Kill The Old Ones!

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”Boss! You have to see this!!”

One of his council members, followed by his own secretary, barged into his office wearing a solemn or slightly terrified expression.

Gabriel didn’t say a word, nor did he make a move. Instead, he waited until the man showed him exactly what he needed to see.

The man pushed a hologram of an e-mail to him, one that was addressed to the city lord’s office with the sender being the world system itself.

It contained a letter and a sealed virtual package.

Gabriel’s eyebrows drew closer as he began reading the contents of the letter. When he finished it and viewed the attacked virtual package as well, he lost a little bit of control.

The entire office began creaking dangerously. Everybody felt like a giant boulder suddenly fell onto them. They also feel like a ferocious beast is staring them down, daring them to move an inch if they want to die.

”Boss, get a hold of yourself, please!” The man who delivered the e-mail to him uttered with difficulty.

Fortunately, Gabriel heard his plea and retracted his little bit of aura that leaked out.

Gabriel rested his back on his chair, closed his eyes, and felt a headache coming. There was a storm raging within him, but because he didn’t want this entire building to collapse, he had to rein in his temper.

”A smuggled material from beyond...in my fucking city!” Gabriel clenched his jaw. ”How fucking daring. And here I thought I put the fear of god in them in our last encounter. But it seems that these lunatics won’t stop until everything’s fucking destroyed.”

Gabriel read the contents of the letter. It came from an unknown source whose identity was kept private by the world system itself. The only reason why Gabriel didn’t get suspicious of the letter was because the world system guaranteed the innocence of the other party.

A Zerg Queen’s Essence—a material that could only be found beyond this world, one that has been tweaked to serve a different purpose and sealed into a seemingly innocuous wooden carving—somehow managed to slip past the strict security and ended up in this place.

The worst part? The target wasn’t just Central City or the Letter Kingdom. It’s all of human civilization.

”Who the fuck knows how many of these wooden carvings are out there?” Gabriel asked, but not in a way that he was expecting an answer.

Nobody could answer this, not even the ones who were responsible for sending these things up here. Only those at the helm of the cult’s operations could answer this, but it’d be a miracle if one of them decided to cooperate.

Those lunatics of the cult would rather die than betray their purpose.

”And who the fuck is this Terrence Brian Patterson?”

This one, he’s expecting an answer. The man who delivered the e-mail didn’t know, but fortunately, Miss Secretary over there does.

”He’s an operations manager at the GMU, Boss,” she said. ”I’ve been looking at his file, but it’s clean...too clean, actually. He’s well respected within the circle, and he’s known to be a reliable and trustworthy employee.”

”An operations manager? What department?”

”Material R&D.”

Gabriel’s eyes sharpened. What a ’pleasant’ coincidence, isn’t it?

The whistleblower didn’t include any incriminating proof against the guy. All this mysterious and unknown person said is to be wary of this man named Terrence Brian Patterson; that’s it.

But why go all through this trouble? Why single this one out? And why doesn’t the other party want this Terrence Brian Patterson to know that smuggled material from beyond human civilization ended up here?

What does this Terrence have to warrant this kind of suspicion? Hell, even the World System cooperated with the mysterious man!

”Inform all departments and the whole council on the down low. I’ll clear you to use the item locator. If there’s another one of this wooden carving in this city, I want it gone immediately.”

”I’ll permit you to use force if necessary. This item must be siezed and dealt with. It doesn’t matter who you offend. Tell them that you have my blessings to do whatever’s necessary. If they have a problem with it, tell them to come to me. I’ll deal with them.”

”Secure the item and contain it. I’ll trust that you would know how to. If you don’t, ask somebody who does. I don’t want you all turning mad because you went out uneducated about what you’re dealing with.”

”Once you secured the item and contained it, send it to my inventory. I’ll get rid of it. Understand?”

”Yes, Boss!” both the man and the secretary replied at once.

”Good. You may go.”

