I, from the Celestial Empire, have parachuted into Teyvat.

The office's floor-to-ceiling windows could be accessed via the exterior window of the right-hand storage room, but this required navigating a 90-degree angle and swinging across using a grappling hook. However, using the grappling hook might create noise and alert the enemy, and the president's office windows were undoubtedly high-strength bulletproof glass, impossible to break easily. Therefore, after careful consideration, the group decided that Kaeya would use his ice elemental power to create a load-bearing ice crystal, and then Jean would use her wind elemental power to support the ice crystal, carrying the person responsible for drawing attention around to the president's office's floor-to-ceiling windows. This process would take less than two seconds, and even brief exposure to the red mist outside the presidential palace wouldn't pose a significant problem. Keqing was ultimately chosen as the person responsible for drawing attention.

Faced with sturdy bulletproof glass, only Keqing has the ability to instantly generate high-temperature lightning and use that instantaneous force to shatter the bulletproof glass.

Before taking action, Ivan would use the power of Thor's Heart to try to seal off all the emanating mental energy in the vicinity, in order to prevent Arrogance, as a being of thought, from escaping.

The plan proved successful. While Ivan blocked the mind energy, he also intercepted the attack information that Pride was sending to the puppet it controlled at the First Command of the M Army. In the instant that Pride realized something was wrong, Keqing had already arrived.

As Keqing smashed through the French windows, the group that had been waiting outside immediately began to act. Xiang Feng and Mu Ze Changhui used a ramming hammer to break open the office door and knocked down several puppet security guards inside. However, no one expected that Pride would pick up a weapon. Ivan was also injured because he was too slow to activate the shield of the Geo Archon's Heart. Fortunately, Ningguang intervened in time, releasing the power of the Eye of God and using the power of the Geo element to form a barrier that could block subsequent bullets. At the same time, a Geo Crystal knocked the gun out of Pride's hand.

At this point, the situation eased slightly.

He looked arrogantly at Ivan and the others, his face dark, and said, "There's something about you that I find very repulsive..."

Ivan narrowed his eyes. He naturally understood what the aura that arrogance hated was—the power purified by the Heart of the Wind God within him.

“There’s a red fog blocking the way outside, and the underground area of ​​the Presidential Palace is completely sealed off. I’d really like to know how you got in.”

With his other uninjured hand, Ivan secretly summoned the Heart of the Wind God. Suddenly, white light burst forth from his palm, and the light of purification lashed out at Pride.

As the saying goes, villains die from talking too much. Although Ivan is not a villain, he has no intention of wasting any unnecessary words on arrogance. Who would talk about martial ethics with an enemy?

Ivan's punch, imbued with purifying power, struck Pride without warning. Pride's expression changed drastically, its features contorted. The white light from the punch made it feel a threat from its very core.

The next second, Arrogance decisively abandoned the body in front of him, transformed into a red light and rushed out of the body, then instantly disappeared from the spot.

Without the control of arrogance, Ivan's punch, imbued with purifying power, became an ordinary punch, striking the mindless body with a muffled thud.

At this moment, Ivan also showed a look of surprise.

He should have used Thor's Heart to prevent Pride, being a sentient being, from escaping, but he still couldn't stop Pride...

How is this going?

Thoughts always leave traces. Ivan immediately closed his eyes and used the power of Thor's Heart to try to find the path of Pride's escape, but to no avail.

This gave Ivan a very ominous premonition...

Chapter 486 Where will it be hidden?

Deepest within the Blue Star World, before the Blue Star World Tree.

A ball of red light suddenly appeared from the void, and then transformed into a red figure, which was none other than Pride.

Compared to their previous visit to the foot of the World Tree on Blue Star, the figure conjured by Arrogance this time appeared somewhat dim in color.

"You wretched, lowly creature..."

Sensing the state of its own body, it roared arrogantly.

Ivan's punch, imbued with purifying power, had still had some effect on it.

The sacrificial site for restoring its power was about to be completed when it was interrupted by a lowly creature that suddenly emerged and injured it again—a humiliation it had never experienced before.

