World version update

Chapter 318 The Glorious Councilor
Although the body of the person in front of him has been mostly replaced by cold machinery and complex psionic circuits, especially the metal bull horns on his head which have taken on a non-human appearance.

But his facial features still retained a certain familiarity from Lu Yan's memory.

More importantly, that unique aura originating from the depths of the soul cannot be concealed by any external modification. Lu Yan was 100% certain that the half-human, half-machine being before him was the same Sain he had encountered in the mysterious version.

Behind Sain followed dozens of psionicists with very similar styles of dress.

Most of them wore dark-colored combat uniforms, and their bodies bore some traces of mechanical modification. Their eyes were filled with vigilance and determination.

Judging from their positions and demeanor, they all seem to belong to the same organization, with Saiyin as the leader.

Lu Yan immediately thought of the resistance army that Quentin had mentioned when he introduced the power structure of City Fourteen, which was a joint force of various resistance organizations.

"Black-Clad Gang Union Information Mapping Rebels"

A series of keywords quickly flowed and connected in Lu Yan's mind.

In just a moment, he roughly understood what was going on.

In his last mysterious version, Sain was one of the guild leaders he personally selected.

Despite the covert influence and strong support of the Victorian royal family, the nascent trade union once received combined support from various forces, including the old government, traditional nobles, and emerging capitalists.

But the most fundamental reason for this is that everyone knows that behind this guild stands Lu Yan, an unfathomable and mysterious powerhouse.

In essence, labor unions represent the interests of the lower classes, which means they are destined to clash with the fundamental interests of the privileged class who control the vast majority of social resources. They are naturally in opposition to the old government, traditional aristocracy, and emerging capitalists.

As the version evolved from the mysterious and unpredictable version to the current cyberpunk version with its highly advanced technology and sharper class conflicts, the worldviews, social structures, and even power systems of the different versions have undergone tremendous deviations.

In this context, the union organization, which was originally supported by Lu Yan in the mysterious version, transformed into an underground organization resisting the brutal rule of the global behemoth and the intelligent god under the influence of information mapping.

In addition, due to the unique nature of City Fourteen, it eventually evolved into the Resistance, one of the three major forces that now holds a pivotal position in City Fourteen.

As the representative of the union organization at the time, Sain naturally became the main representative of the resistance in City Fourteen by virtue of this information and his own abilities.

Lu Yan recalled that the Great Collapse version he had experienced before was a special version formed by the forces and rules of many different versions of the world forcibly converging and colliding in a short period of time.

That chaotic and fragmented environment greatly interfered with and weakened the information mapping effect between different versions.

After that, Lu Yan consciously began to guide the divine court and underworld he created, so that its information mapping could be projected more widely to the endless version world.

However, he subconsciously overlooked the guild organization he had cultivated in the Mysterious version.

If Lu Yan hadn't unexpectedly witnessed Sain's appearance in the council hall of this city of fourteen today, he probably wouldn't have noticed that the small guild he once knew would have such an unexpected impact after undergoing version updates and information mapping evolution.

Lu Yan remained standing quietly in place, lost in brief contemplation.

Meanwhile, Shaq and Sain, who had recovered from their initial shock, were not so oblivious as to let Lu Yan, this truly important figure, remain standing at the door.

The two started walking almost simultaneously and quickly stepped forward to greet each other.

“Mr. Lu! I never expected that I would have the honor of seeing you again today, after our brief parting at the Tower of the Universe!” Shak’s voice was filled with barely suppressed excitement and respect.

The Tower of the Universe he mentioned naturally refers to the Cyber ​​version fragment from the Great Collapse version. The influence of information mapping may be somewhat biased, but the general direction will not change.

“Mr. Lu, Miss Anna has been unable to contact you for some time and has been quite worried about you. I never expected that you would personally come here.” Sain’s tone was even more composed and respectful.

After speaking, the two people almost instinctively glanced at each other.

A barely perceptible hint of surprise flashed in each other's eyes.

As representatives of two of the three most powerful forces in City Fourteen, Shak, the leader of the enforcement team, and Sain, the representative of the resistance, have both potential antagonistic relations due to differences in ideology and interests, and some cooperative relations as well.

When they first saw Lu Yan, both of them were so excited that they subconsciously ignored each other's presence.

It wasn't until this second conversation that they suddenly realized that the other person also knew this mysterious Mr. Lu.

Moreover, judging from their respectful and subservient attitude towards Mr. Lu, it was clear that Mr. Lu's identity and power were far more terrifying than they had imagined.

As leaders who have risen to their current high positions in such a complex environment, Shaq and Sain are certainly not simple-minded fools.

Their minds raced with thoughts as fast as lightning.

In just a moment, the two seemed to have reached some kind of tacit understanding, and they both showed meaningful smiles and looked at each other again.

Before today's city council meeting, the two of them were actually secretly worried.

Intelligence indicates that the city council faction, which nominally controls the council, has recently recruited a large number of powerful reincarnators as external allies, and may attempt to use today's meeting to launch an attack on their law enforcement team and resistance forces in order to seize greater power.

