Twenty Blades

"Alright,"

Qi Yuan seized the opportunity to compose himself, not giving Wei Zhiming time to think clearly: "This is your reward for completing the task, and if you can't do it..."

The threat in his words was implicit.

However, Wei Zhiming, who believed he knew the whole truth, confidently displayed a righteous smile, just like his polite smile before the media.

"Don't worry, but you haven't told me what characteristics the Fate Runner has."

Wei Zhiming's change in attitude was partly due to the superiority he felt from joining the Masked People, believing they only differed by one task, and partly because he possessed irreplaceable value. Qi Yuan's meaning was clear - the divination ability couldn't help the Masked People divine the Fate Runner's identity; they could only rely on him.

As a superior to many, he knew well that valuable people don't die easily; at most, they receive some punishment.

"The Fate Runner, who receives the world will's attention, possesses luck and power beyond ordinary people. Because stabilizing the collapsing world and recovering power requires time, the Fate Runner's reincarnation occurred roughly fifteen to twenty years ago, so the reincarnated body is around twenty years old."

"If the mysterious organization has contacted them, they might have considerable influence. Oh, and the reincarnated body is within Dragon Country's borders."

Qi Yuan confidently recited the answer. This was also why he appeared before Wei Zhiming in his true form - the clues practically pointed to himself.

If he had used an avatar to make contact, he would have received his own report immediately.

That would have been too ridiculous!

Wei Zhiming asked, puzzled, "Why must it be in Dragon Country?"

Qi Yuan's certainty must have had a reason; perhaps this was a clue.

"Because as I said, the reincarnated body receives the world will's attention - they would only be born in the most powerful and stable place. Which country do you think is more suitable?"

"So whether it's us or the Fate Runner's lackeys, we're all selected from this country. Like my initial job was to mislead the mysterious organization and delay them finding the Fate Runner."

Wei Zhiming sneered, his tone somewhat sarcastic, "They chose you to mislead? Does the organization have some misunderstanding about the Fate Runner?"

No one understood the unpleasantness of the youth before him better than he did. He had been watching this fellow closely. From Qipan City to Jidu, this guy not only played with monsters but also always seemed to enjoy watching others in distress.

How could this fellow resemble a world-saving Fate Runner in any way?

Qi Yuan's head was full of black lines - this was personal attack.

...

In Caster Country,

Kan City was once one of the world's famous tourist destinations, with beautiful beach scenery, exotic culture, and brilliant historical ruins.

All this ended after the advent of supernatural abilities. Except for some adventure-seeking ability users, hardly anyone came here anymore.

Even before supernatural abilities appeared, it was a relatively dangerous country, and afterward, it became even worse. Having lost its important source of income, Kan City gradually became assimilated by other places.

This country of former protectors and criminals maintained its traditions. Many criminal organizations allied with monsters to establish underground organizations - they provided monster corpses, and the monsters served as their muscle, everything arranged neat and clear.

Intelligent monsters could be negotiated with; bribing them was no more difficult than bribing the Caster Country government.

However, this only applied to powerful monsters. These organized groups also understood that sheep couldn't be shorn to death - the lower-class humans needed time to grow.

Near dusk, people hurried along the streets, wrapped up tightly, afraid of being stopped. Danger came not only from these organizations but also from those around them. Law enforcement officers either died or switched sides at the slightest provocation, causing local murder rates to soar.

Qi Yuan, wearing a cloak, blended into the crowd without standing out. Today's trip was to expose his female avatar's cloak to the public, preparing information for when he would exploit Wei Zhiming, making everything more reasonable.

The old man's "Human," the child's "Ghost," the strongman's "Beast" from last time, the punisher's "Prison," and finally the female avatar's "Divine" - together they formed the clearly indicative Five Paths of Reincarnation.

The Five Paths of Reincarnation, a Taoist concept influenced by Buddhism.

It not only pointed specifically to Dragon Country but also led to the Reincarnation Team.

Of course, Qi Yuan wouldn't admit that he simply couldn't think of a sixth path and found this perfect explanation of "Five Paths of Reincarnation" online.

Using avatars would have been a good choice too, but Qi Yuan also wanted to take the opportunity to travel and clear his mind.

Wei Zhiming still needed some time to grow, and he could use this time to boost the mysterious organization's reputation, creating the impression that the Fate Runner was about to awaken and the mysterious organization was becoming active.

When the time came, he would approach the authorities under the mysterious organization's identity, getting them to join the monster-clearing ranks, creating a scenario of conflict between Wei Zhiming and the authorities.

Wei Zhiming's subordinates would capture monsters, arousing suspicion from people like Gao Changze, naturally drawing Wei Zhiming in. Then the authorities would find evidence, Wei Zhiming would die mysteriously, his subordinates would angrily expose everything and accuse the Masked People, only to be silenced by them.

The script just needed to make general sense. Even if the authorities felt something was off, without evidence, they couldn't overturn public speculation. The public was the main focus - once the Fate Runner's image was established and he successfully broke through, even false things could be made true, and the upper echelons would have to accept the "reality."

Combining "a lie spreads faster than the truth" and "act first, justify later," Qi Yuan wasn't worried about being exposed.

The authorities' previous information suppression had made the public eager to hear "revealed truths" - if the Ancient God Cult could do it, why couldn't Wei Zhiming's subordinates?

However...

Qi Yuan sighed deeply - this city was too chaotic, even more disorderly than Duoheluo Country, which was truly ridiculous. There was absolutely no feeling of tourism.

"Ah—!"

"Mmph..."

As the sun set, all sorts of unsavory characters began to emerge...

Ahead, a mother and child were stopped by several men. The mother, holding her child tightly, tremblingly handed over her wallet.

The man took the wallet, extracted 20 dollars, then tossed it back to her, letting them leave.

An old gangster tradition - even with currency becoming worthless, they still stuck to twenty dollars...

Whether due to his aura or because humans couldn't live without the internet even in such chaos, despite his current female appearance, several groups glanced at him but chose to pass by.

"Bang—"

A gunshot kicked off the night's crescendo, causing even the small robbery groups on the street to panic.