The undead have descended upon the world? I possess a sword that can cleave the heavens once more!

Upon seeing the tiny, exquisitely crafted sword, which seemed to have no other distinguishing features besides its fine appearance, the group in black trench coats were all curious about what it was that could make the Director-General consider it extremely important.

Of course, only one person showed a strange and inexplicable look in their eyes.

That person was the director of the research institute.

The moment he saw the talisman sword, he realized that he seemed to have seen it somewhere before: it seemed that two researchers in the research institute had previously applied for a project to develop a new type of weapon, and there was a picture of this thing in the application form for that project?

In fact, his nephew was one of the researchers who applied for the project.

But how did they manage to get that tiny sword, which even the Director General had to say was very important?

Hmm, I guess I'll have to give my nephew a good talking-to when I get back. He didn't even tell him about something so important!

Wang Run, the director of the research institute, pushed up his glasses and thought to himself.

Ji Lingzuo had no intention of keeping them in suspense. He simply waved his hand, and a slightly illusory light screen descended in the middle of the long table: "You can see for yourselves the details."

Everyone's eyes turned to that direction.

In the light screen, Ji Lingzuo's figure first appeared, and then the screen gave a close-up of Ji Lingzuo's hand, which was a small gadget with the same style as the miniature sword they had just seen. Then the screen suddenly zoomed out, and everyone could see clearly that opposite Ji Lingzuo was a Thousand-Faced Corpse with a ferocious face and a twisted body.

Then, in the next moment, a streak of silver light flashed by, and the ferocious Thousand-Faced Corpse species turned into black smoke and disappeared without any resistance.

After the video finished playing, Ji Lingzuo began to explain:

"The zombie in the video is an eighth-tier Thousand-Faced Zombie."

"And that silvery-white stream of light was an attack formed from this little gadget in my hand."

"This little gadget is called the Rune Sword; it's a one-time use weapon."

As he spoke, Ji Lingzuo slightly raised the hand holding the talisman sword so that everyone could see it more clearly.

At this moment, the heads of various departments, all dressed in black trench coats, looked at the miniature sword in Ji Lingzuo's hand, their expressions changing slightly.

This tiny thing can instantly kill an eighth-tier Thousand-Faced Corpse Species?

It's important to know that the Thousand-Faced Corpse is different from the Lustful Corpse; its direct combat power ranks among the top of all types of corpses!

This wasn't the end; Ji Lingzuo's next words caused the faces of all the officials to change drastically:

"Moreover, only a small amount of energy is needed to trigger the rune sword."

"Even a first-tier ability user can meet the triggering criteria."

This means that as long as the Rune Sword is present, even a first-tier ability user who has just entered the extraordinary realm has the ability to instantly kill an eighth-tier corpse species!

Then, Ji Lingzuo added, "Well, one thing to note is that the talisman sword has a chance of missing, so you need to pre-aim before triggering it."

At this moment, the Minister of Resource Coordination couldn't help but look at the Research Institute Director beside him, his tone tinged with excitement: "You old Wang, is this a new weapon developed by your research institute?"

"They really kept it a secret! They only released it after development was completely finished!"

Upon hearing this, the group of leaders nodded in agreement, also agreeing that this weapon was the result of the research institute.

Unexpectedly, the director of the research institute, who was wearing glasses, shook his head: "This is not a weapon developed by our research institute."

"I would like to create a standard weapon that is small in size, easy to trigger, and extremely powerful."

At this moment, Ji Lingzuo spoke up again to explain: "The talisman sword was indeed not developed by the research institute. Its origin involves some top-secret information and cannot be disclosed for the time being."

Upon hearing this, all the leaders were taken aback.

The Director-General of the Investigation Bureau, as the highest-ranking official in the Bureau of Anomalies, is a Level 15 Ability User, the strongest in the real world, and also a Torchbearer of the Jiuli "Li Yu" level. It can be said that, apart from the nine Li Lords, no one has a higher information security level than him. (Jiuli ranks: Torchbearer, Traveler, Impermanent, Guardian, Ten Seats, Celestial Officer, Li Yu, Li Lord.)

Even so, the responsible persons still have the authority to view the Director-General's information!

