Chapter 179 Press Conference (5000-Word Chapter, Please Vote~)

"Alien monsters?"

Even Su Zhou couldn't help but have three question marks pop up above his head when he heard this term: "Are you sure it's not some kind of otherworld monster? How can they be sure it's an alien and not from another world?"

To be honest, aliens did appear quite frequently in the urban legends and anecdotes magazines that Su Zhou had bought in the past, even counting as a major force in modern urban myths.

But somehow, ever since Yala appeared, he had thought that the only things in this world were the gods, ghosts, and demons from myths and legends.

"Of course they exist." Before Su Zhou could ask in his heart, Yala lazily replied, "The universe is so big and full of spiritual power that even a meteorite can become a spirit, let alone a mere alien monster? It seems that little guy probably summoned something strange."

"Honestly, what's so surprising about this? Even you right now wouldn't die if you wanted to take a stroll in outer space for a while. Many of my kin reproduce and live in outer space."

In addition to Yala's reply, Yansheng's tone also tacitly acknowledged it as true: [Although I can't be sure, the information shared by the American Federation is indeed that of alien monsters. They wouldn't lie about this kind of intelligence.]

"Is that so... I didn't expect it." As he said this, Su Zhou subconsciously looked around the helicopter cabin.

Inside the cabin were the special operations forces of the South Sea Fleet, a squad of twelve people, and their strength had actually all reached the Awakening stage.

Everyone in this task force was wearing black hazmat suits just like him, and when they heard the term "alien monster," there was no surprise on their faces, indicating that they had known about the relevant information for a long time.

Although no one spoke in response to Su Zhou's gaze, they all gave friendly replies... It was no wonder, they had all seen through the live broadcast just now that this young man had chopped down almost dozens of lightning bolts in one go! Good heavens, it was truly heaven-sent thunder, and it was no exaggeration to call him the Thunder God of this era.

In addition, their actions in South Sea City had all been seen by them. Such a powerful and virtuous young transcedent was basically pre-ordained to be a future Holy Seat.

Since this was the case, there was no need to be so serious.

[The special operations force of the South Sea Fleet used to belong to the Security Bureau and was the 'handling force' responsible for dealing with various special events. They have extensive combat experience against monster creatures.]

Yansheng gave a simple introduction: [They are responsible for escorting you to the press conference site... I know you don't need anyone to guard you, but this is the best way to show the official attitude in front of the media.]

"That's true."

Su Zhou thought about it, and it was indeed so.

In addition to the three world-class mysterious organizations, there are many local mysterious organizations in remote areas where the influence of the three major central regions cannot reach. They may have been dormant in the past millennium, but the revival of spiritual energy has also reawakened them.

Of course, the influence of these mysterious organizations is only limited to the local area and cannot affect other regions at all, so Yansheng simply popularized their existence to Su Zhou and did not elaborate.

With the information roughly collected, Su Zhou now had a deeper understanding of the current world situation.

The three major transcedent central regions are essentially a transcedent organization union linked together through geopolitics, a large interest group aimed at maintaining order and peacefully utilizing the development of spiritual energy recovery. Therefore, in the central regions, the control of transcendence is the strictest, but at the same time, the relevant resources and inheritance are also the richest. For a transcedent who aspires to practice, joining them is the best choice if they want to go further and become a more powerful practitioner.

But if you just want to be a local emperor, or enjoy the benefits of your abilities as quickly as possible, then you can go to those countries that cannot control transcedent, and establish or join some organizations yourself.

In fact, in the past year since the revival of spiritual energy, the regimes of some African and Southeast Asian countries have actually been subverted. The government's orders cannot even leave the capital. Major towns and cities have become independent around transcedent families and organizations. The system has even regressed to the era of slavery, and these places are precisely the soil for the development of the lower levels of large mysterious organizations like the Society of Descending Spirits.

"No wonder the Herdsmen, who kill people indiscriminately, can live such a comfortable life and quietly get so many soul crystals."

