283: Chapter 284 The storm was bigger than expected.

The torrential rain in Tianhai City felt as if it were trying to drown the entire city.

Raindrops the size of beans hammered against the floor-to-ceiling windows of Huichun Hall, pitter-pattering loudly and merging into curtains of water that blurred the world outside.

Zhang Wei hung up the phone with Xiao Zhenguo. Only the sound of his own breathing and the rain outside remained in the office.

He stared at the holographic terminal displaying the liquidation report of the Li family. The numbers on the screen scrolled continuously, representing the assets of a century-old noble family being carved up and exhausted, yet he felt no thrill of victory in his heart.

Xiao Zhenguo's final words kept revolving in his head.

"Someone is playing chess."

Yes, someone was playing chess.

In the past, Seven was the player, the Li family was the piece, and he, Zhang Wei, was responsible for serving tea and water to Seven while cleaning up the board along the way.

Now, the chessboard had grown larger.

So large it included the Federal Military, so large it involved some Ancient Era, so large that even Seven was being treated as... an "S-rank Subject of Interest" on the board.

Zhang Wei didn't like that term.

Too official, too cold.

Like a label slapped onto a lab rat.

He grabbed his car keys and a thick coat from the desk, stood up, and walked straight out.

"Boss, it's raining so hard outside, where are you going?" a worker at the front desk poked his head out to ask.

"Going out for some fresh air."

Zhang Wei didn't look back.

The modified heavy truck was like a steel behemoth in the storm, arrogantly breaking through the accumulated water and splashing spray half the height of a man.

The car stereo played stirring orchestral music, but the short, chubby Zhang wasn't listening at all.

His fingers tapped rhythmically on the steering wheel, his mind a chaotic mess.

Eastern Rift Zone.

Military closed-door meeting.

Disposal plan.

Each of these terms was heavier than the last.

Damn it, do these people have holes in their brains?

A man who can crush a "God-Calamity" grade item with his bare hands and reshape the Law at a press conference—and you're holding a meeting to discuss how to "dispose" of him?

Dispose of my ass.

Are you even worthy?

Zhang Wei cursed in his heart, but his foot pressed deeper onto the accelerator.

He knew he was just venting his anger.

The Federal high-ranking officials weren't fools. The reason they dared to hold this meeting wasn't because they weren't afraid of Lin Qi, but because they represented the "rules" of this world.

Rule-makers naturally harbor hostility toward rule-breakers.

It had nothing to do with right or wrong; it was purely a matter of standpoint.

The car drove all the way to the outskirts, entering the restricted area leading to the Earth Fiend Cave mining zone.

The perimeter was lined with high-voltage electric fences and signs reading "Military Forbidden Zone, Trespassers Will Be Executed." These were security measures he had spent a fortune to set up.

Dozens of retired special forces soldiers worked three shifts, patrolling twenty-four hours a day. Not even the slightest disturbance could escape them.

The car stopped at the temporary camp at the entrance.

A burly man in a raincoat approached with a flashlight and gave a salute.

"President Zhang."

"Any movement inside?" Zhang Wei rolled down the window, letting in rain mixed with cold wind.

"Reporting to President Zhang, everything is normal. Aside from the rain, not even a mouse has gotten in."

"And the surveillance?"

"Monitoring twenty-four hours a day. Infrared, acoustic, and essence fluctuation sensors are all active. All data is stable."

Zhang Wei nodded, feeling a slight sense of relief.

He didn't get out of the car, just sat in the driver's seat, looking at the entrance disguised as an abandoned mine shaft not far away.

Seven was down there.

In that isolated place, he was breaking through to a brand-new Realm.

He didn't know the outside world was already precarious, nor did he know he had been placed under the microscope of the highest levels of the Federation, being studied over and over by a group of people.

That was for the best.

Zhang Wei thought.

If the sky fell, he, as the subordinate, would be outside to hold it up first.

Even if he couldn't hold it, he had to try.

This was Zhang Wei's Dao.

He pulled out his phone and re-read the messages he had sent to Instructor Su Qing and Chen Shu.

Chen Shu had already replied: "Received. Surveillance focus adjusted." Concise as always, like a robot.

Instructor Su Qing hadn't replied yet.

Zhang Wei wasn't in a hurry.

Instructor Su Qing wasn't the type to make a fuss; she would certainly handle it once she saw the message.

What he needed to do now was guard this door.

