2.6 million people.
That was the rough estimate of White Nation citizens infected with Bloodthirst Syndrome across the Federation and Empire reports the following day—2.6 million people.
In other words, one out of every ten White Nation citizens had contracted Bloodthirst Syndrome!
This was thanks to the "rapid response" of both the Empire and the Federation, having detected the Restoration Front's operations in their early stages. Otherwise, things might have been far worse.
Yet were things not bad enough already?
The moment Shehri awakened Shangri-La, over nine hundred thousand people perished on the spot. Of those who survived, the vast majority were still in the incubation period, while more than a hundred and twenty thousand had directly manifested acute or even terminal symptoms—and that was merely a conservative estimate.
The real figure would only be higher.
For mild cases to turn severe was only a matter of time!
Moreover, one could not forget that the souls of the White Nation's people were bound by the Wolf Blood Oath! In other words, transmission of Bloodthirst Syndrome required neither airborne particles nor physical contact; it was purely a matter of probability.
Not to mention the catalytic effect of the chaotic environment and the allure of the Kingdom of the Woods—one month.
According to estimates from both sides, if this problem was not fundamentally resolved within a month, the entire White Nation would become an absolute living hell!
A kingdom of wolves where humans fed on each other...
Fortunately, it had been detected early. If Shehri had been allowed to prepare for a while longer, the latent Bloodthirst Syndrome might have spread across the entire White Nation. Once Shangri-La fully transformed into the Kingdom of the Woods and blanketed the land, the third Wolf Sin would be born directly.
Even now, the situation was far from optimistic.
The colossal tree within its cage still stood.
Shangri-La was merely a phantom; its true foundation had always resided in the soul of every White Nation citizen. Rooted in agony and despair, it gripped the White Nation with deep-seated tenacity.
Like a vicious malady penetrating to the marrow, it struck as swiftly as a landslide. How could something like that be cleanly wiped out by a single missile?
Wherever the canopy of Shangri-La's colossal tree extended, there lay the Kingdom of the Woods.
Even though it was far from complete, it already possessed a repulsive force—
"Last night, the Federation and the Empire, along with hunters from two families of the Wilderness Market—the Dongjiao and the Liezhi—already fought their way in once."
Having sat through meetings all night, Tong Shan had dark circles under his eyes. For an Exalted Celestial Chosen to be exhausted to this degree, the news was clearly anything but good. "We fought a round. No results."
Ji Jue was curious. "Couldn't beat them?"
"Whether we can beat them depends on whether the other side is willing to fight. Inside the Kingdom of the Woods, there aren't just wolves. Who knows how many old ghosts from the Four Divisions and Six Sects are hunkered down in there, turtling up and refusing to show their faces, using the terrain to wear us down like hawks."
Tong Shan's expression was grim. "The Kingdom of the Woods is the domain of wolves. Celestial Chosen will be repelled to varying degrees—the stronger you are, the harsher the repulsion. Below the Celestial-Human level, it's manageable. But those above Celestial-Human face far too much pressure. If we really force a fight, the conditions are overwhelmingly against us."
The tables were turned.
In the past, corrupted ones were suppressed in the mundane world. Now, inside the Kingdom of the Woods, it was the Celestial Chosen's turn to experience the full deluxe package of suppression beneath the Vortex.
Ji Jue thought about it and, rendered speechless, could not help but chuckle. "If high-tier combatants can't hammer it out in one decisive blow, that leaves nothing but a war of attrition with grunts, right?"
Tong Shan nodded.
"The other side might be thinking the exact same thing."
Ji Jue's smile faded, and Tong Shan fell silent as well.
Neither knew what to say.
Besides, who could say for sure what the Federation and the Empire were truly thinking?
Ji Jue asked no more. Both men quietly raised their teacups and drank down the cold tea.
"How is the situation at the frontline base?" Ji Jue finally asked.
"Casualties weren't light, but overall we managed to hold the line."
Tong Shan sighed. "If not for that creation of yours, there's no telling how bad it would have gotten. The garrison base originally planned to brush it off with a cash payout, but Director Lin secured a military commendation for you in the name of the Security Bureau. You probably don't care much about promotions in rank, but later on, you can browse the garrison base's warehouse. If you see anything you need, just take whatever you want."
"Then I won't be shy," Ji Jue smiled. "Pass along my thanks to Director Lin."
"We're on the same side; no need for excessive politeness."
Tong Shan shook his head with an emotional sigh. "There aren't many people Director Lin finds agreeable. To quote him directly: 'Among a floor full of insects, occasionally spotting a couple who look human feels endearing—in a total mess, managing some accomplishment is already not bad.'"
