Chapter 357

After Zhu Li finished speaking, everyone present fell silent.

Often, the solution to a problem has nothing to do with whether the problem itself is right or wrong.

Using the flesh and blood of hundreds of living people to gain money, they deliberately engineered a mine explosion to cover up the truth, killing hundreds of miners.

According to normal procedure, everyone responsible for such a major case should be hanged, and the mine's shareholders must pay astronomical compensation and likely face total ruin.

But now, that's impossible.

Grimlan, or rather the entire Stilan Empire, is currently in a delicate balance.

As industry gradually became Stilan's core pillar, the new nobility and the Liberal Party have gained the upper hand on the surface, but industry's rise has only lasted five years, and the old nobility, with their deep foundations, have not yet fallen too far behind.

Moreover, Prime Minister Ron is the leader of the Conservative Party and previously led part of the old nobility's industries toward industrialization; the Conservative Party is not without strength.

If the Liberal Party now exposes this scandal, the political balance will inevitably be shattered.

Especially since the problem occurred at Pine Tree Mine, one of Stilan's industrial symbols.

The old nobility will never miss this opportunity—they will surely demonize industry, and both Stilan's future and the upcoming World Industrial Exposition will likely suffer.

Wu Chang, whether from the Queen's perspective or the player's, must temporarily suppress this matter.

The best solution is naturally to wait until after the World Industrial Exposition and the official end of the prime ministerial election, then use this as leverage to force the Liberal Party to compromise and hand over some individuals to take responsibility.

Actual implementation is too messy; Wu Chang doesn't want to get involved. He said:

"I mean a Mystic Knight. This imperial matter is for you and Your Majesty to decide."

"I can help you temporarily conceal the truth, but there are two conditions."

Zhu Li forced a smile and said, "Go on."

Wu Chang said without expression:

"First, the mine owner of Pine Tree Mine must be handed over to the Mystic Knights for handling. The occult arrangements within Pine Tree Mine are highly sophisticated—behind him, there must be powerful transcendent figures supporting his actions."

"Nobles' affairs are for the Queen and you to decide, but the transcendent realm has always been the Mystic Knights' domain."

Can't you move a few hidden transcendent figures if you can't touch the deeply rooted nobles?

First resolve the Prime Minister's assassination case, and use the investigation to cleanse Grimlan.

Then back Randy's rise to power—control both politics and the transcendent realm. When he acknowledges it, Olivia is Queen; when he doesn't, she's just a figurehead.

Zhu Li didn't hesitate and immediately said:

"Agreed. Just don't make too much noise—in Grimlan, no one can defy the Mystic Knights."

Wu Chang was satisfied with Zhu Li's attitude and continued:

"As for the second matter, you remember you said that if I caught the mastermind behind a Grimlan anomaly, the Queen would officially announce my return and the Mystic Knights' reconstruction."

"Are the conditions met now?"

The Transcendent Gathering is imminent; he needs a legitimate public identity to recruit enforcers and build his reputation.

Centuries ago, the Mystic Knights stood at the pinnacle of the transcendent world—can he really spend the rest of his life rescuing people from slums while being watched by secret police outside?

Zhu Li hesitated briefly and said:

"I need to confirm this with Your Majesty first, but I believe the leverage you've found is enough for the Liberal Party to acknowledge your existence."

The obstacle to the Mystic Knights' reconstruction isn't the Queen—it's the other forces in Grimlan.

The cake is only so big; if a Mystic Knights' seat suddenly appears on the table demanding a slice, someone will eat less.

The Mystic Knights are an organization loyal solely to the Queen, not to the Prime Minister or Parliament.

Letting such an organization fall into Olivia's hands, they fear she might restore herself—from figurehead back to true Queen.

But using the truth of Pine Tree Mine as leverage, the resistance to Wu Chang taking a seat at the table and claiming a slice will diminish.

Zhu Li's answer was enough for Wu Chang—he never thought Zhu Li could make these decisions alone.