No matter how the weather changed outside, not a single shred of interference could be allowed to reach the inside.

He reclined his seat and lay in the car, listening to the rain.

The irritability in his heart was finally dampened slightly by the downpour.

He couldn't sleep.

He simply opened that analysis article with "five billion views" and read it again.

"What he possesses is an independent set of world Laws."

This sentence looked particularly glaring now.

These academic types were sometimes more ruthless than assassins.

An assassin wants your life.

They want to flip over all your hidden cards and place them under the sun for everyone to see.

...

At the same time.

Longya Academy, back mountain.

Instructor Su Qing also received Zhang Wei's message.

She stood on that boulder, allowing the cold rain to hit her. Her black combat suit clung tightly to her body, outlining her firm curves.

She didn't activate her energy shield, just let herself get soaked.

The cold rain helped clear her mind.

Zhao Shouzhen's words and Zhang Wei's message—the two matters intertwined in her head.

The division among the military high-ranking officials.

The expansion of the rift zone.

S-rank Subject of Interest.

Disposal plan.

Connecting these pieces of information pointed toward an unsettling future.

Lin Qi was like a stone thrown into a calm lake. Now, before the ripples on the surface had even dissipated, the undercurrents at the bottom had already begun to surge.

She looked down at her hand.

The silver light cluster representing Sword Saint Ye Qingtian's lifelong sword Dao insights was floating quietly in her palm.

Zhao Shouzhen said he owed Teacher Ye a life.

He also said Lin Qi was their only chance.

Did this "only chance" refer to solving the rift zone crisis? Or did it refer to countering that mysterious person who even a Rank 5 Expert found troublesome?

Or perhaps, both?

Instructor Su Qing's mind worked rapidly.

Zhao Shouzhen coming to find her tonight seemed accidental, but it was actually inevitable.

He knew she had a deep relationship with Lin Qi. He needed a messenger, a bridge to build trust with Lin Qi.

And she was that bridge.

Zhao Shouzhen cast a dissenting vote, which meant that within the Federal high-ranking officials, he stood on the side of the "Cooperation Faction."

But how much of an advantage did the Cooperation Faction have?

Judging by the term "disposal plan," it was clear that the voice of the "Suppression Faction" was not small, and might even be larger.

Otherwise, Zhao Shouzhen wouldn't have needed to find a mere instructor like her in the middle of the night to "chat for a bit."

He was revealing a signal to her, and also to Lin Qi—the military was not a monolith, and there was still room for maneuver.

But that room needed to be earned by Lin Qi himself.

How to earn it?

Instructor Su Qing looked up at the sky; the curtain of rain obscured the stars.

Strength.

In this world, ultimately, strength was what talked.

Just as Zhao Shouzhen said, if Lin Qi hadn't displayed that all-crushing strength at the convention center, there might not have been two opinions at tonight's meeting—only one.

Before Lin Qi went into seclusion, he said he was going to charge for the Tongshen Realm.

One month.

Twenty-one days had already passed.

Nine days left.

Nine days later, when he emerged, he would be facing a situation a hundred times more complex than before.

He needed an ally.

An ally with enough weight among the Federal high-ranking officials to speak for him and provide him with intelligence and support.

Zhao Shouzhen seemed to be the best candidate at the moment.

But trust isn't created out of thin air.

Zhao Shouzhen needed Lin Qi to demonstrate the ability to solve problems, and Lin Qi needed Zhao Shouzhen to show sufficient sincerity.

Instructor Su Qing suddenly understood.

Zhao Shouzhen's final sentence was the key.

"Help me pass on a message: Old Zhao owes Ye Qingtian a life; he can pay it back to his student."

That sentence wasn't for Instructor Su Qing to hear.

It was for Lin Qi.

It was both a request and a token of allegiance.

Saving Sword Saint Ye Qingtian wasn't just about saving a person; it was the best way for Lin Qi to demonstrate his value to Zhao Shouzhen and the "Cooperation Faction" of the Federal high-ranking officials.

A man who could pull a dying Rank 4 Peak Sword Saint back from the level of Laws—his value would be immeasurable.

By then, any "disposal plan" would become a joke.

Having thought this through, most of the fog in Instructor Su Qing's heart dissipated.

She knew what she had to do.

She took out her phone, the screen glowing faintly in the rainy night.

She sent a reply to Zhang Wei.

"Zhao Shouzhen came to see me. He's one of us. In nine days, once Lin Qi emerges, arrange a meeting."