Su Zhou also figured out why the Society of Descending Spirits was carrying out global attacks on such a large scale this time: "They want to make a name for themselves, prove their strength, and make the Society of Descending Spirits the first choice for all transcedent who are unwilling to be controlled outside the three major transcedent central regions in the world!"

But obviously, they chose the wrong target. At least the Herdsman chose the wrong target.

Observing the other party's evil soul in the soul space, Su Zhou calmly analyzed the abilities that the Herdsman could bring to him.

First, swallow it directly to enhance soul abilities and increase affinity with the dead. A good choice. You can never have too much soul strength, and strengthening it is definitely the right thing to do.

Second, tempering and imbuing spirits, the effect of 'Nightmare Suppression Herding' allows the weapon to have a certain chance of putting the enemy into a nightmare state when attacking, making them unable to move. The souls of enemies killed by this weapon will be controlled and become a spirit-like existence, strengthening the weapon's ability to create nightmares. The upper limit of souls that can be herded is five.

If it is armor, then the enemy will occasionally fall into a nightmare when attacking the wearer. The more souls herded, the higher the armor's defense against mental aspects.

Third, forging a soul weapon, 'Night Haze · Soul Manipulation Thread'. The effect of this soul weapon is to control the souls of three Awakening stage ability users, and each soul can use some of their abilities from before they died. Even without herding, the soul manipulation thread can interfere with the enemy's ability to control spiritual power. It is very complicated to use, but if used well, it will be very powerful.

So Su Zhou skipped the third soul weapon immediately: "Need to operate? Too troublesome, no need, no need."

"And I still have to herd souls, really, the qualified villains I kill will turn into evil souls, and there's no need to herd the unqualified ones, and it's too extravagant to use evil souls as herding objects."

As for the effect of Nightmare Suppression Herding, it is indeed very good. The so-called Nightmare Suppression is basically a curse. Combined with Night Haze, it makes the attacked person confused and unable to move. It is a very good control spirit, and it can also be strengthened by killing enemies.

This is not like the soul manipulation thread, which requires Su Zhou to operate himself. Ordinary villains and powerful villains are similar. Su Zhou thinks it is indeed possible to keep this evil soul and imbue it into his weapon when needed. It will definitely have a miraculous effect in battle.

And just when the Herdsman's evil soul was determined.

South Sea City, Isolation Area for Psychosis.

"Okay, about like this, it's almost done."

In the isolation area, a kind young man wearing a white doctor's coat was checking the condition of a Psychosis patient: "Your condition is not serious. After you recover your spirit later, remember to calm your mind and control your spiritual power so that it doesn't fluctuate, otherwise, you will soon fall into madness again."

As he said this, he stretched out his palm that was emitting white light and pressed it on the head of a patient who looked a little dazed and was talking nonsense. After a while, he raised his hand, and the patient's spirit did improve a lot. His eyes were clear, and he even stopped talking nonsense.

"Thank you doctor, thank you doctor!"

"I'm not a doctor, just a volunteer."

It could be heard that there were many sincere voices of gratitude in the camp, and the young man, who smiled quite refined and approachable, waved his hand, signaling everyone to calm their minds and not talk too much, lest the psychosis recur and it would be even more difficult to suppress.

This young man was Shao Qiming, and he was naturally not a doctor.

In fact, even the Tranquilizing Spell just now was learned by Shao Qiming from the local official transcedent half a day ago.

Because of Su Zhou's relationship, Shao Qiming and Shao Shuangyue were protected by the local armed forces. Shao Nantian originally had relevant connections himself, but since the military had taken action, there was naturally no need to spend more effort.

But no one expected that after the mutated Hungry Ghost, there would be things like Psychosis. For a time, most of the local armed forces were more or less affected, and there were too few local practitioner doctors to treat and take care of all the patients at the same time.