They were even discussing in private whether the law enforcement team and the resistance could temporarily put aside their differences and unite under some pretext to jointly resist the pressure from the city council.

Now, with the appearance of Lu Yan, a mysterious and powerful figure whom both sides respect, this problem seems to have been easily solved.

As long as they can use Mr. Lu's name, their alliance will have the most solid and indisputable reason.

Just as Shaq and Sain reached a strategic consensus in a brief exchange of glances.

On the other side, within the city council factions, some finally couldn't sit still any longer.

At the top of the council hall, in the speaker's seat, sat a handsome, extraordinary psychic dressed in an elegant silver-white suit, with an unusually cold gaze.

He stared coldly at Lu Yan, who had just entered the hall and immediately become the focus of attention, as well as Shaq and Sain, who took the initiative to greet him, a hint of barely perceptible anger flashing in his eyes.

He slowly raised the small hammer in his hand, a symbol of the Speaker's power, and gently tapped it on the table in front of him.

"Boom!"

The crisp clanging sound instantly reverberated throughout the entire massive council hall through the amplification equipment, causing everyone present to perk up and turn their attention to him.

"Silence!" the speaker in the silver-white suit said in a stern tone devoid of any emotion.

"The parliament has officially begun! All latecomers and anyone not involved in this agenda item, please leave immediately! Do not disrupt the normal order of the parliament!"

Upon hearing this, Shaq's face immediately darkened.

He whirled around, his gaze like a sharp sword piercing Speaker Elvis in his seat, his tone filled with undisguised anger and threat: "Elvis! Who did you just call a nobody?"

Shaq had heard of Ives before.

He was a front man planted in City Fourteen by a high-ranking figure in a global conglomerate. Nominally, he represented that high-ranking official's covert support for City Fourteen, but in reality, he was merely hedging his bets, playing both sides to maximize his own and his master's profits.

Shaq had no respect for such two-faced, profit-driven people.

The reason they kept him in the speaker's position was simply to obtain more information about the movements of the intelligent god from within the global conglomerate, so that they could respond accordingly.

However, as the celestial canopy of the intelligent God continues to expand outward, the power structure within the global behemoth has also undergone dramatic changes. Those high-ranking figures who were once high above have seen their power diminish again and again, and are now preoccupied with their own survival.

In Shaq's view, this Elvis had long since lost his original value.

If it weren't for the fact that Avis had somehow managed to win over a group of exceptionally powerful Reincarnators as his backers in the past few days, Shaq would have already found an opportunity to casually remove him from the position of Speaker.

Speaker Elvis did not personally respond to Shaq's anger.

Instead, a burly, middle-aged man standing behind him took a step forward.

A faint yet terrifying aura of a Nascent Soul Realm expert slowly emanated from him, pressing down on everyone present like an invisible mountain. In this world, the path of a psionicist, under normal circumstances, is already the limit that mortals can reach at the Archangel level.

Even the strongest Principality-level psionicists present, such as Shaq and Quentin, were only roughly equivalent to Nascent Soul cultivators in the cultivation system.

At this moment, the middle-aged strong man was emanating the genuine pressure of a Nascent Soul Realm expert.

Faced with such terrifying pressure, all the native psionicists from City Fourteen present, including Shaq, felt a deadly threat emanating from the depths of their souls, and even breathing became difficult.

What's even more alarming is that there are actually several other terrifying reincarnators like this, possessing the strength of the Nascent Soul Realm, standing behind Speaker Elvis.

Even when faced with such a powerful, almost overwhelming threat, Shak gritted his teeth, his eyes filled with unyielding will, and said in a deep voice, "This is a matter within our City Fourteen! Do you reincarnators intend to openly oppose my enforcement team?"

Without hesitation, Sain stepped forward to stand shoulder to shoulder with Shak and declared loudly, "And so do we, the resistance! We will never allow anyone to threaten the autonomy and independence of City Fourteen."

Upon hearing this, the reincarnators who were originally standing behind Speaker Elvis all frowned, their faces showing a hint of solemnity.

They were well aware that the power of that mysterious and unpredictable intelligent God, and the vast celestial dome that covered the entire world, was far beyond what ordinary reincarnators like themselves could directly confront.

Their only hope lies in leveraging the power of the world's native forces, especially in City Fourteen, the only city not covered by the celestial canopy.

Therefore, they attached great importance to this city number fourteen, even going so far as to lower themselves and show a willingness to submit, attempting to indirectly control the city's resources and power by supporting the city council.

However, they also knew that this city of number fourteen could not be completely controlled by the city council alone.

The law enforcement team and the resistance army are both powerful local forces that should not be underestimated.

If the core method to counter the Sky Curtain truly lies in the hands of the City Council, then it is understandable that they would bet everything on the City Council, even helping it to deal with the other two forces.

However, if the key to truly confronting the Sky Curtain is actually in the hands of the law enforcement team or the resistance army, then if they choose to take action against it now, it will inevitably completely damage their relationship with these two local forces, and may even lead the entire mission into deeper trouble, which would be a loss.

