Chapter 143 June Fourth

June 4th.

A silent search operation began across the nation of Yi.

Over twenty rank eight Flying Adepts, each leading a team, were deployed to conduct comprehensive searches in over 240 large cities across various provinces.

The primary search area centered around Dongshan Province and the surrounding regions.

These Flying Adepts were mostly leaders of various powerful interest groups, and their mobilization meant the simultaneous mobilization of many lower-level forces.

For a time, so-called large-scale festival activities began throughout the empire, coinciding with the traditional Yi Nation Song Festival on June 4th.

On this day, the vast majority of traditional Yi people would take their families out to participate in various singing competitions and song activities.

Many celebrities would also give free open-air performances, and poetry associations would hold singing contests.

Television programs such as love song contests, songs praising the motherland, and imperial ballad selections were also launched.

With such lively national events, many businesses took the opportunity to promote sales, further fueling the atmosphere with enthusiastic shopping sprees, bringing even more logistics and foot traffic.

Taking advantage of this lively atmosphere, the Thirteen Flying Streams and the Nine Ritual Military Department joined forces to launch a comprehensive search.

All teams were divided into seven groups, each consisting of three people, responsible for searching for clues while also suppressing and purifying some minor troubles and forces that had been problematic before.

West Province, Twilight Cloud City.

A tall, thin man in a black trench coat with blue lines walked slowly along the street, head down, black hair covering his eyes.

He wore earbuds, playing music with a strong beat.

In his hand, he held freshly bought fried chicken wings, the red chili-covered wings looking appetizing.

But before he could pick one up to eat,

suddenly, a white car stopped on the roadside in front of him. The door opened, and two tall, strong men with buzz cuts stepped out.

Both wore camouflage pants, military green tactical vests, and goggles and riot helmets.

"Chen Shaoyi?" one of them asked.

The gaunt man took off his earbuds and frowned at them.

"Who are you?"

"Based on the Yu Lin Road 134 villa murder case on March 2nd, you are a major suspect. Come with us for a trip," the man said sternly.

"Heh… just you?" Chen Shaoyi sneered. Ever since becoming a Dead End person, he knew he wouldn't live past two years at most. He decided to pay back debts of gratitude and vengeance.

The so-called murder case was that he had recently personally killed the girl who had bullied his sister. To eliminate future troubles, he directly killed her entire family of seven.

"You want to resist? Or do you think we don't know you're a Flying Adept?" another of the men couldn't help but say disdainfully.

*Chi!*

In an instant, a beam of red light shot towards Chen Shaoyi from behind.

The red light was extremely fast, and before ordinary people could react, it had already reached his back.

It looked as if it was about to touch his clothes.

*Clang.*

A silver needle flew out from Chen's clothes, accurately intercepting the red light from below and knocking it away.

Before Chen Shaoyi could mock them, dozens of red lights, like swimming fish, shot down from the surrounding air.

His face immediately turned pale.

It wasn't just him.

Throughout the country, some remaining thorns who were previously difficult to deal with were resolved in this major operation.

With more than twenty rank eight experts leading the teams, the so-called thorns were nothing more than that in the face of overwhelming power.

Those Dead End people who fought alone and were stronger were quickly crushed and captured.

Some were imprisoned, some were sent to laboratories, and some were co-opted.

Without intelligence support or warnings, even if these Dead End people were strong, they were quickly resolved by being ganged up on.

In just two days.

The national atmosphere was cleansed, and the public safety environment was much better than before due to the large-scale sweep and rectification.

But what gave the higher-ups a headache was that there was still no trace of the Shadow Eaters. They seemed to have completely hidden in the shadows, impossible to track.

Existing technological products could not create equipment to track Shadow Eaters in a short period.

Everyone could only observe subtle anomalies and changes from the outside.

But the empire had more than two hundred cities with large populations, making it impossible to monitor every individual effectively.

When successive large-scale operations failed to yield results,

slight discord appeared in the special temporary command headquarters responsible for the operation.

Andu, Military Headquarters Command Center.

Inside a temporary office.

The rank eight commanders responsible for this operation gathered via projection, holding a short meeting.

In the square hall, the four walls were made up of countless small square screens.

Each small screen was only the size of a palm, but it showed live feeds of the current situation from action teams all over the country.

All kinds of current situations were available, some quietly sneaking, some talking in low voices, and some engaging in combat.

Sitting at the large circular table in the middle were more than twenty of the empire's top Flying Adepts.

They were the backbone of the empire, and besides those nine, they were the strongest.

And those nine had limited time to master the rank nine, and new people would be selected to inherit after a fixed period.

Rank nine, this was power and responsibility.

And candidates were selected from among them.

"Still can't find them? What does the Ethics Committee say?"

A refined man with gray hair, sitting in the main seat, frowned and asked in a low voice.

He was Mu Yin Chen, the Flying Adept from the Mu family leading the team. As the number one family of the Nine Rituals, combined with the consistent family style of peace and integrity, it was natural for him to be the commander-in-chief.

Everyone was convinced.

"What else can those immortals say? The parasites of the empire aren't just a joke. Besides eating, drinking, playing, and eliminating dissidents, they're not good at anything else." A white-clothed woman with long flowing hair and large, delicate silver earrings sat on the side, disdainfully raising a manicured nail and gently stroking it.

