CHAPTER 1481: CHAPTER 1481: THE FISHERMAN TRAPPED IN THE CAGE

He lowered his head, looking at the machines flashing around him, the machines trembling and beeping, displaying that the figure on the bed still had life signs.

This figure’s face was old, skin deathly pale.

The hooded figure gazed at the elderly’s heaving chest, falling into a brief silence.

Then, he gazed at the elderly’s tightly closed eyes, seemingly recalling something, and sighed lightly.

After a brief silence, he slightly raised his hand.

A rich yellow radiance gathered in his hand, coalescing into glowing light particles, and beneath these sparkling points, the whole space-time seemed to distort.

He lifted his hand, reaching for the elderly’s throat.

The entire process was unusually silent, calm.

As if nothing happened, yet as if this was meant to happen.

——

Hidden Space

Beneath the brilliance that filled the firmament, the elderly holding the magic wand raised his head, looking at the shadows emerging from all directions.

Blazing thunder descended from heaven, shattering these shadows.

But soon, new shadows emerged.

"Doing these things is just a waste of effort," the elderly gazed at these shadows, his brow furrowing tightly.

He raised the magic wand again, dazzling thunder descended like waves from the sky, sweeping through the silent darkness beneath the earth.

Zi-la——

Accompanied by the sound of shadows and flesh being scorched, the elderly raised the magic wand, suddenly turning and dodging to one side.

A rich venom cut through the sky, passing through the place where the elderly had just stood.

Even the space appeared slightly crumpled where the venom passed.

But after the dodge, the elderly’s movements didn’t stop, he unhesitatingly swung the wand towards his rear.

A thin horned human shape with some wind and flame entwining its body had somehow appeared behind him, holding a sharp dagger seemingly formed by spatial consolidation, stabbing towards the elderly’s back.

But with the elderly’s turn, its move completely missed.

The sharp dagger was directly struck by the wand, trembling slightly, and shattering instantly, while the horned human shape was also shattered by the wand, turning into scattered shadows.

At this moment, a phantom seemed to flit across the sky, and the action the elderly had just determinedly swung paused abruptly.

As if some invisible fear spread in his heart, he raised his hand without hesitation, slashing through the void, directly tearing open the hidden space.

The brilliant light vaguely appeared in the field of view beyond this rift.

A mountain-high illusion, whose entire body seemed to be constructed entirely of piled-up flesh, was floating above the elderly’s head at this moment.

"Berlick, you’re as fragile as ever, frightened by my Fear Demon—"

He stopped mid-sentence, suddenly realizing something, and his entire body instantly disintegrated.

By now, the elderly had already raised his step, about to leap into the rift he had torn open.

Bang bang bang bang——

Accompanied by sounds like echoes resonating from deep within space, one shadowy arm after another suddenly stretched out from behind the rift, as if cradling some precious treasure, enclosing the entire rift completely, halting the elderly’s steps.

In the next moment, this spatial rift closed rapidly within the embrace of these shadows, vanishing.

The brilliance that had spread from the rift disappeared at this moment, and the world was once again left with only dim shadows.

"Almost let you escape, sir."

The pitiful-looking young girl appeared again in front of the elderly, she sat high in the void, smiling as she looked down at Berlick below.

Then she turned again, transforming into a handsome man, lounging sideways in the void, suggesting and asking, "Using my trick, pretending to be scared by me, you opened a path to leave, quick reaction you have."

The elderly gazed at the figure in the air, slightly furrowing his brows, "Stop trying to seduce me, your allure won’t work on me."

"What if it did?" The figure in the air jumped down, landing in front of the elderly, turning into a pitiful young girl wearing a tattered white dress, stepping bare-footedly in the air, walking towards the elderly, laughing softly.

"Without one’s own limits, being dominated by power," the elderly held the magic wand, his face calm, "Looks like you are not far from madness."

"Who defines reason and madness?" the young girl smiled faintly, "As long as the mind flows smoothly, how can one distinguish between reason and madness?"

