Chapter 1037: Chapter 1037

The office door was pushed open, and a woman with a short ponytail, dressed in a petite suit and a hip-skirt along with matte tights, appeared in He Ao’s field of view.

She was one of He Ao’s main assistants at the Research Institute, Yan Yue, who specialized in administrative logistics.

After accepting the special appointment from World Tree, He Ao also transferred her over.

Carrying a stack of documents, Yan Yue walked up to He Ao, handed them to him, and spoke quickly,

"The ’special envoys’ we dispatched to various regions have initiated their actions, but they are facing resistance, to varying degrees, from the local forces of the World Tree. These forces are deeply entrenched and practice deceit, so the situation is progressing rather unfavorably and is somewhat challenging."

Looking at the documents in Yan Yue’s hands, some memories surfaced in He Ao’s mind.

After becoming a special consultant for World Tree, he dispatched his own people to carry out reforms in different regions.

The primary goal of these reforms was to weaken the situation where World Tree’s numerous branches stood strong and the headquarters’ orders couldn’t reach the local level.

In simple terms, it was a power centralization effort, bringing authority back into the hands of World Tree’s headquarters.

The resistance from local forces to the special envoys, who were sent to strip their powers, was a normal response.

"Have we started collecting evidence on the local forces’ oppression of ordinary people and their evil deeds to accumulate wealth?"

He Ao asked casually as he took the documents.

"According to feedback from the regions, we already have some preliminary results,"

Yan Yue said in a softer voice, "These local forces are like emperors in their own right; World Tree can hardly restrain them. Such cases are too numerous to count, and it’s quite easy to amass a large amount of data."

He Ao nodded slightly, "Tell them to accelerate their pace, bring me the report as soon as possible, and, also, the information on a few ’thorns’ who are particularly resistant."

Then she hesitated for a moment and whispered, "Minister He, that Fighter has already arrived, would you like to meet with him?"

He Ao was briefly startled, the term tugging at some distant memory.

It was back when he first entered the ruins, having just been appointed as a special consultant for the Research Institute, that he met this person during the competition for qualifications in the ruins.

At that time, upon witnessing the Martial Arts techniques showcased by He Ao, this individual wanted to learn from him. Since he didn’t know the person and there was no prior interaction, it ended with the ’Fighter’ kneeling in the rain for several hours, which moved He Ao, prompting him to offer some guidance.

Indeed, it feels like a long time ago, but when calculated, it was just a few months back.

When He Ao previously agreed to come to World Tree to oversee the reforms, he wanted to recruit ’personnel’ from Central Earth and remembered this individual. Consequently, he had the Research Institute inquire whether he was willing to come over.

If he was willing, it would also serve as an opportunity for He Ao to see how well this first ’student’ of his, who had accepted guidance, was doing.

In his impression, the Fighter’s Martial Arts Talent was not bad, and if he continued to practice diligently without anyone asking, it proved he also had good perseverance.

Next would be to deploy him to specific incidents to see his true nature in handling matters.

Snapping back to reality, He Ao looked at Yan Yue and nodded slightly, "Let him in."

Yan Yue nodded, "I’ll call him."

Meanwhile, in front of the World Tree headquarters building, the Fighter was lifting his head, gazing at the towering, magnificent building ahead.

"Is this place built so luxuriously?"

The Fighter raised his head, his gaze passing through the grand glass doors on the first floor, barely making out the opulent and rich interior decor.

"This is the Yika Republic headquarters of World Tree,"

a man in a black suit explained slowly in front, "Now, it serves as Minister He’s office point. The person who used to occupy this building had committed many wrongdoings, all of which have been dealt with by Minister He."

The Fighter blinked in slight astonishment and confusion, "Dealt with how? Were they arrested?"

The man in the black suit glanced at him and said casually.

The fighter looked down at the square floor tiles beneath his feet, rotating his gaze left and right, "What’s under here? Floor tiles? Is there something special about them?"

"Look at the gaps between the tiles."

The man in the black suit continued.

"There’s some weeds."

The fighter focused on the gaps between the tiles.

"Do you see those dark red spots?"

The man in the black suit asked slowly.

The fighter shifted his gaze, looking at the gaps between the tiles, hesitated for a moment, and asked softly, "What’s this dark red stuff? Paint?"

The man in the black suit looked up at the fighter and smiled, "That’s how it has been treated, washed dozens of times already. It won’t come clean; only nature’s wind and rain will wash it away eventually."