"I haven't really done much, have I?"
"Have you ever traded stocks?" Tong Shan suddenly asked.
Ji Jue shook his head instinctively, but then instantly understood what he meant.
It didn't matter what you had done.
Sometimes, even if you did absolutely nothing, you had already beaten ninety-nine percent of people right from the start.
And the standard for judging winning and losing was sometimes profit, and sometimes... the amount of wickedness committed.
From that perspective, even with all of Ji Jue's negative debuffs stacked together—Federation lapdog, arms dealer, Association craftsman, factory-owning capitalist—he could remarkably still pass for the conscience of Tacheng and a benefactor of the White Nation.
"How ridiculous," Ji Jue chuckled softly.
Tong Shan said nothing, sipping his tea in silence.
Ji Jue stood up, said his goodbyes, and left.
Pushing the door open, he stepped onto the streets of the frontline base. People came and went in droves. Large reinforcements had already arrived in haste, and endless streams of military vehicles stretched to the horizon.
The widespread wreckage had long been cleared away completely, and even the fractured perimeter walls had been fully repaired. Only the lingering bloodstains unscrubbed from the yellow soil bore witness to what had transpired.
In the distance, beneath the blazing sun, the sky gradually darkened. Veiled by heavy black clouds, a towering tree radiated light, growing faintly clearer by a fraction...
Inside the Kingdom of the Woods, the Wolf Sins rejoiced.
From the wind far away came muffled explosions and rumbles of thunder, and the earth trembled faintly. Along the outer cordon, rows of barbed wire had barely been erected before people repeatedly attempted to breach the checkpoints.
Not from the inside out, but from the outside in.
They wanted to rush inside.
Most were infected individuals instinctively seeking to return to the Kingdom of the Woods under the call of Bloodthirst Syndrome... While the containment looking inward was solid as an iron fortress, the interception looking outward could only be described as better than nothing.
The blockade covered an area nearly the size of half of Haizhou, featuring complex terrain with countless mountains and rivers. Across such vast expanse, mere barbed wire and sentry posts were practically decorative, serving no real purpose.
Likewise, no one cared.
Ji Jue's footsteps paused for a moment before he continued forward.
Ever since coming to the Mid-Continent, while his worldview was constantly being shattered and rebuilt, he had gradually learned a principle that universally applied in this cesspool: when facing a labyrinthine situation and encountering an incomprehensibly foolish move, do not look at the process or execution—look at the result.
Look at what the outcome actually was.
And now, the initial result was already laid bare before him.
If the Empire and the Federation had been prepared all along, why had the frontline base suffered such catastrophic losses during the first wave of assault?
Moreover, how could the grand frontline base have been so completely hollowed out that night? Every member of the Security Bureau, including Tong Shan, had been dispatched on external missions. And in the command center, aside from the Law of Tianyuan left behind for defense, there wasn't even a single Celestial-Human stationed to oversee the post!
They had even let wolves sneak inside...
Wasn't that a bit too preposterous?
Or had this massive frontline base been, from the very beginning, a front and an expendable pawn thrown out to put on a show and draw fire?
A consumable?
If so, then everything made complete sense.
Since it was a consumable, there was no need to invest excessive care and effort. Setting up a facade was enough. If it broke, so be it; as long as it wasn't pulverized completely, it could be pieced together and reused.
*It's not that our troops didn't fight hard; the locals were simply too despicable. Who could have foreseen this?*
*Everyone saw it—my losses were catastrophic too!*
*A wolf butchered seventy-two members of my Federation family! Bodies are being wheeled out by the cartload—so it's only natural for me to launch a proportional retaliation, right?*
Of course, the premise of all this was that the Federation and the Empire had indeed been prepared from the start.
So, before asking *why*, one had to ask *if*.
Was that truly the case?
Ji Jue did not know, but had the Federation and the Empire done such things infrequently? In terms of reputation, these two noble factions had never once disappointed Ji Jue.
No matter how maliciously he speculated, he could never outpace their rock-bottom lack of morals. Was he supposed to believe in truth, goodness, and beauty instead?
Fine, take ten thousand steps back—even assuming neither side had been prepared!
Then long before that question arose, there was another far more critical one: how on earth had Shehri escaped that night?!
Come on, you are the glorious Tianyuan!
