Until the black car entered the gates of the City Council building’s garden, He Ao finally pulled back his hand, waved goodbye to the people standing by the street, and then closed the car window. He lowered his head and opened the book in his hands. With his hand on the steering wheel, carefully driving through the garden below the City Council building, Sena raised his head to glance through the rearview mirror at the elderly man retrieving his hand and took a deep breath. Meanwhile, He Ao was slowly flipping through the book, which he had mostly finished reading the day before. This "Archaeological Record" was not a regularly published book, nor could any information about it be found online. However, this was normal since the Federation’s most stringent reviews were on archaeological books. Archaeologists often dug out ancient ruins contaminated with pollutants from unknown sources, stubbornly digging up more dangerous sites, unstoppable by any means. It was like archaeology in the Main World where you might dig up ancient remains, but in the Copy World, you could potentially unearth ancient artifacts contaminated by Angels and Evil Gods. From Lin En’s memory, it was not the first time archaeologists in the Federation had excavated Evil God ruins, contaminating themselves unknowingly, joyously writing books that disseminated both knowledge and contamination, and then sparking new cult organizations. Therefore, the publication reviews for archaeological books became extremely strict afterward, especially for renowned archaeologists. Certainly, being unable to publish normally did not mean it could not be printed; many small printing factories within the Federation took on such printing jobs, producing copies of unpublished books. But theoretically, these books shouldn’t be sold openly, only circulated privately. The book He Ao had in his hands seemed to be produced this way; judging from the lack of information available online, this book hadn’t even circulated privately, mostly it was printed for the author’s personal collection. The author’s name, "Swift," on the book’s title page could be easily found online—he was a professor of archaeology at Ains Literature Academy. This book detailed the process and analysis of an excavation led by Professor Swift of a city-state ruin from the Era of the Great Cataclysm, located in the central area of the Federation. The contents of the book revealed that the ruin was not unknown; mercenaries and Wilderness Wanderers around the city were aware of its existence, many of whom searched the ruins for Extraordinary Items, though few ventured deeply inside. From the pictures and descriptions, these ruins resembled what Corvey had described from his younger days. When Professor Swift found the ruin, many of its items had already been destroyed. At the entrance to the ruins, the professor discovered a stele that had been buried, inscribed with blurred notes warning outsiders, "Danger, No Entry." The professor estimated that the stele was from the late Era of the Great Cataclysm to the early period of the Original Federation. The craftsmanship of the stele was rough, clearly made in haste. A photo of the stele was included in the book; it looked ordinary and was severely eroded, but the script on it had attracted He Ao the first time he saw it. The script was very similar to handwriting he had seen before, in a manuscript detailing the Talent Sequences periodic table. And on the photo of the stele, the archaeology professor noted in small script, "Suspected to be a stele left by one of the Federation’s founders." From this note, the archaeologist author might also recognize the handwriting, yet there was no more detailed description in the book. Of course, this stele was not the main focus of the ruins. Later in the book, the author described in detail their team’s entire archaeological process and roughly reconstructed the history of the ruins. He believed the ruins were a city-state from the early period of the Great Cataclysm, possibly the largest human city-state in the central region of the Federation at the time, and the first human city-state on a significant scale. This city-state managed to collect some of the achievements from pre-cataclysm civilization, enabling them to arm the populace and support a large population. The city-state was divided into an Inner City and an outer city; from archaeological evidence, it appeared that the Inner City was where Transcendents and their relatives and servants lived, while the outer city was where the civilians lived. However, not all people lived in the outer city; outside the outer city, which is now the outermost layer of the ruins, there were still large traces of human habitation. The author speculated that those living outside the city were people wandering in the Wilderness at the time, and the ’slaves’ of the Inner City people. Through archaeological studies of buildings, living conditions, and lifestyles, the author discovered that this city-state was a typical slave-holding city-state with a strict hierarchy. The entire city-state was submissive to the will of the Inner City, and since there were no established methods for Transcendents’ promotion at the time, all the Transcendents of the Inner City exhibited significant signs of madness. From fragments of records left behind in the city, sometimes the ’nobility’ of the Inner City arbitrarily and without reason slaughtered the civilians of the outer city and the slaves outside the city. This city-state, lost in history, was filled with intense blood worship and mad reverence, many considering madness and slaughter as honorable traits, thinking such ’imitation’ of Transcendents would grant them ’Strength.’ They crazily collected artifacts left from civilizations before the Great Cataclysm, meanwhile overpowering other human groups, forcing the defeated to become their slaves. The entire city was ruled by two powerful Transcendents, suspected to be B-level, whom the author believed were the city’s main Mayor and Deputy Mayor. The author found the residencies of these two city rulers and studied their living habits. He considered that compared to the main Mayor, the Deputy Mayor was a bit more rational and maintained the basic Order of the city. Of course, this rationality is relative; in reality, both mayors showed clear tendencies toward madness. After a detailed investigation, the author believed that the city-state was not destroyed naturally, but due to a sudden ’accident.’ At the time, the entire city-state seemed to be preparing for a grand ’ceremony,’ and many slaves were sacrificed as ’Sacrifices.’ But during the ceremony, the people of the entire city just abruptly ’disappeared,’ leaving only some slaves who were working outside the city, who fortunately survived the ordeal. The main altar of the entire ruins had already been destroyed, leaving only some traces that seemed to be bloodstains. However, the author of this book still roughly speculated the scene at that time based on his rich archaeological experience. He believed that there might have been some kind of dispute between the two city masters of the city at that time, one city master might have ambushed the other, and this might have been premeditated. The battle ended very quickly, leaving a lot of bloodstains but no significant traces of battle. Afterward, everyone in the entire city "disappeared." Many people in the author’s team believed that one of the city masters must have colluded with an Evil God to complete a "sacrifice." In the Era of the Great Cataclysm, it was common to see settlements and city-states disappear due to sacrifices to Evil Gods. The crazy cultists would do anything to please the divine beings. However, the author’s opinion deviated slightly from his team’s; he also believed it was a sacrifice, but not one to please an Evil God. Instead, it was a city master’s "promotion ritual." This city master had used the entire city-state and his friends as sacrifices, turning them into a stepping stone for his further advancement. But what puzzled the author was that there were no traces of this "promoted" city master’s departure in the city-state; it was as if he had disappeared along with those who had vanished. In the final part of the book, the author believed that this city-state was significant for studying the early history of the Era of the Great Cataclysm. This brutal slave-owning city-state, although extremely savage—like "bloody barbarians with laser guns"—had extensively collected the achievements of the civilization before the Cataclysm and even reproduced some of them. After everyone from the city-state disappeared, the slaves outside the city took these achievements and scattered, and later on the East Coast and West Coast of the Federation, expansions of these achievements were discovered. The existence of this city-state had, to a certain extent, propelled the progress of human civilization during the Era of the Great Cataclysm. Of course, even though he explained the historical importance of these ruins in this way, the Federal Central still did not approve his publishing license, and no publisher dared to publish his book. It was evident that he had toned down many of the extraordinary elements to write this book, but it still contained a lot of extraordinary knowledge and clues about some unknown entities. Of course, in this privately printed version, besides the prepared toned-down version for publication, the author also added a lot of first-hand archaeological records at the end. This latter part was also what He Ao had not seen the previous night. He briefly skimmed through these records and saw more clearly the cruelty of the entire ruins. Most areas of the ruins experienced twisted mutations, where unknown monsters would appear and lead to unknown areas. The professor employed a large number of local mercenaries to enter the ruins with him, and eventually, about 70% of the mercenaries suffered casualties in the ruins, and nearly half of the archaeological team members died, including all of the professor’s direct disciples who could not make it out alive. Many people disappeared completely from the ruins without even being seen. Even among those who made it out, many ended up going mad afterward, constantly muttering nouns like "Abyss," "Prisoner," "Death," etc. Some of these people committed suicide, while others disappeared completely inside locked rooms. For a long time after coming out, the entire archaeological team was under the surveillance of the Federal Bureau of Investigation. At the same time, the author also left a lot of previously unspoken information, such as the fact that the main altar of the entire city-state was located in the deepest part of the city-state where, theoretically, no one had ever been before these authors arrived. Even