Southern border of Beixing, Guanyu County.
Guan Tong walked down the street, feeling a strong sense of returning to a familiar place.
"I'm back again."
Last year, when he first went abroad to Andai State, he had co here first, then crossed the border into Antu City.
Similar to his last visit, this small county town was just as deserted and uninhabited, and due to the earthquake, many houses and roads had collapsed.
Different from his last visit was that when Guan Tong walked to the river marking the border demarcation line, he found all the automatic checkpoints and sentry posts were gone.
It was probably because of the establishnt of the Human Consortium.
Guan Tong thought to himself. He had known for a long ti that after the Human Consortium was established, all mber states had opened their borders and withdrawn their defenses.
This was actually a state where everyone had relaxed a bit. Because everyone was opening up, to so extent, it ant everyone had loosened the military reins a little.
It was like why human nations established various communication channels, diation organizations, and emphasized communication and negotiation. An important reason was to try and reduce military expenditure as much as possible, diverting more resources to developing technology and improving people's livelihoods.
Otherwise, if countries all over the world were busy guarding against each other, engaged in an endless arms race, it would only lead to a decaying standard of living under the shadow of war.
Especially after entering the era of the Doomsday Rules, the universally recognized enemy of the whole world was the Fire Thief, the Doomsday Rules, and not fellow humans of the sa species.
This was also the reason why the establishnt of the Human Consortium had such a strong response. People spontaneously called this year "Year One of the Union," showing that the overall sentint of humanity was a desire to stop fighting amongst themselves.
Against this backdrop, those individuals or organizations who still spent their days thinking about harming others were enemies of all humanity and had to be resolutely attacked and eliminated.
Guan Tong was currently doing exactly that.
It was true he was doing it for personal revenge, but when the enemy was soone who endangered all of humanity, then his revenge also carried greater benefits and significance.
Standing by the river, he looked across to Antu City, which had also been affected by the earthquake, with many buildings collapsed.
However, over the past few months, the newly relocated Sakura Prayer Country people had repaired part of the damaged city.
After all, after their island sank, this was their new ho. Getting it fixed up early ant they could live more comfortably.
Guan Tong crossed the river and entered Antu City.
The city's na had not been changed. This was also a requirent of the Human Consortium.
The lands of those vanished nations could be allocated to countries in need for use, but the original place nas had to be preserved. This was not only out of respect for the vanished humans but also to preserve cultural traces as much as possible.
Walking down the street, Guan Tong's first impression was desolation.
He rembered his first ti coming to this city; back then, the streets were filled with Andai State people wandering around. Those believers in living for the mont were gathered in large groups on street corners, playing gas and soliciting business.
The Sakura Prayer Country people who had moved here now had completely different personalities. Compared to going out, they preferred to stay inside their residences.
However, on the streets, one could see so characteristic Sakura Prayer Country attire, flags, and the like. So buildings also had naplates with the householder's na added, signifying that new residents now occupied this land.
Guan Tong walked around casually for a while. After making so observations, he took his phone out of his pocket.
Entering the Ascendant Ho website from the browser, the displayed account nickna was "Yamagami-kun," undoubtedly a new account he had created, with a na deliberately chosen to resemble a Sakura Prayer Country person's na.
The sole purpose of creating this account was to act as bait to lure the fish.
He opened the private ssage interface. The only contact was one of his targets for this trip, naly the account of the rumormonger suspected of attacking Prince Lado's convoy. The nickna was "Photography Art WW."
Two days ago, Guan Tong used his new account to send a ssage to the other party, expressing interest in the items they were selling at a low price and wanting to inquire about purchasing them.
The other party quickly replied, saying it was fine, but they requested an offline transaction.
This suited Guan Tong perfectly. He pretended to be from Sakura Prayer Country, and the other party imdiately replied that they should et in Antu City.
They agreed on a transaction date of November 28th, but the specific location hadn't been set yet.
Today was already November 27th. Guan Tong had arrived a day early. Now that he was in Antu City, he sent a private ssage asking.
Yamagami-kun: "Where is the transaction tomorrow?"
After a while, the other party replied.
Photography Art WW: "Tomorrow at 10 AM, I will send you the specific address. Just go there then."
Guan Tong could sense that this person was very cautious, unwilling to reveal location information, probably also worried that his side might be setting a trap.
Just like how the bigger the scamr, the more wary they are of other scamrs. If this person or their team was pretending to do a transaction but actually planning to rob, then naturally they would also be on guard against being double-crossed by other forces.
But tomorrow, as long as he t the person, things would beco clear.
Guan Tong thought to himself. He wasn't afraid of the other party playing tricks; he was afraid they would keep hiding and not show themselves.
Although he could locate the other party's device through the website backend, that location couldn't be precise down to the ter; it could only determine a general area.
Previously, when he used this thod to find "Dead End," it was relatively easier to locate the person because, apart from Jiang Lanying's group hiding there, no one else lived in that area.
