448: One eye and ten lines

Lin Ran scanned through the detailed rules for merit grading at a glance, set the tablet aside, and flashed a bright smile at Ling Qi.

"Secretary-General, this information arrived just in time!"

"Following these standards, we can save at least half the effort required for adjusting the workflow."

Ling Qi tucked the light screen into her sleeve, her expression gentle. "It is merely part of my duties."

"Your workload is heavy; if you need more manpower, just say so."

"Don't worry, I can still hold on."

Lin Ran turned and bowed to Shang Wan Ning. "Your Majesty, this Subordinate will go arrange the diversion of souls now and report the progress to you every hour."

Shang Wan Ning's gaze remained fixed on the light screen as she waved her hand casually. "Mm, be thorough."

"Come back to rest when you're done; don't push yourself too hard."

Lin Ran exited the palace efficiently, lighting up her tablet as she walked to begin coordinating. "Attention, Department of Judges: immediately verify the merit values of the souls and archive their records of evil deeds simultaneously."

"Department of Reincarnation, clear the three main passages of the Realm of Beasts and assign personnel to manage them. Wangchuan River construction site, prepare the temporary relocation area immediately; as soon as souls with borderline merit values arrive, arrange for them to start work."

The sinister wind on the palace path swirled with fallen leaves as she strode through the long corridor without stopping.

Soon, light screens illuminated the entire office area. The ghost envoys of the Department of Judges buried their heads in verifying the book of life and death, while the people from the Department of Reincarnation ran back and forth to calibrate the passages…

The entire Underworld began operating at high speed due to this urgent task.

Inside Jiaotai Palace, Ling Qi walked to Shang Wan Ning's side. Her spiritual sense swept over the rampaging Yamata no Orochi on the light screen. "That piece we planted in the White Lotus Sect years ago—now that R Country is in such chaos and Yamata no Orochi is causing such a ruckus, shouldn't we eliminate it?"

Shang Wan Ning leaned lazily back against the phoenix couch and rubbed her brow. "Indeed, there is no need to keep it."

"The Underworld's intelligence network has long been perfected, and this piece has lost its value. Letting it sink along with R Country will save us the trouble."

Ling Qi nodded slightly. "It is better to clean it up thoroughly."

"The Little Highness is quite interested in the Underworld's processes now. If she finds out there are still remnants of the White Lotus Sect, she will inevitably overthink."

A trace of wariness flickered in Shang Wan Ning's eyes. She reached out and tugged at Ling Qi's sleeve. "Why are you standing? Come and sit."

Ling Qi was slightly startled.

She followed the Emperor's force and sat on the edge of the couch, her posture remaining upright, though the fingers on her knees relaxed slightly.

The two sat side by side, staring at the light screen. In the image, the Yamata no Orochi was wrapped in thick, impenetrable black fog; none of the buildings it passed could withstand it, and all were crushed into fragments.

It suddenly raised one of its heads, its scarlet snake tongue flicking out twice in rapid succession.

The people fleeing desperately in the distance instantly froze in place. Blood began to seep from their eyes, ears, mouths, and noses, and moments later, they collapsed stiffly, turning into mummified corpses.

"A method of mental erosion—much cleaner than brute force tearing," Shang Wan Ning commented casually, resting her chin on her hand.

At this moment, all 147 F-35A stealth fighters of R Country took off from various military bases across the nation. Their engines roared, piercing the sky as they flew at full speed toward the area where the Yamata no Orochi was located.

These fighters were equipped with the latest air-to-ground missiles; they were R Country's last remaining assets.

In this moment of life and death, the military held nothing back, staking all their combat power on this.

Inside the underground bunker, the tycoons gripped their communicators tightly until their knuckles turned white, the sounds of their roaring into the microphones rising one after another.

The Prime Minister sat in the main seat, his face ashen. He slapped the table hard with his palm, trying to maintain order, but he couldn't control the scene at all.

