I created the Bureau of Anomaly Control

“Who told you to say these things?” the Divine Firmament Walker said with a nonchalant expression. “They don’t really think they can threaten me, do they? If that’s what they think, tell them…”

“The reason I won’t surrender is simple: because I won’t lose.”

The Shadow revealed a pitying smile:

“Are you still expecting someone to save you?

“Then let me show you.”

The images on the wall’s display screen changed from the earlier ‘Qin Luan’s Believers’ to something resembling a work report. In the center was a map of the entire Federation, marked with the current members of the Investigation Department and the Salvation Alliance in various colors.

“Open your eyes and take a look,” the Shadow said, staring into Qin Luan’s eyes. “The West Federation and the East Federation have basically fallen. Those who are still alive, though they have received help from other forces and can barely survive, no longer pose any threat.

“The survivors in the South Federation and the North Federation are more numerous than in other regions, but you should know what's there—their actions are entirely within our expectations.

“The things these Salvation Alliance members will do next are completely contrary to their mission. Even if they wanted to, they couldn't possibly contend with those things. They can only tear your remaining strength into shreds.

“And at the rate it's being destroyed, even if they were all gathered together, there's no way they could have any impact on your current influence. The result will only be that they accelerate the arrival of the Great Collapse, and ultimately, we'll pay a considerable price to kill them all.”

The Divine Firmament Walker calmly replied:

“If they really posed no threat, you wouldn’t have come to me.”

The Shadow earnestly said:

“We just don't want to waste resources. You know how many opponents we have.

“Before they can regain you, they still have to face pressure from all sides. If you save some resources, it can make them more comfortable, and the Investigation Department will have the energy to deal with their private matters. Therefore, we want to make a suggestion.

“We don't need any promises, just that you unilaterally cut off the already meaningless connection with the Salvation Alliance. Politicians certainly won't let you regain your strength to deal with the power provided by the Salvation Alliance.

“Therefore, we will take care of the remaining side and have them announce their dissolution as well.

“As long as you agree to this request, these Salvation Alliance members won't have to make meaningless sacrifices anymore. The Federation can also guarantee that as long as your sister doesn't attack the Federation itself, she will have complete freedom, and we won't interfere with her killing humans from non-Federation factions.

“And even if she really stands against us, we will still hold back.

“All you can do is sell it for different prices, and this is already a very good condition.”

The Divine Firmament Walker knew their purpose.

The Salvation Alliance was one of her sources of power, and the Federation wanted to replace it with something else—that group of ability users the Shadow had just shown her.

They wanted to control her source of power. Those fanatical believers would put her and her wishes before everything else, even if it meant sacrificing their lives and all their friends and family. There was only one thing above her—the interests of the Federation.

Moreover, they would use complex procedures to restrain the Divine Firmament Walker's power.

If she accepted this group of believers, they would become part of ‘Reality Warper Qin Luan,’ like a destined returnee bound by mythology. The things they firmly believed in would become reality because of Qin Luan's power.

This was one of the seventy-two shackles the Federation had prepared for her. More than a dozen of them were already in effect, but other restraints, including the Salvation Organization, couldn't be easily implemented directly on her.

Theoretically, the Federation could control her power with a minimum of thirty-six to forty-eight restraints in effect. The fluctuation in this number was due to the difference in the ‘weight’ of these shackles, but politicians required at least sixty restraints to be running smoothly before allowing the Divine Firmament Walker to leave the reality stabilization device.

They were very afraid of death.

The Salvation Organization also ranked among the top restraints on her. As one of her sources of power, controlling this organization could affect the strength of her power through certain pre-designed procedures.

This was why they were still pursuing the Salvation Alliance. If they could directly destroy them, there would be no need to negotiate with Qin Luan. However, they estimated that destroying the Salvation Alliance in the short term was a very unworthy choice.

This meant they couldn't do that.

If Qin Luan agreed to their request, the number of people in that Salvation Organization would begin to increase explosively. In their plan, the final size of the new Salvation Organization would be dozens of times larger than the Salvation Alliance at its peak.

When negotiating with other organizations, the Federation announced a lie that couldn't be easily exposed through complex anomalous measures.

They claimed that the future Divine Firmament Walker would be weaker than before.

While this wasn't the decisive reason, it did promote the alliance of high-level ability users throughout the Federation.

But the opposite was true. In their plan, the Divine Firmament Walker would be much stronger than before.

She would become the politicians' weapon and tool, and they were a bunch of ambitious and boundless bastards. They wanted to rule the entire known world forever, and they didn't want their position to be overturned by any accidents.

They wanted to create an unstoppable divine weapon.

And they would mix all kinds of restraints into the Divine Firmament Walker's new source of power. The best example was the new Salvation Organization under their control. According to the final plan, they would be able to control the strength of the Divine Firmament Walker at will.

Of course, they would also arrange the adjustment system they used when capturing her. If the Divine Firmament Walker attempted to threaten the lives, freedom, will, or anything else of these politicians...

She would fall into the mortal realm.

But as long as she followed the most basic orders and restraints, she would have considerable freedom. She could do whatever she wanted to any creature other than the politicians, and they had actually prepared several other departments, intending to work with her to save the world.

They wanted to rule the world, so they would have Qin Luan postpone the arrival of the Great Collapse for as long as they lived.

The remaining prediction machines were basically unable to do anything about Tier V anomalous entities, and even maintaining their operation now required paying several companies unreasonably high fees.

But the Federation still paid a huge reward to preserve the wreckage of this machine after the operation ended.

It was left for Qin Luan.

Therefore, in the Federation's earliest expectations, given that they were offering this Divine Firmament Walker, who had no bargaining chips, such generous conditions, she should immediately cooperate with their work.

