Vicat City

The morning light spilled from the firmament, and pedestrians came and went on the street. He Ao walked along the decaying street, listening to the sound of buses whizzing past his ears, passing by one dirty tent after another, and gazing at each advertisement of the Rockville Energy Group.

Hawke had come to the vicinity of Vicat City when he was young. The city is located slightly in the middle between Dawn City and Yilan City, on the trade route between the two cities, and is very close to Dawn City.

Traditionally, this city was considered within the sphere of influence of Dawn City, and it was more influenced by it, though it also had significant influences from Yilan City.

However, the city itself is actually controlled by the Rockville Energy Group. News that He Ao found indicated that, as Christos was accused, Vicat City’s mayor also publicly distanced himself from Christos, clearly supporting the ’Gray Stone Palace.’

From this aspect, it seems that the Vicat City Government has been completely controlled by the Rockville Energy Group.

He Ao quickly moved through the street, flipping directly over a two-meter-high neon advertisement.

The noise behind seemed to be completely isolated at this moment, and a quiet, greenery-filled small park appeared in He Ao’s field of view.

A breeze passed over the park’s leaves and grass, bringing with it a rustling sound.

Some neatly dressed figures strolled lazily along the path at the edge of the grass.

It’s as if, on either side of the billboard, there were two entirely different worlds.

He Ao quietly gazed at all of this, naturally crossing the lawn to walk onto the path at the edge of the grass.

A fully armed policeman was walking slowly towards him. Seeing He Ao, he paused slightly, his gaze flickering with some unfamiliarity.

But quickly, he stepped aside, making way for He Ao.

He Ao nodded at him and passed by his side.

"Another big shot moving in from somewhere," the policeman glanced at He Ao’s back, shook his head, muttered, and continued forward.

At this moment, He Ao had already completely crossed the lawn. Ahead was a plaza with a fountain, and behind it was a luxurious hotel in a curved shape.

The hotel’s name was written above, ’Stia Hotel.’

This was the wealthy district of Vicat City, contributing more than seventy percent of Vicat City’s tax revenue. It was also the area with the densest police presence and the best public security in Vicat City.

And this Stia Hotel was the best hotel in this small city.

However, when Hawke visited last time, the polarization wasn’t so severe yet. These pieces of information were just accessed by Eve.

Including the ’shortcut’ of flipping over the billboard to directly enter the wealthy area, it was a route simulated after Eve had reviewed the city planning.

If entering the wealthy area through normal means, one had to detour a long way first.

He Ao lowered his head, glanced at the fountain outside the hotel, bypassed it, and walked towards the hotel entrance.

The doorman, seeing him approaching, quickly walked to the door, opened it, and smiled, saying, "Good morning, sir."

"Good morning," He Ao nodded slightly and walked into the hotel lobby.

The height of the hotel lobby was about seven or eight meters, and unlike the extravagant design typical of luxury hotels in small cities, this hotel’s lobby design used simple geometric shapes, lighting these geometries with different lights to create a minimalist modern design style.

This type of design is usually only seen in big cities like Dawn City or Vitland.

He Ao walked into the lobby, approaching the front desk.

"Hello, sir, would you like to check in?" The pretty receptionist looked at He Ao and asked cautiously.

"Do you have any vacancies in the presidential suite?" He Ao asked directly.

"One moment, I’ll check for you," the receptionist lowered her head swiftly checking, then softly said, "Sorry, sir, our presidential suite requires an invitation to book. Could I see your invitation? Or you might consider our business suite and mayor suite, both are very nice."

"Not needed for now," He Ao nodded slightly and directly turned away from the front desk.

Then he raised his head, briefly scanning the hotel’s nearby decor, and directly walked to a hidden door on the side of the hotel, quickly inputting a password.

Throughout this process, people were constantly coming and going, but everyone seemed to pass by him without noticing him.

Click—

With a crisp sound, the hidden door opened.

He Ao walked into this door.

Behind the door was a small office area. Near the door, there was a somewhat old small elevator.

