Wearing a red tie and a neat suit, the middle-aged man tidied himself in front of the mirror and then walked into the venue with a smile.
The meeting room is circular, with no beginning or end. All seated people have laptops and microphones in front of them so that participants can communicate with those who are not participating in the meeting in real time.
Entering the venue, the middle-aged man smiled and greeted the other people: "Good morning."
"You got up early today?"
"Yeah, after all, such a big thing happened. If I continue to sleep in, I will always feel sorry for the salary I get paid every day."
"Ha, you guys got the news too? Tsk, if you ask me, this is a rare big deal these days, right?"
"By the way, 'Alchemist', you seem to be from Western Europe, right? Were you shocked when you heard about this?"
The middle-aged man who was asked the question smiled helplessly: "Yes."
He pretended to be relaxed and said: "I never thought that such a terrifying organization existed in my hometown. To be honest, if it hadn't been exposed, I would probably have been kept in the dark."
As he spoke, he pulled out his chair and took a look at the name tag on it.
A plaque engraved with "Lester Lavey" stood in front of him, symbolizing his name and... identity.
Gently stroking the plaque with his fingers, the middle-aged man Lester leaned back in his chair and looked at the laptop with deep and dark eyes.
After a short wait, most of the people who could come finally arrived.
Soon, an old man at the round conference table stood up and said kindly to the others at the round table: "It looks like everyone who can come has arrived."
"Except for the officers guarding the peninsula, the captain of the law enforcement team, and directors at all levels, all representatives of the committee are gathered here," said the white-haired old man. "Then, in the name of the chairman of the committee, Gary Fielding, I formally declare the 36th special meeting of the committee to officially begin."
"This meeting will mainly discuss the incident that occurred not long ago regarding the Yanxia Mountain Exercise."
The chairman of the committee, Gary Fielding, looked at the others present and said, "Let's discuss the so-called 'Human Watch' organization that emerged during this exercise, and the possible collusion between the organization and the Abyss."
After these words were spoken, the expressions of everyone present froze slightly.
Although everyone present was clear about the issues that needed to be addressed, they still felt confused and hazy when Gary Fielding actually spoke about the situation.
This is the first time that a true "human spy" has appeared.
If the situation is really as described in the report, then this will be a huge upheaval for the entire committee... no, to be more precise, for the entire society! Therefore, although many people were not in the meeting venue, they still tried their best to participate in the content of this meeting through remote communication equipment. Except for those who really couldn't come, most of them were present.
After looking around, Speaker Gary said calmly: "Then let's get straight to the point."
"First, I would like to ask Mr. Qi Guang to describe the specific situation," the speaker said. "I am worried that some people with special circumstances may not understand what happened, so it would be better to let the participants themselves describe it."
As soon as he finished speaking, Qi Guang's portrait popped up on a notebook next to him.
At this moment, Qi Guang was wearing a black suit, and because only his upper body was photographed, no one could notice the wheelchair he often sat in.
There were still some unhealed wounds on his face, and he didn't use any special makeup to cover them up. Instead, he just showed the scars to add credibility to his words.
After seeing Qi Guang's face, the members of parliament present subconsciously sat up straight.
As the deputy director of the Countermeasures Bureau, Qi Guang himself was quite prestigious. In any case, the fact that he imprisoned the gods in his body had already impressed many people present. So before he spoke, everyone kept silent tacitly.
Putting his hands flat on the table, Qi Guang coughed and then said, "Okay."
"Members of the committee, first of all, please allow me to describe the exercise that took place not long ago on Yanxia Mountain," Qi Guang said. "The exercise was originally planned to last for a week, but due to some special circumstances, it was forced to stop on the first day. The specific situation is as follows - the anti-human group "Human Watch" headed by "Fraudster" Rodney intended to use this exercise to kill the 26 teachers and 321 students in this exercise..."
His voice was serious and calm as he described in detail everything that Humanity Watch had done during the exercise, their original plan, and the possible consequences if the plan succeeded.
Everyone present listened to Qi Guang's words and subconsciously remained silent.
After Qi Guang finished speaking, someone raised his hand.
Speaker Gary looked at the man and said, "Please speak."
The man leaned in front of the microphone and looked at Qi Guang calmly: "In fact, Mr. Qi Guang, I have a question to ask. Where are the members of the group who participated in this anti-human behavior now? How did you infer that they actually carried out the above behavior, rather than misjudgment?"
When they heard that person speak, everyone's faces became serious.
