Chapter 557: The Riotous Meeting and

"Li Ang Lane..."

Just as Li Ang, holding his sister's family photo, was pondering how to dig up secrets about the Water Bottle Director to accelerate the Bureau's investigation into that guy, a group of people were also holding his file, pondering how to move him out of the way as a roadblock.

"Must we intervene? Can't we solve him using ordinary means?"

After quickly flipping through the few documents in hand, a short man sitting at the very bottom end of the long table couldn't help but speak up first:

"His schedule is basically fixed; every day he departs from Bridge Street to go to work in the Municipal District where the Police Department is located. If we set up an ambush in advance, perhaps only a few bombs would be needed..."

"It's useless."

The young man sitting opposite him shook his head, gritting his teeth and speaking with a face full of resentment:

"He is one of those from the Cleanup Bureau; he has more than one Anomaly protecting him. Ordinary alchemical bombs will most likely not kill him."

"Then blow up his house!"

The short man proposed again:

"Even if he has Anomalies protecting him, he can't necessarily guard against them 24 hours a day. We can sneak over at night and blow up the entire apartment building on Bridge Street!"

"Can't sneak over."

A young woman wearing a hat shook her head and spoke at an extremely fast pace:

"That apartment building has a very good field of view; the terrace in the northwest corner can directly observe the entire street. When I was planning to assassinate the Princess before, I had considered choosing that spot as the first sniper position.

However, at that time, I had just climbed over the fence when I discovered a terrifyingly strong old man holding a pair of large scissors staring at me. I fired a shot at him and he was fine, but he swung the scissors back and almost took my life.

Later, I brought twenty people to sneak over, but in the blink of an eye, they were all tied up tightly by a white-haired old lady and thrown into the trash station at the street corner.

Although that old man didn't kill me, he insisted on holding a pair of scissors over a meter long against my head for more than half an hour, not only shaving off all my hair and eyebrows but also scraping my nose hair clean; it hasn't grown back yet."

Raising her head slightly to show everyone her empty nasal cavity, the young woman sighed:

"Later I found out that the apartment building itself is an Anomaly; the strong old man and that white-haired old lady inside have been dead for over ninety years. With these two old ghosts guarding the apartment, if we really want to sneak in and plant bombs, we would probably have to send a heavily armed unit to assault it.

Oh, by the way, have you seen heavy weapons? Last month I secretly went to check out the Lane Armaments Company; the heavy weapons ordered by the Military Department were only half done by them, but the order form actually dared to write 'completed.' Currently, except for the most important few units, many have not actually been deployed, so we can actually use this point..."

"Enough, Xia Luote. Your intelligence is very useful, but it has nothing to do with this meeting. What we are discussing this time is how to deal with this Li Ang Lane."

After interrupting the young woman, the middle-aged man sitting in the main seat spoke:

"Everyone, according to the intelligence sent back by Patton, this Cleanup Bureau employee is not weak in strength. For someone with Anomalies like him, the probability of solving him using ordinary methods is low; you must intervene."

"It's no problem for us to intervene, but what happens after we do?"

After sucking hard on his teeth, an old man dressed quite sloppily spoke up to remind them:

"He is an employee of that Cleanup Bureau. The person who gave us our abilities said that the Director of the Cleanup Bureau's Virgin Branch is shockingly strong; even if we all attack together, it would be suicide.

If Patton were still here, we could kill him in the duplicate space created by Patton, but now Patton is gone. If we kill him, we might provoke that woman to intervene personally..."

"No, that woman from the Virgin Bureau has her own duties and generally won't intervene personally. Moreover, we don't necessarily have to really kill him; erasing his abilities and memories is sufficient."

While speaking, the middle-aged man in the main seat turned his head to look at the sleepy child on his right hand side, gently tapped the table, and said:

"Phoebe, you will also join this mission, responsible for making the target forget the information about us in his brain, as well as the ability to peek into other people's souls. Can you do it?"

"Huh?"

After hearing the middle-aged man's question, the sleepy little girl suddenly shivered, then spoke with a blank face:

"What mission?"

"..."

"Ambush Li Ang Lane."

Hearing this, the little girl sniffed her nose and continued to ask with a blank face:

"Who is Li Ang Lane?"

"An employee of the Cleanup Bureau who exposed Patton's identity and stole Samantha's ability."

"Who is Patton? And who is Samantha?"

Facing the little girl's repeated questions, the middle-aged man was not impatient but explained seriously:

"They are our comrades. Patton is the spy embedded in the Secret Investigation Bureau, the strong uncle with a scar on his face. Samantha is the aunt with bandages on her hands who can heal others and also make people rot directly..."

