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Being able to stop in such a critical moment clearly showed the importance he attached to Chen Qing’s existence.

The King of Qin also realized that the Divine Path probably recognized the spirit body instead of the flesh body.

Once Chen Qing died, it was highly likely.

.. that the Divine Path would collapse, and all the foundational military strength accumulated in Jiangnan, which he envied to the point of jealousy, might vanish into thin air.

The key was Chen Qing’s miraculous system.

According to Jiang Xiaoling, Chen Qing’s Divine Path required officials appointed by the Emperor to found it and needed a special imperial decree to use.

Given the current situation, with the Emperor’s astuteness, he was likely not to let himself easily obtain an official mandate from the human path again.

It’s not that it couldn’t be replicated, but the difficulty of implementation was not only great, the time cost was also probably not allowed anymore.

"Oh?" Chen Qing looked at the other party with a smile, "Weren’t you planning to get rid of me as soon as possible? If it wasn’t for Zhang Zhengyuan not acting before his death, I would already be a dead set of data by now, right?"

"Your threat is significant enough to be a priority target. However, it would be different... if you were willing to assist me," he said.

"Forget it..." Chen Qing shook his head.

"Why?" The King of Qin glanced at Chen Qing, "I actually think we are quite similar, and what you want to do is also what I want to do. Cooperation would actually be good for both sides."

"I don’t feel we’re similar at all," Chen Qing shook his head, "I don’t have such grand ambitions as you do. If I were you, I’d probably consider hiding from the officials for a lifetime, instead of trying to fulfill my ambitions by wiping out the entire population of Digital City."

"Can you really hide for a lifetime?" the King of Qin said with a laugh, "Why has the Federation maintained the Demonic World for so long, expending so much energy? Isn’t it because the ambitions of those above are not dead? As long as their ambitions are alive, they will enter that world sooner or later, and sooner or later you have to face them. Isn’t it better to face them sooner rather than later? Don’t I need to teach you that? "

"I’ve learned my lesson..." Chen Qing sighed, "Then I wish His Highness the King of Qin, a unification of the heavens!"

The King of Qin coldly glanced at Chen Qing and finally nodded, "I will remember you, no matter who you really are..."

With that, he stepped into the command center’s passageway.

---------------------------

"General Hou Nanfeng, who is this?"

At the entrance of the command center, Wu Qian wasn’t too surprised to see General Hou Nanfeng.

Doing such a significant operation, it was expected for someone from above to directly hold them responsible, and given Hou Nanfeng’s current status after the incident with Elder Hou, it made sense that he would personally come to hold them accountable.

But... why was there a stranger following him?

The stranger was dressed in white and even clad in ancient attire... Had he just come back from the Virtual World?

So young looking, which family’s offspring could he be?

Wu Qian was puzzled. The command center was of high importance, and generally speaking, it wasn’t a place where one would bring juniors to gain experience, right?

And... this young man’s attire made her feel uneasy. In white ancient clothing and appearing to be in his twenties, didn’t he resemble the target of the recent hot project, Chen Qing, to a tee?

The King of Qin only glanced at her before choosing not to engage in conversation, lifting his finger slightly, and the skeptical woman’s head was already separated from her body, falling to the ground with remarkable smoothness...

"Enemy attack!!"

Everyone inside the command center tried to issue an alert at the first opportunity but found themselves meeting the same fate as Wu Qian immediately afterward.

"Aren’t you worried this place has any defenses?" Chen Qing asked, puzzled.

Being so decisive in killing, rather than opting for stealth, this guy was quite rash.

"No matter how it’s presented, Hou Nanfeng bringing an outsider to such an important place would be suspicious. If I guessed correctly, that woman had already planned to contact the outside world immediately, to file a report," he said.

"As for the defense measures you mentioned.

.." the King of Qin said indifferently, "This place is highly secured and specially isolated.

Its coordinates are encrypted and hidden, unopenable from the outside world, needing multiple layers of authority to unlock, already one of the most secure measures in the world.

