Gone Mad

After Shadow finished making the call to Qing Ye.

He walked alone in the night of the Ginkgo Manor, but he was not heading down the mountain, nor did he open the Shadow Gate.

Instead, they headed straight for the mountaintop.

There was no stunning scenery on the mountaintop, only a cluster of tombstones belonging to the ancestors of the Qing family.

Zhang Yuge.

Xu Man.

Qing Shen...

Luo Lan.

Qing Yi.

Some are well-known to the world, such as Luo Lan, Qing Yi, and Xu Man, who are all written into the history textbooks of various conglomerates.

There are also things unknown to the world. Zhang Yuge and Qing Shen are rarely known to anyone, yet the Qing family places them at the highest level.

Each person's tombstone bears only a solitary name and a simple sentence.

Success doesn't have to be achieved by me.

Some of them may not have been members of the Qing family, but they all made great contributions to the family.

The ancestor placed these people's tombstones on the mountaintop so that they could watch over this prosperous world together with the Qing family.

The shadow sat down among the tombstones, gazing down at the glittering City No. 5 below.

He was somewhat unsure whether this bustling world was what his ancestors wanted, or what they despised.

What sustains a family?

If the Li family relied on internal order, then the Qing family relied on ruthlessness when dealing with external threats.

The patriarchs born from the Shadow Struggle are inevitably among the most ruthless figures in the world.

Such a person will surely be able to lead his family to survive in this cruel world.

The Qing family believed in a principle: the most powerful people are those who have fought their way to the top.

Each generation of Shadow strife inevitably involves the fall of eight other Shadow Candidate.

This fall may not necessarily be death; it could also be a setback that leads to despair and a loss of ambition.

But the one who survives, the one who wins in the end, will most likely become a powerful and influential figure.

This era needs people like this, doesn't it?

Shadow thought the same thing, and he never wavered.

He just felt a little dejected today.

"I've seen enough," Shadow stood up, glanced once more at City No. 5 below the mountain, then opened the Shadow Gate and returned to the secret prison.

When his subordinates saw him return, they lowered their heads and said, "Boss, we failed in our duties this time."

However, the shadow no longer displayed the anger he had shown when he left. Instead, he laughed and said, "What's it to you?"

The subordinates looked at each other, puzzled, not understanding what he meant.

The shadow chuckled and said, "After two years of silence, this is the first time the patriarch has intervened to influence this world. Isn't it normal for us to lose once?"

Seeing that everyone was silent, Shadow knew they were skeptical, but he didn't explain anything further.

That's really what he thought.

He was indeed a formidable shadow, but wasn't that family head also a shadow?

Moreover, the opponent not only broke through the Shadow Struggle, but also ultimately seized power in the struggle between Shadows.

This kind of person, after two years, at the most crucial moment, uses the most ingenious means to achieve the result he needs.

Who can stop it?

Therefore, Shadow didn't feel any regret or remorse. No matter how clever he and Qing Chen were, they couldn't prevent the most powerful person within the Qing family from making a move.

"Boss, what do we do now? Should we go and rescue Qing Chen?" a subordinate asked.

Shadow shook his head. "Yan Chunmi and Qing Ye are handling the rescue of Qing Chen. If they can't find him either, then there's no point in us going."

He trusted Yan Chunmi and Qing Ye's abilities completely and fully.

Shadow looked at his subordinates. "Li Changqing should have received the news by now. She has more convenient access in the north than we do. Let's kill some people to relieve our boredom. My tea plantation also needs new fertilizer."

That very night, the Shadow's Secret Intelligence Department, like a colossal entity that had been dormant, was suddenly awakened.

In 12 cities in the south, the various factions within the Qing clan began to be purged.

Within the intelligence system, 219 people were secretly executed overnight. They were all spies planted by leaders of various factions within the Qing clan within the intelligence system.

It wasn't until this moment that many of the Qing family's bigwigs realized that their so-called covert operations had actually been seen by the Shadow.

We didn't take action against these people before because we felt it was unnecessary.

Not only that, Shadow also wiped out 21 intelligence stations of Kamishiro in the south overnight.

All the members of PCA's Intelligence Department One, including Kamishiro, died at home.

Everyone thought Shadow had gone mad, seemingly planning to reignite the war just two weeks after the Federation's ceasefire.

This behavior lacks both necessary political wisdom and sufficient rationality.

Until the early hours of the morning, Shadow called Qing Ye: "Have you found any clues?"

Qing Ye responded, "Boss, Yan Chunmi and I have tried everything, but the operation is too hasty and we still haven't found any clues. The other side is very well prepared."