"If so, leave this to you. I must hurry back to the city—if I'm late, I'll only arrive to collect corpses."

He pointed at Thomas, standing beside Elin, and said: "Send someone to take him home."

Seeing Wu Chang in a rush, Zhu Li asked: "Do you need me to find you some fast horses?"

Grimlan has already invented steam cars, but they've only just become popular and remain tools for the upper class to display status—their speed is far slower than that of fast horses.

Especially between Pine Tree Mine and the city, most roads are unpaved; rapid travel still requires horses.

Wu Chang shook his head: "No need. I have a faster method."

He called Thomas over, told him Zhu Li would take him home, and instructed him to stay indoors for now—they'd visit him in two days.

Then he gave Raven a glance and led him toward the mine owner's office.

Raven followed behind Wu Chang and Elin, asking quietly: "What fast method are you using to return to Grimlan?"

Wu Chang opened the door to the mine owner's office, stood at the threshold, and turned to ask:

"It's your first time. You might feel dizzy. You'll get used to it later."

After saying that, he took Irene's hand and walked into the mine owner's office.

Raven followed, confused: "Why would I feel dizzy… uh—"

The instant he stepped into the office, light erupted beneath his feet, followed by a dizzying whirl.

Everything around him—including himself—seemed to twist, shatter, then reassemble.

Though he'd never seen a Transcendent Purifier absorb flesh, from its mechanical structure, he guessed his current sensation was nearly identical to that of a miner shoved into the machine.

After an unknown duration, the rapidly shifting scenery stabilized. His legs gave out; he staggered and grabbed the wall, then vomited.

After violent vomiting, Raven pulled out a handkerchief to wipe his mouth and looked around.

Seeing the iconic clock tower nearby, he realized in shock—they had returned to the Grimlan city district.

He opened his pocket watch: less than a minute had passed since entering the mine owner's office. Excluding the vomiting time, he had nearly instantly traveled from Pine Tree Mine to Grimlan's city district.

"What ability is this?" He held up his pocket watch, comparing it to the distant clock tower, ensuring his watch wasn't faulty.

As a transcendent detective, he had many friends in the transcendent circle, each possessing different abilities.

But he had never heard of such an exaggerated ability existing in the world.

Wu Chang shrugged and said, "It's just a basic application of spatial magic—nothing worth getting excited about."

Reventon raised a hand in a stop gesture, "You mean you can manipulate space through that method?"

Wu Chang pointed to a distant signpost and said, "See that red signpost?"

Reventon nodded dumbly.

Wu Chang snapped his fingers, activating his spatial folding ability—the next moment, Reventon was hugging the signpost and vomiting.

Reventon vomited while checking his pocket watch—the time was exact to the second.

Half a minute later, Reventon, his face much paler, returned to Wu Chang's side and said:

"How did you master this ability?"

Wu Chang said, "Of course through sweat and effort."

Reventon wanted to say he didn't mean it that way, but when the words left his mouth, they became, "If I get the chance, I'll visit the New World too."

Wu Chang asked, "From your tone, this ability isn't common?"

Reventon chuckled bitterly, "It's the only thing I'm grateful for—manipulating time and space is a detective's worst nightmare."

"Luckily you're not a criminal, or no one could ever break your alibi."

Wu Chang said indifferently, "Compared to detectives, the police should be the ones to worry."

"If you've recovered, take me to the owner of the Pine Tree Mine."

In detective work, information is crucial—before entering the Steam Phantom instance, Wu Chang had already investigated the background of the Pine Tree Mine.

"The owner of the Pine Tree Mine is Baron Philip, a native of Grimlan. His father made his first fortune by running a factory, then joined the Liberal Party and rapidly multiplied his wealth through shipping and free trade."

"After that, the Philip family invested in the Pine Tree Mine and, leveraging their Liberal Party status, secured a baronial title."

"If I remember correctly, he lives not far from here."

Reventon had wide connections in Grimlan—he spent a short while outside and borrowed a carriage to take Wu Chang and Erin to Baron Philip's villa.

