77: Chapter 77: Keep pretending, I'll admit defeat once I get the data.

Sect Leader Lu Yun floated above Donghai City, looking down at the dense crowd beneath his feet.

With a sweep of his divine sense, he locked onto the top of the "Donghai Pearl Tower." To him, that pure energy was absolutely some kind of top-tier natural treasure.

"To think a dump like this could produce such a treasure; they really hit the jackpot," Sect Leader Lu Yun sneered inwardly. "But that luck ends today. This thing is destined for me; it belongs to me, to help me form my Golden Core!"

He never once considered that this energy was man-made.

In his mind, mortals were just mortals, no different from ants on the ground. How could they possibly create such pure energy? It must be a gift from the heavens that these mortals had stumbled upon.

He couldn't even be bothered to go down and snatch it directly.

He was an immortal from the Upper Realm; he had to maintain the demeanor of an immortal.

He wanted these mortals to willingly offer up the treasure with both hands.

He needed to show off a few tricks first to scare them.

His gaze swept casually across the city before stopping on a tall iron tower. The tower was covered in antennas, blinking with lights, looking like something quite important to the city.

"Hmm, that will do."

Sect Leader Lu Yun smiled disdainfully, too lazy to even use any major spells.

He extended two fingers and pointed them at the iron tower hundreds of meters away.

"Break."

An invisible force shot from his fingertips, striking the equipment room in the middle of the tower instantly.

A loud boom rang out.

That signal tower, which had cost hundreds of millions and affected the communication of millions of people, exploded right in the middle!

Countless equipment parts inside were blown to smithereens, falling from the sky amidst black smoke and flames.

In that instant, the signal for millions of mobile phones in the city center vanished.

The internet cut out, calls couldn't be made, and countless ongoing tasks and conversations stopped abruptly.

The city immediately descended into chaos.

After finishing this, Sect Leader Lu Yun nodded with satisfaction. This effect should be enough to scare these mortals.

Then, he cleared his throat and used spiritual energy to amplify his voice, putting on a grand tone so that everyone in Donghai City could hear.

"People of the Mortal Realm, listen up!"

The voice sounded like thunder, resonating directly in everyone's minds. No matter if you were indoors or outdoors, or what language you spoke, you could understand what he was saying.

"I am the Immortal Envoy from the Tianyan Sect of the Upper Realm, Sect Leader Lu Yun!"

"I sensed that a treasure had appeared here and came specifically to claim it. This is the will of heaven; you mortals are not to resist!"

"I give you one hour to respectfully bring the treasure from the high tower in the city center to me! Whoever is in charge, wash up and bring all your subordinates to kneel under the tower and welcome me!"

"Whoever dares to disobey, this tower will be your fate!"

These words were filled with an arrogance and threat that brooked no argument.

All of Donghai City was in an uproar.

"Oh my god! There's a voice in my head!"

"Immortal Envoy? What Immortal Envoy? Are they filming a movie?"

"What treasure? What is he talking about?"

"He just blew up that signal tower! I saw it with my own eyes! He just pointed at it with his finger!"

"Have immortals descended to the mortal world?!"

Panic, shock, curiosity, and even a bit of excitement—all kinds of emotions swirled in the hearts of the more than twenty million citizens.

Meanwhile, inside the Forward Command Center, Director Zhao Lixin's face turned green with rage upon hearing this.

"Damn it! What is this thing?! It's way too arrogant!" Director Zhao Lixin trembled with anger. "Immortal Envoy from the Upper Realm? Does he think he's the Jade Emperor?!"

He remembered the "Ghost" team they had captured a few hours ago. Compared to the one before him, the "Ghost" team was practically civilized and polite.

"He wants us to kneel and welcome him? Does he think it's still the Qing Dynasty?!" Chief Engineer Wang Jianguo, who had a more explosive temper, grabbed a wrench nearby and wanted to rush out. "I'm going to go meet him! Let's see how tough his bones are!"

"Old Wang! Calm down!" Professor Chen grabbed him by the side. "He can destroy a signal tower from afar; we definitely can't go head-to-head with him!"

"Then what do we do? Just let him be this arrogant? And hand over the things Engineer Jiang worked so hard to build?" Chief Engineer Wang Jianguo's eyes were red.

The command center was in chaos.

Everyone's eyes eventually landed on Jiang Ning.

Only she remained standing in front of the sand table, her face expressionless, as if the guy outside calling himself an "Immortal Envoy" was just a clown.

Director Zhao Lixin suppressed his anger, forced himself to calm down, and walked over to Jiang Ning, his voice trembling: "Engineer Jiang, what do you think... this..."

Jiang Ning moved her gaze from the sand table and looked at Director Zhao Lixin.

"What does he want?"

"He... he wants us to hand over the formation eye on the 'Donghai Pearl Tower' to him," Director Zhao Lixin said with difficulty. "And... he also wants us to kneel and welcome him."

"Oh." Jiang Ning nodded, unable to tell if she was happy or angry.

This "Oh" made Director Zhao Lixin feel even more uneasy.

"Engineer Jiang, this person's background is unknown, and his methods are so weird, we..."

"Didn't he ask us to kneel and welcome him?" Jiang Ning interrupted him suddenly.

Director Zhao Lixin was stunned: "Yes, that's too humiliating! We absolutely cannot agree!"

"Go." Jiang Ning spat out the word indifferently.

"What?" Director Zhao Lixin thought he had misheard. "Engineer Jiang, what did you say? You want us to go?"

Everyone in the command center was dumbfounded, looking at Jiang Ning in disbelief.

In their hearts, Jiang Ning was the country's trump card, the anchor of stability. How could she possibly bow to a guy with an unknown background?

"Yes." Jiang Ning looked at Director Zhao Lixin and said word by word, "You take people and go. Represent the authorities and go 'talk' to him."

"Why?" Chief Engineer Wang Jianguo couldn't help but shout, "Isn't this just dampening our own spirits?"

Jiang Ning didn't explain, just turned her head to look at the sand table again.

In her eyes, the "Immortal Envoy" named Sect Leader Lu Yun was just a walking, super-powerful, oversized signal source.

The moment he blew up the tower, and the moment he used his divine sense to transmit his voice, all the energy fluctuation data had been recorded by the grand formation.

"The data is too scarce," Jiang Ning calculated in her heart. "Just one attack sample and one divine sense sample is not enough to analyze his methods. I need more, data from when he uses other moves."

"Especially... when he gets close, when he takes a hit, and when he gets angry, to see how he makes his moves."

She raised her head and looked at Director Zhao Lixin, her eyes looking just like she was looking at a lab mouse.

"You go, he will definitely be impatient and use some spells to scare you, showing off his abilities."

"That is exactly what I want."

"You go and help me... coax out all the moves he knows."

Director Zhao Lixin looked at Jiang Ning's eyes and understood immediately.

He felt his back go a little cold.

So... Engineer Jiang was treating that arrogant "Immortal Envoy" as a "lab mouse" that delivered itself to her door for research and testing?

And he was the "zookeeper" responsible for teasing the mouse, letting it jump around a bit more, so it would be convenient for her to make records?

This thought made Director Zhao Lixin feel it was absurd, but also inexplicably... exciting.

He straightened his back.

"I understand, Engineer Jiang," he said, lowering his voice. "I guarantee the mission will be completed!"