"A decaying, silent, grey world?"
Inside the Eternal Palace, La looked at the news from Yuan City, her brow slightly furrowed.
The meeting was about to commence, and she continued to utilize her spatial abilities to transport the necessary materials in order to construct the Gate of the Profound.
Unexpectedly, a message suddenly came from Zhang Rongfang’s side.
"Decaying World, huh? It’s quite a fitting name." La’s eyes flickered.
She walked to a corner of the laboratory, removing a dark red book with small protruding tendrils from a shelf made of flesh.
Opening the book, the clear images and words recorded the results of experiments she conducted long ago.
At that time, she was originally collaborating with the Spirit Eye Race, invited to establish the system of Taoyuan and its interaction zones.
Halfway through the establishment, the Spirit Eye Race suddenly mobilized resources to construct three major secret locks.
They seemed to have discovered something.
Then, within the Sea of Oblivion, an additional force of decay appeared.
La did not know what the Spirit Eye Race had discovered nor why they suddenly went to establish the three major secret locks. She also didn’t know where the decaying force originated from.
But now, even Zhang Rongfang had suddenly discovered this strange power.
’If the essence of evolution is the pinnacle of life’s adaptability, then the power of decay is the absolute force that halts everything, dissolving all.’ La studied this power.
For many years, facing such a strange and powerful force, she naturally also conducted research and tried to utilize it.
But she couldn’t study much information.
Because no matter what came into contact with this force, it would rapidly dissolve, transforming into an equivalent decaying force.
"Assas."
"Here," a captain of the guard, who was dozing off at the door, immediately responded spiritedly.
Recently promoted as a replacement for Sandra, despite her strength still lacking compared to Di Mo, the gap wasn’t too significant. With resource supplies, she could quickly catch up.
"Among the three major factions, our strength seems too weak. Recruit some brigades to join us. To counter Chana Tower and the Blood Alliance and to gain equivalent benefits, our strength can’t be too weak," La instructed.
"Understood!" Assas nodded solemnly.
"Go," La set the book down and turned to the laboratory again; she needed to transport several key instruments to participate in the construction over there.
Meanwhile, Assas returned to her room, quickly drafted a recruitment notice, checked it briefly, and headed down the Eternal Tower layer by layer, arriving at the first-floor hall.
The hall here was named Wanying Hall, symbolizing the Eternal Palace Master La could effortlessly respond to and realize any kind of demand.
The hall covered a vast area, with ten or so large rooms forming a grid-like structure surrounding the central podium, creating a massive circle.
Inside these rooms, many brigades came to purchase and select resources and maintain the Heart-Burning Furnace.
Everyone, through the transparent walls of the rooms, saw Assas, accompanied by two subordinates, stride swiftly to the podium, all stopping their actions to look towards the center.
"Looks like there’s a new announcement." In one large room, a man in a black trench coat with a wide-brimmed hat focused on Assas.
"Hope there will be some discounts. I just spent all my savings from five years... Spending is exhilarating, but afterward feels a bit empty..."
Beside him, a red-haired, freckled woman unenergetically touched her left chest, clearly in low spirits.
Despite the new Heart-Burning Furnace providing her more energy and vigor, the emotional depression couldn’t be remedied.
They were the strongest brigade in this room, ranking highest in fame and records—the Hongze.
In the room, there were seven or eight more brigades of various sizes, all here to buy items and maintain the Heart-Burning Furnace.
Among them, two individuals were completely wrapped in thick black cloaks, even their faces and eyes concealed beneath heavy dark goggles.
This pair consisted of a very tall woman with exposed curves.
The other was a well-proportioned man, holding a bag, whose posture and demeanor indicated his gender.
"Andula, what should we do next?" Song Hengxiu glanced at the member of the Stone Statue Forces standing on the podium, his brow slightly furrowed.
"The Eternal Palace’s structure is really simple. From the outside to inside, it’s ordinary brigades, high-ranking brigades, ordinary members of the Stone Statue Forces, elite members, the two major captains, and lastly the Palace Master La. If we want to deliver our evidence directly to La, we must find a way to cross this structure." Although Andula was a female giant, her intelligence wasn’t low, at least slightly higher than Song Hengxiu’s.
Both were muscular types, and Song Hengxiu admired Andula as an opposite sex, having quite a good impression of her. Hence, he chose to accompany her.
"Can it be directly delivered into the hands of La’s closest and most loyal subordinates?" Song Hengxiu asked.
"You know who’s most loyal?" Andula glanced at him, "Previously, one of the closest two major captains, Sandra, was identified as a traitor, executed on the spot. How can you ensure that our delivered evidence won’t be intercepted by an insider? If we do it carelessly, we’ll expose ourselves."
"Then what can be done?" Song Hengxiu frowned.
Their strength wasn’t significant in the Stone Statue Forces, merely ordinary member level. That’s already remarkable, considering the Stone Statue Forces were elite screened from numerous Spirit People brigades, being skilled masters with abundant resources to elevate themselves without restriction, their strength naturally formidable.
