Konia Manor.
Guan Tong sat at the tea table, watching the wisps of steam rise from the black tea in the cup before him.
By the time the steam had risen for the dozenth time, Yelanka arrived in a hurry.
The moment she saw Guan Tong, she apologized, "Sorry I'm late, I had some troublesome work to deal with."
"It's fine," Guan Tong said.
Yelanka sat down across from him. Apart from the two of them, there was no one else in the tea room. Even Sigorkin, who always provided protection for Yelanka, was absent.
This was both a confidential and a private conversation.
"Teacher, was there something important you wanted to see me about?"
Yelanka had received Guan Tong's message yesterday, requesting a private meeting. The two had agreed to meet this afternoon at the manor.
She knew Guan Tong wasn't the type to enjoy small talk. For him to proactively seek her out, and in person no less, it had to be something serious.
Guan Tong didn't beat around the bush and went straight to the point, "I want to revisit what we discussed last time."
Yelanka's expression shifted slightly as she sat up straighter, "Teacher means... the tactical nuclear weapon."
"Correct."
Last time, it was Yelanka who had proposed it, offering to provide a tactical nuclear weapon for Guan Tong to bring into the Hall of Halls and detonate, decapitating Bruce, the culprit behind so much suffering.
But that proposal had been rejected by Guan Tong.
She hadn't expected Guan Tong to change his mind. It didn't match her impression of him.
"May I ask why?"
"Adam's daughter Ai Ya was also imprisoned in the Hall of Halls before, I couldn't blow her up along with everyone else. Now that she's been rescued, I have no other concerns," Guan Tong said bluntly.
Yelanka looked thoughtful upon hearing this, "I thought teacher's refusal last time was because you were worried about harming innocents."
"Innocents? Who's innocent? I've already made Bruce's deeds public knowledge. Anyone who still chooses to work for him after learning the truth is my enemy, and they all deserve to die."
In Guan Tong's eyes, no one inside the Hall of Halls was innocent.
Even Bruce's servants, or those researchers, were essentially serving Bruce, adding bricks to the terrifying world he sought to build.
"What, before I didn't agree, and now you're the one who doesn't agree?" Guan Tong asked when he saw Yelanka remain silent.
Yelanka shook her head slightly, a hint of worry in her eyes as she looked at Guan Tong.
"After you rejected my proposal last time, teacher, I thought about it more and realized my request was quite selfish."
"Why?"
"First of all, the matter itself is extremely dangerous. Bruce has turned the Hall of Halls and several nearby streets into a fortress with heavy defenses, not to mention the danger of the nuclear weapon itself."
Yelanka paused, then continued, "Even if teacher successfully detonates it and destroys the Hall of Halls, public opinion will certainly turn against you, and Beixing's reaction is unpredictable..."
Guan Tong was silent for a few seconds after hearing this.
He could tell that Xisiya was being evasive, and was genuinely thinking about his welfare.
But some conflicts were destined to be irreconcilable, and even delaying them was unacceptable.
"Yelanka, you might not know this, but Bruce has taken action more than once to kill me, and the people around me... If it weren't for Ai Ya being in his hands, I never would have waited this long to act."
The real situation was even worse than Guan Tong had described.
He didn't care about public opinion at all, nor did he care how Beixing's officials or anyone else would react.
After the incident of Bruce's collusion with Zhou Qinfeng, there had been several moments when his emotions nearly spiraled out of control. He hadn't wanted to care about Ai Ya at all, only wanting to go straight to New Covenant and slaughter everyone in the Hall of Halls.
But he ultimately held himself back, barely managing to endure until now.
Many people wear their emotions on their sleeves, but some keep them hidden.
Guan Tong usually appeared calm, but in reality, the anger inside him had never subsided, and it only grew stronger with time.
He didn't want to remain passive forever, stuck in a cycle of others making moves while he responded.
Even if he could neutralize every attack, so what?
Without eliminating the root cause, others could fail countless times, but he only needed to fail once to be destroyed beyond recovery.
Because Bruce didn't exist merely as an individual, but as a king, as the embodiment of Suroma's national will.
As long as he remained king and held power, he could continuously send subordinates to attack. It didn't matter if they failed, he would just send someone else next time.
Guan Tong, on the other hand, had to roll up his sleeves and do the work himself every time. Although he could recruit soldiers and send others to die for him if he wanted, that wasn't what he desired.
So, the passivity of the past ended here.
From now on, he had to seize the initiative.
Just like Moon Key's prophecy painting of "mechs crossing through teleportation gates," why watch the prophecy become reality when you could destroy the prerequisites?
