Ever since the Monster Association arrived in Liyang Country, the production of Tyrant second- and Third-Generation Serum never stopped.
After Ghost Buddha's promotion, and with plenty of volunteers, he can now turn out over a thousand buddha crystals a day.
Add to that the active recruitment of humans—almost none are turned away—and the Association now counts two thousand Level Two Monsters.
Even more numerous are the sea-creatures injected with the King of the Deep Sea's second-generation serum: over ten thousand, every one of them at least Level Two.
About a hundred are comparable to Level Three Awakened.
Jiang Yan sat in the villa reviewing the Association's statistics.
'Just Level Two and Three together already equal half of Nanwu Country's grassroots Awakened.'
Jiang Yan's eyes flickered. Civilian Awakened in Nanwu were tallied at twenty-five thousand; Xuanjian Division staff weren't counted—those numbers were classified.
Just then An Conghao walked into the estate in a red suit. Looking respectfully at Jiang Yan's back he said, "President, all human Monsters have been ordered to assemble in Anna Country; the muster should finish within two days."
Without turning Jiang Yan replied, "Tell them to be careful. If they're caught, no one will save them—only death awaits."
"Understood!" An Conghao nodded. The lives of these Monsters meant nothing to him; they were just cannon-fodder who'd joined for power.
Anna Country: eight million six hundred thousand people.
This time Jiang Yan will award a soul crystal to the top destructor.
If anyone can claim first place among so many Monsters, Jiang Yan intends to cultivate them.
"Go back. Take the soul crystal I gave you only after this operation; those cannon-fodder still need a commander." Jiang Yan rose and walked to the door, pausing to pat An Conghao's shoulder as he passed.
"I understand!" An Conghao bowed at once.
Outside, the Cloud Ray was already waiting at the gate.
With the pearl of the abyss now full, he had to visit the karst cave.
"Wuu!" The Cloud Ray cried out and carried Jiang Yan swiftly away.
Moments later, inside the cave, Jiang Yan sank his consciousness into his mind.
pearl of the abyss: 102400/102400
"Negative emotions full. Commence summon?"
'Summon!'
With a thought Jiang Yan began the summoning.
Bzzt! A ripple swept out and a purple cloud appeared before him.
Rumble—
The cloud stopped expanding at three metres; thunderous booms echoed inside.
Under Jiang Yan's gaze the cloud lasted over twenty minutes before dispersing.
A blood-red stone pillar two metres tall and half a metre wide stood revealed, four heads perched on top.
A girl's head, blood-red hair covering her eyes; on the left a clean-shaven young man's head showing pale skin; on the right a gaunt middle-aged man with black hair hanging down; at the back a shrivelled old man, liver-spots dotting his cheeks.
All four stared at Jiang Yan with despair, terror, and madness. The girl's mouth opened stiffly and a shrill hollow voice rang out: "Master!"
'What kind of men-&-women, young-&-old combo is this!' Jiang Yan raised an eyebrow; every summon grew stranger.
He checked the creature's information.
Pillar of Despair: a denizen of First Layer of the Abyss, a fusion of living and dead matter!
Song of Despair: its dirge instils despair in listeners—the stronger the mind and will, the higher the resistance.
Heart Terror: anyone who hears the dirge is marked for a month; during that time the Pillar can invade their dreams and dredge up every shadow of their lives—even minds of iron can be worn down if the siege is constant.
Dark Choice: once the mind's defences collapse, the victim will most likely fall into darkness, psyche twisted, temperament overturned!
'This is…' Reading the data, Jiang Yan's eyes lit up.
If used on a Fifth-Level Awakened, letting their temperament snap, it would plant a ticking bomb… While Jiang Yan plotted against the three countries, inside the Xuanjian Division HQ at Town City, Nanwu Country.
In the Deputy Director's office, Long Zhengqing stared at his screen showing global Monster incidents.
Even inside Nanwu, Monsters had appeared, causing casualties—especially among the Song clan of Haizhou HQ City.
The deaths were gruesome: every Song, anyone remotely related, was killed, even third-generation ancestors in other states and countries whose names were on the clan tree.
By domestic count alone over a thousand Songs had died, not including those abroad who couldn't be tallied.
"What does the Monster Association gain from this? Chaos and murder seem to bring no profit." He looked up at Wan Tianhong, head of Mingzhou's Fifth Section.
Their Think-Tanks had analysed the Association—and Jiang Yan, its public leader—countless times.
Conclusion: pure revenge against humanity for crimes against his mother and sister.
Wan Tianhong, in a white T-shirt, black shorts and blue slippers, replied, "So how do we deal with him? We don't even know where their HQ is; we can only defend against the Monsters."
They had captured several Monster-makers, but the moment they were cornered they went berserk and fought to the death.
Any attempt to capture ended with instant brain-death.
Mental-type Awakened reported the mind wiped clean, memories gone; no intel could be gleaned.
Any serum on them was injected into themselves; only one vial had ever been seized—until a Fifth-Level struck recently, killing instantly and grabbing several now being analysed in the lab.
"If we can't find their HQ, dump every scrap of Jiang Yan's identity online. They use the net—let's give him something nasty to chew on."
A sharp female voice sounded behind Long Zhengqing.
Jiang Yan's hundred-million bounty online targeted the Song clan and terror acts, but details had been kept classified; ordinary folk knew nothing.
Wan Tianhong glanced to the corner: a woman with a mean face and narrow eyes leaned there in a black top and blue jeans.
Wan Tianhong narrowed his eyes. "Section Chief Zhao, what an… innovative idea. I say we pass."
If that were posted and Jiang Yan lashed out with another Liuyang City Incident, who would bear the loss?