Red Wolf District, inside a relatively upscale apartment.

The fake "Father" Sander, as usual, turned on his computer and started browsing a document.

Because he had "hypnotized" many people to work for him, he was worried about forgetting some personnel and key details, resulting in unnecessary errors. Therefore, the first thing he did upon returning each time was to record who he had "hypnotized," how he had "hypnotized" them, what goals he wanted to achieve, and whether they needed further attention.

Before learning to use a computer, he had a small notebook that he carried with him, specifically for recording these things.

And now, he could only sigh:

"Computers are so convenient!"

At the agreed time, he got up and walked to the radio transceiver, turned it on, tuned it to the appropriate frequency, and waited to see what instructions the relic hunter team that wanted to oppose the real "Father" had.

Before long, Sander received a telegram.

He began to decode it with some heaviness and worry.

Gradually, the content of the telegram was revealed:

"We have killed the real 'Father' Alex..."

Having only decoded the first sentence, Sander's pupils dilated sharply.

The real "Father" is dead?

Killed by that relic hunter team just like that?

Are they trying to deceive me? Are they sure it was the real "Father"?

As a fake "Father," Sander was very clear about how terrifying, how cautious, and how difficult to find the real "Father" was. Therefore, he never had much confidence in this revenge, but he just couldn't swallow his anger and decided to give it a try.

Similarly, he did not believe that the Qian Bai team could take care of the real "Father" in a short period of time.

It's simply impossible!

But the fact overturned his belief and shattered his cognition.

For a moment, Sander's heart was filled with complex emotions, not knowing whether it was joy, sorrow, or confusion.

After a while, he continued to translate the telegram:

"You are free. You can choose your next life. We hope you won't do any more bad things. If we find out, no matter where you are in the Ashlands, we can find you, just like we found the real 'Father'."

Seeing this, Sander truly felt that the Qian Bai team had indeed taken down the real "Father," otherwise they wouldn't abandon him as a pawn.

Seconds later, a low, slightly manic laughter echoed in the room.

"Haha, dead, really dead... you weren't that powerful after all, still killed by someone?" Sander laughed for a long time, his eyes a little moist.

He wiped his eyes with the back of his hand, feeling completely relaxed, no longer carrying the weight of a huge rock.

He had done some thinking about the future in the past few days.

That was to leave Initial City and live somewhere else after getting rid of the real "Father," or being certain that he couldn't take revenge.

And that place should preferably be in an area not covered by the Anti-intellectualism Church.

Sander believed that with his ability and intelligence, as long as he didn't pursue a position at the top of the pyramid, he could live well anywhere.

His gaze returned to the paper, landing on the last sentence.

For some reason, he couldn't help but shiver.

In his opinion, not using ability when you have it is simply a waste, and strictly distinguishing between good and bad when using ability is a self-imposed restriction.

He wanted to scoff at the Qian Bai team for being too naive to warn him not to do bad things, but he couldn't laugh at all.

A few minutes ago, he wouldn't have had this reaction, but now, he had to carefully consider the possibility of this warning becoming a reality.

Leaving aside his ridiculous self-esteem, Sander had to admit that the real "Father" surpassed him in terms of ability, intelligence, resources, and hiding skills.

And such a daunting figure, whose whereabouts were difficult to pinpoint, was found and killed by the Qian Bai team in just a few days.

As thoughts swirled, Sander suddenly saw that his computer, connected to the Initial City public network, had downloaded an image from somewhere.

He quickly fixed his eyes on it, finding that there was a person in the image.

That person was leaning against the wall, his head slightly lowered, but revealing obvious dark circles and a pale face, clearly lifeless, belonging to a corpse.

In front of the corpse on the ground was a drag mark of bright red, and on his chest was a piece of white paper.

On the white paper were printed two sentences in Red River language:

"I am 'Father'."

"I am guilty."

I am guilty... Sander shivered again.

For the first time in his life, he had the idea of being a law-abiding citizen.

...

Red Wolf District, Stern Street, No. 25.

Terrence sat in the living room with the curtains drawn and the electric lights on, looking at the person opposite him, saying with a very respectful attitude:

"Senser, what brings you here to see me in person?"

The person opposite him unwrapped a piece of candy and put it in his mouth:

"I just happened to receive some information and was passing by, so I came to visit you."

This person seemed to be a clergyman of the Transcendental Spirituality Church.

"What information?" the bloated Terrence asked curiously.

The person opposite him, with the candy in his mouth, said with satisfaction:

"The real 'Father' is dead."

"...Really?" Terrence blurted out.

Although he had never dealt with the real "Father," and had only been influenced by him once in secret, he also knew from various sources of information what a troublesome and headache-inducing figure this was.

How could such a character be so easily eliminated?

