Li Dongze thought for a moment and said, "Let's start by targeting those who profit from the war. We'll sneak into their homes tonight and force them to transfer their airships. Don't forget, everyone, we're thugs, and thugs should act like thugs."
Zhang Tianzhen said, "I've made a note of all those who are raising prices arbitrarily, and I'll go find them tonight. But airships involve wartime supplies, and the Li family probably won't just stand by and watch us do this, right?"
Li Dongze was silent for a moment: "Don't worry about that, no one will interfere."
Zhang Tianzhen was taken aback. Li Dongze seemed to be very confident.
Someone nearby said, "Boss, even if we slaughter those unscrupulous merchants, we probably still won't get much from the airships."
However, at that moment, Su Xingzhi's voice came from outside the Never End Bar: "The Central Plains Chamber of Commerce is sponsoring Hengshe with 70 Class D airships and 12 Class C airships. These are used by my Central Plains Chamber of Commerce for distributing goods. Now that we are at war, we can't do business, so we are giving them to you. However, they are currently scattered in various parts of the south, and I need to temporarily transfer them here. Give me two days, and I will hand them over to Hengshe."
The leaders of Hengshe looked at each other in bewilderment. There had been rumors that Su Xingzhi and Li Dongze were at odds, but now the other party was going to sell everything he owned to support Hengshe.
Su Xingzhi smiled and looked at Li Dongze: "Do you want some?"
Li Dongze calmly said, "Why wouldn't I take something that's free? But be careful, these airships are gone once they're given to me. Can you guarantee we'll reach City 18 in two days?"
Su Xingzhi laughed and said, "I've stood you up 51 times, but I won't do it this time."
The members of Hengshe suddenly realized that Li Dongze's relationship with this black market tycoon seemed to be more than just a simple matter.
However, Li Dongze didn't seem to appreciate it: "There are only so many airships. Even if all of them came, it wouldn't be enough."
Su Xingzhi asked in confusion, "What do you need so many civilian airships for?"
Li Dongze: "Fighting against the Western Continent."
Su Xingzhi was shocked: "Are you crazy? The Qing family couldn't even beat them and chose to retreat. What makes you think you can fight them?"
The next moment, someone else came from outside the bar: "I have 18 more airships here!"
Everyone looked over and saw Jiang Xiaotang from the Haitang Boxing Gym.
Over the years, she and Li Dongze and other messengers have never met, and neither of them can let go of the fact that she betrayed Li Shutong.
Now that the woman heard that Li Dongze needed an airship, she mustered up her courage and brought the airship with her.
...
...
The Gods Sky Fortress sped southwest, having already climbed to an altitude of 12,000 meters without the slightest turbulence.
Qing Chen sat in the command seat, Chen Yu stood, and he was sitting, making no attempt to conceal his presence.
Before him stood a group of obedient Chen officers, as docile as quails.
"You all worked hard in that battle just now. You fought to destroy an aerial fortress and more than a hundred airships, and finally escaped unscathed," Qing Chen said with a smile.
The commander felt a bitter taste in his mouth. You didn't care about that fallen Celestial at all! Is this what you call a clean getaway? So you don't care about things that aren't yours, huh...?
They glanced furtively at Chen Yu, only to find him staring straight out the window, like a puppet.
At that moment, an airship painted with a ginkgo leaf symbol flew in from the southwest. The combat personnel of the air fortress opened the access passage, only to see the top deck of the air fortress suddenly open, and the huge alloy canopy retracted to both sides, allowing the airship to land on the landing pad inside.
The alloy canopy closed again, blocking out all the sunlight.
Qing Ji, Black Spider, Yi, and Ling stepped off the airship and, guided by Chen's soldiers, entered the fortress to reunite with Qing Chen.
The next moment, Qing Ji opened the Shadow Gate, and saw officers and soldiers of the Qing Clan's forces walking out one by one, naturally taking over control of the fortress, as if they had been prepared for this all along.