Previously, Di Mo could even occasionally spar with Zhang Rongfang who had just arrived from outside the celestial dome.
Although not in his final state, it was still quite impressive.
"I wonder how Ounan’s side is doing. They went to Yuan City; the Blood Alliance over there isn’t as lenient as here." Song Hengxiu suddenly thought of another group.
Though not powerful, each individual, regardless of good or evil, when confronted with the ultimate issue of potential world destruction, made the same choice.
Among them, some were brigade elites, others were underground Human Alliance light adapters, some wandering solitary experts, and even those extremely weak who were previously only slightly stronger than ordinary people, including common Spirit People and regular humans.
On the surface, it appeared as a motley crew.
Any random brigade could easily defeat this team.
Yet, the world-saving mission inexplicably fell upon them.
In their hands lies the real background details of Long, video evidence, which the Secret Keeper provided specifically to gain their trust.
However, before providing evidence, they must first thoroughly investigate the true purpose of La and the Blood Alliance Ancestor opening the long-distance channel.
*
*
*
Yuan City.
Vast Yuan City is shrouded beneath a massive blood lotus sky curtain.
This blood-colored city is surrounded by countless tiny gray lines, black lines, and red lines, constantly flowing in and out.
Those are the convoys and streams of people coming and going.
Everyone who comes here, even those who can fly, does not dare to fly recklessly.
Everywhere are blood lotuses continuously identifying incoming people’s identities, determining if they are temporary or permanent.
Only permanent residents have the right to fly here.
But obtaining permanent residency in Yuan City is extremely difficult.
At this moment, a gray convoy slowly drives along the official road, entering the city district, quickly unloading goods in the warehouse district.
Three figures in black cloaks jump off the carriage, looking around at the wondrous surroundings.
"Is this Yuan City? Amazing..."
Before arriving, Gongsun Yi had also wondered what the legendary Blood Alliance Yuan City, the City of Sin, would be like.
But never could imagine, it would be such a scene before his eyes.
A giant red lotus floats overhead, surrounded by an endless black sky curtain, blocking everything.
The red lotus serves as the source of light.
The ground is red, with buildings bearing traces of red, seemingly from freshly fallen blood-colored snow that hasn’t melted.
Robust blood lotus stretch their slender roots, constantly patrolling along the street sides, occasionally obeying traffic rules, yielding to pedestrians and vehicles.
These seemingly fierce and terrifying blood lotuses appear to have calm tempers.
Whoosh!
Suddenly, a blood lotus swallows whole a stowaway without temporary entry qualification.
A more than two-meter tall strong giant didn’t even have time to utter a sound, completely disappearing inside the blood lotus’s mouth.
Followed by the sound of flesh and bones being chewed, along with abruptly ending screams.
"....." The beautiful face of Gongsun Yi, which was just filled with curiosity and expectation, instantly turned into horror.
"In the Blood Alliance, one must abide by laws. Otherwise... the earth will punish you..." Ounan sighed, repeating the advice given by the captain of the merchant caravan they joined.
"Now, let’s think about how to investigate the purpose of Alliance Leader Blood Immortal Ancestor opening the long-distance channel?" He said in a deep voice, looking at his two companions.
"Here the hierarchy is strict, and the defense is extremely tight, I see we only have two choices." Gorvi, as a lone traveler, is most familiar with such isolated and helpless states.
"What choices?" Ounan asked her.
"Leverage, find the Secret Keeper, their power is far stronger than ours. Why don’t they directly give the evidence to the leaders of the two major forces? Given their identity and power, their credibility is much higher than ours." Gorvi said deeply.
"Makes sense. Either they aren’t sure they can persuade the two major forces, or the evidence is not sufficient. It’s also possible that the two major forces are in the same camp with Long, both wanting to accelerate the descent of White Eyes." Gongsun Yi analyzed.
"I don’t want to die, so we must find the most suitable way to submit the evidence while simultaneously hiding and preserving ourselves." Gorvi said deeply.
"What method?"
"Expand." Gorvi said.
"Expand? You mean..." Ounan instantly understood. "Spread the evidence directly? Increase the number of people who know."
"Correct, this kind of news, even without evidence, is enough to make the top suspicious.
As long as there is suspicion, they will verify it, and then we can naturally present the evidence. Given the vast power of the Blood Alliance, if they wish to investigate something, it would be very simple. So their initiative compared to ours, the strength is entirely different."
Gorvi’s method is very clear and extremely feasible.
Immediately, they began looking for lodging, then pondering the details of their strategy.
At this moment, a blood light flies from the sky, entering the top of the Celestial Lotus Palace.
Zhang Rongfang frowned tightly, having just returned from Taoyuan, searching for clues of the Decaying World, but found nothing.
Besides knowing that the two forces are entirely from the same source, nothing else was gained.
Standing in front of the Celestial Lotus Palace, a black vortex never ceases to spin behind him.
Others cannot see this vortex. It seems he is the only one who can see it.