He could vaguely remember that there was a terrifying existence with the codename Vortex among the Nine Great Supernatural Entities in his previous life.
Unfortunately, in his previous life, he was just a normal citizen at the lowest level of society in Dragon City. He did not have much interaction with the Supernatural Entities. Aside from the White Spirit and a handful of other Supernatural Entities, he did not know what the Vortex looked like or what skills it was skilled in.
There was only one thing he was certain of.
The Nine Great Supernatural Entities had their own strengths. Since the Demonic Abyss Eye's skill was to implant thoughts and spread fear, the Vortex's skill was definitely not limited to just that.
The chaos last night was just the Vortex's gift to Dragon City.
The real "bloody feast" had just begun.
Shen Yupeng might not know about the Vortex's existence, but he could sense just how troublesome the enemy was based on the hypnotic effect of the vortex. He could not help but frown and say, "If we can implant thoughts at will through the pictures, we'll be in big trouble."
"It's not that we can implant thoughts at will," Zhou Chong said.
"We've asked the hypnotists and neurosurgeons in Universe Corporation for help. Our initial assessment is that the Vortex pictures can turn into photoelectric signals and enter the human brain through the optic nerves to interfere with a person's emotions and thoughts. They can also magnify the negative emotions in a person's heart.
"In other words, it can't create something out of nothing and make a person view superhumans as an enemy out of nothing and destroy the current order.
"But if a person already has a lot of negative emotions in their heart, the Vortex pictures can continuously magnify their dark side and tempt them to put all sorts of ugly and evil thoughts into action.
"Besides, the Deification Capsule also brings great power and fatal addiction. The person who receives the mail will naturally end up as the person's puppet."
As he spoke, Shen Yupeng received a new mail from the adjudicator court.
It was an investigation on the identities and backgrounds of the dozens of robbers who were captured.
Shen Yupeng cast them a quick glance and immediately said, "Minister Zhou, you're right. The secret police have investigated the identities, experiences, and recent financial situations of dozens of robbers. They discovered that over the past year, they have borrowed money from underground finance companies, and the loans have been overdue many times. The interest has been accumulating, and it's already an astronomical sum that they won't be able to repay if they work normally. Besides, it's not easy for normal people to find normal jobs in Dragon City these days.
"And these people went to the underground finance companies to borrow money. They either wanted to buy equipment, receive training, and become unlicensed pathfinders, buy a large amount of gene medicine and high-calorie nutritional fluid in an attempt to awaken to supernatural abilities, or enter spirit energy deviation during cultivation and get heavily injured, which is why they have to pay a lot of medical fees.
"In short, these people are all ambitious and unwilling to be mediocre. They have also received professional combat training.
"Their battle prowess is among the best among ordinary people, and they are only a step away from the Transcendent Realm.
"Besides, most of them have experience fighting in the wild. Many of them have faced the attacks of monster hordes in the developing lands of pathfinders and even watched countless of their companions die.
"On one hand, they have a lot of fighting experience. On the other hand, there's a high possibility that they're suffering from PTSD. Their mental strength index is really unstable, and they don't treat their own and other people's lives as anything important. It's even easier for them to take risks.
"These people are the best puppets that the mastermind could find!"
"That's right. Ever since we won the northern offense, countless superhumans and normal people ran into the wild to try their luck, but there are only a handful of people who truly became famous overnight. Most of them had to swallow the bitter wine of failure." Zhou Chong sighed.
"The strong prey on the weak, and the victors are kings. This is how cruel the world is. The losers who owe a lot of money have their bodies and minds twisted. They have thoughts like 'I'm not the one who's wrong, but the world'. They're filled with envy and hate toward the victors. In fact, they want to take revenge on the victors. This is unavoidable. It's the darkness of human nature.
"Originally, even if the hearts of the losers were completely devoured by darkness, since they lacked power and guidance, they wouldn't be able to cause any major trouble.
"But now, someone provided the losers with Deification Capsules and temporarily increased their strength to the level of superhumans. They also helped them plan a series of crimes. They're practically teaching them how to rob and rob, which immediately increased their danger level by more than ten times.
"What's even more terrifying is that the mastermind also mentioned in the email that the more crimes there are, the more pressure the secret police will face. Once the secret police's bottom line is completely broken, Dragon City will turn into a lawless and chaotic world.
"I think that after the 'encouragement' from the crimes last night, the public security in Dragon City will continue to deteriorate, and the crime rate will rise to a level we can't even imagine."
'We have to find the mastermind as soon as possible. The longer we drag this out, the more crimes there will be, and the consequences will be disastrous!' Shen Yupeng, Zhou Chong, and Shen Yupeng thought about it.
Zhou Chong thought for a moment and asked, "But I wonder, which underground financial company did these robbers borrow money from?"
