He turned to the person sitting in the corner, their face hidden in shadow: "Vizho, is your military strength still at that ratio?"
"If Geli and Luciano can be persuaded, it's expected to increase to a quarter. But they both listen to Xiakulin, and Xiakulin is a close friend of Lanserqi, so it might be very difficult to manage. I'll try my best."
"Will it be necessary to use the blood ties of the Six Great Families?"
"That won't help either. Everyone knows the Maminsun Family has always been detached from politics."
Liusunan smiled mysteriously: "Precisely because of this, the other five families have no qualms about the Maminsun Family, which is convenient for your investigation and actions."
The person in the shadows nodded slightly: "But you all must remember one thing: my identity in the Star Clan Autonomous Party must be kept completely secret. I can only connect internally using a codename."
"Of course, 'Overcast'."
Rega grinned brightly and said, "Today's meeting is adjourned. You must leave through the secret door, especially 'Overcast'."
"Yo, why?"
Rega smiled even more charmingly: "Because I have a guest coming soon – the Chairman of the Galactic Community, Fan Olin Reann."
*******************
"You really don't need this data?"
Shawent said firmly: "My understanding of her is absolutely more detailed and accurate than any data or record."
Farrayn smiled casually and placed the magnetic disk on the table: "In that case, I can only wish you good luck."
Shawent looked at her own right hand: "I won't let her succeed a second time."
Farrayn said somewhat coldly: "If necessary, preserve yourself first. Our revolution still needs you."
Shawent trembled, stared at Farrayn for a long time, then turned to leave.
Farrayn looked out the window with some unease. He saw Shawent mount a personal flight device, which then rapidly disappeared from his sight.
He sighed inwardly and was about to leave the living room when he noticed a stranger suddenly appear before him, dressed in a black velvet coat, with eyes that held the rise and fall of all worlds. He knew this person was not only a super-powered individual but also radiated an aura of transcendent photons.
"How did you get in?"
Lucifer tilted his head and said playfully, "I spent a night exploring this planet. I didn't expect the connection point to be your home. Is Shawent here?"
"She just left."
"Where?"
Farrayn shook his head: "I don't know either."
Lucifer stared at him, his pupils growing deeper and darker, like a night without stars.
After a moment, he said with satisfaction: "So she's gone to find an old enemy. Good!"
"How did you know?"
"If you understood who I am, you'd know deception is impossible with me. In fact, wasn't your third novel about me?"
As he finished his last word, Lucifer disintegrated and vanished, leaving Farrayn in the living room, murmuring in confusion and enchantment: "My third novel? 'The Devil King's Judgment'? Could he be??"
*****************
"Three people came down from the secret ladder on his top floor."
Although Fan Olin was already aware of Leola's abilities, she couldn't help but feel confused: "Your Majesty, how did you know?"
Leola said: "From now on, you can no longer call me Your Majesty. I used spatial perspective. Hold my hand, and I can depict the appearances of these three people in your mind."
Fan Olin closed her eyes and calmly accepted the mental transmission from Leola: "Ah, that's Krymon, the second president of the Star Clan Autonomous Party; oh, the one with the scar on his left cheek is Liusunan, their chief strategist. What, the third person, it's him!"
Leola watched Fan Olin's expression change from suspicion to astonishment. He stopped his mental transmission and said softly: "What is it? Who is the third person?"
Fan Olin's face turned ashen. She felt a deep sense of shame from being deceived for so long. Slowly and coldly, she said word by word: "That person is Vizho Maminsun. The heir of the Maminsun Family, who has long been considered the most peaceful and reclusive among the Six Great Families, the 513th generation successor. He is the second most influential person after Patriarch Chaalod Maminsun, and also a close friend of Siriel and me."
*********************
Shawent closed her eyes under 12g acceleration. The almost blood-bursting speed made her feel extremely uncomfortable, but she gritted her teeth and adjusted the instrument to a higher 15g. For a long time, she had learned to savor her own senses in pain. Sometimes, she was shocked by her almost crazy obsession, it was almost a strange addiction to savor suffering by transforming hardship...
