Chapter 51: Smart People and Fools

“Apocalypse Element”!

Roland instinctively held his breath.

He hadn’t expected a threat of this level to actually exist!

He slowly exhaled without questioning the decision on the other end of the line. He simply turned and left.

If the other party truly was an Apocalypse Element, there was no way he could capture that Anomaly on his own. Worse, he might provoke it into unleashing catastrophic destruction.

Roland wasn’t certain whether the Anomaly moving through B City was indeed that “Apocalypse Element,” but he didn’t dare gamble on it. The safest option was to head back and get the Think Tank’s input.

Roland knew his own strengths well. He excelled at combat but had no talent for strategy.

Professionals would handle the planning, and he would step in only when they needed brute force—as their muscle.

Meanwhile, Su Mingyao and Su Bingyao remained oblivious to what was unfolding. They huddled on the third floor of the Shen Family Villa, not daring to budge.

Downstairs, Shen Changqing put on a frantic performance at double speed, desperate to wrap up his act and usher Su Mingyao out before the critical moment arrived.

The System notified him that his Progress Bar had reached 25 percent. Luo Shang wasted no time on chit-chat and promptly left the Shen Family.

Shen Changqing let out a long breath of relief. He collapsed onto the sofa and lay there for ages, unwilling to get up.

He was utterly exhausted.

~~~

On the drive back, Luo Shang sat in Driver Yao’s car. The previous driver, who had been picking him up, had called in sick with mental fatigue, so the Su Family had hired a replacement. Luo Shang closed his eyes, appearing to conserve his energy. In truth, he was conversing with the System.

System: [Your frequency of destroying worlds is getting a bit too high. It’s not good for the world.]

It stated a simple fact.

[This time wasn’t for some trivial reason,] Luo Shang replied.

[You know that much, at least, System.]

System: [Uh…]

It was only natural for Luo Shang to be furious after seeing his hard-earned progress evaporate—even if the latter half of his efforts consisted merely of lounging and watching TV dramas.

Still, the System couldn’t shake the feeling that Luo Shang was being passive-aggressive.

[The wildcard—the one outside the original Plot—finally showed up to mess with me.]

Luo Shang had long anticipated that his atypical behavior would trigger butterfly effects. They hadn’t been too pronounced in the earlier stages of the Plot, but this incident had crossed his line.

[The guy who came sniffing around this morning showed up at the Shen Family. I could smell the Spirit Energy Factor on him from hundreds of meters away.]

That man hadn’t come for Luo Shang. Confident in his concealment skills, Luo Shang noted that the visitor hadn’t detected his own Spiritual Energy that morning and had left empty-handed—clear proof.

The same would hold true that afternoon.

Su Mingyao’s panicked dash to the living room to find Shen Changqing only confirmed it.

Luo Shang didn’t believe Su Mingyao was there for him. No, he was seeking help from Shen Changqing—and Luo Shang just happened to be present.

The Anomaly wasn’t on Luo Shang. It was on Su Mingyao…

[The World Consciousness must have granted the Child of Destiny that special ability to counterbalance my overwhelming power.]

Luo Shang explained to the System.

And because Su Mingyao possessed this Supernatural Ability, the authorities had come knocking.

Now that the nation’s attention was fixed here… the Plot Following ahead promised to be anything but dull.

The System found the prospect exhilarating.

[Do you plan to wipe them out physically? Or just give them a forceful warning?] it ventured, trying to anticipate Luo Shang’s move.

If he wished, Luo Shang could eradicate the entire country and claim it for himself with ease.

At his level, he was no mere novice Player skulking from government agencies. He was a titan capable of shielding entire Planes, his name echoing through the Myriad Heavens.

A single world? Child’s play. A fragmented regional power on a low-magic Plane? Laughable.

[A warning? I’ve already issued one,] Luo Shang said.

[That world I destroyed? That was it.]

System: [……]

Luo Shang: [I’ve always had a soft spot for smart people. Surely no one reaches the national Think Tank without a few brains.]

~~~

A whiteboard sprawled with spiderweb lines linking name after name in an intricate web, all converging in a tight circle.

At the dead center: Luo Shang.

Roland held nothing back, relaying every detail of his encounters to his superiors.

Once the national apparatus kicked into gear, its efficiency was staggering. Related individuals and suspects were swiftly identified.

Roland had suspected the second Anomaly had latched onto Su Mingyao. But the investigation revealed something else: Luo Shang had been at the Shen Family Villa too.

The first anomaly had occurred right at his side, and the second had unfolded in precisely the same way. This could no longer be dismissed as coincidence. Pursuing this lead further revealed even more connections.

For instance, the anomalous thunderstorm in B City was linked to Luo Shang’s foster mother, Li Qingshu.

The storm had vanished the moment Li Qingshu decided to head back, as if actively trying to keep her from leaving B City. And since Li Qingshu was closely tied to Luo Shang, the incident could reasonably be connected to him as well.

They had even infiltrated the Su Family Villa and retrieved equipment from the venue of that Recognition Banquet.

Analysis of the C14 extracted from the surrounding fixtures showed that tables and chairs, which should have lasted only a few more months, appeared weathered by centuries. Thick yin energy clung to them, leaving the testing experts baffled by the sheer weirdness.

Further investigation revealed that nearly every guest who had attended suffered nightmares afterward. No anomalous traces showed up on them, but so many people sharing eerily similar nightmares at once defied normal explanation.

Even a scientific take—that they had witnessed something horrifying at the Recognition Banquet, which lodged in their subconscious and spawned those parallel nightmares—begged the question: what exactly had they seen?

The yin energy lingering on the tables, chairs, and even the fruit platters spoke volumes…

Luo Shang had also survived a brush with death through some miracle. The ordeal at the Su Family would have inflicted massive mental trauma on him, and such stimulation was a prime trigger for awakening as an Extraordinary.

All told, Luo Shang was currently the prime suspect as the “Apocalypse Element.”

Convincing anyone that the sweet, adorable youth grinning in the photo had triggered the world’s end three times over was a tough sell.

Yet when you eliminated all other possibilities, only one remained, however improbable: Luo Shang was the “Apocalypse Element” itself!

Truth be told, the B City anomalies alone might have pegged him as just your run-of-the-mill Extraordinary—the sort modern armed forces could take down.

But factor in the Seismograph, Turtle Shell Divination, and the Nine Tripods with their three cracks, and Luo Shang’s threat level skyrocketed.

In truth, this was the very intel Luo Shang had dangled before them.

During his third world-ending rampage, he hadn’t just rewound the timeline with a hard reset—he’d gone further.

The Nine Tripods hadn’t cracked on their own. Luo Shang had smashed three of them personally.

Those tripods had materialized after the first apocalypse. If one broke per cataclysm, two should already be shattered, not waiting until the third to show three cracks. When Luo Shang reset the world, he’d taken matters into his own hands, shattering three of the earth-vein-forged Nine Tripods as a pointed hint.

[Knock the mountain to shake the tiger. This is your warning. Play smart, cooperate with me, smooth the way, and I might overlook this little intrusion of yours.]

Luo Shang thought.

[I figure they’ll catch my drift.]

The System stayed silent, merely conjuring a frantically bowing cartoon figure on the System Panel.

[I’m no Ke Yanjin when it comes to mind games. This is the best I’ve got,] Luo Shang mused, cheek propped on his hand.

Years of rising to the top had sharpened more than just his strength—his wits had grown too.

The Reincarnation Space had drilled one vital lesson into him:

Never assume anyone but yourself is a fool.