Wait until Li Tianlan and his partners sat down formally, the elites from the Sky Academy were officially all here.
The rainstorm outside the window hit the ground wantonly, and the room was dimly lit. The electronic map of East Island next to Tribulation also became more conspicuous.
“Everyone is here.”
Sitting at the right-hand seat of the master seat, Ye Fengcheng swept around. After glancing at Tribulation, who was still staring at the snow-white holy mountain in the distance, he began to report.
Both in the beginning when the stratagem of Zhongzhou State was only discussed between higher-ups, and after the confirmation that the Sky Academy would lead the Dongdu operation, the Southeast Group really hoped that Ye Fengcheng could get the right to lead the trip to Dongdu.
Ye Fengcheng was extremely frivolous and unruly, but he was no fool. On the contrary, he was extremely resourceful. When the time came, they could offer him a calm and steady deputy. They then were arguably the best combination for the trip to Dongdu.
The plan that consumed the whole nation’s resources was of the utmost importance. However, the Southeast Group didn’t avoid arousing suspicion. After recommending Ye Fengcheng, at the same time, the management recommended w.a.n.g Zhaoliang, a Lieutenant General and also the Commander of Shadow Sting Army—the largest and most mysterious special warfare force in Zhongzhou State, as the deputy of Ye Fengcheng. The proposal was so good purely in terms of public affairs that it was even once discussed at the meeting of the Decision Making Committee.
However, the Sky Academy’s recommended candidate was Tribulation.
They were the former and the current directors of the Political Department of Sky Academy respectively. Ye Fengcheng might be more capable of taking charge of the general situation, but in terms of battle strength, Tribulation would leave Ye Fengcheng a considerable distance behind.
Actions in the Dark World could ignore anything but strength.
So, the end results were that Tribulation was in charge of the operation in Dongdu and even in the whole East Island, and Ye Fengcheng served as the deputy. As for the Shadow Sting Army, they were arranged in the second group to go to East Island.
What did Ye Fengcheng think about all this was unknown. But at least on the surface, he treated Tribulation with some respect. And it seemed that there was no sign of hatred in him.
“You shall be in the chair at this meeting.”
Tribulation said suddenly, looking at the holy mountain in the distance.
Ye Fengcheng raised his eyebrows slightly. Before he could speak, Tribulation’s figure had vanished, leaving only a hardly visible shadow in his place.
“I’m going to the mountain and have a look.”
His voice echoed through the room, hoa.r.s.e and erratic.
The mountain!
Without doubt, Tribulation was going to climb the holy mountain of East Island to ascertain the actual situation of the Divine Wind Force.
According to reliable information, two of the three grandmasters of East Island, Tianhai Wuji and Liusheng Cangquan, had entered Zhongzhou State. But the Palace Master of Liuhuo Palace, also the only Supreme Ninja of East Island, stayed in the holy mountain all year round to protect the Divine Wind Force. Was it too risky for Tribulation to ascertain the actual situation of the Divine Wind Force under the watchful eyes of an Invincible Realm ninja?
Tribulation’s figure disappeared and his shadow gradually faded.
Ye Fengcheng was silent for a long time before he looked up. He looked at Han Shixun, who followed behind Li Tianlan and his partners, and said with a smile, “Director Han, please introduce it to everyone.”
“Okay.”
Han Shixun closed the door of the banquet hall without difficulty and answered calmly. Then he went straight to the screen in front of the conference table.
He reached out and clicked on the screen, and the map on it zoomed in quickly. The map of the entire Dongdu appeared on the screen, eventually taking up the entire screen.
On the screen showing the map of Dongdu, there were still countless red dots flashing. They were thickly distributed and of different tones.
“Hi, everybody.”
Han Shixun gave a little cough and watched the room with his eyes, saying slowly, “Night Spirit is the force that East Island supports secretly. Over the past decade, the East Island’s support for Night Spirit was even greater than that of the Divine Wind Force. East Island gathered all its resources to make Night Spirit a super force in the Dark World. It’s no secret, and I’m sure you all know something about it.”
“And these…”
He held out his hand and pointed at the screen, adding indifferently, “These red marks are the forces of Night Spirit in Dongdu. Attention, it’s just in Dongdu, not in the entire East Island.”
Everyone looked at the screen in front silently.
Untold red dots flickered across the screen, and there was already a vague tendency for them to spread over all the important parts of the city. Absolutely, it was dazzling.
One could figure out how great the foundation of Night Spirit in East Island was just by looking at the red dots.
But no one felt pressured.
Almost everyone was wondering how great it would be if the red dots represented the forces of Zhongzhou State in East Island.
Everyone’s blood was boiling as long as they thought of it.
Again, Han Shixun reached out and clicked on the screen. A lot of red dots on the screen suddenly dimmed, leaving only about 30 or 40 dots flickering.
