The job change is a bizarre and calamity; the nation begs me to tone it down.

Moving slightly forward in time, to the land of cherry blossoms, at Takaten Bessin.

It was accompanied by a soft "snap".

The projection of the virtual meeting went completely off in front of Yamamoto Furukawa.

This top combatant in the Sakura Kingdom, a dignified demigod-level powerhouse, was now like a miserable office worker who had just worked 72 hours straight and was told by his boss that his entire performance bonus for the month had been deducted. He punched the tatami mat.

Of course, he clearly didn't use much force with that blow.

Otherwise, let alone this tatami mat, he would smash the entire Takaten Bessou into dust!

The next moment, he reached up and rubbed his wildly throbbing temples, letting out a long breath.

The way he exhaled felt like he'd vomited out half his life.

"A bunch of bastards who talk big without understanding the consequences..."

Yamamoto Furukawa cursed in his heart.

The meeting just now seemed like the five forces were united against a common enemy, but in reality, who wasn't harboring their own agenda?

Adam, that old codger, spoke with grand words, about the future of all mankind and that eliminating Gu Xu was of utmost urgency.

Are you kidding me?

If it were truly for the sake of all humanity, why doesn't your beacon nation just reveal all of your SSS-level secret realms?

Yamamoto Furukawa knew these people's nature all too well.

Joint operation?

To put it bluntly, they want to get everyone involved, so no one can just stand on the shore and watch.

The problem is, Japan really can't afford to go down that river now.

He raised his eyelids and glanced at the map of Japan hanging on the wall, which was densely marked with dots of various colors.

Those represent the hidden resource havens and abyssal fissures within the country.

Looking at this map used to make Yamamoto Furukawa feel quite at ease.

But now, he only feels his blood pressure soaring.

Because the people guarding the map are almost gone.

Lately, Japan seems to be under some kind of curse, with one bad thing after another happening.

First came the East Sea battle caused by the Tide Temple, which resulted in the loss of several saints.

That wasn't the end of it. They then took advantage of the dire situation in East Sea to raid the enemy's base.

Then, the Demon Slayers went.

And then, that was it.

Nearly ten ninth-tier Saints, along with a large number of elite troops, vanished silently into the wilderness. They didn't even send out a distress signal.

Thinking of this, Yamamoto Furukawa felt a sharp pain in his heart.

Nearly ten saints!

What does this mean?

The entire Sakura Kingdom, at most, has only a few dozen registered saints.

After this devastating massacre, there are now fewer than ten Saints left in the entire country who are still breathing!

Less than ten!

To get three tables of mahjong, you have to pull in a random person from the street to make up the numbers!

This isn't just a matter of falling below the safety line; it's like they've lost everything!

For a country, a saint is a nuclear deterrent, a pillar of stability.

Without enough sages to oversee them, who will suppress those high-level resource-rich secret realms?

Who will seal those lurking, deep fissures?

"If this continues, the country will be finished in less than three years!"

Yamamoto Furukawa muttered to himself, his tone revealing an unprecedented sense of powerlessness.

He is indeed a demigod.

But even a demigod isn't a donkey from the production team!

He can't possibly split himself into ten pieces and go all over the country to put out fires, can he?

Even if he were willing to chop, it would depend on whether the monsters in the abyss agreed.

For the first time, this old man standing at the pinnacle of the cherry blossom country felt what true despair was.

That kind of despair—watching helplessly as a leaky ship rots while all you have is a broken gourd.

Just as Yamamoto Furukawa was staring at the ceiling, questioning his existence...

"Whoosh—"

The paper door to the room was suddenly pulled open from the outside.

A figure dressed in a full set of traditional Japanese armor knelt down on one knee outside the door with a thud.

The iron plates on the armor clanged together, making a crisp, rattling sound.

The noise was particularly jarring in the middle of the night.

Yamamoto Furukawa's brows instantly furrowed into a tight knot.

"What is it?"

Yamamoto Furukawa asked irritably, not even bothering to lift his eyelids.

"Lord Yamamoto, there's an emergency!"

The subordinate's voice sounded hurried, as if he had run all the way here.

"explain."

"The monitoring station in the Yunban City area just sent an urgent message: extremely frequent small-scale energy fluctuations have occurred there."

The subordinate swallowed hard and reported rapidly, "Intelligence analysis suggests that the SSS-level secret realm 'Izumo: Ghost Realm' inside Yunban City is showing signs of continuous expansion."

"It's expanded?"

Yamamoto Furukawa sat up straight, his tone somewhat strange.

"Yes! And the expansion is happening very quickly, with energy readings constantly rising. If left unchecked, it could trigger a large-scale, bizarre leak."

The subordinate asked anxiously, "Sir, should we sound the alarm immediately, or... notify the garrison in Shenxia?"

When Yamamoto Furukawa heard the last half of the sentence, he was so angry that he laughed.

He looked at the armored, simple-minded man outside the door as if he were an idiot.

"Notify the Sherlock Holmes garrison?"

Yamamoto Furukawa sneered and retorted, "Did you get your brain squeezed by a door?"

The subordinate was stunned by the scolding, and looked up somewhat bewildered: "But sir, if we don't inform them, once the secret realm fully erupts, Yunban City..."

"Whose territory is Cloud Slope City now?"

Yamamoto Furukawa interrupted him without any politeness.

"It's...it's Sherlock."

The subordinate stammered in response.

That's right, Cloud Slope City.

This place was taken over by Sherlock some time ago.

"Since this is Shenxia's territory, what happens inside, whether the secret realm expands or explodes, has nothing to do with us?" Yamamoto Furukawa said coldly.

"But……"

"No buts!"

Yamamoto Furukawa waved his hand impatiently. "That place already belongs to Shinsha. How to suppress it and how to clean up its mess is a problem for Shinsha's command to worry about."

Yamamoto Furukawa is now hoping for some trouble to happen on Sherlock Holmes' side.

Ideally, the "Izumo Ghost Realm" would explode directly, wiping out all of the Sheikha's garrison in Cloud Hill City.

This should at least ease his frustrated mood of the past few days.

"Alright, stop standing around. Pass on my orders: everyone pretend you didn't see anything, and nobody is allowed to say a word. Let Shensha play by themselves."

Yamamoto Furukawa waved his hand dismissively, as if shooing away a fly.

"Yes! I'll take my leave!"

The subordinate dared not say anything more, respectfully kowtowed, and then retreated with a clatter, closing the paper door behind him.

The room fell into a deathly silence once again.

Yamamoto Furukawa sighed, reached for the teacup on the small table next to him, and prepared to drink some cool tea to calm his nerves.

But just as his fingers touched the rim of the teacup...

A gentle breeze suddenly arose in the room, which had been tightly closed.