Shao Qiming volunteered at that time, willing to help, and the local practitioner doctors saw that he did have a talent related to treatment that could make people calm down like plants, so their eyes lit up. They taught him a 'Mind-Clearing Spell' and gave him a white coat that could isolate the spiritual energy of psychosis, allowing him to help appease those practitioners who had fallen into psychosis so that they would not go crazy.

Shao Qiming's talent does have a miraculous effect in calming the mind. Coupled with the Mind-Clearing Spell, even if he is not very skilled, the effect is excellent. This alone is even more effective than some professional practitioner doctors.

And Shao Shuangyue, as an ordinary person who has not practiced, will not be infected by the spiritual energy of psychosis, so she was also pulled by her brother to help out as a volunteer.

And the girl worked quite hard, which was different from her usual lazy appearance.

"It's rare to have a reputation-brushing mission, it's a waste not to do it."

These were the girl's original words. Although she was obsessed with games, it was indeed quite reasonable. However, seeing her excited look when she heard the patients' words of gratitude, it seemed that it was not just because of some 'reputation'.

As long as there is positive feedback, the interesting things in the world are not just games.

"This is the sixtieth one... my spiritual power is also about to be exhausted."

When Shao Qiming cast the Mind-Clearing Spell on the sixtieth patient, causing him to return to clarity from the psychosis illusion, Shao Qiming also felt that his body seemed to be emptied: "Sure enough, actually casting spells is the most effective way to exercise spiritual power. Pure cultivation is, at most, strengthening the body, and cannot bring much improvement to the essence of life."

After all, he is not Su Zhou. Not to mention his abundant spiritual power, he also has the talent of Heavenly Human Cycle to recover quickly—a Mind-Clearing Spell consumes about 150 points of spiritual power, and Shao Qiming used sixty of them in a row. Even if he did not use them continuously, and he did recover a lot of spiritual power in the middle, it was enough to show that he was indeed not far from Awakening Second Stage.

"I wonder how Ah Zhou is..."

When Shao Qiming sat aside to meditate and rest on the sealed spirit stone, he couldn't help but think of his friend who had been invited to purify the spiritual energy of psychosis—of course he didn't know what Su Zhou was actually doing now. The last time he saw the other party was when Su Zhou transformed into a ball of lightning, flying around the city to electrocute people and treat psychosis.

To be honest, if Su Zhou hadn't cleared the most serious psychosis isolation areas, Shao Qiming's side would probably be ten times busier than it is now. Not to mention rest, it would not be surprising if people died as the disease progressed.

"Yeah, what is Zhou-ge doing now?" Shao Shuangyue, who was on the side, also stuck out her tongue like a puppy, holding a small fan to fan herself—the rainy weather by the sea was certainly not as sultry as Hong City, but after working for most of the day, she would still be covered in sweat. She didn't want to do anything now, she just wanted to go back to the hotel and take a good bath.

However, soon, as the big screen TV in the lounge automatically turned on, the Shao siblings saw their friend's figure in shock.

"Holy crap?!" x2

At this moment, Su Zhou, with a serious face, was located in the center of the screen. He was standing in the center of the press conference, at the position of the spokesperson.

On both sides of him were the local academy负责人 (fuzeren, person in charge), the local official cultivation organization负责人 (fuzeren, person in charge), the head of the local armed forces, and an officer from the South Sea Fleet.

The reporter seats were immediately in an uproar. No matter which TV station or news outlet in the world, none of the reporters had expected that this time, the official press conference of Zheng Guo would actually be hosted by a young man who didn't even look twenty years old!

Who is he? What is his background? Why can he sit here?

For a time, doubts grew like mold on bread that had been left for a long time. Numerous cameras were set up for live broadcast, and countless camera flashes lit up.

[Ladies and gentlemen, friends from the press, good afternoon everyone. Welcome to the South Sea Incident press conference. First of all, let us solemnly mourn the sacrifices made in this incident...]