From leaving the Pine Tree Mine to approaching Philip's villa, less than half an hour passed; when the carriage stopped at the villa's gate, both Wu Chang and Reventon's expressions turned grim.

Before them, the entire Philip family villa was engulfed in flames, with numerous firefighters frantically battling the blaze.

But judging by the intensity of the fire, even if it were extinguished, no one inside could be saved.

Reventon questioned those nearby and learned the villa had been burning for over two hours.

Estimating the time, the fire must have started around when they removed the disguise covering the deep mine area.

As the actual owner of the Pine Tree Mine, Baron Philip held no high rank within the Liberal Party, but he was still a member of the House of Commons.

A pawn of this level, if there was even a hint of exposure, would be eliminated without hesitation.

So swift an action—and so cruel a heart.

No wonder they could find hundreds of victims across vast differences in flesh just to test which was best suited for the Transcendent Purification Machine.

Reventon stared at the sea of fire and said:

"This fire will probably burn all night—I hope some evidence remains after it's over."

Wu Chang was not optimistic—the black-robed group had chosen extermination the instant their secrecy was threatened, proving they had prepared in advance.

Rather than hoping they left clues, it was better to hope Philip left behind a lingering resentment.

He had faithfully served the black-robed organization as a dog, only to be callously discarded when trouble came—and dragged his entire family into the flames.

Baron Philip must have been furious—if he wanted to drag his enemies down with him, he should leave behind a resentment. Wu Chang would help Philip fulfill it.

The fire consuming Baron Philip's villa sent up thick, rolling smoke.

Reventon looked up and said:

"Is it my imagination, or does the mist in the sky seem thicker?"

Wu Chang looked up at the sky and saw faint glimmers of Source Force shining within the fog blanketing Grimlan's heavens.

He exhaled, releasing a wisp of white mist, and said:

"It's not your imagination—the weather is changing."

Outside Grimlan, the industrial zone.

Two officers, clad in thick wool coats and iron helmets, carrying bull-eye lamps, moved through the dense fog of a narrow alley.

"Bryan, patrol the east side—signal immediately if anything happens."

"These past two days, those outsider transcendents have gone mad—don't hold back if you encounter them."

"Understood!"

The two officers split up; Bryan, the one named Bryan, pulled his wool coat tighter and shivered.

He looked up at the sky—the moonlight was completely obscured by the fog; from the ground, even the moon's outline was invisible.

He hated this weather—without moonlight, his Endurance stat would drop.

In the Steam Phantom dimension, his identity was Bryan; besides that, he had another identity—the outsider transcendental the others spoke of.

He came from the Western Alliance, one of the Four Organizations; his ability to enter an S-rank instance proves his strength—he has consistently ranked among the top fifty gatekeepers on the Wasteland Realm player power leaderboard.

By power ranking, he wasn't among the absolute top tier, but he was certainly among the most relentless.

The reason was simple: besides the standard hidden class of rank-and-file players, he possessed a bloodline exceedingly rare in the Wasteland Realm.

And his hidden class, Blood Controller, synergized with his vampire bloodline, granting him life force beyond that of ordinary players.

When in danger, he could disperse his body into countless droplets of blood and flee in all directions.

As long as one droplet survived safely, he could infiltrate the body of a native of this dimension and resurrect by taking it over.

In the Abyss Game, survival skills were always the most sought-after abilities—only those who lived had a future.

Moreover, the synergy between the two abilities meant his offensive power, though inferior to players of the same rank, was no weaker than those ranked below fifty.

His formidable offensive capability, combined with exceptional survivability, earned him an S-rank potential rating in the Western Alliance, and high expectations in this world instance.

He hadn't expected that before entering the world instance, he'd have to face an S-rank instance again.

Brian's Legendary Immortal's Constitution made him wildly aggressive in instance clearing; partnering with him often meant getting dragged into trouble and dying from the chaos he attracted.

This made West Union players avoid him at all costs, and he gladly embraced solitude, growing accustomed to traveling alone.