Although their strength is not high, generally only around the tenth or eleventh rank, as the heads of various departments in the real world, their information access is extremely high, on par with the director-general!

After all, there are many things they need to know and understand in order to formulate the most appropriate strategy.

If even those who grasp the general direction of the real world have very incomplete information, then the collective meeting of the General Administration is meaningless, and the plan discussed together will inevitably be full of loopholes.

Under these circumstances, Director-General Ji Lingzuo was unable to disclose the origin of the talisman sword to them.

Those with higher authority than them are only a few Lord Li, who have the highest authority!

In other words, the origin of this talisman sword involves Lord Li?

At one side of the long table, the director of the research institute's eyes flickered upon hearing Ji Lingzuo's words: Good heavens, he actually managed to get his hands on something related to Lord Li. How come he didn't know his tech-geek nephew had such abilities?!

torture!

They must be severely tortured when they get back!

We must find out the origin of the talisman sword! My permissions aren't enough, so my nephew will have to step in!

Ji Lingzuo continued, "However, what is certain now is that from now on, a batch of these talisman swords will be delivered to us every day, with a quantity of approximately 4000 to 5000 swords."

"What we need to do is make good use of these thousands of talisman swords and maximize their efficiency as much as possible!"

He paused, then added:

"Yes, there's one more thing to consider when making the plan: this talisman sword can't be stored away; it must be used up as soon as possible that day!"

4000-5000 rune swords capable of instantly killing an eighth-tier opponent! A batch arrives every day!

This means that there is no need to deploy experts of the eighth rank or above. Simply selecting a group of torchbearers who wield talisman swords is enough to clear out thousands of eighth-rank corpses!

As soon as Ji Lingzuo finished speaking, various voices of discussion emerged in the meeting room.

"Ideally, each rune sword should be able to eliminate one Rank 8 Corpse Seed; that would be the most efficient!"

"Although even Tier 1 ability users can trigger it, it still requires Tier 5 or 6 or higher Torchbearers to carry out Tier 8 cleanup missions with rune swords. Otherwise, if the strength difference is too great, there is a high chance of being unable to aim or even dying in vain before seeing the target!"

"To maximize the efficiency of each rune sword, we still need to establish a reasonable regional tiered allocation standard!"

"More than four thousand rune swords per day—the real world can't consume that many, but the deep dark realms in various regions can definitely meet that requirement!"

. . . . . .

"Alright, that concludes today's meeting."

"Reconstruction and recovery plan for the three southeastern provinces."

"Publicly disclose the schedules of ability users and zombie types, public opinion campaigns, corresponding publicity channels, and measures to appease residents' emotions, etc."

"The specific allocation and circulation of the talisman swords, and the optimal solution for maximizing efficiency."

"And the advancement of martial arts academies."

"We need to come up with a feasible plan as soon as possible."

"These past few days have been tough on everyone, especially those in the Ministry of People's Livelihood, the Ministry of Public Affairs, the Ministry of Publicity, and the Ministry of Education."

At the end of the meeting, as Ji Lingzuo summarized, the heads of each department stood up, saluted, and said, "Yes, Director-General!"

Then, the sounds of chair legs being dragged, documents being closed, and the terminal screen going dark mingled together before dispersing and hurrying towards the door.

After the last person left, the door slowly closed with a dry, muffled thud, driven by the springs.

The meeting room fell silent again.

Ji Lingzuo did not get up immediately. He remained seated at the head of the long table, his fingertips resting on the edge of the silver-white talisman sword in front of him. He slightly turned it so that the light would fall from the other side, illuminating the intricate patterns on the sword as the light source changed.

He looked down at it for a while, his gaze lingering on the faint silvery-white reflection for a long time, before finally putting it back in his palm and putting it away.

He leaned back in his chair and tilted his head slightly to look out the window: the distant city skyline was gradually lighting up with warm evening lights.

He sighed deeply: "I have a feeling that we don't have much time left."

His voice was very soft, as if he were talking to himself.

Then he suddenly shook his head, gave a helpless bitter smile, and muttered to himself with a hint of dissatisfaction with his own situation, "If I had known, I wouldn't have insisted on becoming the director of this bureau."

