I created the Bureau of Anomaly Control

South Federation, suburbs.

Several hundred fully armed Investigation Department members had established a temporary base in the wilderness, setting up white tents and enclosing an open space in the middle, where dozens of federal experts were standing, preparing for the upcoming rituals.

Wang Yin stood at the entrance of a tall tent, looking down at the entire open space, where intricate patterns formed a symbol similar to an inverted pentagram, with some bizarre structures that even caused dizziness when viewed from here.

The girl slightly shifted her gaze:

"Will he come?"

The Federation had established a complex and comprehensive anti-detection system in this area, making it impossible to reach this location without prior knowledge of the coordinates.

The boy's voice came from behind her:

"Nothing can stop reality benders, and this kind of trouble has to be faced sooner or later. It's better to set a trap before they realize it."

Although it wasn't the first time she'd heard it, the other person's voice still sent chills down Wang Yin's spine.

The speaker was a seemingly ordinary-looking teenager, around sixteen years old, with short black hair, sitting cross-legged on the ground, with some subconscious little actions that matched his age.

But the boy's eyes occasionally revealed a depth that didn't match his appearance.

This was her direct superior—Shadow.

"I can hear your thoughts," Shadow said with some dissatisfaction. "Don't think bad things about me in your head."

"Sorry," Wang Yin said quickly.

Although it was strange, she felt that the boy behind her was far more like a child than she was, and she was also well aware that Shadow's different bodies could theoretically still share the same consciousness, and that Shadow was likely doing just that at this moment.

She still found it difficult to associate the boy in front of her with the man sitting in the office, not only because of the subtle expressions and movements, but also because his way of doing things was different. The usual Shadow wouldn't eavesdrop on her thoughts, and even if he did, he wouldn't show it.

He had enough restraint.

"That's why I say you two are just pretending to be kids," the teenage Shadow said, pouting. "You're just too stupid to realize the unique charm of different ages. Although humans at this age are indeed very immature, they also have a vigor that you old fogeys can't understand."

"And as long as I discard the bad parts, I can enjoy the best state of different ages at the same time. Besides, I was much more combative when I was younger. A few years ago, I might have had the energy to fight with others, but now I'm too lazy to fight with anyone."

"It's all work."

Wang Yin proactively steered the topic toward the matter at hand:

"Are you worried that this might be a trap set by the Salvation Alliance?"

The teenage Shadow replied:

"Of course. I wouldn't be surprised by anything the guys following Shenxiao do, but since he dared to come to me personally, it means he's not worried about me invading his will, which means he can't be on our side."

The girl picked up the thread and said:

"But you absolutely can't invade his mind. Maybe he's just confident enough in that."

Wang Yin was right. They were both well aware that Shadow couldn't invade the mind of the Salvation Alliance representative at this time, especially since he also possessed certain mental abilities. Doing so would only bring him countless troubles, and those who coveted his position would seize the opportunity to attack him within the Federation.

And he needed this position.

"That's right. If that's the case, it can only prove that Ma En has enough guts," Shadow said with an arrogant nod. "But the truly important thing isn't courage, but vision."

"If the Salvation Alliance really doesn't want to negotiate and still came to find me, then it can only prove their stupidity."

As expected.

The teenage Shadow and the Shadow sitting in the office chair were not the same person at all. The Shadow after adulthood would never say anything harsh. He had already outgrown the stage of needing to boast.

But what he said now was the truth.

Shadow said:

"So you don't have to worry about the Salvation Alliance at all, or to put it more appropriately, you don't have to be wary of Ma En. After today, you'll never have the chance to meet again."

"They're useless now, too."

The Salvation Alliance's significance to the Federation was merely Shenxiao's source of power, just like Qin Lan's identity was merely Qin Luan's sister. After removing the most important person, the Federation wouldn't even look at them.

"I hope so," Wang Yin said with a heavy heart.

The teenage Shadow glanced at her.

