123: Chapter 123 Special Envoy

The haze that never dissipated year-round still loomed over Jiang City, but the entire internet of Great Xia had been completely set ablaze.

The actual footage of Lin Mo killing the Late-stage Rank 5 companion beast king, the Mountain-Hugging Demon Ape, was like a Category 12 hurricane, tearing through the headlines of all social platforms.

The entire internet was shaken!

At the very top of every major martial arts forum, only three crimson, bolded data traits were displayed:

Slayer: Lin Mo.

Age: 19 years old.

Current Realm: Rank 3, Level 9!

These three traits placed side by side were like a violent trampling of all human common sense.

A Rank 3 killing a Rank 5—what kind of concept was that?

In the world of a normal Awakener, the jump from Rank 3 to Rank 5 was a chasm as vast as a natural moat.

Even those top geniuses cultivated with focus by the War God Temple, with countless resources tilted in their favor, would need at least ten years of bitter cultivation!

Ten years—and that was the standard for a genius.

For an ordinary Awakener, that was a wall of despair that could not be reached in twenty years, thirty years, or even a lifetime!

Yet Lin Mo, a 19-year-old college freshman and a slum orphan with no background whatsoever,

at Rank 3 Level 9, had head-on killed a Late-stage Rank 5 beast king!

Comments on the internet were refreshing crazily at a rate of tens of thousands per second; programmers in the technical department were cursing while smashing their keyboards, desperately trying to connect backup servers.

“Great Xia's number one genius! This is truly Great Xia's number one genius! Who agrees? Who objects?!”

“Rank 3 killing Rank 5? You're fucking telling me this is Rank 3? I just broke through to Mid-stage Rank 4 today and took two brothers to the wilderness to hunt an Early-stage Rank 4 Armor-Rending Pig, and we were almost gored into high-level paraplegia by that wild boar!?!”

“Stop talking, brother. You're actually comparing yourself to Lin Mo? Are you also Great Xia's number one genius?”

The citizens of Great Xia fell into an unprecedented revelry.

In this era of despair where humanity had been oppressed by fierce beasts for a thousand years, Lin Mo's sudden emergence was like a brilliant dawn tearing through the endless long night.

...

However, human joys and sorrows are not shared.

Thousands of miles away, on the other side of the ocean.

In the West Federation, a thousand meters beneath Temple Mount, inside a secret round-table meeting room made entirely of Black Obsidian Metal that isolated psionic energy, the atmosphere was eerily cold.

On a massive circular screen, the blurred footage of Lin Mo slaying the Mountain-Hugging Demon Ape was playing frame by frame on a loop.

The image was infinitely magnified, freezing on that streak of cyan-gold thunder that tore through space.

“The cyan-gold thunder is confirmed; that extreme speed which ignores the laws of space... it should be that inheritance!”

A white elder wearing a pure white gold-threaded robe, with half his head modified into a mechanical prosthetic, tapped the table with stiff metallic fingers.

The elder stood up abruptly, his mechanical prosthetic eye flashing with a crimson killing intent. “Everyone, it's another Azure Dragon Inheritor. We cannot let him grow up smoothly!”

Several other phantom figures around him nodded slightly. “Seconded. Agreed to initiate the assassination plan.”

...

At the same time.

Great Xia, Jiang City, 2nd Armored Infantry Regiment temporary Command Headquarters.

“Bang!”

With a loud crash, Chu Tianye slammed his palm hard onto the alloy tactical table.

The immense force left a clear palm print directly on the bulletproof tabletop. His stubbled face was currently flushed red, his eyes filled with wild joy.

“Good! Excellent! The higher-ups approved it!”

His deputy, standing to the side, was stunned for a moment.

He leaned forward and glanced at the electronic document in Chu Tianye's hand.

At the very top of the file was a glaring red stamp for SSS-class top secret.

That was the highest authorization to utilize the Space-based weapon, ‘Tian Shu’!

But instead of showing any joy, a deep sense of unease welled up within the deputy.

“Regiment Commander... this isn't right. This is Tian Shu! A strategic-grade weapon of mass destruction!”

“According to Great Xia military regulations, to use a weapon of this level, even if the approval goes through an expedited process, it should take at least three to five days!”

The deputy looked up, staring intently at Chu Tianye. “But this time... from when we submitted the application to when the approval was issued, it hasn't even been twenty-four hours! The higher-ups didn't even include a review opinion from the War God Temple!”

“Regiment Commander, this speed is simply too fast. Isn't it a bit too abnormal?”

Chu Tianye waved his hand and casually lit a cigarette. “What do you know? It shows that the higher-ups place a high level of importance on our Jiang City! The Earth Roar is lurking underground; that's a Rank 7 beast king. Every day of delay is another point of risk that the city will be destroyed. Special cases require special handling, understand?”

The deputy opened his mouth but said no more. However, his eyelid kept twitching; he felt something was off, as if someone above was pushing things along, eager for them to drop Tian Shu as soon as possible.

“Pass down the order! The Space-based weapon instructor sent from above will arrive in Jiang City this afternoon. Tell the brothers to show me some Spirit!”

...

Two o'clock in the afternoon.

A military supersonic stealth fighter, entirely black and without any unit designation markings, tore through the clouds and landed in Jiang City.

The pressurized hatch made a slight hissing sound as it slowly opened.

A middle-aged man with a pair of gold-rimmed glasses perched on his nose, carrying a silver briefcase, walked quickly down the ramp.

The man had a clean face and a strong scholarly air; he didn't look like a soldier fighting on the front lines at all, but rather like a researcher.

“Regiment Commander Chu! I have long heard of your great name, long heard of your great name!”

As soon as the man stepped off the plane, he approached with a face full of smiles, grabbing Chu Tianye's rough hand with both of his and shaking it vigorously.

“I am the Special Dispatch Instructor for this Tian Shu operation, Wang Qiao.”

“Instructor Wang, thank you for the hard work of your journey,” Chu Tianye said with some pleasantries.

Before three seconds of small talk had passed, Wang Qiao's gaze immediately bypassed Chu Tianye and looked at Lin Mo, who was standing nearby.

“This... if I'm not mistaken, must be the young brother Lin Mo, who is rumored to have slain the Mountain-Hugging Demon Ape with a single blade?”

Wang Qiao did not hesitate to drop Chu Tianye's hand and crossed over to Lin Mo in a few quick steps.

“Truly, a hero emerges from the youth! I heard of your great name back in the Imperial Capital! For Great Xia to produce an unparalleled genius like you is truly Great Xia's fortune!”

As he spoke, he even reached out his hand, wanting to pat Lin Mo's shoulder.

Lin Mo shifted his body slightly, subtly avoiding the other's hand. His eyes sank slightly, and a faint, obscure glint flashed deep within his pupils.

[Eye of Sin-Eating, activated]

In his field of vision, a faint white light emanated from Wang Qiao's body.

“No problem?!” Lin Mo withdrew his hostility and said with a smile:

“Instructor Wang, you flatter me.”

Wang Qiao turned to look at Chu Tianye, pushing up the glasses on the bridge of his nose.

“There's no time to lose! Regiment Commander Chu, the orders given to me by the higher-ups are to resolve this quickly. Please arrange for personnel to locate the Earth Roar's precise coordinates as soon as possible!”

“As soon as the five coordinate points are in place, Tian Shu can bring down divine punishment at any time!”

“Understood,” Chu Tianye replied with a solemn expression.

...