In Banzhen City, several people were walking separately on the streets, observing their surroundings while communicating through miniature earpieces.
"This city doesn't seem heavily guarded. Not many cameras, just some human surveillance."
"Yeah, I've spotted a few too. No big problem."
"Find a place to meet up."
"There's an abandoned fruit shop here. Come to this location."
Soon, a total of six people gathered at the fruit shop. They were all Ascendants from the same mercenary group.
As mercenaries, their purpose in Banzhen was naturally for the bounty.
After the six met up, the young man leading them pulled out a tablet and opened a pre-prepared local map. "The woman we're looking for, Uenoshi, should be at one of these locations."
Several red dots were marked on the electronic map—locations they'd deduced from prior intelligence regarding Uenoshi's activity patterns.
"Since we can't determine which one she's at, we need to check them one by one."
After the young man spoke, one of the six rubbed his hands together, his face filled with excitement and anticipation. "If this job succeeds, we can all pack up and retire!"
"Yeah. Dead or alive, as long as we can get the bounty on Uenoshi, that's enough."
"Retire already? I think Guan Tong's bounty is insane—more than ten times Uenoshi's! If we could get his, that'd be real retirement."
When the speaker finished, the other five fell silent.
The young man looking at the map shook his head. "Don't even think about it. 'Shadow's bounty isn't something we can claim."
After Suroma issued a Level Five Warrant for Guan Tong, aside from the official reward, the underground world's bounty on him was equally outrageous.
But most mercenaries and assassins knew that bounty amounts were proportional to mission risks.
Anyone with even a shred of rationality knew that someone who dared to go against an entire country wasn't someone they could mess with.
Getting his bounty was impossible, but Uenoshi's bounty had many people itching to try.
In the Ascendant world, people acknowledged her strength, but they definitely didn't think she was on the same level as Guan Tong.
That was the thinking of this mercenary group as well. They figured it was worth a gamble—best case, they'd succeed; worst case, they could retreat in time.
"For this operation, I specifically invested in an insanely expensive group teleportation-type item," the leading young man said. "If things go wrong, we bail immediately."
"The old man really bled for this!"
"I think it's fine. At least the infiltration went smoothly. That's a good sign."
As the six were planning with eager anticipation, their vision suddenly went pitch black.
"What's going on?!"
"Enemy!"
"Quick—EEEK!!!"
Several short screams quickly faded, then silence.
The darkness receded, and a shadow line vanished. Guan Tong, who had swapped positions with it, appeared in the shop, looking at the chaotic mess with a contemplative expression.
"This is the fourth wave, right?"
Since the Level Five Warrant was issued, four waves of mercenaries had entered Banzhen, all targeting Uenoshi.
These idiots generally believed that Uenoshi was connected to Guan Tong, but wasn't that strong.
As long as they could capture or kill her, they could exchange her for a huge bounty and never have to live on the edge again.
Of course, there were also those who came purely to try their luck, taking a shot in the dark.
Without exception, Guan Tong had dealt with all of them.
He had no problem with Ascendants working as mercenaries, but if these people set their sights on him or those connected to him, he definitely wouldn't show mercy.
Currently, it was true that Banzhen and Antu didn't have many cameras, but they had shadow lines hidden all over the city, lurking in every inconspicuous corner.
Enemies could evade the Serpent Hair Society's human surveillance and bypass the few camera monitors, but avoiding the shadow lines was basically impossible.
So this group, and the three before them, all thought they'd successfully infiltrated without detection, but in reality, they were discovered by Guan Tong as soon as they entered the city and were dealt with.
"Troupe Leader, all handled?"
Uenoshi's voice came through the Mind Network.
"Handled," Guan Tong said. "A small mercenary group, six people. Average strength."
Uenoshi: "This is already the fourth batch of mercenaries entering Banzhen."
Guan Tong: "Yeah. Though people die for wealth and birds for food... these guys still underestimate you too much."
Even without him stepping in, mercenaries of this caliber would never be able to capture or kill Uenoshi.
At the end of the day, these people misjudged because Uenoshi hadn't acted publicly enough times and her reputation wasn't big enough.
