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There was urgency and tension in the air, one that could be felt even by those who don’t usually pay attention to their surroundings.
Apart from that, there’s also a lot of movent everywhere. People in suits or formal attire were appearing in places where they weren’t usually seen. There were many of them, and once they got out of their vehicle, they moved as if they were on a tid mission.
All of a sudden, notices started appearing everywhere. Public places were put under surveillance, security beca stricter, and panic was starting to rise.
Cops were moving in droves, free martial artists were being recruited, and the Archstone Plaza’s security suddenly beca overbearing. A curfew was issued, and they were not taking no for an answer.
All of a sudden, it seems like the entire world suddenly entered a warti preparation state and has been put under martial law.
Then, announcents were made.
The GMU ca out and said that they had discovered a viral infection that sohow passed through their checks and had been spreading for quite so ti. They reported that this viral infection causes hallucinations, anger managent issues, and ntal state instability.
Everybody was strongly convinced to cooperate for the professionals to contain this viral infection; that’s why they’re going to be under strict surveillance for the ti being.
They also said that they will give updates periodically to inform the public of what’s happening.
Not everybody believed in this, of course. Many people knew that, sotis, the GMU was unreliable.
They either think that the GMU was just hiding so of their private affairs from going public; that’s why they’re corralling everybody. So thought that the viral infection was, in truth, GMU’s experint that escaped from their labs, and they’re doing damage control.
There were so who believed what the GMU said, but they are a minority. Most people think that sothing was up, and there are quite a few people who are very determined to learn the truth.
However, if it had been that easy to squeeze the full truth out of the GMU, they wouldn’t have led humanity for this long.
There are a handful of people who knew the whole picture, and they are not so people who would leak it out for the sake of exposing their superiors. They were not willing to offend the martial gods just for the sake of delivering the truth to the public. Besides, there are so things that are better kept private.
In the Grand Martial City, located at the heart of the empire and being the main headquarters of the GMU in this world, a stressful and tense atmosphere could be felt.
Sure, the incident did cause so alarm to the GMU. After all, it was their duty to look after the materials circulating in this world, and they sohow missed sothing this big. But this ss wouldn’t be enough to drive the whole headquarters into panic.
The main reason why was because upon hearing about the smuggled item reaching the human civilization, one of the martial gods decided to co back.
And the one who returned wasn’t a kind one.
It was none other than Her Majesty, the Azure Radiance Saint—the queen of efficiency and an absolute slave driver.
If it were any of the other martial gods, they wouldn’t have reacted this way, but it’s her.
The Azure Radiance Saint was probably the only one amongst the Martial Gods who was not afraid of being sched at or being tied down by politics. Why? Because she’s better than all of them.
Many have tried to tie her down before; many have tried to sche against her and tried to control her. But all of them fell before her. She did not just drain them dry; she squeezed out every last bit of worth they will ever have before discarding them like trash.
And she never gets tired of doing it.
But in hindsight, they should’ve seen this coming. After all, it was she—the Azure Radiance Saint—that proposed the anti-smuggling law. This was one of the things she strongly spoke for and convinced her fellow martial gods to sign as well.
"I left for a year," she stated before the crowd of people summoned before her; none could et her eyes. "Just a year. I said I will be back eventually and as soon as I can."
"I distinctly rember reminding everybody to not slack off on their work because your duties are crucial to the well-being of humanity. But what is this, hmm? What did I find upon my return?"
"A modified Zerg Queen’s Essence sealed in a wooden carving? It’s like its creator didn’t even try or wasn’t hoping for this sche to succeed.
"Yet sohow, it ended up here. It bypassed at least 13 layers of security checks I personally established and have all of you control. I even personally taught so of you to discover the strange parts."
"If any of you imbeciles have listened and rembered your responsibilities, anybody with functioning eyes and a lick of sense would’ve imdiately caught the signs. Yet none of you did."
"It looks like so of you have been rather relaxed with around, huh? Great! Aweso! I wonder who the hell gave you the audacity?"
Her tongue lashing made several people wince in phantom pain. There’s no need to guess; she’s evidently pissed.
And the thing is? She has every right to be pissed. She’s the one who proposed the anti-smuggling law. She’s the one who made the layers of security to prevent dangerous materials from freely circulating in the market of the human world. She even had her proteges manning the stations to ensure quality work, yet all of her effort seed to have been wasted since nobody could do their simple jobs.
"I’ll deal with all of you later. Fuck off and back to work. I dare any of you to let see you slacking; I’ll show you what real misery looks like!"
She left fuming after dismissing them, and nobody dared to let out a sound or anything that could trigger her anger.
She didn’t leave the building; she didn’t use the elevators or the stairs either. Instead, she flew like a rocket to the high-profile prison to see what’s going on there.
What she hates more than incompetence is traitors. And reportedly, they found soone who managed to claw their way deep into this office. For her, that’s just plainly unforgivable.
If it were up to her, she would torture the man for all the intel he might have against the enemy and torture him more for his stupidity and siding with the enemy.
But apparently, this man might know a lot. More than a lot, even. She heard that this man, Terrence Brian Patterson—if that’s even his real na—had a lot of ntal shields, which would normally not be exposed unless the man was caught completely by surprise.
Thank god there are still so competent people in this building, because the man was instantly imprisoned and exposed the mont he woke up in his cell.
Right now, there are so people who are doing their best to unravel the man’s psychic shields to learn all of his secrets. Reportedly, they’ve already gathered enough incriminating evidence to sentence this man to death, so much that even the ones working on him felt horrified to learn.
And they haven’t even gotten too deep into his shields just yet.
The Azure Radiance Saint was fuming but was also deeply interested. How the hell did they manage to plant a spy so deep into human territory without triggering the security asures they put down?
But as curious as she was, she was being careful.
She’s not stupid; her abrupt return surprised her subordinates, but it’s also very possible that it also alard the other spies around—if there are any.
Agents of the cult hidden within their ranks would probably do sothing to either save or kill their comrade.
With her here, the possibility of that happening was low. But even so, she wasn’t one to be complacent. The chances might be low but not zero. She might be a Martial God in terms of skill and martial prowess, but she’s not omnipotent.
That’s why, as interested as she was to learn what has been revealed so far, the Azure Radiance Saint made her presence scarce. She hid herself in between the fabrics of space, completely invisible to the senses and perceptions of anybody who’s weaker than her.
She arrived at the lab where they’re working on unraveling the psychic shields of the man but didn’t alert anybody of her presence. Instead, she stood guard and kept one eye open for any possibility of an ambush or surprises that might happen in the area.
Of course, she also perused the evidence they’ve gathered so far, and just from the first five cris she saw on this list so far, it was indeed true; this man must die.
How in the world did such a vile man even manage to infiltrate this deep into their sanctuary?
But now is not the ti to make a move. There is more to be revealed, and she would do her best to rein in her temper until every single piece of information is extracted from this person.
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