She gently approached the elderly, a slender tail stretched out from behind her, wrapping around herself, tightening her clothes and outlining a voluptuous figure, "Besides, you know, I’m a puppet now, you want to use the puppet state to obscure the concept of the main body,"

She gazed at the elderly, shimmering with laughter, "If I believed you, wouldn’t it surely be a cognitive bias? Sir, you’re so bad."

The young girl turned slightly, transforming into a giant entwined with flames, a rough voice emitted once more from this giant’s mouth, "I’ve changed into this look, are you satisfied now?"

"You’re indeed close to insanity," the elderly calmly glanced at the figure in front of him, then raised his hand, slashing the void once more, "Don’t waste my time."

But this time, almost the instant he slashed open the rift, the invisible shadow arms directly reached out and closed the rift.

The surrounding shadows gathered, concentrating in front of the elderly, forming the initial shadow human shape, "You probably can’t leave until this is settled."

"Are you already at the Star Pharmaceutical Building?" The elderly’s expression became completely silent.

"Berlick, you’re caring about that person’s life or death," the shadow gazed at the elderly, sneering as it spoke,

"Can you really be unaware? The angels that should appear from Ains, only you and Boris remain, the ancient family’s Angel Tier brilliance has yet to illuminate until now."

His voice hoarse, full of deep mockery, "The entire Federation, only you are still protecting him, a president about to step down, aging fast and probably won’t survive to step down, what’s the value?"

He slightly lowered his gaze, a cold smile on his lips, "Wouldn’t it be better to contribute his life to the Federation? Besides,"

The shadow gazed at the elderly, "Don’t you know? He doesn’t trust you fundamentally, just needs you to do things for him, you’re not truly on the same path, why fight for him till now? What exactly did he say, that you’re willing to go this far?"

"There’s one thing you didn’t get right," the elderly gazed calmly at the shadow in front of him, shook his head slightly, "I protect not him, but the Federation."

"Then you should let go now, everything I’m doing now is for the Federation," the shadow looked at the elderly, rasped, "The death of a president, the death of a mayor, changing a few city governments, isn’t an issue for the Federation, but it benefits the long-term peace of the Federation."

"It seems your ’Federation’ and my ’Federation,’" the elderly calmly raised the wand, brilliant radiance tore through the firmament, "are not the same thing."

The massive rift stretched from the sky to the ground, reflecting the hazy starlight outside and the shining skyscrapers.

The elderly looked up and could see the Star Pharmaceutical Building not far away.

His figure flickered, and in an instant, he appeared before the rift.

"Stubborn old man," the shadow gazed at the elder before him and then laughed, "But at this point, do you think I might let you go back?"

Accompanying the shadow’s words, the entire dim space began to writhe.

Before the elderly could cross the rift, the massive fissure was forcibly pressed shut.

"Don’t you understand?" the shadow sneered, "After tonight, regardless of whether that person is dead or not, he certainly died in the assassination."

The elder floating in the sky simply looked up, gazing at the heavens, remaining silent.

The shadow’s body suddenly dispersed, fragmenting into countless chaotic shadows, the cold laughter overlapping in this dim hidden space, "Don’t you see, when you and I stepped into this hidden space, everything was already settled, you and your ’companions’, no matter how you struggle, it’s futile."

"Is that so?"

At that moment, the elderly turned back, smiling as he gazed at him.

The shadow’s gaze suddenly paused.

Boom—

But before he could speak, the entire hidden space trembled violently.

The concealed canopy seemed to be interfered with by some powerful force, a blurry reflection appeared on the dome of the hidden space, that of a magnificent city.

——

Star Pharmaceutical Building rooftop

The distorted high-level force shook the void, disrupting everything around.

The hooded figure’s hand pressed calmly downward, not aiming to directly choke the figure on the hospital bed but to act upon the other’s soul, to completely shatter the soul, resulting in its thorough ’death.’

Killing a common person, for an Angel, is a simple matter.

If not for the fact that this couldn’t be too widely known, and that the Federation’s old hand was too vigilant, he wouldn’t have bothered with so much trouble to come here personally.

