146: Chapter 146 The Divine Realm

Opening Climax:

The Underworld's combat readiness alarm blared for three full double-hours.

This was no drill—Lei Xiao's three hundred thousand ghost soldiers were fully armed and lined up in phalanxes at the rebuilt "Nether Drill Ground," their murderous intent causing the ghost clouds in the sky to churn. Little Red Clothes' weapons factory was running at full speed on twenty-four-hour shifts, and the newly produced "God-Slaying Crossbows" were piled up like mountains. Even Zhang Hao's intelligence network had spread to the edges of the Underworld, monitoring every ripple in space.

Every ghost knew: Abyssal Lord Grammer had torn apart three God Kings, and the Underworld could be his next target.

But Lin Chen's reaction left all the higher-ups baffled.

At this moment, he was sitting deep within the Samsara Hall. Before him was not a sand table or a troop deployment map, but an investment evaluation form.

"Boss," Zhang Hao couldn't help himself. "Are we really not going to the front lines to take a look? Lei Xiao needs your final approval on the third defense plan..."

"Let him decide for himself." Lin Chen didn't even look up. His fingers slid across a holographic projection, pulling up a complex stream of data. "Has the 'distress signal' from the God Realm been decoded yet?"

"It's still being decoded..." Zhang Hao pulled up another screen. "The blood letter brought back by the Ferry Boat has an incredibly complex energy composition. It contains a mixture of at least three different divine powers, and..."

"And the aura of the Abyss," Su Qingyu suddenly spoke up.

She walked into the hall, holding a transparent crystal ball in her hand. Inside the ball was sealed a drop of dark-gold blood—the very sample extracted from the blood handprint on the Ferry Boat. Right now, that drop of blood was frantically crashing against the walls of the ball, and with every impact, a faint, inhuman roar could be heard.

"This isn't ordinary divine blood." Su Qingyu placed the crystal ball on the table. "It's been laced with 'bait'—the primordial aura of Abyssal Lord Grammer. Anyone who touches this blood will be marked."

Zhang Hao's face changed instantly. "Then Boss just touched the blood letter..."

"It was purified long ago." Lin Chen finally looked up, a golden light flashing in his eyes—the Law Vision empowered by the samsara seal. "Playing such petty tricks is far too childish."

He swiped his finger.

The holographic projection instantly switched, revealing lines of divine script from the secret message that had been cracked by brute force. However, the content of the letter was not a plea for help at all.

A Preposterous Twist:

It was—a business proposal.

The title was written in gold-leaf divine script: "God Realm Market-Oriented Reform and Special Financing Proposal for Abyssal Threat Disposal (Top Secret · Angel Round)."

Zhang Hao leaned in to look, his eyes widening more and more:

"This... what on earth is this?!"

The proposal was extremely professional, with a clear table of contents:

Chapter 1: Project Overview

• Project Name: God Realm New Order Reconstruction Plan (Codename: "Daybreak")

• Initiator: God Realm Reformist Alliance (Members include: former Archangel of Finance Michael, God of Forging Hephaestus, Low-Level Angel Union representative Gabriel, and 188 other middle-to-lower-level clergy members)

• Core Pain Points: The Old God Court is corrupt and stagnant; the monopoly on faith power has led to system entropy; residual pollution from the Void Devourer continues to erode the God Realm's origin; the invasion by Abyssal Lord Grammer has exposed the total failure of the existing defense system.

Chapter 2: Solutions

• Introduce a strategic investor (Underworld Group)

• Intervene using a "Capital + Technology + Management" trinity model.

• Phase 1: Assist the reformists in overthrowing the Old God Court by force (Estimated duration: 7 calendar days).

• Phase 2: Establish a market-oriented faith distribution mechanism based on KPI assessments.

• Phase 3: Jointly eliminate Abyssal Lord Grammer (Note: His godhead fragments are valued at approximately 9.8 trillion nether talismans).

Chapter 3: Financing Requirements

• Angel Round Financing: 100 billion nether talismans (for arms procurement) + 300,000 elite ghost soldiers (for assault) + samsara seal purification module (technology equity).

• Post-money Valuation: The new God Court's overall valuation is 20 trillion nether talismans.

• Equity Offered: 49% (including veto power and three Board of Directors seats).

Chapter 4: Exit Strategy

• Option A: After the God Realm reform is successful, the Underworld Group can choose to hold the equity and share future faith tax revenue proportionally (estimated annual dividends not less than 500 billion nether talismans).

• Option B: The Reformist Alliance will buy back all equity at 150% valuation after five years.

• Option C: 70% of Abyssal Lord Grammer's spoils (godhead, divine remains, divine materials) will belong to the Underworld Group.

Chapter 5: Risk Factors

• Risk of retaliation from the Old God Court's remnants (modeled, win rate 87.3%).

• Risk of Abyssal Lord Grammer ending his digestion period early (probability 12%, see Appendix D for response plan).

• Risk of traitors within the reformist ranks (loyalty monitoring contracts have been implanted).

• Risk of the Underworld Group taking over after investing (this alliance is mentally prepared to be acquired).

Finally, it included detailed resumes of the 188 reformist members, an analysis of their divine abilities, and—a list of personal asset collaterals.

"They even listed collaterals..." Zhang Hao was dumbfounded. "Hephaestus, the God of Forging, mortgaged all his divine smithing tools, valued at 80 billion nether talismans; the Low-Level Angel Union mortgaged their right to membership fee income for the next five hundred years... Are these gods serious?!"

Su Qingyu, however, stared at a line of small print, her brow furrowed:

"Proposal sent: Seven days ago. That is, right when Abyssal Lord Grammer had just torn apart the first God King."

