Chapter 122

Chapter 122

Operating this card required a spacious area. If any irrelevant person or object entered the circle, it would lead to failure. Therefore, Kede had to put away the barrier card first. Everyone paused their other schemes.

The card transformed into light and fell to the ground. Soon, a circular magic array appeared on the cafeteria floor. Intricate patterns and text from the same card series intertwined, exuding an ancient and mysterious aura.

Onlookers stared curiously.

Kede stood in the magic array like a magician, the light illuminating his chiseled, handsome face: "Come help me, my trusted warriors."

"What are they doing?" Yiyun stared at the surveillance screen, frowning. Even the barrier card was put away; what kind of card did Kede have in his hand?

A guard urged him: "Sir, we should go."

Yiyun stopped pondering and strode away; a helicopter was waiting for him.

No matter what Kede intended to do, their fate was already sealed—to disappear along with the Black Swan Forest under the blast of an intercontinental ballistic missile.

...

The arrested government officials were roughly shoved into a car. The Mugan police officers glared at them viciously, "You should be ashamed! God has been so merciful to you, creating you with flesh and blood, letting you live such good lives, yet you betrayed Him!"

This tone was filled with intense resentment. These people, born as the superior race but not cherishing it, were the most hateful. Why couldn't it have been him instead? God must have been blind.

"God? Ha, something that brings about a caste system—what kind of god is that? Wake up, friend. We all have the same red blood flowing through our veins, the same body structure. Where exactly are you inferior to us, and where are we superior to you?" One of the arrested tried to reason with them despite the hostility.

"You still dare to tempt me at this moment. Wait and see, I will deal with you properly. You'll soon know the fate of traitors!"

The arrested looked at the other's fierce, unyielding face and smiled bitterly. How pitiful.

They knew very well what fate awaited traitors, but since they chose this path, they had anticipated this day and prepared themselves mentally. When they called Antan to warn them to escape, they knew their lives were over.

But it didn't matter. They believed Kede could change the world. Even when they heard Yizekai planned to use an intercontinental ballistic missile to level the Black Swan Forest, they believed Kede wouldn't die. Moreover, the world was already changing, and they might not see tomorrow's world, but they had seen the dawn of a new era.

Even if things got worse, they couldn't get any worse than now.

The car soon arrived at the department dedicated to interrogating traitors. They were pushed into a cold, foul-smelling space filled with chairs that made one's scalp tingle. The walls were lined with various tools, and the floor was stained black-red with blood, impossible to clean.

Several Mugan police officers inside grinned maliciously at them.

Meanwhile, on the other side, Antan and others were similarly pushed into such a room. In two cities, the same group faced the same fate.

"Pah, do you think I'd be afraid of you? I'll tell you, after I die, I'll come back as a vengeful spirit to haunt you!" Qiu Wei cursed, then received a slap that twisted his face.

"Don't know your limits, huh? Fine, let's start with you." The man picked up a hot iron brand and placed it in the fire.

Liu Yi and his wife used a tunnel card to hide beneath a bustling bar two streets away from the government building. They dared not get too close, fearing the living chess map would detect them. Yet, they felt helpless doing nothing.

Liu Yi prayed to Jiang Xingzhuo while gripping the hammer tightly. Tan Mei rolled a dice beside him, "Odd numbers mean she will definitely protect them; even numbers mean it's fate."

They swore that if the dice showed an even number, they would use the thunder hammer to destroy the entire building, ensuring a quick end rather than prolonged suffering.

The dice hit the ground, bouncing around. The couple watched nervously, "One, three, five..."

They froze, looking at each other.

It was an odd number.

...

The red-hot iron brand was raised but not directed at Qiu Wei. Instead, it was aimed at Qiu Xian beside him. Qiu Wei's face changed: "What are you doing? Come at me if you have the guts!"

"Haha, I wondered how long you could keep up your arrogance." The man didn't stop; he wanted to make this arrogant youth suffer.

"Shut up, if you're not afraid of him, why would I be? Shut up!" Qiu Xian cursed, glaring fiercely at the man, her breathing quickening instinctively as the heat approached. But soon, she closed her eyes as if accepting her fate.

The iron brand stretched towards Qiu Xian, about to sear her eye, when suddenly, a mysterious magic array appeared on the ground.

"What... What is this?"

The arrested Antan and others turned into light and disappeared along with the magic array.

In the capital, those with their eyes closed, waiting for pain, also vanished.

They opened their eyes in surprise, seeing a blurry scene that quickly became clear. Many figures appeared in their vision, including one...

"Boss!"

"Antan?"

"Mel?!"

"Brat?"

"Fake scholar?"

"This..."

Surprised voices echoed one after another. After a brief moment of confusion, they realized it must have been the card; only a card could achieve such a miraculous feat!

Yida and the others exchanged glances. This Kede was more capable than they imagined. Judging by the number of people he could summon, one must wonder how many people in a lifetime could remain unwavering and never betray you? Kede found several, either because he had great charisma or exceptional brainwashing skills.

