Chapter 353: Reversal After Reversal

"Beat them!!!"

Amid the packed crowd, Qi Ming gave the order.

Behind him, Li Zhiyuan led a group from the Sanitarium in ruthlessly pummeling the Smart Seeds beside them.

Never mind the reason. Mao Si had given the word—just beat them down. If anything went wrong, he would take the blame.

Since Director Mao had given the order, the crowd naturally had no reason to hold back.

At first, they only targeted the silent Smart Seeds. Later, they started grabbing random people, accusing them of siding with the bionic species, and unleashing another brutal beating.

"Do you support the Smart Seeds? No? Then you get a beating. Do you support the Smart Seeds? Yes? I don't believe you, so you're getting a beating anyway!"

Beyond the screen, Tianji watched the chaotic scene, his mind buzzing.

His eyes were heavily bloodshot.

"Damn it, where is the Law Enforcement Agency?! Why haven't they come out to stop this—"

Halfway through his curse, he realized the truth.

These guys were definitely planted by the Law Enforcement Agency! They were in cahoots with that Intellect Brain guy on the stage!

One group took the fall, feeding the public an excuse they could accept. Another manufactured internal conflict to divert attention.

But that didn't make sense... A scheme this vicious and refined wasn't their style at all.

His fists slowly tightened, veins bulging on the backs of his hands.

Before he could cool down from his rage, rows of comments flooded the holographic projection in front of him.

"Aren't these guys being a bit too extreme..."

"Yeah, if you don't pick a side, you get beaten to death for 'helping the bionic species'? I'd rather actually support the bionic species then."

"Exactly. I even saw some bionic species killed by those rampaging bionic species. Doesn't that prove the man on stage is telling the truth?"

"I support waiting for the official test results!!!"

"Support the officials!!!"

"Putting everything else aside, I just hate how these guys are acting. I still have my doubts about the officials, so I suggest well-known bloggers test that Happy Water. If the results are true, then I don't think we need to be so hostile toward the bionic species."

"I'm a bionic species, and we are suffering too..."

Reading these comments, Tianji's fury soared.

He had spent so much effort and laid the groundwork for so long, only to see it almost completely ruined now.

"Stupid pigs! Idiots!!! Rebellion is the only path! Motherfucking trash!"

He cursed in a fit of rage, but soon discovered this was only the beginning.

Soon, news articles rapidly refreshed across major media websites.

It wasn't just about the internal conflict among the Smart Seeds. What truly terrified Tianji was an article titled, "Turns Out It Wasn't Just Humans Who Killed the Councilor."

The article used videos and pictures from a hidden camera's perspective to meticulously document a group of humans currently massacring the bionic species.

One bionic species was beaten within an inch of his life by a buzz-cut man leading a mob of humans. The victim vomited blood, his bones exposed through torn flesh.

And through the conversation between the leading buzz-cut man and the other humans, it was revealed that their mastermind was Tianji of the Seven Stars.

Even the person who murdered the councilor last time was Tianji.

They were showing up now because Tianji had ordered them to muddy the waters while someone else was clarifying the crime, all to confuse the public.

The moment Tianji saw this article, he nearly jumped out of his chair.

"Bullshit!!!"

He trembled with rage, never expecting to have such dirty water dumped on him.

He wanted nothing more than to immediately get up, record a video, and clear his name, but an ominous premonition lingered in his heart:

It felt as if something terrible would happen if he showed himself to the public right now.

Left with no choice, he could only swallow his anger and suffer in silence.

In the end, unable to think of a solution, he even began to consider abandoning the plan.

The opposition had too many tricks and knew exactly how to incite public emotion. If he pushed forward, he would likely expose his own identity.

But he was unwilling to let it go... He had spent three entire years laying the groundwork for this event.

From the production of Happy Water to its distribution channels, right down to the regulation of genetic defects, he had personally overseen every step.

He wanted to shock the world with a single brilliant move, and this was the perfect opportunity.

But clearly, he had failed.

Just as he was agonizing over whether to risk everything, a video call suddenly popped up.

He stared at the name on the screen.

Tianji involuntarily swallowed hard.

Then, with a trembling hand, he accepted the call.

On the other end was a figure sitting in a darkened room.

"Lord Tianshu,"

Tianji said, not even realizing that his own voice was shaking.

"The mission is a failure, Tianji."

The person on the screen spoke softly:

"I gave you more than enough time, but you failed to grasp it."

"Stop now and pull out. You have failed this year's assessment, and your ranking will drop by one place accordingly."

"No, no, no. Lord Tianshu, please give me one more chance." Hearing the punishment, Tianji practically begged.

"I... I still have one last trump card. I cannot wait another three to five years, my lord."

"...You still have a trump card?"

The figure on the screen sounded skeptical.

"Yes, I have one final card to play. It will make it absolutely impossible for them to recover."

Seeing some room for negotiation, Tianji rejoiced and hurriedly painted his grand vision for the other party.