Her emotions were a bit off. Her current feelings couldn't correspond well with the other parts of her mind.

Shadow immediately realized the reason—Wang Yin, like others he had come into contact with, was affected by the Moon God's disappearance, but he wasn't particularly worried about it.

After all, the past him and the Federation allowed this to happen, which indicated that this was an acceptable price for them, since they ultimately put a god to sleep.

The Federation's plans and arrangements were progressing steadily.

"They're here," Shadow stood up, preparing to greet the arriving Salvation Alliance members.

As he spoke, Ma En walked out of a tent not far away, followed by seven other Salvation Alliance members.

The other Salvation Alliance members were almost all nearby, even Shang Mingxin, who had already "defected," was no exception, the purpose of bringing him was to show Hong Yuan the way.

On this matter, he thought the same as Shadow. Ma En didn't try to stop Hong Yuan from coming. Rather than leaving him to be dealt with later, it was best to take the opportunity to use Shadow to kill him while he had the chance.

Moreover, all the Salvation Alliance members who came with him were unaware of his deal with Shadow, which meant that Hong Yuan had no way of knowing about it through moles or spying on other members. Therefore, he was definitely "underestimating the enemy" now.

But even considering these things, Ma En knew that the situation was still risky for him.

So Ma En did something else—he made good use of the resources at hand.

Almost all the Salvation Alliance members at the banquet at that time were present.

Only a young man named Cha Yun didn't come.

He was precisely the man who had tried to resist Hong Yuan at the banquet and was then minced into meat.

[Ability Used: Flesh Control IV]

The distant Shadow smiled when he saw Ma En, and then walked towards them under the gaze of all the Salvation Alliance members, with Wang Yin following closely behind him.

"Very good, you brought them all as we agreed," the teenage Shadow said mischievously, uttering words that could easily cause misunderstandings.

Li Xiuyu was the first to react:

"Shadow? You didn't say you were coming in person?"

Ma En slightly raised his hand:

"It's okay, I asked him to come."

Hearing these words, the other Salvation Alliance members all looked at Ma En, but seeing that he didn't intend to explain immediately, they calmly shifted their gaze back to the opposite side.

This scene surprised both Shadow and Wang Yin somewhat.

It seemed that Ma En had gained the trust of all the Salvation Alliance members, which was not a simple matter. At least, according to the information in the hands of the Federation and the Investigation Department, there were many suspicious points in his experience.

While Wang Yin was still surprised and puzzled by Ma En's performance, Shadow had already accepted this fact. He didn't care how Ma En had done it, as long as he knew that what had happened was enough.

"Why have you become like a child?" Ma En said with a puzzled expression.

Shadow simply smiled at Ma En's question, which had a hidden meaning:

"This way, I can better handle your request."

His earliest probing was actually quite clever, not only could it reveal the relationship between the Salvation Alliance and Ma En, but it wouldn't cause too much resentment or resistance from the other party, because he was just saying something that everyone could see as a joke.

If these words really caused some chaos, then Ma En wouldn't be in the mood to say anything, but if it was like the current situation, anything he said would seem a bit petty.

And that was what Shadow really wanted to test—Ma En the person.

And Ma En immediately responded to his test with the same degree of "joke." He himself couldn't say anything about it, otherwise he would be admitting that his actions just now were like a child.

Moreover, if he understood it literally, then the conversation could proceed quite smoothly.

No wonder he was the one sent to negotiate with him.

"Are you ready to sign the contract?" Ma En asked.

Shadow turned to look at the open space below, picked up his words, and said:

"Of course, anytime."

The Salvation Alliance members all followed his gaze to look at the blasphemous ritual core below, and then most of them turned their heads away almost imperceptibly after seeing it, even Ma En was no exception, only his movements were slightly slower than the others.

Seeing this scene, Wang Yin felt a bit of relief and pleasure. She had been a little worried that Ma En could stare at the ritual below for a long time, but now it seemed that he was no different from her in this matter.

