The world Inside the Mist changed with the opening of the Well, many areas underwent transformations.
After Bai Wu returned to Baichuan City and settled the Pot Master, Xu Wei, he then dispatched Yan Jiu to inform Yan Zizai and others about so of the changes outside the High Tower.
The great purge caused the deaths of many people in the High Tower, and the riot left the structures of the High Tower almost entirely destroyed. Rebuilding the High Tower also required a considerable amount of resources from beyond the tower.
The difficulty of obtaining resources has far surpassed that of the past.
This necessitated the Xie Family to further distribute a portion of the resources, spreading the armants from their private guard to every individual.
Most people were unaware of the spread of Hei Wu, the world Inside the Mist remained a profound mystery, with many places still left to explore.
Under the advocacy of Xie Yingjie and Yan Zizai, the Investigation Corps, with its main objectives being the collection of survival resources, acquisition of intelligence from outside the tower, and the enhancent of one’s own strength, beca the sole Legion. The Qin Family’s original sequence of organization was entirely incorporated into it.
Bai Wu also set out to sea after learning all this. Of course, his main purpose was still... The cruise ship, his luck was indeed not very good, he really couldn’t find it, he had to wait until Zero made the trans-oceanic vehicle ready.
During this process, Bai Wu incidentally handled so High Tower affairs.
He would probably see the truly brand-new High Tower upon his return.
...
...
World Beyond the Mist.
In the capital of inan, the First Freedom Building.
This building also had a long history. As a hegemonic state Beyond the Mist, it could be said to have given birth to many infamous policies, and infamous politicians filled with Pride.
Or so diocre politicians, so idiotic policies, along with a few truly outstanding politicians.
One advantage of a hegemonic state was that there were many followers. The transnational combat eting a few days ago, concerning whether to engage with that colossal ship, the head of Johnson Island felt that humanity was too Prideful.
If the discussion had continued, it’s highly probable that they would have left that giant ship alone.
But the next speaker, inan’s military commander, did not hesitate to opt for combat.
And he proposed using mutants to fight mutants, attributing the source of infection to the ship.
On one side, indeed, many people felt that mutants could fight mutants, the source of infection being that gigantic ship matched up with the tiline of events.
On the other side, the confident tone of the response from inan, the hegemonic state, made other countries also believe that humanity still had the power to fight.
After all, inan was now the number one superpower.
In the office of the highest military official in the First Freedom Building, it was not the military official who had spoken eloquently at the international conference who was sitting there.
It was a girl who appeared to be only sixteen or seventeen years old. The girl was on a call with soone.
On her pale wrist, there was a pattern of the Queen of Clubs.
The person she was talking to had the pattern of the Queen of Hearts.
"Provoking that ship may not be in our best interest. You’ve used your ability to capture the human high echelon and incited a war with that ship. Don’t you think you’ve overstepped?"
The Queen of Hearts still spoke with that commanding tone that the Queen of Clubs found annoying. The Queen of Clubs replied,
"You and I both know that to accelerate the distortion, we can’t rely solely on the natural spread of distortion; that could take decades. Dad won’t give us that much ti."
"So what we can do is to ignite the negative emotions of humans, create anxiety and panic. That ship can completely destroy human confidence. I am very clear about this. If even the world’s rulers lose confidence, when the news is all about such panic, anxiety will spread across the world, accelerating the process of distortion, and that tower will erge even sooner."
Spades Q was clipping her nails, a mocking tone in her voice as she said,
"I’m not like you, only capable of causing minor disturbances. Father needs soone like ."
Hearts Q replied,
"Based on my understanding of humanity’s upper echelons, when sothing bad happens in the world, the first thing people do is hide it. Your plan won’t succeed. What I’m doing is not just causing minor disturbances. True fear is only real when enough people see it. Ordinary people can’t see the war with that giant ship."
Spades Q laughed and said,
"That’s why your brain can’t handle the developnt of many things at once. How do you know that I can’t spread real fear? You don’t need to worry about all this. Just keep up your little disturbances. You’re not qualified to ddle in my affairs."
Thinking of an enraged Hearts Q, Spades Q was even more delighted and brought up the thing Hearts Q detested most:
"You’re not a King, so don’t talk like one. Rember how dad evaluated you? You’re no better than a King, hahahahahaha..."
