When Harold heard the news, his expression on his face did not change, but his right hand couldn't help but hold it tightly.
The reason why demons have not become a major concern on the continent like ghosts is because their number is very small and it is difficult to form a scale.
Once the Shadow Council's plan succeeds, the number of demons will spread like a plague, the entire continent will become their hunting ground, and human civilization will be turned into ashes in this catastrophe.
Harold's eyes turned to Reinhardt: "Reinhardt, immediately block the Central Station and investigate all suspicious people. No matter what the price is paid, the Shadow Council's conspiracy must not be successful."
"Yes, Your Majesty. I have dispatched elite personnel and are investigating them with all my might. I will never let go of any clues."
Harold's brow frowned slightly, and a hint of displeasure flashed in his eyes.
Obviously, he was not satisfied with this answer.
At this moment, Councillor Johnson suddenly spoke with a hint of doubt in his tone: "Your Majesty, Commander of Reinhardt, I have a question. Since Nightmare is a member of the Shadow Council, how can we be sure that it did not intentionally provide false information to lead us into the trap?"
"Mr. Johnson, Nightmare has signed the True Contract. Every word of it is bound by the contract. If it lies, the contract will immediately backfire and let it die."
Johnson's face changed slightly, replaced by a hint of embarrassment and uneasiness, obviously not expecting this.
He lowered his head, with a hint of embarrassment in his tone: "So that's it, I'm too worried."
The radicals and conservative MPs looked at each other, and although there was still some warning in their eyes, they tacitly put down their prejudices and began to whisper to discuss how to cooperate with the execution agencies' actions.
"Everyone, return to their respective posts immediately."
After Harold's order, the MPs stood up one after another and quickly left the arbitration chamber.
Johnson walked at the end, with a complex look on his face.
Just as he was about to step out of the arbitration hall, he suddenly stopped and looked back at Reinhardt and Nightmare standing next to the platform.
His eyes stayed on Nightmare for a moment, and a trace of elusive haze flashed in his eyes, as if he was suspicious, and as if he was weighing.
But soon, he withdrew his gaze, his expression returned to calm, and he quickly left the hall.
With the departure of the parliamentarians, the arbitration hall fell silent again, leaving only Harold, Lin Yi and Reinhart.
As for the nightmare, it has been detained by the people from the execution agency.
"Your Majesty, it seems that some people can't sit still." Lin Yi sat lazy in the position of a conservative MP just now, about two positions away from Harold.
"It's okay. At this moment, there are many people and eyes. If you dare to make trouble at this time, don't blame me for being rude. The safety of the empire is above everything else, and anyone who hinders this goal will be eliminated."
For Harold, it’s just a member of parliament, but it’s not that he can’t kill him.
If Johnson is really a problem, then Harold has some way to make him disappear quietly.
During this period of time, the storms of the Zur Empire were about to come, and the monsters and monsters who were usually hidden in the shadows jumped out one after another, trying to gain benefits in this chaos.
Even a scheming ruler like Harold could not help feeling a little tired.
"Bernal has already said that I have mobilized 100,000 people from the border to come." Hearing Harold's words, Reinhard looked at Harold in a bit incredible.
"Your Majesty, mobilize people from the border? Is this... too risky?"
Although there is only one country on the mainland, this does not mean that other places are safe.
On the contrary, the Zur Empire occupied less than one-third of the territory on the continent, and the remaining areas were filled with unknown dangers and threats.
The complex terrain and the weird beasts entrenched in the wilderness blocked the pace of expansion of the Zul Empire and made border defense particularly important.
As a second-class intelligent creature, the monster has deep-rooted hostility towards the Zur Empire.
Although they have limited intelligence, they have formed a simple tribal culture in the external wilderness, with their own territory and laws of survival.
Although these weird beasts are in a state of infighting against each other for most of the time, once the soldiers of the Zur Empire step into their territory, they will immediately put aside their hatred and unite to launch a crazy attack on the empire's army.
Harold's former monarch tried to expand his territory, spending a total of 300,000 troops, but even an inch of land on the border could not be expanded.
