"Hello everyone, this is Beixing News Flash."
"Today's headlines are as follows."
"One, the Regulations on Management of Doomsday Rules have been officially enacted; two, astronauts selected by member states of the Human Consortium for the Terra relocation program have been confirmed and will begin centralized training soon; three, the fourteenth Doomsday Rule will be announced shortly, and officials offer the following suggestions and reminders..."
On November 28, the noon news flash broadcast at 12:00 in Beixing Country aired as usual.
Although these days more people preferred to get the latest updates from major online platforms and forums, some more traditional viewers, or those who found social media chaotic and noisy, still liked to watch news channels that neatly compiled major stories.
And today’s bulletin was undoubtedly heavyweight. Whether it was the release of a new law or the space migration plan, both were matters of intense public concern.
"To lawfully and reasonably protect the rights of all citizens, the government has formally passed the resolution introducing the Doomsday Rules Management Law."
"The Doomsday Rules Management Law is the country's first statute concerning the Doomsday Rules and Ascendants. It includes provisions such as the Crime of Damaging the Doomsday Rules, the Ascendant Conduct Restriction Regulations, and the Mind Power Related Items Management Regulations, all of which directly affect the public."
"The detailed contents of the law have been published on major official channels and can be viewed there. Citizens are asked to comply with the new law. For those who violate it, the authorities will take strict legal action to safeguard people’s safety and interests during this special era."
"Next, information about the Terra relocation plan."
"This plan will launch two manned rockets: Beixing’s Dream Ark One, and the Suroma Empire’s Imperial Vanguard. Each rocket will carry its own national astronauts plus an additional five to eight astronauts from Human Consortium member states."
"The launch date is set for December 27. The launch will be broadcast live in full. Please stay tuned."
"Next is..."
Before the anchor could finish, she suddenly paused, cocked an ear to listen to her earpiece, then said gravely, "We are interrupting with an urgent bulletin. A massive explosion occurred in the downtown area of Antu in Sakura Prayer Country. It appears someone detonated a super explosive device."
The news footage switched to the Antu city center. Most of a long street had been blackened, smoke trailing upward in ribbons, while ambulance and fire trucks with blaring sirens streamed into the road.
"At present, Sakura Prayer officials say the explosive remains unidentified and are investigating whether this was deliberately caused. We will continue to follow the story and update our viewers promptly..."
...
At the Antu blast site, firefighters busied themselves putting out flames while medical personnel attended to survivors pulled from buildings.
Several black official cars drove in, and men and women wearing coats printed with the words "Case Handling" stepped out.
"The blast was so powerful? Half the street is basically gone."
"It doesn't look like a natural explosion. Someone must have deliberately set off an explosive."
"What was the motive? There aren't many important targets on this street."
"It could have been a demonstration. Although there are no important targets, this street has heavy traffic. Causing an explosion here would attract a lot of attention."
"Demonstrations still need someone to claim responsibility... No organization has said they did this, right?"
"Everyone keep your voices down." The commanding officer among the investigators said, "Everyone spread out and investigate thoroughly. First determine what the explosive device was — conventional explosives or some kind of Mind Power item. Then determine whether this was deliberately caused."
"Understood!"
The investigators dispersed to conduct their inquiries.
Some used traditional investigative methods while others employed their own abilities or items to assist.
The commander looked at the devastation and suspected this incident might involve Ascendants. Before the huge explosion there had been a tip-off that a car had suddenly exploded.
But the public security team had not yet arrived and the blast wiped out much of the evidence and traces at the scene, making reconstruction difficult.
"Chief Yoshino! I found something here!"
One investigator waved and Yoshino walked over. The investigator, wearing gloves, held several steel balls.
"Steel balls?"
Yoshino picked one up and examined it carefully.
The steel ball looked ordinary, but it certainly seemed out of place at such a scene.
"Bag it as evidence and test for DNA."
"Yes."
"Chief Yoshino, this is a sketch I drew using my ability." Another female investigator handed over a quick drawing depicting a person at the blast center with both hands in an embracing posture.
Yoshino looked it over and asked, "So we can confirm this was a deliberate detonation. That posture..."
The female investigator had the Mind Power ability called Profile Sketch, which could reconstruct prior scenes on the basis of the current evidence.
"Yes, the posture is wrong." She said uncertainly. "My ability rarely errs. From this, when the explosion occurred there should have been a second person at the blast point, but the scene shows no trace of that person... It's really puzzling."
"A second person." Yoshino nodded. "Unless that person used a teleportation item to leave instantly, they couldn't have exited the blast radius in such a short time."
"Yes."
"Extract every DNA sample you can from the scene. We must identify all personnel involved in this explosion."
...
In a remote area of Antu, in an abandoned warehouse, Guan Tong’s shelter was located.
He was in his room, connecting Wu Wang’s camera to his computer and reviewing the footage.
There were hundreds of videos on the camera, most of them featuring metal objects exploding, terrified expressions, or fleeing crowds.
In particular, the "metal object explosion" element appeared in every one of Wu Wang’s videos. That might expose his ability, but it also became his trademark and something he could sell.
After all, explosion footage — especially real explosions — always attracted viewers. Otherwise, action movies wouldn’t make explosive scenes a staple.
