Donghai City?

Donghai City again.

Right, everything connects now.

Chen Huaishu closed the top-secret file and began brainstorming.

If he wasn't mistaken, that mysterious expert codenamed "Ever-changing Star Lord", the peerless hero who had single-handedly stirred up the storm and rewritten the battlefield, should be the Zhou Huai mentioned in the swordsman's last words.

SSS-Class Puppeteer.

At the end of the file was a summary written in Marshal Zhao Qingcang's own hand. The handwriting penetrated through the back of the paper, exuding absolute resolve.

"This youth is crucial to our Great Xia and urgently needs the Pendulum of Life to extend his life."

"Ensure his absolute safety at all costs."

Reading this, Chen Huaishu understood the agreement between Marshal Zhao and the Ever-changing Star Lord.

That Zhou Huai, an SSS-Rank Expert with heaven-shaking abilities, knew he didn't have much time left.

So he made a high-stakes gamble with Marshal Zhao, a life-for-life transaction. As long as he could lead his Avatar squad to retrieve the Pendulum of Life and crush Sakura Country's conspiracy, Marshal Zhao would use this Divine Artifact to defy fate on his behalf and grant him a second chance at life.

This was the fundamental reason why Marshal Zhao was willing to sacrifice himself to firmly pin down Qinze Taichiro. He wasn't just creating an opportunity for the main army, but fought to secure that one-in-a-million chance for Great Xia's last hope!

But... could this truly be done?

Chen Huaishu felt a heavy weight on his heart.

One had to remember that to resurrect their SSS-Rank Old Ancestor Kujo Naruya, Kujo Koji had sacrificed over twenty million lives across the entire Tokyo City!

If this Zhou Huai was also an SSS-Class Professional, the life energy needed to revive him—and the number of human sacrifices required—would likely be even greater.

That was definitely a price that current Great Xia could not afford to bear.

Could it be... Marshal Zhao had other backup plans? Or perhaps there were hidden secrets regarding the usage of the Pendulum of Life that they didn't know about?

Chen Huaishu paced back and forth in the command room, lost in deep thought. Ultimately, he decided that regardless of the situation, he had to make a personal trip to Donghai City.

Publicly, this was Marshal Zhao's final decree and a top-priority matter affecting the fate of Great Xia.

Personally, he wanted to see with his own eyes what kind of man this hero was—a mortal performing the deeds of a deity.

Currently, the situation in Sakura Country was abnormally volatile; even without the Great Xia Military Department stepping in, it had already descended into complete chaos.

With Tokyo City sacrificed and destroyed, the culprit Kujo Koji was missing, leaving Chong Wenguma as the only remaining core expert of the Kujo Family.

This led to various long-suppressed factions across Sakura Country rising in revolt, launching a furious backlash against the Kujo Family. In particular, the remnants of the Omiya Family ignited the flames of resistance in almost every city across Sakura Country.

Great Xia's forces could take this opportunity to rest and reorganize, watching the fires from across the shore and reaping the benefits.

Chen Huaishu handed full temporary command of the front lines to the veteran general Qi Zhenyun.

He himself personally brought the massive Pendulum of Life and that mysterious seal, boarding a warship back to Great Xia.

Three days later, a military off-road vehicle with special license plates sped along the highway leading to Donghai City.

Inside the vehicle, the atmosphere was solemn.

Intelligence Chief Wei Liao handed a newly compiled file to Chen Huaishu, introducing its contents with a grave expression.

"Old Chen, according to our latest intelligence and an urgent screening of household registration data in Donghai City, there aren't many people named 'Zhou Huai' who meet the criteria. Among them, only two are the most likely candidates."

He pulled out two photographs from the file and placed them side by side in front of Chen Huaishu.

"Look here, this Zhou Huai is seventy-two years old, single, with no children, surviving solely on official Donghai City relief funds. According to neighbors, his health has always been poor, and he is bedridden year-round. He indeed fits the image of 'having not much time left' mentioned in the file."

