After I stopped trying, a rich woman trained me into a demon emperor.

He suppressed the thought for the time being.

There are more urgent matters at hand.

The helicopter entered the airspace over Jiangcheng.

The city lights still shone brightly in the night.

The tall buildings were bathed in warm yellow light, and the traffic on the overpasses stretched out in lines. Looking down from above, it was no different from any other ordinary night.

Zhou Ran opened his eyes, activating his Purple-Gold Demonic Eyes.

The warm yellow lights went out.

Another scene unfolded before my eyes.

Thousands of thin gray filaments grow upwards from the ground.

At the tip of each thread hung a faint speck of light, flickering and dimming, soon to go out.

The entire city has been parasitized.

The surface is still green, but the roots are already hollow.

The Maybach slowly drove through the gate.

Chen Ya and the others rushed out first.

She looked unwell, her left arm was wrapped in bandages, but her steps were steady.

Before Zhou Ran could speak, Chen Ya handed him an urgent document.

"Take a look at this first."

Zhou Ran took it.

A photocopy of an event invitation.

Marcus Weber, the newly appointed president of the Sheng Hui Foundation, hosted a "private charity dinner" yesterday at the underground of the Jiangcheng Dongcheng Cultural Center.

All those present were key figures from both the political and business circles of Jiangcheng.

The list is very long.

Zhou Ran quickly scanned the page and stopped at the last line.

Xiao Hongli, representative of the Xiao Group.

Chen Ya noticed Zhou Ran's confusion.

"Marcus extended the dinner invitation in the name of the 'International Disaster Reconstruction Fund,' and the invitations were also sent to the top 20 companies in Jiangcheng."

Chen Ya speaks very quickly.

"The Xiao Group is the third largest private enterprise, so the reason for refusing to attend must be strong enough."

"Since you're not in Jiangcheng, we have no legitimate excuse."

She paused for a moment.

"Hongli made the decision herself."

She brought recording equipment in, and she's back safely.

Zhou Ran shoved the folder into Xiao Rou's hand behind him and strode toward the manor.

The manor's defensive barrier had shrunk considerably since he left.

The original three-kilometer coverage area was reduced to less than one kilometer, and the ghost runes at the edge of the barrier were dim and faint, almost burned out.

The basement door was open.

Zhou Ran went down and saw Su Qingling and Su Qingwu sitting back to back in the center of the formation.

The two men were deathly pale, their lips were cracked, and their fingers trembled incessantly as they made mudras.

The azure light of the Tidal Holy Body barely maintained the operation of the array; the light membrane was so thin and translucent that it would shatter at the slightest touch.

Zhou Ran squatted down, put his left hand on Su Qingling's shoulder, and held Su Qingwu's wrist with his right hand.

The primordial energy and blood flowed into his palm.

Both of them groaned simultaneously as the depleted magical power in their spiritual cores was broken up by the scorching vitality, and their meridians regained their color.

Su Qingling steadied her fingers, her eyelashes fluttered, but she didn't open her eyes.

"The formation can only hold out for three more days at most."

Zhou Ran withdrew his hand and stood up.

"Then you two should immediately leave and rest."

He went upstairs.

There was a person sitting in the living room.

Li Zhiyao.

She was wearing a blue and white porcelain cheongsam, the cuffs and hem of which were covered in black ash.

Her hair was casually tied up with a silver hairpin, with a few stray strands falling down her side, concealing the weariness in the corners of her eyes.

Zhou Ran glanced at the marks on the cheongsam.

That's not dust; it's the residue left behind by the dead messengers of the underworld.

"How many days have you been playing?"

"Four days."

Li Zhiyao held her teacup, her tone very even.

"Those that have infiltrated are all low-level and not difficult to deal with."

The quantity is increasing.

She put down her teacup, took out a jade slip from her sleeve, infused it with spiritual power, and projected a light and shadow image.

The night view of Jiangcheng that she etched with her magic.

Gray threads grow upwards from the ground, passing through the soil, through the floor slabs, through the road, connecting to individual points of light.

Some of those points of light were very faint, while others were quite bright.

"I observed for four days."

Li Zhiyao pointed to several of the silk threads,

"At first I thought they only connected with the dying."

These are not right.

Zhou Ran approached.

The few threads connecting the points of light were bright and stable, completely out of place for a dying person.

