The male supporting character was actually myself.

"Oh ho, you were waiting for a reply? Sorry to disappoint you."

The little white cat, perched atop the luxurious chandelier, filmed a video while grinning mischievously, "My host has already cleaned things up for you, you're welcome! Hehehe... Judging by the timeline, it should be exposed soon, I really can't wait to see how the archbishop's bitter face will contort. As expected of the host I chose, you're truly amazing!"

"You may leave now." The archbishop waved his hand, and his subordinate respectfully withdrew.

He didn't want the five major bandit groups to be exposed to the Executor Legion unless absolutely necessary, otherwise the large amount of wealth he had painstakingly amassed would be confiscated and sent to the church's treasury!

However, everyone is now collectively silent and refusing to accept calls. Do they really intend to abscond with the money?

Space-type bags are extremely valuable, and I have secretly tracked their flow to ensure that the five major bandit groups could never possess such a divine artifact. Therefore, it is impossible for such a huge amount of wealth to be moved so easily.

Should we ask them for help?

Did they directly use the valuables in the bandit's treasury as a deposit?

What if they try to renege on their promise after they get the goods?

You have to be extremely careful when making this kind of deal!

The bishop walked to the gold-rimmed mirror and reached out to touch his reflection in the cool surface. His face was remarkably well-preserved! But his eyes were still somewhat cloudy, and the weariness he couldn't hide was almost overflowing.

"Eternal youth...immortality!" he whispered in a low, hoarse voice. "As long as you have money and power, you can have it! It feels so good..."

As the sun set, the last rays of blood-red sunlight refracted through the window and reflected in the mirror, casting a faint rosy glow on his face.

"No, something terrible has happened! Your Excellency, something has happened to you!"

Not long after, his subordinate rushed in, panicked, and exclaimed in a low voice, "Please check that League of Legends website! They've uploaded new videos again! I don't know if the content is real or fake... The five major teams might..."

"What's wrong with the five major groups? I hate people who stutter!"

"The five major groups may have been wiped out!" the subordinate replied, forcing a smile. "It was Jiang Chen, the one who was talking trash during Li Moran's trial! We don't know if the video he filmed is real or fake."

The bishop accepted the summoning magic stone offered by the other party with a puzzled look on his face. "Jiang Chen? That lowly office worker? Isn't his file just a low-level superhuman?"

Ha, it's definitely just a publicity stunt.

"He thinks he can wipe out the five major groups? That's the funniest joke I've heard all year..."

However, before he could finish his sarcastic remark, his eyes were fixed on the screen, and the bishop's face quickly turned pale and his eyes trembled. "How is this possible?!"

Chapter Nineteen: Conspiracy Theories

In the video, Jiang Chen looked righteous and heroic, and his fighting style was incredibly smooth and fluid!

The ruthless Skeleton Hands have more than 20 senior executors and more than 50 intermediate executors, all of whom are veterans who have killed monsters and been on the front lines. However, they were beaten to a pulp by a mere clerical worker!

Only after seeing Jiang Chen pry open the treasure vault and ransack it did the bishop realize what was happening and hurriedly ordered, "Don't even think about avoiding suspicion, use the teleportation array to go there immediately and see! I need to know if it's really true!"

"I'm going right now!" The subordinate hurriedly rushed towards the teleportation array at the church headquarters.

The bishop's hands trembled slightly as he held the summoning magic stone, straining his eyes to peer at the screen, trying to discern something from the video.

"What kind of magic scroll could produce such an effect?"

"What kind of attack magic is this? How can it instantly turn a person into a bloody mist?"

"What is all this? How come I didn't know there were magic scrolls with such destructive power?"

A series of question marks hovered over his mind, but he couldn't come up with any answers.

If this is true, it's too magical, even more outrageous than those idiotic movies. A lowly office worker wiped out the skeleton hand by smashing scrolls? Besides, I'm familiar with all kinds of magic scrolls, but I have a hard time distinguishing which types Jiang Chen used.

If it were fake, the entire process shows no signs of being synthesized. Especially the treasures, various magic stones, and magical plants—they don't seem like forgeries at all. According to the records retrieved by the church, how could Jiang Chen, a low-level clerk who frequently needed to pawn his belongings, possibly possess so much gold and silver to fabricate?

In the video, he also said that he wanted to use the money to establish a charitable foundation.

Did someone get their brain squeezed by a door?

The bishop was completely baffled, but his quick-acting subordinates didn't keep him waiting long.

