"He truly is a one-man army, charging three thousand *li* and capable of fending off a million soldiers with his sword."

In a dimly lit, narrow, and secluded room at the Special Affairs Bureau headquarters, Zhu Xuemin leaned against the wall and sighed with mixed emotions.

Before him floated a circular mirror constructed from the [Water Mirror Technique].

The mirror clearly projected the image of Li Ang suspended in the air above a steel jungle, restrained by the Heavenly Chains and Crimson Lotus.

"What?"

A youthful voice came from the corner.

Ju Tianfu, a fellow disciple of the Otherworld Society, stood inside an oval cylinder, with only his head exposed, looking puzzled.

The oval cylinder was made of translucent, frigid ice crystals.

Through the murky ice crystals, it was visible that Ju Tianfu's body surface was not covered in skin, but rather a layer of dragon scale-like frost.

Since escaping from the Lost World, Ju Tianfu, with only his head remaining, had been recuperating.

After this period of treatment, he had advanced the *Cui Xu Xuan Pin Lian Ti Mi Fa* (Jade Void Mysterious Female Body Refining Secret Method) scripture, inherited from the ancient Otherworld Society, to the third level.

He had completed the marrow cleansing and hair cutting, refining essence into *qi*,

His strength had recovered to the level he was at in the Lost World, and even further, with a bright future ahead.

"Take a look at this scene,"

Zhu Xuemin glanced at his fellow disciple, gestured toward the chaotic city scene in the Water Mirror Technique, and casually said, "It's quite spectacular, isn't it?

Our friend here has overcome numerous obstacles, advancing triumphantly and unstoppably.

Before him, armored torrents are like chickens and dogs made of clay, and transcendent powerhouses are like scarecrows.

The city falls silent for him,

And the Special Affairs Bureau is forced to publicly bow its head and yield."

"..."

Ju Tianfu, lying in the ice crystal coffin, frowned slightly and slowly said, "He is indeed very strong.

In his normal human state, he can crush Mu Qingcang, Xing Hechou, and others.

And the body expansion – I estimate it's the activation of the divine power mode, releasing the body's limitations.

Even Wang Buliuxing and Zhong Limeiming, the Special Affairs Bureau's strongest on the surface, would have to join forces to hold him down.

Although Wang Buliuxing and Zhong Limeiming just returned from the front lines and are not at their peak,

The opponent also broke through layers of obstacles along the way, and is not in complete condition either.

No matter the outcome this time,

Whether Li Risheng accepts the conditions and agrees to be monitored,

Or he refuses to accept and seeks refuge with the European Heavy Industries Group and other external organizations,

It is extremely bad news for us.

We lose face,

And lose a potential friend, while gaining a powerful potential enemy."

Zhu Xuemin shook his head with a wry smile upon hearing this, "Heh heh."

"What are you laughing at, Senior Brother?"

Ju Tianfu was puzzled for a moment, then quickly reacted, "Did I say something wrong?"

Zhu Xuemin slowly nodded, "Yes."

"This..."

Ju Tianfu frowned, thought for a moment, and slowly said, "Li Risheng did not kill any members of the Mobile Task Force along the way.

He deliberately paid attention and spared them.

Considering his previous friendly behavior as Li Risheng, and the fact that his valued friend is a Special Affairs Bureau family member,

He should lean toward the Order faction, otherwise he wouldn't have scolded Francis and the others from the European Heavy Industries Group just now.

Could it be that things haven't gotten that bad yet?

The condition that Director Jian Rushuang is now proposing, that Li Risheng enter virtual prison for four months, is just for external forces and *Wan Jia Xiong Meng* (Players) to hear?

After sending away the eavesdroppers, everyone will close the door and have a few drinks as punishment, as if nothing happened, and Li Risheng won't have to go to any virtual prison.

We save face, and Li Risheng keeps his dignity,

Everyone is happy."

"Heh heh."

Hearing Ju Tianfu's words, the wry smile on Zhu Xuemin's face grew even stronger. He shook his head and said, "You, you've still read too many books and stayed in the greenhouse for too long.

