A World Worth Protecting

Facing Wang Baole’s wrath, Li Yi narrowed her eyes and caught the jade slip that Wang Baole had tossed to her. Holding it in her hands, she took a look and turned solemn. She knew that what she had done would eventually be discovered, but didn’t think that it would happen so quickly. In reality, to delay its discovery, she had already taken precautions.

Her plan to carry out her goals while appearing to abide by what she was assigned needed more time to be completely carried out. Once everything was settled, the time would be ripe for her to show her cards and battle it out with Wang Baole.

However, her acts had been discovered earlier than she had planned. That made her frustrated and angry, and as she grew even more solemn, Li Yi put the jade slip down and spoke calmly.

“This should be the act of those lower-ranked workers who made the decision themselves. I will handle this matter and turn the situation around.”

Lin Tianhao narrowed his eyes but remained silent. Kong Dao furrowed his brows, while Jin Duoming looked at Li Yi intently. They all knew that she was trying to shift the blame to someone else.

Wang Baole looked coldly at Li Yi with unfriendliness in his eyes. He was about to erupt in anger, thinking about whether he should use this opportunity to beat Li Yi up when suddenly, he sensed three figures outside his office who were locking his Qi in.

The three figures who were locking his Qi didn’t bother to hide their Core Formation cultivation. They had come from the four Dao Colleges and were the Dao guardians of Li Yi. To put it more accurately, they were the ones who would guarantee the interests of the four Dao Colleges in the new city zone.

The three of them had each come from the White Deer Dao College, White Deer Branch College, and Holy River Dao College. Ethereal Dao College didn’t arrange for their elites to come over, apparently, as that was part of their plans to stop Wang Baole.

After all, the new city zone wasn’t to be belittled. It was in a critical location, so regardless of whether it was Li Yi or Jin Duoming, they had people guarding them by their sides. Only Lin Tianhao and Kong Dao didn’t have such guardians, as even though Lin Tianhao had a strong backing, he represented himself and not the Senate.

Kong Dao, on the other hand, was from the Mars military, which could be considered a local faction. With the convenience of being sent through teleportation, it naturally eliminated the need for guardians.

With his Qi locked in by the three Core Formation cultivators, a chilly look flashed across Wang Baole’s eyes. Even though he had the means to forcefully teach Li Yi a lesson despite being locked in, he thought about it and buried the vicious thoughts deep in his mind. He didn’t choose to act immediately, instead, speaking with a cold voice that reverberated.

“The issue of moving the people is most crucial now. There is also a need to draw divisions for the new city zone. Since everyone is here today, we shall divide the new city zone into four smaller zones, with each of you overseeing its construction. The eastern and southern zones shall be under Mayor Lin Tianhao and Mayor Jin Duoming’s charge, the northern zone under Mayor Kong Dao, while Mayor Li Yi will be in charge of the remaining western zone. On top of that, Li Yi, you owe me an explanation for this matter!”

As Wang Baole spoke, Li Yi furrowed her brows slightly. Originally, having sensed that Wang Baole’s Qi had been locked in, she felt superior as she had the support of the four Dao Colleges, which gave her a firm standing. However, she felt uncomfortable listening to what Wang Baole said.

Wang Baole didn’t talk about relinquishing the power he had given her, but instead divided that power into four, such that she was only in charge of a portion of it.

However, Wang Baole had caught her wrongdoings. As such, even though she was unhappy, and despite having the support of the four Dao Colleges, she didn’t have an excuse to reject the arrangement. In her silence, she sighed.

“I will definitely give you an explanation with regards to this matter. If there is nothing else, I will return to carry out my investigations, and will take my leave now!” As she spoke, Li Yi turned around like a proud peacock displaying her beautiful back and left the office.

Instantly, silence filled the office. Seeing what had happened, Jin Duoming seemed to be in deep thought. He felt that Wang Baole wasn’t someone who could hide things in his heart. However, now that he was able to handle matters like these with dignity and lightness, he instinctively felt that there was something amiss, and had a premonition that a big scheme was forming in Wang Baole’s mind!

