584: Chapter 584 Skyscraper, A World in the Apocalypse (22)

Black gravel skimmed across the ground, carried by the howling wind, striking the rock surfaces and producing a dense rustling sound.

"My Lord is still Cultivating at the top of the tower, and this is the critical period for breaking through that threshold."

The man in white kept his hands tucked inside his sleeves, his face hidden behind the rolling sand and dust, his tone indifferent:

"Even if the sky falls, he must not be disturbed."

The red-haired man furrowed his brows tightly, a trace of anxiety flashing across his sharp-featured face.

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"I have an urgent matter."

He took a step forward, and the hard rock beneath his feet instantly shattered into powder:

"The clearance operation in Dongdu has run into a hitch, and it has even implicated our cooperative projects with the military."

"This matter must be reported to My Lord immediately."

"An urgent matter?"

The corner of the man in white's mouth curved into a sarcastic arc, his eyes glancing sideways with thinly veiled contempt:

"You are in a rush to plead guilty, aren't you?"

"Black Shark used to be the sharpest tooth in the organization, but in the few years it has been handed over to you, it has degenerated into second-rate trash."

He spoke leisurely, every word like a needle piercing the other person's sore spot.

"For this clearance operation, a large amount of manpower and material resources were mobilized in the early stages to search the world and lock onto the target, and only finally was the task of execution and wrap-up handed over to your hands."

"Look at you instead, you couldn't even resolve a mere S-grade physical enhancer, and you even let this fellow continue to disrupt our other plans in Dongdu."

Although the man in white was in this apocalyptic wasteland, he seemed to have the external situation at his fingertips.

His gaze was icy, mercilessly stripping away the other person's dignity:

"Claude, you have completely lost all face for Utopia."

"Shut up!"

The reprimanded red-haired man Claude's eyes flashed with fierce light.

A visible wave of heat suddenly surged around his entire body.

The surrounding air was instantly distorted and deformed by the high temperature, and even the gravel on the ground showed signs of melting.

The two of them clearly harbored deep grievances, and it only took a single spark to detonate them.

"That target... is not simple at all!"

Claude gritted his teeth and retorted:

"He is not just a physically enhanced anomalous human; he also colludes with the Special Investigation Team."

The man in white sneered:

"As the dignified leader of Black Shark, Claude, whom the outside world reverently calls the 'Crimson Flame Devil King', are you actually afraid of those running dogs of the Special Investigation Team who only know how to bite blindly by scent? If this joke gets out, I'm afraid it will make people laugh their teeth off."

"What do you know, you fellow!"

Claude shouted angrily:

"I am worried that starting a war without authorization and killing people from the Special Investigation Team will ruin My Lord's layout in the Xia Kingdom that took many years!"

"Otherwise, I would have personally crossed the ocean to Dongdu to twist off that bastard's head and use it as a ball to kick. Do you really think a mere Special Investigation Team would be in my eyes?"

Seeing that the man in white was noncommittal, Claude reined in his anger slightly and then threw out a blockbuster:

"Moreover, that target suspected to be the murder maniac White Owl is very likely our organization's former member who defected seventeen years ago — Fang Shijie."

Hearing this, the man in white was slightly startled.

He dug this name out from the depths of his memory, and his brows could not help but knit together:

"Fang Shijie? During the encirclement and suppression seventeen years ago, he had long died in that big fire."

Immediately afterward, his eyes glowed, staring intently at Claude:

"What evidence do you have?"

Claude's expression was grim, a hint of ruthlessness flashed in the depths of his eyes, and he spoke in a deep voice:

"For this operation, I sent two Advanced cadres stationed in Dongdu to execute the task, and one of the hunting targets was Fang Shijie's son left behind in Dongdu."

"When tracking down the residence of Fang Shijie's son, they discovered that this person was associated with the Special Investigation Team, so they temporarily changed their minds, intending to extract information from him first."

"It's just that some accident happened later. When one of them was contacting the target, he was ambushed by a third party and unfortunately died in battle."

"However, the informants responsible for peripheral monitoring had already heard with their own ears through wiretapping equipment before that, Fang Shijie's son admitting that his father was still alive and had become a dark agent working for the Special Investigation Team!"

As Claude spoke, he took a step forward.

His hulking physique was like an iron tower, pressing down on the man in white with extreme oppressive force, his dark red eyes full of certainty.

