Zhou Guosheng put down his pen, leaned back in his chair, and rubbed his temples.

The situation in the five major regions of the Nightmare World was not optimistic, especially in the Central Plains Region and the South Pole Region.

These two regions lacked the backing of countries built with a Special Village Establishment Order, leaving the situation precarious.

The South Pole Region was slightly better off; three of the top ten countries on Blue Star were there, along with the eleventh-ranked Sakura Country.

Russia, in particular, despite lacking a Special Village Establishment Order, possessed five city-level territories, the highest number on Blue Star.

Although the Central Plains Region also had two countries in the top ten, each only had three city-level territories.

Despite uniting all countries in the Central Plains Region to resist together, the situation remained precarious, with the defensive line at risk of being breached by the alien armies at any moment.

There ★ 𝐍𝐨𝐯𝐞𝐥𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭 ★ was a knock at the door—three times, urgent.

"Come in." Zhou Guosheng put down his fountain pen.

The secretary pushed the door open and entered, holding a document with a red "Top Secret" label on the cover and a line of small text underneath.

"South Pole Region · Highest-Level Intelligence."

The secretary handed the document to Zhou Guosheng and lowered his voice: "Director Zhou, this just came back from the South Pole Region. There have been major developments in Fenghuo County."

Zhou Guosheng took the document and opened it.

On the first page, his eyebrows twitched slightly.

On the second page, his finger paused on the paper.

On the third page, the corners of his mouth slowly curled up.

From shock to relief, and from relief to a smile, a series of expressions crossed his face within seconds.

He closed the document and looked up at the secretary: "Notify Elder Chu and Shan Yue. Highest-level internal meeting in twenty minutes."

The secretary nodded and quickly walked out of the office.

Zhou Guosheng picked up the document again, read it from beginning to end, then leaned back and let out a long breath while staring at the ceiling.

A trace of that smile still lingered on his lips, but the gravity in his eyes had not dissipated.

He glanced down at the surrender document on the desk, moved it aside, took a deep red notebook from the drawer, opened it, and wrote two words on the blank space of the first page—"Lin Feng."

Ten-odd minutes later, Zhou Guosheng picked up his communicator and entered the highest-level encrypted channel.

In an instant, the world before his eyes completely transformed.

The walls of the room vanished, replaced by a conference room with a round table in the center and ten seats around it.

When he entered, he was already seated in the main position.

Across the round table, a white-haired elderly man was slowly sipping tea.

The steam from the tea blurred the wrinkles on his face, but his eyes were bright—so bright they didn't seem to belong to someone nearly seventy.

He was Chu Huaice, one of the earliest Awakened in Great Xia.

In the year the Nightmare World descended, the first batch of one hundred thousand people was randomly selected, and he was one of them.

He was thirty-seven then, in the prime of his life.

Now, thirty years had passed. His hair had turned white and his wrinkles had deepened, but his back remained straight as a ramrod.

To Chu Huaice's right sat a middle-aged man in his early forties with a resolute face and thick, blade-like eyebrows, wearing a dark gray Zhongshan suit with the collar buttoned meticulously.

He was Lu Shanyue, another Gold Seat Lord of Great Xia, a Level 40 Warrior, and the cousin of Lu Dingchuan, the lord of Zhenyue City.

He had a steady personality and served as the Deputy Director of the Great Xia Nightmare Affairs Bureau.

Zhou Guosheng gave them a slight nod. "Elder Chu, Shan Yue, sorry for the wait."

Chu Huaice put down his teacup, folded his hands on the table, and looked at Zhou Guosheng calmly. "Guosheng, for you to suddenly summon us both, something major must have happened, right?"

Zhou Guosheng pushed the red top-secret document to the center of the round table. A holographic projection automatically expanded, casting the contents of the document into the center of their vision.

"Regarding Fenghuo County, you should have heard some rumors by now. The Great Wall has been completed; it's an advanced wonder. All of this points to one fact: Fenghuo County is using a Special Village Establishment Order."

Chu Huaice's finger paused slightly on his teacup.

Lu Shanyue's eyebrows twitched slightly, but he quickly regained his composure. "A Special Village Establishment Order? No wonder. That explains everything—his speed of rise, his equipment, his Class Change Books, his special units. All the pieces fit."

Chu Huaice took over the conversation. "Based on the available data, Lin Feng's rapid rise can be attributed to the fact that many of the Class Change Books used by the Awakened under his command were dropped when he killed monsters.

The purple-grade equipment he wears was also mostly obtained as drops. Combine that with this Special Village Establishment Order, and we can basically deduce that Lin Feng likely possesses a high-level talent."

He paused, his tone carrying a hint of certainty. "We aren't sure exactly what the talent is, but based on current information, there's a high probability it's related to 'Luck.' He can obtain the things he or his faction needs most from the monsters he kills."

Zhou Guosheng nodded. "That's my deduction as well."

Lu Shanyue waved his hand. "Those things aren't actually that important right now. What matters is that Lin Feng has already risen and become a pivotal force for Great Xia in the Nightmare World. And..."

He looked at Zhou Guosheng, his tone becoming more serious. "Since his territory was built with a Special Village Establishment Order, he can now appoint two subordinate lords. With the buff from the wonder, these two subordinate lords could easily achieve triple-attribute awakening.

Therefore, we must support him at all costs. Even if we have to empty out Zhenyue City—or even if Fenghuo County is just one city-level territory away from promotion, having Zhenyue City simply surrender isn't out of the question. We need Fenghuo County to upgrade to a city-level territory in the shortest time possible."

Chu Huaice said nothing, merely picking up his teacup for another sip.

Lu Shanyue's gaze swept across the faces of Zhou Guosheng and Chu Huaice, and he lowered his voice slightly. "According to information gathered by our intelligence department, combined with current reports, we can deduce that Jiang Yelan is likely already a subordinate lord, but there is still one vacancy.

My suggestion for this vacancy is to try and arrange for someone we are familiar with to fill it.

I think with the level of support we're providing, it would be difficult for him to refuse."

Zhou Guosheng frowned slightly and thought for a moment. "The person we arrange should ideally be someone Lin Feng is familiar with, likes, or has worked with. Are there any candidates?"

Lu Shanyue pondered for a while before slowly speaking: "There's a preliminary candidate: the young girl from the Jiang family, Jiang Zhaoyue. She's worked with Lin Feng a few times, fought alongside him, and they seem to get along well."

Zhou Guosheng let out an "Oh," and his frown gradually smoothed out. "The one whose aunt is Jiang Wan?"

"Yes," Lu Shanyue continued his introduction.

"She is a county-level lord herself, and her territory is adjacent to Fenghuo County. She's already Level 29.

Both her first promotion and second promotion were for rare classes. When the time comes, we can just have her surrender to Fenghuo County, and Lin Feng can appoint her as a subordinate lord directly, saving even a Village Establishment Order.

If we provide an ordinary Third Rank book as aid, combined with Fenghuo County's advanced wonder, she could achieve dual-attribute awakening instantly even without a gold-grade accessory."