Chapter 674: Puppet

Chapter 674: Puppet

"Do you have any idea how much money this research could bring in once it succeeds?" Brad's mood shot up as he jumped to his feet and pointed at Larry, shouting, "You can't even begin to imagine the profits. Larry, I'm telling you, let me out right now, or you'll face consequences you can't even dream of!"

Larry's face stayed blank as he turned and walked out.

After he left, the Legion of Flame Surge warrior folded up the chair and locked the heavy alloy door again.

"Larry, get back here!" Brad's furious roar came from behind. "You're going to regret this! You have no idea who founded the Eastern Trade Guild. Every member in there is an untouchable giant. You can't afford to make enemies of them!"

Larry's brow furrowed slightly at those words. The web of interests behind this conspiracy stretched all the way into the supernatural Martial practitioners class. The situation ran far deeper than he'd thought. Still, he wasn't afraid. No matter what kind of monster was involved, he was going to clean it all out this time.

He left the high-security prison and headed back to military headquarters. He sank into the leather chair in his office, rested his chin in his hand, and fell into thought.

"Eastern Trade Guild..."

He'd never heard of this organization before. To make sure the coming purge went without a hitch, he needed to do his homework first. The Bennett family, one of the four ancient financial dynasties, had its hands on the core economic arteries of the Federation. They would know the inside story of this trade guild, and might even hold a seat at its inner table. If he wanted to pull back the curtain on the Eastern Trade Guild, Paisley seemed like the best place to start. But thinking about her flirtatious behavior earlier, Larry felt a headache coming on. Some part of him wanted to avoid meeting with her alone.

"Or I could just go straight to the King." He thought it over. Brad had hinted that this web of interests had roped in a huge number of military and political figures, and even touched the King's core interests. That King was clearly not as clean as he looked on the surface. There were deeper power games going on behind the scenes.

Larry left the military district and, with a Legion of Flame Surge special guard escort, headed straight for the King's residence — Dragon Palace.

At that moment, inside Dragon Palace's classified meeting room, the atmosphere had gone ice cold.

The current King was slumped in a sofa, while a man past sixty in a formal old-fashioned suit stood before him, staring him down. This was Alex, who had been off the radar for some time.

"Well done." Alex's eyes were cold and sharp as he broke the silence. "Ernest, I didn't pour all those resources into grooming you for nothing. Your political skills have gone far beyond anything I imagined."

Ernest was the current King's real name. In public, people called him the King, and very few dared to address him directly.

Ernest held a special-issue cigarette between his fingers. When he'd been forced to abandon his plan to wipe out all supernatural Martial practitioners at the Heavenly Mountain sanctuary, he'd already seen this day coming. As long as Alex survived the Heavenly Mountain purge, he would come back to settle the score.

A complicated, self-mocking look crossed his face. "Alex, I had no choice. If I didn't weaken the supernatural Martial practitioners within the Federation, things would never settle down."

"Ridiculous!" Alex snapped. "You know full well how much the Federation's supernatural Martial practitioners deter foreign threats. If you wiped them all out, hostile forces from outside would be circling like wolves. The Shadow Ninja, the Knights Templar — none of them are pushovers."

Ernest didn't argue back. He knew perfectly well how deep the supernatural foundations of the overseas powers ran. But he'd set this trap with cards up his sleeve — he'd secretly built a team of supernatural agents under his direct control, strong enough to handle international threats.

Alex forced himself to calm down. This wasn't the time to settle accounts. He flipped back his jacket and sat down across from Ernest.

"Ernest, 'the Gentleman' is extremely unhappy with you. He asked me to pass along a message: for the next six months, do your job quietly and push the power handover forward as fast as you can. As for the mess you've made, don't even think about sticking your nose in any further, or you'll face the consequences." Alex dropped his final warning, turned away with a cold expression, and walked out.

And as he left, Ernest's face grew heavier and heavier.

When Larry arrived at Dragon Palace and stepped out of the car, he came face to face with Alex storming out. Alex stopped and looked at Larry for a moment, a flicker of surprise crossing his face, but he said nothing. He let out a cold snort and walked briskly away, climbing into a black armored sedan parked nearby.

Larry watched the car drive off, rubbing his chin. "Goes missing for over two months, then shows up to see the King at exactly this moment. Something's going on."

Once Alex was completely out of sight, Larry walked into Dragon Palace.

Shadow stood at the inner gate, straight as a pine. When he saw Larry, he stepped forward. "You're here."

"Yeah." Larry gave a small nod. "There are some deep puzzles here that only the King can help me untangle."

"The King is inside." Shadow pushed open the heavy bulletproof door and gestured for him to go in.

Larry stepped into the meeting room and was hit by a thick wave of cigarette smoke. Ernest was sitting on the sofa, smoking in silence. Larry walked straight over and sat down across from him, picking up a cigarette from the table and lighting it. He broke the silence. "What's wrong? Did Alex come to give you a hard time?"

Larry knew that Alex had been at the Heavenly Mountain sanctuary. Ernest's plan to purge all Martial practitioners had included Alex as a target. Since Alex had survived, it was only natural he'd come back to bite.

"I expected it." Ernest's voice was flat.

"Alex was your key political ally. He's the one who put you in power in the first place. Now that you've completely fallen out, he just walked away without making a scene right then and there?" A trace of doubt flickered in Larry's eyes. He knew about their relationship, but the deeper layers of it were still beyond his reach due to limited intelligence.

Ernest let out a long, heavy sigh.

"Sitting in the King's seat looks like having all the power in the world, but in reality you're hemmed in at every turn. I've never truly controlled this Federation. Every major decision that touches the foundations of the state comes down from hands working behind the scenes." Ernest's face was full of exhaustion and helplessness. In this moment, the iron-fisted image of the supreme leader had fallen away, and he looked more like an ordinary man worn down by a fate he never chose.

Larry's interest was piqued. He leaned forward. "Tell me more. What kind of force is pulling the strings behind you?"

Ernest gave a self-mocking smile. "I'm nothing but a political puppet pushed out front. Not just me — my predecessor, and the one before that, were all puppets propped up by the same force, every move dictated by someone else."

"Who?" Larry's eyes sharpened instantly. The current and previous Federation leaders were all puppets — this truth completely overturned everything he thought he knew, blowing past all his earlier assessments of the situation.

Ernest took a long drag and said quietly, "It goes back a hundred years, to when the Federation was first founded."

Larry settled his expression and listened.

"A hundred years ago, when the Federation was established, the first King came to power. But he stepped down after only ten years. As a supernatural Martial practitioner with a long lifespan, though, he never truly retired. The second King was his direct disciple and still answered to him in everything."

"That first King who stepped back — Watson — joined forces behind the scenes with the four ancient financial dynasties and the core supernatural powers of the time, and together they built a massive alliance of interests: the Eastern Trade Guild."

Larry felt a jolt go through him.

The Eastern Trade Guild. The exact name Brad had just used to threaten him.