Chapter 354

Ji Ming

Ji Ming first encountered a superhero at age eight; back then there was a rich kid in class who always carried the latest Nokia model and was especially righteous—anyone willing to call him "big brother" could get treated to ice pops every few days, his status in the class roughly equivalent to your Dripping Merit Sect.

Once, after summer vacation ended, he brought several comics to school, saying they were a birthday gift from his young aunt in the capital; after reading them he found them pretty exciting and felt they had to be shown to his brothers to open their eyes.

Harley Quinn

So you'd take a look during recess, he'd take a look during recess, each of them becoming addicted to watching it, and the craze was about to spread to the girls' crowd, everyone's mind filled with that man who had a chin like a star‑sensing skin drum.

Holy Grail War

Little Merit Sect

Little Merit Sect, Merit Sect

Deep Forest God

Too bad their "rebellion" actions were all declared failures—not because the Little Merit Sect intervened, but because they had no money to buy ice pops for the gang, small favors hadn't spread, and the people wouldn't follow…

Moreover, a portion of particularly precocious children were especially fond of Catwoman and Harley Quinn, though they dared not say it openly, only sneaking extra glances.

Considering that one of them grew up to play Holy Grail War online every day, all we can say is that the gears of fate turned creakily…

Shadow Warrior

Wolf King

Later, when elementary school ended, Ji Ming entered the empty teachers' office for some reason and inadvertently discovered a confiscated comic in the bookshelf.

Holy Guard Knight Corps

True Plum Blossom

Plant Person

Aurora Dance

Special Operations Department

Green-clad Envoys

Stiff Poison

Stealth Division

"It's obvious that the Forest God gave his fanatics an overhaul from inside out, from body to soul, and the methods are so cruel as to make one's hair stand on end."

Then he produced his investigation report on the military organization structure of the Shadow God's followers, letting Elinor learn how the current version of the evil god exploits its believers.

This is the Shadow God: in his structure, when a necromancer and a shadow warrior—whose essence is that of a fanatic—pair up, they can form a simple formation of one front row and one back row; when the two pairs team up, they can form a classic support‑magic‑warrior‑T combination where each fulfills its role.

As long as there is a clear command and everyone keeps the beat, their combat power in battle can even increase rather than decrease, which is a very disgusting synergy, and it's very suitable for following the Wolf King's iron hooves to campaign everywhere, racking up battle merits and existence value.

This is the Holy Light God, relying on the deep resources of his vast estate, he uses churches as the basic unit to build monk warrior groups, large or small, all named "Holy Protector Knight Orders."

Thanks to the affinity of Holy Light, even if they solely cultivate martial force, it counts as also cultivating magic specifically targeting the uncanny; merely saving time and effort already gives them strong competitiveness.

Underground World

This assassin can maintain invisibility at all times because her body grows many true plum blossoms, which continuously release a very special pollen, forming a mist around her that blocks perception.

In this world there may be a thousand days to be a thief, but not a thousand days to guard against thieves; even if Elinor has anti‑invisibility magic, she can't activate it all the time, and this thing consumes a lot of mana, so it's no wonder she might absentmindedly let someone get behind her and strike hard at the thigh…

Of course, after reviewing the relevant memories, Ji Ming also found the weapon that truly assassinated Elinor: not a dagger, not the concealed blade he imagined, but a tail growing behind this "plant person."

Holy Light Church

Elinor, who almost died from this thing, couldn't help but retreat two steps, only to discover that, likewise a plant, this tail's growth pattern is completely different from the rest of the assassin's body, seeming overly withered.

Ailinuo

Ji Ming suppressed the urge to say, "Maybe you were poisoned by you," and elicited the brilliance—or madness—of this group of Forest Gods.

"Yes, because this tail was transplanted, and it was attached especially for you."

Just a prick can make a healthy person instantly share many commonalities with 【Aurora Dance】, leaving them paralyzed in bed for the rest of their life with a violent toxin, which of course isn't available everywhere.

In fact, this tail is a special piece of equipment that the behind‑the‑scenes black hand produced after spending a large sum of money and favors, and the church also planned to assassinate the disobedient Elinor; after they hit it off, they specially produced this item, which has myriad connections to the Forest God.

Indeed, the Forest God first proposed the modular concept in another world; the church's special operations division continuously produces various plant components that can be installed on the Green‑Clad Envoys who need to carry out missions, very convenient and swift.

For example, this tail's poison sac holds three shares of non‑renewable corpse toxin; one share has already been used on Elinor, and when all three are exhausted, the tail will completely wither and fall off, making it a consumable component.

Shadow God already.

"She is an assassin of the Hidden Division; Stealth Plum is basic equipment, including the thorn spikes buried under her wrists, plus the remodeling of her self‑awareness and behavioral logic… In short, she is entirely a killing weapon from head to toe."

"It turns out the Forest Church has been conducting such terrifying modification experiments in secret; I need to reconsider my attitude toward it."

After reviewing the entire assassination plan, Tina Si walked over, used her staff to flick back the tail that Ji Ming had pulled over for display; this thing's toxicity is at the level of divine law power, she might not be able to withstand even touching it, so it's better to keep away.

"I just heard you say she still has use value; what's your idea?"

Catwoman already.

For the Sun‑Moon people, plant‑based transformation is absolutely shocking to hear, a heinous plot that makes one's hair stand on end.