There were indeed conflicts between the Divine Firmament Walker and them, but they weren't irreconcilable. The Divine Firmament Walker's defeat was essentially a unilateral resolution of the conflict between them.

The biggest difficulty they encountered should just be some somewhat harsh conditions, and then the politicians would have a long negotiation with the Divine Firmament Walker, constantly exchanging chips and probing the bottom line, but eventually they would stand on the same front.

At least that's what the politicians thought.

But things didn't go as smoothly as they had imagined. The Divine Firmament Walker didn't discuss with them how to balance the interests of both sides, nor did she say what conditions she would need to leave here and take over the responsibilities of the heads of the Investigation Department and the Salvation Department.

Most politicians thought that the Divine Firmament Walker was stalling for time, a negotiating tactic. They offered several ways to deal with it, some saying to drag it out with her, some suggesting to find a way to create a deadline, and others proposing to give her some initial benefits to break the deadlock.

But some politicians raised other possibilities—although the Divine Firmament Walker hadn't precisely foreseen this, she might have vaguely seen some blurred images and made preparations in advance, and she was waiting for something.

One piece of supporting evidence for this possibility was the accidental escape of her sister, Qin Lan.

After investigation, they had found out the reason she was able to escape. At the time, there was an ability user named Ma En present who had the ability to counter prediction machines. Although after learning of his ability, the staff in charge of the prediction machine could map out his specific location using newly designed algorithms, which also showed that he wasn't strong enough to be very dangerous.

But since the Prediction Department could detect his abnormality, Qin Luan could definitely see at a glance that he had the ability to counter prediction and might have placed him next to her sister.

Of course, it might have nothing to do with her at all, but that would be too much of a coincidence.

After all, the protagonist of this accident was Qin Lan—the Divine Firmament Walker's only living relative.

And if she could do this, then there might be other backup plans. This was why the Shadow had come here. This was a test. If the Divine Firmament Walker took the opportunity to make demands or showed a desire to negotiate, it might just be the former.

“The Salvation Alliance is not my subordinate, nor are they my warriors,” the Divine Firmament Walker replied. “They are fighting for ideals and justice. My words are useless.”

The Shadow replied:

“What if I give them ideals and justice?

“You personally confronted the Gods in the South Federation. You should be able to see their essence clearly—their ambition and arrogance, and their demands to rule us humans again. Their actions in recent years have also been under my constant attention.

“They are trying to escape their seal and want to bring about the end you speak of, and we have prepared measures to deal with them, but now your Salvation Alliance has joined forces with the Moon God. They will become a threat to all of humanity.

“We can give them new possibilities, let them join us in fighting these evil Gods.

“This is just a microcosm of the entire Federation. The Salvation Alliance in other regions has also begun to contact various forces. They have no other choice, so they are forced to make deals with demons, but now there is an opportunity…

“An opportunity for them not to violate their ideals, an opportunity for them to return home safely. They have proven through their efforts that they deserve to live, which is hard-earned.

“Now all that's missing is your permission. Think about them. The remaining Salvation Alliance can no longer bear the heavy responsibility. It's time for them to return to ordinary life.

“Leave the task of saving the world to the Federation.”

Qin Luan sighed:

“Before you took action against me, the Gods were not dangerous at all. At least for hundreds of years, they all had to stay in the ‘Wasteland.’ These problems were entirely caused by your ambition.”

If they hadn't dealt with Qin Luan, the Gods Alliance wouldn't have been formed. According to the original South Federation strategy set by the Federation, they wouldn't have had any chance to try to escape the Titan's Curse for hundreds of years.

“But…” Qin Luan paused, “I can agree to dissolve the Salvation Alliance. I will send you the new conditions I have organized. Don't worry, they will definitely agree to my request.

“I can see.”

The time had come.

The Shadow stood up with a look of surprise:

“Thank you for your cooperation. I believe that soon we will jointly defend the freedom of the Federation and humanity.

“By the way, there's one more small thing I'm curious about.”

The Divine Firmament Walker asked:

“What is it?”

He paused and asked:

“That Ma En, is he really your man?”

The Divine Firmament Walker shook her head:

“Of course not. His appearance was also a coincidence.”

The Shadow said:

“Okay.”

Maybe that really was a coincidence, but there might be something else secretly reaching out a knife to the Federation. In any case, the importance of this Ma En wasn't low, but it wasn't as important as some politicians said.

Because he knew that Qin Luan was telling the truth.

The Shadow slowly disappeared in front of her, as if fading away.

But he didn't let this consciousness return to his body. Instead, he continued to sink in the collective subconscious ocean, constantly traversing long distances through the special connection between humans, leaping over countless darkness and memories.

In the middle, he could see traces of the Gods' past existence, as well as their huge bodies in the distant south. He could also see scattered scenes of when they once ruled the world in ancient times, but as he continued to dive, the figures of the Gods gradually disappeared from his sight.

Fear, anger, hunger, the most primitive emotions and impulses enveloped him, trying to decompose him into basic consciousness in this layer, but these things couldn't stop the Shadow's progress. He had already passed through the primitive layer hundreds of times.

Then there was a brief blank.

Wait, had he already reached the place far from the madding crowd?

He should have gone through several different familiar sections, but it was as if he had made a spatial jump in the mental dimension and arrived here directly, but the Shadow knew there was no time to think about these issues...

The dazzling golden light cut through the dark and dim mental world. A familiar and strange figure floated in the air. Those deep eyes hid the most dangerous conspiracies in the world. It was the sentences uttered by that mouth that allowed him to secretly influence the direction of the world.

The Shadow returned to his master.