Facing the dark crowd of reporters, Su Zhou was not at all stage fright. As soon as the time came, he opened his mouth.

And as soon as he opened his mouth, the slightly noisy scene instantly quieted down.

With the permission of the committee, Su Zhou, who had appropriately released his pressure as a transcedent, was enough to make all the reporters present personally experience what is called 'the dragon's might of a true dragon' even if he was reading the manuscript in a rather mechanical way—in this way, no one would secretly despise this seemingly too young big boy in their hearts.

In fact, it might have been a bit too much... because it seemed that several reporters who were not in good health had passed out and were sent backstage by medical personnel who were prepared, causing Su Zhou to apologize in his heart: "There's no way, spiritual pressure is Aoe, not point-to-point..."

After the opening remarks, it was a description of the situation. Su Zhou and several local officials roughly described the losses suffered in the coastal time, the condemnation and kill order for the Society of Descending Spirits, and at the end, before entering the question-and-answer session, Su Zhou made a concluding remark: [Although the chief culprit who caused this disaster, the transcedent terrorist transcedent, one of the seven leaders of the Society of Descending Spirits, the 'Herdsman', has been killed by our side in the ocean, all the victims who died in this incident cannot...]

Whoosh!

Before Su Zhou could finish this sentence, even under the pressure of the transcedent stage, many of the reporters present, who had roughly learned the cause of this incident from their headquarters, could not remain calm!

"What? The Herdsman?"

"Has he been killed? The Herdsman who once caused several large-scale chaotic events in Southeast Asia has been killed?"

"How did Zheng Guo confirm it? Is it really not nonsense?"

Everyone found it difficult to understand this matter, and many people even subconsciously suspected that this big boy didn't know what he was saying just now—but recalling the slight spiritual pressure that the other party had released at the beginning, the doubts in the hearts of everyone present gradually dissipated.

What replaced it was a mixture of incredible awe.

How is it possible... That is the ninth-ranked old transcedent strongman 'Herdsman' on the global transcedent wanted list, who has secretly created countless tragedies. He was killed so lightly?!

You must know that the other six regions in the world that were attacked by the Society of Descending Spirits don't even know which leader of the Society of Descending Spirits attacked them!

Soon, after Su Zhou finished his concluding remarks, he entered the question-and-answer session.

Immediately, an American Federation reporter who had been selected by a local official stood up and asked about this aspect: "Professor Su, are you saying that the 'Herdsman' has been killed? How did Zheng Guo confirm this news?"

[That's right.]

Su Zhou nodded, he aimed at the microphone and said: [He is dead. As for how to confirm it, I killed him with my own hands, so I naturally know.]

This answer was basically the same as not answering, but the reporter's opportunity to ask had passed, and the next one was immediately a reporter from a TV station in the Europa Alliance. She asked, and Su Zhou answered: [I saw his traces and chased after him to kill him. It's their incompetence that the transcedent in other regions can't see him. It has nothing to do with me. Don't continue to ask questions. I can't explain to you how I saw him. This matter is as a matter of course for me as putting chili peppers in stir-fried meat with chili peppers.]

Then another reporter.

[Why? How did he die? This question is really strange. He caused such a big disturbance. It would be more surprising if I let him go, right? As for how he died, I struck him to death with lightning. Yes, the thunderstorm in the coastal area just now was released by me. I said, don't ask questions, I can't perform lightning for you indoors, next.]

[Why did the Herdsman die? Reporter friend, please don't waste the time of the press conference, and don't repeat questions that have already been answered. Because I killed him, he died, it's that simple. Next.]

[Why? Why are there always these questions?]

[How simple is it—Monsters die when they are killed.]

Compensate for the late update, this chapter is a little longer, a 5000-word chapter, please vote~

Thanks to the alliance leader of Cang Qiong Zhi Tan! Thank you to the other book friends for the rewards~ I will try to update an average of 10,000 words per day this month, with more than 300,000 words of updates, don't worry~