Chapter 560

The most recent player to reach Lv40 was Carrie, acting chair of the Monutong Alliance. She reached Lv40 simply by enduring long enough; Michael reached Lv40 because the current version's level cap is only forty—she hit that ceiling nearly two years ago.

Therefore, Michael is fully entitled to say, "Adaptation isn't random fabrication; dramatization isn't nonsense. No one understands Lv40's power tier better than I do."

Li Cheng pondered briefly, then asked: "Should we leave a shred of the Shifting Demon alive? Extract its memories to obtain information about the other world."

"Unnecessary."

Michael shook her head. "This Shifting Demon is programmed to trigger self-destruction upon any memory probe." Time was running out.

As expected, the Shifting Demon—now reduced to the size of a basketball—was rapidly dissolving and vanishing, even after taking two rounds from the Ape Regression Gun.

This, in some sense, involved causality: the snail-like transcendent being from the other world had sensed, before the Deathmatch Mission began, that it would be observed in the future.

Thus, even if it could have granted the Shifting Demon an emergency escape card to force-exit mid-mission, or erased the Shifting Demon's memories in advance, it could not—doing so would create a causal paradox.

Hmm… if it were Li Cheng, knowing someone planned to search the Shifting Demon's memories, he'd deliberately annoy the opponent by stuffing bizarre content into its brain.

For example: 【Any player who sees this message automatically turns into a pig ^( * ( oo ) ) ^】

【Americans have low standards and like to dump fries and burgers on the table to eat—IP: Canada】

【As a parent, I must say: domestic games are truly terrible—none are designed specifically for school-age children. Genshin Impact and Honor of Kings recommend age 12+, Black Myth: Wukong 17+. In comparison, I recommend the puzzle coloring game "Hearts of Iron" for ages 3+, "Stellaris" for 7+, and "Crusader Kings" for 9+.】

Or, overlay key memories with grotesque video footage. If human civilization wants to analyze the other world through memory analysis, then every faction's intelligence teams will have to watch those grotesque videos a hundred times, a hundred times over.

As he contemplated, Li Cheng stepped forward and killed the Shifting Demon with a Condensed Qi Internal Explosion Fist.

【Deathmatch Mission "Network Duizhan Qibing" Completed】

The system notification chimed. Michael watched silently as Li Cheng lowered his fist and said: "If you don't mind, could you sell us the Shifting Demon's corpse? We'll dissect it to analyze information from the other world."

"No objection. Take it."

Li Cheng waved his hand. The Shifting Demon had only a sliver of its body left; keeping it served no purpose except as ammunition for the Bagua Demon Cannon. Better to sell it to the GOC—consider it support for humanity's survival.

"Also, something strikes me as odd."

Li Cheng noticed Michael wasn't as cold and distant as some forum posts claimed—she could communicate normally—so he spoke up: "Back on the surface in San Francisco, the FBI's Special Affairs Division was utterly unprofessional."

During the surface battle, Li Cheng had nearly crippled the Shifting Demon when FBI personnel suddenly stormed the battlefield—especially that player named Buddy, whose body contained a networked mechanical prosthesis manufactured by the Prometheus Guild, allowing the Shifting Demon to partially possess his essence and regain a large amount of health, triggering the subsequent satellite malfunction.

Buddy was at least a mid-tier player at level twenty-something, and the FBI was a massive power with shares in the Louchai Originals. They shouldn't—and couldn't—be this amateurish.

Unless… they did it on purpose.

"I understand."

Michael paused. The Shifting Demon, as a conceptually engineered being, possessed maximum resistance to damage, self-healing, and assimilation capabilities—it was inherently valuable for research. Moreover, it was backed by an unknown, highly advanced civilization capable of cross-dimension invasion.

The FBI likely deliberately sent personnel susceptible to possession, waiting for the Shifting Demon to take over.

If they could capture the Shifting Demon intact and lock it away for study, that would be ideal.

If the plan failed and they only recovered a fragment of its essence, they still wouldn't lose. Externally, they could claim they were trying to protect human civilization—just insufficiently equipped.

The risk of things going wrong would be borne collectively by all humanity; they knew Michael had returned and intervened personally, so they felt assured of a safety net.

Michael lightly tapped the edge of the satellite debris with her combat boot, shifting its center of mass to angle it toward Earth's surface.

Then, holding her scabbard, she swung it casually toward the distant Earth.

Thousands of kilometers away, in Livermore, California, USA, the Sandia National Laboratories Livermore Branch.

This research facility was a U. S. national-level comprehensive institution under the Department of Energy, specializing in nuclear weapons, quantum technology, energy systems, and defense technology.

