Chapter 1 The Eve of the New Year

January 20th, 2017, 1:29 AM.

Little New Year.

Even though the New Year was approaching, he still had to work overtime and go on a business trip. Su Zhou didn't mind, since his usual life was pretty much like a vacation anyway. It was fine for him to work a little harder when others were on holiday.

He was now on a private jet, flying towards the United International headquarters in the Greenland region.

As for the car, he naturally left it to Tang Yuan to drive home and celebrate the New Year with Leng Xiaxia and her family. Su Zhou wasn't a devil, after all. It was normal to lend a luxury car to his subordinate so he could show off to the kids. Ai cars were still a rarity, and children were very interested in them. Besides, Tang Yuan wasn't the kind of person who didn't know his limits.

The Third World War, which occurred in 1972, initially broke out between the Rose Country and the European Community. To compete for the oil-producing areas in Central Asia and resolve some historical issues, the Rose Country began to aggressively intervene militarily in the region. This move triggered a full-scale war with the then-nascent 'European Community,' the predecessor of today's 'Europa Union.'

Within three months of the war, Zheng Country's construction companies in Central Asia were repeatedly involved, and four American Federal Union liners were sunk. Faced with new era weapons, the original tactical systems were basically rendered obsolete. Large-scale aerial attacks killed more than a hundred thousand locals, and Central Asia became a meat grinder. The flames of war gradually spread from old Europa to the rest of the world. The oceans were filled with the shadows of these two major powers' nuclear submarines deterring each other. The world was only a hair's breadth away from being dragged into an unrestricted nuclear war.

To prevent the entire Earth from becoming a wasteland, not even waiting for the revival of spiritual energy, Zheng Country and the American Federal Union, who later joined the battle, did not escalate the war. Instead, they contained it in the Middle East. In this region, which was not native to the four major powers, countless newly developed weapons were deployed in turn. Smaller countries following the four major powers also joined in one after another. Those weapons included nuclear and thermonuclear weapons, not to mention the covert battles of extraordinary agents, enough to film thousands of episodes of a television series for five consecutive seasons.

The Third World War had no winners. The Rose Country was on the verge of disintegration. Although the Europa Union consolidated the framework of the European Community, it consumed a generation of young people. Even Zheng Country and the American Federal Union, which suffered the least damage, did not gain any benefits. Instead, they lost all their spheres of influence and oil sources in Central Asia.

As for Central Asia, it was bombed into a complete wasteland. Since then, although there was a 'cyber war' in the cyber world, later jokingly called the Fourth World War by the common people, the four major powers decided to establish a new platform to maintain international order, which is now the United International headquartered in the Greenland region. Zheng Country, the Rose Country, the American Federal Union, the former European Community, and today's Europa Union are permanent members of the Security Council.

Although, generally speaking, the United International must obtain the consent of the four major powers to exert its full strength; otherwise, it's just a decoration. However, when three of the permanent members want to ask one of the others about confidential matters, it's still a good platform.

"So, what exactly did the American Federal Union do?"

The supersonic private jet was now flying at an altitude of about 20,000 meters. Su Zhou sat by the window, looking at the Arctic Ocean passing slowly below, seemingly talking to himself, "They've been very low-key recently. I can't even recall any news related to them."

[Actually, this matter has nothing to do with the American Federal Union, but the perpetrator used to be an American Federal Union citizen.]

Soon, Yan Sheng's voice sounded from the TV speaker in front of Su Zhou: [The Europa Antarctic research station in Antarctica was attacked by unknown creatures, and all fifty-seven researchers were killed. This hasn't made the news yet, but it will probably be broadcast worldwide this morning.]

The moment Yan Sheng's voice sounded, the TV screen in front of Su Zhou, which had been playing an advertisement, suddenly turned into a video with slightly dim light.

The video showed only the ruins of a research station covered in ice and snow. It looked as if it had been directly crushed by some enormous creature, flattened into a thin sheet. The structure was completely destroyed, with a large number of twisted parts, as if someone had stomped on it hard with the sole of their shoe.