"The Shadow Eaters cannot be found for the time being, and we have already mobilized a lot of resources and manpower that cannot be wasted. Why not take this opportunity to completely resolve the remaining problems that we failed to solve completely before?"

Zhao Chengtuo, the representative of the Zhao family, was an imposing, tall, and sturdy man with slightly protruding eyes.

He spoke in a heavy tone, and coupled with his leaning forward and staring at the other person, he gave a strong sense of oppression.

"I agree."

"I agree."

"Agreed. Now that the small thorns have been resolved, it would be a great benefit to the country and the people if we could solve the slightly larger problems in one fell swoop."

Everyone present agreed.

"Such a large operation is already prone to causing public concern. If we create more complications and take radical actions, I'm afraid it would be inappropriate."

"Water that is too clear has no fish. It is enough to tap some forces once or twice. Excessively doing so will be counterproductive."

The representatives of the Li family and the Yan family seemed to have sensed something and spoke out against it.

Immediately, the Flying Adepts led by the two families also spoke out, and a group of people joined the discussion.

The two sides were clearly divided, forming two factions.

But clearly, the Zhao family had more people leading the charge.

The Zhao family's overall strength was already stronger than that of the Li family and the Yan family. At this time, they all expressed their opinions, immediately influencing the Mu family's position as commander.

"It's worth a try." Mu Yin Chen nodded in agreement. They also had troubles that needed to be dealt with, and they could take this opportunity to completely resolve them openly.

"But we only have three days at most. The festival activities will gradually fade after three days, and without cover, it may be detrimental to stability."

"Understood."

Everyone responded.

This was the best time to exclude dissidents and take revenge. Those without official backgrounds were bound to suffer at this moment.

*

*

*

Almost minutes after the meeting reached a consensus.

The news reached the border of Fengnan Province, in a desolate valley.

A team of dark green exoskeleton heavy soldiers waited quietly by the only stream in the valley.

Leading the team were three people.

Zhao Lingzhi, the rank eight Flying Adept from the Zhao family, Zhu Chen from the Zhu family, and Ding Heyun from the Ding family.

"You two, this matter has nothing to do with my Ding family. You want to use force to deal with Ming Yuan; that's your decision. I won't contribute at that time." Ding Heyun was too lazy to care about the grudges between the two families and Ming Yuan Group and made it clear first.

"It's not that we're taking revenge, but Ming Yuan's current expansion is disrupting the rules too much. They have directly killed twelve competitors overtly and covertly in just two months. If this continues, who will dare to invest in our Yi Nation? Who will dare to do business honestly and dutifully? The Ministry of Commerce has also issued several applications to us for this reason, demanding that we resolve this situation with Ming Yuan Group."

The main line of the Zhao family, Zhao Enshi, had almost died in Fengnan. They had been high above for so many years, how could they tolerate such humiliation?

If the opponent was a behemoth like the Zhou family or the Mu family, that would be one thing, but a mere Ming Yuan...

Could one Heavenly Mandate protect everyone?

They had previously retreated because they had no opportunity, but now was the perfect time.

As for the Ministry of Commerce, the Zhao family had an elder serving as the current Deputy Minister of Commerce.

This kind of rhetoric was only used to deceive outsiders. How did Wanshi Chamber of Commerce develop in the first place? Wasn't it the same as Ming Yuan? I can't compete with you, but I can kill you.

"Since you've decided, then fine, I wish you both success." Ding Heyun raised an eyebrow, stood still, and cupped his fist.

"It will be over soon. It's boring for Brother Ding to wait here. Why not go to a teahouse in the city to rest? Maybe the tea is still warm when we return." Zhao Lingzhi smiled.

He and Zhu Chen were also top experts built up by the Zhao family with a lot of resources, just like Zhao Chengyu.

In the entire Zhao family, he was only second to Zhao Chengyu, ranking third. And the gap was minimal.

"Then I'll wait for good news from Brother Lingzhi." Ding Heyun smiled.

"Go!"

With Zhao Lingzhi's order, a team of soldiers followed closely behind, rushing towards Suiyang in the province.

He and Zhu Chen rose into the air, transforming into two gray lights, flying into the distance.

They knew that Ming Yuan Group had ties with the Li family and the Yan family, so they had to resolve this matter before the two families sent people.

To this end, they had been waiting on the border of Fengnan Province to buy time.

The main core of Ming Yuan Group was the few members of the Destiny Garden small team.

As long as they directly resolved Great Bear and Syndra, who managed the group, without touching Yan Xincai, everything would be fine.

As for the Heavenly Mandate...

He had only killed a few wastes from Ideal Land and Star Lake. They had also killed many ministers and great stars from Ideal Land and Star Lake.

Those people were just ordinary, slightly stronger rank eights.

Zhao Lingzhi had carefully studied the Heavenly Mandate and was sure that he could achieve the same, or even better, results.

Now that he was taking action, coupled with Zhu Chen's siege, it was absolutely foolproof.

By now, they were no longer acting for profit but planned to completely resolve Destiny Garden to eliminate a future enemy that might grow stronger.

As long as they hid their identities and struck with a fatal blow, no one could produce evidence to prove that they did it.

(End of Chapter)