Early the next morning.
The Blue Mountain Villa District was gripped by tension.
Although it was early morning, almost everyone was already awake. Not a single person was sleeping in.
Countless cameras had also appeared throughout the Blue Mountain Villa District, providing full 360-degree coverage of the surroundings.
Inside a huge villa, the Heavenly God Cult Leader sat upright in the chair at the head of the room, while the cultists stood in orderly rows around him.
The Heavenly God Cult Leader gazed into the distance and said, seemingly hinting at something, "They're coming. The Transcendent Administration Bureau is coming."
The cultists below stirred.
Although the Heavenly God Cult Leader had already made arrangements to deal with the Transcendent Administration Bureau, the cultists still did not quite understand why he refused to leave when he knew the bureau's people were coming.
They clearly had a chance to retreat.
Their leader's scheme was formidable and could make Great Xia and the Transcendent Administration Bureau wary of the hostages in their hands, but they would also have no way to escape. The Transcendent Administration Bureau would surround them completely...
No one knew what their leader was thinking.
The Heavenly God Cult Leader watched the cultists whispering among themselves below, paying no mind to what they said. He had only two objectives.
First, to utterly disgrace Great Xia and the Transcendent Administration Bureau, making the people of Great Xia lose faith in them and laying the groundwork for future events.
Second, to transport all the Spirit Stones out of the country and into Sakura Country.
That was right. The Heavenly God Cult Leader was actually the son of Sakura Country's emperor. He had come to Great Xia to find Spirit Stone Mines and ship the Spirit Stones to Sakura Country.
Sakura Country was an island nation with far too few resources. Even across the entire country, hardly any Spirit Stones could be found.
As the emperor's son, he had ventured into Great Xia, killed the real Heavenly God Cult Leader, and taken his place, leading the cult in committing evil throughout Great Xia while searching for Spirit Stone Mines.
In the end, he had found one, just as he had hoped.
It was on a small mountain outside the Imperial Capital, five kilometers from the Blue Mountain Villa District.
There was a Spirit Stone Mine there!
He had already mined over ten thousand Spirit Stones from it.
Nine thousand of those had already been transported to a coastal city. All that remained was for him to bring the final thousand there, then take the Spirit Stones back to Sakura Country himself.
Before that, however, he had to accomplish his first objective.
When the confrontation with the Transcendent Administration Bureau came, whatever happened, he would find a way to have people impersonate bureau personnel and kill the hostages. Then he could abandon the Heavenly God Cult's followers and retreat alone.
That way, Great Xia and the Transcendent Administration Bureau would inevitably face public condemnation!
Great Xia would be thrown into chaos!
It would pave the way for the future plan with Beautiful Country!
Those were all the plans and objectives of the Heavenly God Cult Leader, the emperor's son!
What he did not know was that Shen Fei had discovered the final thousand Spirit Stones he had left in the Spirit Stone Mine.
The leader stood and raised a hand, signaling for everyone to be quiet.
The room immediately fell silent.
He said, "Don't worry, everyone. The Heavenly God will protect us! With those hostages here, we're perfectly safe. We can even make whatever demands we want of the Transcendent Administration Bureau. Rest easy!"
Hearing their leader speak with such certainty, all the cultists broke into relieved smiles.
Suddenly, the leader smiled. His clone had spotted the Transcendent Administration Bureau's people.
"Begin the operation! Livestream across the internet!"
At his shout, all the cultists immediately began moving in an orderly fashion.
They brought all the hostages outside to an open area and pointed the cameras at them.
Immediately, a livestream appeared on each of the major streaming platforms.
Its title was: Heavenly God Cult VS Great Xia's Transcendent Administration Bureau.
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Countless people were immediately drawn in to watch.
When the relevant authorities discovered this, they immediately tried to shut down the streams, but all the major platforms cited technical issues, saying they could not take them down... Of course, only they knew the real reason.
With the streams impossible to shut down, more and more viewers poured in.
Everyone saw what was happening in the Blue Mountain Villa District.
"Holy shit, what's going on?"
"Something like this actually happens?"
"Oh my god, are all these people Transcendents? There are so many!"
"The whole world has awakened, and I'm still useless..."
"Is this real or fake? Are those really hostages?"
"..."
Hidden near the Blue Mountain Villa District, Yun Yongfeng's veins bulged, and his fingers clenched until they turned white.
He had never expected to be discovered, let alone have the Heavenly God Cult turn the tables on him!
Lin Qiye also fell silent.
The nature of the situation had changed.
It was no longer as simple as dealing with the Heavenly God Cult. They had to rescue the hostages... Even if they could not save them, the hostages had to die at the cult's hands... All the hatred had to be directed toward the Heavenly God Cult.
But why would the Heavenly God Cult kill those hostages?
Yun Yongfeng roared in fury, "Why haven't those livestreams been shut down?!"
Unfortunately, the reply was that the owners controlling the streaming platforms from behind the scenes refused to shut them down.
"What did the Heavenly God Cult offer those bastards to make them dare act so recklessly? Aren't they afraid the Transcendent Administration Bureau will settle accounts with them afterward?!"
Lin Qiye speculated, "Those owners behind the scenes have money and power. What could attract them must be transcendence... But what I can't understand is how the Heavenly God Cult could turn those owners into Transcendents."
Naturally, the Heavenly God Cult could not do it, but Beautiful Country's bloodline family-the Vampire Clan-could.
Unfortunately, Yun Yongfeng and Lin Qiye lacked that information. Otherwise, they could easily have deduced that all of this was a conspiracy targeting Great Xia and the Transcendent Administration Bureau. No, it was an open scheme. Even if they knew about it, they would still have to find a way out!
The Heavenly God Cult Leader sent Zhang San outside to address them, while he himself sat off to the side, taking his time enjoying the show.
Zhang San stood outside, holding a megaphone.
At the same time, everyone watching the livestream saw Zhang San.
"Transcendent Administration Bureau! Yun Yongfeng!"
"There's no need to hide anymore. I know you're right here, preparing to launch a sneak attack on our Heavenly God Cult!"
"Our Heavenly God Cult has captured every civilian in the Blue Mountain Villa District. I'm ordering all of you to come out now. If you don't, I'll torture these civilians to death one by one in front of tens of millions of viewers!"
"You represent Great Xia. If you don't come out, that means everything Great Xia has ever said, every oath it has sworn, is null and void. All of it was a lie! They don't serve the people at all, only their own interests!"
"I'm giving you just ten seconds! For every second over that, I'll sever one person's hands and feet!"
"Ten!"
In the distance, a group walked out.
It was Yun Yongfeng and his men.
Lin Qiye, meanwhile, used Weathering to conceal himself in the surroundings, ready at any moment to find an opening and strike.
They stopped thirty meters away from Zhang San and the others.
Yun Yongfeng stared at Zhang San, seething with fury. "You bastard. You betrayed the Transcendent Administration Bureau. You betrayed Great Xia, you bastard!"
Unconcerned, Zhang San waved a hand. "Director Yun, stop cursing. Right now, what I say goes. Say one more word, and I'll sever someone's hands and feet."
Zhang San was not afraid of a surprise attack. He had so many hostages right here.
Besides, the Invisibility Woman the leader had sent was beside him. He had nothing to fear.
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