With their familiarity with the terrain and fearless fighting style, those weird beasts made the empire's army pay a heavy price.
In the end, this expansion plan ended in failure and became a heavy lesson in the history of the Zur Empire.
After Harold came to power, he learned from his predecessor's lessons and decisively gave up the idea of expanding territory.
He knew very well that instead of wasting valuable resources in the war of attrition with the strange beasts, it was better to give priority to solving the worries within the empire.
His concept of governing the country is very simple - one must first settle the country when fighting foreign countries.
Only by completely eliminating hidden dangers within the empire can we lay a solid foundation for future expansion.
Mobilizing 100,000 troops from the border to return to defense is no small matter for Harold.
The defense of the border has always been the top priority of the empire. Once the troops are empty, the weird beasts may take the opportunity to invade, causing immeasurable losses to the empire.
But Harold had no choice, and the Shadow Council's plan had threatened the core of the empire. If it was not stopped in time, the entire empire would fall into chaos and destruction.
When Reinhart and Lin Yi walked out of the House of Parliament, they saw Bonnie and Winnie standing outside chatting leisurely.
Winnie was carrying shopping bags of all sizes in her hands and a satisfied smile on her face.
"It's over?" Winnie raised her head and asked with a smile when she saw Reinhart and Lin Yi.
Lin Yi's eyes swept over the shopping bag in her hand, with a hint of helplessness in his voice: "You are leisurely."
Winnie shrugged: "It's like a vegetable market, I can't stand it. Besides, with you here, it's not my turn to worry about those troubles, right?"
"But what's going on with these shopping bags? Are you planning to move the entire shopping street home?"
When Winnie heard this, her eyes lit up and raised the shopping bag in her hand, with a hint of pride in her tone: "These are today's spoils! Although the personal space is very convenient, I prefer this real feeling. Only when it is heavy can you feel the satisfaction of shopping!"
Bonnie couldn't help laughing out loud and said softly, "Sister Winnie, you can't even get the things you bought."
Winnie smiled indifferently: "It's okay, anyway, you are here, it's not a problem to help me get it, right?"
"You will find coolies."
"Reinhart, I'll take people back first, and leave the rest to you."
"I understand."
When Lin Yi returned to the sanatorium, it was already four o'clock in the afternoon.
The afterglow of the sunset sprinkles in through the office windows, placing the room with a light golden halo.
Lin Yi nestled on the chair, closing his eyes to rest, with a hint of fatigue on his face.
He had just sent back the "patients" brought out from the nursing home one by one. Although the whole process went smoothly, his mental tension made him feel a little weak.
Each of these "patients" is a dangerous molecule among the dangerous molecule. Even if there are shackles, the consequences will be unimaginable once someone loses control.
While carefully applying motor oil to the parts of the sniper gun, Winnie raised her head, her eyes with a hint of curiosity: "By the way, how many merit points did you gain in the initial battle? You can actually exchange for this level of identity."
When they first entered the Ghost Continent, all contractors were thrown into a cruel killing space, fighting each other to obtain merit points and use them to purchase status and resources.
Winnie herself killed eighteen people in that battle, and then she barely got the status of an underground killer who was a bit famous.
Lin Yi was able to take the position of deputy director of the Imperial Sanatorium, which made her wonder what earth-shaking things Lin Yi did in that battle.
"Not much."
Seeing this, Winnie curled her lips: "Let's forget it."
She lowered her head and continued to focus on maintaining the parts of the sniper gun.
After a moment of silence, she asked again: "The Johnson Congressman who jumped out today is really a problem?"
"Johnson jumped too abruptly," Lin Yi said, "his behavior was too obvious, which made people wonder if it was deliberately arranged."
"You mean, he might have been pushed out as a shield?"
"This possibility is not ruled out. The Shadow Council's style of conduct has always been mysterious. They will not easily expose a piece so obvious. Johnson's performance is more like a diverting focus."
"These politicians all like to play this kind of trick."
"Maybe. But no matter what, Johnson's actions at least indicate that the actions of the Shadow Council have begun."