"Oh..."

After nodding with a look of half-understanding, the little girl rubbed her eyes and then spoke up to ask again:

"Then who are you?"

"I... forget it."

After rubbing his brow in pain, the middle-aged man waved to the seat on the other side of the little girl and said somewhat helplessly:

"Lucy, your sister's amnesia has acted up again. She is in no condition to discuss things; you should directly implant the information she needs to know into Phoebe's head!"

"Okay."

A hoarse and ancient voice sounded. An old lady with a face full of wrinkles sat up straight, extended a trembling palm, and placed it on the little girl's forehead.

Seeing that this strange pair of "sisters" was ready, the middle-aged man nodded in satisfaction, then instructed the old lady with a face full of wrinkles:

"Lucy, this target has the ability to probe other people's soul states, so after everyone finishes the meeting and selects the personnel to execute the ambush mission, please trouble you to move your hands again.

To prevent the personnel executing the mission from developing hostility towards the target and alerting him prematurely, causing unnecessary vigilance, please implant a layer of false memory into the selected person to temporarily cover everyone's original memories. Any problems?"

"No problem."

"Thank you for your hard work."

After nodding in thanks to the old lady, the middle-aged man leaned his body forward slightly, pressed his hands on the tabletop of the long table, and spoke directly:

"So next, it would be best to first determine the location of the ambush. Do you have any suggestions on this matter?"

"I suggest acting directly while he is going to work!"

A man covered in burns on his right hand side raised his hand and spoke with cold eyes to propose:

"We should all move out together, storm into that so-called Cleanup Bureau, first kill that red-haired woman, then burn everyone else to death, and then..."

"Enough, enough, shut up!"

Hearing the burn-scarred man's suggestion—which couldn't really be called deliberately seeking death, only purely not wanting to live—the middle-aged man couldn't help but sigh and wave his hand toward the burn-scarred man's direction.

Accompanied by a strange booming sound, the burn-scarred man vanished from the room in an instant, leaving behind only an empty chair thick with dust.

Not knowing what method he'd used to directly drive the burn-scarred man out, the middle-aged man said with a headache:

"There's no need to say stupid things like that. Do you have any slightly more reliable suggestions?"

"I do." A rather slovenly old man raised his hand and proposed with an earnest expression:

"The Lionheart Duke's inheritance ceremony—what do you think about ambushing him there?"

The Lionheart Duke's inheritance ceremony?

After hearing the slovenly old man's suggestion, the rebels in the room were silent for a moment, then began nodding one after another.

"Very good!"

"Very suitable!"

"I think so too!"

The middle-aged man in the main seat thought for a while, then finally nodded along as well, and said with a smile:

"Indeed it's a good choice. The Lionheart Duke's inheritance ceremony will surely have many important figures attending—even the royal family will send representatives.

If we're lucky enough, we won't just be able to solve the problem of Hearing Li Ang, we might even be able to eliminate a large number of nobles and officials in one go. Let's set the ambush location at tomorrow's inheritance ceremony!

As for the specific people for the ambush, do any of you want to volunteer?"

"I want to go! I want to go!"

Hearing the middle-aged man's words, the young woman whose head had been shaved bald by the burly old man and who had an extremely chatty mouth raised her hand excitedly and said:

"I can snipe from five kilometers away…"

"You're excluded."

Cutting her off again, the middle-aged man in the main seat shook his head and said:

"Your ability is sufficiently concealed and your range is far enough—excellent for assassination—but your destructive power is too poor. You may not be able to break through the anomalous item the target uses to protect himself.

Moreover, this time we don't actually need to kill him. We just need to subdue him, then let Phoebe erase part of his memories and abilities, so you're not suited for this mission."

"Then count me in!"

Just as the chatty bald woman pouted in dissatisfaction and prepared to argue her case, a thin young man stood up and said excitedly:

"Back then it was Barton who voluntarily stayed behind to cover the retreat—only then did Samantha and I manage to escape. This time I…"

"Sorry, you're not suited either."

The middle-aged man shook his head and said:

"It's not yet time to provoke that red-haired woman from the Cleanup Bureau, and you have the closest relationship with Barton. I'm worried that for the sake of avenging Barton, you'd forcibly kill the target, and then the matter couldn't be wrapped up. You should stay behind."

"…"

After the young man sat down with disappointment in his eyes, the middle-aged man simply stopped asking and directly began calling out names:

"Alright then, apart from sisters Phoebe and Lucy, David, Luke—you two go along! Your abilities are clearly the most suited for this mission."

