Chapter 40: The Ascension Alliance
The price soared at an almost insane speed.
Fortunes that could have bought several publicly listed companies in the mundane world were now being thrown out without hesitation—just for a piece of scrap tal that might contain a “secret.”
In the end, the fragnt of tal was claid by Haicheng’s richest man, Zhao Yuan, for the astronomical sum of three hundred million Dragon Coins.
After the auction ended, Zhao Yuan invited more than a dozen of the most important guests to a private conference room on the top deck of the cruise ship.
“Everyone,”
Zhao Yuan toyed with the still-warm tal shard in his hand, his sharp gaze sweeping across the room. “I believe tonight’s auction has already allowed you all to feel the pulse of the ‘new era.’”
“Immortality, power, transcendence beyond the mortal realm…”
“Things we once only dared to imagine in dreams have now appeared before us in reality.”
“The authorities have established their so-called ‘Transcendent Affairs Administration’. They want to monopolize this power! That is sothing we absolutely cannot allow!”
Zhao Yuan’s voice was filled with fervor. “Since divine grace has descended upon the world, it should be wielded by those of us who stand at the pinnacle of human civilization!”
“I propose that we unite—to form an organization of our own.”
Zhao Yuan activated a projector, and four golden words appeared in the air: “The Ascension Alliance.”
“The purpose of our ‘Ascension Alliance’ is singular: to capture the ‘Chosen Ones’ at any cost, to decipher the secret of ‘Divine Grace’, and to ultimately obtain that grace for ourselves!”
Greedy flas ignited in the eyes of the gathered tycoons.
“I agree!”
“Count in!”
“I’ll stake my entire fortune!”
Thus, an organization built upon capital and power was quietly born that very night.
……
After its founding, the “Ascension Alliance” began to spread through every corner of the Longxi Republic at a terrifying speed.
Using their imnse financial resources, they swiftly constructed an intelligence network that rivaled the governnt’s own.
At the sa ti, they began to move with manic determination—purchasing abandoned factories, ancient buildings, private islands, and even ports and airports in small nations—any place that might beco the next “ga battlefield.”
They sought to bring future “ga zones” under their control ahead of ti.
They recruited several of the world’s most elite rcenary groups from the global black market and ard them with top-tier weaponry.
Thus, a private army—answering only to capital, unbound by any law or morality—was quietly taking shape.
And in secret biological laboratories scattered across international waters and third-world countries, inhumane and anti-human experints were being carried out.
They collected massive amounts of soil and rubble from the ruins of the Jiang City incident, attempting to extract what they called “Transcendent particles.”
They kidnapped individuals deed to possess “special potential,” imprisoning them in cold laboratories, subjecting them to brutal thods—high-voltage shocks, genetic mutagenesis, psychotropic drug stimulation—all in an effort to artificially awaken the “divinity” within them, to “manufacture” those who might be chosen by the gods.
Countless innocents perished in agony within these deranged experints.
But the mbers of the “Ascension Alliance” felt not an ounce of pity.
In their eyes, these ordinary people were nothing more than cheap stepping stones beneath their feet as they climbed the “Stairway to Godhood.”
……
Two months after the Jiang City Ga ended.
Haicheng—a bustling, cosmopolitan coastal city.
The autumn afternoon sun was warm but not harsh, and the sea breeze brushed gently through the air, carrying a faint salty scent.
Yun Ge, dressed in a white T-shirt and linen-colored casual pants, strolled along Haicheng’s most famous seaside boulevard like an ordinary tourist.
After the “magnificent” drama in Jiang City, he had granted himself a long vacation.
He walked through the bustling shopping streets, ordered a bowl of the city’s famous fish ball soup at a corner snack shop, and spent a long while in a modern art museum, standing before an abstract painting of a post-apocalyptic wasteland.
He rode an old ferry, watching as the horizon blurred where sea t sky, feeling the wind from the seagulls sweeping past his head.
He was like any ordinary traveler—asuring the city with his footsteps, experiencing its warmth and humanity with his senses.
No one knew that this harmless-looking young man was the mastermind behind the cataclysmic storm that had engulfed the world.
Wherever his gaze fell, every hidden secret, every person’s past and future, all unfolded before him as streams of data, clear as day.
By evening, Yun Ge arrived at an old gallery near the port.
The gallery was small and quiet, its walls lined with dark, oppressive paintings filled with pain and struggle.
A young artist in a faded denim jacket, hair disheveled, face unshaven, sat in a corner staring blankly at a blank canvas.
His eyes were hollow, filled with the loneliness of unrecognized talent and the confusion of a lost future.
Yun Ge’s gaze lingered on him for a mont.
He could see deep within the young man’s soul a fire of unwillingness burning bright—the twin flas of “talent” and “ambition.”
Yun Ge walked to a painting depicting the deep sea.
In it, black waters like solidified ink churned, and a massive octopus tentacle, its full form unseen, rose slowly from the abyss—as if ready to drag a tiny, toy-like fishing boat down into the depths.
The entire painting radiated an indescribable Lovecraftian horror and suffocating dread.
“What’s the na of this painting?” Yun Ge asked softly.
The young artist was startled by the sudden voice. He looked up at Yun Ge, stunned for a mont, then said with a self-deprecating smile, “No na. It wouldn’t sell anyway.”
“I’ll buy it,” Yun Ge said.
“Ah?” The young artist froze again.
“I said, I’ll buy it.” Yun Ge pointed at the painting, then at several others in the sa style hanging in the corner. “These—I’ll take them all.”
The young artist could hardly believe his ears. He looked at the seemingly ordinary young man before him, stamring, “Y-you’re sure?”
“Of course.”
Yun Ge smiled and nodded, then nad a price high enough to clear all the young man’s debts and ensure years of comfort.
Under the artist’s gaze—filled with awe and gratitude, as if beholding a god—Yun Ge left his address and contact information, then turned to leave.
As he stepped out of the gallery, Yun Ge looked back at the young artist, still overwheld by disbelief and joy, and his lips curved into a aningful smile.
“An interesting soul.”
“I wonder, when he gains the ability to turn his paintings into reality, what kind of breathtaking ‘works’ he’ll create?”
Yun Ge’s figure vanished into the twilight at the harbor pier.
That night, Yun Ge stood atop the observation deck of Haicheng’s tallest landmark—the “Skyreach Tower.”
He spread his arms wide, gazing down upon the city below, glittering with lights like a sea of stars.
He could feel it—the desire, ambition, and madness here were far more intense than in Jiang City.
The power of the authorities, the reach of capital, and the countless souls struggling at the bottom…
All kinds of forces intertwined and clashed in this place.
“This is it.”
Yun Ge closed his eyes, a smile of anticipation appearing on his face.
“The stage for the second act will be set here.”
He extended his hand, and twelve new cards, each faintly glowing, floated slowly above his palm.
【Painter】, 【God Thief】, 【Magician】, 【Thunder God】, 【Mind Controller】…
“Well then, my dear players,”
“Are you ready to make your entrance?”
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