Your Lord Has A Screw Loose?

Chapter 262: Chapter 264: The Zou Family Looking for Trouble

"Li Yan, come clean, what are you planning to do with the meteorite you captured, and what is the purpose of this device you're building!"

The leader was a Shadow wearing Shadow Equipment, and by the sound of his voice, he seemed to be quite old. However, the strength of his Shadow Equipment was not weak, almost reaching the fourth tier.

But his combat training didn't seem all that great; it looked as if he had been temporarily cultivated with various resources.

Nearly dozens of Shadows followed, each with exceptional strength, some being personnel whitewashed from certain illegal organizations, and some being new blood from direct lineages.

Qin Muye was seriously collecting data, completely ignoring the other party.

He had his own way in, and this giant mechanical device isolated the inside from the outside, using the Shadow Realm as an energy source. Unless the other side had the ability to overturn the Shadow Realm, they shouldn't dream of getting inside.

This left the other party shaking with anger, seemingly because they were being ignored by Qin Muye, which Qin found particularly odd. Were they really getting so worked up over such a trivial matter? Where had their breadth of spirit gone?

"Get him, let him learn what it means to respect the hierarchy. A mere commoner dares to be so blatantly disrespectful to the law," said the other party, who seemed like they might need their emergency heart pills any moment, their voice trembling a little.

Then, a surge of Shadows swarmed in, their demeanor suggesting they wanted to devour Qin Muye alive.

Qin Muye, however, just rolled his eyes at these words. Well, he had been relegated to 'commoner' status then. The era seemed to have developed a bit too quickly for his taste. He had thought it was still a society governed by law, but it seemed to have regressed to feudalism all of a sudden.

With all this talk about respecting the hierarchy and flagrant disregard for the law, it looked like the entire Sheng Country was now in the grip of the aristocracy; otherwise, such behavior wouldn't be possible.

He hadn't been following the news or paying much attention to other things as of late, seeing as he was continuously sampling and analyzing the magic-less environment of the Human Realm. He felt that to complete half of his task related to the Shadow Realm, the solution would lie within the environmental factors of the Human Realm.

So naturally, he was focused on his experiments and simply had no time to deal with external affairs.

Not long ago, the ordinary investigator who had been monitoring him had been called back, the details of which Qin didn't bother to find out.

And today, a group came knocking on his door as if someone had sucked their brains out.

Looking at the people stopped outside, Qin Muye shook his head, not intending to pay them any mind.

"Alright, alright, if you're going to be so arrogant, then just stay in there forever. If you dare to come out, I'll..."

"Blow you up into fireworks," Qin Muye said, looking at the noisy crowd outside. He didn't understand why it seemed as though they were the ones who came to his door full of bluster, threatening his life, yet he was the one being accused of arrogance.

So all he could do was to be a bit arrogant in response and blow them up into fireworks.

The body of the other party began to swell, inflating crazily as if it were a balloon.

Bang~

After inflating to the limit, a loud explosion was inevitable. The person blew up into a burst of flesh and blood that splattered everywhere.

All those who were attacking the Protective Shield heard this commotion and immediately felt a sense of cold dread.

Just like that, the strongest among them was gone.

Although the other party was not strong experience-wise, the power bestowed by their Shadow Equipment was undeniable and definitely not something this group could compare with.

The Shadow System did have its benefits; as long as there were enough resources, one could pile them up to create a powerful Shadow without worrying about a hollow foundation or instability, for from the beginning, this path could only be strengthened through monetary investment.

And the commoners? They could only be as miserable as life allowed.

For instance, Qin Muye's Shadow Book, because it lacked further nurturing, had stopped growing after it fully developed.

It was equivalent to leveling up without gaining any experience, only able to level up by spending money. Perhaps changing to the Shadow profession might bring about a change, but it was unlikely that Qin would choose the Shadow profession just because of that.

What he wanted now had to be at least Epic and not just Rare Level.

"Go back, don't waste your time. Unless you have the strength of Tian Peng, the former head of the Shadow Administration, or you manage to bring Yin Mountain Lord over, consider it a lucky day if you leave here with an intact corpse," Qin Muye kindly suggested to the group.

