Furnace Fortress.
Silard hurried back from Silver Fortress. When he arrived at the Governor's Office entrance, he saw several staff officers standing outside, each wearing a tense, solemn expression.
"Sir!"
Upon seeing Silard, the men respectfully saluted.
Silard nodded and entered the room. The first thing he saw was shattered teacup fragments scattered across the floor, along with a puddle of spilled water.
Mu Lei stood behind the desk, his face livid. The Purple-Wing Blade Emperor stood to one side, his expression comparatively calm.
Silard stepped around the broken porcelain, gave the Purple-Wing Blade Emperor a slight bow, then looked toward Mu Lei and respectfully said, "Governor, I'm back. What happened to make you so angry?"
Mu Lei seemed to have finally calmed down. Pointing at a letter on the desk, he said:
"Take a look!"
Silard walked over in confusion, picked up the letter from the desk, and unfolded it. After merely glancing over it twice, his expression abruptly changed as he exclaimed:
"Raya was captured by Galaxy City?"
Mu Lei tapped the tabletop with his fingers, producing a dull sound. "Keep reading!"
Silard steadied himself and continued reading. His expression only grew uglier and uglier. Suddenly shaking the letter, he roared, "They're opening their mouths like a lion, they've gone completely mad! They want us to apologize, demand compensation, and even want our Origin Matter Crystals. Has he lost his mind?"
Mu Lei said gravely:
"They aren't merely demanding compensation. They want us to explain the destruction in Galaxy City. If we refuse to explain, they'll treat it as a declaration of war against the Tianli Sect. On top of that, to ransom the prisoners, we must pay an additional price. They've named it themselves—ten billion energy crystals per person. I called you back to discuss how we