On the outskirts of Suroma's New Covenant district, near a farm bordering the expressway.
Adam was leaning against the fence around the main entrance, waiting.
Before long, Guan Tong's figure appeared, walking toward him from a distance.
When he drew near, Adam straightened up: "How about the hideout I picked?"
"Hiding in a place full of grass during this rule's effect definitely makes it hard to notice."
Guan Tong glanced at the overgrown farm behind Adam.
"But aren't you worried about these plants attacking?"
"That's exactly why I chose this spot." Adam said. "I observed carefully. The weeds here mutated from the rule, but their offensive power isn't strong enough to threaten us. Let's talk inside."
"Alright."
Adam led the way, and Guan Tong followed behind.
As they passed through the thick weeds in the middle of the farm, none of the wild grass attacked. But it wasn't because they didn't want to—they were being suppressed.
Guan Tong watched the grass bending under pressure and realized Adam was using his field control ability to hold them down.
"Aren't you going to exhaust your Mind Power using your ability like this?"
"Not at all." Adam turned his head and said. "It looks like a large range, but since the intensity is pretty low, the consumption isn't that much."
As they spoke, they entered a warehouse on the farm. Inside were portable generators, electronic equipment, and a mobile whiteboard covered in photos and printed papers with intelligence notes.
"This is a temporary little stronghold I picked." Adam said. "Only the two of us know about it."
Guan Tong walked to the whiteboard and looked at the items pinned to it.
There were several photos: Bruce, Joiessen, Andrew, Paul, and others, along with corresponding printouts of their intelligence.
"All this intel came from a friend of mine on the island named Wemban. He works in Suroma's intelligence department, so gathering it was pretty convenient."
"Won't your friend be in danger?" Guan Tong asked.
He asked because he was thinking of Gill, the one who'd sent him the private message revealing the truth.
Though he hadn't witnessed it personally, he knew Gill had probably been secretly executed by Suroma's higher-ups.
The fury over being unable to stop that from happening was one of the reasons Guan Tong had gotten so emotional when facing Shi Jingyi that day, nearly causing his Shadow to lose control.
"I've considered that." Adam said. "All I asked for was basic intel—non-classified stuff anyone could gather with a little effort. The higher-ups probably won't notice."
Guan Tong nodded.
Adam pointed at Paul's photo on the board: "What we know for sure now is that this guy is in New Covenant. A robot's artificial eye captured his picture, but it didn't trigger any internal alarm in the intelligence department. That means Suroma's higher-ups still haven't realized this Paul is very likely the true Your Holiness."
Hearing this, Guan Tong asked: "A robot's artificial eye capture?"
"Exactly what it sounds like. Suroma started building biomimetic robots a long time ago. Now, at least eight out of every ten people on the streets are robots. Wemban told me these robots have cameras built into their eyes. They record everything they see, allowing early detection of dangerous individuals and alerts to the intelligence department."
"..."
Guan Tong knew Suroma had very few real humans among its robots and that they were all made to look incredibly lifelike, achieving an uncanny realism.
But he hadn't expected Suroma's higher-ups to turn all these robots into "mobile surveillance," constantly monitoring everything around them.
This made him think that Beixing's military management model with cameras and drones everywhere was actually much better—at least those were openly known surveillance devices.
These robots, indistinguishable from real people, would only make every Suroman feel constantly uneasy, never knowing if the person across from them was a real human or a moving camera.
Guan Tong said: "If Suroma's intelligence department doesn't know about the existence of the false and true Your Holiness and hasn't investigated thoroughly, then Paul's appearance not being on the warning list makes sense. That's probably why Paul dared to come to Suroma in the first place."
"Yeah. Given that bastard's cowardly personality, he must have confirmed his real identity wasn't exposed before coming to Suroma. Besides, Faheans look just like Suromans. Walking down the street, he wouldn't draw any special attention."
After speaking, Adam pointed to Han Qiu's photo: "Paul coming to Suroma is probably to seek his help. Speaking of Han Qiu, has Scarface contacted you yet?"
"No."
"Shadow, I think Han Qiu already knows Scarface is a spy."
"Mm." Guan Tong nodded. "Even if he wasn't sure before, Paul would definitely tell him after meeting him."
When Guan Tong had met Moon Key last time, she had clearly told him that her prophecy results were not wrong.
That meant the true Your Holiness Paul had been hiding in the Underground Parish back then. It was just that Guan Tong and Adam hadn't been able to find him, allowing him to escape by luck.
If Paul had been hiding somewhere at that time, then he naturally knew about the two letting Scarface go.
Now that he'd come to find Han Qiu, whatever his goal was, he would certainly reveal that information.
"If those two are working together, then to find Paul, we'll need to find Han Qiu first. Does your friend named Wemban have any intel on Han Qiu?"
"There is some, but it's outdated."
Adam picked up a printed paper from the table and handed it to Guan Tong.
It showed Han Qiu's identity as an ordinary researcher at Suroma's Second Research Institute, but red text had been added marking "Resigned."
