freeallnovels Chapter 3813 Seizing Power
Chapter 3813 Seizing Power
Chapter 3813 Seizing Power
In the sewer, only a pool of splattered blood remained, along with some small bits of flesh and bone fragments floating in the sewage.
Tina cautiously approached the area.
The air still lingered with that chilling scent—in addition to that, there was also a smell that made one feel physically uncomfortable.
But it wasn't that strange child's...
"I'm late..."
Judging from the state of the scene, some time has obviously passed.
"We must...find it..."
The girl secretly cheered herself on.
……
……
"...Disappeared?"
Inside the temporary headquarters command center of S.H.I.E.L.D., Director Wayne seemed to be in a good mood—even after hearing the news of Baholich's disappearance, he didn't frown as usual.
“Yes, Baholici was last seen at the venue today, and then disappeared.” The assistant director nodded. “It is understood that he had previously resigned from his position as chief referee and received approval.”
"Resignation?" Wayne pondered. "Have all of White Elephant's contestants been eliminated?"
"Yes, the last contestant this morning is named Singh."
"What about the others besides Baholici?"
"All of Baixiang's contestants who participated in the preliminary rounds and above have returned to the hotel and have not come out since."
Director Wayne thought for a moment and said, "Baholich is quite powerful. Find his whereabouts as soon as possible."
The judges, apart from the European and Earth King [Radiance], the [World's Three Strongest] Stella and Lamias, and the [Empress of China], were all of slightly lower caliber... Nevertheless, they were all world-class.
Baholich is actually at a stable LV6 peak level... It's not that he's too weak, it's just that Stella is too strong, which is why he was beaten like a clown on the first day of the preliminary round.
"I'll allocate some manpower to speed things up," the assistant said quickly.
Director Wayne nodded. "The White Elephant people like to play hard to get. Baholich lost too much face in this tournament. Be careful of what kind of sabotage he might cause behind the scenes... Your operations must be kept secret."
"learn."
Director Wayne then asked, "Has anything unusual happened with the volunteer patrols these past two days?"
“There are more complaints now,” the assistant said expressionlessly. “These guys even fight amongst themselves. The public has a very bad impression of them, and some people are already organizing protests demanding the disbandment of this barbaric and chaotic patrol team.”
Chief Wayne had a faint smile on his face. "Is there anything else?"
The assistant hesitated for a moment, then said seriously, "Recently, there have been several cases of non-human disappearances... the total number has exceeded one hundred and fifty."
"What's going on?" Director Wayne, who usually didn't frown, finally did. "Why are there so many, and why is it taking so long to be reported?"
"At first, the agents below were handling it. There were a few missing persons cases. The missing persons were all non-humans who had not passed the preliminary selection, and they were all unorganized free individuals... The matter was not a big deal, so we didn't pay too much attention to it. After all, private killings among non-humans are very common... But later the number of cases increased. At the most, there were even more than forty cases in one night."
Those unorganized, weak, and "inhuman" individuals are like the homeless people in society before the birth of the supernatural society—in this country of the United States, there are far too many nameless homeless people, who often die long before they are discovered, and if the impact is not too serious, the police system will not even waste police resources to investigate them.
"More than 150 cases of 'inhuman' homeless people..." Chief Wayne tapped his fingers; that was a considerable number. "Is someone hunting down these 'inhuman' homeless people?"
“An eighth-level agent has already led a team to investigate this matter.” The assistant thought for a moment and said, “It’s just that things have been chaotic for a while these past two days because of what happened at headquarters, but the investigation should resume today.”
Director Wayne suddenly felt uneasy. He couldn't explain why, and the information he had was not enough for him to deduce anything. It was simply his intuition as a veteran agent.
He was about to speak when a series of chaotic noises suddenly came from outside the door.
Director Wayne and his assistant, who were talking, glanced over instinctively... and saw the office door suddenly pushed open, followed by a group of people rushing into the office.
A blonde secretary said in a panic, "Chief, they said they have orders... I, I can't stop them."
Director Wayne waved his hand, dismissing the female secretary first, before looking at the leader of the group, a man in his fifties wearing a military uniform.
“General Ross, if you have anything important to discuss, you can inform me first.” Director Wayne said calmly, “It’s against the rules for you to trespass like this.”
“Director Wayne… no, he should be the former director.” General Ross, his face expressionless, said calmly, “With the unanimous approval of Congress, it has been decided to remove you from your position as director of S.H.I.E.L.D., and I will temporarily take charge of the work of S.H.I.E.L.D. However, your original salary and benefits will be retained. This is the presidential decree signed by the President; please take a look.”
At that moment, Director Wayne was speechless, barely able to react.
However, General Ross, who had come to seize power, gave him no time to react. "This is a SHIELD stronghold. Anyone not involved, please leave immediately... Also, who is the director's assistant? I need someone to help me take over all the work here as soon as possible. Finally, hand over control of Homeland Soldiers, Wayne!"
"...F*CK".
……
"...So, you've really been fired?"
On the bus, Carol (B) looked on with amusement at her old friend’s counterpart… The void is so wondrous; anything can happen.
