Cthulhu America, I can see the kill line.

Dozens of black gun barrels, like venomous snakes, were aimed at Kong Jiu, their cold metallic gleaming in the dim light.

"That's great, Arthur. So, after all this time, I have to handle all four concepts?"

Kong Jiu broke out in a cold sweat, but forced himself to remain calm. He secretly transmitted his voice to the ring on his finger and complained to the rat god.

"Look at what you're saying! Don't you want to destroy the Iron Curtain?"

Squich's slightly gloating voice echoed in his mind.

"This doesn't mean I have to do the work of four people all by myself!"

Kong Jiu gritted his teeth, his gaze sweeping over the rows of gun barrels, his mind racing as he calculated...

It's not that there's absolutely no chance of winning, but the odds are certainly slim.

Since "that self" once said that "only the dead can see him," then conversely, these armed personnel in front of us probably won't die here easily.

With the skills Kong Jiu currently possesses, all he has are killing moves. If he can't kill anyone, he'll probably have a hard time fighting these people.

"I'm really caught in a dilemma."

Kong Jiu muttered to himself.

"Actually, it's not that difficult."

Squich's voice rang out again.

"Have you forgotten that our goal is to destroy the Iron Curtain, not to destroy a concept or a specific spiritual entity?"

These words were like sunlight breaking through thick clouds, causing Kong Jiu's pupils to shrink slightly, and he suddenly understood.

"You mean, just destroy this connection between 'Excellence' and the Iron Curtain?"

Upon receiving confirmation from Squich, Kongjiu narrowed his eyes.

indeed.

If these soldiers are destined not to die here, and their mission is to protect this jade seal to the death.

Therefore, breaking the connection between the Imperial Seal and the Iron Curtain without taking lives is a viable option.

"Have you figured it out?"

Squich pondered in his mind, "Then just gouge out the eyes of that beast on the jade seal, and then find a way to escape."

"good."

With a thought, Kong Jiu put away the book in his hand and held the warm jade seal in both hands.

He feigned a gesture, holding the imperial seal as if to threaten to destroy it.

"A head-on confrontation is certainly not a wise move. How about we each take a step back?"

Before he finished speaking, he steadily held the jade seal with his left hand, while his right hand moved with lightning speed, precisely striking the tiny pupils of the mythical beast statue.

When the fingertips touched them, the two faintly visible runes vanished like smoke.

"I don't want the spirit object anymore, please spare my life, okay?"

The members of the armed squad quickly exchanged glances and nodded to each other almost imperceptibly.

"Alright, leave the stuff to them, and immediately open a warp rift to escape!" Squich urged in his mind.

"Alright, all set, here you go!"

Kong Jiu's eyes suddenly sharpened, and with a flick of his arm, the jade seal drew an arc in the air before being tossed toward the armed squad.

Within the parabola, the spiritual seal on the surface of the jade seal, which suppressed the aura of concepts, began to slowly disintegrate.

From a thousand miles away, Squich observed everything through the ring, and with a blink of an eye at the overflowing aura of concepts, he was taken aback.

No, the seal that suppresses conceptual energy won't break down that quickly!

Arthur, this is the only magical item I truly want...

Before his mind was affected by the powerful conceptual aura, Kong Jiu transmitted a message into the ring.

In an instant, the mind-stirring inspiration of "excellence" burst forth like a flood within the narrow hall!

"Damn it! Captain, mind-distorting psionic energy is surging from the containment object!"

"Idiot! The light is shining so brightly, do you think I can't see it?" the captain roared, but it was too late to react.

The intense white light engulfed everything.

The armed forces, Kong Jiu, and the entire space were all submerged in this pure yet chaotic light.

"Kong! What are you doing? Are you betting on who can break free from that mental interference first?"

Squich's urgent thoughts pierced Kong Jiu's increasingly muddled mind like needles.

"Yes, I'm going to gamble, gamble on who regains consciousness first!"

In the instant before his consciousness was completely eroded, Kong Jiu grinned maliciously.

"If I wake up first, even just two or three seconds faster, it will be enough for me to open a subspace portal and escape!"

This is a high-stakes gamble. A crazy gamble where people are willing to put themselves in danger in order to seize the imperial seal.