The person opposite Terrence sighed with a smile:

"The fingerprints and various biological materials have been compared, and it has been confirmed that it is the real 'Father,' unless the person who assassinated Soles in the first place wasn't him."

"Who did it?" Terrence asked urgently.

Before the person opposite him could answer, a flash of inspiration came to his mind:

"Was it, was it done by the Qian Bai team?"

"Not sure." The person opposite him unwrapped a new piece of candy. "What can be determined at present is that there are at least three participants, and there is also a robot."

"Robot... then it's basically them." Terrence was both shocked and extremely relieved.

The fact that he chose to cooperate a few days ago, rather than retaliate, was simply too wise!

Otherwise, someone else would be receiving the information that Terrence, the second boss of the Black Shirts, had been taken care of.

The person opposite him nodded:

"That team is not simple. Try to win them over. Next, you might be able to use them to give those heretics a memorable lesson.

"If the power of the Initial City is seized by those heretics, we will be in danger."

Terrence was about to nod when he suddenly heard the telephone in the living room ringing.

He thoughtfully picked up the extension in the living room and, as expected, heard Zhang Qubing's voice.

"The Anti-intellectualism Church's actions should be temporarily suspended for a period of time," Shang Jianyao shared the information.

This is only natural... The real "Father" was killed for no reason, and if the high-level members of the Anti-intellectualism Church have normal brains, they will suspend all actions and investigate potential dangers, so as not to drag the entire church down... Terrence slandered in his heart, and said with a smile:

"I have already heard about the death of the real 'Father'."

On the one hand, he was implying that he was well-informed, and on the other hand, he wanted to probe Zhang Qubing's intentions.

"I wanted to tell you myself," Shang Jianyao said with some regret.

As expected, it's you guys... Terrence glanced at the person opposite him and nodded lightly.

At this moment, Shang Jianyao hesitated and said:

"There is something, something I want to ask you for help with."

"What is it?" Terrence asked enthusiastically after getting the approval of the person opposite him.

Shang Jianyao smiled:

"I knew we were brothers!"

Then, he lowered his voice and said mysteriously:

"It's like this..."

Terrence listened very attentively.

Shang Jianyao maintained the same mysterious tone as before:

"We want, want to borrow some money from you."

"..." Terrence almost thought he had misheard.

The Qian Bai team, who had just done something big, actually wanted to borrow money from him?

...

Inside a safe house prepared by the Old Task Force.

"What did he say?" Long Yuehong asked, looking at Shang Jianyao and Jiang Baimian who had returned from their trip.

"I really didn't expect to see Wei have times when he stutters and is embarrassed," Jiang Baimian said with a good mood, smiling.

Shang Jianyao immediately explained:

"Even close brothers have to settle accounts clearly."

Jiang Baimian didn't take up the topic and casually introduced the situation:

"Terrence said that he doesn't have that much money either. There are very few people in Initial City who can come up with the money to buy a manor in one go.

"But he will try to raise money from the Black Shirts boss and the Transcendental Spirituality Church. If it really doesn't work, we'll have to find another way."

As the date of the transaction with Lehman approached, the Old Task Force, in order not to have to choose one or the other, actually came up with the idea of borrowing money from Terrence.

And with the prestige of killing the real "Father," it seems a bit like forcibly collecting "protection fees."

"That's all we can do," Long Yuehong sighed.

At this moment, Jiang Baimian clapped her hands together and said:

"Now that the trivial matters are done, we can discuss the things in the 'Father's' memory."

As soon as she finished speaking, Shang Jianyao widened his eyes:

"Shouldn't we get something delicious to celebrate first?"

"It's not dinner time yet," Jiang Baimian responded unhappily.

"We can have afternoon tea..." Before Shang Jianyao finished speaking, he suddenly frowned.

"What's wrong?" Genaeve analyzed Shang Jianyao's facial expression changes and asked before Jiang Baimian could.

Shang Jianyao looked down at the black hair braided ornament he was wearing on his wrist and said with a solemn face:

"I feel like I don't have an appetite."

Then, he took off the ornament and put it aside.

"Now I do again," Shang Jianyao smiled, "It really was its problem."

This item called "Blind Ring" was one of the spoils they obtained from the real "Father" Alex.

And the real "Father's" other two Extraordinary items seemed to have been completely consumed and returned to being ordinary, no longer having any magical qualities.

Bai Chen thought for a moment and said:

"Does this kind of item that fixes the aura of a Awakened in the depths of the Mind Corridor not only grant an ability, but also add a certain degree of cost?"

"It should be," Shang Jianyao looked at Jiang Baimian with the expectant eyes of someone waiting for afternoon tea.

Jiang Baimian frowned slightly and said:

"But the Coward and Destiny Bead we got before didn't show these characteristics..."