But this time was different—even with his arrogance, he dared not act alone in an S-rank instance.

So now, isolated Brian desperately needed to find other West Union players and team up to clear the instance.

It was the second day since entering the instance; though he hadn't found companions yet, he had successfully infiltrated the instance dimension.

Thanks to his vampire race's innate talent, he possessed noble bearing, and combined with his passive Blood Manipulator ability, he easily won the favor of the dimension's natives.

Coincidentally, Grimlan's public order had recently deteriorated, and the police force needed to expand; he passed the recruitment exam smoothly, becoming not just a police officer, but a secret police officer specializing in supernatural beings.

In his experience, his current starting point already surpassed 80% of players in this instance.

Other players were still struggling to earn money, scrambling for shelter, and sneaking through filthy bottom-tier taverns to gather intel.

He was already living in the secret police's welfare dormitory, openly flipping through classified intelligence.

With his secret police identity, any minor achievement would naturally lead to joining other factions.

This was the gap between people: some were still beasts of burden, while he had already reached Rome.

He was now on track; next came finding companions.

He was preparing to head to the slums.

Today, a colleague at the bureau told him a strange supernatural being had appeared in the slums, treating residents for free.

This piece of intel instantly caught his attention.

Such an odd character was either a player, connected to some faction, or possibly tied to a hidden quest.

Regardless of the case, he had to go take a look.

The mist grew thicker, damp and icy fog clinging to him, making him feel miserable—even his blood flow slowed.

Click.

Click.

Click-click.

In the mist, there had been only his own footsteps; now, walking onward, the footsteps became two.

The footsteps grew clearer, as if something was drawing near.

Was it some clueless native, or a player from the Abyss Game?

He raised his pistol and shouted: "Stop! Who are you?"

The pistol in his hand was merely a prop; as he shouted, his blood oozed from the tips of his ten fingers, forming thin, sharp blood threads in midair.

He wasn't a dimension native and couldn't injure supernatural beings with specialized bullets like other secret police—he didn't need that method anyway.

The footsteps didn't stop at his shout; instead, they kept advancing toward him.

After a dozen seconds, a tall figure cloaked entirely in black robes appeared before him.

This bizarre attire strongly resembled a player's.

He asked: "Who are you?"

The giant seemed not to understand him; from the wide sleeve of his robe, a serrated greatsword dropped.

The giant raised the serrated greatsword and charged at him.

Brian frowned, sensing something was wrong; he whipped his blood threads, trying to block the giant's advance.

But the giant brought down the blade without using any skill—simply shattering Brian's blood threads outright.

"Naive."

Brian tried to control the shattered blood, launching attacks from all directions—but the blood, upon touching the mist, no longer obeyed his command, as if his ability had failed.

He had never encountered this before; in his moment of hesitation, the giant was already before him, blade descending.

The serrated, rough blade sliced through his police coat—and his chest.

Based on past combat experience, he could use his Blood Manipulator ability to halt bleeding, stitch wounds shut with blood threads, then leverage the vampire's rapid regeneration to heal instantly.

But this time, the wound carved open by the serrated greatsword refused all control—it didn't heal, and the blood spilled from his body, just like the severed blood threads, had completely slipped from his command.

When the Legendary Immortal lost the vitality he prided himself on, he began to panic.

Brian refused to keep fighting; he gathered blood into his legs, pushed off hard, and leaped backward, aiming to escape with speed.

But as he rose five meters into the air, he saw the giant's robe open—revealing a thick cannon barrel extending from within.

Boom!

With a thunderous roar, the cannon blast severed Brian's left leg, sending him crashing awkwardly to the ground.

Before he could rise, he saw the giant, now wielding two serrated longswords, lunging at him.

"Aah!"

The wide robe engulfed Brian; beneath it came the sound of blades cutting flesh, chewing, and sharp metallic clinks like gears turning.

One minute later, when the giant rose and left, only a hollowed-out secret police corpse remained—organs and eyes removed, chest wide open.

(End of Chapter)