Then he turned around and continued walking with the fighter towards the entrance.

In that instant, the fighter stiffened, his gaze falling on the dark red spots, wanting to look away but finding himself unable to do so.

After a while, he took a deep breath, forcing himself not to look at those spots, and quickly caught up with the man in the black suit who had already walked to the entrance.

He raised his head, looking once again at the towering building; at such close proximity, the originally magnificent structure appeared even more imposing. A certain invisible oppressive feeling oozed from this high-rise, spreading under the firmament.

The young man wasn’t sure whether this sense of oppression came from the grand high-rise or from the ’young leader’ who might be sitting inside the building now.

"Is this your first time leaving Central Earth?"

The man in the black suit stopped walking, turned his head, and glanced at the young man.

The young man withdrew his gaze, nodding somewhat nervously.

"The outside world is different from Central Earth,"

The man in the black suit looked at him and said slowly, "Chaos and slaughter are the main attractions here. Only the fearless can survive in this place. If you can’t accept that, you can also ask Minister He to request a transfer back,"

Then he paused, "I don’t mean to belittle you. Many people, before leaving Central Earth, are not truly psychologically prepared. We usually advise them to go back, because it is indeed dangerous here.

"Minister He has instructed us to be responsible for everyone who comes here. Weakness often doesn’t lead to death, but excessive naivety can easily doom a team."

The man in the black suit looked down, fixing his gaze on the young man, "Of course, if you want to play around here for a few days, we can also reimburse your accommodations and part of your travel expenses."

Looking at the tranquil gaze of the man in the black suit, the fighter slightly opened his mouth but didn’t say anything.

After a while, he took a deep breath and nodded firmly, "I can do it."

"I hope you’ve made your decision."

The man in the black suit nodded, withdrew his gaze, took a step forward, and passed through the entrance.

The young man looked up one last time at the majestic high-rise overhead, then took another deep breath and followed the pace of the man in the black suit in front.

"Is Minister He in this building now?"

He caught up with the pace of the man in the black suit, asking curiously.

"I don’t know about that,"

The man in the black suit shook his head, "No one knows Minister He’s whereabouts. If you’re lucky, he might be here."

He led the young man to the elevator door and lit up the elevator button, "We’ll go to the 17th floor first. That’s where the administrative department is, to process your entry paperwork here."

Just then, he seemed to sense something, took out a vibrating cell phone from his pocket, which displayed an incoming call.

He glanced at the caller ID, answered the call, and put it to his ear.

The elevator doors opened.

The young man looked at the man in the black suit beside him with confusion.

It seemed that a leader had called; he couldn’t hear what was being said on the phone, but he could sense the man in the black suit’s respectful attitude.

After a moment, the man in the black suit put down the phone and looked at the young man beside him with a hint of puzzlement, "You’re in luck, Minister He is here today,"

Then he paused before continuing, "He wants to see you."

The young man was slightly stunned.

The man in the black suit entered the elevator and pressed the button for the top floor, looking at the young man, "I’m really starting to wonder if you have some kind of background."

The young man took a nervous breath.

The man in the black suit glanced at the young man and smiled, "Minister He is very gentle; he won’t eat you."

The young man nodded anxiously.

Now his mind involuntarily conjured the image of the tiles just outside the main entrance, as well as those dark red spots nestled in between the cracks of the tiles.

The man in the black suit gave him a look, seemingly guessing what he was thinking, but just smiled without saying anything more.

The elevator quickly arrived at the top floor, and then the young man was led in front of an office door.

Standing here at this moment was a tall, ponytailed beauty in a professional dress. She glanced at the young man, took out a tablet, and looked at the data on it,

"An Ming, codename Fighter, E-rank, from Xidu."

Yan Yue lifted her eyes to look at the young man standing before her and asked softly, "Is there a problem with the data?"

The young man shook his head.

"Good, the data confirmation link will be sent to your Research Institute account. Once you confirm there’s no problem, you’ll be successfully employed,"

Yan Yue put away the tablet and looked at An Ming, pointing toward the office door, "Minister He is waiting for you."

The young man nodded nervously.

He glanced at the office door and slowly turned the doorknob, stepping inside.

Since he had chosen to come here, it was impossible for him not to know about the legendary experiences of Minister He.

Although with his clearance, he could only see some official articles and forum posts, from these he could vaguely sense that Minister He was that kind of legendary super genius.

Young and accomplished, with great ability.

