Chapter 1 The Beginning

“I... forgot…” Emma's dull pupils revealed a trace of confusion.

“Where is Vic Fowler?” Winnie Berendt asked.

“We broke up,” Emma murmured. “I don’t know where he is. It wasn't until after we broke up that I realized I had never even met his family.”

“Who is your handler?”

“Elder ‘Godzilla’ of the Biological Alchemy Society.”

“Besides you, how many people from the Free Alliance are there within Judgment?” Winnie Berendt pressed. “I don’t know…” Emma murmured.

Hearing this, Winnie Berendt was a little disappointed, but it was also within expectations. One-way contact and strict confidentiality were the most basic espionage practices.

It was almost impossible to catch a whole bunch of spies by capturing just one.

But the information obtained today was already enough. “Her cognition has been distorted,” Winnie Berendt phrased it.

“She was taken to some kind of gathering by a man named Vic Fowler, where she listened to the revelations of the gods on a bed forged of gold… That should be some kind of ritual to corrupt orderly professions.”

“As for whether the source of the corruption is the so-called god or the golden bed, it is unknown.”

Zhao Chenghuang’s expression was grave. “The function of the golden bed should be the same as the Corruption Holy Grail in the Second District. It’s a tool used by evil professions to control orderly professions.”

The Corruption Holy Grail was a rule-type item in the Second District that was feared by all orderly professions. Even geniuses like the Demon Lord were unable to escape their fate as slaves until they returned to the Lingjing.

If the First District also possessed such an item, it would mean that the Free Alliance could stably create corrupt individuals. Today’s partner might be tomorrow’s traitor, making it impossible to guard against. Revelations of the gods…

If Catherine’s mention of the revelations of the gods refers to this, then Catherine also completed the corruption ritual on the golden bed!

Evil professions always have items to corrupt others, while orderly professions don’t have items to reform evil ones…

Zhang Yuanqing had a clearer understanding of the concept that evil could corrupt order. He had to find a way to destroy the golden bed or snatch it. The best way would be to lure the snake out of its hole and have the evil faction actively hold a gathering… but the Tongtian Cult Leader was an evil profession, and a deeply evil one at that. In the eyes of the Free Alliance, even listening to the revelations of the gods would be feared as polluting the gods…

As thoughts flashed through his mind, he heard Winnie Berendt ask, “Besides Carlyle’s address, what other tasks did Godzilla assign you?”

Winnie Berendt’s expression suddenly changed. She explained to her confused subordinate, “Jody Berendt is my grandfather!”

Winnie’s expression changed. “What is Godzilla’s purpose?”

Emma murmured, “I don’t know, but I suspect they are going to take action against Jody Berendt soon.”

A murderous intent gradually gathered in Winnie Berendt’s eyes. She said coldly, “How do you contact Godzilla?”

“Use a virtual short number to dial his phone. The password is, ‘Chaos is the end of order!’” Emma said.

Winnie Berendt asked a few more questions. After confirming that Emma didn’t know any more information, her eyes flashed with blue light, and arcs of electricity crackled. A thick pillar of lightning was born out of thin air, striking Emma. Emma’s tall, fair body turned into a cloud of ash, falling on the floor of the office.

Tsk, decisive! Zhang Yuanqing praised inwardly.

Winnie Berendt went straight back to her desk and said, “You guys go back first. I need some time alone.”

Palace Master Zhisha didn’t say anything and took Zhang Yuanqing’s hand and left.

Zhao Chenghuang glanced at their hands, sized up Palace Master Zhisha’s back, and frowned slightly.

He felt that Yuanshi had too many confidantes. He felt worried for his childhood sweetheart Sun Miaomiao and his battle-hardened comrade Guan Ya. But soon, he dismissed these emotions.

Yuanshi was destined to become a ruler in the future, and a peak ruler at that, even with the hope of impacting the demigod realm. It was not uncommon for him to have many confidantes. His great-grandfather had many women. Every year at the gathering, five generations were present, with a scale of three or four hundred people. He was already used to it. Secular morality and human laws were difficult to restrain these inhuman, god-like powerhouses.

“I’m going to wander around your office,” Palace Master Zhisha said, skipping and jumping while holding her lover’s hand.

