"Those who steal a hook are thieves; those who steal a state are lords; those who steal the world make all living beings kneel before them, as mice and rabbits kneel before dragons."
"The smallest cost for the greatest gain—why should such a wonderful phrase be considered derogatory?"
"Is it because it exposes the most disgraceful side of my peers?"
"Power—authority—wealth."
"Mortals need wealth to leverage authority, then authority to leverage institutions and obtain power."
"We were born with power. Why make things so complicated?"
The man gently raised a hand toward the sky, and an invisible, intangible web emerged.
He casually grasped one of its threads. At the other end of that thread seemed to be a VIP hospital room.
Inside, an elderly man who had remained incorruptible throughout his life—though his son was invincible in business and his son-in-law always obtained the finest projects—was lecturing the visitors.
"Look how great he is."
Russell pointed at the thread representing authority and tied a small knot in it.
"Heaven was about to entrust him with a great responsibility. If someone so great was not tempered a little, how could he live up to his great status?"
Almost in the very next instant, a notification sounded from their phones. As if in a play, the elderly man who had just been surrounded by everyone became a plague god.
Russell reached out again and caught another thread.
And then—
The phone of a resolute man bearing several gunshot wounds, yet denied access to a top-tier hospital room, rang at once as well, bringing news so wonderful that he could scarcely comprehend it.
"Concept-type abilities have always worked exactly as the saying goes: the bolder the person, the greater the yield."
"Why not integrate into the order, control the source, and alter that