Suroma, Hall of Halls.
The Minister of Intelligence was reporting to Bruce.
"Your Majesty, the current public opinion situation is developing not only as we anticipated, but even better than we expected."
"That was inevitable."
Bruce said calmly, as if he had predicted the outcome long ago.
"Collective panic and insecurity will resonate continuously, forming a public-opinion whirlpool powerful enough to swallow Shadow."
"Your Majesty, I'm trying to figure out what happens if he sees through the truth. If he publicly makes a statement to reassure the masses..."
"It won't help." Bruce interrupted. "How would he make a public statement? If he publicly claims he will help people survive until the end, that promise becomes a shackle.
From then on, people will expect him to protect others for every rule that appears. If he fails even once, they'll dig up old mistakes and say his promise was meaningless. And he will fail, because he is not the Fire Thief."
"If he doesn't want to carry that shackle and chooses not to make a statement, the escalating public opinion will bury him completely. He'll never win public support again. People's tolerance for him is far lower than their tolerance for official bodies."
The Minister of Intelligence nodded repeatedly.
He thought to himself that Bruce truly understood how to centralize power in Suroma to an unprecedented degree, even better at manipulating hearts than he, who specialized in intelligence.
Indeed, official departments in any country can flip-flop and break promises; the public will only curse and vent and won't keep a long ledger.
If the government later makes amends or issues a good policy, many people will instantly forget the past and lavish praise.
But if the offender is an individual, no matter what honors or fame they have, a stain will follow them for life.
In the future, whenever that person appears, online or in reality, someone will mention the blemish, and it's extremely hard for them to turn the page and recover.
"That's why many smart people like to join the official system," the Minister of Intelligence mused. "They gain collective cover. Even if they do evil, the evil is pinned on the system as a whole, and the public can't trace it back to an individual."
"Open strategies always work like that," Bruce said. "Guan Tong is just a lucky student who happened to obtain extraordinary power, and he didn't even finish high school. He has no idea what it means for an individual to oppose the collective."
The Minister agreed. "Exactly. And even if Beixing wanted to protect him, it wouldn't help, because Beixing's people also feel insecure."
"With his wildly unpredictable behavior, the stability-seeking Beixing officials consider it lucky they have no objections to him, much less support him," Bruce said.
The Minister of Intelligence then asked, "Your Majesty, could he be cornered into a desperate act? Should New Covenant strengthen its security defenses recently?"
Cold light flashed in Bruce's eyes. "He took Gaelid away, his next move will certainly be aimed at me. I'm going to wait for him here. Then again, this mad dog might die unexpectedly before he can act."
The Minister of Intelligence was surprised. "Your Majesty, do you have other arrangements?"
Bruce glanced at him without speaking.
The Minister immediately fell silent.
He knew Bruce only entrusted highly classified operations to his modified Ascendant bodyguards.
Just like at the castle wedding scene, Bruce's close protection had all been modified Ascendants; there were no Security Bureau special forces at all.
That was also why the Senate's coup ended in a crushing defeat. We thought controlling the special ops, the guards, and the war mechs guaranteed victory.
We never imagined that Shi Jingyi secretly had a force of modified Ascendants who served only her.
The Minister envied it a little.
He understood absolute trust required an absolute price: those modified Ascendants' memories had been altered, and the implanted smart devices were under Bruce's control.
If Bruce wanted, he could freeze those modified Ascendants in place anytime. The Minister certainly did not want to become someone like that.
"But what if Guan Tong simply ignores public opinion entirely?" the Minister asked. "Perhaps he thinks even the fiercest public outrage can't threaten his survival."
Bruce answered mildly, "People are networks of relationships. If he doesn't care, others will."
The Minister nodded, realizing Bruce's implication.
"Let's drop that for now. I have another task for you," Bruce said. "Recently my informants discovered someone deliberately spreading rumors across cities that Shadow is not an Awakened One but someone else... do you know about this?"
