“Do you still remember the major riot that broke out in Fahe and Liruo’an’s Central Square that day?” Adam asked.
Guan Tong and Uenoshi both nodded slightly. They did indeed remember that incident. It had caused quite a stir at the time, with every news outlet covering it.
“One of the reasons it escalated like that was because the protesters led by Pierre suddenly turned into cultists, causing massive chaos and allowing the Fire Thief Worship Cult to profit from the situation.”
Adam switched the image back to the young man.
“Paul Normandin. If I’m not mistaken, he’s the real Your Holiness.”
“Paul… how do you plan to find him?”
“I’ll use my connections in Suroma to continue investigating,” Adam said. “With the Underground Parish destroyed and his proxy dead, where else can that kid go? I think he’ll look for his collaborator—Han Qiu.”
Uenoshi voiced her doubt at this point. “With his abilities, couldn’t he just find more people to control? Why risk going to Han Qiu?”
“That’s assuming he has people to control. His territory is Fahe—or more precisely, Liruo’an City at its core. After the Human Consortium’s continuous bombardments, aside from cult members, there’s no one left in that city. The rest of Fahe has long been a ghost town. People have either fled to Suroma, Xisiya, or quite a few to Beixing as well. The tiny remainder formed mercenary groups or simply fended for themselves… The real Your Holiness couldn’t find anyone to control even if he wanted to.”
After Adam finished, Guan Tong felt he was right.
He had walked through many cities himself and knew exactly what those desolate, waterless, powerless, abandoned places looked like.
Even his hometown, Yunhua City, was now empty and silent—a city that had once been world-class. And that was just Fahe with its small cities and towns.
Even in peacetime, populations constantly gravitated toward big cities, let alone in the age of the Doomsday Rules.
In this era, a city didn’t even need to reach the point of losing water and power. The moment normal social order collapsed, ninety-nine percent of people would immediately leave for another city that still had order.
The Fire Thief Worship Cult had fallen into this very trap. Just like the parasitized forms back then, they had trapped themselves in a single city, and their destruction was only a matter of time.
Later, the Prophet of the parasitized forms had seen this clearly and decisively seized the opportunity, using the Scarlet Fear Rule to break through the Joint Force’s blockade under cover of night and escape.
As for the Fire Thief Worship Cult’s Underground Parish, it was the real Your Holiness’s final stronghold, hidden using complex underground tunnels and barrier tools.
After Guan Tong and Adam destroyed that stronghold, the real Your Holiness was left without a group of cultists to control—he was a lone general. The prerequisite for a comeback was having a new population he could dominate.
In other words, this bastard had to go where people gathered. And the closest place was undoubtedly Suroma.
“If he goes to Han Qiu, even better,” Guan Tong said. “As long as there’s a good opportunity, we can take out all these enemies at once.”
Bruce, Han Qiu, the Your Holiness… these people were all his enemies. If they all gathered in Suroma, perhaps a single operation could finish them all.
Adam nodded silently. He shared Guan Tong’s sentiment. If a fight was inevitable, he too hoped to settle everything in one go.
*Knock knock!*
A knock sounded at the door, followed by an urgent female voice from outside.
“President, emergency situation!”
Guan Tong and Adam looked toward Uenoshi. This was a Serpent Hair Society stronghold, so “President” naturally referred to her.
Uenoshi stepped out, and the two could hear the conversation coming from the doorway.
“What’s the emergency?”
“It’s Antu City’s rainforest. A large number of branches and vines have started spreading into the city. Our members stationed there are requesting reinforcements—they say they can barely hold the line!”
“I understand. I’ll handle this myself. Go about your business.”
“Yes!”
Uenoshi returned to the room and said to Guan Tong and Adam, “I need to go to Antu. If left unchecked, the expanding rainforest could very well destroy that city.”
“Need any help?” Adam asked.
“Thanks, but no. I can handle it myself.”
“Then I’ll continue investigating this Paul Normandin situation.” Adam put away his hard drive and looked at Guan Tong. “I’ll update you as soon as I have any new information.”
“Mm. Be careful.”
After Adam left, Guan Tong looked at Uenoshi, who was about to depart, and said, “Uenoshi, let me come along with you.”
This time, Uenoshi didn’t refuse him the way she had refused Adam. After a moment’s hesitation, she asked, “Troupe Leader, don’t you have other matters to attend to?”
“Not for now.”
“Alright, let’s go then.”
The two immediately left Bandzhen and rushed to Antu.
Along the way, they could see just how astonishing the plant growth rate was. Massive patches of green were nearly everywhere in the city.
Given Sakura Prayer Country’s military strength, emulating Suroma or Beixing’s daily vegetation-clearing efforts was simply impossible. So the Serpent Hair Society’s defensive strategy was mainly a “can’t fight it, so avoid it” approach.
Specifically, they moved large numbers of people into high-rise buildings, steering clear of the vegetation spreading across the ground.
This way, what Sakura Prayer Country’s people had to face was only those mutated vine plants that could climb—significantly reducing combat pressure.
However, whether this strategy could hold until the rule ended was still uncertain.
After all, this rule lasted a full month, and only one-sixth of that time had passed so far.
When Guan Tong and Uenoshi arrived in Antu, they found the situation there far more severe than in Bandzhen.
Probably because it was close to the rainforest, there were more plants of all kinds, and they grew faster.
Looking down from high above, roughly a third of the city’s roads had already been overrun by wild, rampant weeds, presenting a bright green expanse as if several giant carpets of turf had been laid down.
This level of severity was only slightly better than the Argan Grasslands. But if the trend continued, the entire city’s roads would soon be covered by plants, making it difficult for humans to find even a single place to stand.
Uenoshi contacted the Serpent Hair Society members stationed here and met them on the rooftop of a large building on the southern side of the city.
Several Serpent Hair Society members, all women wearing cloaks, bowed respectfully when they saw Uenoshi. “President!”
Uenoshi asked, “Where exactly is the threat?”
“President, look over there.” One member pointed at a tall building dozens of stories high not far away.
“We previously transferred several thousand people into that building to avoid the vegetation. But starting last night, we noticed many plants *moving* toward that building… it’s like…”
“Like they’re being attracted by the dense population inside,” another member finished the sentence.
“I didn’t expect the plants to mutate so quickly, developing a way to locate nearby humans,” Guan Tong said. “That’s not good news.”
The Serpent Hair Society members all looked at him upon hearing this.
They had noticed this man accompanying their president earlier and were curious about him. But since the president didn’t introduce him, they didn’t dare ask.
“…President, those plants keep climbing up the building. The glass on the lower floors has already been broken through. We’re not strong enough to stop them. We’re very sorry!”
“This has nothing to do with you,” Uenoshi said calmly.
She certainly wouldn’t expect a few Serpent Hair Society members to stop the massive mutated vegetation spreading from the rainforest.
If it were that easy, this wouldn’t be a Doomsday Rule.
“I’ll clear the plants near that building.” Uenoshi turned to look at Guan Tong, a hint of inquiry in her eyes.
The Serpent Hair Society members exchanged glances. They had never seen their decisive, no-nonsense president seemingly seeking input from this mysterious man.
“Alright, go ahead,” Guan Tong said.
But he was looking toward the rainforest. A wisp of shadow slipped from his fingertip, slid down along his body, raced down the building, and quickly shot toward the rainforest.
He intended to use the Shadow’s vision to see what degree of mutation was occurring in the rainforest—the place with the densest vegetation and best growing conditions.
He also wanted to see whether the vegetation spreading into the city was isolated or somehow connected to the plants in the rainforest. If there was a connection, severing it might better resolve the city’s crisis.
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