Chapter 483

The expressions of stunned disbelief on Zhong Tianbei's and Li Cheng's faces matched perfectly; only the wailing wind remained in the grove.

Doesn't matter if he's Emperor or not—just tell me, is he black enough?

'Wait, something's off.'

Li Cheng quickly realized: if Obama truly intended to ascend to Sequence 0 as the Black Emperor, his power far exceeded the mission's upper limit—he had no need to hide behind an alloy security door and waste words with interdimensional travelers.

'I know what you're thinking—my Sequence 1 title, the Prince of Slaughtered Sequence, is too weak, right?'

Obama's cheerful voice came through the loudspeaker: 'The reason is simple: the upper limit of supernatural elements in this world is too low.'

Just as a whale cannot grow in a fish tank, the world's ceiling determines the ceiling of the supernatural.

Even if I use the powers of the presidency to gather global resources, assemble expert teams, and analyze the essence of the supernatural from both mysticism and modern science, step by step ascending—

My power remains trapped within a human body.'

Obama's voice carried an indescribable melancholy: yes, wielding the supreme authority of the planet was intoxicating, but after encountering the supernatural and witnessing the boundless possibilities of the wider world, he could no longer return to endure the mundane.

'A whale can't grow in a fish tank—that's a great saying. Just as maggots can't hatch into butterflies.'

Li Cheng nodded, exchanged a glance with Zhong Tianbei, and asked the screen: 'We can accept your terms—exchange a Power Seed for SVIP's life.'

'But before that, answer one final question: how did you know the script mission would trigger on this island?'

'I didn't know. I just cast a wide net.'

Obama said: 'Mysteries attract mysteries. At every location I frequent, I've built secret bases to handle interdimensional travelers from different missions.'

Whether you came to kill me or to fight each other, I have ample space to intervene.'

Zhong Tianbei clicked his tongue. He had no idea what legacy the earliest Evil Science Alliance player had left, but this version of Obama in the script world clearly understood the Killing Ground rules deeply.

The Killing Ground System, when issuing missions—especially deathmatch missions—indeed prioritized locations with special significance as battlegrounds.

Including but not limited to Mount Rushmore, the Louvre, the Mausoleum of Qin Shi Huang, Shenyang's streets, and more.

Obama asked: 'Time is limited. Shall we begin?'

Li Cheng nodded. 'Fine. But for safety, we'll take turns. After both of us create the Power Seeds, we'll summon the Oracle and Joker. Any problem?'

Both sides negotiated the details for a moment, then, per the agreement, F-16s and F-22s flew away from above the island.

Zhong Tianbei picked up the 【Dao Path Bestowal Apparatus】 first, extending his arm into the cylinder's center.

Plosch.

A row of needles extended from inside the cylinder, deeply piercing Zhong Tianbei's arm, slowly drawing blood.

Crimson droplets merged with orange solution, forming countless tiny vortices emitting faint luminescence.

The entire Power Seed creation took ten minutes. When the apparatus retracted the needles, Zhong Tianbei's face was deathly pale, as if he'd been drained beyond reward.

Li Cheng placed the glowing Bestowal Apparatus back into the metal groove rising from the ground; the groove slowly sank, carried by a conveyor belt to the other side of the security door.

'Huh.'

Zhong Tianbei sat on a roadside rock, sipped the energy drink Li Cheng handed him, and weakly told the screen: 'Just a warning—these Power Seeds lack Killing Ground-compatible skills or items. Final cultivation speed will be extremely slow.'

'No need for you to worry. With billions on this planet, we'll surely find the most compatible candidates.'

Obama verified the goods, confirmed they were fine, snapped his fingers, and immediately, off-screen, the cries of Prince Andrew and Israel's Ehud Barak being dragged away by Secret Service agents echoed.

After a moment, two gunshots rang out.

【Stage Two Mission Objective: Kill Eight SVIPs. Current Progress: 3/8】

'My turn now.'

Li Cheng snatched up the second 【Dao Path Bestowal Apparatus】, turned to Zhong Tianbei, and said: 'Wait for me down the mountain. I'll join you after I make the Power Seed.'

This statement had a clear flaw. Zhong Tianbei's eyelid twitched—he realized the issue but said nothing, nodded, and walked down the mountain.

