"We have communicated the intelligence about the Qianyuan Association to various countries through diplomatic channels," Li Hui replied.
Ji Xinghuo puzzled, "Is that it?"
"What more can we do?" Li Hui said helplessly, "The Asia-Pacific Community does not interfere with the internal affairs of other countries; we can only let them handle it themselves. Although it’s undoubtedly too late, we can still clear out so remnants."
Seeing Ji Xinghuo still looked concerned, Li Hui added with a smile, "You needn’t worry too much. The Qianyuan Association poses the greatest threat when it’s hidden; once exposed, their capacity to do harm is substantially reduced."
"I hope so," Ji Xinghuo nodded.
An unknown enemy is the most dangerous, but as strong as the Qianyuan Association might be, against state organizations, they are but a mantis trying to stop a chariot.
No matter the stance of each country, whether international relations are good or bad, the existence of the Qianyuan Association will not be tolerated.
Moreover, anyone with insight could guess that the Qianyuan Association is backed by the Winged People.
Even though there is no ntion of the Winged People in the intelligence reports.
Ji Xinghuo reviewed the interrogation information of the Swordsn again and discovered that aside from a few people like Ye Tongjun and Su Qingqiu, others had never had any contact with the Winged People. They were independent of each other, with all communications being one-on-one; despite being part of the Qianyuan Association, they hadn’t even heard of it, let alone any connection to the Winged People.
Even those few high-level individuals who had contact with the Winged People had no conclusive evidence.
"Without solid evidence, we didn’t speculate in our briefings," Li Hui said, "Now is not the right ti to openly be hostile to the Winged People."
Ji Xinghuo could understand this approach.
As of now, the Winged People of the Sky Feather Royal Court still maintain a detached status, with no conflicts with Earth.
If public information was released, sparking a global trend of hostility towards the Winged People, politicians from so countries, in their bid to gain office, might resort to any ans to appease voters with reckless rhetoric, ultimately leading to uncontrollable consequences swayed by public opinion.
With Earth’s current strength, we can only defend Earth itself; in the Star Realm, it’s impossible to match the Sky Feather Royal Court.
Just the three Shepherd Star Saints alone are enough to cause despair.
Moreover, whether the Qianyuan Association is backed by only a faction of the Winged People or the full will of the entire Sky Feather Royal Court is still unclear.
If it’s only the actions of so Winged People, and Earth makes the mistake of treating the entire Sky Feather Royal Court as an enemy, that would be a grave miscalculation.
Ji Xinghuo turned off the intelligence and rembered sothing.
"Director, Shen Yucheng said that the Qianyuan Association might have taken control of an Earth Star Gate. Which one is it?"
The intelligence didn’t say.
"We’re not sure at the mont," Li Hui shook his head, "Our guess is either the Immortal City Star Gate or the Bloemfontein Star Gate."
"What about the Bhopal Star Gate?" Ji Xinghuo was a bit surprised.
"It’s a suspect, but the probability is lower, ranked after the first two Star Gates," Li Hui explained, "Although the South Asia Alliance is only moderately powerful, they have an independent character, internally divided into three factions, making it difficult for the Qianyuan Association to infiltrate them, even more so than those with fragile political systems."
Ji Xinghuo, however, was not convinced, "The intensity of their attack on yesterday, and their response speed, did not look like a normal self-defense counter."
"Indeed," Li Hui nodded, "We’ve considered that too, and there’s likely influence from the Qianyuan Association behind it."
Ji Xinghuo was about to say more, but Li Hui said, "Regardless of the situation with the Bhopal Star Gate, the impact isn’t significant; all Star Gates lead to Olympia, and we will work with other countries to tightly control ingress and egress through the Olympia Star Gate."
He snorted coldly.
"From the day the South Asia Alliance was founded, it has harbored great hostility towards our country. We will resolve this issue thoroughly, and the Star Gate is just incidental."
"What?" Ji Xinghuo was taken aback.
That statent carried a lot of implications.
Li Hui was nonchalant, "The South Asia Alliance should not even exist; it’s just that the timing was not right. Now, this serves as a reason. The leader has already made plans."
Ji Xinghuo was deeply shocked.
The full na of the Asia-Pacific Community is "Asia-Pacific People’s United Community." At its founding, it did not cover such an extensive territory.
Over ti, it expanded step by step, including Siberia, Central Asia, and Australia, gradually encompassing most of the Asia region and the West Pacific coast. Now, the entirety of Asia minus the South Asia Peninsula would suffice to truly live up to its na.
The South Asia Alliance was established to resist the Asia-Pacific Community.
Their innate hostility is self-evident.
Ji Xinghuo asked, "When do we act?"
"Preliminary work began over a decade ago, now we’re just waiting for the right mont. Action is inevitable within three years, and you will definitely be involved. Just wait for the notification," Li Hui did not conceal anything.
"Understood," Ji Xinghuo responded.
He felt a mix of excitent and strangeness.
The Asia-Pacific Community openly claims to never interfere with the internal affairs of other nations, yet they have been secretly planning wars all along.
However, if other countries beco our country, then their internal affairs naturally beco our dostic matters, and that would no longer be a violation of our foreign policy.
The 23rd century is an era of great contention.
Whether dostically or internationally, from high-level leaders to ordinary citizens, all humanity shares a consensus that Earth must beco united under one governnt, reducing internal strife. Only then can humanity’s full strength be leveraged, allowing us to rise in the Star Realm.
Therefore, Ji Xinghuo was not opposed to war, as it is a necessary pain on the path towards global unification.
He just hoped that the intensity of war could be minimized to reduce unnecessary losses.
