Ye Yao made peace with herself.

The shelter in the ditch likes to play hide-and-seek by itself.

Anyway, the United States has been thoroughly cleaned up inside and out.

All known layouts were destroyed.

Night Ballad even suspected that the shelter had resigned itself to its fate and accepted the failure.

They may have already moved their positions silently.

Since neither China nor the United States are viable, let's go and wreak havoc on other countries.

This planet, to say nothing of anything else, has an unusually large number of inhabited areas.

Who knows if, after the asylum case fails in the US, it will target another country instead?

However, Ye Yao did not plan to pay attention to this beforehand.

We'll just have to wait for news from Mu Luo and the others.

Once the shelter is discovered, the group will set out together.

Now...

Why don't we go back and visit Anqi's grandmother?

This little guy has been talking about it for a long time.

Anyone who didn't know better would think he was taking his sweetheart home [N O V E L I G H T] to meet his parents.

Ye Yao decided to wait and see how things went in a few more days.

......

A vast, dark space.

The only source of light is the leaping purple flame in the center.

The fire crackled and popped eerily.

Twisted tongues of fire licked the solidified darkness like living creatures.

It cast an eerie, ghostly light on the empty chairs surrounding it.

These silent seats surround the fire, like ghostly spectators waiting in vain.

A blond man was tucked into a chair closest to the fire, his temples soaked with cold sweat.

Byron felt as if each day was an eternity in this dark and gloomy space.

Everyone else had already left.

Those partners who used to be sarcastic and cynical are now unwilling to offer even the slightest bit of companionship.

Byron has lost his position as the leader of the US Sentinels.

All his assets outside the company will likely be lost to him.

Now it seems that all he has left is his S-rank strength and the shelter organization he relies on.

Can he turn the tide?

Byron still harbored a sliver of hope.

For example, by leveraging the power of the shelter, one can reclaim everything they have in the outside world.

This is what keeps him going.

"...Chief, is our plan not yet complete?"

From the depths of the shadows, the silhouette of the shelter leader slowly emerged.

He sat upright opposite the fire, the wide back of his chair swallowing up all the light.

Only a pair of eyes remained, reflecting a cold purple flame in the dim light, like a predator lurking in the abyss.

He did not answer Byron's question immediately.

The air was stagnant and as black as ink.

The heavy silence pressed against the blond man's eardrums, and even the soft crackling of sparks sounded like thunder.

The flames suddenly shot up, illuminating the icy, blade-like curve of the leader's lips.

"It's almost over, almost at the end."

In the eyes of the shelter's leader, Byron was an excellent host for the Source Fire.

His identity is extraordinary, allowing him to maximize the energy storage efficiency of the Source Fire.

The source fire is the cornerstone of the shelter.

A large amount of malicious energy is needed to serve as the foundation of the shelter.

As the master of a great nation, Byron's every bad decision was accompanied by immense malice towards the common people.

Those who die under his malice will be drawn to the source fire.

The souls of the dead are processed by the source fire into special "materials".

Generally speaking, the greater the malice, the purer the material.

The shelter was originally intended to spread the plague, leading Byron to enact malicious policies that drove the sick and dying from the lower classes.

Let them die in despair under immense malice.

The materials processed in this way will be purer and sufficient to meet the standards for shelter completion.

However, the countermeasures bureau and a certain persistent gang ruined the plan.

Fortunately, the shelter leader discovered a second plan.

Although Byron's malicious policies did not kill many people, another group died very quickly.

Under the United States' system of fostering evil, the country is practically teeming with villains.

Their deaths also have immense value!

These evil people are synonymous with malice, and they only become like this in an environment full of malice.

Byron's malice toward the country affected almost everyone.

Their deaths were, in a way, forced upon them by Byron.

Therefore, the souls of the wicked replaced the common people as the raw materials for the processing of the source fire.

The efficiency of the zero sequence is frighteningly high.

The original plan successfully concealed the existence of the second option.

The countermeasures bureau and sequence zero were drawn to infectious diseases and policies.

They were completely unaware that they were pushing the plan forward!

The more people Zero kills, the stronger the primal fire within Byron grows.

Every day, a large number of souls flow into the source fire within Byron's body.

Byron only needs to stay here for the plan to proceed perfectly.

Now it's just a little bit more, the very last bit.

Although the speed and number of souls flowing in have now decreased significantly.

But based on this trend, it's more than enough.

"This time, I will not fail again. As long as the shelter is fully completed, disaster will always be one step behind me!"

The leader looked at Byron as if admiring a beautiful floor tile.

"Byron, you've done well. In a few days, I'll give you everything you want."

The slight flickering of the source fire within the blond man's body made his thoughts incredibly sluggish.

He didn't even realize something was wrong after hearing the leader's words.

Only relaxation and trust.

"Thank you for your commitment. I'm sure our cooperation will continue."

......

Inside the hotel room.

"Hmm..."

Ye Yao stayed in the United States for another day, preparing to return home the following day.

But something just doesn't feel right.

"The shelter disappeared so completely. Was Anqi really that scary?"

Ye Yao looked at the purple-haired loli whose face was full of expectation.

Who would have thought that this little purple-haired creature, so excited about returning home that it couldn't sleep, could actually manipulate fate to kill someone?

However, in a sense, it was Ye Yao who should have been the one to alert the enemy.

"Sigh, we should have found more of the dark fate lines first and caught them all at once."

Seeing Ye Yao's worried expression, An Qi's excitement diminished somewhat.

"I'm sorry, I'm so useless."

"It's not your fault, it's all because those shady rats are so good at hiding."

Ye Yao ruffled An Qi's hair and chose to change the subject.

"Finding you and Yu Jin on this trip to the United States would be a complete success; everything else is just an add-on."

Speaking of which...

Ye Yao looked regretful again.

"It's a pity that of the three missing people, only two of you have been found; the whereabouts of the third person are unknown."

The system's home location tracking couldn't find anyone at all.

Surely he can't really be dead?

Logically, once the information is entered and the person becomes a prospective family member, they should be displayed on the map.

etc.

Family members in reserve? Family role?

A clever idea suddenly popped into Ye Yao's mind!

Byron's information is known and can be described as quite detailed.

Could we input his information into the system, making him a family member reserve, and then use family location tracking to find his hiding place?

"Damn! I'm a genius!"