Facing 1

The call connected quickly.

"Wang Yiyang! You're only calling me now? Don't you think it's a little late? Do you know how long I've been holding off the board for you??

"And that damn Avengers, whatever it is, is a bottomless pit! I sent in thirteen teams of mercenaries. My God! It's a monster!"

"Enough, I get it. I know you're under a lot of pressure right now. That's why I came back." From the moment Wang Yiyang decided to make use of his identity as Security Minister, he had already resolved to bear all the consequences that came with it.

Just like now.

The only reason he had a month to prepare was that his friend Sendner was using his own influence to buy time, little by little.

"Coming back won't do a damn thing! Go find some remote corner where no one knows you and hide there for a few years. Let's see how long that guy can keep this up." After venting, Sendner calmed down a little.

"Seriously, do you have any confidence in dealing with the Avengers? If you don't, pull out for now. Don't keep throwing yourself into the fire."

"I don't know. But if you're still willing to trust me, then keep supporting me." Wang Yiyang fell silent for a moment before answering.

"...You know I've always trusted you. But I need to know more about what you're planning. That would reassure me, and the people behind me too. Do you understand?" Sendner's previously heated voice suddenly went quiet.

Wang Yiyang fell silent...

He couldn't exactly come right out and say that he was counting on his next three random identities to turn things around, could he?

He'd have to find someone who would actually believe him first.

Besides, that was his biggest secret and the source of his confidence. There was no way he could let it slip.

"Sorry, Sendner." Only after a long pause did Wang Yiyang speak.

"I understand." Sendner seemed to have figured something out.

Click. The call ended.

Wang Yiyang didn't waste any time after that.

He started making encrypted calls, one after another.

As Security Minister, he'd naturally built up plenty of connections over the years.

He had two disciples and several allies at the Maria headquarters.

Overseas, he had adopted a group of homeless orphans.

At villas and estates scattered across the country, he had loyal stewards and trusted subordinates.

Then there was the former chairman of the group, who had once supported him and transferred Mister shares to him—in other words, the teacher behind his hidden identity, Caesar Sid.

And his fellow disciples, both senior and junior.

He checked in with them one by one, confirming where they stood.

He needed to know who was still truly supporting him, even under pressure—and especially under the crushing pressure of a life-or-death crisis.

It was a brutal process of elimination.

But it was also brutally honest.

As the names in his contacts disappeared one by one, Wang Yiyang's expression remained unchanged.

Soon, another call connected.

"Yang, thank goodness! You're all right! I heard the Avengers were searching the whole planet for you. I'm so glad you're safe! My God, thank the Mother Goddess!"

A woman's voice, slightly choked with excitement, came through the phone.

"Su, how are things?" Wang Yiyang asked calmly.

"Not good. Everyone in the group is fighting for themselves. A lot of people think you're done for. They've even started lining up to become the next Security Minister!"

"Is that so?"

"Also, I heard the Avengers have reached Yingxing City in the Mien Federation. You haven't gone home, have you? That's your hometown, right? Remember, don't go back.

"The Avengers could have been there for a while already. I only just got the news myself, and it gave me a fright..." Su kept pouring out information on the other end of the line.

But Wang Yiyang's mind reeled. His heart lurched, and he nearly couldn't recover.

The Avengers were already there?!

Why wasn't there any information about this in his chip or the intelligence reports??

In an instant, he felt the deep malice of those inside Mister.

Countless people were watching him, trying to take his position and his shares.

Although the departments each controlled their own biological chips, the Monitoring Department had developed the core system.

So either something had gone wrong in the Monitoring Department, or there was a problem at Security Department headquarters.

He hung up.

Wang Yiyang sat down on the sofa, plunged both hands into his hair, and bowed his head without a word.

He looked closely at the data on the system.

'Warning: You have twenty days to prepare. You will soon face a major crisis from Mister.'

Twenty days...

'The system display is working fine. So either Su's information is wrong and she's trying to bluff me, or the system is wrong.'

He was inclined to believe the former.

Su and Sendner were his two closest partners in Mister. Judging by the background information he'd seen earlier, Wang Yiyang and the two of them had supported each other through thick and thin. They were partners who'd faced life and death together.

But no matter how close people were, when faced with a crisis that offered no hope, they could still make what seemed like the sensible choice.

After thinking it over, Wang Yiyang decisively deleted Su from his contacts.

He needed to put more faith in the system.

"What about Sendner, then?" Wang Yiyang's brows furrowed. He couldn't tell.

Now, aside from the subordinates controlled by his chip, he didn't dare trust anyone.

