Bang!

Hewitt exploded like a balloon, blood splattering everywhere, painting the scene from the camera a vivid red.

The image revealed a blur of intermingled red, black, and white colors, not beautiful, only full of bloodiness.

Subsequently, Ren Zhong's gaze shifted back to the video frame of the Augustus family elder who had spoken a lot earlier, and he laughed: "As an absolute authoritarian dictator, I've generously explained so much to you. This won't happen again. It seems your Augustus family has significant disagreements with me, so, to prevent chaos from potential future betrayal, the Mengdu Group will become my property, and you, along with some other potential threats among your personnel, can all die."

"No..."

The man seemed like he wanted to argue something, but that chance was gone.

Suddenly, a strong light flashed on the screen, and the man's body below his neck vanished into thin air.

Even before his head hit the floor, several metal arms stretched down diagonally and caught it steadily.

One metal arm hovered above his skull, a faint light flickering at the tip as it circled his head.

Throughout this process, the middle-aged man's face still had expressions, deep confusion and incomprehension hidden under its twisted grimace, mixed with indescribable indignation.

He even glared angrily at the camera, as if wanting to say something.

It wasn't until the moment his brain was fully extracted that the ever-changing expressions on his face stopped suddenly, like a fish frozen in ice.

Then, the metal arms retracted, and the skull along with the brainless head fell to the ground like discarded trash.

The camera automatically captured moving objects, and the scene rotated, showing a roughly three-meter-high tracked robot turning to leave, trundling down a long corridor into the distance.

Everyone present recognized this contraption.

Similar in lineage and function to the Flying Wing Hunter within the Source Star's atmosphere, this was a small hunter active inside various ships, a joint production of Source Star Military Industry and Starfire Military Industry. Though smaller in size and even a bit cute-looking, its detailed energy main cannon was more powerful, with an enhanced defense following material updates.

Quite a while later, the tracked hunter turned and disappeared from the corridor's camera.

The video conference room fell silent.

Soon, everyone in attendance gradually received information from their respective channels about the "massacre" on the hundreds of transport ships primarily crewed by Mengdu Group personnel.

Approximately one thousand high-level citizens within the Mengdu Group system had been executed. The methods varied—some died by hunters, some by suddenly out-of-control weaponry, some by liquid faceless beings.

This group of nearly a thousand had one thing in common: they had all been accused by Ren Zhong's Moral Judgement Committee, but had been exempted due to being high-level citizens above the Seventh Level.

Now, Ren Zhong, this terrifying iron-fisted dictator, had gained absolute control.

The first thing he did after gaining power was not to stabilize the situation in preparation for the impending mass migration.

He was reckless and maniacally obsessed with a personal vendetta from nearly two decades ago, even knowing it would cause upheaval within the Mengdu Group and destabilize the situation, he arbitrarily exterminated nearly a thousand high-level citizens.

Ma Xiaocheng, Gao Ya, and Tang Youyun, who had some understanding of Ren Zhong, felt especially distorted, even somewhat saddened in their hearts.

In the past, some had regarded Ren Zhong as a friend, some thought Ren Zhong was too compassionate, willing even to challenge Source Star's established rules to empathize with the wildlings.

Now they realized it was all just a façade.

This man was, in essence, bloodthirsty and insane, ruthlessly cold to the extreme.

Watching the still-expressionless Ren Zhong in the video, some felt complex emotions, while others only felt fear, even subconsciously glancing around, wanting to be further from any lethal intelligent devices near them, but finding it futile after the "Net" restored; whether on ships or elsewhere, nowhere on Source Star was truly safe.

In the scene, Ren Zhong took two steps, came to the center of the Throne Hall within the Trace Seeker, directly seated himself on the Imperial Apostle's throne that was originally his, leaned back slightly, then spoke again.

"Very well, now my mood has slightly improved. Next, I announce the second command. Currently, the vast majority with tickets have boarded the ships, only a few million are still on the ground. Within eight hours, ensure everyone completes boarding and all preparations, then the fleet will set off directly for the Empire!"