You don't understand how the rules of the real world work.

The four months of virtual imprisonment proposed by Jian Rushuang are not a smokescreen, nor are they just words.

But it's really, truly, to make Li Risheng stay in the virtual prison for four months."

"What?!"

Ju Tianfu said in astonishment, "Is that... necessary?

Li Risheng was originally inclined toward our Special Affairs Bureau, and has been helpful for a long time.

Doing this now, isn't it forcing him to feel disgusted and hateful?

It will also make other lone wolves feel sympathetic, experiencing the bitterness of shared fate, and distrust the Special Affairs Bureau even more.

There's absolutely no benefit to it."

"This isn't a question of benefits,"

Zhu Xuemin took a deep breath and said in a deep voice, "You must understand that our Otherworld Society and the Special Affairs Bureau, although they are two sides of the same coin, deeply intertwined,

There are fundamental differences in their essential attributes.

You can't look at the Special Affairs Bureau's actions with the Otherworld Society's perspective.

The Special Affairs Bureau's current actions,

In the eyes of lone wolf players and external forces, are inhumane, unreasonable, and even pedantic and stubborn.

But if you stand in their position, many things can be explained."

Ju Tianfu frowned, "Standing in the Special Affairs Bureau's position?"

"That's right."

Zhu Xuemin nodded and said, "If the initial operation to capture Li Ang was just a few departments planning and executing within their scope of authority and according to their own duties,

Then now,

After Li Risheng revealed his true identity and demonstrated his powerful strength,

The nature of the event has changed dramatically.

It's no longer just a small matter that can be glossed over with a few drinks as punishment,

But has become a symbol that determines the future direction."

"A symbol?"

Ju Tianfu frowned, chewing on the word.

Zhu Xuemin sighed and said faintly, "You were a disciple of our Otherworld Society from the beginning. After becoming a player, you've had smooth sailing, cultivating peacefully.

Even when you were sent to work at the Global Supernatural Alliance, you only came into contact with transcendents, or at least ordinary people working with transcendents.

You haven't felt, during this time,

The changes in society and people's hearts.

Transcendent, transcendent, extraordinary and refined,

Surpassing ordinary people, breaking away from the mundane.

Transcendent is not just a simple noun,

It means that all the rules accumulated by mankind for thousands of years will collapse and be rebuilt in a dozen or even a few years."

Zhu Xuemin's eyes were deep as he said in a deep voice, "The past Killing Game and Spiritual Energy Springs were intermittent and brief, like fleeting bubbles.

The transcendents they nurtured were like shooting stars, difficult to preserve for long.

But this time is different. All the classics and prophecies indicate that this spiritual energy revival will last longer than in the past, and we may not even see the end of it in our lifetime.

For thousands of years, the leaders of human society,

Whether it's slavery or feudalism,

Have been the human collective as a whole.

The king of a slave city-state and the feudal monarch are no different from the common people in their essential nature.

Dynasties change, hegemony shifts, rises and falls,

The internally equal human collective can actively carry out reforms, such as overthrowing slavery.

However,

Transcendents,

Transcendents who will not easily disappear or fall in the long era of spiritual energy revival,

Can push individual strength to an unimaginable extreme,

Possessing unprecedented power,

Can ignore or even crush the original order,

To replace the world's people with one person's will.

That is too terrifying."

Zhu Xuemin took a deep breath and slowly said, "Sword *qi* traverses three thousand *li*, its light chills nineteen provinces.

This is not poetic imagery, but the terrifying future we are about to face!

You should have read novels with the theme of cultivating immortality, right?

In the books, cultivators like us follow the pure law of the jungle,

Fighting and killing each other for limited resources,

Establishing sects is not to spread knowledge and impart skills, but to better form gangs.

Protecting the people is not to uphold justice, but to treat mortals and spiritual roots as resources that can be calculated and harvested.

Filled with hostility and decisive in killing,

Kindness will be regarded as weakness,

Only unscrupulous means can survive in chaos."

