Chapter 498: Winds of Turmoil

In the spacious meeting room, Li Xuanguo, seated at the head of the table, frowned slightly as he looked up at the Secretary General who had hurriedly come up behind him.

During a high-level meeting among Huaguo’s elite, these individuals had all cut off external communications. Only truly critical matters could interrupt them at this time.

“What is it?”

The meeting was momentarily halted as Li Xuanguo spoke in a low voice. Ever since the Secretary General had joined him, he had noticed an unusual nervousness in the man he’d trusted for years.

Such a demeanor hadn’t even been seen during previous border incidents.

“Prime Minister…!”

“It’s the Death Duel! There’s been an incident over at the Death Duel!”

“Who’s been hurt? Yenir?!”

He was taken aback.

Li Xuanguo blurted out instinctively, his eyes flashing with an intensity he’d never shown before.

To them, what outsiders considered a critical Death Duel was merely Yenir’s act of defiance from one of their top echelons.

After arranging the necessary protection, no one cared who emerged victorious.

After all, the outcome was a foregone conclusion, and watching it hold no real meaning – besides, showing up might even damage Yenir’s reputation.

Despite his soft tone, his words immediately drew everyone’s attention.

An incident at the Death Duel?! Surely Yenir wasn’t gravely injured? Or did the protection fail… did he die?!

In an instant, Chairman Hu Zhiping of the Political Department, Ye Canghai of the United Front Department, and every top official from the Huaxia Battle Zone turned their gaze toward the Secretary General.

Notably, they all noticed the unusual expression on Li Xuanguo’s face.

It seemed that the Prime Minister’s concern for Yenir was even greater than they had imagined.

Faced with the Prime Minister’s sudden, icy demeanor, the Secretary General hurried to speak, shaking his head as if it were a jingle bell.

He swallowed hard, his face etched with disbelief:

“It’s Committee Member Lu!!”

“Committee Member Lu… he’s dead!”

“He was slain by Yenir’s sword!!”

Hmm!!?

As the chilling words fell, even the most composed top officials widened their eyes and froze in their seats at the increasingly horrifying news.

“Who died!?”

“Lu Tianming!?”

“What kind of joke is this? Nonsense!”

“Lu Tianming at Third-Stage Advanced! With so many guarding him, tell me he’s dead! And it was Yenir who killed him!?”

The first to recover was a military representative who, upon hearing what sounded like an absurd, unbelievable joke, rose to his feet in anger and glared intensely at the Secretary General.

Although he hadn’t been following the Death Duel closely, he was well aware of both sides’ strengths!

Could Lu Tianming really be dead? Or was he slain by Yenir’s sword!?

If this were true, it would blow his mind – such news was an insult to his intelligence!

“Speak clearly! Tell us exactly what’s happening!”

“Are you sure it was Yenir who struck? Could it have been Fang Hao? Or Zhao Hongtu?”

Li Xuanguo quickly silenced the furious military representative, his mind racing to the most plausible explanation.

His expression grew grave, as though he were deliberating how to handle the situation.

He knew that Fang Hao had rushed over out of concern for Yenir – indeed, he had even secretly arranged for extra personnel to be at the Death Duel.

He knew his Secretary General all too well.

The Secretary General would never lie or get the details wrong. It was very likely he had simply misspoken about who had struck first!

But regardless, it meant that Lu Tianming was indeed in trouble!

Just like Li Xuanguo, the assembled top officials quickly realized this after a brief moment of shock.

“Speak quickly! Was it Fang Tong who struck? Damn it! Couldn’t you stop him?”

“Did anyone else get injured? Was it that, after Yenir was accidentally hurt, Fang Tong, in a fit of rage, lashed out?”

These quick-thinking top officials almost instantly pieced together the most likely scenario.

In the melee, Yenir showed no mercy toward Lu Tianming.

Thus, after Yenir was injured, a furious Fang Hao struck, inadvertently killing Lu Tianming!

Damn it! This incident could easily rank as the biggest political disaster since Huaguo’s apocalypse!

Yet, amid the barrage of questions from the top officials, the Secretary General’s pallid, bitter expression only deepened.

To be honest, he knew the news was utterly horrifying.

“Minister, Prime Minister! No, it was really Yenir who did it!”

“We don’t know what happened!! From what came from the scene, even that Peak Third-Stage member of the Army couldn’t stop Yenir!”

“Committee Member Lu… he didn’t even leave a body behind!”

With a mournful expression and fully aware of how sensational the news was, the Secretary General trembled as he pressed the record button on his device.

A soft hum accompanied the slight sound of activation.

Instantly, an image from the scene was projected to the center of the meeting room.

The image showed a solitary pair of combat boots standing alone, with shattered debris scattered on the ground as if narrating the horror of that moment.

In an instant, every top official who saw the image was rendered speechless once again.

Even the most unflappable elites now stood frozen like petrified statues.

“That kid… did he really kill Lu Tianming!!!?”

Seconds later, as many top officials regained their senses, their expressions shifted dramatically.

Gasps of astonishment echoed through the silent meeting room.

………………….

Rear area of the Northern Battle Zone.

Inside the heavily guarded and tranquil Sanatorium, a group of Third-Stage Awakeneds, their faces pale with fear, hurried to a courtyard and pounded on the door.

A minute later, a cry of profound sorrow and rage—like the anguished roar of a flesh-and-blood loss—swept over the entire military compound.

A towering figure, eyes filled with tragic fury, stared toward the Capital, emanating a terrifying Peak Third-Stage aura that seemed capable of obliterating everything in its path.

“Yenir!!!”

“I want you dead!!!!”

“Ahhh!! Lu’er! Lu’er!”

“Attention, all troops! Move with me to the Capital!!”

………

Year 67 of the Apocalypse Calendar.

The entire nation was in shock.