Uenoshi: "I wonder if any mercenaries are going to Suroma to cause trouble for Bruce."
Guan Tong laughed a few times. "Definitely not. My 'Shadow Kill Order' doesn't come with a bounty. Besides, over at New Covenant... the area around the Hall of Halls has been completely fortified now."
Since both sides were locked in a death match, Guan Tong naturally kept monitoring Bruce's movements during his rest period.
He knew that now, New Covenant was full of war weapons on the streets. Several large buildings near the Hall of Halls had been demolished and rebuilt into metal structures with thick walls and domes.
The Suroma government claimed those were shelters, but in reality, they were war fortresses or laboratories.
And according to online professional analysis, these fortresses had nuclear-proof designs.
This made Guan Tong realize that Bruce had probably found out about him obtaining intelligence from Yelanka.
No wonder.
Several of the military facilities he'd destroyed earlier were non-public installations, some even disguised as ordinary processing plants that showed no signs from the outside.
The military-related information about these facilities could only be obtained by official-level intelligence agencies that constantly infiltrated and spied on each other.
So the ones who could provide this information to Guan Tong were either Beixing's official intelligence agency or Xisiya's official intelligence agency.
It wasn't hard for Bruce to guess it was Xisiya, and the nuclear-proof design of the fortifications probably came from remembering the suggestion Yelanka had given Guan Tong back then.
With New Covenant fortified like this, it became even more dangerous for Guan Tong. For now, his plan was to focus on defense first, then consider offense.
Guan Tong thought for a moment and then said, "Uenoshi, don't spend too much time on the Serpent Hair Society. Your own strength improvement is more important."
The more he understood the "Awakened" stage, the more deeply he felt that it was extremely important for individual Ascendants to reach this stage as quickly as possible.
Because it was tied to Authority. A sufficiently powerful Authority could match the strength of a hundred or a thousand people.
Since that was the case, Guan Tong naturally wanted everyone around him to reach the Awakened level as soon as possible and try to obtain a suitable Authority.
For now, aside from Shi Jingyi who was close to breaking through, Uenoshi's progress still had a long way to go. Her Mind Power upper limit had just passed 1,600, and reaching 2,000 would still take considerable time.
As for the values of Chen Na and the others, he wasn't entirely sure, but they should be above 1,000.
Of course, even if they passed 1,000, that didn't mean they had to establish a Mind Network connection with him.
Just like he thought Silver Fox, Dragon Soul, and Moon Key probably all had Mind Power upper limits above 1,000 now, but he hadn't established connections with them.
This kind of mental connection was only suitable for people he trusted relatively deeply and who had frequent communication needs.
Uenoshi: "I know. I'll improve my Mind Power upper limit as quickly as possible."
The conversation ended.
Guan Tong thought that the Interval Period was about to end, and a new Rule was about to be announced. He should also make some preparations.
Suddenly, several new Mind Power creations appeared in his perception.
Not shadows. Not other things either.
They were...
Guan Tong's expression changed drastically.
"They're the living dead summoned by the Whistle! Moon Key's in danger!"
He immediately used Body Swap to exchange positions with one of the living dead.
The moment the swap completed, a thick, pungent smell of blood flooded his nostrils.
And the scene before him made his heart shake violently...
---
After Moon Key refused Guan Tong's offer to leave that day, she'd been restless for the next few days, wondering if she'd made the wrong choice.
But the support of the tribe's people made her feel she should stay, that she should be with everyone.
She thought about using her prophetic ability, but her Crystal Ball could only predict others' fates, not her own.
So until today, the 28th, with less than three days until the new Rule was announced, she stopped thinking about it and focused her attention on preparing for the new Rule with everyone else.
Every time before a new Rule was announced, tribe members would prepare a large stock of food in advance, to avoid going hungry if they encountered an environmental-type Rule.
This time was no exception. Early in the morning, tribe members followed Camp Leader Jie to gather food.
Moon Key didn't go with them. As the tribe's shaman, her duties besides prophecy included sewing clothes.
She was something of an expert in this area. Her own mystical robes and blankets with complex star patterns had all been handmade by her.