The two left his office, leaving Gabriel musing on his own thoughts. He swiveled his chair around, stood up, and walked in front of the glass windows of his office.

He had a nice view of his city from here. He clasped his hands behind his back, and his brows furrowed as he saw ominous signs looming over the city, seemingly stretching way beyond it even.

Gabriel wondered if the Martial Gods could see these signs too.

There is a very likely chance that they do. They wouldn’t be in their position if they didn’t.

Maybe this was the reason why they’ve been mobilizing forces lately.

However, will this be enough? When was the last time that these so-called Martial Gods made an appearance here?

They’re all stuck somewhere out there, preferring to handle the threats to humanity instead of returning home to see the fruits of their labor.

To be fair, he can’t really blame them. Almost everybody wants to bind them with the threads of politics. Even they couldn’t handle that, which is why they stay out most of the time.

’But that damned cult’s being restless again...’ Gabriel sighed, feeling another headache incoming.

It would’ve been fine if they were dealing with some brainless lunatics here, but they’re not.

”We’re running out of time. What should we do?”

**

The Central City wasn’t the only one that had been informed about the truth of the wooden carvings. Hell, it wasn’t just limited to the Letter Kingdom itself.

Pretty much the whole human civilization was alarmed...at least those in proper positions.

The World System didn’t just send Ren’s letter and proof to the GMU. It sent it to emperors, kings, city lords, GMU staff, and the martial gods themselves.

Along with this, obviously, was the warning about the man called Terrence Brian Patterson...who currently found his entire world turned upside down before he saw signs of it.

The hunt for the wooden carvings went on, with all teams receiving full briefings of what they’re supposed to do and how the item should be handled. The requirements are strict because of the nature of the item; they must exercise discipline, caution, and urgency to deal with it because the longer this item stays in the human world, the more dangerous it becomes.

All of this happened behind Terrence’s back. In fact, since three hours ago, before the sun even peeked over the horizon, he already found himself in a containment cell.

He had been imprisoned without him knowing or sensing it. He literally woke up in a highly advanced prison cell guarded by the strongest guards to ever exist.

Although the room looked advanced and slightly comfortable, there was no way to escape from it. To make matters worse, he didn’t even have enough time to fully realize where he was before he was visited by a stranger.

A stranger who practically appeared right in front of him like a ghost. One look in his eyes and Terrence immediately lost any possibility to resist whatever happens next.

”Oh, dear,” the stranger gasped faintly. ”It seems that our mysterious whistleblower was indeed right to warn us about this guy. Hell’s got fewer layers than his guy’s mental protection.”

”Gee, and this guy somehow ended up working for us? The bigwigs are gonna pop a vein once they find out about this.”

Two more people materialized out of thin air next to the stranger. They looked at Terrence, who’s now standing there like his soul was lost.

”How soon and how well can you make him sing?” The other stranger asked.

”Three days, or more. His mental protections are really well placed; I’m starting to think that he might be an illegitimate child who grew up in the cult for them to go this far. Maybe an actual heir, even. Sent out on a mission. Who knows?”

”As for how well I can make him sing...I should be able to make him perform a whole ass concert. With these many layers of protection, he must know some really juicy stuff, and frankly, it’s making me excited.”

”Hold your horses, you pervert,” the other stranger scolded. ”I don’t mind you taking a whole damn week to give us results; just make sure to drain him of everything he knows. Don’t trigger the traps and kill him before learning everything.”

”I hear you, and I’m starting soon. I’ll leave my safety to you guys.”

”What? You think that someone will actually dare to save this guy?”

The stranger looked at his comrade with a serious face and said, ”If one managed to infiltrate our ranks this deep without us knowing, then it shouldn’t be strange for another to exist.”

”And if this guy really knows a lot, they won’t save him. They would rather kill him so that they could bury their secrets with him in his grave.”

”So, yes, there will be attempts. I’d be disappointed if there weren’t.”