In the light, Kong Jiu, like everyone else, lost consciousness.

……

The Hills anti-psyman forces awoke ten minutes later.

The captain was the first to regain consciousness. According to him, when he woke up, a faint purple crack was slowly closing.

No team members were injured or killed, but the mission was a complete failure.

Mayor Yaken collapsed to the ground, his eyes vacant, like a vegetable. Only the jumping curves on the EEG showed that he still had some kind of active consciousness.

The imperial seal had been stolen, and the intruder, whose appearance was difficult to discern, was one step ahead, escaping without a trace using some kind of spatial energy.

The armed captain, frustrated, ripped off his helmet and dejectedly grabbed his pager.

"I'm sorry, Secretary Campbray... Mayor Yaken has lost consciousness and is suspected of being in a vegetative state. The Imperial Seal... has also been taken away."

A long silence followed on the other end of the pager. After a long while, a calm, almost indifferent response came through:

What is the intruder threat level assessment?

"Minimum grade D"

The captain hesitated for a moment, then quickly added, "But considering that Mayor Aaron was still attacked mentally despite being protected by so many anti-psychic devices, perhaps... he might be a D+ level psychic."

"Captain Wang De."

The secretary's voice suddenly turned cold. "I've told you many times, don't use your self-created terms like 'D+' or 'D-rank Grand Perfection' to deduce the identity of an unknown enemy, especially when you've just been defeated by them, understand?"

The armed captain's Adam's apple bobbed, and he remained speechless.

"Alright, let's classify it as a C-level psychic invasion," the secretary casually ordered.

Grade C?!

The captain's pupils contracted sharply.

The damage assessment and relief application for a Class C psionic disaster are comparable in scale to a medium-sized natural disaster!

"Secretary Campbrae, this..."

"Stop talking nonsense. I'll handle the formalities. From the perspective of casualties and losses, this rating is reasonable, and we can also report more damages."

As soon as he finished speaking, the communication was abruptly cut off.

The armed captain slowly turned around, looking at the mayor convulsing on the ground, and then at the team members beside him who were gradually waking up, their expressions blank.

Their efforts to protect the spirits failed, without a doubt.

However, if the incident is classified as an invasion by C-level psionics, then they will no longer be considered losers, but rather "mortal heroes who bravely fought against C-level psionics and survived."

But what did they do?

No.

Such a drastic change caught him somewhat off guard.

Such an absurd contrast made his chest feel tight. He wanted to laugh, but he didn't know whether to laugh at his own incompetence or at the utterly ridiculous Hills Federation.

At the same time, in a luxuriously decorated office of a senior executive at Hills.

"Perfect! Perfect!"

Secretary Campbell gesticulated wildly, swaying his plump waist, completely ignoring the assistant beside him who was holding the phone and looked embarrassed.

"That old man is practically dead, and the Iron Curtain is completely beyond saving. Double happiness! Double happiness!"

He waved his arms like a triumphant general, his face beaming with almost manic joy, completely ignoring the phone his assistant was holding up.

"Secretary General Campbell..." the assistant began cautiously.

"Don't bother me, let me dance, let me vent!"

"No, the phone is ringing!"

"Aakhen is practically dead; he won't answer anyone's calls!"

"It's from the Xinxiang bloodline side..."

Campbell's expression froze instantly.

He whirled around, snatched the phone, and the look of wild joy on his face vanished like a receding tide, replaced by a perfectly obsequious smile:

"Feed? Mr. Buffett!"

"Yes, yes, rest assured, the concept of collective consciousness that we were in charge of has been lost. The collapse of the Hills Curtain is a foregone conclusion, so you don't need to worry about the rest..."

"The Stewart family?"

Oh! That Red Rain Fortress clan lives like they're hiding in a burrow...

No, no! Absolutely not! I mean, I'm as lowly as a rat, please don't misunderstand! Rest assured, absolutely no one will disturb Red Rain Fortress…”

"We don't need to do anything? Okay, okay, it's your decision, it's your decision..."

"Who? Who are you saying to keep an eye on?"

"Please repeat that name again, I'll write it down in my notebook!"

Campbell hurriedly snatched the paper and pen from his assistant, bent over the desk, and hastily took notes.

"Alex Johnny Cone?"