They knew the person who was speaking was a representative of a country in Western Europe. As the birthplace of "Human Watch", once it was confirmed that there were indeed such a group of lunatics and traitors in their hometown, Western Europe would definitely experience a major earthquake. Whether out of patriotism or local psychology, they all hoped to get more solid and credible evidence.
Qi Guang's expression remained unchanged after answering this person's question: "Currently, all criminal groups involved in the 'Yanxia Mountain Exercise Incident' have been detained in a special agency in our country. This is to prevent the news from being leaked and to closely guard the prisoners for future trials."
"As for the evidence, the group has actually admitted their anti-humanity purpose," Qi Guang said. "The video file has been submitted to the committee. Members can listen to it."
Hearing this, everyone looked at Speaker Gary.
Gary nodded slightly, and then said to the others: "Everyone can open the corresponding video file."
After getting the approval, everyone present opened their laptops and double-clicked the extremely conspicuous file on the desktop.
In the video, a haggard man with withered blond hair sat on a chair, staring at the camera in front of him.
Although he looked thin, there was some kind of evil fire in his eyes, as if he wanted to use this method to burn the person in front of him, and his face was distorted and hideous.
Off screen, a calm voice said, "Hello, Mr. Rodney."
Faced with this lukewarm opening, Rodney became angry.
He struggled to get up, but it was as if there were some invisible chains tightly wrapped around his body on both sides, causing his body to tremble. "It's you! It's you! It's you! You damn bitch, you deserve to be cut into pieces! It's you who destroyed everything, and it's you who destroyed the only hope of human survival!!"
As Rodney said this, he roared, his face full of flesh, and his eyes were filled with undisguised ferocity and hatred!
Despite his nonsense, Rodney's eyes were unusually firm, as if he really meant it.
He really believed that the man in front of him had destroyed humanity's only chance! However, facing Rodney's eyes, the man just smiled faintly: "You worry too much, Mr. Rodney. Humans do not need the help of the enemy. We have our own means and methods to deal with crises, even if it means being crushed to pieces."
"Besides, the future may not be that bad," the man said, "at least the future I see is far from that bad. I can even say that it is much better than you and we imagined. Of course, we have already talked about this topic before, so let's not elaborate on it and get straight to the point."
The sound of flipping files echoed in the video, and the man continued, "Let me see, the date is April 14th. On this day, you planned a large-scale anti-humanity incident against the Yanxia Mountain exercise, attempting to kill the students and teachers on the mountain through the 'Piercing Prince', the 'Molten Core', and the 'Tyrant King', right?"
