Right at this moment, rapid footsteps came from outside the study.

Immediately after, someone knocked urgently on the door, "Thump, thump, thump."

"Lord Asō! Are you alright?" The voice of the guard captain sounded from outside.

Just a moment ago, he had vaguely heard a commotion coming from inside the study.

That was why he hurried over to check.

The door was opened from the inside.

Caesar, disguised as Asō Tarō, wore an expression of extreme impatience at being disturbed.

"What could possibly happen to me?"

The guard captain choked under this suffocating aura, quickly lowering his head, not daring to look directly at him.

Out of the corner of his eye, he quickly glanced inside the study.

The desk, chairs, and bookcases were all neatly arranged, with no sign of a fight.

Feeling slightly relieved, he quickly forced a flattering smile.

"Nothing, it's fine as long as nothing happened."

"It seems I was just hearing things."

The guard captain bowed and backed away cautiously, terrified of displeasing this lord any further.

Right at that moment, a sharp ringtone suddenly burst forth from inside the study.

Zhou Huai's brow furrowed imperceptibly.

Ignoring the guard captain at the door, he turned and walked back into the study, closing the door behind him.

Picking up the private communicator belonging to Asō Tarō on the desk, he calmly pressed the answer button.

"Hello."

A steady male voice came from the other end of the line.

"Lord Asō, the first batch of goods has arrived at the West City Gate."

"Please come over in person to inspect and count them."

The first batch of goods?

Zhou Huai raised an eyebrow, countless thoughts flashing through his mind in an instant.

What goods?

Goods that required someone of Asō Tarō's stature to inspect in person were definitely not simple.

This was very likely the secret mission given to Asō Tarō by Kujo Koji.

Without the slightest fluctuation in his voice, Zhou Huai mimicked Asō Tarō's tone and responded briefly.

"Understood. I'll be right over."

He hung up the phone.

Pushing open the study door, he prepared to head downstairs.

At the top of the stairs, he suddenly heard the crisp, rhythmic clicking of high heels on the floor.

The sound approached at an unhurried, steady pace.

Zhou Huai looked toward the source of the sound.

He saw a figure both familiar and strange slowly walking up from below.

The visitor wore a tight black lace dress that highlighted her voluptuous, well-proportioned figure to perfection.

She wore exquisite makeup, and her red lips looked strikingly seductive under the lights.

It was none other than his stepmother, Liu Yuru, whom he hadn't seen in a long time.

Seeing "Asō Tarō" standing at the top of the stairs, her steps paused slightly.

Immediately after, a charming smile plastered over her face, though a barely concealable trace of fear lurked deep in her eyes.

She quickened her pace, swaying her hips as she walked up to Zhou Huai.

Bowing slightly.

"Lord Asō, I've arrived."

For some reason, the moment he saw Liu Yuru's face, a surge of disgust rose in Zhou Huai's heart.

When enemies meet, their eyes burn with hatred.

He clearly remembered how back in the Zhou Family, this woman had acted so domineering and insulted him with the cruelest words.

And how she had conspired with her son to sweep him, paralyzed in a wheelchair, out of the house like trash.

Now, everything she was experiencing was nothing more than her own doing.

He couldn't be bothered to waste words with this woman and spoke in a cold tone.

"You arrived too late."

"Go kneel at the entrance."

The smile on Liu Yuru's face froze, leaving her at a complete loss.

"Lord Asō, you... what did you say?"

"You mean you want me to kneel at the entrance?"

She pointed at herself, looking pitiful and fragile.

"Is it... did I do something wrong?"

Zhou Huai didn't fall for her act at all and chuckled softly.

"When I tell you to kneel at the entrance, you kneel at the entrance."

"Ask one more question, and I'll make you kneel out on the main street!"

Liu Yuru's face turned pale and red in turn, shifting constantly.

All sorts of emotions tangled in her heart.

But in the end, her terror of the man before her overwhelmed everything else.

Gritting her teeth, she swallowed all her unwillingness and grievance, lowering her head deeply.

"I... I understand, Lord Asō."

"I'll go kneel at the entrance right away."

Watching Liu Yuru look angry yet afraid to speak, forced to yield, an indescribable surge of smug satisfaction welled up in Zhou Huai's heart.