"Are you trying to comfort me?" Director Wayne... former Director Wayne said irritably.
Carol (B) smoothed her hair. “At least I won’t laugh at you, but it seems our cooperation will have to end.”
“No…” Former Director Wayne squinted and said, “This is a conspiracy. Those damned politicians will pay the price for their stupidity.”
"You have other plans?"
Former Director Wayne remained expressionless. "I've been in this position for a long time... Some things can't be overturned with just a piece of paper. Carol, I won't go back on my promise to you."
Carroll (B) shrugged. “OK.”
Actually, if Wayne didn't still exist in this world, she wouldn't mind directly attacking the Godhead... However, she wondered what the situation was like for Carol (A), the one she had exchanged with, in the B-side world.
……
The powers of S.H.I.E.L.D. are naturally granted by the state.
The newly appointed General Ross is very assertive... This time, when he came to take over S.H.I.E.L.D., the general even sent an entire combat force, including the military's X-Force team.
Conventional military forces, along with non-human troops, silently surrounded S.H.I.E.L.D.'s temporary command center, which is why the power grab was so successful.
General Ross quickly sat down in former Director Wayne's chair and carefully examined the classified documents of S.H.I.E.L.D. ...the director's computer; former Director Wayne had been asked to hand over the password before leaving.
"A nationwide security strategy... So this is what Wayne wanted to do?" After glancing through it, General Ross fell silent and began to ponder.
Inside the office, the assistant director's forehead was slightly sweaty, and he looked nervous... His position had been retained, but what would happen next was unknown.
Meanwhile, on the sofa sat a young man dressed in a rather trendy style, constantly fiddling with playing cards.
A member of the X Team... seemingly General Ross's personal bodyguard?
"Why not continue?" General Ross's voice suddenly rang out.
"Because of some unexpected events in the underground alliance of the 'non-humans'," the assistant director hurriedly said, "the plan was leaked, and with the covert intervention of 'IERO,' the director... that's why Wayne suspended the plan and will restart it when the time is right."
“If we wait any longer, we won’t have such a good opportunity.” General Ross shook his head. “Wayne is really getting old. He doesn’t even have this much courage anymore. No wonder S.H.I.E.L.D. has suffered one blow after another.”
It's difficult to evaluate the assistant director.
There was a sudden knock on the office door, but it wasn't General Ross's men who entered, but rather a Level 8 agent from S.H.I.E.L.D.!
“Agent Philistine, what are you doing…” The assistant director paused, then instinctively called out the other person’s name.
"You can go out now. I have something to discuss with Phyllis," General Ross said, waving to the assistant director.
In an instant, the assistant director was terrified...
No wonder the military seized power so quickly this time, without even receiving a single tip from S.H.I.E.L.D., Director Wayne didn't even have time to react.
So, it's because of a traitor...
When exactly did Phyllis side with the authorities?
The assistant director really wanted to tell Director Wayne this news quietly, after all, Director Wayne had treated him quite well... After working together for so many years, they had developed a good relationship.
Forget it, this is clearly a power struggle between higher-ups. Even Director Wayne is just someone who's been sacrificed. Even if I told him... what could I do?
Let's keep this job for now!
His wife had just managed to find a connection through a real estate agent and secretly took out a loan to buy a nice property in one of the newly developed satellite cities of Shenzhou [Qilin City]... He also planned to secretly send his son and daughter to Shenzhou.
These days, everyone's obsessed with China and dreaming of a better China.
……
……
The second day of the second stage of the arena competition also concluded smoothly.
If the morning session was almost entirely dominated by the contestants from China, then the afternoon session was a vibrant display of talent, with various non-human organizations, extraordinary forces, and powerful nations all making gains.
The audience's enthusiasm remained undiminished... however, the flow of visitors into Washington, D.C. was clearly already at saturation.
As dinner approached, Singh led a group of White Elephant's "inhuman" contestants and quietly left the hotel in a dispersed manner, gathering again at 8 PM.
The investigation team that secretly arrived from the White Elephant Kingdom was already waiting.
During the global "Awakening" feast six months ago, the appearance of "Awakeners" was not selective... Therefore, the White Elephant Kingdom, which had a large number of soldiers, quickly pulled up a considerable "non-human" force from its army.
After all, if we only consider the number of people in a country, the White Elephant only has China as its rival in this world.
The reorganized team, including Singh as the leader, consisted of fifty-three people, and they were now rushing to the place where the High Priest of Lahar was imprisoned.
The location was told to Singh by Master Baholich himself, so Singh had no doubts—even after meeting up with the investigation team, he learned from them that Master Baholich had also told them the location of the Lahar Grand Priest's imprisonment.
"Lord Singh, as Master Baholich instructed, you will be in charge of this operation, and we will absolutely obey your orders!"
The leader of the investigation team handed over command directly.
This made Singh feel quite excited... Before his [Awakening], he was just a student studying at a 985 university in China, and he was even struggling with the postgraduate entrance examination.
He was fortunate enough to find a decent girl in the area... but her family seemed to be very concerned about the curry smell on him, which made Singh very conflicted.