After speaking with Li Hui for over an hour, Ji Xinghuo learned a lot of classified information, inaccessible to ordinary people.
"I have to continue dealing with the Qianyuan Association matter, we’ll talk next ti," Li Hui got up and said, "If you have ideas, you can join us. If you’re not interested, go ho and rest."
"Then I’ll be heading back."
Ji Xinghuo did not hesitate and chose not to intervene.
After all, the leader had said that his position as deputy director was in na only and that he could abstain from day-to-day work.
After saying goodbye to Li Hui, Ji Xinghuo inford Zhou Yishang before leaving.
"I’ll walk you out."
Zhou Yishang accompanied him downstairs, then suddenly said, "I’ve already received the notice. You’ve been promoted to deputy director. You’ll be at the sa level as from now on. Congratulations!"
Ji Xinghuo sensed Zhou Yishang’s envy and a touch of emotion. Worried that Zhou might feel unbalanced, he said with a smile, "Director Zhou, you know that I’m just there in na and not managing anything. Just think of as a Xuanyuan swordsman."
"You kid, you sure know how to comfort soone." Zhou Yishang felt reassured seeing that Ji Xinghuo’s attitude towards him was the sa as before.
After a few seconds of silence, he couldn’t help but sigh, "I really didn’t expect that in less than three years, you could reach this point!"
Three years ago, Ji Xinghuo was just a primary level mutant.
Now, Ji Xinghuo had already stepped into the core of the nation’s power and his status was evidently higher than his own.
"Director Zhou, your care and support, I’ve always kept in my heart," said Ji Xinghuo seriously.
Zhou Yishang patted his shoulder and remained silent.
Under Zhou Yishang’s watchful eye, Ji Xinghuo got into a maglev car and left the Sword Bureau headquarters’ parking lot. It wasn’t until the car had disappeared that Zhou Yishang sighed softly, his expression complex, and returned upstairs.
Ji Xinghuo arrived ho to find Zhao Manying waiting for him.
"You t with the leader?"
"Yeah." Ji Xinghuo nodded. He didn’t discuss the matter of the leader further. Seeing that she had already changed into a clean practice outfit, looking in great shape, he asked, "Are you planning to use the expansion artifact to integrate with the Alien Species tonight?"
"I’m a bit impatient," said Zhao Manying with a face full of anticipation. "Can you guard ?"
"Sure, go ahead then."
Zhao Manying entered the cultivation room, and Ji Xinghuo sat outside waiting, constantly scanning the surroundings with electromagnetic induction, just in case.
In reality, there was no danger.
His greatest enemy, the Qianyuan Association, had already been eliminated. He no longer needed to worry about his safety in the country.
While Ji Xinghuo kept an eye on Zhao Manying’s progress, he opened the projection screen, silent mode, and browsed the information on the network.
He operated his phone on the side, chatting with his family in a group.
When Ji Xinghuo appeared, his family beca very excited and said they would co over right away. Ji Xinghuo did not refuse. Before his family arrived, he took so items out of the Dinsion Stomach and put them in a shoebox on the table.
It wasn’t long before everyone arrived.
"Third Brother!"
Upon opening the door, Ji Xinghuo heard Liangqiu Feiyan’s happy greeting and smiled, "Co in, co in."
His eldest sister, Ye Dongyun, second brother Zhong Ming, and fourth brother Wang Zizhen had all arrived.
All five family mbers were present.
As they settled on the living room sofa, Ji Xinghuo served them beverages and noticed that everyone was staring at him with unblinking curiosity. He couldn’t help but ask with a smile, "Why are you all looking at like this?"
The four of them exchanged glances. Zhong Ming sighed, "We all have a sense of unreality."
"Yes!"
Liangqiu Feiyan nodded like a pecking chicken, "Third Brother, you’re really amazing now; it feels like a dream."
Ye Dongyun and Wang Zizhen shared the sa sentint.
"What happened?"
Ji Xinghuo was sowhat puzzled.
Didn’t his siblings already know about his strength and talent when he ca back last ti? Why had it suddenly beco like this? He was completely baffled.
"Don’t you know?" Zhong Ming realized, "Right on the way here, the Ladder was updated."
Ji Xinghuo imdiately realized sothing.
He logged into the official ADC website using his phone, opened the Ladder, and saw that the first na on the leaderboard was none other than Ji Xinghuo!
The forr first-place holder, Zhao Manying, had dropped to second.
"Third Brother, you’re now number one on the Ladder!" Wang Zizhen, who was usually reserved, appeared very excited. He had previously been addicted to virtual gas, where practically every ga had a leaderboard, and countless players vied to get listed.
Wang Zizhen was a "pro gar" and was a frequent na on the leaderboards no matter what ga he played.
He knew all too well how marvelous it felt to see his own na listed.
Those were just rankings of virtual gas; they couldn’t hold a candle to the significance of the real-world Ladder. Yet, his Third Brother had topped the Ladder, which ant surpassing billions of ordinary people and hundreds of millions of mutants worldwide!
To be number one on the Ladder ant to be the foremost individual below the Legendary tier.
However, with this Ladder update, ADC had added a note to Ji Xinghuo’s profile: "The foremost individual below the Heavenly King."
And they included a video link.
Ji Xinghuo clicked on the video, and within a glance, he recognized its origin. It was the footage of himself breaking out from the Bhopal Star Gate Fortress and piercing through the air defense system of the Indi Kingdom on his way back ho, which high-speed caras had captured.
Sohow ADC had obtained the video and, after analysis, had placed him at the top of the Ladder.
The topic was now exploding across the global network.
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