Forty-Nine Doomsday Chapter 172: Let's start with an explosion as an appeti

In the eastern part of Bandzhen, a magnificent royal palace stood imposingly.

The walls and main gates of the palace were covered in a brilliant gold, making it look like solid gold at a glance.

A crimson carpet was laid out before the main gate, with armed soldiers standing on either side. Before the era of the Doomsday Rules, those standing here were honor guards in formal attire and handsome appearances; now, they had all been replaced by genuine armed soldiers.

Times had changed, and the royal palace was no longer as safe as before.

Living inside was none other than the supreme ruler of Andai State, Prince Lado XVI, and his family members.

As a constitutional monarchy, Andai State differed from other countries on Tianshui Star with similar systems. The leader of this country, the "Prince," held real power and controlled the military; he was not merely a figurehead.

At this moment, in the palace hall, Prince Lado XVI, wearing an exquisite robe, sat slumped in a rattan chair, looking very unhappy.

Standing before him were several middle-aged men in military uniforms, their expressions also rather unpleasant.

"So, Sakura Prayer Country's operation this time failed? They boasted so much before, even dispatched warships, yet couldn't even handle a single Shadow. Utterly useless."

Prince Lado had originally thought that using Sakura Prayer Country's hand to eliminate the Shadow would both avenge the humiliation of the capital's attack and not incur any risks—a great thing.

However, he never expected that Sakura Prayer Country, after dispatching warships, firing missiles, and sending several teams of special forces soldiers, would end up failing after all that effort.

"Your Highness, our soldiers only found the bodies of Sakura Prayer Country's soldiers in the target area, with no corpses resembling the Shadow's. The latter is likely still alive and may seek revenge at an opportune moment. You must be extra cautious during this period."

Hearing this, Prince Lado raised an eyebrow. "What did you say? Be cautious? That Shadow wiping out a small warlord is one thing, but do you really think he'd dare attack the royal palace? You're overestimating that guy too much."

"Yes, Your Highness. But it's always better to be safe than sorry."

"Hmph. I have plenty of defensive items; what is there to fear? Besides, I don't believe that Shadow would dare enter the royal palace." Prince Lado sneered. "Andai State and Beixing are friendly nations. If that guy attacks the leader of a friendly country, even without me lifting a finger, the Beixing authorities won't let him off."

"That may be true, but—"

BOOM!!!

An explosion suddenly erupted from the outer walls and roof of the palace. The blast was powerful, instantly sending countless brick and stone fragments raining down from above.

An officer, failing to dodge in time, was struck on the head by a brick and fell to the ground dead on the spot.

This jolted the others back to reality, and they began shouting.

"Enemies! We're under attack!"

"Quick, protect the Prince!"

"Soldiers outside, what's the situation?!"

Several officers snapped out of it and hurriedly took countermeasures. Prince Lado, terrified, was the first to be escorted by multiple guards into a safe room.

Meanwhile, the few soldiers on duty outside the palace also had no idea how the explosion occurred. It seemed as if someone had thrown bombs onto the palace, collapsing several walls and the roof.

The soldiers remained alert while searching for the attacker. But there was no sign of any so-called attacker nearby; it was as if the bombs had fallen from the sky.

Rumble...

After the explosions, the palace's structure was compromised and began collapsing systematically. Even with several soldiers on the periphery, they could neither intervene nor stop it, forced to watch helplessly as it crumbled.

Inside, aside from the very few who managed to escape, the rest took refuge in sturdy safe rooms. Even so, several officers were still struck down and killed.

What was even more critical was that this palace was completely destroyed—it was one of Andai State's national symbols and a building with a long history, having stood for over a century.

Yet, under the chain of explosions, it collapsed into ruins in just a few minutes. The only things still standing amidst the wreckage were a few royal family-exclusive safe rooms.

By the time military armored vehicles arrived and Prince Lado and others were evacuated to a safe location, a shadow barely discernible to the naked eye had also swiftly withdrawn from the area.

Without a doubt, this bombing of the palace was orchestrated by Guan Tong.

As the saying goes, repay in kind. Since Andai State's Prince agreed to let Sakura Prayer Country send warships to bomb him with missiles, it was only natural for him to return the favor with bombs, blowing up this palace.

Although Guan Tong didn't have bombs, he had over four million Ascension Coins. Wasn't it simple to just buy them from the terminal market?

On the terminal market, those items with special functions and bizarre properties were highly contested, but purely destructive items like "bombs" were not.

The reason was simple—those competing for goods were mostly official entities and large organizations from various countries. Did they lack bombs? Definitely not! They probably had so many they didn't know what to do with them, so there was no need to spend Ascension Coins buying more on the terminal market.

Thus, Guan Tong easily spent nearly a hundred thousand Ascension Coins to purchase a bunch of bombs with varying destructive power.

These bombs shared the characteristics of being either adhesive or timed. Guan Tong remotely manipulated shadow lines to secretly attach them to the palace and then detonate them.

Whether Prince Lado could be killed was actually secondary; his main goal was to destroy this palace to demonstrate his retaliatory stance.

You can bomb me, and I can bomb you. As for who will have the last laugh, we'll see.

Guan Tong wasn't obsessed with killing Lado right now; that wouldn't be easy.

Even though Andai State was a small country, as its Prince, Lado undoubtedly possessed many defensive items against Mind Power attacks, making it nearly impossible for the Shadow to infiltrate.