"Afterwards, I sent people to check the specific situation of Fang Shijie's son. He has indeed been in frequent contact with the upper echelons of the Special Investigation Team recently, having a murky relationship."

"Perhaps our plan targeting the Chen family in Tiannan Province was targeted by the Special Investigation Team because of him, suffering deliberate sabotage."

"From this, it can be completely concluded that the target My Lord asked us to track down, the murderer of Xuanzhen, is not Fang Shijie's son, but Fang Shijie himself who faked his death to escape!"

"He has lain low for so many years, and now suddenly appearing, willingly working to the death for the Special Investigation Team, all for the sake of taking revenge on us. Only in this way can all doubts be explained!"

The corners of Claude's mouth pulled into a cruel arc, his voice sounding like clashing swords and sabers, exuding absolute confidence:

"He fancies that he has played this deceptive act seamlessly, not knowing that even if he hides in a gutter like a rat, his trump cards have long been thoroughly figured out by me."

"Someone casually throws out a bait, and you bite down to death?"

The man in white suddenly spoke coldly, interrupting his arrogant momentum:

"Fang Shijie was burned into a charred corpse back then, and it was repeatedly confirmed by intelligence personnel. How could he come back to life?"

"Claude, could you be deliberately fabricating such an absurd excuse to cover up your own incompetence?"

"You..."

Choked by the other party's impervious words, Claude instantly flew into a rage from embarrassment, completely losing his patience:

"Get lost! It's redundant for Laozi to explain to you, the affairs of Black Shark are not your turn to manage!"

He clenched his fists until they creaked, blue veins protruding at his neck, and crimson magma-like patterns faintly visible beneath his skin.

It seemed that the next second he would burst out to kill, blowing this annoying pretty boy in front of him into pieces.

"Heh, was I right on target, feeling guilty?"

The man in white Advanced instead of retreating.

The delicate and gentle aura on his body instantly turned bone-chillingly cold, and the surrounding temperature plummeted.

The icy cold air collided abruptly with Claude's violent heat wave in mid-air, stirring up a burst of crackling, dense static electricity.

"Failure is failure; in Utopia, incompetence is the greatest crime."

Rumble—

Just as the two sides were at daggers drawn.

The pitch-black giant tower overhead suddenly trembled violently.

Immediately afterwards, an extremely terrifying will instantly descended from the top of the tower, enveloping the entire wasteland.

That was not a coercion targeting any single person, but as if the entire sky had collapsed.

The wildly flying sand and dust instantly stagnated in mid-air, and the heavy dark clouds all over the sky were forcibly torn open by a huge invisible force.

Even the purple lightning entangling the spire stopped leaping.

As if the Law of this heaven and earth chose to submit before this will.

The expressions of the man in white and Claude changed drastically.

The two of them instantly dissipated all their power, no longer caring about their mutual dispute.

They almost instinctively bent down, facing the giant tower's gate, deeply lowering their heads.

Under that absolute heavy pressure like a god overlooking from above, the bodies of the two trembled out of control.

That was submission carved into the bone marrow, originating from the depths of the Soul.

After a long time, that terrifying fluctuation slowly receded like a tide, returning to the top of the tower.

Claude wiped the cold sweat oozing from his forehead.

The violence in his eyes had long vanished, leaving only a fanatical worship.

"My Lord's power... has become stronger again."

The man in white straightened up and reached out to tidy his lapels blown messy by the wind.

Then he resumed that cold appearance, only with a hint of solemnity in his voice:

"Since you know, honestly wait here."

He glanced sideways at Claude:

"I am not targeting you alone; you must know that any personal interests and grievances are merely dust in front of our great creation ideal."

"Hmph."

Claude snorted coldly:

"I know better than you."

The man in white said no more, only saying indifferently:

"As for the matter in Dongdu, whether Fang Shijie is truly resurrected or his son is making trouble, they won't be able to jump around for long."

"When My Lord comes out of seclusion, he will personally decide the life and death of the target. By then, even if the Special Investigation Team deliberately shelters them, for My Lord to annihilate them will be as simple as crushing an ant."

"Before that, you had better pray that that White Owl hasn't caused an even bigger mess."

Claude gritted his teeth and did not continue to retort.

He turned around abruptly, gazing at the distant grey and chaotic skyline, a cruel light surfacing in the depths of his eyes once more.

