Am I going to be controlled by the players too?

How is he supposed to find it?!

Moreover, his other tasks were delayed, a certain gender-specific organization that he had been secretly funding was wiped out, and his intelligence agents were arrested one after another. It seems that the Empress had long been aware that there were Imperial intelligence agents in the country and had been monitoring most of them. Once the war started, they were all arrested.

With no troops at his disposal and practically blind, how can the ambassador possibly serve the Queen?

Just now, another operator went crazy. She excitedly ran up to me saying she had found information about His Highness the Prince, but when I asked her, she said she couldn't remember... I checked and there were no call records. She must have been driven mad by the high-pressure work...

Now His Majesty has given a death order that they must find it within three days... He felt like he was going crazy.

That very night, as he stared blankly at the deadline, a call came into his personal cell phone. The ambassador answered, and the caller's voice was hoarse: "Heh, you seem to be in trouble. The Queen's mission is urgent; if you don't complete it, your career will be over, won't it?"

The ambassador was not surprised that the caller knew his situation, but instead asked, "Can you help me?"

The other party chuckled: "Of course, when it comes to intelligence work and control over the world, who can surpass us? The premise is that you join us."

After the other party finished speaking, they hung up the phone.

The ambassador took a deep breath, pulled a badge from a drawer, held it in his hand, and pondered deeply:

As early as his first year in officialdom, he had already sensed the other party's presence.

As one's position rises higher, the other party becomes increasingly elusive, like a gigantic shadow, omnipresent, shrouding the entire kingdom and empire, and even the whole world—practically the shadow government behind the world.

It wasn't until he became the ambassador to the Empire that he received an invitation from the organization to become a member.

But he refused.

He reported this to the late King Alvira, but the queen only said "I know" and then said nothing more. Shortly afterward, he received a package containing his son's finger.

At that moment, the ambassador realized that the other side's power was beyond imagination and that it was absolutely not advisable to be their enemy.

The faction to which the other party belongs is called—

"The civil service group..."

The ambassador sat holding the badge for a long time, until the headlights of cars outside swept across the curtains and then went dark again, before he picked up his phone and dialed that familiar number:

"I'll join."

…………

Three days later, Jinling City Logistics Terminal.

After finishing her internship in civil engineering, Tong Chuxue followed the teachers from the express delivery department to the lobby of the sorting center, and then raised her hand.

"The ultimate move: To shelter all the poor and needy and bring them joy!"

Hundreds of thousands of packages were lifted off the ground at the same time. Cardboard boxes, wooden boxes, metal boxes, and military supply boxes floated densely into the air, blocking out the row of fluorescent lights on the dome.

The ordinary sorting workers looked up, their scanning guns sliding to the ground.

Thirty minutes later, the station's workload for the day was reset to zero.

Tong Chuxue put down her hands, sorted the last packages by region, priority, and delivery time, finally finishing her work for the day. Then she took out her phone:

"Daily settlement: 170,000 credits."

This is the fifth main station.

There are five large logistics centers in Nanjing, and she visited them all in three days. The first visit was fine, but the second time, the sorting workers blocked the entrance and shouted in unison, "Please don't come anymore! If you keep working here, we're all going to be laid off!"

Sigh, there's nothing you can do about it; people who are too capable always encounter this kind of trouble.

Yesterday, the sorting workers collectively protested to the boss, saying that without Tong Chuxue, there would be no us! As a result, the boss waved his hand and said, "Take it or leave it, there are plenty of people who can do it." Then they came up with a ruthless move—joining the dark side of the courier industry!

The so-called "dark courier industry" refers to the courier industry where employees work without pay, or even pay to work – they are attempting to force Tong Chuxue out of the company and keep their own jobs!

Left with no other choice, Tong Chuxue had to promise to only come to the courier department office one day a week.

With a sigh, Tong Chuxue walked out the door.

The night wind blew in, carrying the smells of diesel fuel and cardboard boxes; the parking lot was deserted.

Under the streetlights, Xiao Chunan and his two lackeys, Wang Zhiming, had been waiting for a long time. Two rows of fully armed soldiers and several officers stood beside them, their epaulets reflecting the cold light of the streetlights.

Tong Chuxue stopped in her tracks, and Cheng Cheng clicked his tongue in her mind: "He really did come."

His reckless use of a move equivalent to a platinum-level killing technique to make money was bound to attract the attention of the imperial authorities, and during a period of high alert, the military was the most likely party he would come into contact with.