For a moment, even those who had been so aggressive in their reincarnations were caught in a dilemma.

Just then, Lu Yan, who had been standing by and watching coldly like an outsider, finally spoke slowly.

His voice wasn't loud, but it reached the ears of everyone present clearly.

"Who is he?"

Quentin immediately stepped forward and respectfully replied, "Reporting to Mr. Lu, this is the current Speaker of the City Council, Ives, who is a front man for a minister of a global conglomerate."

Quentin didn't mind exposing the other party's secrets at all.

Upon hearing this, Lu Yan raised an eyebrow slightly, a faint smile curving his lips, and said in an unquestionable tone, "Does someone like this deserve to be the speaker of this city council? Replace him!"

These words immediately caused an uproar in the entire parliament hall.

The councilors, who belonged to different factions within the city council, were furious. They slammed their fists on the table and shouted angrily:

"How dare you! Who do you think you are?"

"Such arrogance! Who do you think you are?"

"How dare they openly interfere in the internal affairs of our City Fourteen! They are simply arrogant!"

Even those reincarnators who were originally neutral or inclined to support the city council frowned and showed displeasure on their faces.

Several powerful reincarnators even took the initiative to walk up to Speaker Elvis and said to Lu Yan with icy expressions, "Isn't your action a bit excessive? The selection of the Speaker of City Fourteen is not something that an outsider like you can decide."

Speaker Elvis's face was so dark it looked like it was about to drip water.

He stared coldly at Lu Yan, and Shak and Sain behind him, his tone full of threat: "To allow an outsider of unknown origin to openly challenge the authority of the city council in the council."

"Shaq! Sain! Do you, the law enforcement and the resistance, intend to openly secede from City Fourteen and declare yourselves kings?"

"Outsider?" Lu Yan chuckled softly upon hearing this title.

He slightly flipped his palm in front of him, and the space within his palm distorted slightly. Then, a brass badge appeared out of thin air in his hand.

It is engraved with an eye made of six gears, with a cold, psionic glow.

The moment the badge appeared, the pupils of all the native members of City Fourteen in the council hall, whether they were councilors or observers, suddenly contracted.

Immediately afterwards, an incredulous gasp and uproar erupted from the crowd!
"That's the badge of a Level 6 Glory Councilor!"

"How is that possible? How could there possibly be a living Level 6 Brilliant Councilor in this world?"

"If I remember correctly, two years ago, Parliament suffered a brutal purge."

Almost all the illustrious councilors who participated in rebuilding City Fourteen were killed in that purge.

It wasn't until after that incident that the council underwent a complete reform, resulting in the city council we have today.

The so-called "Glorious Councilors" refers to the core members who successfully overthrew the rule of the global conglomerate in City Fourteen and participated in the city's reconstruction.

Because of their actions, they were admired and respected by countless subsequent rebels who longed for freedom, and because of the glorious deeds they created, they were honored as the Glorious Councilors.

After Lu Yan was in this cyberpunk version last time and successfully destroyed the Soul Computing Center, laying the most crucial foundation for the independence of City Fourteen.

In the newly re-established council of City Fourteen, Lu Yan, as a key figure who made outstanding contributions, was awarded the highest-ranking Level Six Brilliant Councilor status and badge.

However, considering the potential consequences of the version update, Lu Yan did not make the matter public and never actually exercised this power.

At that time, there were actually several other Level 6 Brilliant Councilors like Lu Yan, so although the power of Level 6 Brilliant Councilors was prestigious, it was also relatively limited.

However, as City Fourteen continued to develop and expand, under the covert control and infiltration of powerful figures from global corporations, the power struggle within the council intensified, ultimately leading to the massive purge of the illustrious councilors.

In that purge, almost all of the illustrious councilors who had participated in rebuilding the city were slaughtered on various trumped-up charges.

Only brilliant members of Congress like Shaq, who were of lower rank and had relatively limited influence at the time, managed to escape being sent to work as spies for a global corporation.

It can be said that the city council nowadays has almost no truly outstanding members left.

In this context, the appearance of a genuine Level 6 Brilliant Member of Parliament badge undoubtedly signifies the highest level of authority.

It symbolizes not only an identity, but also an indelible achievement and glory etched in the history of City Fourteen.

Its value far surpasses that of Elvis, a puppet who only rose to the position of Speaker by relying on external forces.

The chairmanship of Elvis is merely a position that can be replaced at any time.

The badge in Lu Yan's hand, however, represents a deeply ingrained identity and achievement.

Of course, if Lu Yan were just an unknown nobody or someone of low strength, then even if he held the badge of a Level 6 Brilliant Councilor, probably no one would truly recognize his authority, and he might even be denounced as a fraud on the spot.

But now, the situation is completely different.

Lu Yan received explicit support from two major local forces: the law enforcement team, representing the strongest armed force in City Fourteen, and the resistance army, representing the will of the people.

In addition, there is the badge of identity for a Level 6 Glory Member of Parliament, symbolizing the highest honor and legitimacy.

The combined weight of these three factors is enough to overwhelm any dissenting voices!

(End of this chapter)