The copy has 0 error tolerance, and the last words on the ground are all wrong for me.

Chapter 573 Take action
With the public's expectation, Wu Chang had no choice but to reluctantly agree to take over the People's Rights Party.

However, taking over the Civil Rights Party requires a catalyst; it cannot be done by launching an assassination and purging the existing high-ranking members of the Civil Rights Party.

The Civil Rights Party's ability to occupy the best locations in Jacques as its stronghold and to confine the near-out-of-control modifiers to the quarantine zone is not due to the words "Federal Orthodoxy," but to its genuine hard power.

The Mason family wields immense power in Calais. The Calais State Guard and the Jacques City Special Police, though nominally federal, are in reality practically the Mason family's private army.

As "dumping grounds" abandoned by society, the guards and special police are not lacking in modified individuals. Although the individual strength of modified individuals is not as good as that of flesh and blood monsters, they are still extraordinary beings in the plane, and their strength is not too bad.

A large number of combat-type modified beings, even players should avoid their sharp edge.

Although Mason looked down on superhumans, he did give them a lot. He had many modified individuals under his command who were at the lowest point in their lives and were given new jobs, allowing their lives to get back on track.

For these people, dignity is a luxury that is not necessary. They only care about how much money they can get and whether they can continue to live a decent life for their family in the event that they may suffer from bioretinopathy at any time.

This has earned Mason considerable prestige among the guards and special police.

He can disregard the players' feelings and treat them as mere tools because he has done this too many times. The modifiers under his command are his experience and confidence.

Assassinating Mason directly would be tantamount to rebellion, and would likely trigger a bloody battle with Mason's modified subordinates.

All the players in the Civil Rights Party camp combined number only fifty, while Mason's modders number at least 300, fully armed and with fierce firepower.

This doesn't even include the thousands of ordinary armed men inside and outside Yake University. If a real fight breaks out, even if Jason, Xianyu, Shuangyue, and the others survive, they will be hunted down and forced to flee in terror.

Therefore, the only way to get rid of Mason is to use someone else to do the dirty work, and find a way to use the Conservative Party or the Flesh Monster to eliminate Mason and other members of the Civil Rights Party decision-making body.

This way, even if Mason's men have doubts, they can maintain appearances and save face by pretending they didn't notice anything amiss.

Having determined their strategy, the players gathered together for a brief discussion and began devising countermeasures.

Right now, there are two things that are of utmost importance to Mason, enough to warrant his personal intervention.

First, find Professor Eugene to complete the Lullaby Project; second, prevent the Conservative Party from reaping the benefits and stealing the Lullaby Project.

Although the Lullaby Project is a product of bipartisan cooperation, in theory the Conservative Party can only benefit from it and cannot be involved in the core technology.

The Civil Rights Party has a technological advantage. If things get to the point of no return, they would rather destroy the Lullaby Project and start from scratch than have the Conservative Party have the same technology as them.

Based on these two points, they planned to set a trap.

First, go to the Central Shelter. Based on the research equipment on site, have Sean design a decent-looking laboratory. Then, the players use their personal space to build a simple framework at the intersection of the North and West districts of Jacques City.

Jason and his team, who are on patrol, will accidentally discover this laboratory, suspect it is Professor Eugene's secret hideout, and report it to their superiors.

At this time, Shuangyue and others also spread the word, notifying the Conservative Party in the North District, and luring them to seize the laboratory data.

As long as Jason and his crew pretend to be outmatched and show signs of wanting to escape, Mason will definitely get restless. All he needs to do is activate his ability and add some buffs like belligerence and bravery, and Mason will lead his elite cyborgs to provide support.

When the Civil Rights Party and the Conservative Party are locked in a fierce battle, it would be perfectly normal for Mason to die from an unintentional stray bullet in the chaos.

Mason has an extremely strong desire for control. The Civil Rights Party at Jacques University claims to have seven decision-makers, but apart from Mason, the rest are all incompetent and lack a solid foundation, making them completely incapable of managing the situation.

If anyone is capable enough to shoulder this responsibility, Jason and the others wouldn't mind sending them to accompany Mason so they can continue to utilize their abilities.