At this moment, a cleaning staff was pushing a cleaning cart, standing in front of the elevator, as the elevator door slowly opened.

He Ao and the cleaning staff entered the elevator together.

The cleaner raised a hand, pressing the 17th floor in the elevator, then turned to look at him.

"The top floor, presidential suite, please," He Ao said softly.

The cleaner nodded and pressed the top floor button.

Through this entire process, nothing seemed amiss.

Soon, the elevator went straight up to the seventeenth floor. The cleaner walked out, and then continued upwards to the top floor.

He Ao looked up at the elevator’s surveillance, lowered his gaze, and slowly moved forward, stepping out of the elevator.

Outside the elevator seemed to be a utility room, its door was open, revealing a shining corridor.

The entire top floor had only three rooms, one presidential suite on the left and two mayor suites on the right.

The door of the presidential suite was in another remote corner and was currently open, with a dedicated small elevator in front of it.

He Ao walked to the door and looked inside the room.

Bright sunlight shone into the spacious living room from the floor-to-ceiling window, laying a faint gloss over the matte floor.

Indeed, this hotel’s positioning was excellent, and through this enormous floor-to-ceiling window, you could vaguely see most of the greenery-covered wealthy district outside and the spread of the decaying city behind it.

In front of the floor-to-ceiling window, two cleaning staff and a person in a neat tailcoat, looking like a butler, were tidying the room.

"Where are the guests inside?" He Ao asked softly as he walked into the room.

"The guests have already checked out," the butler turned his head upon seeing He Ao, was stunned for a moment, and then said naturally, "They checked out this morning."

"Are they leaving the city?" He Ao slowly moved forward into the heart of the living room and glanced into the opened bedroom, casually asking.

"We don’t know about that," the butler shook his head slightly and said gently, "We never pry into guests’ privacy."

He Ao’s gaze dropped slightly, walking towards the floor-to-ceiling window. "Who booked his room?"

"The invitation came from the Rockville Energy Group," the butler softly replied.

"How many days did he stay?" He Ao asked quietly, his gaze looking outwards.

He observed a building on the edge of the wealthy district in the distance.

That was the Rockville Energy Group’s building.

"About two days," the butler replied.

Two days? Such a long time...

Why did the Rockville Energy Group bring the intelligence director here?

He Ao looked down, gazing at the towering building below.

Through the shadows of the trees, he could faintly see figures standing in front of the building. It seemed to be a parade.

And at the front of the group were armed mercenaries.

At this moment, there seemed to be some conflict between the parade and the mercenaries, with faint traces of red liquid splattered on the ground.

Watching this scene, He Ao frowned slightly. In the next instant, he vanished from the suite.

After he disappeared, the butler and the housekeeper bowed their heads and continued cleaning the room, as if they had been cleaning uninterruptedly from the beginning, without any disturbance.

——

Rockville Energy Group Building, Vicat City

The dense gunfire, frantic screams, fleeing crowds, and crimson blood combined under the sky into a terrifying scene.

"Hahaha—" A man holding a machine gun stood in the crowd, laughing maniacally.

He squeezed the trigger, his entire body trembling madly along with the machine gun’s blazing fire.

"Everyone listen, the Rockville Energy Group is defending its own territory," a man who seemed to be a captain stood among the mercenaries, speaking into a wireless microphone at his lips. His booming voice echoed through the speakers hung on the tall buildings, resonating under the chaotic sky.

"These Evil God believers are trying to storm the Rockville Energy Group building. In accordance with Federation law, we are counterattacking them."

The captain moved forward slowly, and the mercenaries beside him also advanced slowly. The dense gunfire progressed with their advance.

"All irrelevant personnel leave immediately. This is your last warning, all irrelevant people leave immediately, or Rockville Energy Group takes no responsibility for casualties during this counterattack."

The captain’s booming voice rang under the sky, but no one could seriously listen to his words anymore, because the speed of the bullet was faster than his voice.

The panic-stricken crowd had no mind to listen to his words and could only run away in a mad frenzy.

