Six in the morning.
Little Seven and the others sat in the deserted Guangu Street, cultivating. The residents had all returned home to sleep, only they remained, guarding the corpses.
To prevent leaks, the entire city's network was temporarily cut off. After all, with so many residents, if one of them accidentally leaked information online, the enemy might not use the Key Gate to retrieve these corpses.
At this time, the entire city was in a state of communication silence.
Xiao Wu opened his eyes: "Two hours have passed. Are they still going to smash the Key Gate? Why haven't they made a move after waiting so long?"
Little Seven pondered and said: "It’s understandable. After they’ve managed to infiltrate the rear of our City 10, they would definitely attack more important targets, such as Old Luo, the patriarch of the Black Family, or the Administrative Center. To accomplish these goals, it would take at least three hours. But what they didn’t expect is that this spy team was wiped out less than half an hour after they crossed over…"
Shendai must be waiting for the full three hours; the planned time won’t change. They couldn’t have imagined that their incredibly well-planned scheme would be so easily swallowed up by the masses.
Therefore, the Guardians' Union acted too quickly, killing the entire Kamikaze Suicide Squad, and now they have to wait…
Such a waste of time!
On the other side, Shendai and Royal Organization members had arrived on the deck. The information department was monitoring online information and reported: "All users in City 10’s network have disappeared; not a single one is visible. I suspect the substation there has been destroyed, causing the entire city to lose network access."The Shendai members' eyes lit up. This meant their plan had been half successful.
If half was successful, there was no reason for the other half to fail!
The Shendai patriarch smiled. He looked at Nikita and said: "Every member of the Kamikaze Suicide Squad possesses unwavering will and outstanding combat skills. In the past, their mission success rate was as high as 98%. Destroying a grassroots organization is nothing difficult."
Nikita glanced at him: "Let's hope so."
The Shendai patriarch seemed to be relishing this success: "Since Qing Chen is most likely dead, and we have mastered the infiltration and assassination methods he developed, why not strike while the iron is hot? Shendai, the Kingdom, and the Future, let’s form an elite force, specifically using the Key Gate to carry out decapitation strikes. Then, it won’t just be City 10; we can also precisely target the Li Clan’s Ban Shan Mountain Estate and the Qing Family’s Ginkgo Garden. They won’t even have the ability to retaliate!"
Nikita fell into thought. Now, the Key Gate was indeed too useful. Although headquarters was destroyed, they were backed by the Roosevelt family and had the opportunity to replenish their strength. This method of using the Key Gate might become the key to their conquest of the East Continent.
Just then, someone glanced at the time: "There’s one minute left."
A Shendai member shouted: "Let’s prepare to welcome the triumphant return of our warriors!"
In the countdown, everyone became tense.
On Guangu Street in City 10, Xiao Wu was still chatting with Little Seven: "I heard you’re going into ‘Silence’ soon? And you’re taking those messengers with you?"
‘Silence’ meant severing all contact with the outside world and completely disappearing.
Little Seven said: "This is the Leader’s decision, and I fully obey. As for what exactly we’re going to do, I can’t reveal it. Not even Old Luo or you can know the details of the mission."
"Alright," Xiao Wu sighed: "Xiao San now shoulders a heavy responsibility, and you too. Everyone has received the Leader’s appreciation and are now taking on significant roles, but I haven’t had a chance to show my abilities."
Little Seven laughed and scolded: "Do you think I’m going on a vacation?"
"Then let’s switch places?"
"Why don’t you switch with Xiao San?"
"Xiao San’s mission is too disgusting…"
As they spoke, all the corpses of the Kamikaze Suicide Squad on Guangu Street disappeared, along with the mercury bombs in their abdomens.
However, the heavy bomb Little Seven had prepared was left behind. Everyone looked, and the bomb had been smoothly and neatly shaved off a small portion, about five centimeters, by an invisible force.
This meant that the corpses could indeed carry things over, but the bomb exceeded the size limit.
"What a pity," Little Seven sighed.
The honest-looking bomb expert next to him smiled: "No pity at all, believe me, everyone nearby will die."
This bomb expert used the most gentle tone to speak the most ruthless words…
…
…
At this moment, hundreds of people gathered on the deck of the Air Fortress, staring at the removed door, waiting with bated breath.
Many people showed victorious smiles, waiting for the triumphant return of the Kamikaze Suicide Squad warriors.
