Bai Qi, cross-legged on his desk, opened the system.
Like many unscrupulous systems, after completing the first main mission, it immediately pushed more tasks to Bai Qi. What was even more unscrupulous was that these tasks were all mandatory and could not be refused. The foremost among them was to help the dark energy regain control of the world, followed by issues related to the opening of other demonic gates to hell.
Speaking of this, one point worth noting for Bai Qi was that the acquired memories mentioned that the Holy Lord's part of the fire essence was held by the other seven archdemons.
Back then, the sole reason the Holy Lord could return to the mortal realm with the help of other demons was by offering part of his fire essence as collateral, divided equally among the other seven archdemons.
For the Holy Lord, the demon of fire, fire essence was akin to the origin in cultivation novels. Losing part of his fire essence would significantly weaken his strength. This was why, even with the full support of the dark energy, Bai Qi's current strength had only recovered to one-fifth of its original power. If all his fire essence were present, it wouldn't be a fantasy for Bai Qi to recover to half his original strength with this opportunity.
One could imagine the importance of fire essence to the Holy Lord.
The seven archdemons were well aware of this, which was why they agreed to work together to send the Holy Lord to the mortal realm.
However, it was unfortunate that the seven archdemons ultimately underestimated the Holy Lord's ambition and his determination to cut off his own tail. To rule the mortal world alone, the Holy Lord truly didn't mind sacrificing part of his fire essence and was unwilling to let other demons out.
But alas, the subsequent outcome was well known to everyone. The Holy Lord was betrayed, sealed by Lopez, and turned into a stone statue, becoming a crucial element in curbing the rise of dark energy. The fire essence held as collateral by the seven archdemons had also not been reclaimed.
【Main Mission: The Rise of Dark Energy】
Synopsis: Because of some scoundrel a hundred years ago, dark energy has been suppressed by righteous energy to the brink of death. As the good son of the mother of dark energy, how could you stand by and watch righteous energy abuse your poor old mother?
Objective: Help dark energy gain an advantage in the struggle against righteous energy.
Reward: Full reinforcement from dark energy, three random draws.
【Side Mission: Family Should Be Together】
Synopsis: As a member of the eight archdemons, despite many unpleasantries, based on the principle of "why should brothers kill each other?" As the only remaining demon on earth, you have an obligation to rescue your brothers and sisters from their suffering, if only to reclaim your own fire essence.
Objective: Open the gates to hell and release the imprisoned demons.
Reward: For each gate to hell opened, a portion of fire essence will be obtained, two random draws.
【Choice Mission: Violent Conquest】
Synopsis: Betrayed a hundred years ago, you are now filled with rage. Betrayers must pay the price, even if they are dead, their descendants must pay.
Objective: Establish your own kingdom on earth and rule humanity cruelly for more than one year.
Reward: Imperial Majesty, two sub-advanced draws.
Note: Choosing this mission will prevent the completion of the mission: Benevolent Rule.
【Choice Mission: Benevolent Rule】
Synopsis: The betrayal a hundred years ago filled you with rage, but now times have changed. The betrayer is long gone, and the rage has dissipated. What you desire now is for the world to operate better.
Objective: Establish your own kingdom on earth through peaceful means.
Reward: Imperial Majesty, one advanced draw.
Note: Choosing this mission will prevent the completion of the mission: Violent Conquest.
The first two missions were a given. For a better chance of survival, helping dark energy gain a greater advantage was necessary, as was releasing other demons. After all, they still held his fire essence. However, this mission had no time limit; when to release them and how was entirely up to him.
The last two choice missions were interesting. From the system's perspective, it clearly wanted him to choose Violent Conquest, as evident from the rewards alone.
However, the astute Bai Qi keenly sensed a trap.
If he truly chose the first mission, he could indeed establish his own kingdom through force. After all, with a world as vast as Blue Star, there were many ungoverned nations. He could easily find a place to carve out his territory. Moreover, given the disposition of the Old American superpower, as long as he didn't cause trouble on their soil, they might not necessarily refuse to recognize his claim to sovereignty over his occupied country.
But this would be repeating the Holy Lord's mistake from a hundred years ago.
Hundreds of years ago, the Holy Lord returned to the mortal realm with the combined might of other demons and established his own kingdom. On earth, where he was the only demon, he was immensely powerful. But what was the result? He was overthrown by his own subjects.
This was a testament to the saying that water could carry a boat or capsize it. At that time, the Holy Lord was far stronger than Bai Qi. Even in this era of declining magic, if he were to enslave humans as he did a hundred years ago, the likely outcome would be another overthrow.
The biggest difference between Bai Qi and the Holy Lord was that the Holy Lord's ideology was that of a demon. In his view, humans were merely weak crawlers whom he could crush with a gentle effort. Bai Qi, however, possessed a human soul and had lived as a human for over twenty years. He was well aware of the power that seemingly weak beings like humans could unleash. Otherwise, he wouldn't have recruited a group of humans like Cleven to serve him, established Umbrella Corporation, and used stratagem to annex Osborn Group.
Therefore, rather than receiving such a one-time high yield, Bai Qi preferred a sustainable development approach that flowed like a long, steady stream.
Ultimately, Bai Qi chose the Benevolent Rule mission.
After making his choice on the system, Bai Qi turned his gaze towards the door.
The great commotion caused by his revival would surely elicit a reaction from the protagonist group. Even if the protagonist group didn't react, righteous energy would draw them in through various unexpected events.
Since he had to face them, Bai Qi decided to take this opportunity to greet the protagonist group as a gesture of goodwill.
However, before the protagonist group arrived, the remnants of Section 12 reached him first.
Four SWAT officers, wielding battering rams, prepared themselves for a moment, swallowed, and only then managed to calm their racing hearts.
It was worth praising the people Section 12 had brought. The light pillar that had just appeared was quite impactful. As the group closest to the dark energy, they were not affected by the various negative emotions and had not been scared out of their wits, which was already quite good.
Quinn, with a grave expression, nodded.
Upon receiving the order, the four steel themselves, thinking, "If we die, we die. In thirty years, we'll be good men again."
With that thought, they swung their battering rams and, with a loud bang, smashed open the office door.
The moment the door was flung open, over twenty SWAT officers armed with weapons stormed in.
Quinn's initial order was for the SWAT officers to enter, see whatever they saw, not think about anything, and empty their magazines. But when it came to actual execution, the over twenty SWAT officers who rushed in were so terrified by the sight of the giant dragon-man before them that they were frozen in place, let alone opening fire.