To be honest, if Su Zhou hadn’t cleared out the most severe patient isolation zones, Shao Qiming would have likely been ten times busier than he was now. Forget resting—it wouldn’t have been surprising if people had started dying as the illness progressed.

"Yeah, what’s Brother Zhou up to now?" Beside him, Shao Shuangyue was also panting like a puppy, fanning herself with a small fan. While the overcast, rainy weather by the sea wasn’t as muggy as in Hongcheng, a long day of hard work still left a person drenched in sweat. She didn’t want to do anything right now except go back to the hotel and take a nice, long shower.

But soon, as the large-screen TV in the lounge switched on by itself, the Shao siblings stared in shock at the figure of their friend.

"Holy shit?!" x2

At that very moment, a stern-faced Su Zhou was in the center of the screen, standing at the speaker’s podium in the middle of a press conference.

Flanking him on both sides were the head of the local Academy, the head of the local official Cultivation organization, the chief of the local armed forces, and an officer from the South Sea Fleet.

An uproar instantly erupted from the press pool. Reporters from every global television station and news agency imaginable had never expected that the Zhengguo Government’s press conference—addressing the vicious, chaotic incident created by a large Mysterious Organization in the coastal region—would be hosted by a young man who didn’t even look twenty years old!

Who was he? What was his background? Why was he allowed to sit there?

For a moment, questions sprouted like mold on old bread. Scores of cameras were set up for live broadcast, and countless camera flashes lit up the room.

"Ladies, gentlemen, and friends from the press, good afternoon. Welcome to the press conference on the South Sea incident. First, let us solemnly mourn the sacrifices made during this incident..."

Facing the sea of reporters, Su Zhou showed no sign of stage fright. When the time came, he began to speak. 𝚏𝗿𝗲𝐞𝚠𝕖𝐛𝗻𝗼𝐯𝕖𝚕.𝚌𝗼𝗺

And the moment he spoke, the somewhat noisy room fell silent in an instant.

With the tacit approval of the Central Committee, Su Zhou had appropriately released some of his Transcendent’s Suppression. Even though he was reading from a script in a rather mechanical fashion, it was enough to make every reporter present personally experience what was meant by a "True Dragon’s Dragon Aura." And with that, no one dared to inwardly look down on this seemingly far-too-young man.

In fact, he might have overdone it... A few reporters in poor health seemed to have fainted and were being carried backstage by the well-prepared medical staff, prompting Su Zhou to apologize inwardly. ’Can’t be helped. Spiritual Pressure is an AOE, not a single-target attack...’

After the opening remarks, he moved on to the situation report. Su Zhou and several local officials gave a general overview of the losses suffered during the coastal incident, followed by a condemnation of and an execution order against the Spirit Summoning Association. Finally, before moving to the Q&A session, Su Zhou offered a concluding statement: "Although the main culprit who manufactured this disaster—the Extraordinary Tier terrorist Transcendent and one of the seven Leaders of the Spirit Summoning Association, the ’Shepherd of Spirits’—has been killed by our side in the distant seas, all the victims who died in this incident can never..."

CLATTER!

Before Su Zhou could even finish his sentence, and despite being under the weight of an Extraordinary Tier’s Spiritual Pressure, the crowd of reporters—many of whom had already been briefed by their headquarters on the incident’s origins—could no longer remain calm.

"What? The Shepherd of Spirits?"

"Killed? The Shepherd of Spirits, the one who caused several large-scale chaotic incidents in Southeast Asia, has been killed?"

"How did the Zhengguo side confirm this? Are they sure they’re not just spouting nonsense?"

Everyone found this hard to comprehend. Many even subconsciously suspected that this young man had no idea what he had just said. But then they remembered the bit of Spiritual Pressure he had released at the beginning, and the doubt in their hearts gradually faded.

In its place rose a sense of awe, mixed with utter disbelief.

’How could this be... That’s the Shepherd of Spirits, ninth on the global Transcendent wanted list, a veteran Extraordinary Powerhouse who has secretly caused countless tragedies! And he was just... killed? So casually?!’

Consider this: the other six regions across the globe attacked by the Spirit Summoning Association still didn’t even know which of the Association’s Leaders had attacked them!

Soon, after Su Zhou finished his concluding statement, the Q&A session began.

Immediately, a reporter from the American Federation, chosen by a local official, stood up and asked about this very topic. "Professor Su, are you saying that the ’Shepherd of Spirits’ has been killed? May I ask how the Zhengguo government was able to confirm this information?"

"Correct."

Su Zhou nodded and spoke into the microphone. "It is dead. As for how it was confirmed—I killed it myself. So naturally, I would know."

This answer was basically the same as no answer at all, but that reporter’s turn was over. The next question immediately went to a journalist from a European Union television station. She asked, and Su Zhou answered: "I saw its tracks, so I chased it down and killed it. If Transcendents in other regions couldn’t see them, that’s because they aren’t skilled enough. It has nothing to do with me. Don’t ask any further. I can’t explain to you how I saw it. To me, this matter is as self-evident as putting peppers in a pepper stir-fry."

And then, the next reporter.

"Why? How did it die? What a strange question. It caused such a huge disturbance; it would be more surprising if I had let it go, right? As for how it died, I struck it down with lightning. Yes, I was the one who created that thunderstorm over the coastal area earlier. I said, stop asking follow-up questions. I can’t exactly summon lightning indoors for you. Next."

"Why did the Shepherd of Spirits die? My friend from the press, please don’t waste the press conference’s time. Don’t repeat questions that have already been answered. It died because I killed it. It’s that simple. Next."

"Why? How can you reporters be so naive? Why do you keep going around in circles with the same few questions?"

"It’s so simple—Monsters die when they are killed."