Arrogance is now very fortunate that it left a clone at the foot of the World Tree. Its main body can teleport using the clone as an anchor point without any blockage or restriction. Without this clone, with its current power far from recovered and the strange power in the opponent's hands that made it feel a great threat, it would definitely not have been able to escape today.

"That power..."

Arrogance's face darkened. The white power in Ivan's hand felt familiar to it. This power reminded it of the epic battle it fought against the Teyvat beings in the deepest part of the world thousands of years ago when it swept across the continent with countless destructive auras. At that time, it was ambushed by a mysterious power and suffered severe injuries. Now, the power in Ivan's hand was extremely similar to the power that had severely injured it in its memory.

"How exactly did they get into the presidential palace...? What exactly is that power...? Is the power wielded by that Earthling the same as that power? Or is it similar?"

The figure conjured by arrogance frowned.

These questions will probably only be answered when we see that being from Earth again.

At this moment, the arrogant figure dimmed a little more.

"Damn it... I have to recover as soon as possible..."

With that Earthly being capable of reading thought patterns around, it would likely be found very quickly if it left this place. It's clearly impossible for it to use Earth's surface creatures to create a sacrificial site for the birth of destructive consciousness to replenish its power.

Having thought this through, Arrogance looked up at the World Tree of Blue Star, which had been largely eroded by red.

Destruction beings can rapidly increase their power by absorbing the destructive consciousness of their "kind," and they can also increase their power by directly absorbing primal destructive aura. Wherever destructive power goes, destructive aura is infinitely generated and expands. The initially weak destructive consciousnesses, before they have the power to devour other members of their kind, rely on absorbing primal destructive aura to grow stronger. The stronger they become, the greater the amount needed for growth. For a newly born destruction being like Pride, the amount of destructive aura required to recover to its peak is an astonishing amount. However, compared to absorbing members of their kind, directly absorbing primal destructive aura is much less efficient. The power boost from devouring even the lowest-ranking member of their kind requires a full three days of absorbing primal destructive aura.

However, absorbing the aura of destruction from the source also has disadvantages compared to directly absorbing the aura of destruction from one's own kind.

The birth of a destructive consciousness begins with the parasitic presence of destructive aura on a living being. The process may take a week or even half a month. When the situation was still in the hands of arrogance, the efficiency of mass-producing destructive consciousness and then harvesting it was naturally higher than absorbing the original destructive aura. However, now that it has returned to the surface of the Blue Star world, it may be found by that Blue Star creature. There is no chance to spread the destructive aura and mass-produce destructive consciousness. Therefore, directly absorbing the original destructive aura is a better choice.

However, the destructive aura required by Pride is far too enormous. The destructive aura generated by the current destructive power eroding the World Tree is far from enough for him to absorb. Therefore, what Pride plans to do next is to accelerate the erosion of the Blue Star World Tree by the destructive power, so that it can generate more destructive aura.

Destructive power is a deadly virus to everything on the Imaginary Tree. A world itself is another form of existence of its World Tree. Therefore, the erosion of the Blue Star World Tree by the aura of destruction will also be reflected on the surface of Blue Star.

The beings of Earth might sense something amiss, but Pride believed they couldn't possibly reach this place. Just as it had previously thought, not every being in every world is so fortunate as to glimpse the origin of their world; it's a one in a billion chance. Pride believed that the same luck wouldn't befall two worlds consecutively.

Therefore, Arrogance was certain that it had enough time to accelerate the erosion of the World Tree of Blue Star by the aura of destruction, and slowly recover its power.

Here, it is absolutely safe.

With this in mind, Arrogance levitated cross-legged, and countless red mists were released from its body, slowly seeping into the roots of the Blue Star World Tree. Meanwhile, the red color spreading across the Blue Star World Tree's body began to expand at a visible rate...

......

Blue Star, Huacheng, M Country, Presidential Palace.

After the arrogance disappeared, Jean, who had been worried for a long time, immediately used the power of her Divine Eye to heal Ivan's gunshot wound to the shoulder. Fortunately, the gunshot did not hit the bone, and under Jean's treatment, the wound quickly healed by more than half.

His arrogant departure caused the red mist surrounding the presidential palace to dissipate quickly.

Previously controlled by arrogance, the Hwaseong National Guard, which had been fighting against the Hwaseong police outside the presidential palace, suddenly turned into motionless "statues" after arrogance left.

