"Wright, you can’t kill me!" Under the snowstorms on the streets of the Novite District, standing among the ruins of buildings, the entirely black-clad Lutz clutched his chest wound, his face twisted in ferocity as he stared at the middle-aged man before him. "My Mercenary Corps is an unofficial member of the Rockville Consortium. If you kill me, you will offend the Rockville Consortium. The depth of such a long-standing consortium is beyond your imagination." Wright twirled the short sword in his hand, gazing at Lutz, whose clothes were already torn and body covered with wounds. "Your Mercenary Corps doesn’t have a Federation-approved qualification, right? You are part of Rockville Energy Group." He paused for a moment, a smile on his face, "Which means, Rockville Energy Group has been illegally sponsoring a mercenary group beyond approval, and even allowed this group to collude with a cult to enter the largest city in the northwest, Rockville. What is the Rockville Energy Group trying to do? Overthrow the Federation?" Upon hearing this, Lutz’s originally threatening and fierce face suddenly stiffened. "Stop talking nonsense, I never said that." Then, as if recalling something, he slowly raised his hand, lifting the scythe above his head, and knelt down on the ground, "I surrender, I’m willing to accept the Federation’s judgment." Wright watched him, holding the short sword, cautiously moving forward. But almost the moment he stepped forward, Lutz, who was kneeling on the ground, suddenly exerted force on his knees like a toad, shooting out like a cannonball, his scythe aiming for Wright’s neck. During his flight, the whole world seemed to darken suddenly, even the floating snow in the sky lost its sparkling color, and countless figures resembling him surged towards Wright from all directions. Wright, with a backhanded grip on his sword, glanced up at the multitude of illusions rapidly closing in. The next second, his figure gradually faded, disappearing as if exiled from this world, completely vanishing from the streets. Lutz in mid-air stared intently in the direction Wright had disappeared in, realizing something was amiss, he retracted his scythe to his front, seemingly wanting to stop immediately, but it was already too late. A phantom short sword instantly pierced his neck, and in his field of view, an invisible figure slowly emerged. Lutz’s eyes widened, he opened his mouth, and blood spilled from it. His body hung in mid-air, ultimately falling to his knees on the ground. Wright pulled out the short sword, and Lutz’s figure tipped slightly, falling forward. At that moment, the dim surroundings regained their color. Wright lifted the short sword, flicked his fingers on the blade to knock off the blood, then sheathed the short sword, standing next to the silent corpse. The drifting snow, like petals at a funeral, fell with the night. A Hell Apostle Mech descended from the sky, then the hatch opened, a tall young man wearing a jet pack leaped from the Mech, landing beside Wright. He looked down at the fallen Lutz. "Keep your distance, a dead high-rank Transcendent might carry unknown contamination. Just have a few unmanned Mechs collect the body," Wright softly advised. The tall young man lifted a walkie-talkie, quickly sent out an order, then turned to Wright, "Wasn’t this guy B-level? To die just like that? Mayor, you are quite something." "His Talent Sequence is Talent Sequence 193: King of Thieves, not a combat-type sequence. His individual combat power isn’t strong, which is why I had you try to divide his men and isolate him from the start. "The reason we won so easily is because of targeted arrangements, and also because this guy was overly confident, not fully aware of his own capabilities," Wright lowered his head, looking at Lutz’s body on the ground, and said in a slow voice, "But he indeed was a qualified soldier, although his methods were despicable, he still fought to the last moment knowing the situation was hopeless." The tall young man nodded, then looked at Wright with some confusion, "Mayor, how do you know so much about his Talent Sequence?" "Killed him when I was younger," Wright nodded, "Collect his body properly, let’s find someone in the black market, maybe we can extract the Talent Sequence from his body and make Secret Medicine. If he progressed normally, we should be able to extract the entire sequence of sequences." By then, the unmanned Mechs had arrived, and under some armored soldiers’ operation, they began to collect the body from the ground. The tall young man watched the soldiers in action, "Do I have a chance to become a B-level Transcendent too?" Wright glanced at him, shaking his head, "Such Talent Sequences affect one’s nature, and you can’t suppress it." The tall young man was taken aback, "Then who can?" Wright was also stunned by the question, instinctively saying, "Your brother Nell can, if that kid were controlling this Talent Sequence, it might not be me who’s alive now." Realizing something was amiss, he shook his head and looked at the tall young man, continuing, "Your brother should be able to as