Chen Huaishu glanced at the photo of the old man with wrinkled face and cloudy eyes, then shifted his gaze away and asked in a deep voice, "What about the other one?"

His intuition told him that wasn't right.

Wei Liao was also more inclined toward the second candidate. Putting away the old man's photo, he picked up the other one—a young man with delicate features but a sickly pale complexion.

"The other one is him." Wei Liao spoke in a complex tone. "Supposedly the son of the Zhou Family's third son in Donghai City. A few years ago, he suffered a vicious attack targeted at the Zhou Family and became paralyzed. Although he successfully changed classes afterward, he was merely the most useless E-Class Clone Master, and was soon heartlessly thrown out of the house by his greed-blinded stepmother."

"However, it could be considered a blessing in disguise," Wei Liao added. "Before the beast tide hit, the Zhou Family mysteriously perished overnight, leaving no core members alive. Because he had already left the Zhou Family, he happened to escape the disaster, and currently still lives in a villa left behind by his mother."

An E-Class Professional? A paralytic?

Chen Huaishu frowned slightly.

After reading the information on both men, he realized that neither fit his expectations of that peerless hero.

One was an elderly solitary man near death, the other a disabled trash youth struggling to persist.

Was this really the Ever-changing Star Lord who could contend with gods?

He fell into deep thought.

Two seconds later, Chen Huaishu's finger landed on the photograph of the young man.

"Let's go check his place first."

"Understood!" Wei Liao nodded heavily and issued new orders to the driver via the internal communicator.

The off-road vehicle drove straight into Donghai City's territory, heading toward the villa location marked on the map.

The surrounding scenery gradually shifted from bustling and noisy to quiet and secluded.

Just as the off-road vehicle was less than a hundred meters from the villa, the driver slammed on the brakes, causing the entire vehicle to emit a harsh screeching sound before stopping.

"What happened?" Wei Liao asked with a frown.

"Reporting, Chief!" the driver's voice sounded uncertain and alarmed. "Ahead... we can't go through ahead! There's an invisible wall!"

An invisible wall?

Chen Huaishu exchanged a look with Wei Liao, and both pushed open the doors to step out.

The moment they stepped out, an invisible pressure rushed toward them.

In the air before them, a faint layer of halo shimmered, completely imperceptible without careful observation. But what kind of person was Chen Huaishu? With just a single glance, his pupils contracted.

Just as his fingertips touched the air ahead, an energy barrier composed of countless profound runes lit up, spreading ripples outward. An irresistible force rebounded along his fingertips, causing even this battle-hardened Old General to groan softly and step back half a pace.

"This is... a high-level defense Formation!" Wei Liao cried out in shock, his face filled with disbelief.

This barrier...

Chen Huaishu's pupils shrank sharply, a frightening brilliance bursting from his cloudy old eyes.

As a battle-tested veteran, he had seen countless Formations and barriers, from the city-level defensive Formations the military spent fortunes to build, to the family-protecting grand Formations treasured by major families—all of them profound and complex.

Yet the barrier before him gave him a completely different feeling.

It seemed to be merely a thin light curtain, nearly transparent, distorting the air slightly under the sunlight, making it difficult to detect without close observation.

However, when Chen Huaishu tentatively extended his Mental Strength toward it, it was like a clay ox sinking into the sea, instantly swallowed without a trace by a vast, boundless, ancient, and desolate power.

That feeling wasn't like running into a wall, but more like falling into a bottomless starry sky.

"This... what level of Formation is this?"

Next to him, Wei Liao took a deep breath.

"At least Level 7 or above."

"Level 7 or above?"

Chen Huaishu was shaken to the core.

Why would a place where a paralyzed young man lives have this level of defense?

There was only one answer.

"It seems we've found the right place." Chen Huaishu withdrew his gaze, his voice deep yet carrying a trace of irrepressible excitement.

The last shred of doubt remaining in his mind vanished into thin air the moment he saw this barrier.