“I—I haven’t finished reading it yet! ” The young man in worker’s attire, deaf to the admonishments of those beside him and ignoring the hands placed on his shoulders trying to guide him aside, straightened up and shouted loudly:
“White Violet Hero, recipient of the Justice Medal of Herzen Holstburg, founder of the World Ark! “
His clear, resounding voice made everyone turn their heads to look.
_”You will ultimately witness the transformed world, see the old fate reborn from the ashes!
“You shall face that which cannot be looked upon directly… “
Smack!The worker-clad young man’s tongue suddenly stumbled, and the force of his bite violently snapped down beyond his control, shaking his breathing into chaos.
“Towards the only de—destruct… ugh… “
Thump!A fist from a listener nearby, his expression drastically changed, slammed into his face.
“Hold him down, don’t let him speak. ” Yang Zicang said sharply.
Several people collided swiftly, wrestling the small young man to the ground!
Oswald’s newspaper was snatched away by the chaotic crowd, and an officer forcefully pulled it free. A guard, with a halo swirling in his eyes, swiftly slapped a hand over the young man’s mouth, his gaze fixed on the suffocating pale of the youth’s face.
The surrounding guests stirred into chaos.
“What is he doing? “
“This is an evil and terrifying fellow! ” the guard shouted.
Yang Zicang had just taken a couple of steps back when a figure suddenly rushed in from outside the door. Bai Yuan ran to Yang Zicang’s side and handed him a large stack of special documents from Kruln.
“One of our townsfolk thought of something. This is a design concept he and a group of us hastily put together based on his memory of the intelligence. “
He then looked around at the chaotic venue and Yang Zicang’s somewhat ashen face, before finally fixing his gaze on the man dressed as a worker, who was being held down, his mouth covered, unable to move.
At this moment, the man was being pinned down firmly in place by two Goas guards from this area and a nearby soldier from the “New Defense Command, ” who was searching him all over.
“What happened? ” Bai Yuan asked quietly.
“An enemy has infiltrated, ” Yang Zicang said coldly.
“An enemy? What enemy? “
Bai Yuan walked over. Oswald shuddered, looking on in despair as the young man, amidst the murmurs around him, took the newspaper that was about to be torn up by the soldier and looked at the poem on it.
“This… is it describing… “
“Don’t say it! ” the Goas family guard, who had a four-tiered meridian and was covering little Oswald’s mouth, said sternly.
“…the future? ” Bai Yuan looked at him, muttering the word as if dazed.
The surroundings fell silent for an instant.
Bai Yuan felt Yang Zicang’s gaze land on him like needles. Meanwhile, the soldier had angrily snatched back the newspaper. Several bursts of killing intent converged upon him — it was actually members of a few powerful families present. They seemed to resent him even more than Yang Zicang did.
Tight on Bai Yuan’s wrist was the key to the inn key; a chill brushed against his skin.
Hold on! If he fled now, he would never make it out of the inn alive. But… if he didn’t do this job, his boss wouldn’t let him off, either.
Yang Zicang walked closer, step by step.
Bai Yuan’s gaze fell on a young lad dressed in worker’s clothes, whose eyes showed a fleeting lightness of relief.
“Oh, so you need anchoring, do you? That Prophet’s business—I happen to be the best at it.“
“Huh?” The guarding soldier, cover his mouth, looked up.
Bai Yuan turned his head and pretended to relax, grinning as he said, “Ah-ha, Chief. I’ve actually been making predictions about your future all along. That’s why I’m so on edge — oh, don’t misunderstand.“
“What are you trying to say?“
“Some of those prediction articles about you inMistpeepswere actually written by me. Like how you’d rise to fame in White Violet City. They’re not ill-intended.“
Hearing theMistpeepsmentioned, some of the powerful figures around immediately suddenly perked up as if realizing something. “Wait — could the Great Prophet be you?“
Yang Zicang stood before Bai Yuan, whose forehead was beaded with sweat. In the young man’s eyes, which had just relaxed, a flicker of crisis resurfaced.
“You’ve been anchoring my future? “
“Not anchoring! “
Bai Yuan raised his hands in a gesture of surrender. Just as he was about to speak, the guard from Goas shouted:
“Don’t listen to him. President, what if this guy blurts out what comes next in the newspaper! “
“No, I just want to tell the president what it means. “
A faint, murderous chill gradually emanated from Yang Zicang’s body.
Bai Yuan was so nervous he almost stammered: “It’s… that kind of thing. You have it. That square, you-can-write-on-it thing… “
A faint, unusual light flickered in Yang Zicang’s eyes.