"Rest assured, that fellow cannot turn the heavens upside down."

"I will go to Dongdu to hold the fort right now. When the time comes, without My Lord having to make a move, I will personally dismantle his bones one by one and burn them to ashes!"

After saying that, he strode with heavy steps, walking straight into the storm ahead.

The man in white narrowed his eyes slightly, watching his companion leave.

The raging hurricane soon swallowed that hulking figure.

On this apocalyptic wasteland that seemed to have been stripped of its vitality, only that pitch-black skyscraper remained.

Standing quietly amidst the flying sand and dust all over the sky, like an insurmountable abyss monument.

...

The evening breeze poured into the car cabin along the half-rolled-down window, blowing away the sultry heat accumulated during the day.

On both sides of the street, flashing neon signs and dim yellow street lights intertwined, turning into streams of light that rapidly swept across the black hood of the Land Rover SUV.

Fang Cheng held the steering wheel with both hands, steadily Driving the car.

His thoughts were still recalling what had happened earlier.

After finishing lunch at noon, Shi Chengyi took Wei Zheng away from the Li family's courtyard.

Fang Cheng originally thought that even if the Special Investigation Team took the green channel internally, finishing the tedious registration and approval process would take at least two or three days.

Unexpectedly, Wei Zheng handled matters with true swiftness and resolve.

Right before the five o'clock off-work time, a phone call came in.

Wei Zheng said on the phone that all exam materials and registration forms were ready.

Now only Fang Cheng's few ID photos and personal signature were missing, and he even actively offered to drive to Wanghu Town to run this errand for him.

Fang Cheng naturally wouldn't be so lacking in courtesy.

He hung up the phone, changed his clothes, and drove himself to the headquarters building of the Special Investigation Team located in Jing'an District.

This was also his first time officially stepping foot into that place symbolizing state power and majesty, treating it as getting familiar with the location in advance.

Finishing the procedures in the lobby and signing his name.

Before leaving, Wei Zheng hugged a thick stack of review materials and handed them to him, all of which were summaries of exam questions from the Special Investigation Team's previous spring recruitment written exams.

Senior Brother Wei patted his shoulder at that time, his tone very relaxed, telling him not to have too much pressure.

For the written exam subjects such as Law, national language, foreign language, psychology, and political science, just flip through them casually and look at the general idea.

As long as the score was not in the bottom few, Minister Shi would naturally back him up over there.

Fang Cheng smiled at that time, being noncommittal, and only gave a thank you before taking the materials.

Choosing to enter the Special Investigation Team was certainly to hide his clumsiness, using the official identity as a cover to quietly develop in the dark.

But this did not mean he liked to pretend to be a pig to eat the tiger!

In the eyes of those big figures, he was a martial arts prodigy with thick Qi and blood and extraordinary talent.

Since he was prepared to seek the position of "Special Needs Expert" in the medical team with the identity of a traditional Martial Artist, he had to produce capital matching it.

If he bore the titles of divine doctor and Genius, and ended up scoring dead last in the written exam, it would not only slap Shi Chengyi's face, but also bring many unnecessary contempt and troubles to himself.

Therefore, regardless of the subsequent physical fitness test or written exam, he had to demonstrate scores matching the standard of a "Special Needs Expert".

Only by revealing sufficient value could he possess more say and freedom in this massive bureaucratic institution.

Of course, this score would definitely be within reason while still giving them a slight pleasant surprise.

The car drove to an intersection.

The red light lit up.

Fang Cheng stepped on the brake, the car body paused slightly, and it steadily stopped in front of the stop line.

He turned his head sideways, his gaze falling on the front passenger seat.

There lay a kraft paper bag, inside which was a thick stack of summary exam papers.

There was still nearly a week until the re-examination on June 5th.

Changing to other candidates, wanting to memorize these knowledge points covering more than a dozen categories in just a few days would be harder than ascending to heaven.

But for Fang Cheng, with his photographic brain memory nowadays, coping with a rote-memorization exam had absolutely no pressure at all.

The signal light turned from red to green.

Fang Cheng withdrew his gaze, lightly tapping the accelerator with his foot.

The engine let out a low roar, and the Land Rover SUV merged back into the traffic ahead.

Over the next few days, I will honestly stay at home, be a good student again, and review these lessons.