Upon seeing this, the Hwaseong police officers surrounding the presidential palace immediately stormed into the palace.

Initially, the M country police mistook Ivan and his group for criminals involved in the hostage situation at the presidential palace. However, Yeruvich and other high-ranking M country government officials, who were trapped inside the presidential office and witnessed the entire rescue operation by the raiding team, helped Ivan and his group clear up the misunderstanding. Afterwards, Ivan also revealed the identities of his group to Yeruvich and other high-ranking M country officials. When he heard the words "China Special Operations Team," Ivan could clearly sense the change in their emotions from shock to mixed feelings.

Meanwhile, on the other side of Hwaseong, at the M Army's First Command Headquarters located in the far suburbs of Hwaseong, the Hwaseong police who had previously surrounded the headquarters dared not make any rash moves in the face of a large number of fully armed soldiers under their control. With the departure of the arrogant guards, the soldiers guarding the headquarters became like wooden statues, and the Hwaseong police seized the opportunity to quickly rush into the headquarters and take control of it.

Meanwhile, the Hwaseong police search team found President Bayer Jop of the United States in a secret detention room belonging to the intelligence agency in a building in the old town of Hwaseong. However, the president was in a deep coma when they found him.

After completing their mission, Ivan and his team did not leave immediately. Under the arrangement of Vice President Yeruvich, they temporarily moved to the Chinese Embassy in Huacheng, M Country.

When the thirty-minute deadline passed and no missile was seen taking off from the US mainland, the Chinese Senate knew that the assault team had completed its mission.

Although the details of the miracle mentioned by the Chinese elders are unknown, it did not prevent the anxious nations from temporarily putting their minds at ease.

Three hours after Ivan and his team finished their operation that day, the Grand Elder called the action team to inquire about their well-being. After confirming that all the team members were unharmed, the Grand Elder on the other end of the line breathed a sigh of relief.

"It's good that you're alright. Xiao Yi, you've all worked hard."

Ivan said in a deep voice, "Arrogance used some means, but it still managed to escape. Now we don't know where it is hiding... We probably can't let our guard down. We must find its whereabouts as soon as possible."

"Yes, the Senate has already communicated with the M country government, and a special plane will come to pick you up later. In short, come back first, and we'll talk about the rest later."

"it is good."

After hanging up the phone, Ivan sharply looked up at the sky outside the embassy window.

Where will it hide...?

Chapter 487 Chaos in the Aftermath of the Crisis

A week has passed since Ivan and his men stormed into the Presidential Palace in Huacheng, M Country, and Arrogance disappeared.

The apocalypse of Earth, destroyed by devastating weapons, did not arrive, but the world of Earth has not returned to its former peace. For all countries, the aftermath of this crisis is equally terrifying.

Hidden arrogance remains a huge threat, and countries and regions severely affected by the first round of missile attacks will need time to deal with the devastating impact of the missiles.

Fortunately, countries had already received warnings from China and were aware of the dangers of this substance, so no large-scale spread or other unexpected situations have occurred during the handling process.

The more troublesome ones are those who came into direct contact with the Stone of Destruction and were corrupted by its aura during the explosions of the first missile attack and the subsequent disaster relief efforts.

Countries do not have good solutions for dealing with these people who gradually lose their self-awareness and thinking and become deranged; they can only temporarily isolate them in centralized locations.

The only thing that can currently remove the destructive aura from these people is the purifying power of the Heart of the Wind God in Ivan's possession. However, the number of people infected by the destructive aura is large, and they are scattered all over the Blue Star. Ivan's purifying power can only purify one person at a time. It will probably take a long time to purify all of them. Perhaps by the time Ivan has wasted half a year purifying everyone, the Arrogance, hiding in some corner, will have created ten times more people corrupted by the destructive aura.

Therefore, it is pointless to do these things before finding arrogance.

Considering all of the above, China has strictly blocked information about Ivan and the existence of the Purifying Power from all countries. Even if information is to be released, it will only be after Pride has been found and dealt with.

Meanwhile, in the United States of America, President Bairdjopp remains in a coma, and Vice President Yeruvich is temporarily assuming the presidency.