The communication was cut off.
Feeling the impotent rage from the other end made Spades Q very happy; she actually agreed with Hearts Q’s words.
Humans tend to conceal information. In general, society prefers to share good news rather than admit incompetence or disclose weaknesses.
But in her plan, distortion would soon impact human technology.
Everything from seven hundred years ago would happen again.
Then, by joining forces with Clubs Q, who liked to fiddle with science, she could employ a technology capable of operating in the distorted environnt... to carry out a chanical Descending God.
At that ti, all of humanity would be under technological surveillance, experiencing what true distortion and terror were.
And no one would be able to stop it. Even if the distortion didn’t imdiately hinder human information technology, Clubs Q could still carry out a direct dinsion-lowering cover.
Humans would worship the deities within the machines.
Father would ultimately recognize her strategy, and she would beco the next Spades King.
In her opinion, Hearts Q’s thods really were just making small waves.
Trying to create panic in a bustling area might be effective in the short term, but as long as people had faith and believed in the power accumulated by human civilization to defeat the distortion, then such fear would just be fear, not despair.
...
...
In an unknown area outside the Tower on Aulora Island,
Hearts Q hung up the phone with a gloomy expression. Xi Erwa could tell that this superior was in a bad mood.
"Sir... Have you encountered so trouble?"
"How are the preparations for the vessel going?" Hearts Q asked directly.
"We’re almost done, the bugs have already spread out, and that great being you brought... It truly is a magnificent existence." Xi Erwa seed quite excited.
Not long ago, he had witnessed a miracle.
A real miracle.
"Diamond Nine is just a vessel, which will ultimately be put to my use. All the cards nearby will be in my hands, and I will beco the most powerful being in this world."
"Of course, I have no doubts." Xi Erwa’s eyes shone with infinite reverence.
Hearts Q’s eyes glead with maliciousness:
"Only absolute power is key, that fool, the Ace of Spades, with his self-righteousness, doesn’t understand what’s truly valuable about being twisted."
Hmph, what were those several Kings in history anyway? Nothing but rejects who escaped from the Land of Bliss. I’ll prove to everyone that I have potential far greater than that of a King!"
...
...
While both human and non-human sides were planning so major events, the only person who had access to information on par with that of national leaders—Zhao—was also organizing his own forces.
Offering higher pay than the countries, lighter tasks, more comprehensive protection, and more freedom in life arrangents, Zhao beca the biggest obstacle for national recruitnt of mutants.
To deal with that ship, nations kept recruiting mutants, who were willing to fight for their country, but... Zhao offered too much.
In short, because of Zhao’s interference, the naval war was delayed. But it was only a delay; as more mutants arose, the recruitnt by the nations, though hindered by Zhao’s wealth, was still proceeding smoothly.
As for the mutants recruited by Zhao, they were currently under the managent of Tang Jing.
These individuals gradually converged on Aulora Island because those who, like Tang Jing, had developed sensory abilities before the spread of the Black Mist, all had a premonition that sothing terrible would happen there.
To prevent this event, everyone gathered on Aulora Island.
...
...
Tang Jing has been under a lot of pressure these days as Zhao handed over an important organization to him.
Zhao even created a ranking list of potential for supernatural abilities, assigning a rank to everyone in the organization based on their powers.
Tang Jing was not included in the ranking; he was in charge of leading all the mutants.
This was actually a good thing, but the problem was that Tang Jing was very young, and many of the mutants—those who had awakened their Sequence and Innate Force, or possessed special Spirit Possession artifacts—had their own perceptions.
Tang Jing... was weak.
Young and weak; this made so people unwilling to follow Tang Jing’s arrangents.
Out of respect for the money, they complied with Tang Jing’s orders to investigate the recent strange occurrences, but they didn’t genuinely recognize this superior who might have risen through connections.
At least their disrespect for Tang Jing wasn’t too overt, but it was certainly not subtle either.
On the other hand, the young girl behind Tang Jing was regarded by everyone without exception as a thorny issue.
Therefore, so speculated that Tang Jing’s ability was to flirt with girls. To hold onto soone’s coattails.
This... wasn’t entirely wrong; after all, Tang Jing’s ntor was unparalleled in this regard and had reached the pinnacle of the art.
