The Silver King sat atop a ruin. In front of him were eight different electronic screens, each connected to a different person from a different territory.
These people were none other than the "Lords" who headed and managed their respective territories. Yet, all of them were still under the authority of the Silver King.
These eight individuals looked at him with different expressions: some with reverence like sheep towards a deity, some with submission like generals toward their king, and some with respect like fans toward an idol.
But without exception, all were people who were good enough not to be corrupted by power, and wise enough to resist corruption. In the recruitment of the Lords, capability had to rank after character.
Because this world could not sustain any more damage.
The eight territories—one in Japan, one in Australia, two in Russia, two in the United States, and two in Germany—were the Silver King's effort to pull back this civilization teetering on the brink of collapse.
Every day, he would still monitor all transportation within the territories. Especially regarding the education of the younger generation, they absolutely could not be infected by the ideology of the lost generation.
To rebuild a complete world, a complete ideology is first required. If they don't think of it, how can they do it?
Aside from monitoring, the Silver King also used these territories to gather information worldwide. Most areas were relatively calm; only Japan was experiencing some turbulence.
The "G5" conference among the five regions—Tokyo, Hokkaido, Hakata, Osaka, and Sendai—although not a formal, widely publicized conference, was known to almost everyone with a bit of power, as the talks were not kept secret.
This conference was very noteworthy, but even more notable was its unexpected development.
Seitenshi overturned the table.
Moreover, she pointed directly at the noses of the old men from the other regions and scolded them furiously. This left everyone present, including Rentaro, stunned.
After all, for people who were used to seeing Seitenshi as a goddess, a noble and gentle princess, this was truly a massive impact.
The reason was that on the very first day in Osaka, Seitenshi was assassinated.
That was not all, because just one day later, Tokyo's temporary embassy was even directly subjected to a terrorist attack, not just a silent assassination.
But what truly infuriated Seitenshi was that the Osaka security forces only arrived for "support" an entire hour after the terrorist faction had been repelled. It must be known that Osaka had nearly transformed itself into a military zone, with a much higher capacity for manpower deployment than other regions. For them to arrive an hour after the incident concluded was clearly intentional.
"This lady isn't playing anymore!"
The fact that a gentle person like Seitenshi was driven to say this while overturning the table is enough to understand how furious she was at the time.
The alliance agreement, the distribution of Varanium, and the project to connect the five regions of Japan consequently faded into history. Of course, Asahi (the Silver King) didn't highly rate the chance of this conference succeeding anyway, because if these people truly wanted Japan to unify, Japan would have merged before Seitenshi took office.
It was simply that no one wanted to relinquish the power in their hands.
Although they still operated under the name of "a part of Japan," all five regions had long since split due to massive disagreements. It was likely only Seitenshi who thought of a way to unify them through an alliance like this.
To truly unify Japan, the only way was to "pluck" the head of each region one by one, and then drag everyone into one place.
Besides this information, Luke, representing the territory in the Tokyo area, also had another noteworthy piece of news.
It was the unusual density and activity of Gastrea outside of Tokyo.
Since the Silver King appeared in Tokyo, the Gastrea in the nearby area were frequently purged by him to earn accumulation points. To the extent that the area around Tokyo was almost entirely clear of Gastrea. But the activity, to the extent that it could be called "suspicious," immediately made the Silver King frown.
Lately, through investigation, he had also discovered that since the beginning of the Gastrea War, this world seemed to be covered in a dense fog. Some events that occurred were not as simple as they appeared.
He found that it seemed whenever any force showed signs of "crossing the line," they would soon face the threat of destruction. And before the threat of destruction occurred, several strange, if not bizarre, signs would typically appear.
And the "forces" here were not just humans; the Gastrea were no exception.
Many years ago, the Stage Five Gastrea Taurus possessed arguably the most terrifying Gastrea army in the world. Under its command were many Stage Four Gastrea, and these Stage Four Gastrea commanded an army of lower-level Gastrea. This combined power was enough to sweep across the entire world; even other Stage Five Gastrea had to retreat.
Even Taurus's own combat strength could be called "invincible."
But... it died.
It died in an extremely peculiar manner, killed by the IP Rank #1, a person who subsequently disappeared as if they never existed. The Gastrea army under Taurus was also partly annihilated, partly scattered, wandering around the world like other ordinary Gastrea.
The same thing happened with the Stage Five Gastrea Virgo and the person ranked second in the IP rankings.
This was a very bad sign, because his territory was currently a suitable target for purging. Although he did not want to think things would get this bad, there was a lot of evidence proving that his suspicions... were very likely the truth.
Therefore, the Silver King flying wildly around the world, here today and gone tomorrow, was actually to wait and see if the "mastermind behind the scenes" dared to make a move. Once that person dared to act, their trail would be exposed and could be followed.
That was what the Silver King was waiting for.
Now, he had finally received it.
The Silver King stood up, but just as he was about to leave, he unexpectedly received a strange notification.
This notification stated that a peculiar tremor had been detected beneath an area in Japan.
This area, whether intentionally or coincidentally, was none other than the Seven Stars Village.
Seven Stars Village, the birthplace of the first Gastrea sample, was a place the Silver King had long known about. Aside from a little historical value, there shouldn't be anything new there, right?
Although the Seven Stars Legacy still held some questionable points, the Silver King had long paid little attention to it. In his view, a few things were far more important than an item that could attract the attention of a Stage Five Gastrea.
But this news forced the Silver King to reconsider.
Investigate the Seven Stars Village, or return to Tokyo for investigation?