The cold wind blew, and snow dust filled the air. The camera angle shifted back and forth, revealing a desolate scene in the ruins. In some corners, there were traces of congealed icy blood, but strangely, there were no corpses in the ruins. However, there were a large number of clothes and documents representing the identities of the deceased.

In other words, the clothes and documents were there, but the corpses of the dead, all the organic matter on them, had disappeared.

[As for the perpetrator, our current guess is the leader, and only member, of the 'New Dawn Society.']

After showing the video, Yan Sheng's tone remained calm: ['Deep Space Caller'.]

"Okay, he is indeed an American Federal Union citizen."

Although Su Zhou already knew this, he could be completely sure only after Yan Sheng said it.

The New Dawn Society, one of the world's three major mysterious organizations, and the youngest, its sole member is theoretically the most dangerous man on Earth, the 'Deep Space Caller,' who tops the 'Global Most Wanted Superhuman Criminals' list.

Repeating the name, Su Zhou, who had been looking out the window, turned around and stared at the TV screen and camera in front of him, "Have these mysterious organizations smelled something recently? Why are they jumping out one after another?"

[As the time of spiritual energy recovery lengthens, the efficiency of divination and prediction spells will become increasingly higher. And in terms of technological reserves in this area, except for the Spirit Descent Society, which can counteract it through some special bloodline supernatural powers, no mysterious organization can avoid it.]

Yan Sheng said: [The Dao One Heavenly Calculation Hub can directly predict the time of a crime before a person commits it. Of course, we will not arrest the predicted criminals in advance, but we will still monitor the predicted targets to ensure that their criminal intentions cannot succeed, and then educate them. After a while, all the members of the mysterious organizations lurking within Zheng Country will be caught and discovered, and they are well aware of this.]

"Prediction system...preventing crime in advance..."

Shaking his head slightly, Su Zhou was quite emotional: "Although I want to say that this is not scientific, it is originally unscientific. In that case, they will indeed have nowhere to hide, and it's no wonder they are constantly popping up during this time to make a desperate struggle."

Su Zhou didn't think too much about this aspect. The private jet was fast. Before long, he arrived in Greenland.

At the entrance of the United International headquarters were rows of flags from more than a hundred countries around the world. After entering, dedicated reception staff led Su Zhou to the conference room. On the sofa outside, some representatives of smaller countries were communicating privately.

Su Zhou had excellent hearing. The enhancement of his senses through extraordinary power and the intelligence brought by the wisdom fruit also allowed him to learn many languages. He easily heard the content of the representatives' conversations, most of which were complaints and analyses. The only valuable information was that the American Federal Union representative was still unwilling to share real intelligence.

When Su Zhou arrived at the conference room, the scene he saw confirmed the truth of their conversations.

The conference room was a high-tech, radiation-proof metal hall. The silver-white paint and the simple, streamlined chairs made it feel like entering the future. The Europa Union representative's holographic projection was criticizing the American Federal Union for concealing information and refusing to disclose the truth about the incident.

"Antarctica is not the American Federal Union's Antarctica; it belongs to the whole world."

As the Europa Union's representative for this incident, Concord Bureau executive Marniel Olsen spoke aggressively. The neatly combed old man was looking at documents on the other end of the projection, but the projection did not display the documents.

As a Concord Bureau executive as famous as Raphael, Olsen's tone was cold: "The American Federal Union unilaterally concealed the specific action data of the 'Deep Space Caller' and did not provide any humanitarian warning to the Antarctic research station before he started. Can my side assume that the American Federal Union, which has been tracking the Deep Space Caller and has received support from countries around the world, sat idly by, or even witnessed, the occurrence of this tragedy?"