This is part of the plan to completely annihilate Li Yi. Jin Duoming sighed. He had no intention to caution Li Yi about it, as if he were to do such things, it would equate to him burning the bridge with Wang Baole. Therefore, after thinking about it, he looked at Kong Dao and realized that Kong Dao had lowered his head, apparently disinterested in this matter. He then laughed, standing up with cupped fists as he left.

After he left, Kong Dao lifted his head, seemingly wanting to speak, but he stopped himself. He then left, and very soon, there was only Wang Baole and Lin Tianhao remaining in the office.

Lin Tianhao felt indignant, as to him, the way Wang Baole handled the matter this time around was too lenient. He then spoke with dissatisfaction in his voice.

“Mayor, you’re letting her off just like that?”

Wang Baole flashed a profound look and hit the table several times, before speaking suddenly.

“Tianhao, transcribe all the conversations today, as well as the details of the entire matter into a jade slip, and send it to the Governor. Since Mayor Li Yi announced that she would correct it, we shouldn’t dwell too much on it.”

Without a choice, Lin Tianhao nodded his head and was about to stand up and leave when suddenly, Wang Baole spoke again.

“In addition, use this as an excuse to delay the time to move the people. At the same time, there is no need to keep an eye on Li Yi’s western zone any longer. Instead, it is more important to return the areas in the other zones which Li Yi secretly messed up to normal!”

The meaning behind Wang Baole’s words was clear. As Lin Tianhao listened, his breathing quickened. He sensed something sinister in Wang Baole’s words and immediately abided to the commands before taking his leave.

When everyone had left, Wang Baole, who was sitting on the chair, shut his eyes, appearing to be deep in thought. As the skies darkened and began to shroud the office in darkness, Wang Baole blended within. Only his mumbles could be heard vaguely.

“Li Yi, it would be no big matter if you had stayed honest. However, if you still continue to court death, I will give you what you want!”

Just as Wang Baole had predicted, even though Li Yi sent instructions to carry out investigations after she had left, it was all surface work. She appeared to be making repairs and adjustment, but she didn’t do anything to the core position, instead, increasing the speed of construction.

However, as her authority had been reduced, such that she was only in control of the western zone instead of the entire city zone, the most she could do was to transform the western zone into her own Global Dharma City.

She held onto the belief that she would eventually be able to prove that she, Li Yi, was the candidate most suitable to become mayor. Wang Baole, the pig, was merely trying to get into the good books of the public in order to trick them.

However, she also knew that whatever she was doing shouldn’t be discovered again, at least before the Global Dharma City was completed. Therefore, she was even more vigilant and even replaced everyone she was in charge of to people from her own White Deer Dao College.

At the same time, she put in place protective measures that made it extremely challenging for outsiders to investigate the situation. That was a different case for the other three zones. With Lin Tianhao in charge, Jin Duoming and Kong Dao cooperated with each other, rectifying everything that Li Yi had secretly changed and rebuilding the area according to Wang Baole’s blueprint.

Time flew by just like that, and half a month passed. The Martian Colony Governor seemed to have received the jade slip, but for some unknown reason, she didn’t ask about it. Instead, the Martian Colony Governor delayed the moving of the people due to some procedural issues.

In addition, a new round of tests for the new city zone’s ability to resist the Beast Tide took place several times within this half month. With each Beast Tide, the new city zone’s array formation was activated in all zones, suppressing the Beast Tide each time. As for the western zone that Li Yi was in charge of, no issues surfaced.

That made Li Yi even more confident. That was especially so when there was one instance where the force of the Beast Tide rose significantly, and an illusory circular glow appeared in the western zone that Li Yi was in charge of. As the glow was reflected, it strengthened the array formation in the Divine Armament Catacombs, resulting in severe casualties to the Beast Tide.

That test significantly boosted Li Yi’s confidence. She already had some evidence that her Global Dharma City was more suitable and more powerful than Wang Baole’s Eternal Fortress!

It’s time to take over! Observing the situation, Li Yi grew impatient. She summarized the advantages of her Global Dharma City, as well as its performance in resisting the Beast Tide, and planned to contact White Deer Dao College to issue a challenge to Wang Baole so that the Martian City would reassess the suitability of each of their cities. A sudden change occurred suddenly that very night, one that she wasn’t prepared for!

A new catacombs entrance, one that appeared to be branching off the Divine Armament Catacombs, appeared in Li Yi’s western zone!