He looked at the red marks on the map and continued, “Night Spirit has been destroyed for more than a month, and the government of East Island responded to it immediately after its destruction. Before its demise, Night Spirit was a superpower which was second to none in the entire Dark World, with influence in every country. Now, it’s difficult to regain its forces outside East Island, but for the forces in East Island, the government of East Island is h.e.l.l-bent on regaining them.
“Over the past month, the Divine Wind Force was very active. We have received credible information that, at the direction of the royal family and the cabinet, the military, the Special Warfare System, the yakuza, and even the business and political circles of East Island, are nibbling away at the foundation left by Night Spirit. At their current rate, it will take them only a year at most to get the foundation of Night Spirit in East Island under control. Within three years, at most, they can rally people’s hearts and reshuffle the original personnel. Then all this will be firmly held by the government of East Island.”
Han Shixun’s hand seemed to click casually on a red dot.
The map got bigger again.
On the increasingly harsh red dot, a picture of a middle-aged man popped up on the screen. It was a middle-aged man of about forty, with a goatee and a bald head. Dressed in a kimono, he looked somber and serious.
“Tsuruda Yamamoto.”
Han Shixun said, looking at the photo, “He’s the director of the Intelligence Division of Yamaguchi-gumi.”
“About 25 days ago, Tsuruda Yamamoto confirmed his resignation from Yamaguchi-gumi and became the head of the Audio-visual Group in Dongdu.”
Han Shixun paused for a while and then continued, “I would like to tell you that the Audio-visual Group is one of the largest private intelligence organizations in Dongdu and it is the eyes and ears of Night Spirit in Dongdu. Its members are extremely complex and spread across all walks of life. Its headquarters is in Dongdu, but it has been expanding abroad for nearly a decade. Within East Island, its development potential is staggering. Tsuruda Yamamoto has been one of the kingpins of the Yamamoto Clan, so he can never betray the Yamamoto Clan or the Yamaguchi-gumi. Now that he has taken over the Audio-visual Group, everyone should know what that means.”
His finger clicked on the screen again, and another red dot zoomed in. This time, three photos appeared simultaneously on the screen.
“This is the headquarters of Xitian Financial Group.”
Han Shixun looked at the screen, his eyes narrowed. At this moment, the old agent who had been lurking in East Island for many years finally laid down the shrewdness and craftiness that belonged only to businessmen. There was something sharp about him. “Xitian Financial Group emerged in East Island about 20 years ago. It lacks historical deposits but is of great wealth, working as one of the biggest ATMs of Night Spirit in East Island. After the fall of Night Spirit, the two people in the photo joined Xitian Financial Group as soon as possible. And the one in the middle is Xitian Yingji, the current Patriarch of Xitian Clan. The one on the left is from the logistics department of Divine Wind Force, while the man on the right used to be a senior official in the Ministry of Finance of East Island.”
The red dot retracted by a knock from Han Shixun. He then clicked on another red dot and continued the introduction.
All the people present listened to him attentively. This series of introductions almost contained the process in which all parties in East Island nibbled away or gathered all the roots of Night Spirit over the past month. Everything was in perfect order.
Without going through all the red dots, Han Shixun only introduced about eight or nine people, and then stopped talking.
Ye Fengcheng, who had always listened carefully, saw Han Shixun stop talking. He smiled and spoke, “The ones that Director Han didn’t introduce to you are basically the same as the ones that were introduced before. Tell me, everybody. What do you think?”
“These are nodes.”
Ye Fengcheng’s voice just died away. Sitting beside Li Tianlan, Bai Youming said in a solemn tone, “Everything Director Han introduced are the roots of Night Spirit in East Island. They involved in intelligence, finance, arms, gangland, military, politics and other fields. As long as one of these nodes were to control, the roots of the Night Spirit would be influenced. The same must be true of those which Director Han did not introduce. The red marks on the screen should be the most important property of Night Spirit in Dongdu. To control these is to control the foundation of Night Spirit in Dongdu. East Island acts so fast.”
“It not only acted fast but also steady. Presumably, even within Night Spirit, there is not much resistance for the government of East Island to take over all these.”
Gu Yunxia’s face was somber and he stressed, “Together, these nodes form a web. If East Island is really in control of all these, our trip will be in vain.”
“Is the same true of other places in East Island?”
Horsewoman was silent for a moment and then slowly asked.
“Other places are better. It’s only a short time after the unexpected incident happened, and East Island is slowly planning. It will take, at least, a few months for it to achieve what it had made in Dongdu.”
Han Shixun smiled and did not refuse to answer the question because of Horsewoman’s foreign citizenship.
“And even in Dongdu, there are still a lot of problems with this web.”
Ye Fengcheng continued, “Although East Island acts fast, the time is too short. And the remaining forces of Night Spirit may not really accept the incorporation of the government of East Island. Every new sovereign brings his own courtiers. This is the universal truth. They acted so only as a matter of expediency forced by circ.u.mstances. At present, although the web has been formed, it is not st.u.r.dy, and there is still the possibility of damaging it.”
