Chapter 466: Gathering in Soloma

March 23rd. The Soloma Capital, Human Federation Office.

“Soloma is on another level… Even their office is this grand!”

Yang Ran remarked as he walked into the spacious hall, taking in the opulent, gilded decor.

Li Meng, Guan Tong, Chen Na, Silver Fox, and Bai Xuewu followed him in. The six of them had flown in from North Star on a private jet to rendezvous with teams from other Human Federation member states for a decapitation strike against the Fire Thief Sect.

Fahe Country, the Fire Thief Sect’s stronghold, was on the same continent as the Soloma Empire and relatively close. The Human Federation had therefore decided that the joint operations team would assemble here before departing together.

Over a dozen people were already in the office’s main hall—operatives from the other Human Federation nations.

The most striking among them was the Soloma Empire’s team, led by Adam.

Adam was tall and slender, with shoulder-length golden hair and an androgynous air about him. That, combined with his immense fame, meant he always drew a lot of attention.

He was currently speaking with the team from Sisiya Country, but when the North Star Team arrived, his eyes lit up and he strode over.

“Welcome, members of North Star. It’s a long journey, you must be exhausted. Please, sit and rest.”

North Star and Soloma were on opposite sides of the Celestial Water Star; the flight alone took over a dozen hours.

Li Meng smiled. “No need. We’ve been sitting on a plane this whole time. Standing for a while is a relief.”

“Haha, a fair point.”

Adam chuckled as his gaze swept over each of them, finally landing on Guan Tong’s face.

“I suppose we have those cultists to thank. If they hadn’t stirred up trouble, who knows when we would have had the chance to meet.”

His words made the members of the North Star Team exchange odd looks, wondering what the relationship between the two could be.

Guan Tong himself thought the guy was being rather corny for a first meeting.

He simply said a cool, “Hello,” and left it at that.

Adam didn’t seem to mind. He turned to Bai Xuewu. “Miss Bai, we meet again.”

The two had previously served together in the Human Alliance Army on the Black Banner Country front, where they had eliminated numerous Parasites, so of course they knew each other.

“So you’re the captain of the Soloma Team,” Bai Xuewu said.

“I am. Let me introduce you to my teammates.”

Adam waved his teammates over. Including him, there were four in total: two men and two women.

He first introduced one of the two women, one with a high-bridged nose and deep-set eyes. “This is Amanda, our team’s striker. She is also one of my wives.”

“Hello to our guests who’ve traveled so far,” Amanda said, nodding in greeting.

“And this is our Divination Master,” Adam said, introducing the other woman. “Moon Key.”

Hearing the name “Moon Key,” several of them looked over in surprise.

She was dressed in a purple robe covered with a star pattern and wore a light purple veil. She looked as if she hadn’t slept in ages; even her heavy eye makeup couldn’t conceal the thick, dark circles under her eyes.

Moon Key was a well-known Ascender, famous for her prophecies, which had an extremely high accuracy rate. Many Ascenders would seek her out with extravagant gifts, asking for her help in divining their fate.

They hadn’t expected her to be on the operations team.

Chen Na, despite her young age, was not shy. Even though it was their first meeting, her curiosity got the better of her and she asked directly, “Miss, can you really see the future?”

“The future can be seen, but that doesn’t mean it cannot be changed. The moment I see a future, perhaps that very future ceases to exist.”

Moon Key’s cryptic words left Chen Na thoroughly confused.

Adam chuckled. “In scientific terms, I guess it’s a bit like quantum theory, where the act of observation affects the outcome… To be honest, I don’t really get it either.”

He then introduced the last member of their team, a white-haired young man. “This is Peter.”

Peter spoke very politely. “It’s a pleasure to meet you all. I’ll be in your care during the coming battle.”

“Of course!” Yang Ran said boisterously. “We’ll watch each other’s backs!”

Silver Fox heard Peter’s name and looked at his face, mentioning with a spark of interest, “Aren’t you the Peter who made it to the finals?”

During the last “Death Race” period, Peter had been one of the final contestants in the competition hosted by Soloma. His ability was control over lightning.

However, the finals were interrupted by a bombing carried out by the Fire Thief Sect, so a final champion was never crowned.

But it seemed now that if Peter had been placed on Soloma’s operations team, his strength must have been acknowledged by their higher-ups.

“Yes,” Peter said. “Although the competition wasn’t completed, I was fortunate enough to be noticed by the Senate afterward, which is how I was able to join this team.”

“Oh, is that so.”

Silver Fox narrowed her eyes. Anyone who knew her could tell she didn’t seem to like this arrangement.

After that, Li Meng introduced the members of the North Star Team. Once the teams from the other member nations had arrived, everyone went through another round of introductions.

Excluding the command staff from each country, the joint operations team consisted of nineteen field operatives in total.

The North Star Team had six members, five of whom were present. The absent member, Wenren Yizhi, would be providing remote assistance via her black and white game pieces.

