Fu Qingyang: What Trash!!

I was followed by the Dionysus Club? For someone to evade my senses, they must be at least a Dominator... Mr. Bill's heart clenched, though he did not panic excessively. In a single instant, the entire sequence of events clicked into place. The Dionysus Club had kept a low profile on the surface, but in truth, they had been shadowing him in secret for a while—perhaps ever since the day he was attacked. The Alcoholics wanted to use him to locate the President, and the President had anticipated this all along. Today's meeting was merely the President using him as bait. Choosing the CBD in the early hours of the morning was precisely because there were no residential buildings nearby. Even if a fight broke out, innocent bystanders would not be caught in the crossfire, sparing them from having their Morality Points wiped out. "Are you going to finish that steak?" The President, wearing a silver half-mask, suddenly pointed at the plate in front of Mr. Bill, where half an uneaten steak remained. *What kind of moment is this to be worrying about steak?!* Mr. Bill's inner soul screamed in disbelief, but on the surface, he yielded meekly: "N-No, I'm done..." The President nodded. He picked up the plate with one hand and placed the other on Mr. Bill's shoulder. Bill's vision blurred, and he found himself standing outside the restaurant. Looking around, the entire CBD was pitch-black, as though someone had cut the power grid. The President looked up toward the rooftop of the office building diagonally across the street and said nonchalantly, "Just one Dominator of Chaos? Any reinforcements? If you have them, bring them out quickly. Dawn is breaking, and I still need to pick up breakfast for my wife." Bill hurriedly looked up and saw a towering figure standing atop the hundred-story skyscraper. It was a burly old man wearing a printed bandana around his neck and a tall, wide-brimmed felt hat with a creased crown, silver hair spilling out from beneath the rim. He wore jeans, with a holster strapped to his thigh containing a large-caliber silver revolver. His features were rugged, his eye sockets deep, and a ring of silver stubble framed his mouth. "Cowboy Locke?" Bill's face paled slightly. As a Saint of the Merchant Guild, he instinctively recognized the Dominator's title. Cowboy Locke, one of the three peak Dominators of the Dionysus Club. His primary item was a handgun. It was said that anyone he set his sights on would die by his gun. His bullets never missed, each shot taking a life. Even a Dominator of the same realm could do nothing but take a beating before that black muzzle. "Naturally, I'm not alone," the old cowboy on the roof replied calmly. "All three of us came." The moment his words fell, Bill heard the faint click of high heels from the left side of the street. Tracing the sound, he saw a tall, graceful figure strolling over. She was an exceedingly gorgeous woman perched on four-inch heels, clad in black leather pants and a cropped leather jacket. The jacket's zipper hung wide open, revealing an extraordinarily voluptuous, serpentine waist and an outrageously heavy chest bound inside a white bandeau. She had short, neat brown hair and held a small keg. Her light green eyes were hazy with drunken stupor, charming and alluring. "Drunkard Fanny..." Mr. Bill's scalp prickled. Compared to Cowboy Locke, Fanny's fame was somewhat lesser, but that didn't mean she was weak. Rather, true to her name, Fanny was an utter drunkard. When she wasn't drinking, she was sleeping off a binge. She rarely caused trouble, because in her eyes, nothing in this world was worth mentioning besides alcohol. Drunkard Fanny's favorite line was, "Since ancient times, sages and worthies have all been left in solitude; only great drinkers have left behind their names." It was said she recited it wherever she went to flaunt her refined taste. Very few of her exploits were recorded among the major organizations. The most famous incident occurred several years ago, when she stayed in a small town for half a month, drinking herself into a stupor. The breath she exhaled left the entire town unconscious with intoxication, bringing about a massive catastrophe. Because of that, Fanny's Morality Points were wiped out, her location was broadcast, and she was hunted down by high-ranking members of various orthodox organizations. In the end, she had to flee into the Forbidden Lands of the Church of the Abyss and seal herself away, barely escaping with her life. "Hehehe..." A sinister laugh drifted in from the right. Bill turned his head to see that a shadowy figure had appeared at some unknown point, swathed tightly in a black cloak. The cloak's hood hung low, obscuring the face. *That must be Wright the Chaotic...