"Boss! It's bad, Yizekai plans to use an intercontinental ballistic missile to flatten everything here!" Jia Shiwen immediately relayed this fatal news to Kede.

"What?! An intercontinental ballistic missile?"

"How powerful is an intercontinental ballistic missile?"

"Of course, it's powerful! Levelling the Black Swan Forest is no issue, and turning us to dust is even easier!"

"Do we not have cards?"

"Do we have any flying or teleportation cards?"

Everyone watched intently when someone drew a card, and even those with the shortest memories would display remarkable recall at such times. Therefore, they knew the answer as soon as they thought about it.

"Yes, there is one long-distance teleportation card, but it can only be used by one person." In other words, only the owner of the card could instantly escape danger.

The atmosphere suddenly became tense. Having successfully escaped from the devil's playground and obtained cards, who would willingly die here?

"Since they're using intercontinental missiles, it means the outside forces have withdrawn," Yida said. "We can still make a run for it; as long as we're not here, the missiles won't hit us."

"But what about the Heavenly Emperor?"

The fundamental problem remained unsolved. Even if they managed to escape now and dodge the intercontinental missiles, relentless pursuers would follow. Moreover, most cards had time limits or usage limits, giving the imperial government a significant advantage.

Removing the chip from the back of the brain was an option, but unfortunately, healing cards were scarce, available to only a few.

If this issue wasn't resolved, the scene of self-destruction among the enemy in the game would repeat itself on their side. Not everyone could withstand that kind of pain, and removing the chip didn't guarantee survival due to risks like excessive bleeding and infections.

"Don't worry, we can handle this," Kede said. He reactivated the barrier card to prevent the Heavenly Emperor in their minds from eavesdropping.

...

Yizekai quickly learned that the traitors they had finally captured had suddenly vanished. The pent-up emotions exploded at this moment, and he angrily smashed his phone. Cards, cards, cards! It was all because of the cards! He hated them! And he despised that devil even more. She was deliberately targeting them, yet they had no choice but to play by her rules. He had never felt so frustrated in his life!

At this moment, he wished the creation of new human species wasn't a lie but real, so someone could deal with that damned devil.

Jiang Xingzhuo received a lot of hatred energy from him and others who benefited from the human species system. The cards were indeed miraculous, elevating people beyond the ordinary, but the problem was that not just the superior species were elevated. This was unacceptable, especially to the Apeituo at the top of the pyramid. The cards brought them to equality, but they wanted superiority.

They were the ones who most desired to keep the world unchanged.

Unfortunately, Jiang Xingzhuo did not comply with their wishes, as the energy from their hatred was quite satisfying.

This was the first time since Jiang Xingzhuo appeared that Yizekai had shown such a loss of composure. The secretary was stunned, not daring to breathe loudly.

Taking a couple of deep breaths, Yizekai forced himself to calm down. Losing his temper was useless; he was the leader of the empire and had no one to rely on.

He sat back down, his face regaining its calmness as if he hadn't just smashed things in anger.

"How is the evacuation going?"

"It's not... fully out of the blast radius yet."

"Tell them to hurry up."

"Yes!"

Suddenly, a thought struck Yizekai: Where did the traitors disappear to? Who used the cards to take them away? Those people didn't have chips in their brains, making it impossible for the Heavenly Emperor to track them. However, he now had suspicions. By reviewing the surveillance recordings of some individuals in Hessian Prison, he could find out.

Soon, the conversation Kede and the others had not long ago came into view. It was clear that the people were indeed summoned by Kede, and the eavesdropping ended abruptly after Kede used the barrier card.

What did Kede summon them for? Without cards, they would only increase the number of liabilities. Unless... he needed certain information from them.

Information...

Yizekai’s face turned pale.

It’s the location of the Celestial Emperor host!

“But, sir, it’s very difficult for outsiders to operate the Celestial Emperor system. They won’t be able to succeed!” the secretary said, already panicking inside.

Destroying only the ground-based host is basically useless. The outer space half can take over all responsibilities. However, if they directly use a virus to corrupt the Celestial Emperor system, it’s a different matter. But operating the Celestial Emperor is very difficult. The password lock on the outside has always been known only by the President, the head of Department Nine, and Wen Chang, the father of the Celestial Emperor.

Even if they opened the host’s casing, they would need to know the core code to operate it. Otherwise, the Celestial Emperor would detect their intentions and activate its self-protection mechanism, making it impossible to operate.

So even if they rushed to Department Nine and found the host, they could only destroy the machine. Just destroying the machine isn’t a big deal; they can build another one.

Yizekai gritted his teeth. "Wen Lili is there."

Wen Chang’s most cherished and beloved youngest daughter, whom he gave many things to, including life-saving items. That’s why all of Wen Chang’s other descendants died, but Wen Lili is still alive because they haven’t obtained the core code from her yet and cannot let her die.

"Forget Black Swan Forest, everyone go to Department Nine!" Yizekai roared.