100. The Stage Is Set

  Infiltrating the Abandoned Mist was impossible, but for Li Aozi, the intelligehered was suffit. The Murloc Guild, seeing the missiress reach 100%, quickly called their members back.

  The Hojo Family's security had detected abnormal biological signals and immediately locked down the building to du internal sweep.

  However, no matter how striianhuan's security dete was, they couldn't prevent pyers from itting suicide to escape and revive ba Triaown.

  "Awesome! Brothers, this operation was incredible! Our livestream and forum traffic are through the roof—totally worth it!"

  The rewards this time were generous, and the Murloc Guild pyers enthusiastically discussed how to use them. They were now even more eager to stay close to Li Aozi.

  Unfortunately, Li Aozi had already goo Qiong'an Capital, and the pyers couldn't find him to buy skills or learn knowledge. They decided to take os and level up in Triaown while waiting for his return.

  This beed the young Lord of Aud. He had reaped signifit gaily—the pyers worked tirelessly, scrambling to do the dirty and hard work, and they had virtually no moral straints. They attacked bandit shipments and engaged in all sorts of underhanded dealings. The territory suddenly became vibrant and flourishing, and the people grew aced to the pyers around, no longer surprised by some of their odd behaviors.

  The Murloc Guild's discovery caused quite a stir among the pyers. Many Tianhuan pyers, after seeing the cruel experiments ducted by the Beitiao Group, felt their goodwill toward Tianhuan plummet.

  Influenced by Li Aozi, many casual pyers had developed a favorable impression of 【Mutants】 and had envisioned being ohemselves. Learning that the Beitiao Group ducted human experiments, many targeting Omega Energy awakeners, left them feeling cold and dissatisfied.

  Li Aozi downloaded the photos and videos from the forum. These were quite useful to him; he could use them to threaten the Hojo Family for some bes, or at the very least, use them to protect himself.

  With his current bat strength, 【Charisma】, and fame, if he wao expose something, Tianhuan couldn't stop him.

  Personality-wise, Li Aozi sidered himself a litigator. He excelled at using bckmail and public opinion to coerce anizations into handing over bes. For him, there was absolutely no moral burden; discussing morality in the universe was sheer nonsense—only is were eternal.

  Having obtaihe intelligend experimental photos, Li Aozi suddenly had a thought:

  "I've caused such severe damage to Frost Pte; they won't let me go. They might py dirty at the Kowloon Gathering."

  Law III had never been one for fair py: framing, snder, rigged votes, supp coups, kidnapping hostages, bomb attacks—Li Aozi felt that if the Frost Pte president didn't do something, it would be unworthy of his position.

  So, Li Aozi called Xia Jianjing.

  "Give me a reason why you woke me from my dream so te."

  Although Xia Jianjing said this, she picked up the call instantly. She had likely been anxiously awaiting news from Li Aozi these past two days, not daring to miss his call.

  Without hesitation, Li Aozi informed the Akaban Squad about the prison holding the 【Bight】 and the information on the hydrogen bomb.

  "I'll attend the gathering tomorrow and seize the opportunity to steal the hydrogen bomb. Grett War is up to you."

  "You? Alohere will be at least famma-level powerhouses present. You'd better restrain yourself. The Kowloon Gathering is highly signifit; if you dare cause a major disturbaianhuan won't let you off."

  Xia Jianjing was incredulous at Li Aozi's arrogance. Having fought him before, she was certain this kid wasn't at the Gamma level.

  "Where do you get your fidence? You're fag one of the Freat Nations!"

  "I just finished beating one of them; I don't mind taking on another."

  Li Aozi's tone was calm:

  "Trust me."

  Xia Jianjing narrowed her eyes, p for a moment before slowly nodding:

  "…Uood. We'll aorrow."

  Even with the Akaban Squad arranged, Li Aozi felt it wasn't enough. After pting for a moment, he surmised that Law III probably wouldn't dare to assassinate him directly; they'd more likely use others to kill him or smear his reputation.

  He was never ed about spiracies, so he decided to be ready to flip the table.

  After this, he was definitely heading to space. With such a good opportunity, he might as well make some empty promises.

  "Looks like it's time to use her."

  With that thought, Li Aozi made a call:

  "Ms. N4, let's discuss the terms of joining Underworld Heavy Industries…"

  …………………………

  The frigid wind outside cut across her cheeks as if to tear off a piece of flesh. Her long boots sank into the white sand, and any remaining body heat was tinually stripped away.

  Yavanna hadn't heard Desia's voice for a long time. Wandering in this bitterly cold wastend for two months had turned her once blue hair into dry straw. Her formerly delicate and pretty faow looked as ghastly and repulsive as a corpse due to frostbite and dehydration.

  All the food had been pletely exhausted; the days of drinking snow and swallowing ice were long gone. Yavanna wandered aimlessly in the endless night, the cold and pain keeping her in a stant state of torment.

  Prolonged hardship had drained her spiritual energy; she could no longer unicate with Desia. In the vast snowy night, only the howling wi her pany.

  But for Yavanna, this was nothing. Although her father's status romi, she was resilient and hardw. It was the ck of food and the fiery hunger iomach that blurred her sciousness—for a moment, perhaps she went mad or overthought things. She felt as if she had returo the past.

  Back to that afternoon when Desia starved to death before her eyes.

  Before Davi Lin made his fortune, he was just an ordinary pany officer with modest ine, barely enough to support his family.

  In Frost Pte, male officers often received their saries a week ter than female officers. Her elder brother relied on his abilities to study iy, w part-time to support himself. For Yavanna and her younger sister Desia, who lived in the tryside, siheir mother farmed, they didn't typically have to worry about hunger.

  However, that was under normal circumstances.

  That year, Tianhuan's warriors unched a fierce atta Frost Pte. Twelve forward cities fell within two weeks, being spoils of war for Tianhuan. Due to the destru of transportation, Yavanna and Desia were stra their aunt's house in the war zone. Grain from Gunt couldn't be transported over.

  They evaded air raids and dodged bombardments from mobile armor, but they couldn't escape the scattered soldiers of Tianhuan whose frontline had colpsed. Those beasts, terrified by Frost Pte's soldiers on the front liuro the tryside, burning, killing, and looting tain their strength.

  AnnouA big thank you to [Trevor Standifer] and [Willi Sarit] for joining my Patreon! Your support means a lot to me.

  FAL