As Li Cheng extended his arm into the cylinder, he cheerfully asked Obama: 'So—you're Sequence 1, preparing to ascend to Sequence 0? Have you prepared the ascension ritual?'

'Of course. Own a nation. Link your name with the title of Emperor—win the presidency, secretly called the Black Pharaoh.

Establish a complex, rigid set of rules that defy normalcy—during my term, LGBT movements flourished, marginalized groups and ethnic minorities received disproportionate privileges, and countless minors chose to change gender.

Secretly build nine pyramid-like mausoleums—nationwide epidemics, with three mass graves in New York alone.

Most citizens participate, holding rituals in different cities—the BLM Black Lives Matter marches scattered across American cities.'

'Impressive.'

Li Cheng genuinely gave a thumbs-up. 'America is truly fortunate to have a patriot like you.'

'I do love America—just not the WASP version of it.'

Obama's smile was sly. 'Otherwise, I wouldn't have needed to push educational reforms.'

The previous president, Little Grove, was foolish, but he truly contributed to American education—his NCLB (No Child Left Behind) Act significantly improved public education quality and narrowed the academic gap between white and Black children.

But under Obama's term, he colluded with teachers' unions, overturned Little Grove's education law, and replaced it with 'Happy Education,' eliminating all evaluations and performance metrics for schools and teachers.

Teachers enjoyed slacking off; students, free from studying, played all day. The result: catastrophic collapse of public education.

Elite children could attend private schools; non-elite children suffered—facing endless temptations: the lure of Happy Education, the lure of contraband, the lure of changing gender to get into top universities without studying.

Even if they somehow got into college, those hoping to join manufacturing, fulfill the dream of an industrial powerhouse, and 'Make America Great Again,' found factory wages couldn't repay their terrifyingly high student loans—only finance, law, and similar fields could.

This further fueled anti-intellectualism, the belief that learning is useless, and industrial hollowing-out.

Each link reinforced the next—Black Pharaoh truly was America's 'Chosen One.'

As they spoke, Obama suddenly noticed something, his tone sharply turning serious: 'Could you point the Bestowal Apparatus toward the camera?' As the angle adjusted and the image zoomed in, the Apparatus did glow—but unlike when Zhong Tianbei used it, no tiny vortices formed.

'Caught, huh.'

Li Cheng spoke casually, pulling his arm out. He hadn't been bled—he'd merely taped a bag of fluorescent liquid to his arm.

'You!' Obama leapt from his chair in shock and fury.

'You could recite all four of our IDs—your information came from Sanriyue, who has precognition. But she didn't tell you my level is below Lv25—I don't meet the 【Dao Path Bestowal Apparatus】 usage requirement.'

Li Cheng grinned. 'In other words, she foresaw something—and used this to warn us—you can't be trusted.'

'Open fire!'

The Black Pharaoh roared, and two machine gun turrets, resembling close-defense cannons, instantly rose from the open ground before the security door, sweeping horizontally.

Too bad—it was still too late.

Li Cheng hurled the Dao Path Instruction Device ahead of time and vanished instantly; the dense bullet streams struck only the tree trunks.

The next second, Li Cheng's form spilled out of the void, appearing inside the security door; his hair and clothing were charred and smoking from the short-range teleportation.

A shrunken version of the 【Familiar Swap】 skill: 【Slave Swap】, consuming one additional copy of the game disc "Call of Duty" to achieve displacement.

Earlier, when Li Cheng had returned the drained Instruction Device to its slot, he had secretly stuck the Shi Laimu-transformed Grey Rain to the bottom of the device, out of the surveillance cameras' view.

Grey Rain rode the conveyor belt to the other side of the security door, then, using its shape-shifting nature, leapt off the belt and found a spot to emerge.

The Special Operations Bureau agents stared in stunned silence at the sudden appearance of Master Pi Fu, then, after a half-second delay, raised their weapons in unison.

Li Cheng moved faster—they opened their mouths, unleashed a 【Nay Dragon Breath】, and blasted water jets like firehoses directly onto the agents' faces, scalding them into shrieks and yelps.

Bang! Bang! Bang!

A child-sized JR-15 delivered precise single shots, killing every agent with headshots.

Casings flew through the air in slow motion; at the edge of Li Cheng's vision, he swiftly scanned the entire cave, and understanding dawned.