Listening to the man's voice, Rodney sneered: "That's right!"
“计划从很早之前就已经想好了！从西欧那边将严密看守的‘穿刺公’运进来，躲避哨卡和看守，然后再利用‘熔火核心’将烟霞山改造成火山，将穿刺公的血爆扩散到山上的每一处地方！”
罗德尼冷冷地说道：“为此我们还特意开辟了结界，就是为了防止对策局和委员会的人察觉。哪怕他们注意到了，不花一段时间也很难破开结界。而他们耗费的时间已经足够我们将山上的人一网打尽，杀的他们血流成河！”
看着得意洋洋的罗德尼，审讯的人叹息了一声：“真是愚蠢。”
继续翻开下一页文件，那个人接着说道：“那么你们本次行动的目的是什么？”
“目的？”罗德尼大笑着说道，“当然是为了揭开新的形式！”
“人类如果想要存活，就必须要依赖深渊！可惜，绝大部分的人意识不到这一点、他们只会认为这是背叛人类的反人类行为！因为这个原因，我们的愿望一直在被限制。”
看着镜头，罗德尼猛地朝前、咧开嘴笑道：“为此我们需要一个由头，一个引子，一个能够将异种的事实大白天下、让那些有识之士意识到投靠深渊才是人类唯一可行的路径！除此之外，深渊的那些异种也对人类的献祭感兴趣，通过将那些死硬分子献祭，我们也能够获得更多深渊生物的垂青！在这样的状况下，我们‘人类守望’的力量也会不断壮大！”
说到后面，罗德尼几乎难以掩盖自己的兴奋。
而电脑之外，那些议员则已经面露震惊之色。
哪怕他们已经提前预知道部分结果，但是真的从罗德尼的嘴巴里面说出来，他们还是有些难以相信。
竟然真的有人想要勾连“深渊”？！
哪怕并非所有人都知道“深渊”到底代表什么，但是对于那些了解情况的人而言，在听到罗德尼说出“投靠深渊”这几个字眼以后、就毫不犹豫地给“人类守望”刻下毁灭的烙印！
这是原则、底线问题。
没有人比知情者更加能够了解“深渊”到底代表什么。
那是半岛上无数葬送的生灵，以及无数因为“灾难”级异种魔女而死的同胞印证出来的宝贵情报。
与“深渊”结伴者，必将被“深渊”吞噬！ 审讯后面的内容也很简单，基本上就是细节的补充以及“人类守望”对应的情况。
在场的不少人越是听到相关的内容，就越是感到心惊肉跳。
如果说“深渊”还让人难以理解的话，那么目前罗德尼透露出来的“人类守望”内容，毫无疑问是彻头彻尾的反人类行为。
拿活人献祭、拐卖人口、人体实验，不管哪一个放在台面上都是要被批判甚至于枪毙的罪行，让那些可能对“人类守望”怀有恻隐之心的人也很难狡辩。
大概二十分钟后，在罗德尼疯狂的大笑声中，审讯结束了。
所有人都面面相觑。
很快，有人看向祁光：“不好意思，我想要问一下。祁光先生如何能够证明这是‘人类守望’这一反人类团伙切实的犯罪证据？比如说你该如何证明受训者是所谓的‘人类守望’第七席，以及他说出的就是事实！”
面对这个问题，祁光点点头：“这确实是个问题，不过我们也有应对方法。”
“与视频文件一起上传的还有一部分披露出来的数据，”祁光说道，“该数据相当于是‘人类守望’的账目一般，详细记载了该组织在何时何地、举行了何种仪式和献祭。”
“各位可以观察一下自己地区内在相应的时间内是否发生了这一案件，进行比对和验证，观察‘人类守望’是否对各位所在的地区动过手脚。比起虚无缥缈的语言，我认为还是数据更为直观。”
祁光笑眯眯地说道：“毕竟数据可是不会骗人的。”
听着他的话语，所有人都下意识地点开数据。
然而越看，他们脸上的表情就越发难看。
看到后面甚至有人狠狠捶了一下桌子，眼神几乎要喷出火来。
那个人压抑着怒气：“原来我下属的儿子是这么……！”
他大概是看到了某些和自己熟悉的人的受害档案，而该档案里面、有着罗德尼亲口指认的记录。
毫无疑问，在场所有人只要对比一下自己内部的记录、就能够确定这份数据的真实性。
就像是祁光说的一样，只要有印证、能够比对而且样本丰富的数据，那么这一事实的真实性就会大幅度增加。
至少现在，绝大部分的人都意识到“人类守望”这一反人类组织确实存在，而且哪怕到现在也在暗中猖獗！
看气氛差不多了，议长加里拍了拍手：“那么，了解情况的各位可以开始提问或是决议了。”
“这是委员会成立以来，第一次面对如此嚣张的组织，”议长眯着眼睛，“如果放任其不管，该组织可能会对人类的未来产生不可估量的影响。因此，作为各个国家组成的联合，委员会认为有必要、也有义务对‘人类守望’这一组织的后续情况，进行表态。”
“请各位仔细考虑一下之后，各自发言吧。”
话音落下。
在场的所有人都面色凝重。
这还是第一次，委员会表现出如此坚决的态度。
作为各个国家推出代表、名义上针对社会上一切跨越国界的国际性异常事件，委员会一直都是表现得与世无争、对各国事务毫无插手的打算。
唯有在特殊的活动，如烟霞山的演习、西欧的试炼上，委员会才会担当责任、主动操办。
然而现在，西欧内部出现了这么一个可怕的组织，看起来委员会的人也真的坐不住了。
这不仅仅是在打西欧的脸，也是在打他们的脸啊！ 作为名义上处理各个国家异常事件的组织，竟然在烟霞山出了这么一档子事，而他们竟然还全然不知情、甚至都不知道自己被渗透了……
可以说这次委员会的脸都被打肿了。
因此他们也难得硬气了一点，话语里透露着一定要把“人类守望”干烂的意思，彻底撕破脸皮！
因此所有人都很识趣地做出了正确的决定。
在收到各位议员的决议之后，议长笑眯眯地点了点头，重新恢复了之前那般慈眉善目。
“正好，还有一件事情，”议长说道，“祁光先生提到，他们国家最近在筹办一个名为‘特殊人才联合工会’的官方性组织，用以处理未来一切可能参与的异常事务，确保民众生命财产安全。”
“祁光先生上交议案，希望该工会能够扩大到世界性质，各个国家也成立相应的工会、彼此互帮互助，培养优秀人才。”
议长看了一眼在场的所有人：“这是祁光先生本人提出来的议案，各位如果有兴趣的、可以在会后与祁光先生交流、联络。”
说完这句话之后，议长就改变了话题：“那么，继续进行下一个议题。本次演习因为意外而中止，接下来是否需要继续进行补偿式演习……”
在议长的声音里，本次委员会的临时集会渐渐和以前差不多，重新开始人畜无害起来。
不过毫无疑问，这一次特殊案件在各位代表的心中都会留下不小的印象。而各位代表在回国以后，恐怕也会对各个国家的方针和策略，进行相应的调整。
比如说，关于祁光提到的“特殊人才联合工会”，有些人觉得不错、有些人觉得很糟糕。
反正不管怎么样，至少水花已经漾开，后续、就是看池塘内的涟漪会不会扩散到大海之中了。
“人类守望”也终于被迫走到台面上来，至少在明面上、被各国官方定性为反人类组织，一旦发现全力清剿！ 因为这一决定的出现，“人类守望”的未来必然不可能和原本的时间线类似。像是原来那样充当英雄，吸引无数西欧人回到故土的梦想，恐怕只可能在他们死后才能够实现了。
本次会议，看起来皆大欢喜。
不过有些人似乎并不是这么想。
在会议结束之后，西欧的“炼金士”——莱斯特·拉维和几位朋友告别之后，微笑着离开了会场。
他在走上自己的专车以后，脸上原先平静的笑容慢慢变淡。
仅仅只是几秒钟，莱斯特的肌肉就忍不住开始抽搐、眼神也渐渐凶狠起来。
“祁光……！”他的喉咙里是一阵意味不明的浑浊咆哮，仿佛听到这个名字就让他心情非常糟糕一样，让莱斯特这张中年绅士般的脸都变得扭曲了起来。
After the black limousine twisted and turned, Lester's private car stopped in front of a low-key mansion.
