Chapter 358: The Price of Power
by xennovel“You actually did that!?”
Hong Tiangang blinked in surprise as he met Yenir’s eyes, feeling that the Youth before him was hiding far too many ‘surprises.’
His voice gruff, he blurted, “Just like Zhao Hongtu, this guy seems to have a temper—only he usually keeps his mouth shut.”
“Yeah, if you can take out those bastards in the instance, you must have figured out what this thing can do.”
“Come on, explain! You mentioned it was just an act? What kind of act?”
“And how exactly did you complete the task in the instance? Zhao Hongtu and I spent all day guessing!”
His interest was clearly piqued.
Watching Hong Tiangang plop down beside him, Yenir couldn’t shake off a sense of oddity…
He could clearly sense that this top-tier powerhouse—whom he barely remembered from his past life—was unusually fixated on the permissions he held, far more so than anyone else.
The attitudes of Li Xuanguo and the others said it all.
Before he even mentioned that his Instance Permission could yield massive resources, the upper echelons were only surprised that he had acquired it—recognizing its strategic importance.
But Hong Tiangang was different. His excitement far exceeded Yenir’s expectations, as if he were obsessively fixated on that permission…
This led to the current situation, which bore no resemblance to his originally planned demonstration…
He had intended to emphasize the value of half of his permission—illustrating to the authorities that this permission could bring an endless stream of spirit energy ore… fueling the entire industrial might of Huaguo.
Handing both over to the Military would secure him greater influence and… eliminate Lu Tianming.
But now…
Maybe there was no need to explain everything?
With his eyes gleaming, Yenir raced through his thoughts and decided to answer Hong Tiangang’s question first.
“The instance…”
“Back in the previous counter-instance, since our strength was deemed far inferior to the combined forces of the Japanese and Korean Battle Zones in the system’s evaluation, we entered the instance about six hours before them.”
“Those six hours were enough time to set things up. During that period, I inadvertently made contact with the human Military inside the instance and completed several side missions.”
“After mobilizing our world’s military forces, I, along with Ming Luo and the others, launched a nuclear strike. That left the Japanese and Korean Battle Zones with virtually no combat power.”
“What followed was just cleanup work. Along the way, I discovered a traitor within our squad.”
Yenir spoke casually about his performance in the instance, pausing slightly as he mentioned the traitor.
He had promised Zheng Cheng to preserve his final honor. Back in the real world, Yenir had heard from his teammates that Zheng Cheng had adopted some children from the Military Orphanage… so modest that he nearly donated his entire salary allowance.
Those children had always looked up to him as a role model.
“Mobilizing military forces?! A nuclear strike?”
His gaze suddenly sharpened.
Several high-ranking military officials exchanged looks, their hearts thumping with a sudden shock.
Though Yenir spoke in a nonchalant tone, they all knew that each of them had fought for their lives—well aware of the peril these few words concealed.
Not only did he mobilize the instance’s forces, but he also deployed nuclear missiles…
Anyone with half a brain could imagine how outrageous such a feat would be.
Imagine if the instance were the real world…
A stranger suddenly appears in the Military, demanding the mobilization of massive forces, taking control of nuclear weapons, and pulling off the entire strategy in just six hours… honestly, even a cheater wouldn’t be able to pull that off.
It was like a grade-schooler trying to conquer the world by brute force in a single day.
And to top it off, Yenir managed to “guess” the entry point of the Japan-Korea forces within six hours and rapidly deployed troops to encircle and annihilate them! The so-called cleanup work was far from simple.
After all, they had heard that the veteran Third-Stage fighters sent by Japan-Korea made up more than half of their force!
How terrifying…
To plan a strategy at the drop of a hat and still consider turning a near-deadlock into a sevenfold counterattack…
That was absolute confidence in his own abilities and an extraordinary tactical mind!
Mobilizing troops and coordinating with other units!
That demonstrated Yenir’s exceptional command skills and strategic foresight!
Securing nuclear missiles and coordinating with the instance’s Military to launch them—coupled with the subsequent spirit energy ore output—clearly showed that Yenir’s influence inside the instance was far greater than they had imagined!
Most likely, he achieved this through either sheer force or a blend of reward and punishment!
Just as Ming Luo and the others had witnessed Yenir’s strategic layout firsthand, the high-ranking officials present became increasingly incredulous. The more they thought about it, the more they recognized that Yenir’s actions bordered on genius!
