The Time Pause lasted only two seconds.

CRACK.

It was as if invisible shackles had shattered. Brady began to move again, completing the punch he had been about to throw, but his target had already fled.

Using those two seconds of control, Ah Man and the others had already closed in.

"Hah!" The burly Ah Man roared, his fingers clenching into a fist that shone with golden light as he smashed it viciously toward Brady’s face.

In that instant, an explosive boom erupted as a fierce wind howled.

As a Strength Type Ascender, Ah Man’s Fist Force was immense. With a single punch, he slammed Brady’s head into the concrete, gouging out a crater and sending shattered stones flying.

Brady’s ears rang and his mind was a blur. He subconsciously activated Instant Movement to escape.

He appeared on the roof of a building, but before he could even recover his senses, a massive, blazing Fireball shot up from below. He was forced to attempt another Instant Teleportation to dodge, but this time, Brady was horrified to discover that his Extraordinary Abilities wouldn’t activate.

On the ground, an Ascender from the Poisonous Sore Gang coughed up a mouthful of blood. His face was ashen, his expression listless. He clutched a small wooden doll that emanated wisps of black energy. The doll’s features bore a striking resemblance to Brady.

A strand of hair could be faintly seen wrapped around the doll’s neck. It was the hair they had just gone to great lengths to obtain from Brady.

As soon as he had the medium, he used the wooden doll. At the cost of all his Essence, he cast a vicious Curse upon Brady, temporarily sealing his Extraordinary Abilities.

BOOM! Unable to execute an Instant Movement, Brady was engulfed by the blazing Fireball. The violent explosion completely destroyed the building’s roof.

Engulfed in high-temperature flames, Brady plummeted from the sky, crashing heavily to the ground with a THUD. His vision went black, and he instinctively rolled on the ground to put out the fire.

Just then, the Plague Doctor approached, his steps somewhat unsteady. He threw out a metal disk inscribed with an Alchemy Matrix. Thick Darkness surged from it like a tidal wave, forming a Night Curtain that enveloped the surrounding area.

"Axiomatic Law: Chain of Sin."

The Plague Doctor opened his palm and unleashed his Extraordinary Ability, Axiomatic Law, on Brady.

Jet-black chains immediately materialized around Brady’s body. With the scrape of tightening steel, they bound him completely.

In the pitch-black Darkness, Zhou Chen came to the Plague Doctor’s side, once again stunned.

’This is no simple Extraordinary Ability. It seems to materialize a person’s sins into chains to restrain them. The more sins someone has committed, the stronger the chains, I bet. It’s perfectly suited for a nation like North Carolina and its Nether Wind’s Simplicity. And what’s more, this Skill seems to be a Derivative Ability.’

"Cough, cough... Mr. Siegfried, please act quickly." The Plague Doctor coughed weakly. Using the C-002 Time-Pausing Pocket Watch had already consumed a great deal of his energy, and now, restraining a Tier Three Ascender, he was about to reach his limit.

Zhou Chen didn’t waste any time. He made a wish to brainwash and control Brady.

[Wish Value -250]

Brady jolted. One moment, his face had been twisted in a ferocious snarl as he screamed about killing all of them, a bunch of "wretches." The next, he became exceptionally calm.

"It’s done." Zhou Chen also let out a few harsh coughs, his aura weakening. After all, brainwashing a Tier Three Ascender had to be a huge drain on his energy; he needed to act the part.

The Plague Doctor loosened the Chain of Sin slightly and asked, "Your name."

"Brady."

"Brady, what is your ideal?"

"To lead the people of the lower city to overthrow the oppression of the North Carolina Government, eliminate North Carolina’s distorted class system, achieve equality, and make North Carolina truly great!" Brady answered, his tone resolute.

Gasps echoed around them. Ted and the others wore strange expressions. ’Is this for real?’

Everyone knew what kind of man Brady was. That loathing expression, as if he wanted nothing more than to slaughter them all, was the perfect picture of North Carolina’s upper class. But in a single second, he had become... this.

It was an effect that couldn’t possibly be faked. An upper-class person would never say such things. Even under extreme torture and ultimate humiliation, those self-important elites would never yield to the people of the lower city.

The only explanation was that Brady had been brainwashed. His personality had been overwritten, and he had been turned into a true member of the resistance.

It was chilling, but for the Poisonous Sore Gang, it was undeniably a good thing.

