyone else have them.”

“Indeed. Do your utmost to snatch at least one supernatural item and bring it back to the Capital. If you fail in Yangcheng, we will launch that item straight into space. If we can't have it, nobody can,” the plump, middle-aged Councilwoman Song Ling laughed from beside Feng Chang.

“That works. Just make sure the public narrative in Yangcheng is tightly controlled. Although the Qiandu Forum has become the enemy's propaganda ground, we still hold the upper hand in mainstream media!” Qiu Yueji nodded in agreement.

No one else voiced any objections. As for keeping the items for research or destroying them, they didn't even consider it.

These were supernatural items coveted by a bunch of monsters. Keeping them around would only invite disaster.

Seeing that no one objected, Li Feilin looked at Lu Senyu. “Young Lu, did you hear that? Even if you can't gather all of the Lord of Evil's items this time, you must bring back at least one. If you can't even do that, you might as well resign and go into early retirement.”

Hearing this, Lu Senyu replied with a solemn expression, “Rest assured, Councilmen. Backed by the entire nation, if I can't even secure a single item, I won't have the face to remain in this ministerial position!”

After a few more exchanges, the call was disconnected.

Feng Chang stood up. “The four of you, it's time to head back and rest. We will reconvene when there is news.”

With that, he turned and walked out.

As individuals at the pinnacle of power, they prioritized their sleep; after all, everyone wanted to live a few years longer.

Outside the palace, on an adjacent street.

Even though it was already one in the morning, the street was still quite bustling with people.

Amidst the crowd, two figures walked straight toward the palace.

Leading the way was a dignified-looking, middle-aged man with short black hair, dressed in a Zhongshan suit.

He wore sunglasses, and beside him was a young man with slicked-back hair tied into three braids at the back of his head, wearing a white T-shirt.

“Elder, we're just going in to look for people at this hour? Can we really find them?” Liu Zhian glanced at the time on his phone and couldn't help but ask.

At this time of night, those high-and-mighty councilmen were probably asleep somewhere.

Liu Wen's face remained calm as he continued walking forward. “If we can't find them, we'll just find someone to ask for directions. Although their residences are confidential, that only applies to ordinary people.”

The two of them had already been placed on the government's wanted list as Class-S fugitives.

Of course, their alleged crimes weren't related to using supernatural powers to kill.

Instead, the Liu family had allegedly run financial "pig-butchering" scams to harvest tens of billions of dollars from ordinary citizens. Now, anyone who spotted a member of the Liu family and reported it would receive a one-million-dollar reward.

As they made their way toward the palace, a passerby holding a phone stared at Liu Zhian with an uncertain expression.

In response, Liu Wen merely glanced back at him, a faint reddish glow flashing behind his sunglasses.

The passerby's expression froze. He turned around and walked straight into a nearby public restroom.

He stared at the golden python before him, reached out without hesitation to pick up a lump of feces, and stuffed it into his mouth.

Neither of them paid any attention to such a minor character. They continued forward, quickly arriving at the sealed-off section of the road.