Times have changed, Liu Yuru.

Now that you've fallen into my hands, you'll suffer plenty in the future.

Having done all this, Zhou Huai finally got into the Asō family's luxury car and silently drove toward the West City Gate.

Seeing that the visitor was Asō Tarō, the gate guards didn't say any unnecessary words.

They readily let him pass.

Once the vehicle exited the city, he quickly saw the cargo mentioned over the phone.

There were dozens of box trucks.

Each truck was extremely long, looking like steel giant pythons lurking in the dark night, silently coiled on the vacant suburban road.

Faintly, restrained movements could be heard from inside the truck containers.

Zhou Huai raised an eyebrow—could the cargo inside the containers actually be living creatures?

Maintaining Asō Tarō's posture, he pushed open the car door.

He slowly got out of the car.

A middle-aged man in work clothes, appearing to be in his forties, hurried over with a flattering smile, running over in a trot.

He bowed deeply, assuming an extremely humble posture.

"Greetings, Lord Asō."

Zhou Huai merely let out a muffled grunt from his nose as a response.

With his hands behind his back, he casually strolled toward the trucks, using Asō Tarō's small eyes to inspect the cold sheet-metal boxes.

"Nothing unexpected happened along the way, right?"

The middle-aged man quickly kept up, his waist bent the entire time, not daring to straighten up.

"Rest assured, Lord Asō, everything went smoothly."

"We took remote backroads, with dedicated personnel clearing the path the entire way, absolutely attracting no attention."

Zhou Huai nodded lukewarmly, gesturing toward the nearest truck with his chin.

"Open it. Let me inspect the goods."

"Yes!"

The middle-aged man dared not slake in the least, immediately turning around and waving forcefully at his subordinates nearby.

Several burly men also dressed in work clothes ran over quickly and skillfully unlatched the heavy metal bolts of the truck.

*Clatter—*

The container doors opened to both sides.

A foul stench mixed with sweat, fear, and despair instantly rushed out toward them.

Under the dim light inside the truck container, Zhou Huai clearly saw the scene within.

That was no cargo at all.

They were living, breathing human beings.

Inside the container, people were densely packed together, men and women, young and old alike.

Everyone's hands and feet were bound tightly with thick nylon ropes, and their mouths were sealed with thick industrial tape, preventing them from making a sound, leaving them only able to squeeze out desperate whimpers from the depths of their throats.

Their eyes were hollow, numb, and filled with fear of the unknown.

Like a herd of livestock about to be sent to the slaughterhouse.

The middle-aged man seemed long accustomed to such scenes, and there was even a proud, credit-seeking smile on his face.

"Lord Asō, take a look."

"To prevent them from causing trouble on the road, we injected all of them with a special sedative."

"Guaranteed to be obedient, and it definitely won't be life-threatening."

He pointed at those desperate faces as if introducing fine merchandise.

"This truck holds eight hundred people."

"We have forty trucks in total, no more, no less, exactly thirty-two thousand people."

Zhou Huai didn't speak, merely sweeping a glance across them expressionlessly.

Controlling Asō Tarō's body, he slowly walked to the next truck.

"Open it."

"Yes!"

Another door was opened, revealing an identical scene inside.

Zhou Huai checked seven or eight trucks in a row, every single one packed with bound civilians.

The middle-aged man followed behind him, reporting ceaselessly.

"Lord Asō, this is only the first batch."

"Subsequent populations are still being continuously transported over from other prefectures."

"We expect that within three days, we can gather another hundred and fifty thousand people."

"Guaranteed to all be alive and kicking, absolutely without affecting Lord Koji's upcoming plans!"

Hearing this, Zhou Huai couldn't help but gasp in cold air.

Gather another hundred and fifty thousand within three days?

And this was only what he could see.

What about the ones he hadn't seen?

How many "sacrifices" had this Kujo Koji actually prepared?

Now he was one hundred percent certain that Tokyo City was the final venue Kujo Koji had chosen to resurrect Kujo Naruya.

What a lunatic!

Fearing that the lives of the twenty million residents in Tokyo City wouldn't be enough to fill that bottomless pit, he had insanely kidnapped ordinary civilians from other places in secret.

He was planning to use the ordinary citizens of the entire Sakura Country as fuel for the resurrection ritual!