One of the UHC's thirty-four nations, Fahuo Nation.
Three minutes after the earthquake erupted, the data collection team dispatched by the Official Department arrived at the epicenter.
But just as they were about to approach the Earth Vein Pillar to collect data, a large group of people dressed in black and wearing black hats, nearly blending into the darkness, suddenly emerged from all around them.
There were sixty or seventy of them. Without saying a word, they surrounded the fewer than ten data collectors sent by the authorities, cutting off their path to the Earth Vein Pillar.
The sudden development caught the entire collection team by surprise. The captain leading them asked, "Who are you people? What do you want?"
The black-clad people remained silent. Only one of them spoke, answering in a solemn, almost chanting tone, "God's sacred artifact must not be desecrated."
"God? God's sacred artifact?"
The entire collection team was dumbfounded. One member was the first to react. "Are you talking about the Earth Vein Pillar set up by Fire Thief?"
The black-clad group silently acknowledged it.
The collection team could hardly believe it.
"What kind of joke is this?!" the captain cursed furiously. "Fire Thief is a demon who has killed countless people—the most evil existence in the world! No, in the universe! And you actually treat a demon as a god, treating the murderous weapon he set up as a sacred artifact? You're completely insane!"
Though their expressions could not be seen in the darkness, the black-clad people's rapidly growing breaths made it clear that anger had been stirred in their chests.
"Captain, there are too many of them..." one team member quietly reminded him, grabbing his arm. "And we didn't bring weapons. It's best not to start a conflict."
The data collection team had