After getting out of the car, Lester straightened his clothes and made sure there was nothing wrong with his appearance, then gently rang the doorbell of the house.
A moment later, an old man wearing a black suit and a monocle on his nose walked to the door and looked at Lester deeply.
The old man opened the door and bowed slightly to Lester: "Welcome, Mr. Lester."
Lester did not dare to be careless and quickly returned the greeting to the old man: "Thank you. By the way, 'His Majesty the Emperor' is now..."
The old man straightened up and said calmly, "Your Majesty is already waiting in the study."
Having said that, the old man turned around and walked towards the interior of the house.
Hearing this, Lester's face lit up with joy.
He quickly followed the old man, almost unable to suppress the smile on his face.
The interior structure of the house was far more luxurious than the low-key and simple style of the exterior. Countless works of art were displayed on both sides of the aisles, and the spacious corridors were covered with lush green plants. There were many plants that Lester could not name, but he could only feel that they were precious.
Tall suits of armor were everywhere in the maze-like residence, with traces of blood on them. The broad sword blades were free of rust and seemed to have been constantly wiped, as if they had been bright from hundreds of years ago to today.
Walking between the houses, Lester felt more and more in awe and fear of the "Majesty" he was going to meet next.
Soon, they stopped in front of a large and thick rosewood door.
The old man knocked gently on the door.
A smiling voice came from inside the door: "Come in."
Lester pushed the door open subconsciously, and slowly walked into the study as the old man bowed.
In the study, he saw "His Majesty".
He was a mature middle-aged man, with hair as golden as the sun and eyes as blue as the ocean. His clothes were luxurious and fitted, and seemed to be hand-sewn stitch by stitch, with several beautiful medals and family crests on them.
When he saw this man, Lester knelt down subconsciously: "Your Majesty..."
He knew that the man in front of him was one of the "emperors" of Western Europe, twisted from the brave man in the legend, connected to the Western European retainer system, and mastered many monsters in Western Europe, the legendary "Lionheart King"! The origin of the "Lionheart King" is unknown. Some people say that he is definitely the king of the same name, but because the content is completely different from the portrait and the personality is not very similar, they are skeptical about this.
Some people also say that he is a distortion of the British red dragon "King Arthur" recorded in mythological books, but because the scope of his rule is not within the corresponding territory and he does not show many characteristics of "King Arthur", this statement is also questionable.
In any case, among all the kings in Western Europe, "King Lionheart" is definitely the best one.