"Who do you think it will be? Radicals? Or conservatives? Or... other forces?"
Although Winnie is unwilling to use her brain, this does not mean that Winnie has no brains and can become a fifth-level contractor. People with low IQs have long been eliminated.
"It is hard to say that the other party has not yet revealed its strength. The infiltration capacity of the Shadow Council is far beyond our imagination, and neither party can easily rule it out."
Winnie had a hint of impatient tone: "These guys are really troublesome. Just pull them out and interrogate them one by one, and you can always find some clues."
Lin Yi chuckled: "If things were really that simple, we wouldn't have to have such a headache. The most important thing now is to stay vigilant and wait for the other party to reveal their flaws." Winnie curled her lips, obviously not very satisfied with this passive strategy, but she didn't say anything more.
After about an hour of rest, Lin Yi took Winnie through the third underground floor of the sanatorium and arrived in front of the elevator leading to the fourth underground floor.
The elevator door opened, revealing a dim and narrow space.
Lin Yi entered a series of complex passwords, and the elevator started immediately and slowly sank.
Unlike the special isolation area on the third floor of the underground, only a few senior buildings in the sanatorium have access to the fourth floor of the underground. The patients detained here are not at the same level as those above, and the degree of danger is extremely different.
The patients detained in this place have different identities.
Some of them were former imperial powerhouses who lost control for some reason; some were experimental subjects transformed by nursing homes, and their bodies and minds were distorted to the extreme; and some... they were existences that even nursing homes could not fully understand.
Any of them lost control would have a devastating blow to the entire city of Zur.
The reason why they were not permanently detained in the underground prison of the execution agency was because the Zul Empire could not bear the value they had.
Whether it is their power, knowledge, or the secrets contained in their bodies, they are something that the empire cannot give up easily.
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So, the sanatorium became their cage, and Lin Yi was the guardian of this cage.
Until the number stopped at "-4", the elevator door slowly opened, and what caught my eye was a long corridor with dim lights embedded in the walls.
Lin Yi walked to a metal door and pressed his palm against the identifier next to the door.
A sound of gears sounded, and a small window opened on the door, revealing a dim room.
In the middle of the room, a figure was bound by countless chains.
It was a teenager who looked only a teenager. His hair was messy, his eyes were hollow, his skin was pale and almost transparent, and his whole body looked fragile and harmless.
Winnie instinctively felt that there was some kind of terrible power hidden in the boy's body.
Her body tensed, and her right hand unconsciously pressed the pistol on her waist: "Who is this?"
"His name is 'zero', and his ability...is 'prophecy'."
"Prophecy? Do you really have this ability?"
A curious look appeared on Winnie's face. In the low-level derivative world, it was rare to encounter opponents who were in the fate system. This was the first time she had met someone with prophecy.
Zero raised his head, his eyes crossed Lin Yi and fell behind him.
After a moment, he closed his eyes, lowered his head, and muttered to himself: "You... are not right, you... are not him."
"I am him during this period."
Both Winnie and Lin Yi understood the meaning of Zero's words - he had discovered that Lin Yi replaced the former vice president of the nursing home.
Hearing Lin Yi's answer, Zero did not refute, but just continued to lower his head.
"Edmund von Klein...the eldest son of the Klein family. Remember to send two roast chickens down later. When you send them over, let that person walk slowly when going down the stairs. Don't throw my roast chicken."
Zero seemed to have already known Lin Yi's idea of coming over, and directly told Lin Yi who he wanted to find.
"Two roast chickens, no problem, I will send them down."
Zero still lowered his head: "Remember... walk slowly. If you fall... I will be unhappy."
Suddenly, Zero's knuckles hit the ground, making a short buzzing sound.
Winnie's eyes suddenly became empty, she slowly raised her pistol with her right hand, and pointed the muzzle in her hand at her head.
Her fingers were already on the trigger and she was about to pull them down in the next second.
Lin Yi's reaction was extremely fast. He pressed Winnie's shoulder with one hand and quickly performed the purification technique with the other hand.