"Naturally, it's the underground finance company in Golden Tooth Lair. More than 90% of the gray industries in Dragon City are gathered in the three lairs, especially Golden Tooth Lair. It's practically the headquarters of the gray industries, and the underground finance industry is no exception," Shen Yupeng said.
"Minister Zhou, are you suspecting that this is related to the gangs in the lair?"
"I don't think it's directly related."
Zhou Chong thought about it for a while before he shook his head slowly. "The lair might be a gray area filled with evil, but under the control of the gangs, basic order still exists. Many of the gangs rely on the mega corporations to provide resources and space to survive.
"The people in the gangs are very smart. They know where the bottom line of the Survival Committee and the Supernatural Tower is. Unless it's absolutely necessary, they won't openly become enemies with the outside world.
"Besides, I can't see how this series of robberies will benefit the gangs in the lair. Last night, many of the robbers fled to the lair after they successfully stole a lot of resources. To the secret police and the armed forces of the major corporations, it might make it more difficult for them to investigate and capture them, but to the gangs, if so many ruthless robbers snuck into the lair, they might cause a bloodbath. The order in the underground might be changed.
"I can't understand why the gangs would want to cause such a ruckus for no reason when they're living a good life in the lair."
"Even if the gangs don't cause trouble, it doesn't mean that the enemy won't hide in the lair."
Shen Yupeng narrowed his eyes. "If they want to steal the blacklist of the underground financial companies and search for valuable puppets, they'll naturally have to go to the lair." To create the Deification Capsules, they need a secret lab and illegal workshop with complete facilities. The lair has all of these places. "To buy and operate the weapons and equipment used in the robberies, there's also an underground market with the best resources in the lair. Besides, after the robbers succeeded, they all ran to the lair. There's a high chance that the mastermind's nest is in the lair!"
"Golden Tooth Lair, huh?"
Man-eating Shark Zhou Chong looked like he was constipated.
Shen Yupeng fell silent as well.
Meng Chao knew that Golden Tooth Lair was a very unique region in Dragon City.
It was the largest slum in Dragon City. Many of the places still retained their appearance decades ago. The people in the lair had their own effective survival rules, and it was difficult for the forces of the outside world to reach the depths of the lair.
The ones in control of Golden Tooth Lair were not the Survival Committee, but all sorts of gangs. Among them, Golden Tooth was the strongest.
Golden Tooth's leader, Jin Wanhao, was from the same era as Battle God Lei Zongchao. He was one of the first people in Dragon City to survive after being infected by the zombie virus. Not only did he not turn into a zombie, he even awakened to supernatural abilities.
In the past, he had used a golden horn that he had plucked from a Golden Horned Beast's head and polished it into a saber. It gained a fearsome name and was known as Golden Flames Saber.
As long as the powerful people who were once as famous as Saber Jin Wanhao did not die, most of them created mega corporations and cultivation families. They became the creators of the nine great cultivation families, and under Battle God Lei Zongchao's call, they formed the Survival Committee and became the rulers of Dragon City.
Jin Wanhao might have chosen a different path from them, but no matter what, he was still a powerful person in Dragon City. He controlled more than 30% of the gray industries in Dragon City and was known as the Underground Emperor. He had great roots, and he could not be easily shaken.
Even so, Meng Chao could not understand it. "Big Brother Peng, is the Underground Emperor really that powerful? I heard that he's already in his seventies or eighties, and it's been a long time since he's been active in public. He might have too many hidden injuries from his cultivation and fighting in the past, so he should be at the end of his life.
"Since the enemy is probably hiding in Golden Tooth Lair, why don't we just gather the power of the major forces and peerless fighters in Dragon City and get rid of the problem of the enemy and Golden Tooth Lair together? We can't just let this malignant tumor that harbors evil grow abnormally in the heart of our city!"
"It's not as simple as you think."
Shen Yupeng smiled wanly. "That's right. Saber Jin Wanhao is alone. Forget about the fact that he's at the end of his life, even if he really reached Deity Realm, there are still plenty of Deity Realm superhumans in Dragon City. If everyone surges forward, they can take down ten Jin Wanhaos.
"The problem is, Golden Tooth Lair is the largest and oldest slum in Dragon City. The official data states that there are at least six hundred thousand citizens living in Golden Tooth Lair. In truth, based on the synthetic food, recycled drinking water, and filtered pills that are sent into Golden Tooth Lair every month, the true number of citizens in Golden Tooth Lair might be more than one million.
"We can definitely take down Saber Jin Wanhao, suppress all the gangs, destroy the underground order, and even destroy the entire Golden Tooth Lair.
"But the problem is, once we destroy Golden Tooth Lair, how are we supposed to settle the one million citizens who have been living in the slums for decades?"
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