For instance, if the prophecy said a large number of mechs would cross through teleportation gates, then he could blow up all their mechs in advance, and the prophecy would naturally crumble.
Yelanka could faintly sense the murderous aura beneath Guan Tong's calm exterior, like a beast waiting to pounce and devour its prey at any moment.
She knew that if the person sitting across from her weren't Guan Tong but someone else, she would have already condensed her ice swords and gripped them tightly to relieve the pressure.
"...I know teacher's personality," Yelanka steadied herself and said, "Back at the academy, when the assassin Lijeka sent ended up without a complete corpse, I knew you would never show mercy to your enemies."
"So what's your answer?"
Yelanka's gaze was firm, "I can give you one tactical nuclear bomb, teacher. But only one."
"...One is enough. Thank you, Yelanka."
Guan Tong's thanks made Yelanka feel uneasy inside. She bit her lip, "Teacher, you've saved me several times, why are you thanking me? It's just that as the Administrator of Xisiya, I have to consider things from the Administrator's perspective. I can't simply follow my own feelings."
"This is just a job, Yelanka," Guan Tong said softly. "If you ever feel too tired, you can let go at any time."
"No, to me this isn't just a job. It's also a responsibility."
Responsibility, huh.
Guan Tong didn't say more. He looked at the untouched black tea on the table, the steam had already disappeared.
Twin Stars Bar.
The moment Guan Tong stepped into the establishment, White Star greeted him and led him to the back room, "Black Star is upstairs discussing a commission with a client. Should I go call him over?"
"No need, I don't have anything urgent. I just came to Xisiya to handle some business, and figured I'd drop by to see you two while I was at it."
"I see." White Star looked at Guan Tong with a face full of things she wanted to say but held back.
Guan Tong glanced at her, "If you have something to say, just say it."
"Well... it's nothing, really. I'm just curious, Troupe Leader, are you an Awakened One?"
"Yes." Guan Tong didn't hide the truth from his own members. He still believed in the principle of not doubting those you trust, and not trusting those you doubt.
Of course, this trust still had layers. His trust in members like Black Star and White Star was clearly on a different level from his trust in Uenoshi, or in Shi Jingyi.
"Really! I knew it! Black Star told me to stop guessing wildly!"
White Star was visibly excited, eager to learn more.
"Troupe Leader, so you actually obtained Authority? What exactly is that thing?"
"Simply put, it's a special power created by an extraterrestrial civilization."
"From an extraterrestrial civilization???"
"Yeah."
"Then can the Deputy Troupe Leader, and me, Black Star, and Aaron, can we also obtain Authority and become Awakened Ones?"
Hearing this, Guan Tong asked back, "What's your Mind Power upper limit right now?"
White Star scratched her hair, looking not very confident, "Around a thousand or so."
"...In that case, it doesn't seem likely in the short term. Your Mind Power upper limit needs to break past two thousand before you can obtain Authority. The next one in the Troupe with a chance should be Uenoshi."
"T-two thousand?!"
This number left White Star dumbfounded. It seemed quite a tall order for her.
Guan Tong offered a weak consolation, "Normally speaking, it is two thousand. But who knows, there might be special circumstances, like lucky encounters."
He himself was one such special case, but for others to obtain Authority through similar opportunities would be extremely difficult, almost impossible.
Just then Black Star came in from outside. Seeing Guan Tong, he smiled and said, "The Troupe Leader is here. I could hear your voice from outside, heh heh."
"Black Star, your business is doing well. There are quite a lot of people in the main hall."
"That's all thanks to the Troupe Leader's reputation. Otherwise, the Xisiya officials would have swept away all the other underground brokers too, but they turn a blind eye to us... So the clients can only come to us."
Guan Tong nodded.
At this moment, White Star snapped back to reality and grabbed Black Star's arm, "Black Star, listen! Only those with Mind Power reaching two thousand have a chance to obtain Authority!"
"What?"
White Star relayed the information she'd gotten from Guan Tong to Black Star. After hearing it, Black Star wasn't as excited as she'd imagined. Instead, his expression turned strange and grave.
Guan Tong noticed something was off, "What's wrong, Black Star?"
Black Star frowned, "Troupe Leader, you're saying you're an Awakened One?"
"That's right."
"But... the client I was just talking to upstairs said his boss is an Awakened One!"
Guan Tong's gaze sharpened.
White Star exclaimed in surprise, "The client's boss is an Awakened One? But the Troupe Leader is... could there be two Awakened Ones?"
No.
Guan Tong thought, he and Shi Jingyi were already two Awakened Ones, and Shi Jingyi could never be some "client's boss."
Could it be... there was a third Awakened One?