“Damage?”
The Enchantress raised her eyebrows slightly.
“Yes, damage.”
Ye Fengcheng nodded and took several pieces of folded paper out of his chest pocket. “I have a couple of lists here. This is our operational plan for the first stage, codenamed Hunt. The content is to hunt all over East Island! The plan of Army Headquarters and Kunlun City is to dispatch a few small but picked hunting teams to spend a month hunting the whole territory of East Island, and finally to tear the web that East Island has woven to pieces!”
He patted the data in his palm and said decisively and coldly, “None of the 180 people can live!”
All the people at the meeting were shocked.
When everyone was in silence, Ye Fengcheng swept around and chuckled. “The 180 people are the top talent in all aspects of East Island and are very professional. But few have the strength higher than the Thunder-shocking Realm. So in this action, Army Headquarters and Kunlun City decided to form a hunting team by the students. This is our first battle since we entered East Island. Fellow students, who would like to volunteer?”
Silence.
Five seconds.
Ten seconds.
Half a minute.
Just as Ye Fengcheng subconsciously narrowed his eyes, a voice suddenly sounded.
They were, in fact, three voices, but together, they sounded as if the same person was speaking.
“I’ll go.”
Everyone’s heart knocked, and there was a strange feeling rising inside them.
Three people.
Moreover, they were the three who had special meanings among the young generation throughout Zhongzhou State nowadays.
w.a.n.g Shengxiao from the w.a.n.g family of Beihai.
Gu Hanshan from Kunlun City.
Li Tianlan from Sigh City.
Two of them possessed Wind and Thunder Veins, while the rest owned Heavenly King Heart!
Now Li Tianlan may not have the t.i.tle of young Heavenly Son, but no one could deny the fact that he had the potential of becoming a young Heavenly Son.
In troubled times came Heavenly Sons.
General trend forged Heavenly Sons.
Would the compet.i.tion between Heavenly Sons of the young generation in Zhongzhou State begin today, in Dongdu?
The other students from the Sky Academy looked at each other, but no one spoke. Even Li Baitian and Ning Qiancheng were silent.
In front of the three, everyone in the younger generation seemed to feel inferior.
It was a compet.i.tion only between the three of them. The others didn’t seem qualified to partic.i.p.ate in it at all.
The three stood up at once.
When they looked at each other, the atmosphere in the room suddenly became oppressive.
Bai Youming, Horsewoman, and Flaming Fire frowned at the same time. However, Gu Hanshan and w.a.n.g Shengxiao had already stood up, so it was inappropriate for them to ask Li Tianlan to sit down. As a result, they could only remain silent.
“I want to act alone.”
w.a.n.g Shengxiao still had an aura of gentleness, but in every syllable of his words, there was a great deal of confidence.
“Yeah, act alone.”
Gu Hanshan looked calm. He was a person who was difficult to be noticed, but once he spoke, the sharpness in his tone was not inferior to that of the gentle and modest w.a.n.g Shengxiao.
Ye Fengcheng narrowed his eyes, watching Li Tianlan calmly.
w.a.n.g Shengxiao had now broken through to the Thunder-shocking Realm. A Thunder-shocking Realm expert who possessed Wind and Thunder Veins was indeed able to act alone.
Gu Hanshan also reached the Fulfilment Stage of the Fire-flaming Realm. And although the Heavenly King Heart could not directly increase one’s combat effectiveness, it had various wonderful usages, which could not just promote one’s willpower. Possessing the Heavenly King Heart, Gu Hanshan may not be the best player among the young generation, but he was definitely the hardest to be killed. It was okay for him to act alone too.
While Li Tianlan…
Although he possessed Wind and Thunder Veins, his realm was too low after all.
If he asked to act as a team, it was understandable. But if he really did so, others would be disappointed.
Survival came first during a mission, but there were other things which were of great importance too. It was up to Li Tianlan to choose.
“Yeah, act alone.”
Under the watchful eye of all people, Li Tianlan narrowed his eyes and smiled slightly, looking at w.a.n.g Shengxiao coldly.
The request of this young Heavenly Son from the w.a.n.g family of Beihai and also the first master of the younger generation in Zhongzhou State nowadays to act alone set a trap for him.
And it was a trap he had to jump into.
Li Tianlan smiled and said no more.
Ye Fengcheng gave the three a deep look, nodded, and said in a deep voice, “Fine!”
On this day.
After the meeting.
In the heavy rain in Dongdu, Li Tianlan walked out of Azure Pool hot spring club with Skyattack on his back and Human Emperor in his hand.
The three young Heavenly Sons of Zhongzhou State set out from different directions to hunt.
In the rainstorm, Li Tianlan fished out a potion and took it expressionlessly.
There were flames rising in the storm and breaking through the rain curtain.
In the mist all over the sky, the roaring flames rushed to the sky!