The Federation and the Empire, representatives of the two Tianyuan poles of the current era, two supreme powers, the entire Tacheng garrison, so many Celestial-Humans, plus the hunters of Liezhi and Dongjiao serving as the vanguard—even if you were just playing supporting roles, you couldn't take down Shehri?
Seriously?!
Could you not take him down, or were you unwilling to?
What made both sides unwilling to deal a fatal blow to a stray dog like Shehri, even under the premise that he might have stolen a fusion bomb?
It couldn't possibly be because he was still useful, could it?
What use could he have? Oh, right—he could still spread Bloodthirst Syndrome. What a coincidence! *We never imagined that letting one Shehri escape would cause such monstrous evil. It seems the people of the White Nation are all going to die because of him. How terrifying!*
*How tragic! We didn't even have to carry out a massacre; the White Nation problem seems to be resolving itself. What a pity the trouble was discovered so early. Otherwise, there wouldn't even be this much hassle—the people of the White Nation might have died off cleanly and neatly.*
Or, thinking even more maliciously—far more maliciously—was all of this before his eyes, this sweeping spread of Bloodthirst Syndrome, truly entirely the work of the White Nation Restoration Front?
What a joke. What right or capability did the Restoration Front have?!
Could anything in this world be accomplished simply by having no regard for one's own life?!
Does building a lot of bombs suddenly qualify you to solve advanced calculus?!
Utilizing and dispersing Bloodthirst Syndrome sounded like a matter of a single sentence, but what about the process? Where was the process?
After acting as terrorists for so long, had they suddenly become self-taught masters of biology? Just what had Hope Hospital done to make you look down on them so much?
If the White Pavilion were that useless, why bother being one of the Nine Vices? They might as well just be Shehri's personal playthings!
Even if you gave those idiots in the Restoration Front a hundred thousand years, would they understand what protein electrophoresis or membrane transfer protocols even were?!
Hiring experts would be useless too!
Something involving countless branches of biology, not to mention spiritus science, vitalistics, and psycho-somatic resonance—could that possibly be figured out by one or two people?
Mutating and catalyzing a variant of Bloodthirst Syndrome sounded simple!
Yet completing such things required a long-term stable environment, centuries of academic inheritance and accumulation, high-end industries capable of building all those precision instruments, top-tier talents emerging from hundreds of thousands of university students working in close collaboration, security and logistical supply chains surrounding the entire project—and an order that brooked no disobedience.
There. Spelled out to this point, the national identification numbers of the Federation and the Empire had essentially been read aloud.
Just look at those biochemical laboratories inside the Federation and Empire garrison bases. If someone claimed they were built just for decoration, would anyone believe it?
Regardless of whether it was a "technology leak" or a "stolen sample," the fact that it ultimately ended up in the hands of the White Nation Restoration Front was an indisputable truth.
Otherwise, why would that old dog Fan Yun hold such animosity toward Ji Jue just for accidentally digging up the variant wolf?!
To put it bluntly, no matter how much attention Ji Jue drew, to a high-ranking figure of Fan Yun's caliber, he was someone who could be crushed with a flick of the fingers.
If Ji Jue truly displeased him, expelling him from Tacheng or even banishing him from the Mid-Continent would take merely a word. Why bother suppressing his rage and malice?
*Oh, big bro was so angry yet couldn't vent—could it be because I accidentally almost ruined your dirty little scheme?*
If that was the case, Ji Jue actually began to admire them.
Who said Tianyuan was incompetent?
This was what they called: *A skilled warrior achieves no glorious triumphs; a skilled doctor gains no illustrious fame!*
Only fools babbled constantly about their foul deeds. True bastards finished carrying out every vile atrocity long before you ever noticed.
Just from these mere fragments, Ji Jue felt like applauding—spending so much thought, consuming so much time, and committing so much wickedness, all to force the White Nation into self-destruction by hook or by crook. To that end, even an enemy like the Restoration Front could be exploited!
Truly impressive!
Before the future war even erupted, both sides had already begun clearing the board.
They struck first to eradicate the unstable variables of the White Nation and the White King, eliminating this great hazard in advance to avoid unexpected shifts and hesitations down the line.
Through subtle infiltration and water dripping through stone, such a monumental event had quietly reached fruition, without a speck of filth clinging to the Empire or the Federation.
Yet what was their purpose?
There was only one point Ji Jue could not fathom.
What was the Federation and Empire's true objective in the Mid-Continent? That meager amount of phlogiston? Mineral deposits? Was that worth it? Even if you doubled the resources, how much would it really amount to? No matter how vast, why go through so much trouble?
Furthermore, why had both sides already concluded that a war between them was inevitable?