The next moment, the hammer fell, and the Key Gate was destroyed.
One hundred and twenty corpses appeared out of thin air, piled up together, completely lifeless.
Everyone was stunned. This wasn’t the scene they had expected. What about the triumphant return? What about the victory awards? Why were they all corpses?
Not a single living person!
However, before they could react, the bombs in the corpses’ abdomens had already been activated. The light and flowing mercury, having lost its balance, swayed upside down inside the transparent glass, finally coming into contact with the copper wires.
A huge fire suddenly erupted, like a magnificent firework display in the night sky, the beautiful sight of gunpowder fully burning.
Time seemed to freeze.
Immense heat was released in an instant. The Shendai members closest to the explosion had their faces illuminated by the golden-red light; their hair began to wither and curl; the first arriving shockwave blew their cheeks out of shape, and then their bodies, one by one, were melted and vaporized like wax figures!
Dozens of people turned to ashes in the first instant. The shadows in the fire were initially humanoid, but eventually, they all vanished into thin air.
Nikita quickly retreated, but even A-Class masters couldn’t be faster than the speed of high-energy explosives detonating!
Ten consecutive booms. The mercury high-energy bombs set by the bomb expert instantly melted everything.
A huge fireball shot into the sky, and the rolling black smoke, in the dawn’s white light, resembled a demon quickly ascending into the air.
Those who were slightly farther away were blown away by the intense shockwave, almost falling off the edge of the Air Fortress deck.
Of the hundreds of people on the deck, 90% died in that instant, adding insult to injury for Shendai and the Royal Organization, which were already suffering.
Nikita’s body tumbled on the ground, with 80% of his body burned.
The Shendai patriarch was ruthless. The moment he saw the corpses, he pulled his close-body guard in front of him, using the other’s body to block the first wave of the explosion’s impact.
After the explosion’s aftermath, the remaining dozen or so people lay dying on the deck. Hundreds of Air Fortress crew members rushed over, extinguishing the fire and providing rescue.
This devastating attack was terrifying and impossible to defend against.
Everyone thought that the Kamikaze Suicide Squad had gone to City 10 and could successfully complete their mission without anyone knowing.
Everyone was waiting to celebrate with champagne!
However, no one expected that what the Kamikaze Suicide Squad brought back wasn’t good news, but a complete disaster!
They wanted to use their enemy’s methods against them, but Qing Chen had already anticipated that they would do this and had prepared the most insidious means, ensuring that whenever they used the Key Gate in the future, they would have a shadow over their hearts!
Why?
Why could Qing Chen repeatedly succeed, destroying the Heart Realm Dojo, destroying the Shendai patriarch’s mansion, while they suffered such an unprecedented blow after only using it once?!
It was terrifying!
Now, forget about heading south; the entire northern air fleet suffered heavy losses and would be lucky to avoid being swallowed up by the Li Clan and Qing Family.
They had to retreat to the north immediately!
Someone turned over Nikita, who was lying on the ground, but was frightened by Nikita’s terrifying and ferocious appearance and took several steps back.
Nikita had previously mocked Li Yunze’s ruined half-face, but now, her entire face was destroyed.
She had previously planned to make Qing Chen into a specimen; now, she probably wouldn’t have the ability to do so.
With such severe injuries, it would be impossible to recover in less than a few months.
The Shendai patriarch slowly got up from the ground, a piercing buzzing sound in his ears. After his eardrums suffered a severe impact, his body suddenly lost its balance.
In a daze, he saw a young man come before him, smiling at him.
"Help me up," said the Shendai patriarch.
But the Asian young man remained unmoved.
A member of the Kingdom shouted from a distance to the young man: "Shendai, what are you doing standing there?"
The Shendai patriarch looked over in a daze: "Huh?"
Someone dared to call him by the title ‘Shendai’ so casually?
No!
This call of ‘Shendai’ wasn’t addressing him, but the young man in front of him.
The Shendai patriarch suddenly looked at the young man, who said with a smile: "I know you’ve wanted to kill me for a long time, and you’ve been searching for me in City 20. But you have to understand one thing, your ancestor will always be your ancestor, you can’t beat him."
With that, the young man gently pushed, pushing the Shendai patriarch from the edge of the deck.
The Shendai patriarch couldn’t maintain his balance, stumbled backward, and finally fell with a wail from a height of three thousand meters!