Bai Yuan continued, “I only want that… because I know your most likely next move, so I made a prediction in advance! It’s absolutely not about anchoring your future. “
Someone nearby handed over paper and pen. “You better write it down. For safety’s sake. “
Amidst everyone’s tense breathing and the lethal danger that Yang Zicang could snap at any moment, Bai Yuan took the paper and quickly scribbled down his response.
—I predict your future. The more times I succeed, the more “… ” will believe me…
He folded the paper and handed it to the guard and the soldier for a look. After a moment’s thought flickered in their eyes, they passed it to Yang Zicang.
“This sentence is no threat. “
Yang Zicang took it, read it, and an expression of disbelief instantly filled his eyes.
“Could it be… that Full Moon Angel told you to do this? “
Bai Yuan’s lips split into a grin, “Ah-ha, pretty much. I just wanted a… you know, one of those business cards. You get what I mean, right? “
The lethal pressure emanating from Yang Zicang dissipated.
A hint of curiosity replaced some of the boiling rage in his heart. His face returned to its cold indifference as he stared at the young man sinking back into despair.
Milena and the others were holding the small dog and were about to be surrounded and taken away by some people. Yang Zicang gestured for them to come over, reached out to envelop the puppy, and cradled it in his arm, its four paws dangling in the air.
Bai Yuan breathed a huge sigh of relief.
That was terrifying.
Recalling the words that had lit up on that page of the Holy Man’s blank memoir, instructing him to come at this very moment to take over the assassination mission against this current guy, that damn big boss—how much could he possibly hate Yang Zicang?!
He had no choice but to come. But… I’ve done what I had to do. As for these efforts I’m now making to save my own skin, you can’t blame me for that.
Bai Yuan took a step back and watched as Yang Zicang, holding the puppy with its four paws dangling, moved forward two steps and looked down at the man pinned to the ground.
“What’s his name? “
“His name is Oswald, ” said one of the young men beside Milena.
Hearing this name, Wager, who was nearby and didn’t understand what was happening, was immediately startled. “He’s that world-renowned assassin’s alter ego. “
Yang Zicang was slightly taken aback.
“President Buchen, you probably didn’t catch what he said after that, did you? ” The soldier tore up the newspaper.
“Yes. “
This person was trying to anchor his own future!
Good thing I didn’t catch the last words.
The man pinned to the ground let out muffled sounds. Yang Zicang suddenly felt something damp on his hand. Looking down, he saw little Anda licking his hand with its tongue.
Indeed, he had this little dog to thank.
Oswald, his eyes blazing with fury, twisted his head forcefully to glare at the dog, as if he wanted to devour it alive.
“Yang… President. ” Milena and the others spoke, somewhat at a loss for what to do.
They also realized that something must have happened, and considered that this man had used their invitation to enter the welcome party. Everyone from the Qingying Commune felt very apologetic, their faces showing signs of anxiety.
“It’s fine. ” Yang Zicang turned back and nodded to them with a smile, returning the little dog to them. “I trust you. “
A flicker of excitement immediately shone in their eyes.
Quick footsteps sounded again at the door. Zhao Anlong pushed through the crowd to stand before them, and after asking what had happened, he picked up the already crumpled newspaper and took a look.
Everyone whispered among themselves, with many unsure of what was going on.
“Thanks to the arrival of my friends here, ” Yang Zicang said to the people around him. “The danger has been averted. Everyone, relax. “
Upon hearing this, Ma Shuo stepped forward and saw the adorable little dog in the girl’s hands, bearing the name “Anda. ” He said, “It’s rare to hear the language of home here. “
“What? “
“Anda is what we Mongolians call a friend who, though not bound by blood, is closer than a sibling,” he said, reaching out to pat the little dog on the head. Its little tongue, extended joyfully to lick him, fell short of its mark.
“The name Andrea… ” Everyone had just spoken.
Suddenly, a guard covering Oswald said,
“The Judge is having an extremely strong emotional reaction to this topic.“
Then that guard looked up at the little dog with slight agitation, “Especially when hearing the name ‘Andrea.’ Could it mean something special?“
“In our national epicJangar, heroes address each other as ‘Anda.’ You should have heard that term in the famousCondor HeroesTV series,” Ma Shuo said. “It stands for the bond of sworn siblings, like those made under a vow.“
Zhao Anlong pondered, rubbing his chin.
“That is strange. And this assassin even borrowed that name. Could this… have some special significance as well?“
“Perhaps there’s a secret tied to it,” Yang Zicang said, his emotions hard to calm. “This matter needs investigating at a later time. For now, we must quickly destroy the relevant newspapers, prevent this poem from spreading, and find everyone connected to it.“
“We’ll handle this,” said the officer who had helped subdue the man.
