Chapter 216 Before this

Before the incident, Yu Jianchu and his friends were invited to a party—a small gathering similar to a manor picnic, with unlimited food and wine, as well as hallucinogens, but the effects were mediocre, the kind that wouldn't kill you no matter how much you took, at most causing nausea.

She arrived at the banquet with two board members. As she entered the manor, she was immediately greeted by a chorus of gazes, smiles, and compliments.

Merlin walked beside Yu Jianchu, looking quite happy—he was very glad that he wouldn't attract anyone's attention and could just be a supporting character; he didn't care about anything else. He had always regretted his decision to join the board of directors—after all, being interviewed and brainwashed by the planning team every day was really unpleasant.

At this point, they had not yet seen the terminal code sent by Pandora.

They temporarily set aside their extraneous thoughts and went straight into the party. Compared to the daily banquets held by the Heavenly Gospel Company, this place was obviously more luxurious, making the former seem like nothing more than a perfunctory event to get rid of trash. Only this place was a true paradise where the wealthy could enjoy themselves.

Everyone was laughing, drinking, and enjoying the food. There was an eerie sense of dissonance about what was about to happen.

They looked so happy, and there seemed to be an endless supply of resources around them that could be wasted.

Merlink and Carlos found an empty seat and sat down. They'd barely picked up their glasses when a group of people came over, patting them on the shoulder. They spoke to them respectfully, congratulating them on their achievements in the Heavenly Gospel Propaganda Department. The two were, after all, a painter and a great writer handpicked by Director Li—status that inspired envy.

When they say a certain work is too perfect, or mention that a certain board member likes them a lot and is probably willing to play some exciting games with the two of them, at that moment, the bloody and cruel history of the resistance that Heaven's Gospel had been promoting so much just a few days ago suddenly becomes a joke.

Some people loudly told Carlos that he was very charismatic and that his writing contained so much emotion, even though some of it was incomprehensible—but they thought that was good, since the works of masters are always difficult for the world to understand.

It would be a miracle if you could understand it, because it's just something your dad wrote casually, something he didn't even think through before writing.

Carlos appeared gentle and elegant on the surface, but in his heart he cursed these idiots to the core.

Next, Yu Jianchu introduced them to several other important figures. At first, he could remember their names, but he quickly became overwhelmed—there were just too many people to meet, enough to fill the entire propaganda department.

After a brief conversation, the group of dignitaries quickly disappeared into the crowd, and only then did Los realize that he couldn't find Merlink. He wandered around with his champagne cup, but couldn't find his partner anywhere.

Then, in this shimmering world, he caught a glimpse of Lu Jin—ah, an assistant director in the planning team. That guy was usually ridiculously slovenly, but this time he was dressed in a suit, and upon closer inspection, he was actually quite handsome. It was hard to imagine that he always looked so miserable in the office, like he had a split personality.

They exchanged a brief greeting and parted ways hastily. The man kept drinking, showing no intention of stopping, and seemed unwilling to talk to anyone.

He didn't remember how much time had passed—Carlos didn't even know how much he had drunk, anyway, this place was prepared to make people pass out—Melink dragged a tall girl over and introduced her to him, saying that she was a relatively popular action movie star in the film industry at the moment. She had wanted to join the board of directors but was rejected by Li Lin. Later, she donated a lot of money and finally got in touch with them. They had even eaten together before.

The beautiful actress was quite drunk, the kind of woman who'd be taken to bed after just one more drink. With a vacant smile, she hugged Carlos and kissed him on the cheek—he froze completely. Then, the man went on to say how much he loved Carlos's work on the gospel of heaven, how damn heroic it was. By the way, it seems Director Li and Minister Yu are having an affair—women just love gossiping.

What's even more terrifying is that for the next half hour, this bitch clung to him like a madwoman, always acting like they had a great relationship.

According to this person, the world now belongs to a few powerful figures on the board of directors, so if she wants to gain any fame, fortune, or anything else, she has to spend enough time with Carlos. Please, she paid a hefty price for this opportunity to attend a private party.

That bastard Mellink has disappeared again. Damn it, I'm never going out with him again. He's such a bad friend.

When the annoying actress saw that he didn't speak, she started talking about a restricted party she had attended before—which she didn't find creepy when she thought about it—she had gotten completely drunk and met someone, or maybe just someone... Anyway, she ended up in a bed somewhere.

Afterwards, her mind was still a bit hazy; she only remembered that everyone had a lot of fun, both men and women, and everyone was the object of their own revelry. When she woke up, her hands and feet were covered in bite marks and still hurt quite a bit.

The idiot was showing off like this, which made Carlos feel annoyed. He quietly added a little hallucinogen to the woman's glass of wine—enough to shut her up and give her a good night's sleep. The star still stared at him and smiled stupidly like an innocent idiot.

It was at this moment that they received an emergency code—unknown signal source—which was directly injected into your terminal and took effect instantly, very directly, leaving no room for argument.

Yu Jianchu had just placed the grilled bacon on a plate, preparing to hand it to a little girl, when she paused and turned to look south.

The people around her remained unchanged, but she still sensed something.

Something exploded, more than one thing.

However, the party remained peaceful and serene. A gentle breeze blew, and the freshly grilled steaks sizzled temptingly on the plates. Some people were talking about the future achievements of the Gospel of Heaven in biotechnology, while others simply joined in the laughter. One person even said, "Let's have some more wine and drink to our hearts' content today."

A faint rumble of thunder came from the south; it sounded like thunder, but it was far more terrifying.

Someone lit the fuse, and the explosives hidden behind it... were extremely powerful. If they were right in front of them, they would be incredibly violent and could blow everyone to smithereens.

While deleting the extra code from that day from the terminal, Yu Jianchu grabbed himself an alcoholic beverage, then sat silently in the hammock, expressionless.

After a short while, people started looking down at their phones or staring blankly into thin air—the hundreds of emergency announcements that had appeared in their field of vision. They quickly showed expressions of horror.

Yu Jianchu leaned against the corner and drank the contents of his cup one sip at a time. It was very sweet and cloying.

"What a pity."

That's what she said.