Zhu Xuemin paused and said in a deep voice, "That kind of world, bringing in the protagonist in the novel, is indeed very enjoyable, killing gods when they block, killing Buddhas when they block, freely enjoying the world, singing with a sword in hand.

But ordinary people in that kind of world are no longer people,

But a kind of resource that can be measured, can be calculated, and can even be abandoned, trampled on, and traded.

No matter how good the words on the surface are, according to the information we have collected so far,

As the Killing Game progresses,

The gap between transcendents and ordinary people will become larger and larger, and the contradictions will become deeper and deeper.

The evolution and development speed of transcendents is too fast, so that ordinary people have no means to restrict, constrain, or control transcendents."

"Isn't that normal?"

Ju Tianfu said subconsciously, "No individual life can accept being tied with reins and shackles for no reason,

Let alone players who are arrogant and roam the edge of life and death every day."

"Yes, so that's where the contradiction lies."

Zhu Xuemin said with a wry smile, "You've also seen Li Ang's destructive power. He hasn't used his full strength yet, but he has turned the earth into scorched earth and the steel jungle into ruins.

This kind of power is too strong, beyond the control of mortals.

It is conceivable that

In the later stages of the Killing Game, a few individual existences, or even one person, can suppress all dissent with their own strength,

To dominate the world's seven billion humans with their own will.

The true meaning of an immortal's anger, corpses lying a million *li*."

"..."

Ju Tianfu opened his mouth, wanting to say something but hesitating. In fact, he could vaguely realize the subtle changes happening in this world, but his emotional side had been deliberately ignoring it, or rather, not thinking about it in detail.

Zhu Xuemin took a deep breath and said leisurely, "The stability of human society today is based on the fact that no one can do anything to anyone else.

Ordinary people have limited individual strength, so a collective will is generated, and there is the order we are familiar with now.

Even the decision-makers at the top of the pyramid need to consider all aspects,

Compromise, negotiate, concede, mediate, appease, exchange benefits, reach consensus,

These 'unpleasant' things are the foundation that the human race has not self-destructed to this day.

But transcendents do not need this.

He does not need the living materials provided by society – even eating wind and drinking dew can live very well;

Nor does he need the recognition of others to obtain a stable social status and social relationship – the fists of the transcendent are his proof;

The only thing a transcendent needs to care about is benefits,

Pure benefits that can make him stronger and stronger.

In order to satisfy this point, transcendents will use unscrupulous means, lowering or even destroying the bottom line,

Just as the real world has proven countless times,

The more shameless and immoral people are, the better they can live."

Zhu Xuemin said with a wry smile, "The problem now is that,

Transcendents are essentially two different races from ordinary humans,

And there is still a congenital gap, a situation where one side casually crushes the other.

Even, there is no class leap in between – all power belongs to the Killing Game, and ordinary people will soon lose even the power to resist.

This is a conflict within civilization, but also a silent war within the race.

The victor will have everything, and the loser..."

"..."

Ju Tianfu opened his mouth, finally understanding what Zhu Xuemin meant by "terror."

He is not the kind of person who forgets his roots and is ungrateful. From beginning to end, he has not regarded himself as a cold cultivator who transcends mortals and despises the mundane. His personal position is also firmly on the side of the broadest masses of the people.

"The things I'm telling you now, ordinary people may not think about so thoroughly, but many people actually have a vague premonition in their hearts."

Zhu Xuemin said in a deep voice, "The era is undergoing irreversible changes,

And the pain caused by the changes is something we cannot bear and must try to alleviate.

No one knows what the future will be like, we can only try our best to prevent it.

The Special Affairs Bureau's current pedantic stubbornness, fickleness, and even incompetence, are actually based on this reason.

Li Ang, is not just Li Ang.

It also represents the future attitude of the Special Affairs Bureau.

