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Chapter 456 Balance
The rain poured down, the air was damp, and the whole city felt as if it were in a breathing sea.

The Greenwich Observatory is built on a low hillside hidden by trees. The original site of the observatory (which has been transformed into a museum open to tourists) overlaps with the modern high-rise buildings of the Clock Tower headquarters, creating a semi-realistic effect, like two photoshopped images superimposed on each other.

In front of the observatory, the aftershocks from the light-speed impact tore the earth apart, violently plowing open entire forests. At the bottom of the ravines, the semi-melted, high-temperature rocks came into contact with rainwater, constantly emitting a hissing sound as they vaporized.

The large mechanical swarm stood before the observatory's low fence, still in an elbow-strike stance, and the pale golden hemispherical protective array that had enveloped the entire hillside had not collapsed.

Between the two colossal golems in front of the mechanical horde, Möbius knelt on one knee on the lawn, his carbonized right hand gripping the Britannia lightsaber, his head bowed, looking down at his chest.

The protective array did not collapse.

However, faced with the high degree of mystery surrounding the toy factory key and the overwhelming impact of the light-speed elbow strike, the magic circle was passively compressed and deformed, concave inward to form the shape of a key.

It pierced through Möbius's chest.

Extreme kinetic damage, along with the backlash from the failed casting of the ninth-circle spell, swept over Möbius's entire body.

A slightly bewildered expression appeared on his face, his back slumped, and he slumped backward.

Centered on its right hand, its body slowly faded, turning into a white ash.

ended.

Li Sheng slowly withdrew his arm from the elbow strike position and put away the toy factory key.

The side effects of the Qilin Blood and the magical damage suffered along the way were delayed and erupted on the mechanical horde.

The newly grown, magnificent scales peeled off inch by inch, bones burst from all over the body, blood and oil spurted wildly, and were then ignited by electric sparks.

Fortunately, the rain was pouring down, so the beetles wouldn't turn into burning beetles.

"I've caught Jacob, the judge who gave him a lenient sentence, and the MI6 officer who gave the order. I even accomplished an extra objective, hehe. How's it going on your end?"

Gray Rain's voice came through the intercom inside the cockpit of the large mechanical convoy.

Li Sheng replied, "It's alright for now."

He kicked open the twisted and deformed cockpit door, jumped outside, and released the [Assembled Doll - Modified] special effect, disassembling the large group of machines into several pieces and putting them all into his backpack, which could freeze time, in preparation to take them back for repair.

just
hum!
As the air rippled, an extremely magnificent golden portal appeared in front of the Observatory Museum.

Six men and women emerged from the portal.

One of the young girls, seeing the Möbius strip completely burned to ashes, her pupils contracted sharply, "No!!!"

She teleported forward, but the breeze created by the teleportation directly scattered a lot of Möbius's white ash.

He hurriedly took half a step back, drew two lines in the air with his fingers, and outlined an intricate magic circle, sealing the space within a two-meter diameter radius of Möbius.

This woman was none other than Edith, one of the eight archmages of the Clock Tower Arcane Council, a master of the Transmutation school, and a level 36 mage.

She was also Möbius's biological mother.

That's right. Don't let Mobius's age of thirty or forty fool you; he's also the player's "mother," looking about the same age as his daughter.

High-level players have numerous methods for maintaining their youthful appearance, ranging from techniques like Tsunade's Hundred Healings Technique from Naruto, which allows them to control cell regeneration and division, thus preserving their youthful looks forever.
There are also rare items such as the Fountain of Youth and the Benjamin Button Elixir, which can reverse aging.

Transmutation magic can change the nature of living beings, things, or situations; it can turn a person into a toad or turn dog excrement into gold.

Edith, as a master of transformation, could maintain her appearance as a young girl with ease.

But even she had no better way to deal with the already burned-out Möbius.

"You! It's you!"

Edith stared at Li Sheng with eyes wide with rage. In the few seconds it had taken her to return to the real world from the battlefield, she had already learned what had happened in London through messages on the player communication panel.

He immediately activated his authority as a member of the Council of Eight, partially disabling the defensive array of the Clock Tower headquarters, and ordered the two twenty-meter-tall war golems to step towards Li Sheng.

Snapped.

A large, warm hand rested on Edith's shoulder.

The owner of the hand was a middle-aged man wearing a brown trench coat, with a fountain pen in his breast pocket and a thick book tucked under his arm. He had an ordinary face and a gentle expression, like an average professor on a university campus.

".President?"

Edith turned around in surprise, only to find that Hohenheim was not looking at her, but was looking behind Li Sheng with a slight frown.

Zila Zila——

Space seemed to open like a human eye, tearing open a sloping rift more than two meters high.

The man, shrouded in a long, yellow coat, strolled out leisurely and let out a light laugh as soon as he saw Li Sheng.

"On the side of truth".

Edith pronounced the name of the leader of the Evil Science Alliance almost word by word, clenching her teeth, her eyes seemingly spitting fire, "You'd rather be an enemy of the Clock Tower than not protect this person? Just by yourself?"

"You're mistaken."

The rain hadn't even fallen before it evaporated overhead. The Man of Truth tilted his head slightly and said casually, "First of all, it's not just me."

He casually pointed to the open space beside him, where rainwater, for some reason, began to flow upwards.

After a brief delay, a figure appeared out of thin air.

It was a humanoid silhouette completely wrapped in dark cloth, and judging from its appearance, it was likely a man. He was one of the first players on the killing field, along with Hohenheim and the Side of Truth, and now represented the Special Affairs Bureau's strongest combat force at Lv40, [Coldwater Stone].

The group consisted of old acquaintances. Han Shuishi nodded to Hohenheim, then stood silently beside the Truth.

