Bayonet had a doubtful look on his face. Just what was Nie Yan planning? He suddenly recalled that Nie Yan had recorded a video of Liu Tianshi killing Qin Han. His heart trembled. “I see... You’re planning to use that.”

“Correct.” Nie Yan nodded. A potential calamity like Liu Tianshi had to be eliminated!

If Liu Tianshi wanted to extract the microbomb, it would take time, a lot of time. News of Qin Han’s death would quickly reach the Monet Financial Group, who would definitely investigate the matter. If somehow the video of Liu Tianshi killing Qin Han just happened to fall in their hands, one could imagine what would happen. Even though their influence in China couldn’t compare to Liu Tianshi’s, they could still send hitmen!

The hitmen sent by the Monet Financial Group might not necessarily be able to kill Liu Tianshi. However, with Bayonet’s help, it would be a completely different story. Since he could accurately track Liu Tianshi’s location, he could create the perfect opportunity for the Monet Financial Group to strike.

The tracker had a wiretap feature. So, until Liu Tianshi extracted the microbomb and tracker, Nie Yan and Bayonet would be safe. If he somehow died before he could have it removed, the secret would go to the grave with him.

Liu Tianshi had killed Qin Han. The Monet Financial Group wouldn’t take this lying down. They’d sent people to kill Liu Tianshi. Perhaps even a war would break out between these two major powers. All the while, Nie Yan would watch these enemies of his fight each other from the sidelines and reap the rewards.

This was a fool proof plan!

“Good plan!” Bayonet sighed in admiration. Like this, it would be as if their group had never been involved in the first place. Both Qin Han and Liu Tianshi would die, and World Bloc wouldn’t suffer the backlash.

“I’ll leave this matter to you,” Nie Yan said. Bayonet was much more experienced than him in dealing with these sorts of things. He knew exactly how to provide the video to the Monet Financial Group without arousing their suspicion.

“Don’t worry. I’ll make sure everything goes off without a hitch,” Bayonet said. This kind of matter was trivial for him.

Tang Yao had to rest in the hospital for a few days. After making sure his brother would be alright, Nie Yan brought Wang Duo, Lin Yi, and the others to a restaurant and treated them to lunch as thanks for rushing over to the rescue.

“Just what kind of special forces unit is the 12th Mech Armoured Corps?” Nie Yan couldn’t help but ask.

“The 12th Mech Armoured Corps is composed out of 12 people in total, and we have 11 of those 12 right here. We were selected from a military-wide competition. It’s an independent unit that reports directly to the Council of Generals. Normally, no one can touch us. As for our work, we pilot the new high-tech mech suits, and go off to special missions during wartime,” Wang Duo gave a brief summary. As for any specific details, those were military secrets he couldn’t divulge.

Nie Yan gained a rough understanding of the 12th Mech Armoured Corps.

“Instructor Nie Yan, don’t worry. If that punk Liu Tianshi tries to touch you again, just give us a call. We aren’t afraid of him or his old man.”

“Right! If one beating wasn’t enough, we’ll give him more!”

Hearing these words, Nie Yan chuckled. Liu Tianshi wouldn’t get a second opportunity, he’d make sure of it.

Nie Yan told Wang Duo and the others to pretend today never happened, to take it all with them to the grave.

...

Over the next several days, Nie Yan remained inside the Temple of the Goddess of Life. He looked over many books before returning to his search for a lone Variant Lord. Time quickly flew by. One day, he received an update. Bayonet had made some progress on his side. He had made contact with the people the Monet Financial Group sent over to investigate Qin Han’s murder. He claimed to have information on it and quoted a price of 150,000,000 USD for the video in his possession. After an intense back and forth, the two sides finally settled on a price of 90,000,000, whereupon the Monet Financial Group received the video.

Qin Han’s death had shaken the entire Qin Family. When they saw the footage of Liu Tianshi murdering him, they were absolutely fuming with rage. This was irrefutable evidence! Even though they didn’t know the specifics, who cares!? Their heir was dead, and this Liu Tianshi was to blame! They could only think of revenge.

The higher ups of the Monet Financial Group immediately held an emergency meeting. Considering the Liu Family’s influence in China was enormous, their normal methods for revenge wouldn’t work. As a result, they recruited some top hitmen and mercenaries. Whoever killed Liu Tianshi would receive a reward of 100,000,000 USD!

From all around the globe, contract killers flocked to China. They didn’t care for Liu Tianshi’s status, only for the bounty on his head.

After receiving Bayonet’s report, Nie Yan faintly chuckled. He had turned his enemies against each other.

After sharing this incident with Tang Yao, Nie Yan became increasingly aware of just how small World Bloc was. He still had a lot of work ahead of him. Right now, there were countless dangers he had to keep in mind. His every action had to be laced with care. If World Bloc was powerful, there would be no need to fear people like Liu Tianshi! Even though the crisis this time had been averted, he might not be so lucky next time. Not to mention, he still had two formidable enemies in Cao Xu and Soaring Angel. The day they’d clash was fast approaching.