Bold, reckless, and executed to perfection…
Even a bit of luck was on his side!
“You’re selling yourself short, Yenir,”
Hong Tiangang couldn’t help but express his awe, his eyes glinting with genuine admiration. To outsiders, the typically arrogant Yenir now appeared humble.
Not for any special reason; it was simply that Hong Tiangang had run through his own simulations of the counter-instance.
“Zhao Hongtu and I spent an entire night discussing your exploits after you emerged from the instance!”
“At the time, we thought you might have orchestrated some internal strife within Japan-Korea, or used the terrain to your advantage and picked them off one by one! We calculated that if you had any hidden strength—combined with the equipment stacked both above and behind you—there was a slight chance you could manage it!”
“As for me…”
Hong Tiangang’s expression grew odd as he cleared his throat lightly:
“I guessed that you stole a few nuclear missiles, then purposely let your teammates get captured, sacrificing two lives to secretly take them out.”
With that, Hong Tiangang smiled.
Although Yenir’s actual methods were far more extravagant than Hong Tiangang had imagined, his guess wasn’t entirely off the mark.
There was no other way—after all, the entire Military Department had secretly simulated Yenir’s tactics, considering the idea of controlling the instance’s Military. But time was too short, and any misstep would have meant being attacked from both sides. The risk was too immense.
“Not bad. No wonder Zhao Hongtu was so eager to keep you around.”
“Tsk, tsk, Yenir, how about joining our Army?”
As his words fell, the remaining high-ranking military officials turned their gaze toward Yenir.
Frankly, Yenir’s talent had left them speechless—amazed and filled with potential. But as top brass, they sought commanders. Reflecting on Yenir’s operations in the East Sea, it was clear he was waging a war!
A war waged with no regard for cost and by any means necessary! His judgment was razor-sharp, and his actions, decisive!
In high-intensity conflicts, he was the perfect candidate for hard battles! Of course, some of the old-school conservatives might find him too reckless…
Yenir didn’t elaborate on how he took control of the instance’s Military, and none of them pressed the issue.
Even though his method was incredibly valuable—before he mentioned his Instance Permission, they had already started asking questions.
But now…
Everyone has their secrets. If Yenir was willing to part with his permission, he might as well share any loopholes he discovered. Besides, with so many instances, any discovered loophole wasn’t universally applicable.
Observing the expressions of the high-ranking officials, Yenir sensed that their attitude toward him had noticeably softened.
Without further ado, he continued:
“As for the act I performed after emerging…”
“Inside the instance, once I uncovered the traitor, I subdued him, and after securing the permission, I realized that the traitor could be useful.”
“So, after finishing the instance, I pretended to chase him down, forcing him to act out a scene with me in front of Japan-Korea to relay false information.”
“I planned to trap a group of Third-Stage fighters when the next instance began.”
“Hong, right? I heard that the Military is under immense pressure at the border lately… isn’t that so?”
After Yenir’s explanation, Hong Tiangang’s initially amused expression was replaced by a sudden, hardened look.
A few seconds later, Xiao Fei, the commander of the Air and Space Corps, silently nodded. After a brief hesitation, he decided not to hide anything.
“That’s right.”
“Before you secured that batch of spirit energy ore, the Military’s energy reserves had already hit a critical point.”
“This kind of thing can’t be kept under wraps, especially since our spirit energy ore is mostly traded with neighboring countries.”
“Even though those smaller nations have been making huge profits, their greed still drives them to covet! They recently launched multiple attacks on our border areas! To soothe the border, the Military Department had to redeploy a large number of troops.”
“I reckon these wolves are itching to occupy our territory!!”
As he spoke, a steely glint flashed in Xiao Fei’s eyes.
Being the quickest to support the border, the thought that these scrappy, insignificant nations were now setting their sights on Huaguo filled him with burning anger.
If it weren’t for the world heading towards the end, without so many hesitations… they would have already deployed carriers to encircle the nation!
Those puny nations could be smashed with just a few volleys of firepower!
Moreover, the forces these pathetic, incompetent regimes sent were nothing but bloodthirsty thugs forged in chaos!
In those recent border skirmishes, many Huaguo survivors had been brutally slaughtered. Even ordinary civilians were rounded up in droves—men forced into hard labor as bait, women turned into sex slaves and breeding machines!
Just the thought of the images from the border made him want to wipe out every last scum!