Apocalypse: Master of Soul Beasts

The two of them met Old Man Fran at the Yanjing Main Command Post.

Right now, the old man was hugging a computer. A string of electronic beeps was coming from it, and Old Man Fran was just humming and nodding along while his hands flew over another computer, typing something down at high speed.

On the surface, Old Man Fran was just a puppet... and in reality, he really was just a puppet...

That computer was Lin Haifeng, without a doubt.

After death, Lin Haifeng’s thoughts and will were completely injected into the tiered battle ground’s supercomputer—judging from the body, Soul, and every other angle, Lin Haifeng was dead beyond dead.

But that wasn’t how he saw himself.

The result of becoming digital intelligence was that Lin Haifeng shed his body, that heavy shell, slipped free of age, brain and other Innate shackles. His computational power skyrocketed, and the already superior calculating ability underwent a qualitative leap.

The Lin Haifeng of now had even come close to Star Praying—with the intelligence he had on hand, he could even extrapolate what might happen in the future.

Under Lin Haifeng’s ”perversion”, Fran’s originally very strong internal-affairs ability suddenly wasn’t worth mentioning at all—right now, he was just Lin Haifeng’s mouthpiece.

When Wen Yu walked into the office, Fran only gave him a brief look. He didn’t bother with any greeting or small talk—the Demigod faction had just been uprooted, and the remaining follow-up... there was a lot.

He had no time to shoot the breeze with Wen Yu.

Lin Haifeng was even more so. The computer kept spitting out sequences of electronic sound, and in a short time Lin Haifeng processed postwar compensation, reconstruction work, personnel transfers and arrangements and so on in perfectly clear detail.

Wen Yu wasn’t in a hurry. He just casually sat down on the sofa, waiting for the two to finish their official business.

About an hour later, Fran and Lin Haifeng finally wrapped up. Old Man Fran printed out the contents recorded on the computer and handed them to Fang Yuqiong, who was standing at the door.

”These are the arrangements us two old geezers came up with. Take a look. This is only the outline—the detailed stuff you’ll have to handle yourself. Then you’ll need to Gather All manpower... anyway, we’re leaving the rest to you.”

Fang Yuqiong had made a big contribution this time, and his own capability wasn’t bad either. This move from Fran was basically a disguised ”promotion” for Fang Yuqiong—although he himself was already the newly appointed Commander-in-Chief of Yanjing, anyone with eyes knew that now that Wen Yu had resolved the mess with Earth’s will and the Demigods, Fang Yuqiong’s term as Beijing Assembly Site Commanding Officer had pretty much reached its limit.

And this was exactly why Wen Yu wanted to meet Lin Haifeng and Fran this time.

Regarding Lin Haifeng’s previous proposal, Wen Yu had already made up his mind.

...

Fang Yuqiong took the documents Fran handed over. He first glanced at Wen Yu and Fran, then paused slightly, as if wanting to say something, but after a moment, he still swallowed the words back down.

He gestured to Wen Yu and Fran, then turned and left. For the time being, there was only Wen Yu and Fran left in the room... and a computer.

”That kid... seems a bit reluctant to let go.”

Fran was the first to speak.

The highest leader of Yanjing had once stood for having power firmly in hand, and now that the Demigods and Earth’s will had been sealed away, it was no exaggeration to say that the post of Commander-in-Chief of Yanjing carried even more weight. What it represented was true domination over the world, a position above all, second only to Wen Yu!

In Fran’s eyes, who could bear to part with that kind of status?

”No, that’s probably not it. The kid’s smart, and quite capable, but he’s not that obsessed with power.”

Wen Yu spoke up for Fang Yuqiong—this time, Fang Yuqiong had handled things beautifully. Plus, during the deep-sea trip, the talks and communication between them had let Wen Yu see that this kid wasn’t the type who desperately craved power and status.

Compared to Lin Que’s ”domineering”, Fang Yuqiong had more calmness—he and Wen Yu shared a bit of similarity.

”He just wanted to join this conversation, that’s all. Or rather, he wanted to persuade you, persuade you to take over the position of Beijing Assembly Site Commanding Officer.”

Lin Haifeng’s clear electronic voice set the tone for the matter.

Wen Yu was stunned for a moment, then smiled.

”The kid really is pretty smart.”

Because Fang Yuqiong understood that this time, that post of Beijing Assembly Site Commanding Officer was not something you could get just because you wanted it!

...

”So, what do you think?”

Lin Haifeng steered the topic onto the main issue. This was something they couldn’t keep putting off.

Wen Yu sank into a long silence on the sofa, while Lin Haifeng kept speaking.

”The trouble with the Demigods and Earth’s will has been settled. Tang Haofei is still tearing around the treasure land, but I figure you already have a way to deal with that. I think the next step is centralization. Right now, we have the ability to finally do what I always wanted to do but never managed—that is, twist all our strength into one rope!”

”I’ve always believed a hand has to be clenched into a fist to unleash its strongest punch. In the world as it stands, the only forces that really count are you and us in Yanjing. In this situation...”

”No one can guarantee that down the line, we and you won’t end up in some kind of conflict. Since that’s the case, we might as well turn ’we and you’ into ’all of us’...”

”Wen Yu, after everything that’s happened, you should be able to see it for yourself—this world is better off with only a single voice.”

Lin Haifeng wasn’t exaggerating.

Back when Wen Yu declared war on Earth’s will, the tiered battle ground was indeed Wen Yu’s one-man show, but Yanjing was still operating right under Wen Yu’s nose. Hypothetically speaking, if Lin Haifeng had sided with Earth’s will back then, how much trouble would their covert and overt maneuvering have caused Wen Yu?

Definitely a huge amount.

Maybe as early as then, Lin Haifeng had already been thinking about ”letting Wen Yu take the post of Commander-in-Chief of Yanjing.”

This decision had no downside, only advantages—let a super individual whose personal power was unmatched take the position of highest leader, and have Yanjing’s whole team of internal-affairs staff support him. As long as Wen Yu maintained crushing strength and paired it with Yanjing’s existing administrative system and talent elites, then from this day forward, the whole world would never again see anything like the Demigods.

Wen Yu would become utterly absolute, his word law. All power in the world would be completely in his grasp—when survival itself is on the line, dictatorship is the only way out, and a hero is the most powerful guarantee for leading the species toward the dawn.

By now, Lin Haifeng had already smoothed everything out for Wen Yu. The only resistance left lay in Wen Yu’s own thoughts!

Fran and Lin Haifeng waited quietly until they saw Wen Yu lightly nod.

”Let’s get one thing straight: I’m not going to sit here every day dealing with all that random bureaucratic crap.”

Hearing this, Fran burst out laughing.

”Don’t worry. We’ll handle that job for you...”