The military is different from intermediaries and courier station managers on construction sites. They cannot be fooled with puppets, and hypnosis and cognitive modification cannot be used indiscriminately. Once exposed, it will quickly attract the attention of higher-ups, and may even alarm legends or the Empress herself.

Cheng Cheng didn't want to run into Ji Yushen again, at least not now.

However, Cheng Cheng's plan already included contact with the military.

One's own witch trial mission may include establishing a spy organization and climbing to a high position in the empire—it's impossible to know how long it will take to earn money as a student, and becoming an official also requires taking exams. Only the army offers the fastest promotion and access to the most classified information!

“Boss.” Xiao Chunan stepped forward with a smile on his face. “These are the officers from the logistics department. They want to have a chat with you, so they asked me to bring them to you.”

Tong Chuxue looked up and saw the leading officer take off his military cap. He was in his early fifties with graying temples. His gaze swept over the ring on Tong Chuxue's hand and then landed on her face.

"Excuse me, are you a Golden Core cultivator?" he asked.

"Practicing Qi".

The officer's eye twitched: "Qi cultivation can power a Nascent Soul artifact?"

In the Empire, those below the Silver Rank are collectively referred to as Qi Refining cultivators. The Silver Rank is further divided into Foundation Establishment and Golden Core, while the Gold Rank is divided into Nascent Soul and Deity Transformation. Legendary cultivators are known as Dao-Merging Immortals or Tribulation-Crossing Immortal Venerables. Only those who master the Origin Essence are called Immortal Emperors, such as the Amber Immortal Emperor who withstood the Primordial Abyss for a Thousand Years, and the current True Dragon Emperor, Ji Yu Shen Immortal Emperor.

"Here's the thing," the officer said solemnly. "We received a report from a sorting worker that you possess a large-scale destructive magic weapon with effects comparable to a Nascent Soul cultivator. We then heard that it was a family heirloom of Chusheng Construction Co., Ltd. After our investigation, we found that the company did not have this item in its accounts. Therefore, we suspect that it is a privately made magic weapon that has not been tested by the state, so we came here to inspect it."

"It is not a family heirloom, but comes from a serendipitous encounter with a celestial being... This item is bound to my soul, and no one else can use it."

As Tong Chuxue spoke, she took off the ring and handed it over.

The ring is just an ordinary ring, of course. The important thing is Cheng Cheng inside the ring—as long as he doesn't cooperate, no matter who gets it, they can't use it. Therefore, Tong Chuxue is not worried about it being stolen.

The officer took the ring, infused it with a wisp of magic, but the ring didn't react. He frowned, changed his spiritual energy and consciousness, then took out a pre-charged military credit card from his pocket, swiped it against the ring's surface.

The balance on the card remained unchanged, and neither did the ring.

He turned around and handed the ring to a bespectacled inspector behind him.

The man pulled out a thick-lensed detector from his briefcase, placed it on his nose, and examined the ring for three minutes. Then he took off his glasses, rubbed his eyes, and said, "It looks like an ordinary ring. There's no spiritual energy fluctuation, no array inscriptions, and the material is ordinary silver mixed with copper. The kind that sells for two hundred credits in street jewelry stores."

The officer remained silent for a few seconds before returning the ring to Tong Chuxue.

"Put it on and try it out."

Tong Chuxue put on the mask as instructed, raised her right hand, and pointed her fingertips at the mountain of military-grade express delivery boxes piled up in the corner of the parking lot.

Dozens of metal boxes were lifted off the ground at the same time, suspended in mid-air, arranged in a neat square formation, and then slowly fell back to their original positions without a sound.

The parking lot was silent for three seconds.

The inspector put on the detector again, stared at the ring for a long time, but still found nothing.

The officers looked at Tong Chuxue, their gaze sweeping back and forth between her face and the ring. At that moment, one of the officers took a step back, took out his phone, and walked away.

The wind shattered his voice into fragments, with only a few words drifting back intermittently: "Yes... I've checked... Soul binding... Right... Good."

He hung up the phone and walked back, whispering a few words in the ear of the officer with graying temples.

The leading officer nodded, took a letter from his briefcase. The envelope was unsigned, only stamped with a red wax seal bearing the image of a chariot crushing through clouds. He opened the envelope, unfolded the letter, and cleared his throat:

"Order from the Logistics Command of the First Army Group".

"Tong Chuxue, a junior college student majoring in civil engineering in Jinling City, is exceptionally talented and diligent. She has managed to transfer tens of thousands of military supplies with ease, making her a rare talent urgently needed by the country. Now that the border war has begun, the transfer of military supplies to the front line is extremely urgent."