"Dr. Mansel, Ms. Elizabeth, and more than fifty other research station members were conducting an investigation and research into ancient life in the 'Prehistoric Ice Sheet' in Antarctica. This was a formal scientific expedition approved by the United International. Based on the principle that science has no borders, the research data is open to all countries in the world, including the American Federal Union. But now, my side seriously suspects the sincerity of the American Federal Union's cooperation. In that case, my side may also terminate several mutual cooperation projects with the American Federal Union, unilaterally block information sources from the American Federal Union, and withdraw from the 'Sky Eye Project'..."

Su Zhou didn't finish listening to Olsen's accusations against the American Federal Union representative, a familiar acquaintance of his, Yanta Estner. At this time, the young man discovered that almost everyone present was a superhuman.

——It seems that this incident, which leans towards the extraordinary world, will ultimately be resolved using extraordinary means. After confirming this, Su Zhou roughly understood why they insisted on him coming, because he was the extraordinary representative promoted by Zheng Country.

Su Zhou also knew Dr. Mansel and Ms. Elizabeth well. They were a scientist couple, both extremely well-known paleontologists in their respective fields, with deep research into various ancient extraordinary relics of the spiritual energy era, namely 'divine beasts' and 'mythical creatures'.

During the Beast God Realm operation, these two scientists had also been present, but the operation ended quickly, and they returned to Antarctica to continue their 'Prehistoric Ice Sheet' research.

The Prehistoric Ice Sheet refers to a huge depression caused by a meteorite that struck the southeastern part of the ancient supercontinent of Gondwana, now the Antarctic region, two to three hundred million years ago. The meteorite impact caused the death of a large number of ancient spiritual energy creatures, and numerous fossils and remains were buried within it, and well preserved by the extremely thick ice and snow that covered Antarctica afterwards.

The study of ancient spiritual energy creatures is of utmost importance to verifying the current human spiritual energy talents. It can also reveal the various mysteries that occur in the inheritance and evolution of spiritual energy talents in ancient organisms. Although the research station was nominally built by the Europa Union, there were also researchers from Zheng Country. Su Zhou's arrival was to cooperate with the Europa Union representative to pressure the American Federal Union.

Therefore, even though he had just arrived, Su Zhou didn't hesitate to cooperate and speak after taking his seat, "Deep Space Caller—formerly known as John Harrison. A plain name, a plain president of an astronomical society, born in an unremarkable small town in the Midwest of the United States. The town is called Twilight, named after the beautiful sunsets that can be seen there."

"According to incomplete statistics, after becoming the Deep Space Caller, Harrison traveled around the American Federal Union, killing more than three thousand people. Of course, we don't really know the exact number, because the American Federal Union has never shared complete intelligence. He has also traveled to other corners of the world, committing numerous crimes, but in the end, they can only be proven to be the atrocities committed by some kind of abnormal monster, and it cannot be completely confirmed that the perpetrator is the Deep Space Caller."

"We are very interested in how John Harrison became the Deep Space Caller, but because his active range is within the American Federal Union and belongs to the American Federal Union's internal affairs, you are unwilling to share intelligence with us, and we have not expressed any opinions. But now, he has gone to the public domain and killed citizens of the Europa Union and our country with conclusive evidence, so it is reasonable for us to ask you to share information about the 'Deep Space Caller' and eliminate this dangerous element for the people of the world."

Su Zhou didn't know if this was really reasonable, but he just said it and released his aura to exert pressure.

As for why the American Federal Union was unwilling to reveal anything, Su Zhou also understood. After all, the Deep Space Caller could contend with the American Federal Union's encirclement and suppression on his own, so his strength must be extraordinary. He had also forced out many of the American Federal Union's trump cards. The military had even launched a strategic thermonuclear weapon for this purpose, a three-million-ton hydrogen bomb, directly wiping out Twilight Town. To cover up these possible national secrets behind it, they would definitely be stubborn to the end.

Understanding is understanding, but it doesn't affect him from releasing his aura. Although it's very rogue to use the strength of a Lord-tier to pressure people, the four major powers present are all rogues. They are all the same.