Only then did the Shendai patriarch realize that his ancestor hadn’t died in City 10 but had been hiding in the Royal Organization’s Air Fortress, using the code name ‘Shendai’!
The young man ‘Shendai’ stood expressionlessly at the edge of the deck, silently watching below.
Today, the power of Shendai had returned to his hands. It was time to go home.
He could see the crows in black linen arriving; they must have predicted that there would be casualties here but couldn’t come to the Air Fortress to collect the bodies.
On the ground, San Yue of the Forbidden Artifact Tribunal looked up at the sky and met Shendai’s gaze. Even across the vast distance, San Yue couldn’t hide the disgust in her eyes.
With a thud, the Shendai patriarch smashed to pieces on the ground. Li Dongze, also dressed in black linen, exclaimed with disgust: "Such a death is too disgusting."
San Yue calmly said: "They were pretty disgusting when they were alive. Si Yue, hurry up and collect the bodies, and then evacuate. Recently, the collection work has become increasingly difficult. The Inner World may soon be completely covered by the Forbidden Zone…This isn’t good news."
She looked at Li Dongze: "Next time you see your Boss and Little Boss, you must persuade them to prioritize humanity’s overall interests and not be too concerned with the Knight’s selfish interests."
Li Dongze shook his head: "I understand your position, and the Forbidden Artifact Tribunal indeed has no selfish desires, but I can’t control what the Boss does. The same goes for the Little Boss; he has grown up, and even Shendai and Koshima have repeatedly suffered setbacks in front of him. What can I do?"
San Yue frowned: "Recently, the Forbidden Artifact Tribunal has been discussing a problem. We saw the giant Gu Dong in a Forbidden Zone. He can speak human language and maintains rationality. Although impulsive and bloodthirsty, like a Tyrant, history has seen many such figures. If we consider giants as human beings, the spread of the Forbidden Zone won’t necessarily lead to the extinction of humanity, but may give birth to a new generation of humans, continuing the human race."
Li Dongze looked at San Yue in surprise.
He knew that the reason the Forbidden Artifact Tribunal collected Forbidden Artifacts and Metahumans was because they feared that human civilization would be completely swallowed by the Forbidden Zone, leading to the extinction of the species.
But after San Yue met Gu Dong, she seemed to have a new idea.
New humans were a term the Forbidden Artifact Tribunal was very interested in.
If the spread of the Forbidden Zone was irreversible, then actively coexisting with it might be a better choice?
Li Dongze asked: "What are you going to do?"
San Yue thought for a moment and said: "Build an artificial womb base in the Forbidden Zone. What do you think?"
Li Dongze sighed: "You’re always taking extreme measures for the survival of humanity…"
…
…
In the Qing Family air base, Qing Yu stood before the Holographic Sand Table, frowning at the troop deployment: "It will take three months for the Li Clan’s Qingshan Airship Fortress to be repaired; just one Scepter won’t be able to stop foreign forces from heading south. Plus, the northern air forces of Shendai and Koshima… By the way, has the Secret Spy Agency sent back any intelligence? Has the Chen Family made any moves? After Shadow left, he insisted on handing over the Secret Spy Agency to a child, causing the Secret Spy Agency’s work to stagnate and intelligence to be delayed…Too childish. The patriarch should teach him more!"
In Shadow’s last battle, Qing Ji, Qing Yu, and Qing Kun were all powerful figures who had pledged their allegiance, each controlling either the army, important economic lifelines, or high-end combat power and the patriarch’s personal guards.
Although these veteran Qing Family bigwigs had bowed down and pledged allegiance, they were still somewhat dissatisfied. Therefore, when Qing Yu received Qing Chen’s order to evacuate, he hesitated.
Power has always been like this. Just because you’re on the throne doesn’t mean you can do whatever you want. Even emperors need to balance various forces to achieve their goals, which is why the Emperor’s Arts are important.
For example, in the ancient Outer World, if an emperor wanted to tour Jiangnan, whether he could go or not depended on the opinions of the bureaucratic group.
Now, Qing Yu and the others had recognized Qing Chen’s status as the rightful crown prince, but not everyone had to kowtow to the prince. Qing Yu was a pillar of the Qing Family and naturally had his pride.
He pledged allegiance to Shadow, and he certainly wouldn’t obstruct Qing Chen’s succession in the future, but if he wanted Qing Yu’s wholehearted allegiance, Qing Chen had to show his true skills.