As dusk fell, he ran back and forth through the portal several times, finally reporting that the five major bandit groups had indeed been wiped out. The photos brought back from the scene matched the process in the video, proving that it was indeed Jiang Chen who did it!

"Smack!" The bishop slammed the summoning magic stone to the ground.

The thought of all that gold and silver treasures made his heart bleed!

But the Pope will be back soon, and I have to figure out how to clean up this mess.

He took a few deep breaths, his pale face twitching with rage, his eyes slightly reddening, and he gritted his teeth, saying, "Give the order to issue a commendation to Jiang Chen!"

"What?" The subordinate, who had brought back bad news and was feeling uneasy, didn't understand at first.

"I say we should issue a commendation to Jiang Chen in the name of the Church!" the bishop said through gritted teeth, enunciating each word clearly. "He is being rewarded for his zeal and courage in sharing the Church's burdens and for eliminating the five major bandit groups, thus benefiting the people!"

The subordinate couldn't help but shudder. "Yes! I'll take care of it right away."

“Jiang Chen… fine, you…” The bishop trembled with rage, his bloodshot eyes fixed on the young face in the video still playing on the shattered screen on the ground. His face twitched as he let out a sound that was hard to tell if it was a cry or a sneer, “You have a path to heaven but you refuse to take it, and you insist on barging into the gates of hell, then… die!”

The fluffy little ball was clearly startled, then stuck out its tongue and taunted, "Hehehe~ You dare to lay a hand on my host? Watch me, the little kitten, kill you first!"

"Achoo!" Jiang Chen, far away in Dragonbone City, sneezed, rubbed his nose, and muttered, "Who's insulting me?"

Li Moran couldn't help but laugh, "Who else could it be? It must be those people from the church! You're really something, wiping out five major bandit groups in one night has once again broadened my horizons. Money really can buy anything!"

"Yes, the only trouble is that counting money is exhausting, much more tiring than throwing scrolls..."

Jiang Chen laughed it off, and luckily the protagonist didn't suspect anything. Otherwise, if the protagonist pressed him for details, he would have had to rack his brains to make up a story about what scrolls he used during the fight.

In fact, Li Moran never even considered the issue of forgery.

First of all, in his eyes, the executors of those bandit groups were just a bunch of rabble with little strength. He was only unable to take action because of his constraints; otherwise, those people would have been dead long ago.

Secondly, he didn't know much about scrolls. The video was full of various magical effects, so Li Moran mistakenly thought that as long as he was willing to spend money, he could buy a magic scroll with the power of a super executor without having to work hard to smash the scroll. It was indeed not difficult.

Finally, and most importantly: Who the hell would have thought that a lowly office worker would actually have the power to wipe out five major bandit groups?

"I'm going to establish a charitable foundation after I've inventoried all this gold and silver treasures," Jiang Chen said, seizing the opportunity to change the subject. "I want to support and increase education efforts so that we can break down the rigid social classes in the next twenty years."

Li Moran: ? ? ?

"I don't quite understand what you mean..."

“The social hierarchy under the Church’s rule is too rigid and difficult to break.” Jiang Chen patiently explained, pointing to the bustling crowd on the street: “I don’t know much about what the world was like before the Dark Ages, but since the Abyss descended, human society has been broken up and reorganized. Anyone who can awaken superpowers and become an executor can be high above others.”

But most ordinary people live very difficult lives.

The sole criterion for awakening superpowers is whether one can become an executor. If even one person awakens superpowers, the whole family can live a life of comfort and security. Once someone becomes an executor, family members can wear clothing symbolizing their status and act with superior authority.

The enforcers, needless to say, rode tall horses and wore uniforms, looking incredibly imposing!

Awakening is a talent possessed only by a small minority; many ordinary people are completely buried simply because they cannot become implementers, and this is wrong. All people are born equal, and the world can only function properly if everyone has the opportunity to shine.

A look of confusion flashed across Li Moran's face. "I...I haven't considered these issues."

"Our basic needs for food, clothing, shelter, and transportation all rely on magic and magic stones, which are convenient and quick, but also have serious drawbacks."

First, the living space of ordinary people is infinitely compressed. They can only undertake heavy physical labor with the lowest pay. No matter how talented they are in other aspects, if they do not awaken by the age of sixteen, they will be thrown into the dust and have no hope for the rest of their lives.

Secondly, over-reliance on magic stones has repeatedly diminished human creativity.

The Abyss was not originally a product of the original world. If it were to close unilaterally or if the strange lords were to unite to restrict the mining of magic stones, the power of superhumans would be insufficient to support the normal operation of the entire city.