Once that time comes, all they need to do is activate their mental abilities and use some underhanded tactics to coerce other decision-makers, and Sean will be able to bring the disorganized Civil Rights Party under their control.

As for what trouble Sean will encounter after the anomaly in Jacques City ends and Calais is back under federal control, that's not something Jason and the others need to worry about.

Coincidentally, Wu Chang, who is Sean's friend, doesn't need to consider this matter either.

Having finalized the plan, Wu Chang, under the protection of Shuangyue and Gunpowder, went to the Central Research Institute under the pretext of searching for traces of Professor Eugene in order to make a show of finding suitable props.

With the raven around, setting up an empty shell that could fool Mason was incredibly easy.

Just as Wu Chang was preparing to deal with Mason, Ma Jia, disguised as an ordinary player, secretly arrived at the City Hall with the data he had copied from the underground data center and Jason's conspiracy.

When he pushed open the city hall door, he stood with his hands on his hips, his back extremely straight. Simply being straight was not enough for him at that moment; if he could, he would have liked to bend over on the spot.

This time, he was determined to let everyone know who, besides He Ping, was really holding this family together.

Peace's cheats are too overpowered and they are not in the same league as ordinary players, so they are not included in the comparison. However, Ma Jia has always had a competitive spirit towards Cold Mountain.

Putting aside the fact that Cold Mountain comes from the Administration Bureau and he comes from the Book of Revelation, the two sides are inherently hostile.

In addition, Ma Jia believes that he is no less capable than others in navigating dungeons, but he is not famous because he is a member of the Apocalypse and it is inconvenient for him to reveal his identity. He is very dissatisfied with Leng Shan, the former number one game-changer in the Wilderness.

He had always wanted to compete with Leng Shan, but under the shadow of peace, neither of them had much room to maneuver, so he put the idea aside.

But this time was different. This time it was a Gamma-level instance on the verge of going out of control. He completed the first main mission all by himself, without the help of peaceful forces, and also learned an extremely explosive piece of information.

Let alone Cold Mountain, even Peace might not perform better than him in this dungeon.

Winning a draw would be akin to defeating the heavens, filling him with fervor. He shouted as he entered:
"Is anyone home?"

When Ma Jia approached the city hall and triggered the mystical magic circle, the God Tongue, which had control over the magic circle, sensed his presence. Just as Ma Jia was speaking, the God Tongue, wearing a pink apron, appeared.

"I thought you wouldn't be back until mealtime either."

Ma Jia wrinkled her nose, somewhat displeased, and said:
"I didn't come back for dinner..."

As he spoke, his wrinkled nose inadvertently caught a whiff of the God Tongue's fragrance, and he quickly changed the subject, saying:

"But I am indeed hungry, and if there is anything to eat, it's not a problem."

God's Tongue smiled and shook his head, waving to Ma Jia to follow him to the kitchen.

Although Ma Jia infiltrated the Civil Rights Party and lived a life of comfort as a mercenary, the food provided by Jacques University was only good in terms of energy; while the taste wasn't exactly delicious, it was at least hard to swallow.

He wolfed down his food until he felt completely full, then reluctantly stopped and inquired about the current situation of the Mystic Knights of the God Tongue.

Upon learning that God Tongue and the others were currently in standby mode and only needed to rest, eat, and maintain their condition, Ma Jia shook his head in disbelief.

He thought working under Sean would be easy enough, but he never expected things to get even more outrageous at home.

"Where's the boss? Did he go out?"

The Tongue of God casually remarked:
"The boss and Leng Shan went out to meet Dr. Eugene last night, and sent us an invitation this morning to join the Jacques City self-rescue team. They should have already reached an agreement with Professor Eugene."

"I'll tell the boss later and bring you in too."

Ma Jia was stunned upon hearing this, somewhat doubting her own ears.

Since the game "Sleepless Night" became a dungeon, at least several hundred players from the Civil Rights Party have searched for Professor Eugene's whereabouts, and several thousand state guards and SWAT teams have searched everywhere, but they have not been able to find Eugene.

Peace and his group have been eating and drinking, and in just two days they've already reached an agreement with Eugene. Is this pace really right?

He immediately pressed for details about what had happened during this time. When he heard the Tongue of God say that they had retrieved the instrument that caused the Light of Collapse and had also found and brought back the culprit that triggered the Light of Collapse, he completely lost his composure.