well." The tall young man nodded, not discouraged, "Then I’ll just stick to my beloved Mech." Then he lowered his head, glancing at the wounds on Wright’s body, "By the way, your injuries seem pretty severe. Should I call a doctor?" "Just minor injuries," Wright scanned the surrounding soldiers, shook his head, then turned his head towards the tall young man amidst the soldiers’ slightly admiring gazes, "Have you taken control of the higher ranks of Lutz’s Mercenary Corps?" "Some have surrendered, some are still resisting," The tall young man nodded, "Following Nell’s earlier instructions, I’m having them try to keep prisoners alive." "Hmm, their testimonies are important," Wright slowly turned around, his back to the surrounding soldiers. The tall young man also turned around. Wright reached out and wrapped his arm around the shoulders of the tall young man, heading toward the corner. From behind, the two looked as though they shared a close relationship, arms linked together. "What’s going on here?" In front, the tall young man who was supporting Wright lowered his voice and glanced at Wright’s fierce, cold-gasping face, whispering, "Wasn’t it supposed to be fine? Why do you look so uncomfortable, and why didn’t you just say so earlier?" Wright glanced at the tall young man, looked into his clear, sincere eyes, and after a brief pause, said, "I am the Mayor of Rock City, and my image is very important in another city." The tall young man looked at him, "What do you mean?" After a brief silence, Wright slowly spoke, "Looking good comes first." Mayor’s Mansion of Wint City·Underground Machine Room Lena surveyed the densely packed various electronic devices around her. Vili released her hand from the computer interface, glanced at the mobile device perched on the interface, then looked at the continuously popping-up windows of the holographic projection, "Yiluo said this external device contains a smart plugin to hack firewalls, it should be hacking now." She turned back to Lena, "Is the entire area cleaned up?" "The surface of the Mayor’s Mansion is completely under our control, our people are still searching the underground space, "But those Eternal Secret Teachings priests hiding in the Mayor’s Mansion have been detained by us, some of them were even members of the City Cabinet, Endir’s infiltration into the City Government was beyond our imagination." "According to these priests, members of the City Cabinet from United Industries who opposed Endir were basically wiped out by Endir, now there’s basically no one from outside the Eternal Secret Teachings alive in the entire City Cabinet." At this point, her expression slightly changed as she spoke softly, "But if he wants to ’sacrifice’ the entire city to summon the Eternal Divine Nation, he wouldn’t need to kill these City Cabinet members, right? Or did any of the Cabinet members discover his conspiracy? Or were there voices opposing him?" Vili gently shook her head, the image of the white-haired Elderly, along with the corpse of Vincent which lay with eyes wide open in the coffin at the top of the United Industries building flashed through her mind. Her gaze slightly lowered, "From the current situation, Endir will remove anything that stands in his way, perhaps these people ’obstructed’ him in some aspects." Lena realized she mentioned a topic that should not be broached, nodded gently, and said no more. At that moment, a crisp sound rang out. Lena looked up at the holographic projection screen, "Is the firewall here so weak? I thought it would take a little longer." Vili lowered her head, swiftly operating in front of the screen. Rows of filenames appeared before the blonde girl, countless categorized documents unfolded in her field of view. The running machinery emitted a slight noise, echoing in the silent machine room. Time passed second by second, Lena stood next to the girl, guarding her safety. After what seemed to be an hour, or maybe two, the girl finally stopped her operations. Her expression solemn, she slowly straightened up. "All the materials of the Eternal Secret Teachings are gathered here," Under the glow of flowing machinery, the girl slowly spoke, "Including how they lure people into sacrifices, how they maintain the organization’s operations, and also the names and data of all the charge points in all thirty-seven cities of the Federation managed by them." "Thirty-seven cities? The coverage of the Eternal Secret Teachings is so broad?" Lena’s mouth opened unconsciously, "The Federation has just over a hundred cities in total, this is already over a quarter of the cities in the Federation, and they have only developed for just over twenty years?" She suddenly understood why the Eternal Secret Teachings were so outrageously strong. "Their propagated theories indeed have certain misleading influences, and their organizational structure is also very advanced, but more importantly," Vili spoke softly, "this includes help from the Rockville Energy Group," She raised her hand, opening a map, "The cities where the Eternal Secret Teachings exist are mostly coastal cities in the northwest, and