[Wish Value +30, +30, +30, +20, +20...]

Zhou Chen received Wish Value from the Plague Doctor and thirteen others, for a total of 450 points. Including the points from the checkpoint and from assimilating the two Hand of the Empire squads, the total Wish Value gathered during this operation came to a grand total of 2,500. This was thanks to the sheer number of people in the Poisonous Sore Gang and their desperate wishes, which were tied to their very survival and the success of the mission.

’If I help the Poisonous Sore Gang and the Salvation Army overthrow the North Carolina Government, would the Wish Value I get be enough to let me ascend directly to Crowned King?’ Zhou Chen wondered.

Before he could give it more thought, the Plague Doctor interrupted him. "Everyone, rest for five minutes. Brady, use some medicine on yourself. Save your leg."

"Yes."

The Plague Doctor released the Chain of Sin. Brady then produced an Alchemy Potion out of thin air and poured it on his leg, where the flesh had been corroded away, leaving only white bone.

"You have a Storage Artifact?" Ted exclaimed from the side in surprise.

"I’m an elite Special Agent with the Counter-Terrorism Department. I am qualified to possess a Storage Artifact," Brady replied.

The Plague Doctor clapped his hands, signaling for everyone to quiet down.

"In five minutes, here’s what we’ll do..."

·

「Five minutes later.」

The Night Curtain dissipated, revealing Brady standing on the devastated street. He was holding a shattered metal disk—the Alchemy Tool used to cast the Night Curtain. The flesh on his left leg had regenerated, leaving it completely healed.

Angrily throwing the shattered metal disk to the ground, Brady activated Instant Movement and rushed toward the other two battlefields that had been shrouded by a Night Curtain.

However, by the time he arrived, only the Hand of the Empire and the decimated Government Army remained.

The Poisonous Sore Gang had fled.

...No, that’s not right. The heroic Government Army had repelled the vicious slum gang and protected the property of the city center’s residents.

·

「City Hall. The Safe House.」

The screen was pitch-black.

Shortly after the battle began, all the surveillance cameras went dead. Now, Sidelong and the others could only wait anxiously in the safe house, praying that Brady and the Hand of the Empire could eliminate that street gang.

Otherwise, they would be the ones getting wiped out.

BEEP!

Suddenly, someone began to open the safe house door from the outside.

The metal blast door slowly opened. Amidst the almost suffocating tension, Brady walked in, dressed in a black suit and black gloves.

"Phew..."

Sidelong and the others let out a long sigh of relief. The weight that had been pressing down on their hearts was finally lifted.

Since Brady had returned safely, it meant the thugs outside had been annihilated or...

Sidelong’s thought hadn’t even finished forming when he saw several figures walk in behind Brady.

One of them was particularly conspicuous, wearing the bizarre and ominous bird-beak mask of a medieval plague doctor.

"This place must have cost a pretty penny, hmm? I hear it can even withstand a nuclear bomb."

The Plague Doctor scanned the stunned, shocked faces around him and calmly announced, "Nice. And now, it’s ours."

They were stupefied.

Sidelong and the others were all frozen, their faces blank with confusion. They never would have imagined that Brady would lead the enemy right to them!

Wasn’t Brady an extremist who advocated for a great purge of the lower class? How could he possibly cooperate with these lowly plebeians?

"Mr. Siegfried, can you still manage?" the Plague Doctor asked with concern.

They had stealthily made their way through the municipal building, brainwashing everyone they came across. Although he was being sustained by Alchemy Potions, frequent use of Extraordinary Abilities would normally take an unbearable mental toll. Zhou Chen had no choice but to put on a show of being on the verge of death from exhaustion.

"I... I can manage..."

Zhou Chen replied weakly, secretly making a wish to brainwash Sidelong and the other high-ranking officials. He then feigned near-total collapse, needing someone to support him just to stay upright. Catherine quickly took out several bottles of Alchemy Potion and had him drink them.

The Plague Doctor looked at Sidelong and the others as their expressions shifted, then began to question them.

"What is your ideal?"

Rusted Iron City Mayor Sidelong and the other officials all rose to their feet in unison. Placing their right fists over their hearts, they answered with resolute expressions and a resounding voice:

"To overthrow the North Carolina Government, eliminate oppression and inequality, and make North Carolina truly great!"