Soon, his palm reached through the void, about to grasp the soul of the figure on the bed.

Bang—

In that instant, a hand suddenly reached out from the void, clutching his wrist.

His gaze suddenly paused.

The figure lying on the hospital bed had opened its eyes at some unknown point, one hand tightly gripping the hand he extended, the dignified look calm and profound as it gazed at him.

A rich voice resounded like thunder in the narrow ward, "Di Man-Kevort, are you going to betray me?"

"No, I—"

The hooded figure slightly hesitated, seemingly about to explain, but almost instantly, he realized and without hesitation, his palm pressed downward, towards the elderly’s soul, "Who are you?!"

At that moment, a vigorous purple radiance burst forth from the ’elderly’s’ soul, shaking his hand’s yellow glow away, the storm of two forces clashing directly lifted the hood of the hooded figure, revealing a withered and pallid face.

Then, the ’elderly’ slightly exerted force in his hand, gently shook, rolling naturally off the bed towards the window side in the direction the hooded figure applied force.

At this moment, the disguise covering the ’elderly’s’ body and soul was ripped apart, revealing a visage as lean as a lone wolf.

"No need to rush," He Ao clapped his hands and smiled as he gazed at the hooded figure before him, "Quite exciting, huh?"

"Paxiu?!" The emaciated figure exposing his true face gazed at the figure before him, his expression turning utterly cold, "Weren’t you on the brink of death?"

"Well, do I look like someone who can live for a long while?" He Ao shrugged dismissively, chuckling lightly.

The withered figure looked at his rosy complexion, lively soul, and his expression darkened.

"Where’s the old President?" he asked hoarsely, "Isn’t he in this ward?"

"Ah," He Ao shrugged, "Do you think I’m just going to tell you because you asked?"

He narrowed his eyes slightly and said with a smile, "Mr. Intelligence Director."

Upon hearing this, the withered figure’s expression froze entirely.

After a brief pause, he asked hoarsely, "How do you know it’s me?"

"It’s not that complicated, really," He Ao smiled, "I asked a friend for some intelligence agency data and found that the previously declining intelligence agency only started getting special attention and resource support under this President.

I surmised that the old President and the director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation weren’t as close as outsiders thought. The old President wanted to do something, but the director was unwilling, so he had to take action to build his own intelligence organization.

Just like when President Seville, three centuries ago, strengthened the power of the Federal Bureau of Investigation.

And since he needed to counter an Angel, he needed another Angel."

Stopping here, He Ao paused, gazing at Di Man, "Of course, I guess you used some means to make him see you and believe in your ’loyalty.’"

Of course, this ’trust’ still had a little glitch in the end."

He Ao raised an eyebrow, looking at Di Man with a smile, "The other group protecting the President in Denno City are the intelligence agency people, right? The Federal Bureau of Investigation wasn’t even involved in the core protection, but then,"

He paused slightly, "In the end, the ones guarding the old President’s ward turned out to be Federal Bureau of Investigation people, pure Federal Bureau of Investigation people, without even the Secret Service Bureau being involved.

If we talk purely about power wrangling, based on past inertia, you intelligence guys and the Secret Service Bureau would ensure the old President’s protection together.

Even if the Federal Bureau of Investigation wanted a piece of the action, you wouldn’t give in easily, at most forming a multi-party cooperative custody.

But the fact is, the Federal Bureau of Investigation took over completely, and in accordance with the Federation’s rules, for this to happen, there’s only one condition,

He Ao gazed at Di Man, "The old President, while still conscious, specifically requested only the Federal Bureau of Investigation be responsible for his critical protection."

He shrugged, "The leader lost trust in the force he cultivated, and the implications are self-evident."

"That at most only shows I’ve ’fallen out of favor,’ it can’t explain anything else," Di Man said calmly, "Even Berlick wouldn’t dare conclude there’s something wrong with me based on that."

"Then what about the Linsent Pharmaceutical Factory?" He Ao smiled as he gazed at him, "The employees in that factory were directly implicated in the President’s assassination."

Di Man’s expression subtly changed.