In just a month or two, he had taken part in saving several cities, allowing millions of people to survive in the horrific Transcendent crisis.

And he went from being the deputy head of the field operations department to the person in charge of Rodan, and then to a special advisor for one of the top three Transcendent organizations, the World Tree.

It is said he’s even an all-authority special advisor, with almost the highest power entrusted to him.

As a person from Central Earth, and also someone from the Research Institute, he spent just a few dozen days entering the highest echelons of power in the Western Lands.

It is said that Minister He also has a good relationship with the leader of Moonlight.

In the past, An Ming would have thought such things only happened in legends, but now, he saw this ’legendary story’ in the real world.

At first, he had his doubts about the feats of ’Minister He’; after all, he had never met him. What if these legendary achievements were exaggerated?

Having had no contact with him, he felt that this person was aloft, somewhat ethereal and unreal.

By the time he really arrived in Mote City and contacted the black-suited men following Minister He, it was from the mouth of these ’subordinates’ of Minister He that he learned some more detailed information.

The character that had felt so elusive to him now seemed to have gained some semblance of reality.

Of course, this was still not enough to give a full picture of Minister He’s character.

What truly gave him a three-dimensional understanding of Minister He was the blood that could not be washed from the crevices in the bricks at the front of those buildings.

He did not know how many people Minister He had to kill to leave behind so much blood.

But those stains of blood, like the tolling of a resounding bell, brought the figure who had been floating in his mind down to earth, becoming clear and concrete.

Minister He was not the type to change the world with ’love’ or compel people to bow their heads with ’force’.

He had established his merits and authority through his own capabilities and methods, even if some of those methods were rather cold and bloody.

Honestly, this concrete image was not as ’approachable’ as the one he previously imagined, but he was surprised to find that this version of ’Minister He’ seemed like the real, reliable ’Legendary Hero’ worth following.

Of course, the sight of that blood was truly frightening.

Taking a deep breath, An Ming fully pushed open the door and looked up towards the depths of the room.

Now, he was about to truly meet that Legendary Hero.

As the door swung wide open, what he saw was a sparsely decorated office with only one large wooden desk.

A young man, exuding a gentle aura, was sitting behind the desk, smiling at him.

Minister He Ao smiled as he looked at the ’old acquaintance’ and asked.

An Ming was slightly taken aback, he nodded his head, still somewhat reserved.

He was still a little nervous, but after seeing the real Minister He, it seemed that the nervousness had dissipated somewhat.

"Why did you choose to come here,"

Minister He Ao looked down at the information in his hand and asked casually, "this place is more dangerous than Central Earth. It seems you don’t have experience involving Transcendent events? Are you a newbie? You should know, Western Lands are much more turbulent than Central Earth, the mortality rate is much more unstable too."

An Ming nodded firmly, looking at He Ao, he spoke earnestly, "I have already understood all the dangers."

And Minister He Ao just smiled, gazing at him.

Then, under the gaze of Minister He Ao, he breathed out slightly and said softly, "Actually, I came here hoping to find an ’instructor’ who had taught me before, I’m not sure if I can call him ’teacher’. He seemed reluctant to take me on, but now I’ve reached a bottleneck with my Martial Arts."

"So you’ve come all this way to seek a teacher to learn from?"

Minister He Ao looked at the young man in front of him, asking calmly.

"There was a bit of that intention before,"

An Ming straightened up unconsciously as he looked at ’Minister He’," but now I’m ready to face the danger. I know it’s dangerous, but danger is also an opportunity. I’m willing to follow Minister He into the fray."

"Just by looking at me once, you want to join me in my endeavors?"

Minister He Ao chuckled, "Am I that charming?"

"Not really, I had learned a great deal about you, Minister He, before coming,"

An Ming said seriously as he looked at the figure before him, "After meeting you in person, I realized you truly are a capable and courageous Leader who is not soft-hearted. And most importantly,"

He paused, watching the smile on He Ao’s face, "You’re willing to respect us, the underdogs. Following you, I can’t go wrong."

Minister He Ao nodded, "Then stay. You’re at E-level, but train well. We’ll see if you’re as good at the job as you are with words."

At that moment, An Ming hesitated and asked softly, "Minister He, have you ever met a gentleman who goes by the codename ’Mercenary’? He might like to wear a paper bag on his head?"

"It seems they really didn’t explain things clearly to you,"

Minister He Ao said, looking at the young man in front of him with a smile, his voice calm and slow, "Let me see you perform a set of punches."