"It's definitely sufficient. After all, an A-level expert is personally involved. If he wants to return to the North alive, he naturally needs to be well-prepared," Shadow said calmly.

"Boss, I heard you've been on a killing spree in the city?" Qing Ye asked cautiously.

"Hmm," Shadow responded.

Qing Ye muttered, "What you're doing is a bit irrational. Aren't some people supposed to be kept around to catch bigger fish in the long run? And aren't you afraid they'll hold Qing Chen accountable?"

The shadow calmly said, "At this point, Qing Chen can no longer avoid the suffering he's destined to endure. If you want him to live, I have to prove to the outside world that he's important enough. Only then will the Divine Era keep him alive. Otherwise, what will the Divine Era use to negotiate with me?"

The people of the Qing family are all crazy.

The patriarch and the shadow should both be among the most insane.

The former aims to use extreme measures to give Qing Chen a legitimate identity to seize power.

The latter aims to use extreme retaliatory measures to tell the world that this person is important and that keeping him alive is beneficial to them.

As long as Qing Chen is alive, he will always find a way to rescue him.

"Has Li Changqing been notified yet?" Shadow asked.

"The notification has been received," Qing Ye replied. "She hung up the phone without saying anything."

"Very good."

"They've all gone mad," Qing Ye muttered under his breath before hanging up the phone.

Qing Ye glanced at the row of black market intelligence agents kneeling on the other side, shrugged, and said, "My boss has gone mad, and none of you are willing to share information about the airships. If I don't kill some people, I'll seem a bit out of place. Besides, none of you are any good people!"

The intelligence broker panicked. "We really don't know anything about airships! No civilian airships have left City No. 10 or City No. 18 recently!"

"I see," Qing Ye nodded, "Then I'm very sorry!"

After saying that, he waved his hand, signaling his subordinates to fire.

After a deafening roar, the group of intelligence brokers who usually roamed the black market were all killed in the smoke and blood.

Many people couldn't sleep soundly that night.

Some people hid in their safe houses overnight, only to be dragged out by the Secret Intelligence Department.

Some people hid at home trembling with fear, but when dawn broke, no one came to kill them.

Everyone felt that things were about to change, but since Qing Chen's accident had only been going on for a short time, most people didn't know why.

They wondered what could possibly drive that shadow so mad.

In City No. 19.

Outside the villa where Li Changqing was, six or seven city councilors, dressed in formal attire, were waiting anxiously.

The villa covers an area of 2,100 square meters and is the largest residential villa in City No. 19.

This was originally the mayor's official residence, but it has now been given to Li Changqing.

The city's residents joked that this was Li Changqing's palace in City No. 19, and that the mayor was now her chief eunuch.

After the ceasefire agreement was signed, Li Changqing came to this city, a place recently known as the city of spies, which was finally gradually returning to peace.

Unlike when she was in City No. 1, she did not launch another massacre against intelligence agents from various factions.

Previously, she was only in charge of a part of the intelligence system. Her domineering presence made it easier for her to do many things and deter many evil spirits.

But now that she is in charge of the Li family's intelligence agency, she can no longer use the same ruthless methods as before.

If she continues to do things the same way, many people will be afraid to cooperate with her.

Therefore, Li Changqing is now using a policy of appeasement. Even though she knows that there are intelligence agents from various factions all over the City No. 19, she still has not wiped them out.

After all, water that is too clear has no fish. We can cooperate more, and harmony brings wealth and is the most valuable thing.

In no time, many prominent figures in the city flocked to the scene, hoping to get a share of the spoils after that powerful woman took over the city.

There was supposed to be a small meeting tonight.

City No. 19 is about to hold a new election for its councilors, and everyone hopes to get the support of the Li Corporation.

Strangely enough, Li Changqing received a phone call as soon as he entered the villa's meeting room.

Everyone could sense that the woman's aura had changed, becoming unusually fierce and unpredictable.

The woman, who was usually all smiles, turned cold and stern, and had Old Nine, who had just changed his name to Old Nineteen, drive all the outsiders out of the villa.

These congressmen were left waiting in the cold wind.

All the City No. 19 were baffled. What had happened to cause such a huge change in Li Changqing's attitude?

Someone muttered quietly, "Could it be that we've made some mistake?"

"No, everyone's been on edge lately, who would dare to make a mistake..." someone muttered.

At that moment, the villa's gate opened.

The councilors stopped talking and looked toward the villa entrance.

However, everyone was stunned when they saw Li Changqing. He had changed out of his usual formal attire and into the uniform of a lieutenant general in the Federation Group Army...

In that instant, everyone suddenly realized that the venomous woman seemed to be returning.

Have some food, there'll be another chapter tonight.