"No problem!"

The man who had first suggested planting bombs answered.

"Fine."

The slovenly old man nodded.

"Then it's decided!"

After confirming the specific personnel, the middle-aged man watched the few who had stood up and walked toward Lucy to voluntarily accept memory overwriting, and couldn't help but nod in satisfaction.

After the few finished accepting the memory overwriting, he waved his hand at everyone in the room. The strange booming sound rang out again, and everyone in the room vanished without exception, leaving behind only chairs covered in dust.

And the middle-aged man in the main seat, as if he had instantly experienced over a dozen years, his once jet-black temples now streaked with strands of grey.

……

Still, no one managed to live to see the future?

Looking at the empty meeting room and those dust-covered seats, the visibly aged middle-aged man let out a long sigh, then stood up with some effort, controlling his future body as he walked toward the door.

The last time he had made a change, he still couldn't alter the fate of the kingdom's destruction. The war faction led by the princess resisted and utterly failed, the entire kingdom was dragged into a brutal civil war lasting eleven years, the once extremely prosperous royal capital was reduced to ruins under bombardment, countless people were displaced and lived lives worse than death.

And in those futures where he successfully assassinated the princess, the royal family and nobles surrendered voluntarily—first ceding territory and paying indemnities, then handing over all ports, mines, and other resources, even the legal currency was forcibly abolished. The once wealthy nation was nearly drained dry, though the common people could at least barely scrape by.

As for himself and the "rebels" he had gathered… in every future, none of them existed—only he alone endured the agony of a fallen kingdom and shattered home, struggling to survive. After all, only by living on could he send messages back to the past again and again, trying to save the homeland that had reached a dead end!

After stumbling to the door, the visibly aged middle-aged man took a deep breath, and his bony, gnarled hands gripped the rust-covered door handle with force.

Come! The Lyon family that caused the military's massive deficit and led to the army's lack of combat power has been completely wiped out, and a new Lionheart Duke has taken over. Let me see just what this future looks like!

"Creak—!"

Accompanied by the grating sound of an old door hinge, as if pushing open a door that separated two worlds, sunlight warm enough to be blinding poured in, and along with extremely lively clamor, shone upon the middle-aged man all at once.

"This… this is?!"

Looking at the exquisite, orderly buildings before him, the bustling streets, the giant airships dragging ribbons as they flew past, and the people gathered at the street corner around a huge strange screen, chattering away—the middle-aged man couldn't help but freeze completely on the spot.

I succeeded! I finally succeeded! The kingdom can be saved!!!

An uncontrollable, immense surge of joy instantly seized his heart. The middle-aged man, tears and snot streaming down his face, dropped to his knees with a thud and involuntarily let out a hysterical roar.

"Oh! You scared me!"

"What's wrong with him? Why's he suddenly shouting nonsense?"

"Prince Lyon was caught cheating—why is he so happy about it?"

"Guards! Guards! There's a madman here!"

"…"

Under the curious gazes of the surrounding passersby and their noisy pointing and gossiping, the middle-aged man—who had finally witnessed a beautiful future—suddenly raised both arms and shouted toward the sky in ecstatic joy.

"Long live the kingdom! Long live the kingdom!!!"

Startled by his sudden shout, the gathered crowd reflexively stepped back several paces, then began whispering among themselves with puzzled expressions.

"Is this guy crazy?"

"What's wrong with him? Why suddenly shout 'Long live the Kingdom'?"

"Right, didn't the Kingdom fall ages ago?"

What did you say? The Kingdom is gone?!!!

Hearing the conversation between two aunties carrying vegetable baskets beside him, the middle-aged man sprang up from the ground, lunged over, and tackled one of the aunties to the floor, screaming like a madman:

"How could the Kingdom be gone?! Who did it! Who did it!!!"

"N-no... it wasn't me! I didn't do it!"

Half scared to death by the "madman's" actions, terrified he might lose his temper and bite her, the vegetable-buying aunty raised a trembling hand and hurriedly pointed toward the big screen on the Chaojie corner.

"Prince Hearing Li Ang did it! If you want to find someone, go find him! It's got nothing to do with me!"

Hearing Li Ang... Prince?

Following the vegetable-buying aunty's directions, he looked toward the strange screen on the street corner, and saw the handsome man on it repeatedly waving both hands, emphatically insisting that the affair was pure rumor and that he had done absolutely nothing that night. The middle-aged man couldn't help but freeze on the spot.

Hearing Li Ang... Leon?

Kill him! I'm going back right now to kill him!

(End of this chapter)