But the current Antu City was different. A large number of Sakura Prayer Country people had migrated here, resulting in a fairly high population density in the area. Relying solely on the location, it would be difficult for Guan Tong to determine exactly who the account user was. If he got it wrong and alerted them, that would be troubleso.
So he still used the bait-and-et thod to ensure he could find the right person.
"However... finding this person is easy, but finding the Sakura Prayer Country official forces who made the decision to bomb
back then probably won't be easy."
Guan Tong thought to himself. To find that group, he would need help from soone inside Sakura Prayer Country.
He already had a candidate for that internal person: the one under house arrest, Yamata no Orochi.
This snake-eyed woman was previously a key Ascendant cultivated by the Sakura Prayer Country officials. Later, for so unknown reason, she was placed under house arrest—Guan Tong thought it was related to her handing over the Kimos Star fragnt, but in her private ssage, she replied that was only one of the reasons, and not the main one.
But regardless, her being under house arrest ant she was definitely no longer favored by the Sakura Prayer Country officials.
So Guan Tong felt that as long as he could get her out, he should be able to learn about the bombing incident from her.
She must know about it because, at the ti, only those holding fragnts could sense the location of other fragnts. In other words, it was she who revealed Guan Tong's location, leading to him being bombarded from afar.
The prerequisite for getting her out was finding her first. According to the backend device location, the device Yamata no Orochi previously used was located in Bandzhen City.
Bandzhen City, as the capital of Andai State, was more developed in all aspects. After Sakura Prayer Country relocated, the officials would definitely choose Bandzhen as the new capital, and the official departnts would be stationed there.
Guan Tong pondered: "These two matters don't need to be handled together. Tomorrow, first et the target in Antu, settle that debt, then go to Bandzhen afterward. It's not too late."
Moreover, tomorrow was the 28th. The Doomsday Rules interval period was about to end. Three days later, on December 1st, the Fire Thief would announce the fourteenth Doomsday Rule.
No matter how urgent other matters were, none were more urgent than the rules. Guan Tong planned to first confirm the new rule, then proceed with subsequent plans.
"Unconsciously, it's already the fourteenth one... I rember after the fifteenth rule, the Second Ascendant Challenge Tournant will begin, right?"
The ticket that had been sitting in Guan Tong's Storage Box for several months was finally about to be used. He wondered what form the Challenge Tournant would take then, and if it would be similar to the first one.
He didn't dwell on it. Turning his steps, he headed towards the city's edge, planning to first find a remote spot to deploy his shelter.
...
Sowhere in Antu City, within a courtyard.
Over a dozen people were gathered here, so playing gas, others boxing.
In one corner of the courtyard sat a hooded young man. The Bald Burly Man walked over and, seeing the young man fiddling with a cara, felt speechless inside.
Their boss was just too fond of filming. No matter when or where he went, he always had a cara in hand. It was really unclear what was so great to film.
Of course, the Bald Burly Man only dared to think these things in his heart; he would never dare say them out loud. What he would say out loud were only flattering phrases like "You fild that so well!" or "As expected of the boss, you have too much artistic talent!"
"Boss, that Sakura Prayer Country sucker has taken the bait," the Bald Burly Man reported. "I told him to et tomorrow. We can rob another one then!"
Just as Guan Tong suspected, this gang's business was pure robbery without capital. They used various thods to lure Ascendants with many coins to et, and once they t, they used violent threats to rob them.
Their biggest score was the previous ambush on the convoy of Andai State's Prince Lado heading to Beixing. That one was a really big haul.
"Mhm."
The hooded young man responded indifferently, his eyes still fixed on the lens, muttering to himself, "This shot seems a bit overexposed. The client might give a bad review."
Hearing this, the Bald Burly Man asked curiously, "Boss, are you selling footage again?"
He knew this boss not only liked filming but also sold the things he fild. Despite the high prices, he had quite a few clients.
"Yeah, clients are all urging
to release new work. It's a sha there hasn't been any good material lately."
"Bla these newly relocated Sakura Prayer Country people for all being poor bastards," the Bald Burly Man complained. "Not many have many coins. Once we catch them, they just beg for rcy. It really isn't good filming material."
The hooded young man said calmly, "Now we just wait for the fourteenth rule. If it's interesting, maybe we can film so decent material."
"Then I'll take so n to handle that sucker tomorrow myself. No need for you to go personally, boss."
"Mhm. Alright, don't disturb . I need to organize the footage. Go do your own thing."
The Hooded Man waved his hand as if shooing away a fly, casual yet dismissive. However, the Bald Burly Man didn't dare show the slightest dissatisfaction, obediently nodding. "Yes, boss."
The Bald Burly Man knew that although he was physically strong, his ability was far inferior to the hooded young man's. Otherwise, why would he willingly acknowledge soone as his boss?
Detonating tal... such an aweso ability, why don't I have it? So jealous!
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