Officers and soldiers filed out one by one, familiarly taking up their operating positions.
Qing Chen was taken aback: "A fortress's shipborne soldiers and officers would number at least seven hundred. Can you really muster a force so quickly?"
“They’ve been waiting for a while,” Qingji said casually. “They’re all rotated from the Scepter and have been in quarantine in City 8 for months. Don’t worry, they’re all resting and recuperating, and the giants have already sensed them.”
A middle-aged military officer approached Qing Chen and said with a smile, "Boss, my name is Qing Wan. I was the one who was in charge of guiding the space-based weapon for the Divine Scepter."
"Oh, so this is the Prison No. 18 that you bombed..." Qing Chen suddenly dismissed the others and lowered his voice: "Wait, when did you start standing by in City No. 8?"
“It was the second week after the breach of Jail No. 18,” Qingwan said.
Qing Chen suddenly understood what the forbidden item ACE-002 Heaven and Earth Chessboard was all about.
No wonder the old man went to such great lengths and made such a big show of it to retrieve the Heaven and Earth Chessboard from Prison No. 18.
Qing Chen looked at Qing Ji: "What else has the old man prepared?"
“I don’t know,” Qing Ji shook his head. “Everything is kept secret. Each unit is doing its own thing and doesn’t know what the others are doing.”
"Understood," Qingchen nodded.
The old man was preventing anyone from predicting many things through his actions and thus changing what had already been decided.
No wonder the other side remained silent during the internal strife within the Qing clan.
It wasn't that the other side did nothing; rather, at that time, they had more important things to do than deal with internal strife.
Temporary gains and losses are nothing to fear; the other party should plan for the long-term future.
Qingchen muttered to himself, "I've always been curious about how you found Lee Byung-hee's first wife from Kashima and prevented her from coming back to life so quickly. Logically speaking, Lee Byung-hee should have been very cautious."
Qing Ji said, "It was the old man who designated an area for us to search. It's a pity that if we had been earlier, we might have been able to kill the old woman directly and let her take Li Bingxi's life."
Outside the forbidden area No. 002, Kyung Joon became a god for a quarter of an hour to kill Lee Byung Hee and Jin Yu. Both of these demigods had backup plans. Lee Byung Hee carried a love lock, and after his death, he would be resurrected at the cost of his wife's life.
But he failed.
Even Lee Byung-hee probably never imagined that his wife, whom he had hidden so well, would be found by Lady Kyung.
Qing Chen recalled the time when he was captured and taken to Base A02. The old man clearly knew which tributary of the underground river he would drift out from, and he clearly knew that he would be able to come back alive after being captured, and through this incident, he would become the most prestigious new generation leader within the Qing family.
Qing Chen looked at Qing Ji: "Does the old man also know that a rat insurgency will occur in City 10?"
“I know,” Qing Ji said.
Qing Chen asked, "Why didn't we save them earlier? That's millions of lives!"
Qingji looked at him and said, "First of all, the old man doesn't know where Kamishiro Chika's body is hidden. Secondly, you acquired a city and developed a million-member parent association based on it. If nothing had happened, you wouldn't have had time to do many things. Of course, the important thing is not the city itself, but the parent association you developed based on it."
Therefore, the old man knew that City 10 would fall, and when Qing Chen wanted to attract residents to migrate to City 10, the Qing family also closed the entry and exit channels.
So here's the question: what are the missions of the long-lost Shadow Qing Tong and Li Shu Tong, who suddenly set off for the Western Continent?
Besides, is there anyone else cooperating with the other party's plan?
“That was too ruthless,” Qing Chen sighed. “You had the chance to blow up the city walls and let everyone escape.”
“No, that won’t work. Without the metal storm to restrain them, the rat swarm will run into the wilderness,” Qing Ji said seriously. “That would be a disaster for all mankind. The rat swarm will first enter the wilderness, indiscriminately using all living things as nourishment. Once they reach a certain scale, they will first devour City 18, and then continue to spread. Within three months, the Federation will disappear from the world.”