some cities in the southwest. These cities more or less have the influence of Rockville Energy Group, many of which are mining cities. "The Eternal Secret Teachings help Rockville Energy Group control the local populace on the ground and provide the Blessing Pendants produced by the Eternal Divine Nation to Rockville Energy Group, which can to some extent ensure the safety of seafarers in the Storm Sea, but the mortality rate is still high, yet it’s enough for Rockville Energy Group to force mining ships to leave safe waters and mine in the Storm Sea." "But due to the tightly organized structure of the Eternal Secret Teachings, all these matters were carried out in secret and were not exposed." "No wonder the Rockville Energy Group and the Eternal Secret Teachings have such a stable cooperation," Lena sighed softly, "So, it’s actually Vincent from United Industries who was kept in the dark. His death really wasn’t unjust." Vili’s gaze fell on the screen before her, "There’s a lot of internal cooperation exposed here among United Industries, the Eternal Secret Teachings, and the Rockville Energy Group. "Almost all the records since the founding of the Eternal Secret Teachings are here." "So much information? Did Endir hide all the information here?" Lena was startled, "But that makes sense, he was absolutely confident in his power. If he won, naturally no one could access this place, and if he lost, protecting these records would be meaningless." Vili nodded slightly and opened a document on the homepage. This document detailed the entire process of the Eternal Secret Teachings’ assassination of ’Skone’. And the cause was because Skone discovered Endir had taken a painting from the library and found out about Endir secretly establishing the Eternal Secret Teachings. So, he had a huge argument with his friend, threatening to stop such crazy actions or he would expose all the information and have his friend thrown into prison. So a few days after this argument, Endir sent Skone to his death. The document was straightforward and simple, only one page long, and placed separately from the other documents. It was as if the person who wrote this document intentionally put it in a conspicuous place, leaving it for themselves and for posterity." Vili closed the document. But after all, it was all in the past. Lena, standing behind her, suddenly spoke up, holding her bracelet and looking at the young girl, "Rock City’s people just took control of the City Council. The remaining council members are all from the Eternal Secret Teachings, including the Speaker who was killed in the resistance. The previous news, the heads of the major districts have also mostly died in this incident." She opened her mouth and spoke softly, "Those originally loyal to United Industries have been eliminated, and the people from the Eternal Secret Teachings are either dead or captured. The City Government now will probably completely collapse." Hearing this, Vili was also baffled and asked tentatively, "Isn’t there any middle faction?" "According to intelligence, the middle faction was already eliminated by United Industries and the Eternal Secret Teachings." Lena also seemed lost. "According to the constitution of Wint City," Vili suddenly remembered something, "In a situation , we must immediately hold a temporary mayoral election, then form a cabinet to restart the government, continuing Endir’s unfinished term. Our friends in Rock City can’t stay here forever maintaining order." "But for the mayoral election, who shall we find to run?" Lena was also confused. "I’ll be eighteen the day after tomorrow, and my identity should be able to attract a certain number of votes. But Wint City law requires a resident who has lived there for thirty years to run for mayor," Vili thought quickly and looked at Lena, "So we at least need to find someone over thirty from Wint City." Lena said quickly, "and I have no competitive power and don’t want to engage in politics. There’s too much dirt on me. Anything the Rockville Energy Group digs up would negatively impact me." "Then where do we find a suitable mayoral candidate?" Vili was somewhat perplexed, "And this candidate must also align with us, not deviating from our plan." "If it were up to Yiluo, who would he choose?" Lena murmured softly, "Would this guy have also made some plans? Is there an elusive old man somewhere who also knows him? Wait," She looked at Vili, "Your uncle who runs the crematorium, isn’t he a reclusive old man?" "It’s a funeral home," Vili corrected softly, then paused, "Uncle Jeko, as one of the original quartet back in the day, would probably get elected if he ran for mayor. I could partner with him in the campaign, simultaneously boosting my visibility, "But I don’t know if I can persuade him; ever since my father died, he has completely given up on those matters. "He seems easy to talk to but is actually very stubborn." Lena looked up at her, "Now that the network is restored, give him a call." Old Jeko Funeral Home The howling cold wind brushed against the icy glass door, and drifting snowflakes fell on the narrow walkway in