"Prime Minister, please immediately dispatch two military transport planes to my private vault."

"The gold and antiques inside must be transferred immediately; if it's any later, it will all be finished."

A bloated tycoon slammed the table, glaring fiercely at the man in charge, his attitude uncompromising.

A nearby parliamentarian stood up and rebuked him angrily: "Absurd! There are still millions of civilians trapped in the city. The top priority is to evacuate the public; how can you be allowed to transport private property?"

The fat tycoon sneered, pointing at the parliamentarian and mocking him: "What do you know? Assets are the foundation of the nation!"

"Without these, even if we survive, the country will completely collapse. You don't have any industries in your family, so of course you don't care, but why should the family business we've accumulated over centuries be buried with it?"

Another politician echoed: "That's right, if the assets can't be saved, how can we even talk about reconstruction?"

"Prioritizing the transport of supplies is the most rational thing to do!"

This statement completely infuriated the ordinary parliamentarians present. Some were shaking with rage, pointing at the politicians and cursing: "Reconstruction?"

"When the people are all gone, who are you rebuilding for?"

"You parasites of the nation, you've sucked enough of the people's blood in peacetime, and now that trouble has struck, you only think about running away yourselves. You are worse than pigs or dogs."

The dispute escalated instantly. The tycoons and parliamentarians pushed and cursed at each other, and some even resorted to violence.

The originally tidy conference room immediately fell into chaos. Tables and chairs were knocked over, and no one mentioned joining forces to fight the monster anymore; their minds were entirely focused on scrambling for limited escape resources.

Everyone kept roaring into their microphones, urging their private armed forces to transfer assets overseas.

The politicians paced back and forth anxiously around the satellite screen, their hands clasped tightly behind their backs.

Unable to hide the panic in their eyes, they feigned composure, repeatedly slapping the table and questioning the progress of the military fighters.

No one was willing to sit and wait for death; everyone was struggling desperately to survive.

As soon as the fighters approached the target area, they immediately locked onto the Yamata no Orochi. Missile after missile was launched, trailing white exhaust as they blasted toward the serpent's body.

But before the missiles could detonate, they were swallowed by the rolling black fog surrounding it, instantly losing power and plummeting straight to the ground.

Immediately afterward, the fuselages of the fighters began to corrode and disintegrate visibly. The pilots frantically manipulated the control sticks, their fingers tapping wildly on the buttons, but it was to no avail.

The fighters crashed one after another into the ruins below, exploding into balls of fire, without even causing a ripple.

"Tsk!"

Shang Wan Ning gave a soft hum and tapped on the armrest.

Xiao Si said in the Sea of Consciousness, filled with worry: "Host, if it keeps devouring like this, the living people of R Country will soon be gone. When a massive influx of souls pours in, the Underworld will have to work overtime for at least half a month."

Shang Wan Ning adjusted her cuffs nonchalantly. "The sooner they die, the sooner they are reincarnated; it saves us from having to process the souls again when R Country sinks."

"The plan for the Sunken Firing Range has long been prepared; this is just closing the net early."

Ling Qi casually brought up a portable light screen, on which a dense string of data popped up. She lowered her head to scan the data, murmuring: "The spore matrix of the Netherworld Bone-Corroding Vine has been deployed, and the Nine Netherworld Prison Suppressing Nails have all been buried in place."

"The construction of the entire battlefield cost approximately 100 billion incense value. According to calculations, it can withstand three melees of ninth-tier initial-stage deities, which is sufficient."

"Once the Yamata no Orochi recovers to its peak state, we will activate the firing range."

A trace of interest appeared in Shang Wan Ning's eyes. She leaned forward slightly, her gaze fixed intently on the Calamity God in the light screen.

"It is a perfect opportunity to test the load limit of the firing range and accumulate more data. It will give us more confidence when dealing with those secretive old foxes from the Source Realm in the future."