Cthulhu America, I can see the kill line.

In Xinxiang, Manhattan's Chinatown, a Cantonese restaurant that has temporarily closed.

Kong Jiu sat in the guest seat of the mahogany carved chair, took the fine Tieguanyin tea handed to him from the main table, took a small sip, and his eyes showed admiration.

"This is the finest spring tea; I haven't tasted it in years."

Sitting at the head of the table, Liu Kang smiled slightly: "I'm glad you like it, Kong. I hope our misunderstanding hasn't caused you too much trouble."

"No, no."

Kong Jiu returned the compliment with a smile, his gaze inadvertently glancing at the woman who had dragged him there.

The woman dressed like Sherlock Holmes was named Viper. She was sitting in the second seat, her slightly apologetic gaze falling on Kong Jiu.

The misunderstanding started when Liu Kang borrowed someone from Li Yingying, saying that they were going to Xinxiang today.

But Li Yingying didn't give his name or describe his appearance, only saying, "That guy is 1.9 meters tall, male, and has an aura that I've distorted about reality. He'll be easy to find."

Viper has a compass that can point out those who are born with karma and are being manipulated. By chance, she captured Kong Jiu.

Li Yingying clearly hadn't expected that Kong Jiu would also run off to Xinxiang.

This unpredictable style of behavior is exactly what Li Yingying, who likes to act like a quirky little girl, is capable of doing.

Liu Kang nodded, a hint of apology on his face: "Life is unpredictable; sometimes it's just a coincidence. But luckily, you know Master Li, otherwise this misunderstanding would have escalated further."

Kong Jiu nodded, and as he spoke, he took out a jade pendant from his satchel, put it on, and turned to look out the window.

Sure enough, after my perception was distorted, a thin, azure film appeared over the blue sky outside the window, and the health bar faintly appeared.

"However, Master Liu, you said you came to this plane at Li Yingying's request to destroy the Iron Curtain?"

Kong Jiu placed the teacup on the tea tray, casually pointed out the window, and asked, "Is that the celestial realm?"

Liu Kang lifted the steaming covered bowl with his bare hands and poured it full for Kong Jiu without any fear of the scalding porcelain. "Yes, it seems that you, Mr. Kong, have also seen that barrier."

"I am cooperating with a certain being to destroy Hills' Iron Curtain." Kong Jiu was shocked, but still tried to remain calm as he picked up his teacup.

The next moment, he gasped softly as the small porcelain cup filled with scalding hot tea burned him, and his fingers jerked back.

Master Liu smiled gently, his shining eyes fixed on Kong Jiu's reddened fingers: "As a mortal who can burn his fingers with tea, you are brave and selfless, Kong."

Kong Jiu stopped flicking his fingers and turned his puzzled gaze to Vulcan, who had suddenly praised him.

"Whether it's your background or your personal strength, as a mortal from another world, you have no obligation to protect anyone in this world, do you?"

Master Liu put the steaming light green tea into his mouth, and a faint smile appeared in his eyes as he met Kong Jiu's gaze.

"Li Yingying mentioned me?" Kong Jiu asked in surprise.

"After all, people from the other world are not common." Liu Kang said, raising his hand to give Viper a look, signaling her to step outside and wait.

"Let's get down to business, Kong,"

Liu Kang turned his gaze to the window: "I've got the person I wanted. Next, I need to help Master Li break that thing in the sky."

"Kong, are you interested in participating in the fighting tournament?"

"No, I don't like fighting and killing at all," Kong Jiu blurted out subconsciously.

What era are we living in? Why are we still fighting and killing? Can't we at least have some sense of human relationships and social graces?

"Then let me put it another way."

Undeterred, Liu Kang withdrew his gaze and looked back at Kong Jiu: "Are you interested in participating in the 'ritual' to destroy the Iron Curtain in Xinxiang?"

A flash of white light appeared in Liu Kang's eyes, and a thought instantly flooded into Kong Jiu's mind.

Information about a "ritual" being conducted in another dimension of Xinxiang flooded Kong Jiu's mind.

Xinxiang, as the most open and free city in America, naturally attracts many psionic politicians with free-thinking ideas and a thirst for progress.

They planned a ceremony in Lixinxiang, the largest subspace node in Xinxiang, to formally acknowledge the existence of psychic powers in order to get Amerigo Vespucci to acknowledge them.

Through some kind of ritual, the concept of subspace in "Lixin Township" is distorted, connecting with a purgatory in another dimension, and filled with countless dead souls.

Purgatory is the boundary between the human world and hell, a place filled with dead souls yet unjudged.

New-style politicians are attempting to materialize a large number of souls through rituals, transforming them into immense psychic energy, in order to burst the Iron Curtain of Xinxiang, the old order's administrative machine used to suppress psychic energy.

This method is crude, simple, and reckless. While it cannot completely remove the Iron Curtain, it is sufficient to achieve the politicians' goals.

This caused a terrifying subspace storm to erupt in Xinxiang, the most prosperous city in America, forcing the authorities to publicly acknowledge the existence of psychic energy, making it the first "psychic zone" in the United States to recognize psychic energy!

Of course, the above actions were not carried out by the official psychic faction, but rather by "radical psychics".

"The politicians in Xinxiang want to destroy the Iron Curtain themselves," Master Liu said with a wry smile, looking helpless in the face of this madness. "It's insane, isn't it?"

Kong Jiu was horrified by the plan that flashed into his mind, and his lips twitched involuntarily: "A warp storm... Won't that kill a lot of people?"

"Yes," Liu Kang nodded, "Many psionicists strongly opposed the politicians' actions and spontaneously decided to go to the warp to purge the excess souls in order to minimize the size of the storm."

Master Liu pointed to Viper's figure outside the door.

"My disciple in this plane, Viper, wishes to fight in my name and participate in this trial to cleanse the souls of purgatory."

"Wait, wait,"

Kong Jiu interrupted Liu Kang, a look of confusion on his face. "Didn't you just say it was a fighting tournament? How did it turn into the extermination of infernal souls?"

Liu Kang withdrew his gaze from Viper and looked back at Kong Jiu, his eyes seeming to say, "This young man is clueless."

"Kong, you know a little about Amerigo Veterans' political figures, don't you?"

Kong Jiu nodded.

"If psychic politicians want to cause trouble, how can the opposition party stop it when they can't openly discuss psychic powers?"

Upon hearing this, Kong Jiu suddenly realized the truth.

Set a rule: within the limits of mutual agreement, fight each other to the death!

This is exactly the way the two major parties in America usually handle things!

Thinking about it this way, there must be both psionicists who are unwilling to harm innocent people and organizations that are eager to create chaos and seek to create even greater disorder.

"Within the rules, both sides are purging the souls of purgatory. We're trying to mitigate the storm, while they're trying to collect souls and create even more chaos..."

"When two sides with different goals meet in Lixin Township, and some fighting breaks out, isn't it reasonable to call it a fighting tournament?"

Liu Kang's eyes became more serious: "Well, Kong, how about you lend us a hand and tip the scales a little?"

"I can't help you, Master Liu," Kong Jiu shook his head, raised his hand, and showed the emblem on his palm: "I still need to find someone to complete the task of breaking the Hills Iron Curtain."

A hint of regret flashed across Liu Kang's eyes at first, but when he saw the emblem in the palm of his hand, his brows furrowed slightly.

"The person you're looking for, could it be a girl named Mina?"