"When Han Qiu first came to Suroma, the higher-ups gave him a researcher identity—probably just a cover. But sometime around the Bright Moon rule period, he left the institute. Now his whereabouts are unknown."
Guan Tong put down the paper and looked back at the whiteboard.
His gaze locked onto one person.
Seeing this, Adam nodded slightly: "I agree with you. Since we have no leads on Paul or Han Qiu right now, we can start with this guy and dig out the truth behind that incident of yours."
The "this guy" they were referring to was "Andrew" in one of the photos pinned to the board.
Compared to the other targets, Andrew's intelligence was the most detailed. His residence, daily life, and even some personal secrets had all been thoroughly investigated by Wemban and sent to Adam.
"And right now is a perfect opportunity." Adam added.
"Hanlis has suffered a major catastrophe, and the Human Consortium has lost another member nation. This has shocked the whole world. Suroma's higher-ups are definitely focused on this matter, which makes it convenient for us to move."
Adam looked at Guan Tong, waiting for him to make a decision.
Guan Tong stared at Andrew's photo for a moment before finally speaking: "Let's start with him."
...
In the capital of the Hanlis nation, what had once been a thriving ancient city was now heading toward its end under the ravages of wildfire.
First came the spores from the mutant flowers, carried by the wind. They drifted in invisibly, burrowing into the bodies of people living in this city, taking root and sprouting.
In this city, aside from a few powerful officials with enclosed shelters, most people lived in their own homes or stayed long-term in basements to resist the rules.
So when the spores from the mutant flowers drifted in with the wind, few could escape. They were quickly infected, and after a short incubation period of just a few days, the symptoms erupted.
When the spores inside their bodies took root, sprouted, and began to "bloom" outward from within, the city could no longer maintain order.
The streets were littered with the corpses of those who had died from the infection.
Mutant flowers bloomed from the mouths, noses, and eyes of the dead. When they matured, their released spores created even more infected individuals, paralyzing the entire city within just a few days.
Even if a few higher-ups were well-prepared and avoided infection, they were still just a handful of people. How could an entire city function with only a few?
But this wasn't the final straw that broke the Hanlis nation.
During the city-wide "blooming," some Ascendants inside the city went mad, believing that only fire could purify and kill the flower spores in the air.
And so an even greater disaster descended in the name of salvation.
These Ascendants banded together, raided Hanlis's official energy storage base at night, seized a large amount of gasoline, and poured it throughout the city, covering every corner by dawn.
Before the Hanlis authorities could react, a single lighter turned the ancient city's night into day.
A dragon of fire instantly swept through the entire city. Whether it purified the mutant flower spores in the air was unclear, but the city's buildings were all consumed by flames, their collapse sounding like mournful wails.
The great fire burned from midnight until dawn without stopping. At the city's edge, support teams sent from various Human Consortium nations stared at the city engulfed in flames, their hearts heavy.
These support members from various nations, all wearing the highest-grade full protective gear to prevent infection, now seemed to have come for nothing.
"Looks like we all made a wasted trip."
"Have the Ascendants of Hanlis lost their minds? Setting such a huge fire—they'll burn to death in there too!"
"Maybe they'd rather burn to death than become 'corpse flowers.'"
"..."
"Corpse flower" was the term people used for those whose bodies had been overtaken by plants that bloomed internally, ultimately causing their deaths.
The word "flower," symbolizing beauty, paired with "corpse," symbolizing death, was undeniably eerie and unsettling.
"The capital just burned down like that. What do you think will happen to Hanlis?"
"What else could happen."
The news that the Hanlis nation had collapsed and withdrawn from the Human Consortium unsurprisingly dominated every major social media headline.
Many people's reactions were mixed with disbelief, and the top comments under the news all expressed this sentiment.
"The Hanlis nation actually collapsed because of this rule? I thought this rule wasn't that hard..."
"How long has it been since a rule destroyed an entire nation?"
"Hanlis was always the weakest among the Human Consortium nations, just barely stronger than the Sakura Prayer Country. They probably lost a lot of people in the previous Gambling Round rule, and this time they got unlucky with the mutant spores. Two rules in a row broke them."
"It's not bad luck. Mutant spores have been detected in large plant areas near other nations too, but because their populations had proper protection, few became 'corpse flowers.' This tragedy is entirely due to the Hanlis authorities' negligence."
"I heard the top Hanlis officials all fled to Lury? Is that true or false?"
"Probably true. Lury is the closest nation to Hanlis, and the two have always had close exchanges. Besides, as the leader of the Six Small Nations, even if Lury can't compare to the three big powers, the fact that they're leading the 'Super City' construction plan shows they still have real strength."
"The Human Consortium loses one member nation. That leaves eight. Guess who'll be next?"
"Do you even need to guess? It'll be the Sakura Prayer Country. Just two small cities, with the authorities doing nothing—it can't even be considered a normal nation. After this rule, it'll probably cease to exist!"