The hidden sentries were all dumbfounded.
“What is she doing?”
A sentry crouching on the opposite roof asked hesitantly over his walkie-talkie, utterly bewildered.
“Can anyone figure out what she... just did?”
“Didn't see it clearly. She moved too fast,” another voice replied.
“Could she be scouting the surroundings? Are our positions compromised?”
“Probably not... She didn't even look around. It's like she was just focused on doing her own thing.”
The sentries whispered among themselves in the encrypted channel.
In the end, having no other explanation, they could only force themselves to a tentative conclusion.
“Maybe... she just wanted some fresh air?”
“Just stretching her legs. It's fine. Now that she's back inside, let's leave it alone for now.”
This conclusion was unanimously accepted. Though it wasn't particularly logical, they couldn't think of any other explanation.
Just as everyone breathed a sigh of relief and prepared to settle back into their respective surveillance posts, a sentry suddenly cried out in shock:
“Wait! The door is opening again.”
“Bai Feifei” stepped out once more.
Every sentry's heart tightened at the same time.
This time, Bai Feifei walked to the doorway and, without any warning, did a flip.
She was nimble and precise. Then, she turned right back around and went inside.
The sentries: ?
“Huh...?”
For the next ten minutes, the highly experienced Inner City sentries endured what became a prolonged mental torture.
“Bai Feifei” began to frequently emerge from that door at an incredibly high rate.
One moment she would come out to practice tai chi, and the next she would hop and skip around like she was performing a shamanic ritual, looking completely possessed.
It happened so many times—six or seven times in quick succession—that the sentries felt their hearts could barely take it anymore.
Their emotions fluctuated wildly, constantly wound up and let down by that figure. It was pure torment.
A long silence fell over the walkie-talkies.
Finally, someone couldn't help but speak up:
“Seriously, is she out of her mind? What the hell is she doing?”
...
“What on earth are we doing?”
Inside her own mind, Bai Feifei watched herself being controlled to perform those bizarre movements, finally unable to hold back any longer.
Indeed, such erratic behavior could never have been her doing. It was Xu Mo who had logged in.
The moment he realized there were numerous sentries watching them, Xu Mo had already decided how he wanted to play with them.
Naturally, that series of wild antics was entirely his handiwork.
Under the surveillance of the Heart of the World, he could sense those hidden, stationary heartbeats accelerating one second and freezing the next. It was incredibly amusing.
“Doing serious business, of course,” Xu Mo chuckled. “Can't you feel it?”
“The sounds of those heartbeats have allowed me to completely lock onto the positions of every single watcher.”
“A total of seven groups, thirteen people. Heh, these guys are quite amusing, completely manipulated by us.”
Bai Feifei fell silent.
“Was there really no... more dignified way to do this?” she asked weakly.
“What's wrong with this?” Xu Mo clicked his tongue as he replied. “This is what you call efficiency.”
With that, he casually tossed the control of her body back to Bai Feifei.
“Alright, you should have felt their exact locations just now too.”
“Inform Wan Qianhong in advance so she can get ready when the time comes.”
“These small fry aren't worth the trouble. It won't be fun if we get bogged down by them. We need to appear directly in front of Liang Shuguang when the moment arrives.”
Reclaiming control of her body, Bai Feifei let out a helpless sigh.
She could understand going back and forth to confirm the sentries' positions.
But the problem was, those ridiculous stunts were completely unnecessary! Their heartbeats would have spiked the moment she stepped out anyway.
A total weirdo...
Bai Feifei truly felt a long-forgotten wave of secondhand embarrassment.
But she didn't have the luxury of dwelling on it now. Her fingers flew across the screen, sending the rough location data and headcount to Wan Qianhong, who was currently elsewhere.
...
On the other side.
Inside a brightly lit meeting room, Wan Qianhong sat at a table, wiping down a sharp short sword.
Her phone vibrated. Seeing it was a message from Bai Feifei, she quickly checked it and replied with a brief “Received.”
After deleting the message, she put her phone down and picked up the gleaming short sword again.
In truth, she rarely had any use for a short sword as a weapon. But at this moment, she felt a strong urge to sharpen a blade. It seemed to be the only way to calm her rising excitement.
The edge of the blade reflected her eyes. Deep within them, a burning, bloody light seemed to gleam.
On a dark and windy night, a madman suddenly sharpens a blade!
...
Time flew by. Three days offered very little room for delay.
In the blink of an eye, the day of the ceremony arrived.
In front of the white building, on the central square that was usually somewhat empty, a massive temporary venue had been set up.
Dominated by a white color scheme accented with gold trim, it looked solemn and majestic, yet carried a hint of forced festivity.
The front rows of the venue were already packed. Dawn City's top powerhouses had taken their seats, and the invited representatives from various factions arrived one after another. The crowd was elegantly dressed, creating a lively atmosphere.
Outside the venue, a massive crowd of citizens was still pouring toward the center.
To be honest, they had never cared about what would actually be discussed at the Voting Assembly.
But this scene was different. It felt more like a grand festival, a rare carnival that they just wanted to be a part of.
Consequently, they unleashed an enthusiasm that Liang Shuguang had never witnessed before a regular Voting Assembly in his thirty-year reign.
Sitting in the wheelchair in his office, Liang Shuguang looked down at the scene through the window and shook his head with an inexplicable expression.
Meanwhile, amidst the crowd.
A woman was mingling within the packed outer crowd. Yet, for some reason, the people around her seemed completely oblivious to her presence. Despite the dense throng, not a single person bumped into her.
She was tall, wearing a sharply tailored dark trench coat. Sunglasses obscured most of her face, leaving only a finely sculpted jawline visible.
With her long hair cascading over her shoulders, her stylish appearance was utterly out of place in these surroundings, like a crane standing among a flock of chickens.
Currently, she was looking down at a light screen made of water in her hand.
The water screen projected a real-time feed of the front rows of the central venue. In the footage, high-ranking Dawn City officials like Ye Hanshan and Zhou Qingfeng were visible, as well as invited Outer City VIPs like Xie Xuan.
But the woman had absolutely no interest in these people. Her fingers slid rapidly along the edges of the screen, shifting the camera's perspective as if searching for someone.
A few seconds later, her lips parted slightly behind her sunglasses, and she spoke to an unknown recipient:
“Yueyue, that Bai Feifei you mentioned is way too mysterious. I can't find her anywhere.”
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