Qingchen suddenly realized something: the old man was more powerful than the Fate Master, because the Fate Master could only see certain fragments, while the old man could see more possibilities through variables!
So, is everything that's happening now a choice made by the old man himself?
Qing Chen stopped thinking and called Black Spider over: "Will the Stormship return to Storm City before the expedition?"
“No,” the black spider shook its head. “It will stay in the central royal city.”
Qing Chen then looked at Qing Ji: "Can the Shadow Gate be opened to the Central Royal City?"
“No, I’ve never been there,” Qing Ji shook his head.
At this moment, Black Spider said, "Give me a golden Eye of True Sight, and I'll give it a try. Maybe I can open the Key Gate directly there."
Zero suddenly asked with great interest, "78 Victor Avenue?"
Black Spider was stunned for a moment: "How did you know? Who are you?!"
Zero smiled but did not answer the question.
Chapter 952, Defeat Magic with Magic
"What is our goal in going to the Western Continent this time?" Yi asked curiously.
“We need to find a way to eliminate the threat of the Arbiters at its root,” Qing Chen said. “Also, let’s perform a magic trick for our ‘friends’ in the Western Continent… no, a spell.”
At this moment, Black Spider stood in the command room of the Gods Sky Fortress, holding a golden Eye of True Sight in her hand. She seemed a little hesitant, as if she herself did not know whether she should open this key door.
"What kind of place is 78 Victor Avenue? Does it hold any secrets? Why are you so sure that the door you opened will be there?" Qing Chen asked.
Black Spider shook his head: "There are no secrets here, and it's not a very important place for other people."
After saying that, she mustered her courage and embedded the golden stone in the door. Red burn marks appeared at the joint between the stone and the door, as if a high-temperature star was melting metal, and even molten iron was about to flow out.
Turn it ten times, and ripples spread across the door.
Qing Chen was about to go inside when Qing Ji stopped him, went in first to check it out, and then said to Qing Chen, "It's safe... but the house is strange."
Black Spider glanced at Qing Ji.
This great demon Qing Ji has never trusted anyone else, nor has he ever forgotten his responsibilities. He was worried that there might be a trap behind the door opened by the black spider that could endanger Qing Chen's safety, but he went in to check without hesitation.
"I'll go in and take a look," Qingchen said, stepping inside.
78 Victor Avenue is a typical Western-style townhouse, with more than 20 households forming a long block, each with three floors.
Upon entering the key gate, Qingchen saw that the fireplace in front of him was full of dust, and there were dried bloodstains on the red carpet on the floor and on the walls.
He frowned slightly; this villa... seemed more like a haunted house.
Zero said from behind him, "Fourteen years ago, a murder occurred at 78 Victor Avenue. A wife killed her husband, leaving her daughter to live alone at a boarding school."
Black Spider followed her in and said softly, "I've lived here since I was little. After my father passed away, my mother remarried."
The man's career was quite good; he was the manager of a textile factory under the Marquis of Wendy, and his income was higher than that of most citizens.
He would take Black Spider and her daughter to upscale restaurants and also take them on beach vacations.
Black Spider thought he was a good stepfather, until one day they went to the seaside villa, but after entering the room, the stepfather locked Black Spider's mother inside and took Black Spider to the beach to collect seashells.
When Black Spider returned to the villa, he saw Marquis Wendy get into the car, while his mother was crying in the room, covered in bruises.
At that time, she was still very naive and only knew that something bad had happened.
This went on for seven years, until the Marquis Wendy no longer liked her mother, and the man was demoted.
The man started drinking heavily, and when he was drunk, he would curse Black Spider's mother as a slut and a prostitute.
Her mother just silently endured it.
"Have you never thought about leaving him?" Qingchen asked upon hearing this.
“Yes,” Black Spider said, “I asked my mother why she didn’t leave him, and she said she needed his salary to live and pay for my schooling, and she could endure it all.”