Now, there’s a war on the front lines, but the Secret Spy Agency’s work has suddenly stagnated. How could this not make him angry? Therefore, it’s understandable that he was slightly annoyed with Qing Chen, who is in charge of the Secret Spy Agency.
The most crucial thing is that the Qing Family may be defeated, and all the pressure is on Qing Yu.
A combat staff officer next to him said: "Sir, Qing Ye said that he will provide some important information before noon today, but he hasn’t said what information it is."
Qing Yu was stunned, then furious: "Isn’t this ridiculous? Intelligence is all about timeliness; any information must be passed on promptly. What is he waiting for? Is he planning to give me a surprise?!"
"I don’t know either. They won’t say," the combat staff officer whispered.
However, at this moment, the chief of staff suddenly walked into the command tent with an LCD screen. He glanced around: "All officers below the rank of colonel, leave!"
Qing Yu became serious, knowing that this must be extremely important information.
After dismissing everyone, a soundproof system and signal shielding system were activated around the command tent.
The chief of staff said urgently: "The Secret Spy Agency has sent several important pieces of information!"
"Secret Spy Agency?" Qing Yu was surprised. He had just been scolding the Secret Spy Agency; couldn’t it be so fast to slap his face?
The chief of staff said: "First, the new boss of the Secret Spy Agency discovered that the Chen Family is deploying troops, intending to use Forbidden Zone 008 to wipe out Fire Pit."
"What?" Qing Yu raised his voice: "They want to drive a big nail into our rear while our rear is empty? When did this happen? Has the Secret Spy Agency gone crazy? Why didn’t they say this earlier?!"
The chief of staff hurriedly said: "Don’t worry; here’s the situation. That Qing Chen…with several experts, wiped out a Chen Family field division, a regiment, and a Class A Airship in Forbidden Zone 008. He also made Chen Yu waste two paintings. Now, Fire Pit has been relocated. Even if Chen Yu goes to Fire Pit again, he won’t be able to kill anyone."
"Hiss," Qing Yu’s scalp felt numb: "When did this happen?"
"The day before yesterday," the chief of staff said: "Qing Chen has already retreated safely. He wants the Secret Spy Agency to tell us that the Chen Family now has two Air Fortresses, probably both near Forbidden Zone 008."
Qing Yu raised his eyebrows: "Two? If they turn their guns on us and team up with the Kingdom, Future, Shendai, and Koshima, we’re done."
The chief of staff said: "Now, for the second piece of information, last night, the Shadow forces attacked the Heart Realm Dojo and the Shendai patriarch’s mansion in City 20, also kidnapped their two A-Class experts and crushed them."
"In addition, according to reliable information, they have confirmed in the northern network that Qing Chen, the Shadow forces, and the Guardians' Union have successfully severely damaged the Kingdom’s Air Fortress. Now, they are rapidly ascending and retreating to the north at top speed. If nothing unexpected happens, the Shendai patriarch must have had an accident… Our reconnaissance planes have also returned, confirming that the Kingdom’s Air Fortress has indeed left and is smoking…"
Qing Yu stood there dumbfounded. He was an excellent military commander, and when he was commanding on the front lines, he was the "iron wall" that Shendai and Koshima dreaded the most, commanding the troops flawlessly.
But he couldn’t figure out how Qing Chen had done all this.
It’s too bizarre!
The Chen Family in Forbidden Zone 008, Shendai in City 20 in the north, and the Kingdom in the Air Fortress on the front lines—each point is thousands or even tens of thousands of kilometers apart.
And Qing Chen severely damaged all three parties in just two days?! Even Shadow back then wasn’t this fierce!
Qing Yu muttered: "Is there any other news?"
The chief of staff said: "The last piece of news seems unimportant. Li Yunze, the legal heir of Koshima, was killed by Qing Chen…"
Qing Yu stood in the command tent for a long time: "…Awesome!"
He had previously complained that the Secret Spy Agency wasn’t doing its job, but now he realized that the current Secret Spy Agency was no longer just an intelligence agency; it was a thorough war machine!
For such a fierce organization, the intelligence being late is fine.
After all, the previous Secret Spy Agency was about ‘obtaining’ intelligence, while the current Secret Spy Agency is about ‘manufacturing’ intelligence…
Qing Yu asked: "Did the Secret Spy Agency say where Qing Chen is?"
The chief of staff shook his head: "They don’t know either, and they require this intelligence to be kept at the highest security level."
…