The Minister looked embarrassed. "I don't recall receiving such a report."
Bruce snorted coldly. "Don't forget why you exist as Minister of Intelligence."
"Sorry... I'll investigate immediately!"
"No matter who spread that message, they likely coveted the attention the 'Awakened One' identity brings."
Bruce paused, then continued, "I have a good guess about who the mastermind is. Your job is not to hunt that person down, but to unearth and pull out all their nails planted across Suroma's cities. Understood?"
The Minister was curious. If Bruce knew the planner's identity, why not directly strike at that person? Why only pull the person's strings?
But seeing Bruce's expression, he dared not press the matter; he agreed and left the room.
Alone, Bruce silently stared at the scepter in his hand, his eyes flickering with thought.
"Guan Tong has already fallen into my trap. Eliminating him is only a matter of time. Han Qiu, though, what exactly are you scheming..."
....
Bandzhen, inside a shelter.
After returning, Guan Tong thought carefully about what the Moon Key had said. He admitted her words had struck a chord.
He had never considered the matter from that angle; he had always thought only from his own perspective.
There is nothing wrong with being self-centered, but it can lead to missing the larger picture, like being in the mountain and not recognizing the face of Mount Lu.
Moon Key had a point. If he switched perspectives and imagined himself as an ordinary person, or as an Ascendant with low Mind Power, then when faced with an elite Ascendant, beyond envy and jealousy people would naturally fear being abandoned by those above them.
By his character, he would never turn that fear into outward aggression; he wouldn't attack or destroy those top experts.
That brought him back to the core question: does he care about the masses, or is he only trying to survive personally?
He believed any rational person would answer by looking at what someone actually does.
Actions outweigh words. Some people talk all day about selfless devotion while in practice they grab whatever benefits they can—the archetype of preaching virtue while doing harm.
Others might speak little but perform many genuine altruistic acts. Their deeds often go unrecognized because they avoid the spotlight and others steal their credit.
Guan Tong admitted he'd done many bad things and saved few people; those are public records anyone could check.
Those niche supporters will still trust him. Even without a public push, their reactions reflect a general sense of danger among the minority.
After talking with Moon Key, Guan Tong realized the masses' online ire toward him wasn't primarily aimed at forcing him to publicly relinquish decision rights as an isolated incident.
What they truly wanted was his assurance that he would not abandon the public, that he would somehow ensure as many people as possible survived until the end.
But Guan Tong knew he could not make such a promise.
If he did, anyone facing trouble later would demand his help; if he refused, they'd use his statement to demand answers.
Like during the Door Way Lost rule, many people sent him private messages asking for help to deliver food.
Even if he could clone himself, he couldn't help so many people, and he had his own matters to attend to—no time for that.
But if he did not make a statement, as Moon Key said, the public would see him as arrogant and indifferent and grow more hostile. It was a catch-22.
Guan Tong did not care about being misunderstood; what worried him was the chain reaction.
In fact, that chain reaction had already begun.
He sat at his computer and logged into social media.
An entire page of trending searches was about him.
# "Shadow" Guan Tong Still Hasn't Publicly Spoken #
# Top Ascendants Shunning the Masses Is Behavior That Must Be Criticized #
A Beixing Ascendant gave an interview expressing regret for supplying Mind Power to "Shadow" during the Earth Dragon Rolls Over rule #
# Multiple Experts Criticize Shadow for Abusing Power #
He could ignore those early entries related only to him, but some later terms made him uncomfortable and even angry.
