Hunting and Prey

Countdown: 136:30:00.

8:30 a. m.

There were many people in Quan Shun Plaza, all of whom came for the sake of Kamishiro Kono.

From the crowd, Tang Keke from Jiuzhou looked at Lu Yuan, who had slipped in, and asked with a smile, "Quite a few people from Kunlun have come?"

Lu Yuan had a camera hanging around his neck, seemingly pretending to be a reporter.

He said expressionlessly, "There are quite a few from Jiuzhou too, all familiar faces. Speaking of which, if you Jiuzhou are going to cause trouble, at least let us know beforehand. What's with all this sudden attacks?"

Tang Keke smiled and said, "You and I both know that the situation is urgent. If we don't use some special methods to draw out some clues, and if the reverse Transmigration Plan of the God Era and Kashima succeed, the Li family will probably suffer a great loss in the civil war of the Federation in the Inner World. Special measures are needed in special times. I hope Kunlun will understand."

"Everyone shares the same goal, it's just that your Jiuzhou's way of doing things isn't very appealing," Lu Yuan, pursing his lips.

In fact, Kamishiro Kono is not very popular in China. After all, she is a niche, artistic goddess, and many people have never even heard of her.

Today is Monday, a workday, so there shouldn't be this many people.

Furthermore, Jiuzhou specifically chose Monday as the date because they were worried about too many onlookers.

However, at this moment, hundreds of people gathered in front of the press conference stage in Quan Shun Plaza, creating a lively scene.

In reality, at least 80% of those hundreds of people were from Jiuzhou and Kunlun; there were hardly any ordinary passersby.

Right next to He Jinqiu and Lu Yuan, two middle-aged women who had joined the fun but were unaware of the truth said, "Who is this celebrity? Kamishiro Kono? I've never heard of that name before."

"I've never heard of it either."

"Then why are so many people here to watch her press conference?" the middle-aged woman wondered.

Another middle-aged woman glanced at Lu Yuan and his companions, who were chatting Lu Yuan, and said, "These days, celebrities all hire 'shills.' Haven't you seen Douyin (TikTok)? Even the most obscure, unknown celebrities have more bodyguards than fans. These people are definitely shills!"

Lu Yuan: "..."

Tang Keke: "..."

At this moment, Lu Yuan a little further away from the older woman and asked Tang Keke, "Wasn't it a bit too obvious that you set a trap using Kamishiro Kono? The Time Walker controlled by the Kamishiro Family aren't stupid; why would they kill her in broad daylight?"

"Because Kamishiro Kono is a cultivator, she possesses the first half of the Kamishiro Family's inherited cultivation methods," Tang Keke glanced at Lu Yuan, "Moreover, although she is on the fringes of the family, she knows many secrets about the Kamishiro Family. If you were a member of the Kamishiro Family, you would also want to kill her. What's more, the Kamishiro Family and the Kashima Family have never been known for their political wisdom; they prefer assassination."

Lu Yuan was taken aback. "The orthodox method of cultivation?"

"Yes," Tang Keke nodded.

"If you only have the first half, what level can you cultivate to?" Lu Yuan asked.

"B-Class," Tang Keke said.

Now Lu Yuan understood that something so important was indeed worth the great mobilization of the Kamishiro Family.

The orthodox cultivation method is a threshold between B-Class and A-level. It is very difficult for everyone to step into A-level. It seems that only by stepping into A-level can one truly enter the inner sanctum and transcend the mundane.

However, for most people and organizations, having a legitimate cultivation method that allows them to reach B-Class is sufficient; at least they don't need to use gene serums on everyone.

This is also why Lu Yuan went to visit Qing Chen yesterday.

Kunlun needs methods of cultivation.

Lu Yuan at Tang Keke and asked casually, "Will Kamishiro Kono pass on her cultivation method to Jiuzhou?"

Tang Keke said with a smile, "Guess."

There were only 15 minutes left before the press conference was scheduled to begin.

1600 meters across from Quan Shun Plaza, outside the Borui Building, a young man carrying a large toolbox and wearing a baseball cap was walking into the building dressed in a central air conditioning maintenance uniform.

The work clothes were different from the usual ones; the cuffs were all tightened, making them look more professional, like military training uniforms.

The building's security guard glanced at him. "Checking the central air conditioning?"

The boy nodded. "Yes, your building management sent me here. They said there's a problem with the central air conditioning on the 17th floor."

The security guard hesitated for a moment, then said, "Please wait a moment while I check the memo."

As he spoke, he went to look through the building's appointment register and found that there was indeed an option for air conditioning repair.

The security guard handed the boy a "work ID": "Wear it around your neck and don't lose it. You have to give it back to me when you come out."

"Okay, thank you," the boy said as he walked toward the elevator and pressed the button for the 17th floor.

Just as the elevator doors were about to close, several people outside shouted, "Wait a minute."

The boy ignored him and quickly pressed the close button.