"I've checked the locations of these people."

Li Zhiyao said,

"A husband keeping watch outside the ICU, a college student whose hands trembled from scrolling through disaster news late at night, and a middle-aged man who had just lost his job."

She looked up.

"They are all living people."

A living person with an extremely high fear level.

Zhou Ran clenched his fist.

The celestial corpse is absorbing fear.

Panic itself is its fuel.

A connection was made in his mind.

What did Shenghui Consortium do after it moved into Jiangcheng?

Acquire local media outlets, spread news of disasters, and create public panic.

Everyone assumed it was a business tactic, using media warfare to drive down competitors' stock prices and pave the way for an acquisition.

wrong.

At least not entirely.

Every piece of terrifying news, every living person steeped in fear, becomes food for the Heavenly Corpse.

The Shenghui Consortium's business operations are essentially feeding the corpses that are meant to take the place of the gods.

The greater the panic, the faster the Heavenly Corpse's organs recover.

"I see."

Zhou Ran turned to look out the window.

Before I could even speak, footsteps came from the corridor.

Xiao Hongli walked into the living room.

He changed into a dark gray coat, and there was a red, swollen handprint on his left cheek.

Zhou Ran's gaze was fixed on the palm print.

He spread his five fingers out, then clenched them tightly one by one.

"It's alright."

At the dinner party, Marcus's bodyguards searched him.

Xiao Hongli spoke calmly, but still managed to force a smile.

I refused.

They then took action.

He took a deep breath.

There were people from twenty companies watching that event.

The Sheng Hui Consortium has a much greater global influence than we do.

If I retaliate, not only will the recording be lost, but...

Those companies will definitely sever ties with the Xiao Group on the spot, and that would be a huge loss.

Zhou Ran nodded slightly.

He stared at the palm print for five seconds.

Look away.

Xiao Hongli took a miniature voice recorder out of her pocket and placed it on the table.

"At the dinner, Marcus publicly announced that the Sheng Hui Consortium would invest 50 billion to build the 'Jiangcheng International Medical Center'."

She pressed play, and Marcus's English came through the speaker.

"The site chosen is the original site of the Dongcheng Cultural Center."

Zhou Ran twitched his finger.

Dongcheng Cultural Center.

The psychic equipment of the Sheng Hui Foundation was built underneath there.

The 50 billion yuan medical center was located directly above the mortal projection of the Heavenly Corpse.

Legitimate cover facilities.

At this moment, Lin Qingxue entered through the side door.

His eyes were covered by a thin, pale white veil, his eyes were half-closed, and he could not use them for long periods of time.

"There is a space on the third basement level of the Dongcheng Cultural Center."

Lin Qingxue spoke without any preamble.

"My understanding of the Dharma is incomplete."

"It has nothing to do with the formation's concealment."

Lin Qingxue shook her head to herself.

"That power itself is beyond my observational limits."

The living room was quiet for two seconds.

Zhou Ran walked to the head seat and sat down, crossing his hands and resting them on his chin.

The mortal realm is different from the underworld; he cannot completely resolve things with his fists.

We need to compete with the Shenghui Consortium in the business world.

"Chen Ya".

"exist."

"From this moment forward, all cooperation between the Xiao Group and the Sheng Hui Consortium is frozen."

All projects are terminated; let them sue for breach of contract if they want.

"clear."

"Fatty Wang".

A spirited response came from the side:

"arrive."

"Take Qin San with you and secretly monitor Marcus's hotel."

Watching 24/7. (Enter)

"receive."

Fatty Wang agreed and started walking out.

"Xiao Rou".

"Yes," came a soft reply from outside the door.

"Send your Gu Master to infiltrate the area around the East City Cultural Center and deploy surveillance Gu worms."

"Within a two-kilometer radius, I would know if even a fly flew by."

"Yes."

Zhou Ran got up and walked alone to the flower room in the backyard of the manor.

In the greenhouse, Bai Xuan dozed off, lying on the edge of a flowerpot.

The cap undulates slightly, breathing as evenly as a chubby little thing.

Zhou Ran squatted down.

He stared at Bai Xuan for a few seconds before asking the question that had been bothering him.

"Is the void realm inside that corpse?"

The cap of the white mushroom trembled slightly.

A clear dewdrop slid off the edge of the mushroom cap and landed on the soil in the flowerpot.