Thanks to the unique "emperor-vassal" system in Western Europe, although "Origin" did not appear in Western Europe in the future, many emperors showed strength that was not inferior to "Origin". And the future "Lionheart King" is such a powerful king who can be compared with "Origin"! Looking at Leicester, the Lionheart King smiled and said, "How is it?"
Lester didn't even dare to raise his eyes: "'Humanity Watch' has been defined. I guess in the future... they will have a hard time."
Hearing this, the Lionheart King smiled: "As expected."
"It is impossible for humans to allow such a 'monster' to exist in their country," he said calmly. "He is covered in human skin, but his heart is dark inside. Such a guy is more alarming than enemies like us. Their leader must be having a hard time during this period. As for you, the fifth seat of 'Human Watch', you may have to stay out of the spotlight recently."
Listening to the words of the Lionheart King, Lester gritted his teeth and raised his head suddenly: "Your Majesty!"
"I am willing to throw myself into your garden!" he said loudly. "I have realized that the principles of human beings are not correct, and humans themselves are too short-sighted! The only one who can lay the foundation for the future is you!"
"Please allow me this humble request. I am willing to serve as the king's forerunner in the name of Hermes and contribute my knowledge and experience to you!"
Looking at Lestat, the smile on the Lionheart's face gradually disappeared.
He looked at Lester calmly, as if he was looking at something interesting.
After a long while, he finally said, "'Hermes'... He is said to be the only one who can take 'souls'. He is really tempting."
Hearing his words, Lester's face lit up.
But soon, the voice of the Lionheart King came again: "But, I find that I don't seem to need you that much."
"How can your knowledge help us monsters?" he said with a smile, "Or in other words, what is the meaning of human soul to us?"
"You should wait until you find the other legacy of Hermes," King Lionheart waved his hand. "If you wait until that day, my palace will definitely be open to you."
"For now, you should think carefully about how to survive the future purge before considering anything else."
As he spoke, the Lionheart waved his hand.
The next second, the old man outside the door came in directly and dragged the dazed Lester out of the room.
With a "bang", the heavy door closed again, and Lester's panicked voice echoed in the corridor, as helpless as a patient who was desperate and seeking medical treatment.
The Lionheart simply rested his hand on his forehead and glanced at the shadows around him.
"What do you think?" he asked suddenly.
About three seconds passed.
A voice came from the shadows: "The apprentice of the Alchemist, the one who likes to use human experiments, has probably been arrested. I'm afraid he can't escape. In order to avoid sanctions, he has to seek our help."
The Lionheart King smiled and said, "Yeah, otherwise how could he possibly be interested in monsters like us? Or he must be panicking, otherwise he wouldn't be so irrational."
"But Hermes, if it weren't for his current sensitive identity, I would really like to see the things left behind by the only person who is said to have touched the 'soul'..."
The Lionheart said with some regret: "That is the 'secret text' brought back from the Land of Origin..."
In the shadows, the voice smiled faintly and said, "There will be a chance."
"What we need to pay more attention to now is the East."
Hearing his words, the Lionheart King regained his spirits: "Yes, the East!"
The man in the shadow said calmly, "I saw that the Pale Lady also headed east. If nothing goes wrong in the future, a disaster will break out in the New Sea."
"The Pale Lady"?!
Listening to that person's words, the Lionheart King was slightly startled: "That guy also went to 'Xinhai'?!"
"That's right," the man in the shadow said, "'Xin Hai' probably has the key to her advancement. So it's not surprising that she went there."
Lionheart: "That's true... I'm afraid the 'New Sea' will be in chaos next?"
The man in the shadows said with a smile: "Yes."
"If there is no deviation in the future, many, many, many people will die in 'Xin Hai'," the man said, "After all, you and I both know what kind of personality 'Pale Lady' is."
After the words fell, both of them were silent for a moment.
After a while, the Lionheart King seemed to suddenly remember something: "That's right."
"I heard that a man who claims to be a 'prophet' appeared on Yanxia Mountain this time."
He glanced at the shadow next to him: "Like you, he is a guy who claims to be able to see the future. I don't know what his true identity is. Compared with you, the 'Nostradamus', who is better..."
The Man in the Shadow, or Nostradamus, said simply, “That is a fake, a false prophet.”
"I'm afraid he is a low-quality person who thinks he can see through fate, but is actually deeply immersed in his own consciousness," said Nostradamus. "A prophet? He is extremely stupid."
"I am the only prophet in this world. Everything else is just a lie."
His voice was flat and without any personal emotion.
It's like stating a fact.