The turning point came with his awakening.
After the awakening, Singh gave up his studies and chose to return to the White Elephant to serve the country... Shiva has obviously been very kind to him. Apart from this defeat in the arena, he has been doing well for the past six months.
Now, with the empowerment and guidance of Master Baholich, his strength has increased dramatically, and Singh is even more confident in accomplishing great things.
“I’ve already contacted a cargo ship,” Singh immediately explained his plan. “After rescuing the High Priest, we’ll leave immediately, but I intend for us to split into three groups…”
In the discussion… or rather, in Singh’s temporary one-man show, the destination of this trip was soon reached.
Before me stood an abandoned sanatorium... everywhere was covered in moss and withered leaves. Under the cover of night, the iron gate of the sanatorium wall was slowly pushed open.
"Is... anyone really here?"
"I can't seem to sense the presence of any living people..."
"Is the High Priest Lahar really imprisoned here?"
"...Is it possible that it has already been moved?"
Facing the murmuring crowd, Singh said with slight annoyance, "The other party was capable of kidnapping the High Priest, and although they must have used some unknown despicable means, they are no ordinary person! You all look ordinary here, but how do you know there aren't traps? Be alert and pay close attention to your surroundings!"
"Those with the ability to detect, scan this sanatorium first!"
"Form teams of three and support each other!"
Just now.
"There's some movement!"
Just then, the lobby door of the sanatorium was suddenly kicked open, and a figure leaped out from inside!
It turns out to be a native American werewolf who has already transformed!
Upon seeing this, the White Elephant Kingdom contestants were initially taken aback, but then they reacted and took action... Although they had taken a lot of beatings in the arena, it didn't mean they were really weak!
Faced with this werewolf, whose reputation was more infamous than good, all sorts of ruthless tactics were immediately employed.
In a single exchange, the werewolf that pounced out from inside was instantly killed, lying on the ground like a bloody pulp.
"Ha, that's all there is to it."
"They say they're in the underworld, how great can they be... If they were really that good, they would have been recruited by the authorities long ago!"
A resounding victory in the first battle!
Looking at the cheerful crowd, Singh quickly glanced at the members of the investigation team... Fortunately, as expected of military personnel, they remained calm and did not become complacent after a small victory.
"Everyone be careful! This werewolf suddenly rushed out... Something might have happened inside! We've probably been exposed!"
"What are you afraid of? There are so many of us! Lord Singh, I'll lead the charge!"
After he finished speaking, a huge guy whose muscles started to bulge out rushed into the hall first... Singh stopped him, signaling everyone to calm down.
soon.
"Come in, there seems to be no one inside!"
A short while later, the burly man appeared at the entrance of the hall... Singh waited a little longer until the burly man showed signs of impatience before ordering everyone to enter.
"What's going on?" Singh asked as soon as he entered.
The burly man shook his head: "I don't know, but it seems like something has happened here... Look, there's blood everywhere, but strangely, there don't seem to be any corpses."
It's true that there was blood everywhere.
It can be found on old floors, mottled walls, and even moldy cabinets.
"What exactly happened here..." Singh slowly scanned every place, only to feel a chill suddenly come from the top of his head.
Something suddenly dripped onto his shoulder... Singh subconsciously reached out and touched it, immediately feeling a wet and sticky sensation between his fingers.
He looked up suddenly.
A dark figure pounced down in an instant!
Bang——! !
The gate slammed shut in an instant.
Then screams erupted.
……
"Stop looking, there's no water inside, it's dry, there are no fish!"
"There are ants..."
"..."
In the courtyard in front of the sanatorium building, where screams echoed continuously... Jin Shi was sitting by the courtyard fountain, yawning boredly, while the little devil was squatting by the fountain, looking inside.
"So you were here all along?"
A faint voice drifted over, and in the darkness, the flame of a lighter rose, illuminating a face with deep features... John, wearing a long trench coat and smoking a cigarette, slowly walked over.
"What's up?" Jin Shi looked like his mind was blank.
John glanced at the locked lobby doors of the sanatorium and suddenly asked, "How long do you plan to keep this 'ghost'?"
"If it can still be raised, then let's keep raising it."
John thought for a moment and said, "In the upcoming final round, you, the 'Ghost,' will first face a player from Shenzhou... named Qu Rou. Only after defeating Qu Rou will the so-called revenge match for 'Berserker' take place. Let me discuss this with you: do you, the 'Ghost,' absolutely have to win?"
“Shenzhou…” Jin Shi’s dazed gaze suddenly flickered. “Shenzhou has so many contestants, it doesn’t matter if one or two are eliminated, as long as it doesn’t affect the final result, right?”
“That’s theoretically true,” John shrugged. “However, Abraham is already a super favorite… and the amount of Z-coins he’s betting this time is huge.”
"Emmmmmm..."
Jin Shi suddenly felt like he didn't have enough brain cells... This is really troublesome, business and all that. He started to look at John with hostility.
"I have an idea, would you like to hear it?" John said with a casual smile, as if he hadn't seen Kintoki's gaze.
Kintoki instantly decided to abandon his thinking and said, "Speak..."