The meaning is clear: representing the Special Affairs Bureau, it's about choosing sides.

Edith's mouth emitted a harsh scraping sound from her teeth.

The reason these Lv40s are stuck at this level is because the current level cap in the killing field is Lv40.
With just the side of Truth, perhaps the Bell Tower could use its home advantage at the headquarters mage tower to force them back.

But even if they could manage a draw against two Lv40s, the entire British Isles would probably sink to the bottom of the Atlantic Ocean.

call out--

Suddenly, a sharp whistling sound came from the distant night sky, and a cone-shaped rocket reentry capsule bearing the GOC emblem crashed toward the Greenwich Observatory, leaving a fiery trail behind it.
With a "thud," it crashed into the not-yet-fully-closed clock tower defense array, rolled down the hemispherical array in a rather unrefined manner, and landed on the ground.

The hatch slowly opened, and a poorly made humanoid robot, enveloped in smoke, crawled out of the rocket landing pod.

"Good evening, everyone."

The humanoid robot spoke, its voice clearly belonging to Dr. Noah from the Otherworld Tower mission, "Respected Mr. Hohenheim, Respected Mr. Side of Truth, Respected Mr. Coldwater Stone."

Perhaps because he had completely abandoned his human body, Dr. Noah's voice no longer carried the deep sorrow and resentment of the past; it was even somewhat overly light and cheerful.

"Can you represent the GOC?"

The illusion master standing next to Edith looked at Dr. Noah and asked in a deep voice.

As top players, the members of the Clock Tower Council probably knew what happened in the Otherworld Tower quest and were also aware of Dr. Noah's background.

Since being taken in by the Global Occult Alliance, he quickly proved his loyalty and value, using his exceptional intellect to help the GOC innovate scientific research results, improve weapons and equipment, and optimize the command system.

He single-handedly advanced several cutting-edge scientific fields by ten to twenty years (not counting the technological leaps brought about by the arrival of the battlefield).

Thus, Noah's identity quickly transformed from an illegal immigrant from another world to a top talent introduced by GOC from overseas.

Then, they will be promoted from attracting talent to becoming foreign academicians.

Finally, he was promoted from a foreign academician to an honorary Earthling and a GOC-appointed strategic scientist.

Actually, I've been an Earthling for a long time; I've even become a citizen of Earth.jpg
In a sense, it even "usurped" the GOC and gained control over many departments.

"If you mean my current role as the interim head of the GOC Atlantic region, then I can certainly represent him."

Dr. Noah's robot nodded, turned slightly to the side, and the rudimentary optical sensor on its head flashed towards Li Sheng, as if it were blinking.

"Cough cough,"

Dr. Noah cleared his throat twice and said, "In short, according to Consultative Meeting No. 4201 held two years ago at the International Court of Justice of the United Nations in The Hague, Netherlands..."

Article 7 of the common provisions of the Global Security Convention on the Prohibition of Lethal Armed Conflict by Supernatural Beings stipulates—

To avoid a global chain of disasters,
All Parties shall ensure that the top-level extraordinary individuals within their jurisdiction (including their own citizens, members of this Association, and extraordinary individuals residing within their territory) do not directly or indirectly participate in any form of deadly conflict, regardless of their motives (including personal grudges, power struggles, and ideological confrontations).

The current situation already meets the criteria described in Article 7.

In other words, the conflict needs to be frozen here. The dispute needs to be put on hold.

"You knew the ants all along; you're in cahoots!"

The master of the Energy Shaping School in the Clock Tower laughed in anger. He had also read the internal documents. Dr. Noah was brought to the real Earth by the ants. No one would believe that they were not related.

The Side of Truth, GOC, and the Special Affairs Bureau—why did they arrive at the exact moment when the Ants breached the Clock Tower's magic circle, Möbius was reduced to ashes, and the Clock Tower crew returned from the battlefield?

"The description of 'being in cahoots' is not appropriate. A more accurate statement would be that I, as an individual, did indeed have working relationships with Mr. Ant."

But that's all; there was no favoritism or transfer of benefits, and no leniency or cover-up.

Dr. Noah, elaborating on his words, said to the master of the Evolutionary School: "Don't believe or spread rumors. The innocent will clear themselves. Let's wait for the GOC to reverse."

In a daze, it seemed as if the devil whispered in the ears of everyone in the clock tower, "The referees, the witnesses, the organizers, the co-organizers, all the units are my people, how can you fight me?"

Edith's beautiful young face twisted into a ferocious grimace as she shrieked, "So you can rest easy just because it wasn't one of your people who died?"
"Fine! The chairman personally signed the safety agreement, but I didn't! I'm going to die like an ant!"

After saying that, she stretched out her palm toward Li Sheng, with mercury, gum arabic, and a wisp of smoke floating in her palm as the materials for casting the spell.

Unleashing the ninth-circle transformation spell with all its might, [Perfect Transfiguration].
It can permanently transform living beings, including superhumans, into inanimate objects.

The chuckles from the side of truth ceased. Han Shuishi remained silent, crossed his arms, and stepped forward to block Li Sheng's path.

"Stop it."

A calm voice sounded behind Edith.

Hohenheim sighed, took out his thin-rimmed glasses from his pocket, put them on, and looked more like an ordinary university professor. "This time, our Clock Tower lost."

“President?!”

The group of mages were stunned and puzzled. Even if there were two Lv40s standing on the other side, and their side was backed by the Bell Tower Mage Tower, was it necessary to be so cowardly and not even dare to pursue the matter?

Hohenheim didn't explain anything, but quietly looked at Li Sheng, and after a moment said calmly, "You mixed something into the rain as a backup plan, didn't you?"

(End of this chapter)