Please let me go… Zhang Yuanqing looked at Zhao Chenghuang and said, “That’s right, Little Zhao, do we have a mission this afternoon?” He blinked desperately, hinting wildly.

Zhao Chenghuang’s expression remained unchanged. “You remembered incorrectly. We don’t have any missions.”

Zhang Yuanqing quickly said, “Palace Master, let’s go shopping.”

Palace Master Zhisha curled her lips and looked at him with a smile, without saying a word. In the afternoon, the announcement that the Demonic Beast Haas had been hunted down by the Five Elements Alliance’s support team was posted on the internal forum of Tianfa by the New York Branch’s official account.

In an instant, the post became a hot topic of discussion within Tianfa.

From the perspective of the various branches of Tianfa, this group of support teams from New York were clearly foreigners, yet they were arrogant and rampant on the land of the Free Federation. They had successively injured two outstanding young people from the Meade family, which was simply a provocation to Tianfa.

Even the Lingjing Xingzhe who hated the Meade family had to frown and criticize: These foreigners are so arrogant, it’s really annoying. Unexpectedly, in just a few days, this group of arrogant foreigners had killed the “Demonic Beast Haas,” a level-six peak Saint, a powerful figure ranked ninth on Tianfa headquarters’ A-level wanted list.

Tianfa’s various branches had their own wanted lists, just like each continent had its own laws. The Demonic Beast Haas was ranked fifth on the New York A-level wanted list and ninth on the Tianfa headquarters’ A-level wanted list.

The top ten evil professions on the headquarters’ A-level wanted list were all top elites who had the hope of being promoted to the Ruler level, geniuses among geniuses. These kinds of figures only died on a large scale in killing instances.

In the real world, they were outlaws, existing beyond the law. Such a great achievement, if it fell on a member of Tianfa, could lead to an immediate promotion.

“These guys are really capable. They actually killed a Demonic Beast Haas. It reminds me of a saying in Huaguo: ‘Evil people will be grinded by evil people.’”

“The Saints of New York are so embarrassing. From the start of the war between the Merchant Guild and the Dionysus Club until now, the greatest feat was actually done by people from the Five Elements Alliance.”

“I’ve changed my view of this group of foreigners from the Five Elements Alliance. Although they are arrogant and annoying, they are actually very reassuring as companions.”

“I never thought that a figure like the Demonic Beast Haas would die.” The Sea God Church, Merchant Guild, Beauty God Association, and various folk orderly organizations in New York successively received the news.

This information caused quite a stir among the various organizations. The local Lingjing Xingzhe immediately realized that the conflict had escalated again!

The evil faction had sacrificed a peak Saint. The Biological Alchemy Society would definitely go crazy and retaliate. In the days to come, there would probably be intense hunting among the Saints.

This level of war was enough to wipe out some weak folk organizations. Even large folk forces like the Anti-Black and White Alliance would suffer serious injuries and a great loss of vitality.

Although they were filled with worries, the Five Elements Alliance’s support team’s successful hunt of the Demonic Beast Haas still gave the orderly organizations in New York a boost of confidence.

The official is still the official! Amidst the storms outside, the atmosphere in the Five Elements Alliance’s office area was seemingly normal but actually strangely stiff.

“Ju Mang is my boyfriend. I heard he came to New York on a business trip, so I chased him thousands of miles,” Palace Master Zhisha ordered takeout and gave each of the Extraordinary Ones a serving.

The Musician profession was the Eastern version of the Eros profession. Although they were not as promiscuous as the Eros profession, they still had charm and physique enhancements and were naturally likable.

This girl, who called herself Chu Guai Guai, had an exquisite oval face and a Mori girl style of dress, like a pure white lotus flower. Her voice was also delicate and sweet, and she was quickly accepted and liked by the Extraordinary Ones of the Five Elements Alliance.

They felt that Director Ju Mang’s girlfriend was beautiful, had a sweet voice, and was a perfect match! Compared to the harmonious atmosphere among the Extraordinary Ones, the Saints had strange expressions and worked in silence, not even daring to breathe loudly.