As if rejecting something, she shook her head violently. Perhaps the underlying meaning of self-torture was to cleanse the low and vile feelings left by that incident. At the very least, self-abuse was less disgusting than being toyed with by "her".
She glanced at the network and saw that she had arrived at the Ao'erminke Mountain area on the outskirts of the capital. After adjusting the directional axis, Shawent resolutely headed northwest.
Pulling the vast purple sunset before her, Paslin Rega forced a sincere expression of innocence onto his face. The communication device on his wrist and the doorbell rang simultaneously. As he was on his way to greet his guest, he quietly cut off the communication source, while trying his best to make his welcome more enthusiastic.
"Please come in, Councilwoman Reann. A truly unexpected and supreme honor. Long before you could have imagined, I have been anticipating this moment."
Chapter 41 The Bite of Love-Attachment and Ignorance 2
Fan Olin showed a friendly smile on her originally somewhat stern face: "My heart wholeheartedly affirms your sincerity, Chairman Rega. However, I must state here first that my visit is purely of a private nature and has nothing to do with the Galactic Community."
Rega also said solemnly: "Then, I also receive you as Paslin Rega, neither as Chairman of the Council nor as a member of the Star Clan Autonomous Party, President Reann."
"Please call me Fan Olin."
"Alright, then please call me Paslin as well."
Fan Olin sat leisurely on the exquisite white sofa and said casually, "You seem to have a fondness for Outer Rim Stars decor, Paslin?"
Rega skillfully mixed the tea leaves and said naturally, "It's just a small personal hobby. Looking at these ancient artifacts covered with the marks of time brings me peace and comfort."
"Isn't it out of homesickness?"
Rega said blankly: "My hometown, Saino Planet, is famous for its steel products. That cold feeling is exactly the opposite of my preference."
Fan Olin's lips curved subtly, her agile eyes fell on the agate-red snake hanging on the wall: "This is...?"
Rega's hand paused while stirring the tea, and he said with great solemnity: "This was given to me by the former Prime Minister when I graduated from the Faculty of Law at the First University."
Fan Olin suppressed the fleeting sense of loss and saw Rega's narrative turn mournful: "Prime Minister Merlin took good care of me. When I first arrived on Ke'er Planet, everything was strange and frightening. She took the initiative to arrange accommodation for me and handle my enrollment. During my breaks, she often taught me all sorts of knowledge... Fan Olin, what's wrong? Your complexion is not good."
Fan Olin's heart felt as if it were being ground by countless sharp gravel stones, and a hateful and violent voice kept screaming internally – What nonsense! You killed her!
Just as she was about to erupt uncontrollably, suddenly, all the anger and grief hidden within her dissolved and faded. She paused for a moment, then nodded in understanding.
"I'm fine, listening to you describe Prime Minister Merlin makes me a bit sentimental, as her student."
Rega said earnestly: "Fan Olin, actually, you and I have always had a peculiar sense of connection. We both had a teacher-student relationship or affection with Prime Minister Merlin, and you always made me feel close, as if there was an unspeakable commonality..."
Fan Olin said indifferently: "It's a pity that I am on Ke'er Planet, a descendant of the Six Great Families who have lived and been born here for generations, and have no connection with Nico'o from Saino or the Pan God System."
Rega's hand stiffened as he leaned back on the chair, but he immediately said leisurely: "The Six Great Families can actually no longer be called the Six Great Families."
"What does that mean?"
"In the past thirty years or so, the Pumore Family has caused so many scandals..."
Fan Olin said crisply: "Even so, Pumore is still the priest guarding the 'Viceregent Star', a name that cannot be violated or desecrated. Moreover, what you know are just maliciously spread slanders."
Rega narrowed his eyes slightly: "Is it Pumore's bloodline that makes you so eager to clear their names?"
Fan Olin's expression changed, but quickly returned to normal: "The ancestors of the Six Great Families are the Light of All Phenomena. We fundamentally come from the same origin."
"As far as I know, the turmoil and tragedy caused by the love affair between Orsha?Pumorle and Siriel?Rian back then, and the 'Five Day Blood Color' triggered by Lester?Pumorle's bizarre death, were too tragic."