She looked up at Lin Chen. "This wasn't a spur-of-the-moment decision. This proposal was written long ago, and they were waiting for the 'right opportunity' to send it—waiting for the God Realm to fall into chaos, for the Old God Court's prestige to be swept away, and for us to have a sufficient reason to intervene."

"More importantly," Lin Chen added, his finger pointing at the last item in the "Risk Factors," "they are even mentally prepared for us to 'reverse-acquire' them."

He smiled:

"This isn't a plea for help."

"This is a meticulously planned—invitation for the wolf to enter the house."

Thrilling Sensation:

As soon as he finished speaking, the drop of dark-gold blood inside the crystal ball suddenly exploded.

It wasn't a physical explosion, but a "pollution release" on some conceptual level. The blood drop turned into billions of hair-thin black tentacles, instantly piercing the crystal ball's walls and lunging toward the nearest living being—Zhang Hao!

"Watch out!" Su Qingyu raised her hand to set up a barrier.

But the tentacles ignored the barrier and passed right through. Their goal was clear: to parasitize and then control.

Zhang Hao had no time to react, watching helplessly as those tentacles rushed before his eyes—

And then, they stopped.

All the tentacles froze in mid-air, less than a centimeter from his eyeball. Then, they began to tremble violently, as if they had encountered a natural enemy.

"I told you," Lin Chen's voice came from the side, "such petty tricks are far too childish."

At some point, he had stood up, his right hand's five fingers spread out, pressing down into the empty air.

The phantom of the samsara seal appeared in his palm, slowly rotating. With every rotation, it shed a circle of invisible "rule ripples." Those tentacles rapidly dissolved in the ripples like ice and snow under the sun.

But in the final moment before dissolving, all the tentacles simultaneously let out a piercing shriek—

Amidst the shriek, a chaotic stream of information was mixed in:

"Found... you..."

"Lord... of the Underworld..."

"Lord Gramer... will... devour you..."

"Your godhead... must be... delicious..."

The information stream came to an abrupt halt.

The tentacles vanished completely.

A deathly silence filled the hall.

Zhang Hao's legs went weak, and he almost slumped to the floor, his back drenched in cold sweat. "B-Boss... what was that just now..."

"The Abyssal Lord's 'marking and tracking program'." Lin Chen withdrew his hand, and the phantom of the samsara seal dissipated. "There was a double trap set in that blood—the surface was the business proposal, the middle layer was the loyalty monitoring contract, and the bottom layer was this."

He looked at Su Qingyu. "What do you think?"

Su Qingyu fell silent for three seconds. "The trap was too obvious. If Gramer really wanted to mark you, he wouldn't use such a clumsy method. This feels more like a... test."

"Testing what?"

"Testing two things." She walked to the holographic projection and pulled up the proposal's transmission timeline. "First, testing our analytical capabilities. If we couldn't even discover the trap in the blood, it would mean the Underworld Group lacks the technical strength and isn't qualified to be an investor."

"And the second?"

"Testing our reaction." Su Qingyu pointed at the dissipating residue of the tentacles. "If we shrunk back because of this attack, it would mean we lack the courage. But if we dare to accept this plan while knowing it's a trap..."

She looked at Lin Chen. "Then it shows we have enough strength and ambition—and that is exactly the 'strategic investor' the Reformist Alliance wants most."

Lin Chen smiled.

He sat back down and quickly operated the holographic projection, pulling up a newly generated evaluation report:

"[God Realm Investment Risk Assessment Report (System Generated)]"

• Political Risk: High (Old God Court remnants)

• Military Risk: Extremely High (Abyssal Lord Grammer)

• Technical Risk: Medium (God Realm pollution purification)

• Estimated ROI: S-rank (Highest)

• Recommended Action: Immediately initiate the Angel Round investment process.

The last column of the report was written in bold red letters:

"[Historical opportunity detected: The God Realm's valuation has dropped to the bankruptcy liquidation line. Buying the dip for a merger or acquisition now costs only 0.7% of the normal period.]"

"[Suggestion: Immediately contact the Reformist Alliance and sign a VAM agreement.]"

After reading the report, Lin Chen looked up at Zhang Hao and Su Qingyu. "Do you understand now?"

Zhang Hao swallowed hard. "So... that business proposal is real, the trap in the blood is real, but the trap itself... is also part of the plan?"

"Exactly." Lin Chen nodded. "The reformists are gambling—gambling that we can see through the trap, gambling that we have the guts to take over, and gambling that we have the strength to help them turn the tables."

He stood up and walked to the window, looking out at the chaotic void beyond the Underworld.

"Those old fogies in the God Realm are almost all dead. The middle and lower-level gods don't want to be buried with them, so they found us to be their 'catfish'."

"What they sent wasn't a distress signal."

"It was a pledge of allegiance."

Su Qingyu walked to his side. "Are we taking it?"

Lin Chen didn't answer immediately.

He was silent for a long time, so long that Zhang Hao thought the boss was going to refuse—

Lin Chen suddenly smiled.

It was a smile Zhang Hao was very familiar with—the kind of almost crazily calm smile the boss would show every time he was about to pull off something big.

"We take it," Lin Chen said. "Why wouldn't we?"

He turned and looked at the bold red line on the holographic projection:

"Angel Round financing?"

"I'm familiar with this."

The Hook:

He looked at Su Qingyu, that same madness she was familiar with flashing in his eyes, as if he wanted to buy the entire world:

"Tell them—"

"The Underworld Group agrees to lead the investment."

"But the terms must change."

"I don't want 49%."

"I want 51%."

"And—"

He paused, then added a sentence that made Zhang Hao's scalp tingle:

"Tell the reformists that before signing the agreement, I want to meet that 'Finance Officer Michael' first."

"I'm very curious—"

"What an angel who dares to use the blood of three God Kings as the 'cover of a business proposal' actually looks like."