As the elevator ascended, he could hear someone outside complaining, "What kind of person is this? He's the only one in the elevator and he didn't even wait for us. Forget it, let's wait for another elevator."

The boy waited for the elevator to slowly ascend and said into his Bluetooth headset, "I'm almost there. How's it going on your end?"

A voice came through the earpiece. "Ready."

"Ready in position."

"All in position, the press conference is about to begin. The host is warming up the crowd. I see backstage, Kamishiro Kono is all done with her makeup and ready to go on stage. But something's strange here, the atmosphere is so cold."

The boy smiled and said, "How could I not be indifferent? The people in front of the stage are all from Jiuzhou and Kunlun. There are only twenty or thirty fans at most."

The elevator arrived at the 17th floor.

The young man entered an empty conference room with ease, as if he knew the layout of the room by heart.

He opened the conference room window, which offered a panoramic view of the entire Quan Shun Plaza.

This is the only building opposite Quan Shun Plaza that can be used as a sniping point. Although it is a bit far from the plaza, 1600 meters away is already an "easy" difficulty for Qing Chen.

Quan Shun Plaza covers a large area, and opposite it is a square, man-made Kaiyuan Lake.

Kaiyuan Lake is not very large, but it houses what was once the largest musical fountain in Asia.

The musical fountain is only turned on once a week on Saturday nights, so many Los Angeles residents like to gather here on Saturday nights and bring their children to watch the fountain.

However, the musical fountain was quiet at this time and did not make any noise.

At this moment, the host on the press conference stage felt as if he had suffered a Waterloo in his life.

No matter how much he tried to warm up the audience, tell jokes, or create a lively atmosphere, the audience members just watched him calmly.

He would glance around every now and then.

No one laughed, and no one listened carefully to what he was saying.

It's worth noting that this host was a famous presenter invited from a certain TV station, and his appearance fee alone was 200,000 yuan.

To be honest, I also felt it was strange when the host came.

Press conferences are usually held indoors, with a bunch of media reporters and a flurry of flashes from their cameras.

However, the media reporters here all had their cameras hanging around their necks, seemingly with no intention of taking pictures at all.

What he didn't know was that of the more than twenty journalists at the press conference, only four or five were real reporters; the rest were people from Jiuzhou and Kunlun posing as journalists.

In addition, even when events are held, except for grand openings, they are usually held in the afternoon or evening when there are more people. But this time the organizer is strange; they insist on holding it early in the morning.

The famous host looked at the few hundred people scattered across the square in front of him and felt a sense of defeat.

This was probably the strangest press conference he had ever attended in his life.

In fact, the reason Jiuzhou invited him was to elevate the "status" of Kamishiro Kono. Although this was just a hunting operation, Kamishiro Kono was really going to make a comeback, so the press conference couldn't be too shabby.

At least, when this report circulated online, the famous host elevated its prestige.

Tang Keke, who was in the crowd, suddenly felt something was wrong. She said in the communication channel, "Everyone, please smile and make it less awkward. Let's make this place more lively."

Just then, seeing that the atmosphere was far from warming up, the famous host simply said, "It seems everyone came here for Kamishiro Kono and is eager to see her, so..."

Hahahaha.

Hahahaha.

The famous host broke down upon seeing the group of audience members with stiff, fake smiles.

Are you guys slow to react? I told you a joke ten minutes ago, and you only started laughing ten minutes later?

However, Tang Keke had already sensed something was wrong. She said in the communication channel, "Boss, so far, not a single assassin from the Kamishiro Family has appeared. Could it be that they've retreated?"

He Jinqiu's voice came through the communication channel. "Any unusual activity in the nearby buildings?"

"No," Tang Keke said, "No suspicious persons have appeared in the areas we've monitored, and there's nothing unusual at any of the sniper positions."

Are there any other sniping positions?

"That's it. The next one is the Borui Building, which is 1600 meters away. But at that distance, you need to use an anti-materiel sniper rifle to ensure effective range. Those things have barrels that are over a meter long, so it's impossible to bring them in," Tang Keke said. "Unless the boss of Bai Zhou was hired by Shen Dai and then took action himself."

Lu Yuan at Tang Keke: "The boss Bai Zhou won't be hired by Shen Dai. Everyone knows he has a grudge against Shen Dai, and he just ruined Kamishiro Togo's plan."

He Jinqiu fell into deep thought, "Perhaps, they didn't come for us today."

On the 17th floor of the Borui Building, young Qing Chen placed his toolbox aside and quietly looked at the Quan Shun Plaza.

His extraordinary hearing allowed him to hear the footsteps of several people echoing in the corridor outside the conference room.

It was like a subtle, almost imperceptible, murderous intent.

Wearing a central air conditioning repair uniform, Qing Chen continued to look out the window and said on the communication channel, "It seems that in the eyes of the Kamishiro Family, we are more hated than Kamishiro Kono."

I have a sore throat and a bit of a cold today, so I only have 8,000 words left. I'll take a day off.