"This feeling of being awake but powerless is truly agonizing."

After he finished speaking, he was silent for a few seconds, then tapped his fingertips lightly twice on the table.

Then, as if suddenly remembering something, he stopped pointing and sat up slightly: "However, twenty years old, no, to be precise, it should be eighteen."

"The fifteenth level at eighteen..."

"Perhaps, there is still some hope?"

Just then.

drip-

Ji Lingzuo's mobile terminal on his wrist suddenly vibrated.

He turned his gaze from the window, glanced down at the mobile terminal screen, and lightly tapped the edge of the screen with his finger. A sound rang out:

"Director-General, there's a video call specifically for you. The call originates from the office of the Director of the Dongjiang Provincial Bureau. Would you like to connect?"

Dongjiang Provincial Bureau...

Ji Lingzuo still remembered that the dark vortex disappeared over Dongjiang Province, and the figure on the throne was in the golden passage above Dongjiang Province.

Thinking this, he said softly, "Connect it."

The video call connected, and a screen of light unfolded in front of him.

The person appearing in the video is the director of the Dongjiang Provincial Bureau, with blond hair, a high nose, and striking eyebrows and bright eyes, but who looks somewhat tired.

"What's wrong? What do you need me for? Is there some problem in Dongjiang Province that you can't resolve?"

The blond-haired director of the Dongjiang Provincial Bureau shook his head: "Director-General, it wasn't me who came to see you."

After saying that, the director of the Dongjiang Provincial Bureau turned to the side, his expression somewhat strange, and asked, "We've already contacted the director-general. You, no, you want to—?"

Before he could finish speaking, a single, no, three identical young voices came from the side: "Let me speak."

Then, as the camera panned, three figures wearing identical black trench coats appeared on the screen, and these three figures even had the same delicate features!

Without a doubt, these were Wu You's first, second, and third clones.

The three clones simultaneously looked at the plain-faced figure on the light screen, and spoke at the same time, their voices consistent, clear in tone, and moderate in volume, maintaining clear resolution even after being transmitted synchronously through the light screen:

"It's me, LH-36, Director General."

Ji Lingzuo, sitting in the main seat of the conference room, was taken aback when he saw the three identical figures.

But upon hearing what the other person said...

LH-36? Isn't this the same comrade he just met today, the one who suppressed the passage connecting the real world, the deep dark realm, and the Corpse Realm?

As a level 15 ability user, he had experienced countless battles, both large and small, and naturally he quickly realized that this was some kind of clone or illusion technique used by the opponent.

He nodded. "It's me. What's wrong?"

Then, Wu You told Ji Lingzuo about his arrangement of three clones and the fact that each clone needed to be able to log in to the same mobile terminal.

After hearing Wu You's description, Ji Lingzuo was also stunned: three clones with the strength of the thirteenth rank? And the main body at the fifteenth rank?

He quickly realized what was happening and was even a little envious: This ability to create clones is really amazing! I wish I had that ability!

He doesn't even need three clones, two are enough!

One clone will be in charge of meetings, another will handle various affairs of the Investigation Bureau, and then the main body can go to the deep dark domain to fight and have fun.

This ability to create clones is really perfect for him, the director-general!

But then, a thought suddenly flashed through his mind: although his clone was only at level thirteen, which was not enough, the opponent's main body was a solid level fifteen, it was just that its position could not be moved for the time being!

As the Director-General of the Anomaly Investigation Bureau, a level 15 strength is more than enough!

If someone takes his place, wouldn't he be able to go back to the deepest dark realms and enjoy fighting?

Moreover, the other party's ability to create clones is also very suitable for being the director of the bureau!

Thinking of this, Ji Lingzuo's expression changed instantly. His gaze swept over the three identical, handsome faces again. Then, he slightly adjusted his posture, leaning forward half an inch, a warm smile appearing on his lips, and his voice softened a beat:

"Comrade Wu You, we will fulfill all your requests."

"However, I have another question for you—"

"So, are you interested in getting a promotion?"

Upon hearing this, all three of Wu You's clones simultaneously wore expressions of slight confusion: "Promotion...?"