"These are two ’Perfectionists,’ not two chickens!"
Ithela slowly backed away, her heart filled with fear.
Seeing individuals with strength equivalent to, or even slightly greater than hers, being killed so effortlessly, impacted her psyche profoundly.
This was the result of Zhong Shenxiu not wanting to kill her.
Otherwise, just by speaking another paragraph of that secret, countless ’Perfectionist’ agents from the Federation would die in droves.
At that moment, his gaze turned to Martin’s corpse.
After death, Martin’s flesh was rapidly consumed by a golden Human Skin Mask, and thin black strands began to grow from the ground.
A translucent pale hand extended from the mask.
"It’s a magical item that Martin possessed... It is said that much of his power also came from it. This mask is extremely dangerous, if a proper method to seal it isn’t found, it will summon a skin-peeling spirit every minute... It has once caused the deaths of tens of thousands of people..."
Ithela quickly divulged this information, as she noticed Zhong Shenxiu seemed interested.
But in the next moment, all her words were choked back in her throat.
Zhong Shenxiu reached out and grabbed the mask.
In an instant, the black strands vanished.
The hand recoiled back into the mask at an even faster pace.
All the unnatural phenomena, all the anomalies, were completely suppressed.
"Pardon my presumption, as for a ’longevity,’ my insight is truly shallow to the extreme..."
With a wry smile, Ithela muttered and kneeled on the ground to show her submission.
"You are the Clan Leader of the Nightingale Family..."
Zhong Shenxiu slowly spoke.
"Yes." Ithela quickly replied, resolving in her heart that if she lived to return, she would generously reward Gross...
Jones woke up in pajamas and blurry-eyed, he stumbled out of his room, "Why is it so noisy?"
He saw in the living room, a well-dressed gentleman was humbly bowing to Li Wei, his forehead nearly touching the floor.
As soon as this gentleman left, an impatient lady of high society squeezed in.
Murmurs containing words like ’Federation,’ ’restructuring,’ ’military,’ and others could be faintly heard.
"This is my house, not the President’s office..."
Jones muttered to himself, suddenly feeling that something was amiss, and pulled back the curtains.
Outside the window was a seemingly endless black procession.
A stream of automobiles, carriages, bodyguards, and soldiers...
There was a hive of activity, yet it was restrained, the most noise being the whispers shared among those waiting.
And it seemed they would wait in line for an audience until nightfall.
"I must be dreaming!"
Jones expressionlessly drew the curtains and planned to go back to sleep.
Just then, a fragrant breeze passed by, and a lady of high standing approached: "Jones? Such a handsome young man... I am Ithela of the Nightingale Family, our family has a long history of friendship with the Mojito family. I have several daughters, maybe we could all go out together this weekend."
’Is she... preparing to introduce me to a wife?’
Jones froze with a blank expression, "But... I haven’t even brushed my teeth yet..."
A ’Perfectionist’ level legislator was almost crying with gratitude, "Thank you for agreeing to continue to support the Federation..."
"Of course, after all, I am a Federation person... Let bygones be bygones, all I need are all the Federation’s books and the secret warehouses..."
Zhong Shenxiu crossed his fingers and smiled indifferently.
"If the younger brothers and sisters have no intention of seizing power, then let the Federation continue to maintain itself."
With him in charge, even if they lost all overseas colonies, the homeland would still be as stable as Taishan.
In fact, after some time, it might become even stronger than during the Rodrisge era.
And his reward for this would be the gratitude of the entire Federation, as well as that supreme power.
No matter what level of top secret he wanted to see, or whatever materials he wanted to obtain, the entire Federation would fetch them for him.
At this moment, he was the most powerful person in the Federation.
"It seems... there’s not much feeling to it."
Zhong Shenxiu sighed, deeply sensing the boredom in life.
"It’s after becoming a ’longevity’ that I can freely travel through the Spirit Realm; I should thoroughly explore the Spirit Realm and... search for the final Ascension Altar."
At that thought, he remembered the warning of the Great Sage Isreal—do not ascend!
"Not to ascend? Maybe that works, after all, I can still live for about a thousand years... I wonder what will become of me in the main world after a thousand years of soul’s life spent here..."
The soul’s lifespan, though longer than the flesh, also has its limits.
"But... I am, after all, burdened with the curse of the Black Blood Mark..."
Zhong Shenxiu sighed once more.
He had made up his mind to hold a press conference later.
In this world, he still had a long time to stay and must seize every opportunity to harvest Heavenly Show Points.
Besides, he could also disguise his identity to try various methods of point farming.
And when all this was completed, when the Heavenly Show Points no longer increased, maybe it would be time to... ascend!
The Black Blood Mark on his body had to be resolved!
Federation Calendar 668 was a year worth being remembered by history.
Although for the citizens of Byron City, an accident at a chemical plant causing tens of thousands of deaths and injuries was already a major incident.
But it was only later that people realized that for the entire Federation, this was just the beginning.
Political earthquakes, countless members of parliament falling, companies going bankrupt, overseas colonies rebelling, severe economic crises... all came one after another, dazzling to witness.
Very few people knew that all of this was merely because a huge power vacuum appeared at the top level, and the rulers of the Federation began to change.
Dozens of ancient families fell, and even more emerging families rose rapidly.
One of the surnames, in particular, was crowned with a mysterious halo, and that was—Mojito!
From a local private liquor group to a grand consortium spanning the entire Federation, the Mojito family took just a mere five years!
Even the person secretly causing all these disasters was controlling the Federation from behind the scenes!
Federation Calendar 673.
Byron City, outskirts.
This was a huge estate built by the Mojito Consortium with a huge investment.
At this moment, countless colorful balloons soared into the sky, and streamers fluttered in the wind.
A pyramid of champagne glasses gave off an inviting scent.
On the lawn in front of the castle, a grand wedding was taking place.
Jones Mojito was getting married today, to the Nightingale family’s Lilist, with dignitaries, heirs to financial dynasties, and countless secretive families in attendance to congratulate.
Although Jones was known as a playboy, with more mistresses and illegitimate children than one could count on their hands besides Lilist, the guests obviously didn’t care.