Fan Olin laughed in extreme anger: "Paslin, you really should specialize in history. Especially ugly secrets, they seem to resonate with your nature."
Rega said humbly: "You flatter me."
Fan Olin's smile turned mysterious again. She took a shallow sip of 'Xinlu' tea, her tone soft and emotional: "Although the gray-purple sky of Ke'er Planet is beautiful, I think you should miss Nico'o, also known as 'Sunset Star', even more. In the pitch-black night, occasional pure silver meteor showers appear."
She stood up, her tone even more dreamlike: "Pure, noble, and unattainable, sometimes evoking a stinging pain, for the betrayer."
Rega sat rigidly, watching her leave without escorting or stopping her.
Only when Fan Olin approached the door did he say heavily: "Now I finally understand what our connection is."
Fan Olin responded casually, uninterested: "Oh?"
But Rega's words, like an incantation, entered her ears firmly and persistently: "We are all skilled testers, but we often overlook that our opponents have equal counter-attack capabilities."
Fan Olin paused by the door, then said cheerfully: "Thank you for your hospitality and advice, Paslin."
Rega also said cheerfully: "I always look forward to such an opportunity."
After Fan Olin truly left, Rega quickly stood up, walked into a hidden passage, and softly called out: "Phoenix?"
Regina was sitting cross-legged in meditation in a secret room lined with black magnetic crystal chips, gently cradling a photon gun with smooth curves in her hands. She whispered excitedly, "Come quickly, you'll find me soon, and realize how deep my longing for you is. Here are all my memories of you, all my mementos. Ah, everything in the past--"
"Should turn to ashes, Regina Yara."
The electromagnetic door suddenly opened, and Shawent, stiff and emotionless, looked down at Regina who was still sitting in the center of the floor.
"I've been waiting for you. I knew you'd come here again."
Shawent pointed the gun at Regina and said coldly, "For my oath, and for the humiliation you once inflicted upon me, I will come for you again."
A trace of perverse and arrogant triumph surged onto Regina's bewitching face. She took out a small alloy box from among the numerous small alloy boxes beside her, opened it cherishedly, and slowly took out an arm. Although it was already gray-white, it was still well-preserved. Facing the increasingly uncontrollable Shawent, she gently stroked the severed arm and said, "This is the most beautiful gift you ever left me, remember?"
Shawent could no longer suppress the intense, heart-wrenching pain. She bit her lower lip hard, forcing back the tears in her eyes.
Regina, in a manner even more unbearable to her, touched the stiff arm: "Of course, your memories with me are not limited to this, are they? What about your tender and sensitive body...?"
"Shut up!"
Shawent fired the beam gun at the severed arm in Regina's hand.
Instantly, it was reduced to a pile of charred particles.
Chapter 42 The Bite of Love-Attachment and Ignorance 3
Regina smiled faintly: "How can you bear to be so cruel to it, which was once a part of your life?"
Shawent found that her lower lip had been bitten bleeding. She said with hatred: "That part of me is dead, filthy and disgusting. Only by destroying you can my shame truly die."
She said fiercely again: "Besides, do you have the right to talk to me about cruelty?"
Regina's cat-like pupils were filled with a strange excitement. She said softly: "Among all my opponents or prey, I have never given anyone any treatment other than death—but only you. Five years ago, your arrogant and stubborn expression made me unable to help myself. But you were still so proud and stubborn, even after I cut off your arm, tattooed you, and possessed your body—"
Shawent trembled violently all over: "The only place you deserve to go is hell, you sadist!"
She could no longer hold back and madly fired at Regina.
Regina smiled unmoved. The beams that should have hit her were blocked by a transparent medium door. Shawent was stunned for a moment, only to find Regina disappearing into thin air before her eyes, and the room suddenly plunged into darkness.
She froze in the darkness, alert and guarded.
"Your tattoo is still there, right?"
The voice came from behind her. She turned and fired back—
But her gun was suddenly sucked away by some powerful force. Just as she was about to take out a second one, a pair of powerful arms grabbed her hands firmly from behind, twisting them behind her back.