According to the progress of the strategy guide, Heping was half a day ahead of him and had already completed two items in the second main quest, and had also basically figured out the cause of the Light of Collapse.

Even though he overheard Jason and the others' plans, he was still no match for Peace when it came to conquering dungeons.

This is just too inhuman; they really can't compare to the boss. He couldn't help but sigh and continued to ask how they found Professor Eugene. When he learned that Cold Mountain and Booker happened to run into Professor Eugene, and that they acted as matchmakers, getting Nils to cooperate, he completely lost his composure.

Cold Mountain is being chased, yet he still manages to run into Professor Eugene, the most crucial character in the dungeon, and even manages to join the enemy's side. With such incredible luck, how can you possibly play with him?

His excitement vanished instantly, leaving only one thought in his mind.

Screw those strategy guides and dungeon-crawling techniques.

Without the urge to compare, Ma Jia didn't hold back and told everyone what he had been doing during this time.

Upon hearing that Ma Jia had infiltrated the Civil Rights Party camp to copy data from underground, he suddenly realized:

"No wonder the boss said we didn't need to go underground, that someone would help us get it. It turns out the boss saw you back then."

Hearing this, Ma Jia's disappointed mood improved somewhat.

When the boss sees him, he knows he can get the data. What does that mean? It means the boss believes in his abilities!

When Jason and his group's plan was mentioned, God Tongue's eyes flickered slightly, and she said:
"The Civil Rights Party is in the hands of a naive and innocent person, which is much easier to deal with than when Mason was in control. This is very advantageous to us, and we should inform the boss about this situation as soon as possible."

"Take the clay figure with you later, she can lead you to the boss."

Ma Jia asked in confusion:
"Can the clay puppet locate the boss's position? When did she acquire this ability?"

The Tongue of God pointed out the window and said:
"You already have a god you believe in, so you can't see him."

"The boss planted a tree over there last night. It grew with the power of faith and is now hundreds of meters tall. All believers who have joined the Eternal Light Sect can see it."

Following the guidance of the Tongue of God, Ma Jia looked out the window, but his eyes were blank; he couldn't see any trees at all.

Recalling how Peace summoned the Light of Eternity to fight the Demon Emperor at the end of the world instance, he couldn't help but feel a pang of sadness.

Although his own deity often communicated with him, they had never offered such direct help.

Judging from God's Tongue's meaning, everyone in the Arcane Knights has joined the Eternal Light Cult. Even those guys from the four major organizations have converted to the Eternal Light. Isn't he the only exception and a bit of a loner?

An hour later, Ma Jia brought the clay puppet to the self-rescue group's base.

Although he couldn't see the Tree of Miracles, he could truly feel the sense of security that enveloped him once he entered its area.

Clearly, this is the Light of Eternal Purity using divine power to defy the rules within the instance.

As a senior member of the believer community, he has seen many gods and many faiths, but this is the first time he has seen a god directly intervene.

Even the Tranquility Church didn't go this far; isn't this blatant cheating?
Oh, you mean the Light of Eternal Purity is protecting them? That's fine then. Strategizing dungeons is all about skill. The fact that the Light of Eternal Purity can directly enter the fray shows its immense power. If it wasn't sealed, it's not a cheat.

When he met Wu Chang, Wu Chang was discussing future plans with Eugene. When he saw Ma Jia, he knew what the other party wanted to say, so he asked Ma Jia to say it directly in front of Eugene.

Margaret revealed Jason's entire plan and, upon Eugene's questioning, offered her assessment of Sean's character.

For example, he was described as "naive and innocent," "foolish but lucky," "a bookworm who just left the ivory tower," and "a simp" who almost got into a conflict with the reformers and the state guard because his female companion was a saint.

Eugene listened with excitement, believing that such graduates, untainted by self-interest and still carrying their convictions, were excellent partners.

If Sean can truly take control of the Civil Rights Party, then they might be able to cooperate with him and use Jacques University's Sky Tower without fighting.

Wu Chang, on the other hand, wasn't as happy as Eugene.

His smile was somewhat stiff, and his gaze toward Ma Jia was unfriendly.