"In accordance with Article 7, Paragraph 3 of the Wartime Conscription Law, Tong Chuxue is hereby conscripted into the army, given the rank of Second Lieutenant, and placed under the Logistics and Transportation Department of the First Army Group, specializing in the transportation of heavy equipment and special magical artifacts. Her monthly salary is 120,000 credit points, and she is granted three cultivation pills for her family members, a standard Second Lieutenant's body, and a family housing unit in the Jinling Military Region. This order shall take effect upon issuance; those who disobey shall be punished under military law."

He folded the letter and handed it to him:

"First Army Group, He Yiwei." He paused, "In his own handwriting."

Tong Chuxue accepted the envelope with both hands and saluted.

"Tong Chuxue obeys the order."

Second Lieutenant?

Tong Chuxue, a mere college graduate, was actually conscripted into the army and given the rank of second lieutenant.

Xiao Chunan gripped the helmet, his mouth opening and closing repeatedly. Wang Zhiming pulled down his mask, a glint of shrewdness flashing in his eyes.

"I should have thought of that sooner."

"What are you thinking about now?" Xiao Chunan turned to look at him, her face blank.

"Getting into a junior college was just a temporary measure for Miss Tong. Her destiny is rooted in earth and wood, and that's all the school saw, which is why they assigned her to the civil engineering department," Wang Zhiming explained. "But they forgot that she's not only a wood and earth person, but also a descendant of the Black Thief Ancestor. Earth and wood are the outward appearance, logistics are the inner essence; these two destinys overlap and lead to the same destination—the military officer group!"

"Although the civil service group is powerful, it also has rivals, namely the military service group with a military mindset! Tong Chuxue deliberately entered a junior college from the beginning, with the aim of demonstrating her strength and joining the military service group!" Wang Zhiming said with certainty. "Perhaps the Black Bandit Ancestor was a spy planted by the military service group in the civil service group. After the Ancestor fell from power, the military service group needed a new face to fill the gap in military supplies and logistics—and Tong Chuxue was that pawn from the very beginning!"

Xiao Chunan's eyes widened: "You...you see through everything?"

“A wise man does not stand under a crumbling wall. If I can’t even see through this, how can I protect the millions of innocent people of the empire from being slaughtered by the civil service?” Wang Zhiming pulled down his mask. “Come on, I’ll treat you to a good meal tonight.”

Xiao Chunan grinned: "The Hehuan Demonic Sect?"

"……roll."

Chapter 108, War on the Western Front

"Soldiers!"

"This is a sacred moment for the Empire! The enemy's swords are pointed at us, war has been imposed upon us, but His Majesty stands with us!"

"This war won't last long; it will end soon!"

"Fear is the armor of cowards, courage is the medal of the men of the empire! I believe you will soon return home with honor. Do not be afraid to charge! Do not be afraid to sacrifice! True death is to grow old in mediocrity and obscurity, to live a life of humility and cowardice! You will charge fearlessly, you will break through the kingdom's defenses, and raise the dragon flag of the empire in the palace of Silvershine City! Let the world witness the iron fist of the empire!"

"Today, you are just recruits. Tomorrow, you will be the empire's sharpest sword! Behind you are His Majesty, the empire, millions of your compatriots, and your families whom you miss day and night! They are waiting for your triumphant return, they are waiting for you to bring back news of victory!"

"For His Majesty! For the Empire! For Glory!"

Inside the classroom, the recruiting officer spoke with great enthusiasm, and the thirty-odd junior college students from the Civil Engineering Department cheered excitedly during his speech.

"Soldiers, please fill in your names on the registration form."

"Sir, can I...can I not go?" Xiao Chunan weakly raised his hand. "I'm still a virgin, I don't want to..."

"Looks like we have a coward among us." The officer's face immediately darkened. "While others are fighting and shedding blood for the empire, you're hiding at home like a parasite? Is this the character of a college graduate? Don't you feel ashamed?!"

The classroom immediately fell silent. Xiao Chunan's face flushed red as he uttered nonsense like, "It wouldn't be so bad if I got penetrated." The officer suddenly sighed, changed his tone, and stepped forward to straighten his collar: "Alright, alright, isn't it just that you feel uneasy going to the battlefield before you've even lost your virginity, that you won't die in peace?"

"right……"

"You're wrong, you're terribly wrong!" the officer shouted sternly. "Fool, think about it. When you put on your handsome uniform, make a name for yourself on the battlefield, and return home, won't you be popular with girls? You'll have more opportunities than a college student like you, stuck in school, right?"