There was no corridor here, no hidden chamber.

In the earlier footage, the screaming, begging VIPs—including the Xuan Tian Sect couple and Maxwell, Epstein's mistress and island hostess—were already dead, their corpses piled on the ground beyond the cameras' reach.

Only Epstein remained, tightly bound, blindfolded and gagged.

Of course.

Earlier, Li Cheng had found it odd: why had only Sanriyue shown signs of struggle among the three anesthetized children?

Why had the footage broken off between Sanriyue and the moment the Special Operations Bureau agents raised their cameras?

Why hadn't the cameras turned when Prince Andrew and Ehud Barak died?

The Black Pharaoh, through language and video editing, implied to players that Sanriyue's hidden chamber lay within the cave.

Prince Andrew was taken to Sanriyue's hidden chamber, where a timed trigger device caused the unconscious Sanriyue to pull the trigger and kill the SVIP, advancing all players' mission progress.

But in truth, Sanriyue and the others were never in the cave—all SVIPs had already been executed by Special Operations Bureau agents posing as ordinary civilians, not counted toward the players' progress.

The audio of Prince Andrew being dragged away and killed did not occur at the same time as Li Cheng's conversation with the Black Pharaoh.

As for why this was done—

Li Cheng swung his gun around and sprayed water at the distant Black Pharaoh.

The latter clenched his fist, and every bullet veered off, striking the surveillance monitor screen behind him.

The Chaos ability of the Fallen Count, Rank 4, distorts structure, scale standards, and attack precision, deflecting attacks aimed at itself.

"You never intended to honor the agreement, did you?"

Li Cheng narrowed his eyes: "Fearing we'd storm in, the SVIPs here were already executed by Special Operations Bureau agents posing as civilians—so they don't count toward our mission progress.

The system notification you heard came from elsewhere."

The Black Pharaoh said nothing; his pupils trembled rapidly.

Li Cheng shook his head. "In a way, I pity you. You're the only transcendent in this world—you never had the chance to learn how transcendent combat works."

Saying this, he dropped the child-sized rifle and drew forth the Flag Spear's steel tube from the void, roaring: "Spear of Piercing Dead Thorns!"

The Spear of Piercing Dead Thorns comes from the 2004 text adventure game "Fate/stay night"; if the Black Pharaoh had played it, he'd know this weapon is impossible for a shrunken player to possess.

But the Black Pharaoh was no player, nor had he ever wished to become one—he naturally didn't frantically consume every piece of media like a forum newbie.

Thus, he dared not catch the steel tube, but slapped the wall instead, reactivating the Corrupted Baron's ability and blasting a crack through the thick rock.

The Black Pharaoh seized Epstein beside him, retreated into the crack, and as he left the cave, kicked the mountain wall hard, activating the Fallen Count's extraordinary ability—both he and Epstein floated upward as if weightless.

An Apache attack helicopter dove down; U. S. soldiers in the cabin caught the Black Pharaoh and Epstein with precision, then the pilot pressed a button and fired two Hellfire missiles at the cave's fissure.

The Hellfire missiles carried 6.8 kilograms of high-explosive compound; in this enclosed environment, their power was amplified.

At the last possible moment, Li Cheng advanced instead of retreating, rushed to the pile of corpses, snatched up the body of Maxwell, Epstein's mistress, and tossed it into the 3D storage unit.

Then he pulled out the shrunken version of the 【Skill Transfer USB】: the 【Skill Transfer 3.5-inch Floppy Disk】.

He activated the Slave Swap skill once more.

This time, he didn't swap with Grey Rain—he swapped with the Paper Crane—the Shi Laimu-form Grey Rain's self-healing ability had weakened accordingly.

So Li Cheng had been cautious: earlier, when pretending to be clueless and pulling out his printed newspaper, he had summoned the Paper Crane.

He hid the Paper Crane inside the newspaper, then, feigning low intelligence, tossed it carelessly into the roadside grass.

Shhh—

Li Cheng appeared on the open ground before the alloy security door, listening to the deafening explosion behind it; he took a deep breath, grabbed the radio, and shouted to the Oracle and the others: "Obama is on the helicopter—our new objective is to evade his pursuit.

Operation Code: Black Storm Sweep!"