Tang Jing himself didn’t mind, but Xu Ling felt sowhat indignant about it.
In any case, the aim of this team, known as the Seal Card Holders, was to find the "card dealer" and eliminate him.
Internally, no one respected each other; the fair-skinned people looked down on the dark-skinned, and the dark-skinned looked down on the fair-skinned. Of course, Tang Jing, who was yellow-skinned, was also within the range of discrimination.
But under the influence of Zhao’s money, a sort of natural order was maintained within the Seal Card Organization.
And with many mysterious events on Aulora Island, everyone stayed busy with their own tasks, preventing conflicts from erupting.
At this mont, Tang Jing and Xu Ling were making a call with Zhao.
A mysterious virus recently erged in Aulora Island, and Zhao made an even more alarming discovery through satellite monitoring—a conjoined person... a very strange being.
The left side of the face was that of a middle-aged man, while the right side was part child and part woman... as if stitched together into one individual.
Zhao instinctively felt that there was an extrely terrifying and evil conspiracy brewing behind this, so he wanted to arrange for the Seal Card Organization to investigate the matter.
Zhao still wore his mask.
Before the formal topic began, Tang Jing was curious about the mask and asked,
"There are many masks, why wear this one?"
"It has been passed down from my ancestors."
Tang Jing found it interesting. So Zhao’s wealth was a continuation of affluence, not his own entrepreneurship?
"Can I understand what exactly your family does? Is this mask of a long history?"
"We’re into a lot of businesses, in all areas. As for this mask, it does indeed have a long history, seven hundred years ago... a man wearing a mask appeared, left this mask to my ancestors, and gave them so other things."
Zhao didn’t hide anything from Tang Jing:
"He said that the world would face turmoil in the future, and money might not solve the apocalyptic crisis, but it would undoubtedly play a significant role. He told my ancestors... to start preparing seven hundred years ago, to beco one of the world’s wealthiest top financiers."
"Ah... that sounds like a prophecy."
"Indeed, it is a prophecy. But that masked man displayed many miracles, and my ancestor said he was a perfect god, a god who could change the world."
"Seven hundred years ago... could it be Hei Wu..."
"Yes, it was the ti when Hei Wu locked down Sheng Country. Back then, people were even more panicked than now. Later, many countries organized rescue teams to go into Hei Wu, but none returned."
"All countries were afraid of Hei Wu spreading, but strangely enough, you know what happened afterward, the countries remained aware of Hei Wu but seed to have forgotten that it could spread."
"Major breakthroughs in science and technology remained elusive worldwide. Perhaps Hei Wu is spreading now, but it’s possible that its initial spread and the disappearance of Sheng Country brought so mutations to the entire world."
Tang Jing deeply agreed.
Zhao continued:
"In short, with the help of the Masked Man, my ancestors gained enormous wealth. They also ca to believe that the Masked Man was a god, a savior from the future who brought prophecies."
"To ensure that when the prophecy ca to pass, the Zhao family would have the ans to cope, my ancestors began accumulating wealth. With the help of so things brought by the Masked Man, they amassed great fortune and created nurous miracles."
"The descendants of our Zhao family would also be told the significance of the mask. Although during the seven hundred years there were so issues, so... good-for-nothings who only knew how to squander wealth and not earn it, the Masked Man left behind many contingencies, and the Zhao family... even changed leadership several tis."
"And I am the latest Family Head. The end-of-the-world prophecy, which had not appeared in seven hundred years, happened during my ti. I believe this mask will guide to the right person, and even if the man who wore it initially has died... it will still lead to soone who shares the sa Will."
After hearing all this, Tang Jing felt it was quite remarkable.
He rembered his master saying that so were already laying plans in the World Beyond the Mist, but there were also heroes who had been laying plans seven hundred years ago.
There were many doubts, such as how that hero appeared outside Hei Wu, and what beca of him later.
If he could freely enter and leave Hei Wu, why then did he not reappear later?
His master had also said that the people Inside the Mist had no mory of the World Beyond the Mist; their cognition was disconnected, just as the people outside could not feel the expansion of Hei Wu, their cognition was also disconnected.
So, was the master of this mask not subject to these limitations and controls?
Who was he, after all?
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