He could not figure it out.
Even racking his brains, Ji Jue could find no answer.
Yet that changed nothing—his footsteps paused, and he turned to glance at the television set deep within the barracks. On the screen, spokespersons from the Empire and the Federation condemned the terrorist atrocities of the White Nation Restoration Front with unified rhetoric, while the broadcast interspersed alternating clips of accusations and announcements from the Restoration Front.
One face succeeded another across the stage, completely different in complexion, features, and age. Yet they shared only a single common trait.
"You bunch of beasts... you really deserve to die—"
Ji Jue murmured softly, sincerely beginning to yearn for a gunshot from a hundred thousand li away.
Where was Nirvana?! What the hell were they waiting for? He had plenty of guns, as many as they needed—weren't they going to get this turning? Sadly, Nirvana didn't budge.
In stark contrast, with the emergence of the Kingdom of the Woods, the entire Mid-Continent was stirred into a frenzy!
Especially when the first White Stag who entered the Kingdom of the Woods for the bounty discovered, upon slaying a corrupted wolf, that his spiritus and progression had increased by a massive leap—the Wilderness Market boiled over.
Every wild White Stag went utterly mad!
"Yes, that's right."
Over the phone, An Neng, who sounded as if he hadn't slept in days, let out a sigh. "Within the bounds of the Kingdom of the Woods, as long as you kill an enemy—whether a White Stag or a wolf, or even if the opponent isn't a corrupted one at all—you can augment your own power. The only difference is that White Stags and wolves gain the greatest enhancement."
"Are they insane?!"
Ji Jue was shocked, finding it incomprehensible. "How did something like this leak everywhere?"
"With something this massive, could it really be kept under wraps?"
An Neng countered calmly. "The Wilderness Market isn't Tianyuan; we don't have the habit of sneaking around. By the Chief's orders, rather than attempting a cover-up that only makes things worse, it's better to eliminate the root of the problem early and clean up the mess afterward.
"Otherwise, as long as Shangri-La—no, the Kingdom of the Woods—exists for even a single day, it remains a lingering threat.
"What, are you interested, kid? Weren't you looking for wolves earlier? They aren't rare anymore. Want me to send you a couple?"
"No need. They're all artificially bred. Rather than wolves, they're more like rabid dogs."
Ji Jue sighed and hung up the phone.
He stared at the screen before him.
Silent for a long time.
On the screen's satellite cloud imagery, a pitch-black spot had taken root, churning continuously, seeking to spread out at every passing moment—
Shangri-La.
In the legends circulating through the Mid-Continent, it was also known as the Garden of Supreme Bliss. The words carried a noble meaning, but later on, the White Pavilion fouled the term until it reeked for ten leagues around, completely divorcing the two concepts.
Now, Shangri-La had begun to rot as well.
At its core, its original intent was the "Sun and Moon of the Mind"—meaning that no matter how dark and turbulent the outside world became, so long as the light within one's heart shone brightly, one would neither waver nor hesitate.
And that light originated from so-called determination and enlightenment.
In the past, the Lord of Compassionate Salvation used this as the source to bestow gifts upon followers, enabling muddled, frenzied beasts to realize their original nature. Over long ages, what this brought forth was a pure land and domain that did not exist in material reality.
Lacking physical substance, it was purely a product of spiritual sublimation.
Its power lay in using spirit to overwrite reality, altering the world before one's eyes through personal determination and desire—yet how could a Shangri-La tainted by the Wolf Blood Oath create a Kingdom of the Woods that resembled a heavenly paradise?!
Just looking at its outward manifestations revealed the power being nurtured by the Kingdom of the Woods—or rather, by the Wolf of the Forest:
The Mountain Wolf emphasized strength and speed; the Mind Wolf excelled at disguise and concealment. As for the Wolf of the Forest, still unborn at this moment, its true talent was almost certainly predation!
The instant the third Wolf Sin manifested, the wolves lurking in the shadows began using this mechanism as a weapon to erode the wilderness of the White Stags.
Beasts devoured one another in greedy gluttony, growing with wild abandon.
Once inside the domain of the Kingdom of the Woods, as long as two sides recognized each other as enemies, regardless of who they were, they could plunder power from their opponents through conflict and slaughter.
And the entire process resembled a sacrificial rite, offering tribute to the Wolf of the Forest.
The power gained by the killers was merely superficial scrap; the vast majority of life and soul was absorbed by the Kingdom of the Woods to undergo metamorphosis and gestate the unfinished third Wolf Sin.
