Steal the World Tree!

"Li Changshan, are you saying—they refused?"

The white-haired old woman knitted her brows, her face darkening.

"Not they," Li Changshan corrected at once. "The World Tree itself refused us. Please understand that."

"Li Changshan! Do you take me for a fool?" Anger rose in the old woman's face.

"It's the truth." Li Changshan's voice was calm, every word distinct. "Deputy Director Jiang, as deputy director of the General Investigation Bureau, you should know that the World Tree isn't merely a giant tree. It has a will of its own."

"If it won't cooperate, we must not force it. Otherwise—"

"We'll provoke it into a rampage, just like that World Tree now! Then we won't be able to control it, and we'll have to spend enormous manpower and resources suppressing it!"

"Ms. Jiang Minfen,"

"Do you think I'm right?"

"You—!"

Jiang Minfen was lost for words, her face livid.

After a moment of silence, she looked at Li Changshan again and said gravely, "Without the World Tree's energy, we have no hope of facing the Anomalous Calamity that's coming. When that happens, Ideal City will be destroyed!"

"I did everything I could," Li Changshan replied evenly.

"You—!"

"That's enough, both of you."

A man in black-rimmed glasses spoke, cutting them off.

He turned to Li Changshan. "You needn't involve yourself with the World Tree anymore. I'll send someone to handle it."

"You intend to use force?" Li Changshan frowned deeply.

"We're facing a crisis that threatens the world's survival," the man said steadily, with a resolve that left no room for argument. "We don't have time to debate whether that energy is stable. What matters now is making sure it's in our hands."

"..."

Li Changshan said nothing.

"But you can rest assured," the man added, softening his tone. "I'll have