We Must Resist!!!

But the bespectacled man held a different view of what he had said:

"It's not that we don't dare to imagine it.

The Authority of the Equivalent Scale and Bronze Gate itself grants us equal abilities.

It's just that the vast majority of us lack the ability to conduct 'transactions.'"

He sank into deep thought.

"Even if we can share research data on this matter, we cannot get involved too deeply. Otherwise, those mad scientists may very well dispose of us along with everyone else.

Besides,

we are a Zero-Sum Game. There are only transactions, never a win-win situation!"

That was right. The two people conversing were not scholars who stood entirely on Lorenz Riel's side.

The banquet about to be held in Manila had already drawn the involvement of more than three groups of forces.

And at this moment,

somewhere in Indonesia, deep within a luxurious private room guarded at the entrance by bodyguards in black sunglasses,

luxury and oppression coexisted, creating a uniquely unsettling atmosphere.

Soft, dim yellow light spilled from the exquisite chandelier overhead, draping the entire room in a golden veil. Yet beneath that lighting, everything seemed all the more mysterious and unfathomable.

Several oil paintings depicting tropical scenery and ancient myths hung on the walls. Their vibrant colors clashed sharply with the tension in the room, as though two utterly different worlds had converged here.

On the central sofa, a corpulent man occupied the most conspicuous position. His body nearly filled the custom-made couch, its leather surface slightly sunken beneath his weight.

An extinguished cigar rested between the fat man's fingers, and a faint scent of tobacco and the cigar's distinctive aroma still lingered in the air.

But at this moment,

the cigar was more like a symbol, a mark of power, rather than something