Even the most reckless Red Rooster chose to lie low! Guan Ya was already so angry in the office that her mentality exploded. But she was Yuanshi Tianzun’s girlfriend. What did Ju Mang have to do with her? And what did Ju Mang’s girlfriend have to do with her?

Palace Master Zhisha had calculated that she wouldn’t dare to show up and tear things up, so she was deliberately disgusting her.

Yuan Ting drank steaming coffee, holding a box of fried chicken, and returned to the Saints’ office from the office area, praising, “Xiang Mang, your girlfriend is really good. She has a good personality, is beautiful, and is very charming.”

“Hey, why aren’t you all going out to eat fried chicken? What are you doing sitting here? His girlfriend came from thousands of miles away. Show some respect.” He looked at the Saints who were pretending to be dead with dissatisfaction.

“Shut up and eat your fried chicken!” Sun Miaomiao said through gritted teeth.

“Hey, Sun Miaomiao, are you not happy?” Yuan Ting suspiciously scrutinized her. “There’s no reason for you to be unhappy.”

“I, I’m happy, very happy…” Sun Miaomiao forced a smile.

Yuan Ting inexplicably smelled a hint of gossip and at the same time felt that he seemed to be excluded from a certain circle. This was the intuition he had cultivated after years of studying Bagua Arts. Just as he was about to ask in detail, he heard the voice of the Extraordinary assistant from outside the office area: “Several Directors, the leaders from the Supervision Department are here.”

Zhang Yuanqing and the others were greatly relieved and stood up one after another, rushing out of the office. The leaders from the Supervision Department were here to deliver rewards. In the reception room, the Deputy Minister of the Supervision Department, Osiris William, was sitting at the table with two assistants.

This level 7 Ruler was about fifty years old, with short brown-yellow hair, light green eyes, a square face, and a slightly drooping mouth, looking both serious and strong.

Seeing the Saints of the Five Elements Alliance coming over, he put a bank card on the table and said, “This is the cash reward that Director Winnie applied for on your behalf. The total amount is nine million Federal Coins, and you can distribute it yourselves.”

Then, he took a form from his subordinate behind him and said, “This is a list of items and materials. You can choose three Saint-quality items and ten Saint-quality materials from it. It’s still up to you to distribute them. According to the normal process, the rewards will not be issued so quickly, usually next month, but the members of the Five Elements Alliance are not formal employees of Tianfa, they belong to the characteristics of mercenaries. The money for mercenaries must be settled immediately, this is the international rule.”

Zhang Yuanqing and Tianxia Guihuo looked at each other and smiled. With this reward, plus the spoils of war from last night, they could basically guarantee that each of the Saints would have an item. Plus the materials and cash rewards, this wave of the Return of the Dead was a great harvest.

Sure enough, nothing was faster than war in making money. After the Saints of the Five Elements Alliance finished reading the form and selected the materials and items, Deputy Minister William said, “The Executive Department has recently been investigating Cocktail. It is said that there will be action tonight. You have brought no small amount of pressure to the Executive Department.”

The Executive Department was specifically responsible for investigating and arresting evil professions.

The Five Elements Alliance’s support team had just arrived in the Free Federation and had already made great contributions, undoubtedly slapping the Executive Department in the face.

“It’s all for peace and order!” Zhang Yuanqing said in a deep voice.

Deputy Minister William nodded. “Be low-key these few days. The Biological Alchemy Society will definitely retaliate.” After saying that, he left the reception room with his two subordinates.

At six o’clock in the afternoon, Zhang Yuanqing personally escorted Palace Master Zhisha back to her apartment. He said with a serious expression, “A good green tea bitch shouldn’t make men so embarrassed and distressed. Palace Master, I’m not talking about you, I’m just feeling emotional and sighing.”

Palace Master Zhisha said with a smile, “A pond owner who is good at raising fish shouldn’t only focus on feeding one fish, Ju Mang, I’m not talking about you either, I’m just feeling emotional and sighing.”

Zhang Yuanqing cupped his hands, admitting defeat. Leaving the apartment, he took out his spare phone, turned it on, and checked the information.

One missed call, one unread message.

He opened the message: 【Catherine: There’s an internal gathering tonight, at ten o’clock, old place, 62 Hamburg Street, Queens District!】