Just thinking about it revealed how fatal an allure this was.
No matter how immense the danger and repercussions, someone would always take the gamble.
What was even more terrifying was that the mutual predation between White Stag and wolf was fundamentally the flow and cycle between Supreme Goodness and Great Sin.
Therefore, theoretically speaking—the gifts of the Kingdom of the Woods carried zero risk of corruption!
Imagine: no repercussions, no price, growing stronger simply by killing—to those pursuing power, it was practically heaven!
If Ji Jue were not a Remnant, he too might have been unable to resist such a swift and rapid "easy mode." Once killing was granted positive feedback, predation was granted legitimacy, and slaughter was granted purpose, murder became natural and justified.
Kill! Kill! Kill! Kill!
Inside the frontline base, sitting behind the counter, Ji Jue could see the anticipation and fanaticism surfacing on every beaming face.
A massive number of Celestial Chosen were converging at high speed.
To break through bottlenecks, to attain greater strength, to eradicate the Great Sin's influence in the mundane realm—reasons existed in endless abundance. But the purpose was singular.
Kill!
Kill, and that was all.
On the very day the news leaked, someone within the Kingdom of the Woods broke through the Regeneration tier and stepped into the realm of Exaltation!
And now, on the streets, almost everyone had bloodstains clinging to their clothes to some degree, yet their faces bore near-identical smiles and delight.
The joy of harvest.
It was foreseeable that once the news spread further, nearly every Celestial Chosen stuck at a bottleneck would hurry forward, rushing toward the Kingdom of the Woods at all costs to seize this precious opportunity, fearing only that it might vanish in an instant, regretting only that they hadn't killed enough!
Yet, was there truly no price?
Once someone grew accustomed to the experience of leveling up and gaining power merely by killing, who could ever return to the past? Who could endure years of stagnation and bitter waiting before a bottleneck?
The so-called harvest was itself part of the price!
Even if you saw through it, what could you do?
Could you stop them?
Ji Jue closed his eyes and let out an exhausted sigh.
Amidst the clamor outside the window, the faint herbal fragrance of a Bodhi leaf drifted through the air, strangely familiar.
Directly across from him, in the bustling workshop retail area, a gaunt monk quietly observed it all, sighing soundlessly, noticed by no one.
As though he did not exist.
Only Ji Jue's eyes cracked open a sliver.
Within his detachment surfaced suspicion.
***
*BOOM!!!!*
Beneath the canopy of the colossal tree, out on the wasteland, a calamity beast roared and toppled onto its back, torn apart and devoured by hundreds of ghouls spawned by Bloodthirst Syndrome.
Howls of wolves rang out one after another. Crimson, bristling fur gradually grew from flesh and blood, transforming them into wolves under the conversion of the Wolf Blood Oath.
Yet before long, these rabid dogs would also be hunted down and slaughtered to the last by the intruders. Perhaps out of hundreds or thousands of rabid dogs, a single true wolf would be catalyzed; perhaps not. None of that mattered.
Across the wasteland, within dense forests, among mountains and caves.
At this moment, within the Kingdom of the Woods, slaughter raged everywhere.
Bombing runs by the Federation and the Empire, harassment by the Restoration Front, infiltration by White Stags, and traps and counterattacks by wolves.
And death, death, and more death.
Intruders and corrupted ones slaughtered others or met their own deaths with horrific efficiency, yet even more people continued to emerge, congregate, and break in.
Everyone was killing; everyone was waiting.
Everyone feasted voraciously with starving bellies, yet everyone simultaneously lurked and endured.
Wolves and stags entrenched themselves across this wasteland, locked in mortal combat.
Only fresh blood flowed ceaselessly into the earth, gradually drying, only to surge forth once more beneath the colossal tree.
Innumerable threads of blood soundlessly extended upward along the trunk and boughs, gathering upon that desiccated corpse before branching out again toward countless limbs.
Thus, amidst this conveyance of countless pulses and rivers of blood, a dull heartbeat finally sounded from within the corpse, echoing like thunder.
Upon the desiccated remains, a finger twitched once more.
As if struggling within a nightmare from which it could never wake.
"How little distinguishes man from beasts?"
Upon the altar, Shehri gazed coldly upon all of this, uttering only a mocking sigh. "Heh. Had he grasped this truth sooner, how could he have fallen to such a state?"
No one answered.
Nor did anyone know whether he was mocking the fallen White King, or his former self.
Only the wind soaked in blood blew once more from afar, whistling mournfully as it swept through the phantom branches.
Like a wolf.
Chapter 626