After I stopped trying, a rich woman trained me into a demon emperor.

There was nothing in front of him—no documents, no computer, not even a cup of tea.

His hands were folded on the table, his ten fingers were long and slender, and his nails were neatly trimmed.

His gaze swept over Qin San, Xiao Rou, Xu Youwei, and the two demon dukes who entered the hall, as if examining inanimate objects, before settling on Chen Ya.

The gaze lingered for two seconds before finally settling on Zhou Ran's face.

He smiled, a smile that was neither polite nor mocking, but rather scrutinizing, as if he were examining an interesting object.

"Mr. Zhou Ran".

When he opened his mouth, his voice carried an undeniable weight.

"I am Herman, the chairman of the White Tower Council."

He stood up, his 1.85-meter height combined with a white robe that reached his ankles created an imposing presence.

"I am also a disciple of the Old Gods, the last Watcher."

He nodded slightly to Zhou Ran, performing an ancient greeting from an unknown era.

Welcome to White Tower Island.

His gaze shifted to the Taihuang Black Blade wrapped in black cloth behind Zhou Ran.

"A fine knife," he said. "It bears the spirits of newly fallen warriors, as well as artifacts from thirty thousand years ago."

Zhou Ran ignored him.

Chen Ya walked straight to the other end of the long table, pulled out a chair, sat down, and opened her briefcase.

"Mr. Herman," her tone was devoid of any emotion, purely businesslike, "before we begin, I need to confirm three things."

Herman looked at her: "Please speak."

"First, does the White Tower Council acknowledge that the Asian assets of Sheng Hui Group have been legally taken over by Qing Hui Medical Trust?"

Hermann nodded: "I admit it."

"Secondly, White Tower Island has received a total of US$4.37 billion in technology service fees from Sheng Hui Asia over the past eleven years. Are you willing to include this amount in the scope of recovery and liquidation?"

Herman smirked: "We can talk."

"third."

Chen Ya pushed the box containing the imperial bone evidence to the center of the table.

"You want this piece of the Emperor's remains. Please produce its ownership certificate, provenance documents, and custody records."

Herman stared at the evidence box, a flicker of heat passing through his eyes, but he quickly suppressed it.

"Ms. Chen Ya, you have finished asking three questions."

He sat down again, folding his hands together.

"Then I'll tell you three things too."

He held up one finger.

"First, the Moon Emperor is not your true enemy."

The second finger is raised.

"Secondly, we are the guardians, not the backers of Holy Radiance. What we guard is more ancient than the Moon Emperor, and it longs to awaken even more."

The third finger.

His gaze shifted from Chen Ya to Zhou Ran's face.

"You think you came to White Tower Island to judge us?"

He smiled, a smile that carried an unsettling pity.

"Mr. Zhou Ran".

"You think the Moon Emperor is your greatest enemy?"

He shook his head, dismissing the idea.

"What we are guarding desires to awaken more than the old gods."

He raised his hand and tapped his fingertips lightly on the table.

The ground beneath their feet trembled slightly, and a rumbling sound came from the deepest part of the earth, like the beating of a huge heart.

"And now, it is waking up."

As soon as Hermann finished speaking, there was no sound in the hall.

Although the vibrations from under the floor had stopped, the dull feeling of "something breathing" seeped into everyone's skin pores.

Qin San took half a step forward, subtly positioning himself to protect Chen Ya from the side.

The worm inside Xiao Rou's collar tensed its wings.

Both demon dukes pressed their hands against the side seams of their suit trousers, where their demonic energy marks were hidden.

Xu Youwei's silver eye trembled violently, and the black and gold runes on the broken hairpin lit up, forcibly suppressing the tremor.

Zhou Ran didn't move; he looked at Herman.

"More eager to awaken than the Old Gods," he repeated, "so you're keeping it?"

Herman shook his head: "It's guarding, not raising."

"What's the difference?"

"The difference is that we don't expect to get anything from it. We're only responsible for judging whether Earth will still be worth preserving after it wakes up."

He spoke with complete nonchalance, as if it were an absolute truth.

Zhou Ran didn't respond, but Chen Ya spoke up.

"Mr. Hermann, you say you are the guards. Who granted you this qualification?"

Herman looked at her.

"Thirty thousand years ago, the Emperor's son severely injured the Moon Emperor, and threw him into the Yin-Yang interlayer of Blue Star."

Before the imperial prince left, he left behind an incomplete skeleton and a set of judgment rules.

He tapped the table with his finger.

"There is only one rule: if Earth is still corrupted by the Old Gods before this sample awakens, then the cleansing will begin."

"What do you mean by cleaning?" Chen Ya pressed.

Herman's lips curved into a tiny smile.

"World destruction."

The moment those two words were uttered, the air in the hall seemed to grow colder.

Herman continued, "Everything we do—using the Holy Light, collecting data, monitoring the virtual realm, and studying those with special constitutions—is to prove one thing to it."

He looked at Zhou Ran.

"The Earth is clean enough; it doesn't need to be cleaned."

Zhou Ran finally spoke.

"Then you used living people for experiments, children as materials, set up a rebirth array in Jiangcheng, and implanted chips in three thousand patients..."

His tone was flat, without any inflection.

"Is this also 'proving that Earth is clean'?"

Herman did not evade the question.

"It comes at a price," he said, "to bring the pollution index of Earth's virtual world below the safety line before the samples are fully awakened. Every experiment is a data collection, and every sample is a calibration reference."

"Human life is a point of reference?" Xu Youwei's voice interrupted.

Hermann turned to look at her, his gaze lingering on her bandaged right hand.

"Miss Xu Youwei. Penglai has nurtured you as a vessel for twenty years. You should know better than anyone that in a sufficiently large game, individuals can be openly priced."

He paused for a moment.

"The difference between us and Penglai is that Penglai sacrificed you for a madman's dream of ascension, while we sacrifice some people for the survival of the entire planet."

His words carried an air of self-righteous arrogance.

"So," he looked back at Zhou Ran, "I don't think the White Tower needs to be judged."

Zhou Ran looked at him.

"Are you done talking?"

Hermann nodded.

"Then it's my turn."

Zhou Ran raised his right hand, and a phantom image of a white bone pen materialized from his fingertips, with the pen tip pointing downwards.

"First, your qualifications are not authorized by anyone."

The emperor's son has been gone for 30,000 years and has never returned to inspect your work.

Your identity as 'guardians' is self-proclaimed.

Herman's facial muscles twitched slightly.

"Secondly," Zhou Ran's pen twirled in the air, "I understand your set of 'cleaning rules'."

"The sample of the imperial prince was the one that could be cleaned; by what right do you have to judge him?"

"You are nothing but watchdogs."

"A watchdog has no right to decide who should die."