# Guan Tong's High School Classmate Reveals He Was Reclusive and Difficult to Get Along With #
From an analysis of Guan Tong's social relations, he likely possesses dangerous antisocial personality traits #
# Academy Dean Shi Jingyi Refuses Interview; rumored to be close to Guan Tong #
# Some graduates from the academy say Guan Tong had a terrible personality and showed no patience while substituting for classes #
# An anonymous faculty member claims there was a bloody incident in the staff dormitory during Guan Tong's time at school, which officials sealed off, possibly related to him #
# An anonymous former Yunhua City resident alleges Guan Tong assaulted someone to obtain an Alertness Mint during the first rule #
These entries angered Guan Tong because whoever fabricated them didn't stop at attacking him; they also began harassing people connected to him and spreading lies.
High school classmates interviewed and anonymous Yunhua residents accusing him of attacking others for an Alertness Mint—it's all nonsense.
The latter allegation, claiming he assaulted someone for an Alertness Mint, was a particularly malicious falsehood.
But what angered him most was that these forces had started harassing his former academy graduates, harassing Xu Xiaotian, and even trying to interview Shi Jingyi.
Unable to find or touch him directly, they began "deep digging" into his social connections. That infuriated him.
Xu Xiaotian and Shi Jingyi were special cases: the former is an official department worker, the latter an academy dean—both have public profiles.
That meant the public could access certain channels and use official-sounding credentials to seek interviews and exposure.
If someone wanted fame or took dirty money to deliberately interview Guan Tong, it would create huge trouble for them.
This behavior was no different from doxxing and mob harassment in peaceful times: digging up a target's social circle and saturating them with attacks.
The purpose is to make the target look bad in their circle or make them feel guilty for burdening people around them—many who succumb to extreme actions do so out of guilt for causing trouble to their loved ones.
These people's methods were the same: under the guise of interviews, they essentially harassed others to pressure Guan Tong to come out and speak.
Or, if he then did something irrational, that was exactly what some people wanted to see.
Guan Tong would not let them get their way, and he had decided not to allow such lawless behavior to continue unchecked.
"Huh..."
He took a deep breath and tried to calm himself.
He appreciated Xu Xiaotian and Shi Jingyi because neither had contacted him to tell him about the external harassment; they did not want to add pressure to him.
But paper cannot hide fire—he would find out sooner or later.
Guan Tong closed social media and logged into his Ascendant Home website.
He found that in the Casual Chat section—normally a place where the "Shadow" discussion had been more favorable—many posts blaming him had also appeared.
But unlike other platforms' rampant smears, most posts here criticized him for lacking responsibility and urged him to proactively post and clarify his stance.
They meant that whether he handed over voting rights and publicly confirmed his status as an Awakened One or not, he should at least say something to let the public calm down.
Ongoing heated public opinion could amplify extreme emotions, potentially provoking dangerous actions, which would be bad for everyone.
After reading those posts, Guan Tong paused, then created a new post with the "Shadow" account.
He didn't intend to bow to public pressure or speak as the public demanded about voting rights or Awakened status.
He certainly would not apologize for fabricated accusations.
The post contained only what he currently wanted to say.
It was concise and quickly finished and published.
Within seconds the post's view count skyrocketed, and comment notifications poured in one after another.
Guan Tong didn't look. After posting, he closed the site. He had said what he needed to say; now all that remained was to watch how the referenced groups reacted.
Unsurprisingly, his post quickly topped trending lists, and its content shocked many.
It contained little in the way of declarations—only threats.
Title: "Response to Recent Public Opinion"
Content: "Actions speak louder than words. I don't say much publicly, but everyone has seen what I've done; judge right and wrong for yourselves.
Who anyone chooses to trust is their business. You may think I'm selfish or arrogant; that's your right.
But I must warn those who fabricate lies and harass people unrelated to this matter. If you think doing this under the banner of justice carries no risk, you are gravely mistaken.
I don't care who you are or what forces are behind you. After this post is published, you have 24 hours to delete that content.
If you don't comply and continue, I will preserve evidence and find each of you. Believe me, it will be more than a warning then.
Also, to the Suroma government personnel pushing this: you should remember the Shadow Kill Order I issued. Don't worry, you'll see its effects soon."