𝙛𝓻𝒆𝒆𝒘𝙚𝓫𝙣𝙤𝒗𝙚𝓵.𝙘𝙤𝙢

Nie Yan made a phone call and inquired about the state of World Bloc. At least in the present, their growth was impressive. They were eating up more and more market share in the metal production and virtual reality industries. The wealth they accumulated was invested in Century Financial Group shares in preparation for the inevitable showdown.

Tang Yao’s incident made Nie Yan realize that fate was a cruel mistress. Cao Xu would likely still take action against the Nie Family in this life. This was simply unavoidable.

When evening came, Nie Yan entered the game like usual. He appeared in the outer region of the Temple of the Goddess of Life.

Likely because not a single intruder had been spotted for several days, the number of Variant Lords roaming around in the outer area of the temple had greatly diminished. At the very least, Nie Yan didn’t see several dozens Variant Lords gathered together anymore.

After passing through a section of ruins, Nie Yan finally discovered a lone Variant Lord. It was a Mage in red robes, most likely fire magic specialist.

This was perfect! If it were a Warrior, Nie Yan would definitely have a much tougher time.

The Variant Lord roamed around aimlessly. From time to time, it would stop and raise its palm, conjuring up a ball of raging flames.

Nie Yan slowly circled behind the Variant Lord. He was only 30 meters away.

The Variant Lord seemed to sense something and looked over at its surroundings.

Extreme Vanish!

Nie Yan suddenly shot forward and pounced on the Variant Lord.

Extreme Vanish greatly enhanced Nie Yan’s stealth. So much so, that when the Variant Lord looked around, it was clueless to his presence. It was about to continue on patrolling, when a cold light flashed behind its back.

BANG! Nie Yan struck the Variant Lord in the back of the head with a Smothering Strike. A stun!

The effects of Extreme Vanish were sublime. The Variant Lord didn’t even notice him when he was only three meters away. By then, it was already too late to dodge!

Apocalyptic Extinction! Backstab! Eviscerate! Lacerate! Nie Yan let loose with a chain of skills. His actions were as fluid as water.

Just as the stun was about to wear off, Nie Yan plunged his dagger into the Variant Lord’s spine.

Backbreaker!

After cycling through all his skills, Nie Yan had kept the Variant Lord immobilized for over 30 seconds and shaved away almost half its health!

Looking at his skill bar, all his attack skills were on cooldown. He immediately retreated far back and took out his Cavalry Crossbow. After which he fired a volley of arrows at the Variant Lord. Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!

The Variant Lord finally broke free from the stun. It waved its staff and sent a barrage of fire magic flying towards Nie Yan.

The raging hot flames whistled through the air. Nie Yan quickly escaped with Gale Step.

After evading the Variant Lord’s attacks non-stop for half-a-minute, its health had already recovered by more than 15%. Suddenly, Nie Yan employed the Shadow Steps to close in on the Variant Lord. With perfect timing, he stunned the Variant Lord and let loose with another round of attacks.

Roughly 10 minutes later, Nie Yan killed the Variant Lord with a Hell Execution. It collapsed on the ground with a thud.

Nie Yan picked up the loot. He obtained a Dark Moon Gem Shard and a few hundred gold. Aside from that, there was nothing else.

A Dark Moon Gem Shard!

According to rumours, 30 Dark Moon Gem Shards could be combined into a Dark Moon Gem. Even the lowest quality Dark Moon Gems were Sub Legendary-grade items. Some higher quality ones were even Legendary-grade. They were priceless items. In the previous timeline, a single shard could sell for several tens of thousands of gold. Generally, only the leaders of big guilds dared to collect them. Back then, he had only seen a single Dark Moon Gem, It was Sub Legendary-grade and provided a Legendary armour skill.

The owner had reportedly spent well over 700,000 gold to collect the 30 shards required to make this gem. When Nie Yan heard of this, he was dumbstruck. The Dark Moon Gem was such an expensive item!

Nie Yan started dreaming of crafting a Dark Moon Gem himself. A gem of this quality could be socketed into Zennarde’s Sword or the Tyrant Abak Set. He just happened to be lacking in high quality gems. Using ordinary gems to socket Zennarde’s Sword or the Tyrant Abak Set seemed like a huge waste. One could even say it would be a disgrace to their reputations!

Nie Yan stored away the Dark Moon Gem Shard in his bag. Looking at the Variant Lord’s face, he activated Disguise.

Nie Yan’s body started growing taller and his face morphed until he looked exactly like the Variant Lord.

Nie Yan checked his appearance. The disguise was a success! He dashed off toward the inner section of the temple.