You, Ma Jia, I helped you attract Jason and the others' attention so you could safely steal the data, gave you preferential treatment, and created conditions for you to tip off others, and this is how you slander me behind my back?

Wait, when we get back, I'll assign you to clean toilets.

Eugene saw this as an opportunity. While Jason and his team's plan was feasible, it was too crude. They could lend them a hand and make some improvements.

After a brief discussion, Ma Jia continued to act according to Sean's instructions in order to avoid being exposed for the time being, while Wu Chang took Leng Shan straight to the Central Research Institute, where they encountered his true form.

Inside the Central Research Institute, the main body inadvertently revealed the purpose of the fake laboratory.

Peace happened to be passing by and overheard the plan.

Both Shuangyue and Huoyao are veterans, with strength no less than Tank. They could tell that Heping and Lengshan were inexperienced and obviously newcomers.

In order to prevent their plan from being exposed, they tried to take control of Heping. However, after Shuangyue finished her set of sword techniques, she couldn't even cut the hem of Heping's clothes. Heping casually grabbed a crowbar, used the Wuxiang style, and broke Shuangyue's proudest sword technique in a few moves, then pinned Shuangyue to the ground.

Gunpowder wanted to fire to provide assistance, but facing Leng Shan, the second strongest member of the Mystic Knights who had already entered the Domain level, his bullets were frozen as soon as they left the muzzle.

When he was about to unleash his ultimate move, he found that Shuangyue had already been pinned to the ground, giving up resistance and looking like she was begging for mercy.

Seeing the vast difference in strength between the two sides, Gunpowder did not resist, hoping to use his persuasive skills to buy the three of them a way out.

To their surprise, during their conversation, they discovered that the two seemingly peaceful individuals were actually from Professor Eugene's organization.

Unlike Gunpowder, who came from the Western Union and the White Tower respectively, the Twin Moons immediately recognized Peace's name and the exaggerated power it displayed.

The monster that even hundreds of elite members of the Evolutionary Faction couldn't handle, what right did they have to compete with it? The two immediately advised Sean to cooperate with the other side and not to try to go it alone.

To their surprise, Sean was even more proactive than them, saying that his mentor told him to trust Professor Eugene and that finding Professor Eugene would solve the problem. If they hadn't stopped him, Sean would have defected to the enemy even faster than they did.

After a brief conversation, they learned that Eugene's goal was to resolve the disaster in Jacques City, which did not conflict with their interests. Peace was only concerned with completing the dungeon and did not care about letting them benefit from it.

Shuangyue and Huoyao brought Sean to Jason and the others, and recounted their encounter. While Jason was surprised by the appearance of Peace, he was not dissatisfied with the two's judgment and chose to cooperate.

And so, the two sides hit it off and began their collaboration.

With Eugene joining them, Jason and his team's plans went much more smoothly.

While the raven could replicate the laboratory's capabilities, it couldn't replicate habits. The laboratory set up by Eugene carried many of his personal habits in controlling the laboratory. These habits were very subtle, and only the research team around him could see them. There was no doubt that Mason would be fooled.

Not only Mason, but also the leaders of the North City Lullaby (Conservative Party) camp were fooled.

To increase his stakes, Eugene also added some genuine research he had conducted, research valuable enough to entice Mason to take action.

After all this was done, it got dark.

11 p.m., Jacques University, Tian Tower Main Tower Laboratory.

Mason looked through today's experimental data, his brow furrowing involuntarily.

Before the Light of Collapse occurred, Project Lullaby had already reached its final testing stage. It wouldn't be an exaggeration to say that the entire project was 99.9% complete and was already an extremely mature solution.

Before the Light of Collapse occurred, he had secretly replicated 95% of the experimental device. He only needed to use his own understanding and the experimental data he had obtained to complete the last 5% to rebuild the Lullaby Protocol.

However, when he tried to complete the entire experimental system based on his own memory and knowledge, he found that no matter what he did, he could not achieve the experimental effect he had at the time, and there was always some deviation.

Is it really true that this plan can only succeed if Professor Eugene leads it?

Just as he was doubting himself and about to give up, Xianyu, looking anxious, brought back a piece of information that made Mason's furrowed brows relax.

They found Professor Eugene's secret laboratory!
(End of this chapter)