That was putting civility before force. If they left now, Qin Muye would let them go, meanwhile having them spread the word about his strength. Otherwise, he would have to kill them all with no one knowing his capabilities, and then any Tom, Dick, or Harry might come knocking for a challenge.

But if they didn't leave, Qin Muye would have to send them on their way, since he wouldn't mind making an example out of them to warn others—there were plenty of chickens to kill, and it would just as easy to deal with another batch that came looking for trouble. If they were all determined to be so stubborn, then Qin Muye would simply have to take time out of his busy schedule to kill them.

Fortunately, this group had some brains.

"Thank you, Professor Li, it wasn't our intention to come here, but we were forcefully sent by the Zou family. The one you treated to fireworks just now was the second uncle of the Zou family. You should be cautious, they won't let the matter rest so easily. They want to imprison you in order to locate more relics,"

one of the hired retainers quickly spoke up and then naturally beat a hasty retreat.

Just like that, with each displaying their divine skills, they scattered like birds and beasts.

Stay here and wait for death?

All of these people were well aware of Tian Peng and the Yin Mountain Lord; as for the thought of belittling either or comparing themselves, none dared to harbor such preposterous thoughts.

Only the second uncle of the Zou family, with his age and sudden surge in power, was too muddled to see things clearly—as someone who had been a spoiled brat from a young age, he started blabbering like a fool as soon as he arrived.

Of course, part of the reason was that the Zou family had obtained a considerable amount of benefits and power in the recent strife, which caused this already not-too-bright scion to swell with arrogance.

Furthermore, the Zou Family Head, who indulged him, considered him favorable because he hadn't competed for the position in the past. That's why he was sent to gild his reputation and handle some minor matters.

From the beginning, the Zou family didn't take 'Li Yan' seriously.

So, this led to the current absurd situation; yet, it made sense—they didn't believe Qin Muye possessed the resources needed to nurture shadows.

The passages into the Shadow Realm had long been controlled by the major families; other than those families, no shadows could enter.

Otherwise, why would they bother obliterating the Shadow Administration if not for these interests?

If the Shadow Administration held control, it wouldn't just be the families calling the shots, but they'd also have to share with the upper echelons of Sheng Country.

The families are one thing, and Sheng Country's high government officials something else. Though there might be some overlap, the higher-ups included politicians and power-seekers who had risen from the lower ranks and did not share the same path. This was why such large-scale power grabs and intense rivalry over interests occurred.

Although the families had won, it didn't mean the struggle for power and resources was over. The battles between the families had just begun anew, simply over the division of interests.

If it were Qin Muye, all these people would have to bleed one by one.

He could tolerate his subordinates lacking power, but he wouldn't tolerate infighting, wastefulness, and not understanding their place under his command.

Just wait a while longer. Once the Extraordinary System completely overlays the modern system, the era of peace will turn into a survival of the fittest.

Just wait for a strong figure to act, to suppress everything directly. @@novelbin@@

Only, Qin Muye felt this probably wouldn't happen, because he was about to take drastic actions.

All those dreaming of living above others, thinking of moving mountains and reclaiming seas, will see when the Shadow Realm fully separates, the Shadow System will collapse abruptly, and Transcendents soaring towards the peak will crash down hard, like a dog eating dirt.

Afterwards, they'd have to honestly return to regular society.

"Thinking about it this way, I really have a heavy burden of sin, completely dooming a perfectly good Extraordinary System,"

"Not only am I going to annihilate the entire Shadow System, I'm also going to devour the Shadow Realm, the source of transcendence,"

When Qin Muye acted, he would strike fatally, without leaving any room for survival.

"Oh, speaking of which, when I remember, I not only have to devour the source of transcendence from the Shadow Realm, I also have to drain all the resources of the Human Realm."

Qin Muye realized that although he was supposedly the protagonist, his behavior and style were sprinting towards those of a villain, with no chance of turning back.

He suspected it might be because he lacked the Main Character Aura, which resulted in his actions resembling those of a villain, especially when it came to underhanded tactics, which he found increasingly easier to use.

"Indeed, this blame should be shouldered by 'Lord Era'; it has nothing to do with me. I'm just a scholar without any power to truss a chicken."

After all, as long as the scapegoating isn't on oneself, it doesn't matter who carries it—everyone else is just as good.