In a large sense,

The Special Affairs Bureau is a powerful and elite institution with access to massive resources and authority, decisive and efficient, doing what it says,

Above, it can guard the Demon Imprisonment Cave, patrol the Nine Provinces, suppress demons and monsters,

Below, it can defend order, protect the people, bring about innovation in production and life, and open doors as new worlds,

But in this matter, the Special Affairs Bureau is also so powerless,昏庸(hūn yōng, muddle-headed) and 遅鈍(chí dùn, slow-witted)--an institution is ultimately composed of many people with different positions and different attributes,

Even the Special Affairs Bureau cannot avoid俗(sú, vulgarity), and there will also be迷茫(mí máng,迷茫),困惑(kùn huò,困惑), and意见(yì jiàn,意见) disagreement within itself.

非拟人化(fēi nǐ rén huà,non-anthropomorphic) perspective下(xià,下),

All决定(jué dìng,determination)举措(jǔ cuò,举措), are处于(chǔ yú,处于)统一(tǒng yī,统 一)的集体(jí tǐ,集体)意志(yì zhì,意志)."

Ju Tianfu Wen Yan (闻言, After hearing this),抿(mǐn,抿)了抿(mǐn,抿)嘴巴(zuǐ bā,嘴巴),若有所思(ruò yǒu suǒ sī,若有所思).

"This is the so-called, 当局者迷，旁观者清 (dāng jú zhě mí, páng guān zhě qīng)(The authorities are confused, while the onlookers are clear)."

Zhu Xuemin looked at the steel jungle scene in the Water Mirror,

轻声(qīng shēng,轻声)道(dào,道): "未来(wèi lái,未来)最好的(zuì hǎo de,最好 的)情况(qíng kuàng,情况),莫过(mò guò,莫过)于(yú,于)人人(rén rén,人 人)如龙(rú lóng,如龙),所有人(suǒ yǒu rén,所有人)都(dōu,都)拥有(yǒng yǒu,拥有)超凡(chāo fán,超凡)力量(lì liàng,力量),集体(jí tǐ,集体) 实现(shí xiàn,实现)生命(shēng mìng,生命)层次(céng cì,层次)的转化(zhuǎn huà,转化),

达成(dá chéng,达成)另(lìng,另)一种(yī zhǒng,一种)程度(chéng dù, 程度)的个体(gè tǐ,个体)平衡(píng héng,平衡).

但(dàn,但)那样(nà yàng,那样)的未来(wèi lái,未来)未免(wèi miǎn,未免)太(tài,太)过(guò,过)久远(jiǔ yuǎn,久远),太(tài,太)过(guò,过)童话 (tóng huà,童话),

就算(jiù suàn,就算)是(shì,是)最(zuì,最)乐观(lè guān,乐 观)的估计(gū jì,估计),也(yě,也)不可能(bù kě néng,不可能)在我们(zài wǒ men,在我们)这(zhè,这)一代(yī dài,一代),乃至(nǎi zhì, 乃至)数(shù,数)代人(dài rén,代人)内(nèi,内)实现(shí xiàn,实 现).

回到(huí dào,回到)眼下(yǎn xià,眼下),

如果(rú guǒ,如果)特事局(tè shì jú,特事局)内部(nèi bù,内部)真(zhēn,真)的一门(yī mén,一门)心思(xīn sī,心思)要(yào,要)置(zhì,置) 李昂(lǐ áng,李昂)于(yú,于)死地(sǐ dì,死地),此时(cǐ shí,此 时)就(jiù,就)该(gāi,该)拿出(ná chū,拿出)压箱底(yā xiāng dǐ,压箱底)的(de,的)超大(chāo dà,超大)威力(wēi lì,威力)杀伤性(shā shāng xìng,杀伤性)武器(wǔ qì,武器)--他们(tā men,他们)也不是(yě bù shì,也不是)没有(méi yǒu,没有),

或者(huò zhě,或者)传召(chuán zhào,传召)我们(wǒ men,我们)异学会(yì xué huì,异学会)了(le,了).

现在(xiàn zài,现在),还有(hái yǒu,还有)的(de,的)谈(tán,谈)."