"You lost this round again, Shawent."
The lights came on, and she saw the loudspeaker on the wall and the Ultra-gravity Vortex Device that had sucked away her pistol. Regina's tall and slender figure embraced her tightly from behind, saying in a gentle and triumphant tone: "Ignoring the environmental attack power is the fatal flaw of a killer—five years ago, I told you the same thing."
Shawent remained silent. Regina leaned close to her ear and said softly in her most tender and affectionate tone: "You can never leave my side again. I will possess you day and night, second by second, until you no longer refuse me, then I will not confine you. But before that—"
Shawent's voice was unexpectedly unfamiliar: "Before that, you are already dead."
Her right hand, with extraordinary sharpness, plunged deeply into Regina's back. Regina looked at the five sharp spikes emerging from her chest in disbelief. Blood trickled from the corners of her mouth, and she said strangely: "Did you do this?"
Shawent wrenched the weapon attached to her bionic limb from Regina's body and stood before her, motionless.
"Overlooking an opponent with counter-attack capabilities is the killer's reason for certain death. Regina, my bionic limb is a blind spot you never expected."
Regina's lips curved into a strange smile again: "I was killed by my own love, Shawent."
Maddened and disgusted, Shawent said: "You actually call that love? You took away the last shred of my dignity, leaving my current life a broken shell. You actually...?"
Regina said softly: "I have never regretted anything I did... I am truly dying, but you should understand that whether I live or die, what I have left for you is forever deeply ingrained in your life..."
She approached Shawent with all her strength, hugged her tightly, and said fervently: "My love makes you uncomfortable, but this is my life, my way, and whether you willingly or not, I will always be inside you, with you forever..."
Shawent, as if trapped in a nightmare, couldn't break free. Regina finally slowly collapsed. Even in death, her expression showed the satisfaction of a predator after seizing its prey.
Shawent knelt on the ground, gazing at Regina's corpse for a long time. Then, she unbuttoned her top, pressed the pistol to the tattoo on her right shoulder blade, and shot decisively. In an instant, the exquisite black lily turned into a faint silver scar. Biting her teeth to endure the pain, she picked up the microwave gun with her left hand and slowly decomposed the corpse on the ground.
Staring at the slowly floating particles in the air, Shawent's tears and her uncontrollable monologue fell together in the dead stillness of the night: "Perhaps you were right, it is precisely because of your death that I can no longer drive away the you within me."
"Silly child, that's only because you can't let her go!"
Shawent looked at Lucifer, who had taken shape, shocked and embarrassed: "You've been here all along!"
"After meeting a friend, I had a few drinks and accidentally stumbled into a show of passion and death unfolding."
Shawent turned her head away: "Are you only here to watch and mock?"
"Otherwise, should I cry with you?"
Shawent said bitterly: "Devil King, your wickedness is like a bottomless abyss."
Shaking his head, Lucifer refuted for the first time with seriousness. He said earnestly: "No, I can simply avoid being dragged down by emotions, because I happen to have the ability to refuse anything that would harm my essence. But if I accepted your feelings, I would synchronize with your mind – that would be terrifying, assimilation with alien mental waves!"
Shawent said decisively: "No, at least you can't completely push him away."
Lucifer tilted his head, like a Siamese cat alerted to something unclassifiable. "Who?"
Facing Lucifer, Shawent said clearly and powerfully: "Leola."
**********************
"I didn't expect to escape your detection after all."
"I didn't know at first that this was you..."
"Did you drill into my head again?"
"No, I just sensed the thoughts and traits you emanate."
"Forget it, your explanation is as good as none."
Leola looked at Phoenix, who was Zigana Vari, with a hint of sadness: "Is there anything I can do for you?"
Zigana said bluntly: "Leave here, and don't meet me again."
Leola glanced at him, comprehending and discerning, and said: "Is it for Paslin Rega?"
Zigana froze: "You—how did you know?"
"Don't be nervous, I definitely didn't infiltrate your brainwaves. That was just the result of reasoning and analysis—you are hiding in his residence, clearly retaining a confidential status.