Turning a perfectly fine living person into a madman with plants growing on his body—no one would do such a thing of giving birth without skin inflammation unless they'd died 1,145,140 times as parents.

Holy Grail War already.

As long as you want, any advanced equipment can be attached to your body, allowing you to gradually understand everything at any time and place.

Whether three legs, five wings, eight pairs of tentacles… those in the know say they're playing 【Double Moon Struggle】; those unaware think they're playing a cracked version of 【Spore】.

Ji Ming dares swear that if he can successfully obtain this technology and bring it to the Underground World, in just one day he could acquire more Green‑Clad Envoys than the Forest God has cultivated over many years.

Then he could directly open an optional hidden mission, letting those bold enough among them infiltrate the Forest Church as moles; who knows, our people might outnumber theirs, and with inside‑outside cooperation we could give the Great Forest a surprise!

Stealth Division already.

But the precondition is that he must first obtain this technology and also find a safe, proper route to insert the mole; to achieve that goal, he needs something else.

Since the church could send her to assassinate a fairly important princess of a neighboring country, this assassin named Poison Snake is naturally no weakling among the Green‑Clad Envoys; at least she's not just expendable cannon fodder, and at least she's only sent on important missions as a sacrificial piece.

Moreover, she is currently carrying out a mission in a foreign land; to provide as much aid as possible, the church has informed her of many Deep Forest spies, other Green‑Clad Envoys, and contact methods for senior church officials—this is also another list Ji Ming obtained from her mind.

One can only say that the Holy Light Church and Hui Guang Kingdom are indeed not as formidable as he imagined…… No, saying that is really too euphemistic; their internal management is simply making excuses!

Look, where have all the Deep Forest folks stretched their feelers to? Even the kingdom's interior can have this many spies and insiders; have your internal affairs also become one-way transparent to the Deep Forest people? No wonder, just after arriving at Jueqiao Pass, you could encounter such a big matter.

Fortunately, I also need to gradually advance into the kingdom's interior; along the way I can gradually visit these elite agents—those who can be recruited will be recruited, those who cannot will be killed—counting as clearing some obstacles in advance for Huiguang's friends.

Also for this reason, he did not hand over this list but kept it privately, waiting until he later obtained the relevant technology, became proficient, and could develop it independently; and the Deep Forest's internal organization has also more or less developed, then he will find a suitable opportunity to hand over his refined version to the Church.

This way, not only are his own interests guaranteed, but he can also additionally gain a benefit—amounting to killing two birds with one stone.

Therefore Ji Ming did not tell his plan to Te Ni Si, but expressed his concerns about the Green-clad Envoy and the Deep Forest Church, indicating that after his own mental repair, this Green-clad Envoy has already become able to be our spy and can infiltrate the enemy in reverse.

As an archbishop who has worked in the Church for five hundred years, Te Ni Si looked at Ji Ming with a doubtful gaze for a while, wondering, 'Our Church isn't a bunch of violent maniacs who like to boil enemies' brains, is it? When could we possibly possess such intricate, flower-carved anti-brainwashing technique?'

However, looking at the halo continuously glowing above Ji Ming's head, she felt that she still should not overstep divine authority, so she gave up this doubt and instead spoke.

"Your idea should be fine, but since it's a spy, it definitely needs a channel for reporting information—how have you envisaged this?"

"The order given to Du She was to assassinate Ai Li Nuo, until the target dies or she dies; thus along this journey it's her operational space."

Ji Ming glanced at Du She, who was still lying on the ground idling, and pointed at her head.

"So my idea is to have her pretend to notice that the welcoming hall guards are heavily fortified, considering that acting now would be too risky and thus give up the assassination, wanting to make plans after things calm down."

Te Ni Si pondered briefly and came to know Ji Ming's next plan.

"And since Du She hasn't died, the Church cannot replace her; all the assassinations along this journey will be planned by her, and she can naturally follow along with us, using this opportunity to occasionally transmit important information?"

"Exactly, we can even take the opportunity to sound out all the nobles along the way and round up all the insiders in one net."

"We can also do real fake, fake real, occasionally using the assassination to kill a few Deep Forest spies who are relatively strong in destructiveness and threat."

"Then our side also needs to suffer some losses to prolong the act; how about using the kingdom's blood-sucking vermin as cannon fodder?"

"Great, I can also, when the Church and the Kingdom have some big moves, use this information channel to transmit false information in reverse to conduct strategic cover!"

Speaking of this, Te Ni Si's tone shifted.

"Elinuo, what do you think?"

Elinuo:???

I feel I'm still fairly law-abiding; these rotten water bad ideas probably won't pop out of my head, right?

"Pretty... pretty good, sounds like they're all... good things."

"Then now there's only one problem."

Te Ni Si also looked at Du She, who had fallen to the ground.

"You've healed her, and how should we ensure she isn't discovered by the Deep Forest people and the Deep Forest Church as having defected? Especially... her personality?"

Ji Ming didn't speak, but took out a bottle of SpiritGathering Liquid and walked over, pouring it into Du She's mouth just like feeding a little medicine.

Since she is an important combat unit, her recovery ability cannot be weak; so, with the help of vigorous vitality, she quickly completed the healing of her wounds.

And the first thing after rebooting was to reach out and grab Ji Ming's pant leg, lifting her slightly green-tinged cheek to reveal a healthy smile.

"Brother, can we do it again..."

Te Ni Si gave a slight nod.

"Increase the dosage!"