the bravest mercenaries would not venture into the inner city of the ruins. But when the author arrived there, he clearly saw signs that someone had been there, and the traces left were very recent, only from the past few decades. The danger level of the entire main altar was also not as terrifying as they had initially anticipated. Through analysis, the author discovered that there was originally supposed to be some kind of seal that isolated the inside from the outside at the main altar. The seal had been left around the same time as the Original Federation, consistent with the stele outside. An "unexpected visitor" had broken this seal a few decades ago and taken away the dangerous force that had been entrenched at the main altar. Upon reading this, He Ao gently closed the book. The previous night when He Ao and Scott were fighting, he had directly asked Scott and had confirmed in Scott’s mind. Scott’s strength came from the ruins mentioned in the book, from the Abyssal strength that assimilated Scott and then gradually made him stronger. In Scott’s thoughts, there seemed nothing wrong about coming to Yilan City; he was originally from Yilan City, so it appeared quite normal for him to return and join the military. But as another B-level from Yilan City, Corvey had also visited those ruins when he was young. The two men, both born in Yilan City, had, due to a coincidence, traveled thousands of kilometers to the same ruins. One returned "safely," the other’s "security" took him into the deepest part never entered by anyone, broke the seal, and came in contact with the force from the Abyss. Both eventually returned to Yilan City. Was this an inevitable result under some invisible connection? Or was it merely a coincidence formed by the statistics of over nine million people in Yilan City? The black sedan slowly stopped, and He Ao raised his head, looking up at the towering City Council building. The residence of Yilan City’s Angel, Honorary Speaker Levi, was at the very top floor of this building. "Mr. Linen, we’ve arrived." Sena stopped the vehicle at the main entrance of the building, then took a deep breath, about to say something, but in the end, he sighed, turned around, "Is there anything Mr. Linen needs me to—" Then he saw the smiling face of the elderly man and the palm extended toward him. Sena’s movement stiffened, then he raised his hand and completed a crisp high-five with the elderly man. All his tension and concerns seemed to dissolve with that high-five. He actually wanted to high-five the elderly man, but he didn’t dare to mention it. "Wait for me down here." He Ao smiled gently at him, nodded, then picked up his cane, opened the car door, and got out. Sena watched the elderly man walk into the building, then took a deep breath, a smile appearing on his face as he excitedly patted the steering wheel. "Why are there so many people outside?" The man in the white shirt, returning from the restroom, looked out the window at the dense crowd standing by the street. The man sitting by the window idly played with an unlit cigar in his hand. The man in the white shirt looked slightly startled and chuckled, "What is he here for? To persuade us not to impeach him?" "It’s said he’s prepared a lot of bills he wants to get passed all at once in the assembly." The cigar man glanced outside the window and chuckled. "Those bills he’s been pushing before? Is he dreaming?" The man in the white shirt sat next to the cigar man, "We can’t possibly let him pass those bills, let alone all at once today. And not just us—those legislators who have always disagreed with his policies won’t let him succeed either, we should be able to drag this out past today." "No worries, he won’t have time to think about these anymore." The cigar man set down his cigar and glanced around at assembly members starting to take their seats in the hall, "I just went to confirm, of those unwilling to take money, quite a few oppose him. These people should join us in voting for impeachment." "Do we really need to proceed this way?" At that moment, the man in the white shirt hesitated and spoke softly, "He’s at the height of his power now, won’t he target us if we do this?" "What news have you heard?" The cigar man asked in a low voice. "I heard that the headquarters of Yiwi’s Space System and Kope’s Mining were breached by the City Defense Army last night, and most of their executives were captured," The man in the white shirt hesitated, "Couldn’t they betray us?" "What are you worried about? The ones in contact with us are top-tier executives, and the databases are highly encrypted," The cigar man picked up his cigar and laughed softly, "Is the Consortium’s encrypted database so easy to breach? With just the computational power of the City Defense Army?" He looked at the man in the white shirt, "And have you considered? Now that Lin En is thriving, once he completely stabilizes his power, do you think he’ll let you continue comfortably as a legislator? He holds quite a bit of evidence of us accepting Consortium campaign funds," He lifted the cigar, pointing at the people outside the window, "Look at those people outside, when Lin En tells them to go left, they won’t go right. When the time comes, Lin En will tell them whom to vote for, and they will choose who gets into the assembly. "Do you really think by appeasing Lin En now, he will spare you? "He has more reliable legislators