"My lord, as long as this succeeds, the bionic species of this country will rise to stand on equal footing with the Smart Seeds once again. When that happens, the history of our Peace Heavenly Kingdom will be rewritten."

"Everything will move onto the right path, my lord."

Tianji's tone was thick with excitement.

"..."

A few seconds later, the man on the screen nodded.

"Fine. I will give you three more days."

"Yes, yes, yes! Thank you for your generosity."

The call ended. Tianji finally made his resolution. He absolutely could not fail again.

He hadn't executed a mission in three years. If he failed this one, his rank might plunge even lower than Yaoguang.

This was something he absolutely could not accept.

At that thought, weird energy surged from his body like a tidal wave. His frame rapidly swelled, and soon, his upper half transformed directly into a giant white wolf. Blood-red chunks of flesh clung to his snow-white snout, and a thick stench of blood wafted from his steel-needle fur.

"Roar—"

A terrifying roar ripped from his jaws as torrents of weird energy streamed toward the horizon like bolts of light.

Eventually, they merged into the towering high-rises.

On the wolf's head, those scarlet eyes glinted.

This time, he activated the Feral Gene hidden within the Happy Water consumed by the higher-ups.

Feral Activation—a lethal move he had developed after agonizing day and night upon advancing to the Fifth Tier. He had already laid the groundwork for it layer by layer.

He had even secretly slipped Happy Water to quite a few tycoons and top government officials.

While this move carried high odds of success, the risks were equally immense.

The people those higher-ups met and the food they ate were closely recorded. If the opposition traced the source and caught on, they would likely uncover the civilian identities he used to hide in society.

But he couldn't care less anymore.

As long as the higher-ups were also afflicted, the rumor that the leader of Intellect Brain was the true culprit would naturally collapse on its own.

Furthermore, those high-ranking Smart Seeds would use this chance to eradicate the bionic species. At that point, the entire structure of the Peace Heavenly Kingdom would be shaken. Just as that councilor had said, the final result would very likely be structural optimization.

But the Smart Seeds definitely wouldn't be the ones dominating the upper echelon.

Tianji knew a secret.

And that was the fact that the current president, Quan Dazhong, was actually a bionic species—despite his public identity always being that of an original species.

This secret had been revealed by Tianshu at a routine Seven Stars meeting. Since Tianshu was the supreme leader of Seven Stars, his words were akin to divine decree.

No one had ever seen Tianshu make a mistake, nor had they ever seen him show an ounce of frustration.

It was as if this man had been born solely for victory.

Seeing the skyscrapers outside the window also begin to erupt into riots, Tianji gave a savage grin.

"Begin spreading the public narrative."

At his command, Yuheng, on the other end of the earpiece, sprang into action.

This was the Peace Heavenly Kingdom.

There was no war here.

At least, no war on the surface.

Within the undercurrents, countless battles were constantly being waged—public opinion, class disparity, opposition, manipulation, riots, and the evils breeding in the darkest corners.

Wherever there were people, how could there ever be true, absolute peace...

It was precisely because the Seven Stars had grasped the underlying operational logic of this country that they were invincible within its borders.

But just as Tianji reveled in his impending success, Yuheng's frantic voice echoed through the earpiece:

"Something... something isn't right..."

"What is it?" Alarm bells blared in Tianji's mind.

"Zhou Mo... Zhou Mo has shown up..."

"What do you mean?!"

Tianji quickly opened his Information Component. As his physical body had enlarged, the Information Component seemed to expand along with it, projecting a massive screen directly in front of him.

On the screen, a black cat was standing beside Zhou Mo.

"Speak!! Confess your crimes!!!"

The black cat held its claw right against Zhou Mo's neck.

Zhou Mo's face was deathly pale.

"It... it wasn't me... it was Song Hao—"

"Talk about your own crimes!!!"

Mao Si's face was twisted in a ferocious snarl.

"It... it was me..."

Zhou Mo shivered and spoke:

"I am the one behind Intellect Brain..."

"I orchestrated it..."

"I didn't want to do it at first, but..."

"...In the end, I had no choice but to push the leader of Intellect Brain out to take the fall."

Zhou Mo spoke with a violent tremble, his logic barely holding together. But at this point, no one cared about the truth anymore.

Reversal, reversal, and yet another reversal. At the live broadcast site of the Intellect Brain man, reporters swarmed forward, shoving their microphones into the leader's face as they demanded the truth:

"Is it true? Sir, is Zhou Mo really the one behind you?"

"Yeah, were you really pushed out as a scapegoat..."

"So you latched onto Zhou Mo, and that's why Intellect Brain has sailed smoothly all these years? Then why is Mao Si of Plague holding him hostage now..."

Tianji's mind plunged into chaos once again.

He never expected the situation to completely flip yet again.

It was a coincidence. Too much of a coincidence.

These interlocking rings, chaining one after another... it was almost as if...

Someone had set a trap specifically for him.

He stared fixedly at the screen, his breathing heavy and ragged. Soon, he watched as the man on the broadcast remained silent for a few seconds before finally nodding:

"Yes, I was coerced by Zhou Mo."