Therefore, the internal measures are primarily aimed at balance, with ten individuals from different family powers, even including high-ranking officers of rogue origins.

In such a situation, no one can monopolize control over the interior, and any decision must be passed by a vote. "

"You’ve certainly done your homework..." Chen Qing sighed, "Did you decide to do this from the very beginning?"

The King of Qin did not speak again; he quickly walked inside, his hands deftly threading invisible silk lines to connect the lifeless bodies of Wu Qian and the others, moving towards the interior.

Time was of the essence, and he needed to swiftly employ the skin-painting technique to turn them into puppets so that he could initiate the most powerful weapon, the command center, as soon as possible.

"Sorry...."

In the deepest part of the command center, sat two people with faces full of terror. They were the only two civilian-born members among the top ten commanders.

Facing them, the King of Qin’s gaze was visibly gentler, but his actions were no less ruthless.

In just a moment, the two were decapitated.

"You’ve already killed them, what’s the point of apologizing now?" Chen Qing’s voice rang out again.

"These two, unlike those scions of noble families, were born commoners.

To have climbed to this rank on their own without the aid of family power signifies that they were truly capable.

Yet, because of their capabilities, they were ostracized here, taking on a position with high status but little real authority.

Under normal circumstances, I suppose they would be the ones to take the fall for the shutdown of the Huaxi District," the King of Qin explained.

"They’re already in such a dire situation, yet you still strike them down? Didn’t consider recruiting them?"

"Would you take the risk of using these two?" the King of Qin looked at Chen Qing and coldly continued: "The plan was shocking enough; when would I have the time to wait for them to consider it?"

"It seems that their capabilities, in your eyes, aren’t as useful as winning just two more minutes now."

Facing Chen Qing’s mockery, the King of Qin offered no retort.

The silk in his hands moved with the dexterity of human limbs, dismantling the skin and bones of the ten people in almost an instant.

Then, runes emerged in midair, and the silk swiftly carved pieces of already prepared wood into human shapes.

"The secret technique of the Eastern Sea Dragon King, to think you’d use it in such a manner... I wonder what the Old Dragon King would think if he knew."

"You’re especially talkative today..." the King of Qin replied, his expression unchanging as he manipulated the threads.

But within the few seconds of conversation, ten puppets had been carved to lifelike perfection, almost indistinguishable from real humans. The silk then swiftly adhered flesh to the wooden puppets, and finally inserted the brain cores as well.

The scene was bizarre and cruel, the runes in the air flickered with a strange black light. Chen Qing, observing the runes, wondered, "It’s truly miraculous, these things from the Virtual World, yet operative here. What exactly is the principle behind this?"

"Don’t bother with things even experts don’t understand. When humanity chose this path, it clearly stumbled upon it by accident. The wonders of data life, I fear, were far beyond the imagination of those original people."

"Is that so..."

"Done!" As the King of Qin spoke, he lightly pulled his hand, and the ten people who had been dismembered now walked forward as if they had come back to life. If not for the chilling white bones and copious blood on the ground, it would be hard to believe that these ten had already died.

"One last time, are you sure you don’t want to consider cooperating with me?"

"I’m afraid I can’t do the things you do," Chen Qing replied with a wry smile and shake of his head.

"Is that so?" said the King of Qin with a nod. The next second, Wu Qian stepped forward in a daze and initiated the shutdown program.

"An emergency shutdown of Digital City will cause a complete stoppage of its operation. All active lifeforms in Digital City are extremely likely to be unrecoverable, and all stored data may suffer damage. This action requires the authorization of ten responsible persons."

"Ding!"

All of them pressed their own fingerprints on the electronic display and verified their pupils.

"Authorization confirmed. The intelligence reiterates the risk; this choice will subject Digital City to unprecedented danger. It’s the first large-scale shutdown since the establishment of the command center. Are you sure you want to proceed?"

Just as the King of Qin was about to act, he suddenly paused, his expression frozen as he abruptly looked up at the speaking intelligence.

The first time?