As for using other attack methods, Guan Tong would have to go in person. He didn't want to take that risk right now, so this time, he'd just blow up the palace. Further retaliation could wait until he had more methods and greater strength in the future.

As for Lado's status as a Prince or what negative impact destroying this palace would cause... to be honest, Guan Tong truly didn't care.

He remembered what one of the men who had followed him intending to rob him on his first day in Andai State said, which left a deep impression:

"So what if it's Beixing Country? I might die in the next rule anyway, what's there to fear! Even if the King of Suroma came, I'd dare rob him! At worst, it's death—it's bound to happen sooner or later!"

Aside from the act of "robbery" itself being wrong, Guan Tong felt there was nothing else problematic about that statement.

Even he couldn't guarantee he would definitely survive to the end; he too might "die in the next rule."

Under such circumstances, if someone targeted him and took actual hostile action, did he still need to care about who the enemy was or what status they held?

That robber said he'd dare rob even the King of Suroma if he came. As for Guan Tong, no matter who wanted him dead—be it a king or a president—he would retaliate all the same.

"Today, I'll just blow up your home as an appetizer. When I'm fully prepared in a while, I'll serve the main course."

Guan Tong activated Body Swap and vanished the next moment.

...

News of Andai State's royal palace being bombed quickly spread to countries worldwide.

Ordinary people paid little attention, as the vast majority had become "blind" and couldn't follow news even if they wanted to.

After losing their sight, people's first sensation was "dark, damn it's dark," realizing how miserable the world of the blind truly was.

However, some blind people who regained their sight, amidst their shock and joy, also said that the world when they were blind wasn't pure black; some could still perceive vague colors.

But regardless, not seeing meant not seeing. After becoming blind, most of people's activities ceased, and forms of entertainment basically turned into lying in bed listening to music, audiobooks, phone chats, etc.

Aside from a very few individuals, most people managed to keep their mental state from collapsing. This was because they held onto hope, knowing that after fifteen days, once the rule ended, they would regain their sight.

If there wasn't a clear deadline, if they didn't know when they'd see again, people's mental states would have likely collapsed long ago; they wouldn't be lying calmly in bed listening to audio.

Under these circumstances, those following world news were primarily official forces of various countries.

Upon learning that Andai State's royal palace had been bombed, they were also greatly shocked.

Especially after Prince Lado of Andai State publicly stated through official channels: This explosion must be related to the Shadow. The Shadow's act of bombing the palace is a desecration of the entire Lado family and a violation of Andai State's national dignity and sovereignty. On behalf of the entire nation of Andai State, I will pursue this matter to the end!

Even more absurdly, relevant personnel from Andai State posted a bounty commission in the Commissions section of the "Ascendant Home" website.

《Official Andai State Bounty for Ascendant "Shadow": 5 million Ascension Coins for proof of corpse, 10 million Ascension Coins if captured alive!》

Since most Ascendants were troubled by blindness and couldn't go online, they couldn't see or reply to posts. However, when official personnel from various countries saw this bounty post, rather than feeling solemn, many found it somewhat laughable.

Because anyone with a slight understanding of this website knew that the site's Administrator had a very close relationship with the Shadow, possibly even being the Shadow himself. Posting a bounty for the Shadow on this website seemed rather comical no matter how you looked at it.

But laughter aside, the nature of this matter was still very serious.

Some things weigh less than four ounces off the scale, but once on the scale, not even a thousand pounds can balance them.

Especially in Beixing Country, where the Shadow's elimination of the Basong gang had already sparked a diplomatic incident. But after it was exposed that Basong was a smuggling and human trafficking ring, the Shadow's actions were seen by many as upholding justice, backed by righteousness.

Coupled with Andai State's authorities intentionally downplaying the matter, Beixing naturally didn't mention it much beyond issuing a statement.

But this time was different. This time, the Shadow bombed Andai State's royal palace, an act infinitely more serious than before.

Because this palace wasn't just the private property of the Lado family; it was also a national symbol of Andai State. Destroying it was, in a sense, no different from declaring war openly.

Prince Lado had already issued a statement in the name of the state vowing to pursue the matter to the end. Beixing Country undoubtedly had to respond accordingly.

And this wasn't something the Countermeasures Research Office could decide on its own.

In a certain room in Yong'an, a small meeting was being held.

As the saying goes, big matters are discussed in small meetings, small matters in large meetings. At this moment, the small meeting in this plain room was discussing a major matter.

A firm voice said, "The Shadow's actions show he completely disregards the nation, embodying pure individualism! I propose issuing the highest-level warrant for this person!"

Another slightly milder voice said, "I think we shouldn't rush this matter. We should learn from last time's lesson and first investigate the details."

Someone else said, "According to the report submitted by the Countermeasures Research Office, the Shadow likely bombed the palace in a similar manner as retaliation for Sakura Prayer Country's long-range bombing."

The firm voice retorted, "If he wanted revenge, why not bomb Sakura Prayer Country? Andai State is our diplomatic ally. Did he consider the nation's stance in doing this? In my eyes, this is already an act of treason! I'm not exaggerating in the slightest."

A brief silence followed.

Finally, a steady voice spoke, making the decision. "First, clarify the details of the incident. After the Tenth Doomsday Rule ends, make a decision based on the results. Additionally, have the Countermeasures Research Office attempt to contact the Shadow for official communication. Without communication, how can we know what each other thinks? I believe the Shadow understands this principle and will likely agree."