Alarms blared incessantly; red warning lights glowed along the corridors. Over a thousand researchers were ordered via loudspeaker to remain in their rooms; only a few scientists could enter the halls, watching dozens of fully armed U. S. soldiers sprinting through the facility, dragging a wheeled gurney bearing a lead-lined coffin.

The lead coffin shook violently. The lab director ran beside it, clutching a phone: "... Yes, Secretary of State, Buddy is already brain-dead. His corpse is accelerating toward transformation into a Shifting Demon.

I recommend immediately forming a cross-departmental task force, prioritizing astrophysicists and quantum physicists to analyze the Shifting Demon's bio-energy and cross-dimensional technology..."

Before he finished speaking, the ceiling of the facility—constructed from steel-fiber-reinforced concrete and composite steel blast layers, theoretically capable of withstanding heavy bunker-buster bombs—was ripped apart by terrifying force.

Building materials collapsed like sandcastles. Researchers trapped in sealed rooms saw, through narrow door windows, the lead coffin compressed into a flat plate, all U. S. soldiers, accompanying transcendent beings, and the lab director buried beneath thousands of tons of debris.

Dust rolled thickly. From above, a deep, hundred-meter-long, five-meter-wide sword scar was carved into the Livermore Lab.

Lv40 revenge never waits until tomorrow.

Michael turned her head and gazed at a distant【Realm Earth】artificial satellite along the terminator line, then swung her scabbard again. Ash rain appeared out of nowhere and fell beside Li Cheng.

Satellites in low Earth orbit complete one revolution every ninety minutes. With the mission over, Ash Rain was kicked out of the network state and continued orbiting with the satellite. Michael sliced through space and pulled her back from the terminator line ahead of schedule.

"Holy shit, Mi!"

Ash Rain stared wide-eyed at Michael and whispered to Li Cheng: "Did we really earn this much face? You actually got Michael as a guest star?"

"Can we ask her for a signed photo? I want to put it on my desk for protection."

"Can you just act normal?"

Li Cheng felt awkward, his toes curling into the ground. Top-tier transcendent beings were akin to gods, and a god's standard equipment was the ability to sense distant prayers, chants, and their own sacred objects.

Putting Michael's photo on your desk might as well invite her to watch Ash Rain digging his nose while struggling through a junior high exam.

Perhaps she had already learned of Li Cheng and Ash Rain's style from the Side of Truth—or perhaps she simply didn't care. Michael said calmly: "On behalf of GOC, I thank you both for your efforts and contributions in this mission. Is there anything GOC can do for you?"

"Uh..."

Li Cheng scratched his head. With Michael's backing, the Global Occult Alliance was effectively Earth's village chief. But Li Cheng had money and free time—he genuinely couldn't think of anything he needed GOC to help with.

Li Cheng couldn't think of anything, but Ash Rain was eager. "Can you beat up someone whose name I won't reveal—Kurara Hayami? Because this guy defied heaven, and so many cultural works have stopped coming to China."

She raised her phone. On the screen was a text message: 【Due to special circumstances, Japanese cultural activities in China are suspended. Your itinerary has been upgraded free of charge:

Saito Akatsuki concert → KFC Crazy Thursday Roselia concert → Wallace Happy Friday Wu Ci You Ci concert → Pizza Hut Scream Wednesday Bandai Namco Carnival → Dustin is so cool new product tasting event. Wishing you good health and all the best.】

Michael fell silent. At GOC's Hague headquarters, where global elites had regained signal, their expressions were filled with exasperation as they silently cursed inwardly.

What the fuck, you're really chill, aren't you? As a familiar, you don't even think about daily training to strengthen yourself—you just go to concerts every day? And why are they all fast-food brands? Afraid you'll turn into David Beckham?

Perhaps sensing GOC's likely mockery, Ash Rain scrolled down further—there was even a Demon Slayer movie rebranded as "Snow King's Birthday Season" at Mixue Bingcheng.

... And it came with drinks. You won't get thirsty eating it, huh? You win.

GOC command center staff rolled their eyes. Michael paused, her voice showing rare hesitation: "The Global Occult Alliance theoretically does not interfere in domestic affairs."

The GOC higher-ups rolled their eyes in the command hall. Michael was silent for a moment, and a rare hint of hesitation crept into his voice. "In theory, the Global Occult Coalition does not interfere in the internal affairs of other nations."

"Then forget it."

Grey Rain went along with it readily, thought for a moment, and said: "Can you do things like the national football team winning the World Cup, or an all-Chinese roster in LPL taking the championship?"

Michael paused briefly. "... Let's discuss the matter of dealing with Sanae instead."