to support and promote, why would he need you, a greedy and indecisive traitor?" Speaking, the cigar man took a deep breath, "Now, is when our power is at its greatest. The longer we wait, the more legislators will swing towards Lin En. We have only one chance to overthrow Lin En, to secure wealth and honor. If we don’t overturn him, just wait to be purged by him." He looked up again at the man in the white shirt, "What’s your choice? Or say, are you planning to flee with your family fortune now? Is your money enough for you to spend?" The man in the white shirt sighed deeply, "We have no other choice." The cigar man raised his hand to check the time on his wristband, "In ten minutes, the session will start, and once the session starts, no one can stop us. Once the bills are submitted and everyone votes, we can consider which bar to hit tonight," He turned his head back, gazing at the crowd that hadn’t dispersed for a long time, "Blossoming like a luxuriant flower but brewing like oil in a fierce fire, Lin En probably couldn’t imagine that at his most radiant moment, he would fall into hell." The man in the white shirt took a long breath and looked at the time, "Now is the moment to turn everything around." Parliament Building Elevator A blonde secretary, wearing a body-hugging skirt that revealed her smooth thighs, stood in the elevator and looked at He Ao, "Mr. Levi hasn’t been back for a long time. Theoretically, he doesn’t like it when people visit his residence in his absence." He Ao glanced calmly at the elevator screen displaying an ascending arrow and responded nonchalantly. The plump secretary opened her mouth and finally bowed her head to respond, "Yes, Mr. Mayor." He Ao’s wristband vibrated once, and he raised his hand to answer the call, The voice of the blonde chief of staff resonated in his ear, "Evis Space System and Kopace Mining have issued a joint statement opposing the ’illegal sanctions’ imposed by the Yilan City Government and have initiated ’counter-sanctions.’ They announced that factories in Yilan City would suspend production and refuse to purchase products made in Yilan City." "The neighboring cities have also declared blockades on the trade routes to Yilan City, claiming to conduct ’special inspections’ on goods sent to Yilan City." "The primary goods transported through these trade routes are food and metal raw materials, with food accounting for 47% of our total imports, and metal raw materials 35%," "These cities are all under the control of the Two Great Consortiums, and they want to cause panic within the city by affecting our supply of food and economy." At this point, the blonde chief of staff paused, "which will affect your approval ratings." "And Ains? What did he say?" "I have reported to Ains that these cities and the two consortiums are deliberately affecting our food imports," The blonde chief of staff hesitated for a moment, "Ains said they would organize an investigation team to look into it, and they won’t tolerate any actions that disrupt the Federation’s unity... But as of now, they haven’t taken any steps. By the time their investigation is complete, we might already be experiencing food shortages." He Ao nodded lightly and said calmly, "Send a message to Ains, tell the elders at the President’s office that if they are not willing to ensure fairness, then Yilan City will seek fairness itself. If the Yilan City forces had proven themselves once, they could do it again." The blonde chief of staff was startled, thinking she had misheard. After a good while, she took a deep breath and quickly responded, "Yes!" "Thank you for your efforts." He Ao said softly and hung up the phone. "Mr. Lin En, we’ve arrived." At that moment, the elevator came to a complete halt, the blonde secretary in the body-hugging skirt pointed to the closed double metal doors outside the elevator, "This is Mr. Levi’s residence." "Ladies and Gentlemen, quiet please." An elderly Speaker stood at the main seat, holding documents and glanced at the somewhat noisy councilors below, leaned closer to the microphone, "There are a few minutes until the meeting begins. The resolutions to be voted on today have already been sent to the electronic paper books in front of you. If you didn’t review them last night, there’s still time to look them over now." The clamor from below diminished slightly, and the Speaker continued slowly, "Let’s use this time to reiterate some meeting regulations..." The man in the white shirt sitting in the corner lifted his wrist to check the time. Three minutes left, probably no mishaps would occur. He put down his wristband and took a long breath. The tightly closed doors were suddenly pushed open, and City Defense Soldiers along with police officers stormed into the hall, instantly silencing the entire council hall. "This is the City Council, what are you doing?" The elderly Speaker straightened his back instantly and looked up towards the door. "Mr. Speaker, don’t worry, we’re just handling some minor cases. This is the arrest warrant. The meeting has not started yet, and our actions are legal and won’t disturb the normal operations of the council," Standing at the door, Tucker bowed slightly to the Speaker as a gesture of respect, while displaying a thick stack of arrest warrants in his hand, then slightly raised his right hand, looked towards some councilors sitting in a corner, and coldly commanded, "Arrest them!"