* Bill swallowed hard. To deal with the President, the Dionysus Club had mobilized all three of their peak Dominators. "Since ancient times, sages and worthies have all been left in solitude; only great drinkers have left behind their names." Fanny recited the line with clumsy pronunciation, then raised her keg and took a sip. Her voice was soft and alluring, touched by a slight rasp: "Mr. President, had you stayed comfortably in the East, we wouldn't have troubled you. Why get involved in the dispute between our club and the Merchant Guild?" The man in the pure black suit let his gaze linger on Fanny's scorching figure, clicking his tongue in appreciation. "To make it possible for you to cross half the globe just to see me, gorgeous." Fanny's hazy, drunken eyes blanked for a second before she emphasized, "I'm here to kill you." "You don't understand!" The President caressed his silver mask, smiling faintly. "The prophecy of the Compass of Light has come to pass. A full-scale war between the orthodox and evil factions is about to erupt. I can no longer stand idly by." This President spoke fluent English. "Stop wasting breath on him. Do it." The old cowboy, Locke, drew his oversized handgun and fired two quick shots. Before Bill could react, two thunderous blasts echoed behind him. He looked back blankly, only to see two crater-like pits behind him and the President. *What happened?* He was bewildered, unable to process it immediately. Yet he soon understood. The instant Cowboy Locke fired, his bullets had already struck their target. Normal bullets followed a trajectory and needed flight time, but Locke's bullets did the exact opposite—a complete reversal of rules. It was a skill of a Dominator-stage Alcoholic. That was why Locke's bullets never missed. Yet the President had effortlessly defused the attack. He had used the signature skill of the Void class—Stealth! Moreover, it was a specialized level of Stealth, effortlessly producing an effect akin to the "Sliding Shovel Shoes." "Attack together!" Wright the Chaotic, draped in his black cloak, reached out his right hand. His hand was completely inverted, palm facing up and the back of his hand facing down, like a doll assembled backwards by a child. That inverted hand clenched tightly. Instantly, the world turned upside down. The sky was below, the earth was above, and everything in their surroundings became chaotic and warped. Bill's head spun. He instinctively tried to activate a skill to escape, only to realize he had forgotten how to use his abilities. Helplessly, he watched fire spit from the old cowboy's muzzle, and watched Drunkard Fanny spew a mouthful of strong liquor toward them. At that moment, the President hurled the steak in his hand toward Wright the Chaotic, chuckling: "Why fight and kill? How about we make a deal? I'll sell you this steak, and you sell me your skill. Seems like a bargain to me." As soon as those words fell, the inverted, chaotic world snapped back to normal. Bill watched as the President extended his right hand across the street toward Cowboy Locke and squeezed hard. *Bang! Bang!* Cowboy Locke's body was torn apart, blowing into three pieces. The rules had been inverted; he had been struck by his own bullets. Without sparing a glance at Locke's remains, the President raised the small keg in his hand to catch the spewed liquor. The alcoholic mist was entirely swallowed into the keg. At some point, Fanny's keg had been snatched away by the President. "Give it back!" The drunkenness in Fanny's eyes vanished instantly as she charged forward in a panic. "Banish!" The President raised his hand and snapped his fingers. A second later, the gorgeous woman lunging right before his eyes disappeared without a trace. "Banish. Banish..." The President snapped his fingers twice more, and Wright the Chaotic along with Locke's remains vanished one after the other. Soon, however, the three peak Dominators reappeared. They had inverted the rules, returning to the bustling metropolis. Cowboy Locke was fully restored as well, brought back to life. "Banish!" "Banish!" "Banish!" "..." The President snapped his fingers repeatedly. The three peak Dominators returned to the metropolis time and again, only to be banished again and again. The scene devolved into a bizarre, almost comical stalemate. After an unknown amount of time, following yet another banishment, the three peak Dominators did not reappear. Mr. Bill looked around, filled with both delight and reverence. "President, where did you banish them to?" "No idea. Just threw them somewhere at random." The President lifted the keg, took a swig, and stumbled unsteadily, grimacing. "Damn, this stuff packs a hell of a punch..." He tossed the Dominator-grade item aside like a piece of trash and said: "Bill, the real show is just getting started." *You can enjoy your show; can you just send me away first?* Bill knew things were far from over. Huddling close to the President like a frightened chick, he cast wary glances in every direction. Just then, he noticed something abnormal. The lightbulbs of the streetlights had somehow changed orientation, turning to face the sky. The same went for the traffic lights and surveillance cameras. The shift continued in silence. As time progressed, the distortions intensified. The skyscrapers, roadside trees, parked cars, and other regular objects began to bend and twist. Buildings leaned, trees turned upside down, cars flipped onto their sides, and trash cans drifted in midair. In the deep night sky, an identical city rose up, like a mirror world. The two cities gradually merged until even the sky disappeared. Bill looked around: beneath his feet was a flat street, and above his head was another flat street. A single leap could take him to the rooftop of a high-rise, while beside him stood a slanted office tower whose walls he could walk on as if they were level