A gentle light flashed, and Winni's eyes instantly returned to the clarity.
She dropped her pistol suddenly, her face pale, and a layer of cold sweat oozed out of her forehead.
"I...what did I just do?" There was a tremor in Winni's voice, obviously she had not yet fully recovered from the horror she had just now.
Zero opened his mouth and exposed his canine teeth: "You are more playful than the last time I delivered the meal."
Winnie stood aside, with a hint of alertness in her eyes.
She didn't even know when she was hit, and the feeling of being manipulated made her feel scared.
She whispered, "What is this guy... what is the origin of it?"
Lin Yi glanced at Winnie with a warning in his tone: "Don't underestimate him. If he really only had the ability to predict, he wouldn't be locked up here."
Zero's identity is very special. He was not arrested by the nursing home, but was sent by Harold himself.
The nursing home's senior management knows little about his origin, and the only thing that is clear is that the existence of zero is both a threat to the empire and a resource that cannot be abandoned.
Zero's ability is too special, and the empire cannot completely control him, nor can it bear to destroy him.
So, Harold sent him here, both to imprison him and to study him.
In addition to prophecy, Zero's strongest is actually mental control.
He is able to manipulate other people's thinking and actions without realizing it. This ability is silent, but it is enough to make people become his puppet without any awareness.
At that time, many staff members of the sanatorium, including some senior executives, almost caused a disaster under his control.
Some of them even acted no differently than usual after being controlled.
Fortunately, Herbert discovered the abnormality at that time and decisively ordered Zero to be detained on the fourth floor of the underground, and took a series of extreme measures.
All employees with zero mind control, regardless of their position, were ordered to be executed by Herbert.
Although this decision was cold, it was particularly necessary under the circumstances at that time.
The reason is simple - no one can determine whether the ability of zero is permanent.
In case these controlled employees are suddenly remanaged by zero one day in the future, nursing homes will face an unbearable second blow.
Just in case, Herbert chose the most thorough way to completely cut off zero from the outside world.
At that time, Lin Yi's ex died under this situation.
He was manipulated by Zero without any defense and was eventually executed by Herbert in the chaos.
This incident directly led to a major change in the senior management of the sanatorium, and also gave Lin Yi's predecessor the opportunity to take office.
Back at the office, Lin Yi immediately sent someone to investigate Edmund von Klein mentioned by Zero.
The Klein family was one of the ancient nobles of the Zur Empire. They controlled the economic lifeline of the empire. Their power was deeply rooted and penetrated into almost every corner of the empire.
This family has been around since the beginning of the Zur Empire, and has produced a total of 8 members of parliament so far, and is one of the oldest in the circle of aristocrats.
Their influence is very great, and even Harold has to be more careful when facing the Klein family, let alone Lin Yi.
About ten minutes later, the secretary brought all the documents needed by Lin Yi.
The documents are closely recorded on the life story, family background and recent trends of Edmund von Klein.
Edmund von Klein, the eldest son of the Klein family, received elite education since childhood. After adulthood, he quickly entered the core management of the family and became an important representative of the family in both political and business circles.
His resume is perfect, without any stain, and even in the eyes of the public, he is a model of a noble who is humble, polite and talented.
Lin Yi's intuition told him that things were not that simple.
He continued to flip through the documents, his eyes staying on Edmund's recent record of movements.
In recent months, Edmund has frequently visited and went to secret social occasions and has had contact with some unknown characters.
Although these contacts did not seem abnormal, there was a strange aura in Lin Yi's eyes.
Winnie leaned over and took a look: "It seems like a standard aristocratic child, nothing special. Where do you plan to start checking?"
“Edmund has appeared frequently in the high-end club in the city center recently, where his private stronghold is his place.”
A hint of excitement flashed in Winnie's eyes: "High-level club? It looks quite interesting. However, that kind of place cannot be easily mixed in."
Lin Yi didn't say much, but took out an exquisite card from the end of the document and handed it to Winnie.
The name of the club is printed on the card, and the back is Lin Yi's forged identity information. (This chapter ends)