Now she was in her room, sewing spring clothes for tribe members.
It was already the end of the year, and the new year 2043 was about to arrive. She wanted everyone's clothes to have some character, so she embroidered the simple numbers "2043" on the shoulders of each garment.
"Haven't they come back yet?"
After sewing several pieces, Moon Key noticed that the sun outside the window had risen to the center of the sky. Even if they were preparing for the new Rule, the tribe members had been gone gathering food for too long.
At first, she didn't think much of it. But after waiting another hour and they still hadn't returned, she couldn't sit still anymore.
Had they run into some trouble?
Moon Key felt a vague unease.
Even if something delayed them, Jie's character would ensure someone came back to inform her, so she wouldn't worry.
But now...
Moon Key went outside, scanned the area, and saw no one. After pacing a few steps, she returned to her room, sat at her table, and took out her Crystal Ball.
Infusing her Mind Power into it, she silently recited the name of the person she wanted to prophesy—the tribe's leader, "Jie."
As lines and dots appeared on the Crystal Ball and formed into an image, Moon Key only took one look before her body reeled backward in terror.
Her right leg caught on the table corner, flipping the table over with her. The Crystal Ball, losing its Mind Power infusion, rolled to the floor.
Clatter, clatter, clatter...
"No... impossible..."
Moon Key muttered to herself, her face pale. She couldn't believe the image she'd just seen was real. That couldn't be...
Thump, thump, thump, thump!
Suddenly, heavy footsteps sounded from outside. The noise jolted Moon Key awake. She immediately picked up her Crystal Ball from the floor, stood up, and rushed out of the room.
Outside, a mechanized armed force of several dozen people had just arrived, followed by a transport vehicle.
When the vehicle stopped and the transport's rear door opened, Moon Key's mind went blank at the sight. She staggered, nearly falling, tears streaming uncontrollably from her eyes.
Inside the transport's cargo bay were corpses—the bodies of the Children of Argan tribe members.
Camp Leader Jie, who had welcomed her into the tribe; Lan, who had invited her to share a tent... all the tribe members' bodies were piled inside, a gruesome sight.
"We've been watching this place for two days," said a man with a blue shoulder patch, who looked like some kind of military Commander.
"We can't let anyone slip through the net, so we had to make sure everyone was caught. It just so happened that today, everyone went to stock up on food. A good opportunity."
Moon Key's eyes were hollow, as if she hadn't heard the Commander at all.
"These people had some backbone, refusing to talk about you. Especially the leader—Jie, right? He even tried to secretly buy an item to warn you... Ridiculous. He had no idea you were the big fish. How could we let you go?"
Moon Key snapped back to reality. Her gaze still lingered on the piled corpses of her tribe companions in the vehicle, her voice stiff. "Since I'm the big fish you're after, why did you kill them?"
The Commander shrugged. "Taking only you back and executing all irrelevant personnel on the spot—that was His Majesty's order."
"Uenoshi..."
Moon Key remembered how a few days ago, Guan Tong had told her that it was entirely normal for Xue Boqing to go back on his promises.
Back then, she should have believed him. She should have left with him—no, she should have had him take the whole tribe to a safe place.
"You'd better not put up any pointless resistance." The Commander's tone was threatening. "Though His Majesty ordered you brought back alive, 'alive' can mean different things."
Only then did Moon Key shift her gaze from her companions' corpses to the Commander's face.
"Before you came, did Bruce tell you that my ability is prophecy?"
The Commander raised an eyebrow slightly, clearly not having been informed of that.
Moon Key pulled out a whistle and brought it to her lips. "I prophesy that all of you will die here."
The whistle sounded. The ground stirred, and three living dead crawled out.
The Commander was taken aback at first when he saw the living dead, then burst out laughing. "This is your prophecy? That we'll die at the hands of this trash?"
The other soldiers joined in the laughter.
These living dead—monsters that had once caused great terror to humanity—now posed about as much threat to current-day Ascendants as cats and dogs.
But their laughter abruptly stopped.
Because they saw one of the living dead vanish into thin air, replaced by a figure wrapped in flowing shadows.