Soloma had four members, Sisiya had three, and the remaining six were from the Six Small Countries, led by Lu Rui Country, with each nation contributing one operative.

The operative sent by Sakura Prayer was none other than Shangyuan Zi, who was wearing a mask and sunglasses.

She had previously mentioned she would be part of this operation. Her original plan was to infiltrate Fahe secretly, but after discussing it with Guan Tong, she decided to participate officially as Sakura Prayer’s representative.

The reasoning behind this was that the operatives from the Six Small Countries barely knew each other. Each of them felt like they were just there to fill a quota, assuming the real fighting would be handled by the operatives from North Star, Soloma, and Sisiya. As a result, the six of them weren’t familiar with one another, or even what abilities the others possessed. This allowed Shangyuan Zi to participate without revealing too much about herself.

Therefore, she didn’t strike up a public conversation with Guan Tong. By unspoken agreement, they pretended not to know each other, though Silver Fox and Chen Na both gave her a few extra glances.

Clearly, having participated in the operation against Mizusawa Chun together, they were somewhat familiar with Shangyuan Zi.

Half an hour after the nineteen operatives and their command staff had all assembled, they entered the briefing room to begin the mission conference.

A senator from Soloma presided over the meeting, displaying the details of the situation and the plan on a large screen.

“Regarding your destination, Fahe Country, the entire nation has practically fallen into ruin. Only one city is still operational: Liluo’an City.”

“This city, Liluo’an, is the main stronghold of the Fire Thief Sect. The population is roughly one million, and we can now confirm that nearly all of them have become followers.”

Upon hearing this, everyone’s expression turned grim.

That Fahe, a former world power, had now been reduced to a single functioning city with its entire population converted into followers of the Fire Thief Sect… It was a sobering thought.

But everyone also understood this wasn’t a choice the people of Fahe had made willingly; it was likely related to Mind Control.

“According to our intel, your targets for this operation—the Pope and several Bishops of the Fire Thief Sect—are typically active in this location.”

An image of a building appeared on the screen, along with a floor-by-floor schematic. It looked like a large library.

“This is the National Library of Fahe. It has six floors. After establishing themselves, the Fire Thief Sect renovated the library’s interior. Its followers now call it the ‘Fire Worship Cathedral.’ The operations team’s mission is to raid this location and eliminate the sect’s leadership, headed by the Pope and his Bishops.”

At this point, Li Meng spoke up. “If the Fire Worship Cathedral is the enemy’s nest, wouldn’t it be more effective to first destroy it with a ballistic missile, then have the operations team sweep the area?”

The senator shook his head in refusal. “Missiles aren’t a panacea. If the strike fails, the cult’s leaders could escape, and finding them again wouldn’t be so easy.”

Li Meng was suspicious, but he didn’t say anything more.

“We in Soloma will provide Teleportation Items that function based on coordinates,” the senator continued. “The team will be teleported to just outside the library, allowing you to enter the cathedral directly and complete the decapitation strike, avoiding any entanglement with the other cultists. As for the situation inside the cathedral—how many enemies there are—that will be up to the team to discover. I trust that with your skills, you are more than capable of handling any cultists you encounter.”

After the senator finished his briefing, he announced that the operation would officially commence the following morning.

Afterward, the various team commanders met to communicate their respective team’s status. Then, they each returned to brief their own operatives.

In the North Star Team’s room, the members sat around a table. A tablet with an active video call sat in the center, allowing them to communicate with Wenren Yizhi. Even though she was back in North Star, she still needed to be briefed as a member of the team.

“You all need to be extra careful when you teleport over tomorrow,” Li Meng warned them seriously. “And when I say ‘careful,’ I don’t just mean of the cultists… I mean of the other teams, too.”

“Careful of the other teams?” Bai Xuewu frowned. Chen Na and Yang Ran also looked puzzled.

Silver Fox, however, cut straight to the point. “You mean be careful of the Soloma Team.”

Li Meng looked at her. “Silver Fox, why do you say that? Did you notice something?”

Silver Fox shrugged. “I didn’t notice anything else, but I don’t like that they put Peter on their team. I don’t feel comfortable going into battle with someone like him.”

Li Meng nodded. “I understand what you mean. Peter killed a lot of people during that competition. That’s something we in North Star find difficult to accept. But my suspicion toward Soloma comes from the feeling that the senator was hiding something.”

Guan Tong spoke. “Is it because he refused to bomb the Fire Worship Cathedral with a missile?”

“Exactly. Since it’s confirmed that the cult’s leadership is in that building, a missile strike followed by a ground sweep is the safest and most effective strategy. Soloma’s refusal to do so can’t be as simple as just being afraid of tipping off the enemy.”

“The way you guys are talking, this sounds like some kind of conspiracy!” Yang Ran said, scratching his head.

“In any case, Guan Tong, as the captain, you need to be vigilant after you teleport tomorrow. More than completing the mission, you need to prioritize your team’s safety.”

“I understand.”

Even without Li Meng’s reminder, Guan Tong would always place the lives of his teammates above killing the enemy.