Chapter 148: He is... the Speaker of South Harbor?

Bramble looked down at her communicator, then raised her head to look at the crumbling ceiling near the elevator. "Could this... could it be—"

"Could those mutated beasts be breaking in to devour us?" Su Yi said with a trembling voice.

"It's over, we're dead for sure!"

Boom, boom, boom!

The third explosion rang out, and vast chunks of earth and rock collapsed in a chaotic rush. Bramble quickly pulled Su Yi back, making more room for the people in front.

Suddenly—

"What is that?"

"Look!"

The people, who had already plunged into despair, all stared in astonishment toward the elevator shaft.

A stream of light with a metallic sheen pierced through the elevator hall doors, then whipped around and pierced through from another direction.

Because it was moving too terribly fast, even at the very moment it slowed down to change direction, the naked eye could only vaguely discern that it was an arrow rich with a high-tech aesthetic.

Whoosh!

The arrow pierced through once more, spinning and churning as it went. The roaring sound grew louder and louder, and then, amidst a billow of smoke and dust, the entire elevator shaft burst open.

Taking advantage of the residual light from the safe room behind them, everyone saw that the figure who had blasted through the elevator shaft was a slender young man. He wore an advanced, all-terrain tactical combat suit made of fibrous alloy—tight and well-proportioned, outlining fluid lines brimming with raw power.

He stood atop the high pile of rubble, with the sunlight from above spilling down behind him, making him look like a god descended from the heavens, someone to be gazed upon with awe, forever out of reach.

"Jichen!" Su Yi cried out in a mix of shock and joy.

"It's really him!" Bramble gasped aloud.

The surrounding crowd was stunned into utter silence.

"That combat suit... only Awakeners are allowed to wear that, right?" cried out a member of the Black Island organization.

"Definitely!"

"Lord Awakener, we are all law-abiding citizens! Thank you for saving us!"

Those who reacted quickly immediately began to shout.

"Hah-heh."

Just as they stared at Jichen, excitedly talking all at once, a solemn and resounding voice echoed beside their ears.

It was as if every syllable uttered from Jichen's mouth was wrapped in a heavy, oppressive majesty, causing everyone's bodies to tense up and rendering them completely immobile—like tiny insects facing the terrifying, churning waves of a vast ocean.

To the outside observer, the spark of life in their eyes dimmed instantly, turning dull and sluggish.

"It's better to use the Voice of Compulsion to control you lot, seeing as you're the kind of troublemakers who rebel every single day," Jichen said with a slight twitch of his lips.

Although they had been injected with various experimental serums from the Black Island organization, they were still ordinary humans at their core, making the effects of the Voice of Compulsion just right. The word Jichen had used meant "thought" in the language of the Ghost Vines.

Its unique acoustic frequency would vibrate the prefrontal cortex and hippocampus of everyone's brains, blurring their consciousness and inducing a state akin to hypnosis.

"Follow me."

............

In the downtown area of South Port City, inside the former headquarters building.

Su Yi, Bramble, and three other female members of the Black Island organization sat in a row on the sofa. A cup of warm water was placed in front of each of them, but none of them had touched it.

"An undercover agent—he was actually an undercover agent!"

"This year's Awakener selection ended long ago; he definitely didn't become an Awakener just recently. Who would have believed that South Port would actually have the nerve to send an Awakener to go undercover back then?"

Recalling how Jichen had acted all clueless and dim-witted in front of her, Bramble couldn't help but sigh repeatedly, feeling as though she had been played for a fool and struggling to swallow her anger.

"Su Yi," Bramble turned her body slightly, suddenly smiling. "I never expected that the person you mentioned earlier who almost ended up serving a life sentence was Jichen."

"Still, since he knows you, why has he put you under house arrest here as well?"

"Well, I was hanging out with you guys at the time," Su Yi said with a bitter smile. "Actually, though, I haven't even met him more than a few times. It's anyone's guess whether he even cares about that tiny shred of friendship anymore."

"True." Bramble lightly rubbed her fingertips against her gold-inlaid mask. "Even if he wanted to help you, as just an ordinary Awakener nowadays, he certainly doesn't have the final say."

"That's right. We were considered high-ranking members of the South Port branch, after all," a chubby middle-aged woman leaned back against the sofa cushion. "Earlier, Wang Yi, the Chief of Staff of South Port City, even came over in person, yet he didn't ask us a single question. He was definitely waiting for someone of even higher status to arrive."

"I suspect the ones interrogating us later might be big shots at the Councilor level!"

In the past, the Black Island organization rarely had members captured alive; they usually fled at the first sign of trouble or simply committed suicide on the spot.

This group of people hadn't harbored such intentions mainly because they had been abandoned by the organization and were filled with resentment.

"I think so too."

"I just don't know how many of those big shots survived now that South Port New City has been completely destroyed."

They murmured among themselves.

"After lurking in South Port New City for so long, I never expected the first time I'd see those Councilor-level figures in person would be after getting arrested," Bramble laughed softly. "Who do you think will end up interrogating us? 'Blade Willow' Zhou Zhou, or that unfathomable Huang Long?"

"I'm guessing Yao Lun. Internal organization records show he's the confidant of the South Port Federation's Speaker."

Knock, knock, knock.

Three unhurried, polite knocks sounded, and then the door was pushed open. A woman dressed in professional attire with delicate facial features walked in.

"Hello, Miss Chen," everyone hurriedly stood up and greeted her respectfully.

When they had been controlled by Jichen using the Voice of Compulsion, their memories of that period were hazy, and they didn't know how they had gotten here. But after being locked up, several batches of people had visited within the span of two days, all led by this Miss Chen.

Even someone as formidable as Chief of Staff Wang Yi would nod and bow in her presence.

None of them were fools; how could they not know that this woman, who looked like a mere vase at first glance, must hold a terrifyingly high status and authority?

However, this time, Miss Chen's attire was noticeably different from the previous two days.

Not only was she tucking a laptop under her arm, but her makeup was more refined, and even her skirt seemed a fraction shorter.

With someone truly heavyweight likely to arrive today, the women couldn't help but harbor suspicions.

"Miss Chen, how are we going to be dealt with? I promise I'll confess everything I know!" asked the tallest of the female members nervously.

Chen Qian smiled and shook her head. "I don't know either. This isn't something I can decide; we'll have to wait until Lord Speaker arrives to find out."

The Speaker?

Could it be that someone of that caliber is actually going to be alarmed just for the few of us? Aren't we flattering ourselves a bit too much?

Inside the room, the hair on the bodies of the Black Island members stood on end, and even Su Yi shrank her neck.

They had never imagined such a scenario; being interrogated by Councilor-level powerhouses was already the absolute limit of their imagination.

Thud, thud, thud.

Footsteps echoed from outside the door.

"Lord Speaker and the two Councilors have arrived." Chen Qian offered a apologetic smile to the group and turned to welcome them at the door.

"I'm suddenly so nervous," Bramble swallowed hard, looking toward the door with apprehension.

The footsteps grew closer and closer. A young and familiar figure appeared at the doorway, followed closely by Huang Long and Zhou Zhou—two world-renowned powerhouses.

"Jichen?"

"Huh?"

"Isn't this... the young Awakener who rescued us earlier?"

The group trembled simultaneously, looking at one another in utter bewilderment.

"Is he... is he the Speaker... of the South Port Federation?" Su Yi felt a wave of dizziness wash over her, incredulous.