front of the door. Boiling milk tea simmered on an electric heater, and an old speech played on the bright TV. The old man lay in a rocking bamboo chair, slightly squinting his eyes, seemingly taking a nap. Outside, there were sounds of echoing gunfire, chaotic shouting, and faintly fluctuating explosions. But all these seemed unable to disturb the tranquility inside this simple funeral home. The wide bamboo chair swayed gently, as if this tranquility would extend to an eternal future, until death. The crisp knocking sound steadily came from the tightly closed glass door, shattering this warm silence. The elderly man slowly opened his eyes, rose from the bamboo chair, picked up the coat beside him, draped it over himself, and walked to the door. A woman, who looked like a single mother, appeared in his field of view. She stood at the doorway, watching Jeko open the door, and handed him an envelope, "Here is a letter for you." The elderly man took the envelope with a hint of confusion. There was no writing on the envelope, its origin unknown. By the time the elderly man looked up again, the woman who delivered the letter had disappeared into the snow. Slowly, the elderly man raised his hand and opened the envelope. Inside the envelope was what seemed to be an electronically drawn and printed postcard. In this postcard, a candle was placed in the middle of the table. In the most prominent place of the candlelight, the young Skone was giving a speech, and in the shadow of the candlelight, the equally young Endir was objecting, with Vincent sitting in the shadow between the two. And that same young him sat far from the three, with the faint candlelight splashing on his cheek and on his rough hands which were taking notes. This seemed similar to a painting he had once seen, yet it seemed different. He slowly flipped over the postcard, looking at the back. A line of immature handwriting was written on the pristine back of the postcard, "[We may not be on the right path, but our flame can still light the way for the next person.]" He turned the postcard over, looking at the candle in the middle. At that moment, his wristband vibrated. He raised his hand and answered the call. "Uncle Jeko, are you there?" The young girl’s naive greeting came through, and without waiting for the elderly man to respond, she quickly relayed all the information. In the end, she cautiously said, "Uncle Jeko, we hope you would consider running for mayor." The once quiet hall fell into an eerie silence again, with only the faint sound of boiling milk tea. Bright lights shone on the elderly man’s mottled cheeks. He looked up at the TV broadcasting Endir’s speech, reached out, and turned off the TV. From the other end of the phone came gentle breathing sounds; it seemed the girl was preparing to tentatively ask again. It was then that the elderly man slowly spoke, "I am old already, I don’t want to get involved in these matters," The voice on the phone fell silent. The elderly man’s gaze returned to the candle on the postcard in his hand; he flipped the postcard over, looking at the naive note, "But a young chap convinced me." Even in the darkness, the decaying candle still could light a weak flame, illuminating the path for those who follow. "The city council midterm elections will be held at the end of this month. Mayor Christos and his Ruling Alliance have established a firm base of supporters with measures such as healthcare reform and food reform, but looking at the broader spectrum, their campaign outlook is still not optimistic." In the studio, the host smiled as he faced the camera, "Especially since they failed to gain the support of major consortiums, the campaign funding they received is significantly lower than their competitors, indicating a substantial lack of exposure. This is particularly detrimental for the younger members within the Ruling Alliance. "An internal document indicates that a considerable portion of the members want to break away from the Ruling Alliance to secure sufficient campaign funds. "Aggressive tactics from opponents and internal defections may dim the Ruling Alliance’s hope for victory. "If Christos and his Ruling Alliance lose the city council in this midterm election, achieving big losses, it will intensely increase the difficulty of any action they wish to perform, "This means that any policy implemented during the latter half of Christos’ term could be hindered, exacerbating their already challenging governance situation." "What are you watching?" The office door was slowly pushed open, and Christos, dressed in a silver suit, walked in. "Looking at things about the midterm elections," The silver ponytailed man sitting on the couch looked up at Christos, "It seems like they are set on completely stripping us of the city council." "If they didn’t think that way, it would be unreasonable," Christos raised a hard drive he was holding in his hand, "Take a look at this." The ponytailed man looked at the hard drive with curiosity. "Something from an old friend from Wint City," Christos replied softly, "He seems to know that we are having a hard time."