He was practically jumping at shadows.

"My phone has a tracking function. The Avengers could have found me so quickly because there's a mole inside the department leaking information." Wang Yiyang thought it over, then took out his phone, turned off the screen, and set it in front of him.

But soon he shook his head and put the phone away.

His background was no secret to the powerful figures in Mister, and his hometown was Yingxing City.

Even without any intelligence, the Avengers would definitely have chosen to search here first.

Besides, his family was here.

His grandfather, his parents, and the rest of his relatives were all here. This was where he belonged. He couldn't run.

It was an obvious trap, forcing him to face everything head-on.

'But there's one thing I don't understand. If I die, how can he guarantee that the position of Security Minister will fall into his hands?'

Wang Yiyang pondered.

The more urgent the situation became, the calmer he grew.

Since the system had given him twenty days to prepare, and he'd chosen to trust it, he would trust it all the way.

He guessed that even if the Avengers had arrived here, they still wouldn't attack him right away.

"Then... tomorrow, I'll go see Zhong Can first. I need to strengthen my security as soon as possible."

"Oh, and that cooperation offer from the R&D Minister. Now it's clear they just wanted to take advantage of my predicament." Wang Yiyang understood at once.

In his current situation, if he sent out the last of his elite forces to the R&D Department, it would be like tossing a meat bun to a dog: they'd never come back.

The K-Crystal Serum, the bid for board chairman—it was all a trick!

By now, he understood exactly what R&D Minister Kesati was thinking. If Wang Yiyang made a comeback, the cooperation would simply be a fair deal.

If Wang Yiyang failed completely, then Kesati would take the elite resources of the Security Department for himself. Wang Yiyang couldn't blame him for striking first.

'...Every one of them is shrewd, making sure they're in an unbeatable position ahead of time... They're all old foxes!'

After piecing together all the clues and finally working it out, Wang Yiyang felt a terrible headache coming on.

Every one of them had complicated, calculating minds. They were difficult to deal with.

Thinking about having to navigate a circle like this, he suddenly found himself missing the simple life he'd had as an office worker.

'If the Avengers really have arrived here...' Wang Yiyang suddenly felt as if something were pricking at his back.

Thinking of how he'd constantly used his identity to mobilize his forces and subordinates, exposing a trail of information about his movements in the process, he felt a chill run down his spine.

But back then, he'd only just obtained the identity and met his many subordinates. If he hadn't used the power that came with the identity, he probably wouldn't have survived until now.

In other words, this dead end was inevitable!

"I have to think of something!" The sense of an imminent, violent threat kept him running at full speed.

The Avengers could strike at any moment. If they couldn't find him, they would definitely go after his family.

The system showed that he still had twenty days, but that applied to him personally. What if something happened to his family...

Wang Yiyang didn't dare take that gamble.

With his current resources, he had no way to break free from this predicament. So he turned his attention to the memories and information about the doctor, Twist.

As a surgeon who seemed to come from another world—or perhaps another planet with more advanced technology—Twist had left him with all of his anatomical knowledge and experience. But Wang Yiyang hadn't actually tried putting any of it to use yet.

Now, with the crisis bearing down on him, he quickly began searching through those memories for anything that could help with his present situation.

As a Bronze Rank identity, he suspected there had to be hidden resources he hadn't found yet.

Sitting on the sofa, Wang Yiyang searched through every memory related to anatomy, one by one.

Twist's memories surfaced: the structures of all sorts of strange creatures he had dissected.

Some of them Wang Yiyang had seen before. They existed in the Mien Federation, too.

But many others were types he'd never encountered.

Twist had dissected countless living things.

Animals, plants, bacteria, viruses, fungi—that was basic stuff. There were also living creatures that were half-liquid and half-solid, as well as humanoid monsters with metal skin covering their entire bodies.

The more he recalled, the more certain Wang Yiyang became that Twist and his world had nothing to do with each other.

Time passed, little by little.

At last, Wang Yiyang came across a dissection.

In Twist's memories, it seemed to have been a very common minor procedure for the people of his world.

So while performing it, he'd brought along a student and explained each step in detail, along with its purpose.

But to Wang Yiyang, this minor procedure was enough to send shock waves through the entire Federation.

Because it involved an auxiliary dissection technique: Bio-Mechanization.

That is, a technology that allowed metal to switch freely between its own form and living tissue—with no side effects!

"Bio-Mechanization...!!" At last, a glimmer of hope appeared in Wang Yiyang's eyes.

A glimmer of hope that he could escape this dead end.