“Mr. Buchen, I’ve realized that, in some matters, we know more than even you Uprooted people. Take this attack, for instance.“
Around the conference table with its artful carvings and deep glossy black finish, everyone was completely taken aback by the discussion.
“What exactly is this attack incident? ” asked a noble lady who only knew that something relatively serious had happened but had no idea of the specifics.
“It’s a curse, ” the crouching military man said gravely.
A stir ran through the surroundings.
He spoke slowly to the crowd gathered around him:
“You don’t know this, but in history, several reformers, scientists, and philosophy lecturers in our country were cursed by mysterious enemies during similar sentencing events. “
“My God, curses are real. “
“I thought they were just demons. “
“It’s true. Those who have been publicly sentenced, especially those who were sentenced in person, generally encounter similar events as pronounced and lose their lives after some time. “
“It’s a good thing only members of this organization possess such demonic curse abilities. “
The guard of the Goas family, who tore strips from his torn coat and tightly stuffed them into Oswald’s mouth, also said:
“It’s precisely because an ancestor from our Goas family, a young and courageous heir to the head of house, died from a sudden appearance of a public sentencing that we know so much about these matters. “
A cold gleam flashed in his eyes.
“I didn’t expect that the attack, which last occurred over seventy years ago, would suddenly appear again today. “
The man’s gaze turned to the young man standing before him, “And the target is none other than our Chairman Yang Buchen! “
Everyone nearby turned their heads in unison to look at Yang Zicang.
“So this is also what you meant by the source of the curse. “
Yang Zicang looked at the small dog beside him. “If that’s the case, I suspect it might be the Trait of ‘Anda,’ which just now engaged in a one-on-one contest with this Declaimer’s ‘Public Declaration’ Trait. “
“Tr… what? “
The people around were bewildered, only a few showing expressions of sudden understanding.
Those who understood glanced at Yang Zicang’s reluctance to elaborate further but recognized it as Chairman Yang’s best reciprocation to everyone!
The soldier who had bound the young worker’s hands tightly stood up, somewhat excited. “Thank you, Chairman Yang! “
This was indeed extremely important intelligence!
The guard of Goas Clan Continent also immediately realized how precious this statement was, quivering, he rose to his feet and gave Yang Zicang a solemn nod. Several other individuals around could barely contain their excitement, their fingers unconsciously tightening, each adjusting their posture, their Adam’s apples twitching as they lightly pressed their lips together.
Among the men and women in the room, the elders of several old aristocratic families felt their pupils suddenly widen.
“I wonder if Chairman Yang succeeded in being declared or not. “
“This newspaper is circulated throughout the entire capital. I suspect that if someone publicly claims it’s a prophecy from the future world, there might still be adverse consequences… “
“Not hearing or knowing that description, there will be nothing. “
A cacophony of voices rose within the tightly shut conference room.
The danger had still not been completely resolved.
This organization—who on earth are they? A feeling of suffocation welled up in Yang Zicang’s heart. This collective modification, these elusive attacks, attackers impossible to detect or defend against…
How could one possibly strike back against a force like this…?
“Friends, ” said an elderly gentleman of the Haili family, stepping forward.
“I believe everyone understands what this means. If our world’s future cannot be changed, we will all eventually live under the constant threat of doom. So we must remain silent on this matter. “
The people around nodded in agreement.
But Yang Zicang knew it was already too late.
“No need. ” Yang Zicang’s voice rang out, growing calm.
The noisy room quieted down slightly.
“What? “
Everyone around turned to look at him.
Zhao Anlong also looked over. Yang Zicang coldly grabbed the torn newspaper and crushed it into dust in his hands.
“This shadow organization will inevitably make a public statement about the incident anyway. So even if we try to keep it secret, we might only be delaying the inevitable. “
Wager looked at the young man who had been silenced, and interjected:
“For now, we can only make them believe that kid’s operation was successful. So, I suggest you, Chairman Yang, immediately reissue the curse declaration, and take control of the future possibilities ourselves. “
Yang Zicang pondered slightly.
Hearing this, the young lad trapped on the ground let out a disdainful chuckle. The youth, whose facial contours were as sharp as if carved by an axe, noticed this expression on the public judge’s face.
“That sort of thing is very unlikely to happen, ” a few members of the Old Nobility said solemnly as they approached:
“We have actually tested all these efforts ourselves. Making public declarations about future actions—even giving speeches and pledges to gatherings of thousands or tens of thousands about what achievements one intends to accomplish—still ends up with no different result. “
“Indeed, in the end, the interference of various Tracks of Fate will cause the one who has been publicly judged to still die inexplicably at the right moment. “
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