In fact, Wang Yin's mood had been very complicated ever since she learned about the cooperation proposed by Ma En from Shadow.

Out of fear and concern for Shenxiao, she certainly hoped that Ma En could successfully sign the ceasefire agreement with the Federation, but she didn't want to see Ma En perform particularly well in this matter.

It was as if it were a very bad thing for her.

Therefore, Wang Yin thoroughly reviewed Ma En's life. In his first twenty-odd years, he was quite ordinary, and was once trapped in an abnormal mental hospital, and was diagnosed with various serious mental problems. This news also made the girl feel a bit relieved.

But after being discharged from the hospital, Ma En seemed to be compensating for his first twenty-odd years of ordinary life. He suddenly entered the then-existing Coordination Bureau, and was assigned to participate in the Devil's Descent plan used to confuse Shenxiao. Before this, everything was still normal.

Then he encountered Shenxiao's defeat...

Then he fled Dongxin Prefecture with Shenxiao's sister, and gathered a group of Salvation Alliance members in Godwin Prefecture, destroyed the local hunting ritual, and killed a group of Fire God's people, and finally came to their presence.

These experiences made Wang Yin feel a sense of incongruity. Compared with his later life, the previous twenty-odd years seemed fake. If based on his situation after leaving the mental hospital, it was impossible for him to be so ordinary before.

Did he really have mental problems until recently when he was cured?

Or...

The girl had a rather terrible speculation in her heart. Although this idea seemed quite stupid to her, only those incompetent politicians who were dominated by fear would think so, but she couldn't drive this idea out of her mind no matter what.

It was as if it had already taken root in her mind.

Like those politicians, she began to suspect that Ma En was Shenxiao's contingency plan.

Wang Yin didn't try to bring up this idea with anyone, including her brother Wang Yang. At this moment, Shadow probably didn't know either. Even if she told Shadow this, it would immediately be considered an absurd idea.

Because the rational part of her also felt that her idea was unreasonable. Normally, she should dismiss these doubts and worries after reaching this point, but maybe because she was a Wraith...

Her rationality still couldn't overcome her sensibility.

Therefore, Wang Yin was also taking the opportunity to observe Ma En and the other Salvation Alliance members who followed him. Their attitude of not questioning Ma En deepened the girl's worries, while Ma En's action of quickly looking away calmed her emotions a bit.

At least he hadn't shown any truly outstanding qualities yet.

The girl suddenly looked at Ma En and said:

"I'm a little glad now that I didn't really attack you when I was in Dongxin Prefecture, otherwise you wouldn't have the chance to cooperate with us here now."

Ma En looked at her with some surprise, and then said:

"You're right, if you were replaced by someone else, things might not have gone so smoothly."

The girl feigned an angered expression:

"Get it straight, you're the ones surrendering now."

Ma En narrowed his eyes coldly and stared at her:

"But that has nothing to do with you."

Wang Yin smiled contemptuously:

"You have no idea what I did in the South Federation."

In fact, she didn't know either.

She only learned from Shadow that she had once led the operation against the Moon God here, and although no one remembered this matter anymore, the Federation still recorded a considerable merit for her and the Federation.

Regardless of the side effects, they killed a god.

"Enough," the teenage Shadow scolded with some dissatisfaction. "This isn't a surrender, it's just a ceasefire negotiation."

But in fact, they were all clear that although this couldn't be considered a surrender, it wasn't an equal negotiation either. They could get a chance to start over only because the Federation valued Shenxiao.

The girl took a few steps back with slight dissatisfaction.

But she felt quite happy in her heart, because looking at Ma En's reaction, he didn't quite fit her unrealistic guess. The anger he revealed instead exposed that he had no way to refute her words, and could only directly attack her.

Anger stems from fear.

Wang Yin knew this very well.

Resurrection.