Originally, Yeruvich intended to contact China to discuss lifting all the blockade clauses that existed before the crisis, but the crisis has had a huge impact on the United States, leading to chaos in the country. Yeruvich simply doesn't have the time to think about these things.

Nearly half of the government's high-ranking officials had previously been controlled by arrogance, and with the disappearance of arrogance, these officials have now lost control and become immobile "wooden figures." The situation in the military is equally dire, with a large number of high-ranking military personnel, including the entire First Command of the M Army, also becoming "wooden figures." This has effectively left the M Army without high-level command, forcing all troops outside of M country to withdraw entirely back to M country.

Meanwhile, the president's continued coma and the inertia of a large number of high-ranking officials in the military and government of Country M have led to the loss of many key positions and vacancies in crucial posts.

With so many vacant interests laid out before them, the various political parties in the United States naturally wouldn't stand idly by and watch their opponents reap these benefits. Thus, within just one week, the parties engaged in open and covert struggles, staging countless American-style "palace intrigue" dramas. As the political situation became chaotic, some economic problems caused by the blockade of China gradually surfaced, and domestic prices in the United States began to skyrocket. Taking oil prices as an example, in the past week, oil prices in the United States surged nearly tenfold, an extremely alarming figure.

Soaring prices have led to a significant decline in people's quality of life. Even if relevant economic departments have noticed the market problems and introduced some economic policies in an emergency, it is only a drop in the ocean. Larger-scale economic policies require approval from higher levels, but at this moment, the top levels of the government are busy with power struggles and have no time to care about the feelings of the people.

The decline in the quality of life has further led to a rapid increase in the crime rate. In the past week, the two busiest professions in the entire country of M were police officers and robbers. During this period, large-scale rallies and riots also occurred in the streets of several major cities such as Washington and New York. Many people in the country of M began to move away from the country with their families. It can be said that the entire country of M is now mired in this top-down quagmire of chaos.

The chaos that has engulfed the United States has also affected other countries on Earth.

As the most powerful nation on Earth, M's economy and politics are directly linked to most of its allied countries. The chaos in M's economic market quickly spread to other allies. Some countries with close ties to M's currency suffered extremely heavy losses, while others suffered relatively less, but not much better. All countries were in despair, and a global economic crisis seemed imminent.

On the contrary, China, due to the various sanctions imposed by the West, had been largely decoupled from the economies and trade of Western countries and was hardly affected when this economic storm swept across the world.

Besides China, the countries that were not previously subject to Western sanctions and did not decouple from trade with China were also less affected. These countries offset some of their losses by relying on their huge trade volume with China.

Now, anyone in the world who isn't blind can understand the current global situation on Earth.

Some countries that previously imposed sanctions on China have begun to disregard their own dignity and take the initiative to contact China in order to save themselves.

For example, the Japanese government, which has always been a pawn of the United States, has surprisingly changed its ways and made remarks in its latest government report meeting that seemed to be currying favor with China.

Meanwhile, the British Empire, along with other major Western powers such as France, quietly sent private business representatives to China to discuss business.

Therefore, the Senate in the capital became quite busy for a time.

Of course, the search for Arrogance's whereabouts was not neglected, and this task was assigned to Ivan.

After the mission, Jean and the others returned to the continent of Teyvat.

Now that space teleportation technology is mature and there is a portal connecting Teyvat to Earth, Jean and the others can quickly arrive on Earth to provide support if needed.

Later, with the continuous construction of teleportation channels, except for some large ships and cargo transportation, people no longer needed to travel by ship through the World Gate.

In addition, the Senate was not in a hurry to build the infrastructure related to the transmission technology within China.

The emergence of space teleportation technology represents a disruption of all previous modes of transportation, which will have a revolutionary impact on all traditional transportation industries, from automobile manufacturing to road infrastructure, from airplanes and ships to high-speed trains. The emergence of new technologies is the destruction of old technologies. If not handled properly, it could lead to the loss of jobs for millions of people working in old industries. Therefore, the construction of space teleportation-related infrastructure is a matter that requires utmost caution.

Therefore, the Senate's final decision on this matter was to assess the situation first and then consider it further.