"What are you doing?!" Amidst the crowd, a figure shouted loudly, "I am also an employee of the group. I have nothing to do with those parade people. You are attacking innocents—"

Bam—

A bullet brushed past his shoulder, tearing a strip of crimson blood, interrupting his words.

"Once again, warning, these parade people are terrible Evil God believers," the captain advanced slowly, as if he couldn’t see the panic on the faces of the people desperately fleeing around him, he continued, "We are conducting a legal counterattack, please all unrelated people move away immediately to avoid being harmed by the Evil God believers."

The booming sound echoed under the sky, scorching bullets pierced the firmament, and one after another figure fell.

Life was being harvested like wild grass; it was a one-sided slaughter.

A bullet landed in front of a woman holding a child, about to pierce the woman’s body.

Bam—

A hand reached out from the side, catching the stray bullet.

A burly middle-aged man walked against the crowd, looked at the mercenary corps soldiers ahead, and shouted with some anger, "What are you counterattacking? Armed mercenaries counterattacking unarmed civilians?"

"Catching bullets by hand?" The captain glanced at the man, "It seems the Evil God believers have revealed themselves!"

As soon as his words fell, a nearby mercenary picked up a pre-prepared electromagnetic cannon and aimed at the middle-aged man.

The middle-aged man revealed a slight shock upon seeing the electromagnetic cannon.

But the mercenary didn’t give him any time to react; a stream of light flashed across the sky and appeared instantly in front of him.

He was just a D-level Transcendent, capable of catching ordinary bullets was already pushing his limits; he absolutely couldn’t block an electromagnetic cannon.

But just as the beam reached the middle-aged man’s front, it suddenly halted.

Or rather, not just the beam, the entire world under the sky seemed to quiet down; the sound of cannons, gunfire, and even people’s screams, all became much quieter.

Time appeared to freeze at this moment.

Dong—

The projectile suspended in front of the middle-aged man fell, making a crisp sound.

Crackle—

Like crisp raindrops falling on the ground, the bullets suspended in the sky seemed to run out of kinetic energy, making crackling sounds as they clattered to the ground.

The panicking crowd continued to flee, but the firing mercenaries and the middle-aged man standing in front of them watched this scene in complete silence.

"It’s the Evil God!" The mercenary captain immediately shouted, "It’s the power of the Evil God! Kill him!"

The surrounding mercenaries immediately hefted their electromagnetic cannons, aiming at the middle-aged man.

But the moment they pulled the trigger, the entire electromagnetic cannon remained unresponsive as if it had jammed.

Other mercenaries also immediately opened fire, but no matter how they fired, the guns did not make a sound.

The middle-aged man lowered his head, looking at the blood flowing on the ground and the bodies lying scattered around.

This was a rich district, with few pedestrians around; most of those lying on the ground were young, holding banners more or less in their hands, people from the parade.

Even among the rising parade conflicts in the Federation, this conflict might have been the bloodiest yet.

He wasn’t part of the parade nor did he support their radical stands, but the terror from these mercenaries still shocked him.

If not for the bullets suddenly falling and the guns suddenly malfunctioning, many more bodies would have hit the ground.

He raised his head, looking at the mercenary captain with the wireless microphone, and at the mercenaries beside the captain.

They seemed absolutely unfazed by everything that had happened; there was even a hint of anticipation in their eyes.

Was this deliberate? What exactly were they trying to accomplish?

Dong—

Just then, a soft sound came from below. The middle-aged man lowered his head to look at the bodies lying on the ground.

A body that had fallen in front of him was now twisting in a bizarre posture, then slowly standing up from the ground.

Dong dong dong—

The middle-aged man raised his gaze forward. One after another, the bodies that had perished were now slowly standing up.

The sunlight shone upon the earth, and it seemed as if the deceased were ’awakening’.

"Evil God! It’s the Evil God!" The mercenary captain intensely gazed at this scene, "These Evil God believers have finally exposed themselves!"

A mercenary behind him quickly picked up a camera and began recording.