The more Guan Tong watched, the more disturbed he became.
Every video contained at least one explosion victim; some showed dozens or even hundreds of casualties, fully demonstrating the evil nature of Wu Wang and his gang.
Guan Tong even felt a little regretful as he watched.
He regretted killing them too quickly. He thought perhaps they should have suffered more before dying.
Among these videos, three drew his particular attention.
One was shot in a hospital, seemingly during the era of the Blood Plague Rule.
Wu Wang had posed as an infected person and filmed from a first-person perspective, recording infected people charging into the hospital, trying to seize the serum from Blood Plague adaptors, and clashing with armed soldiers.
Another was Wu Wang and his gang attacking Lado’s convoy. That video recorded everything up to the moment Lado was knocked unconscious.
The last one also involved Lado. After Lado apparently endured severe torture and gave up all his Ascension Coins and items, Wu Wang filmed one final video titled "The Prince’s Explosive Flesh Bomb."
Guan Tong watched. The clip showed Wu Wang ordering his men to force Lado to swallow several steel balls and then activating his ability to detonate them.
Even though Guan Tong and Lado were enemies, seeing Lado die so horribly did not make him happy.
Still, he was relieved that today he had eliminated this gang. The process had been brutal, but it was better than letting Wu Wang live and continue his bombings.
As for these videos...
Guan Tong’s initial impulse was to delete them, but after deliberation he decided to hand them over to Beixing officials.
There were two reasons.
First, if the authorities saw the videos involving Lado, they would realize Shadow had been falsely accused and that Lado and his people’s deaths had nothing to do with him.
Second, although many later victims in those hundreds of videos were people from Andai State, earlier victims during the Blood Plague period were mostly Beixing citizens.
Those Beixing victims might still have surviving relatives with a right to know who killed their family members. If the officials obtained the videos, they could use victim identification to find those people and clarify the truth.
After deciding, Guan Tong packaged all the videos into one file and planned to send it to the official account used for collecting civilian information.
He did not send them immediately because he figured once the officials received the footage, they would likely link the Antu explosion to Wu Wang and might assist Sakura Prayer in a wider investigation.
Since Guan Tong was still in Antu, it was better to create a time gap to avoid additional trouble.
He thought for a moment and took an item from his Storage Box: a palm-sized golden card.
This was an indestructible-type item that had fallen from Wu Wang’s body after his death. Guan Tong had the Shadow retrieve it immediately when he found it.
The card’s effect was the very light shield that had repeatedly protected Wu Wang from Shadow’s attacks during the earlier fight.
Liu-Jin Guardian: Place this item in the Storage Box. When the holder is struck by a Mind Power related attack, a light shield automatically forms for defense. The shield’s defense cap equals ten times the holder’s Mind Power upper limit; each shield instance lasts 10 seconds and consumes a fixed 5% of Mind Power. This item is tradable and indestructible.
"No wonder Wu Wang said he got this top-tier defensive item from Lado... the effect is indeed excellent."
Most defensive items have very limited protection and will be destroyed by a strong attack.
But this item’s defense cap was ten times the holder’s Mind Power upper limit. For Guan Tong, while he possessed it, an enemy would need nearly ten thousand Mind Power points of attack to break the defense.
Currently, very few single Ascendants could reach that by themselves; only a coordinated attack by multiple people could accumulate enough.
Also, a constant 5% consumption each time wasn’t negligible, but it allowed for about twenty consecutive defenses at full capacity. With each lasting 10 seconds, that added up to 200 seconds — over three minutes.
If attackers didn’t know these exact numbers and attacked for ten or twenty seconds without effect, they might give up.
Guan Tong placed it in his Storage Box. He didn’t expect to use it often, but an extra layer of insurance was always good.
"Woo-woo-woo—"
Another wail of sirens passed through the street outside. Since he had returned, Guan Tong thought the sirens had not stopped — the explosion’s impact must be huge.
It made sense: half a street destroyed meant substantial casualties. The Sakura Prayer people had only moved here a few months ago; for a case of this magnitude they would surely investigate thoroughly.
Guan Tong opened a news site and checked. Sure enough, the explosion had made headlines and Sakura Prayer officials had released a statement.
"...We have dispatched a case team composed of multiple professionals to investigate the incident and will provide results as soon as possible. This explosion caused significant casualties among Sakura Prayer citizens. If it is confirmed to be deliberate, those responsible will be severely punished!"
"Hmm... finding the truth won’t be easy." Guan Tong thought after reading the statement.
The scene had been almost completely destroyed, particularly Wu Wang who had self-detonated; there was nothing left of him. Guan Tong had been inside Shadow Armor the entire time and later commanded remotely, so there would be no traces of him at the scene.
As for the heavy casualties... those were the result of Wu Wang’s actions. Guan Tong didn’t feel guilty.
Just as he would not accept someone else using hostages, the perpetrator must take responsibility for their crimes.
"With that, one debt is settled."
Guan Tong still had four debts he intended to collect; three remained. The next debtor was the person from Sakura Prayer who had ordered the bombing of him at the time.
To find the specific individual, he first needed to locate the detained Yamata no Orochi and get information from her.
He pondered for a moment and decided to wait two days.
After the fourteenth Doomsday Rule was announced, he would plan his next move based on its contents.
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