ground. "The Realm of Distortion!" The President's voice sounded beside his ear. "A rule-based item belonging to that big boss. Tsk, tsk. Bill, we can't escape. I tried just now, and teleportation doesn't work. Once the two worlds fully merge, our bodies will twist and die, returning to the Spirit Realm." "Th-Then what do we do?" Bill turned pale. "To counter a rule-based item, you naturally need another rule-based item." The President laughed heartily. "Bill, let me show you the pinnacle item of the Void class!" As he spoke, a beam of golden light erupted beneath their feet. The ground split open, and a golden sapling broke through the soil, growing at an astonishing speed. In the blink of an eye, it towered hundreds of feet into the air, becoming a colossal tree with a thick trunk, lush branches, and layered canopies like giant umbrellas. Hanging among the dense foliage were hundreds of items radiating golden light—swords, spears, halberds, axes, flasks, vases, jewelry, garments, home appliances, cosmetics... hundreds upon hundreds of them. The moment this divine tree emerged, the fusion of the two worlds ground to a halt, like a jammed gear. Bill's heart hammered wildly, surging with intense desire and envy. The merchant's DNA within him stirred. He stared blankly at the divine tree draped with countless items, momentarily forgetting the dire peril he was in. "Humph!" A cold snort echoed from the void above. Immediately after, the Realm of Distortion resumed its motion, descending inch by inch. The divine tree propping up the two worlds began to splinter bit by bit, and the items hanging from its canopy exploded one after another. Crystal-like fractures also spiderwebbed across the Realm of Distortion. Both rule-based items were sustaining damage. Heartache was written all over Bill's face. Turning his head, he saw the corner of the President's mouth twitching with equal distress. "How much longer are you going to wait?!" the President roared. The moment the words left his mouth, the entire world shuddered violently. A sword light pierced straight through heaven and earth like a descending comet, penetrating this pocket of reality. Between heaven and earth, nothing remained but a brilliant, blinding expanse of white. A sharp pain struck Bill's eyes. He shut them, blood and tears streaming down his cheeks. He was blinded. A single glance at that light had scorched his sight away with sword qi. A deafening crash of countless glass panes shattering reached his ears. Immediately after, he felt a sudden weight on his shoulder—the President had pulled him into Stealth. As that glorious sword light pierced through the Realm of Distortion, it impaled the divine tree as well. The Realm of Distortion shattered with a tremendous crash, while the items hanging from the tree scattered in all directions like a dense shower of shooting stars, vanishing beyond the horizon. "Holy shit!" Seeing the items scattering across heaven and earth, the President's expression warped in horror. "Curse you!" A furious roar from the Dionysus Club's big boss reverberated from the void. "I missed..." Finally came a voice that was cool, majestic, and melodiously feminine. *** Dawn. Fu Qingyang was awakened by the urgent ringing of his phone. He got out of bed, walked over to his desk, and picked up the handset. The screen displayed the caller ID: Elder Dog. Fu Qingyang answered the call. "You rarely call me so early in the morning." Elder Dog's tone was grave. "Something has happened." "Did the counter-ambush fail?" Fu Qingyang asked. "It succeeded, but an even bigger mess was made," Elder Dog said. "The Grand Marshal shattered that President's Tree of Ten Thousand Treasures. Over a hundred items have scattered across the outside world." Fu Qingyang froze for a moment. He immediately realized the severity of the situation. If ordinary people got their hands on those items, it would inevitably create a host of "superpowered" individuals. Such individuals would not be bound by Morality Points. What would a normal person do upon suddenly acquiring superpowers? Commit crimes and wreak havoc! Furthermore, some items possessed an awareness of their own. They didn't even need a wielder; driven by their inherent traits, they would autonomously influence nearby living beings. Under the causal laws of Morality Points, these sins would be shared by the instigators: the Grand Marshal, the President, and the big boss of the Dionysus Club. In the near future, these three demigods would be placed on the Spirit Realm's wanted list. Given the mechanism where higher levels brought higher bounties, demigods from all over the world would very likely descend upon Songhai to hunt them down. "What trash!" Fu Qingyang ground his teeth in frustration. "I told her long ago that her sword qi carried too much murderous intent, that its destructive power had already reached its peak, and that she needed to transition from yang to yin to temper her edge..." All she did all day was gorge on sweets and read manga. Utter trash! Elder Dog lowered his voice: "Now is not the time to complain. Headquarters has instructed us to immediately mobilize all personnel to recover the scattered items before the Grand Marshal's Morality Points drop to zero. "In five minutes, the First Elder will convene a Council of Ten Elders. Get ready."