Deposed? I couldn't be happier! I wouldn't even be a dog to the crown prince.

The magistrate, his hands trembling, opened the case file and found that all the people in question were "neither alive nor dead."

A cold draft blew through the main hall of the county government office, making a rustling sound from a corner of the case files.

This thick stack of oiled paper, pressed down on the mahogany table, looked like a heavy tombstone.

The dried cinnabar marks on the paper, with their crimson hue, plunged the atmosphere in the lobby into icy coldness.

"I have no choice but to report this; this matter is beyond my jurisdiction."

The magistrate put down the gavel, his ten fingers gripping the edge of the table tightly, his fingernails turning an unhealthy pale white from excessive force.

The clerk beside him nervously handed over the sealing wax, his lips chapped.

"My lord, the Great Snow Dragon Riders have arrived, led by a captain from the Cyber ​​Security Department."

The clerk lowered his voice, his chin trembling slightly involuntarily from nervousness.

The magistrate looked up abruptly, a flash of fear crossing his eyes.

In a corner of the slums in the west of the city, the night was like splashed ink, so heavy that it was hard to breathe.

The densely packed shacks rotted in the sewage, emitting a pungent, musty smell.

However, in front of a dilapidated mud house that was most inconspicuous, a whole group of knights clad in heavy black iron armor had silently completed the encirclement.

The Snow Dragon Riders physically demolished the basement of the slum and discovered rows of corrugated iron nutrient tanks and dense purple-red pipes.

The heavy combat boots sank into the mud, producing a sticky, physical friction sound.

The captain gripped the hilt of the microparticle knife with one hand, his metal eyes beneath his mask fixed on the blackened wooden door.

Without giving any further instructions, he simply waved his hand gently.

"break!"

The heavy infantryman behind him stepped forward, his right foot, covered in black titanium alloy, kicked out with tremendous force.

"Boom!"

The fragile wooden door shattered into countless wood chips under the heavy blow, which, mixed with dirt, slammed onto the floor.

The close-up shot magnifies the spinning motion of the wood chips in the air, revealing a deep, dark hole hidden beneath the ground.

A chilling blue light, accompanied by a piercing alarm, surged backward from the depths of the black hole.

The knights filed in down the slippery, moss-covered steps, their heavy boots echoing dully in the narrow passageway.

The sight in the basement made even seasoned veterans, accustomed to seeing countless corpses on the battlefield, stop in their tracks.

Rows of metal nutrient tanks were neatly arranged in the sewage like cold coffins.

Countless dense, purplish-red pipes resembled vicious blood vessels.

The lines crisscross on the alloy ceiling.

Inside the pipeline, eerie light flickered from high-frequency microcurrents, continuously supplying forbidden voltage into the cabin.

The young man in the cabin was emaciated and physically decaying, but a strange, satisfied smile played on his lips; his consciousness had been banished.

Their cheeks were deeply sunken, and their ribs were clearly visible, like rows of dried-up ribs.

The skin has a waxy yellow color from being deprived of sunlight for a long time, and is covered with ulcerated spots caused by neuronal overload.

But beneath those crudely made holographic helmets, their facial muscles were strangely pulled upwards.

"Hehe... The Immortal Realm, what a vast Immortal Realm."

A emaciated refugee twitched slightly on a straw mat, his eyeballs swirling wildly beneath his bloodshot eyelids.

His pupils were already completely dilated and unfocused.

But white foam mixed with dark red blood was flowing from the corner of his mouth, and he was uttering unconscious murmurs in his sleep.

Dr. Sun, the accompanying military doctor, carrying a medicine box, rushed to a nutrient pod with a pale face.

He trembled as he extended two fingers and placed them on the refugee's withered wrist, which was almost devoid of flesh.

The pulse was weak and fast, like the frantic flapping of wings of a dying bird.

"Damn it, this is high-voltage bioelectricity forcibly keeping them clinging to their last breath!"