Have you seriously considered that your sudden, mysterious evacuation back then might have been a prelude to a complete collapse of your defenses?

Li Moran was completely stunned. It took him a while to react. "You mean—the Weird One deliberately feigned weakness and retreated, allowing humans to freely enter the abyss to mine magic stones?"

If we become overly reliant on magic resources and unilaterally cut off the source of magic stones, then…

Chapter Twenty: Introducing You to a Special Friend

Li Moran gasped and didn't dare to say anything more.

If what Jiang Chen said is true, and the supernatural beings are secretly plotting to undermine humanity's survival, then humanity has been fooled for ten years! No, or even earlier, since when humanity was on the verge of collapse, it didn't care about anything else as long as it could survive, so it did its best to use magic to create a new world.

Having tasted the magic of science, people never tried to restore their original scientific knowledge.

Jiang Chen's analysis is correct; this world is indeed divided by superpowers, with clear boundaries between the two ends.

Ordinary people don't even have the ability to draw runes, so naturally they can't do any work that involves technology. Therefore, they have no choice but to do manual labor, especially ordinary people living on the border, who have no choice but to go down into the abyss to mine magic stones in order to support their families.

If no changes are made and this continues, the number of the new generation, who are being exploited to the point of having no way out, will continue to decline. At that point, the strange lords won't even need to launch an attack; they can simply join forces to cut off the mining of magic stones, and the human world will soon come to a standstill, descending into panic and internal strife.

"That's a really ruthless move, winning without bloodshed!" The more he thought about it, the more likely it seemed.

Otherwise, how can we explain their bizarre sudden show of weakness and retreat to the deepest part of the abyss?

Ironically, after we raised our questions, the church, eager to claim credit, completely ignored the enemy's unusual behavior. After meeting with other national leaders, they unanimously agreed that the strange creatures had been frightened and had retreated, and that humanity had achieved an absolute victory.

Thinking of this, Li Moran frowned and said angrily, "Arrogant and conceited, yet controlling the lifeline of the entire country, such a church should be overthrown!"

"Oh, so that's what you were thinking?" Jiang Chen couldn't help but laugh. "I thought you would be firmly loyal to the church."

"Of course not. I'm only responsible for protecting humanity's safety. Whether the church is in power is none of my concern. By the way, you mentioned starting a charitable foundation. How exactly do you intend to improve the current predicament?"

Jiang Chen stretched and took out a stack of proposals from his system space. "Here they are. First, we need to find a reliable helper who can handle a lot of money and has good character."

Secondly, we need to establish support mechanisms and open schools in various regions, giving ordinary people the opportunity to access more scientific knowledge. Using archaeology as a pretext, we can revive traditional disciplines, cultivate a new generation of talent, and create a large pool of professionals who can support themselves without relying on magic!

“Uh…” Li Moran was a little confused for a moment, “With such a lofty goal, I’m afraid the gold and silver you’ve plundered is really not enough.”

"So we need to find a helper to do this. We two have something even more important to do—overthrow the church's rule, invest a lot of assets in society, let the corrupt executors return to the masses, eliminate class stratification, strengthen the army, and encourage the reproduction of the race."

Finally, they stormed into the abyss, wiped out all the monsters hiding in its deepest recesses, and completely eliminated the security threat!

Li Moran: w(°ｏ°)w

I never expected that such a small and frail child would have such lofty ambitions!

"Ahem, let's discuss the first step first. If we need an all-around helper who can manage a lot of money and develop and open schools, I have a good recommendation."

He glanced at the colorful neon lights that had already lit up the street below and smiled slightly, "Didn't I say I'd treat you to a drink last time but we didn't make it? Tonight I'll treat you to a drink, and you can also meet a very special friend."

Oh huh? !

Jiang Chen immediately thought of the tavern owner among the potential male supporting characters—a strange and mutated individual with a fierce appearance but a gentle heart and a mysterious background. Since he was strange, he must have come from the abyss. It seemed that a chain reaction was occurring throughout the entire mission world, and everyone was beginning to have their own storyline unfolding.

The tavern owner's character story should be related to the overall background setting. By getting to know him, you might be able to glimpse some of the secrets of this world!

As night falls, the city lights up, and the streets are bustling with people, exuding a strong sense of daily life.

People can criticize the church as they see fit, but life goes on. So after the anger subsides, people still have to go to work, shops still have to prepare ingredients, and hungry young people will naturally come to find food on time.

This is a vibrant world where food is paramount, and living in the present while taking care of oneself and one's family is the choice of most people.