Dr. Sun roared and reached into his medicine box, pulling out three silver needles that were half a foot long.

He fiercely pierced the refugee's Baihui acupoint with the needle, while simultaneously injecting a high-level nerve stimulant into the victim's carotid artery.

No response.

The migrants' physical bodies don't even have a millimeter of physical pain reflex.

His mind was completely trapped in the blissful code woven by the aristocratic family.

It was locked deep within the ownerless, dark core.

The military doctors tried everything—physical shocks and drugs—but nothing could awaken their locked souls.

"Drain the wires! Cut all these dirty wires physically!"

The captain grabbed his superior officer and pointed angrily at the purplish-red pipes.

His breathing was heavy, and the moisture inside his metal mask quickly condensed into dewdrops that flowed backward.

The soldiers cut the pipeline, and the refugees' eyes darted around wildly as they murmured "divine wine." The medic slumped to the ground, declaring it was too late.

The soldiers of the Great Snow Dragon Riders strode forward, their microparticle sabers flashing with a bright blue arc of high temperature.

"Sizzle!"

Large sections of purplish-red pipes were neatly cut off, and the high-pressure coolant and electrical sparks inside instantly splashed everywhere in the hall.

The physical sparks struck the sewage, producing a sharp hissing sound.

Just as the cable melted.

The refugees lying in the cabin suddenly opened their eyes.

Those eyes were filled with dense blood vessels, and the eyeballs were rotating in a strange circular motion within their sockets at an unnaturally high frequency.

Their bodies stiffened like blocks of raw iron within those milliseconds.

"Don't take away... my divine wine... I still want to bestow titles upon him..."

The refugees' withered lips moved, uttering hoarse murmurs like sand rubbing together.

Then, his body jerked backward, his joints making a sharp cracking sound.

Vital signs were completely and without a doubt cleared within that one second.

Exhausted, Dr. Sun released his grip and collapsed onto the muddy ground mixed with blood with a thud.

His hands, covered in medicine, trembled uncontrollably.

The old man's eyes were filled with an absolute powerlessness in the face of the unknown and taboo.

"It's hopeless, completely hopeless."

Dr. Sun looked at the rows of dead young lives in the hall, his voice hoarse beyond belief.

"Their brains were burned into idiots by the high-voltage electricity of the black market half a month ago."

In the instant they unplugged the cable, their last vestiges of consciousness, along with that filthy code, were completely obliterated into a lifeless, pixelated mess on the network.

"General, we have discovered the Taiyuan Wang family's secret anti-counterfeiting stamp on this batch of equipment."

The captain picked up a charred electrode plate from the ruins. Although the markings on it were blurry, they were still clear under infrared light.

"The Wang family is going to risk the lives of all the people of the Tang Dynasty to have one last clash with the Crown Prince's scheme."

The captain clenched his iron fists tightly, the armor on his body making a cracking sound from excessive anger.

"Issue this captain's highest arrest order! Mobilize all stationed Snow Dragon Riders and immediately seal off all workshops in the West Market!"

However, this lockdown was still too slow in the face of the already out-of-control withdrawal panic.

In the past two weeks, helmets on the black market have been distributed among the millions of people in the lower strata of Chang'an at an extremely low cost of two coins.

It has planted countless technological time bombs that could explode at any time.

The moment the imperial court's order for a thorough investigation lit up on the holographic bulletin board, the order of the real world was shattered by its most devastating explosion.

"My lord! Something terrible has happened! A major incident has occurred in front of the cloth shop in the West Market!"

A messenger stumbled and scrambled into the basement, his helmet flying off in the process.

"What's the panic! Explain yourself!" The captain suddenly turned around.

The constable, his face covered in blood and his eyes trembling with terror, cried out hysterically, "The second young master of the Lu family suddenly went mad on Zhuque Street! He mistook the patrolling constables around him for his concubines and was wielding a butcher's knife, hacking at anyone he saw!"