Lord of the Myriad Worlds

Chapter 215: Five-Star Item Card — Change of Heart

In Weir City, night had also fallen. A city of lights. The first breezes of early summer moved through carrying faint flower scents — this was the season for it.

In the Inner Affairs Department compound, inside a room that looked entirely ordinary — third door on the left past the entrance — something more like a grand symphony was in progress. Enormous cards floated in the air throughout the space, each one showing a scene unfolding in real time, each scene with its own cast of characters.

This was not theater. It was live surveillance of Pioneering Mission branches, actively running.

Night Owl, Chief Internal Affairs Officer of the Internal Affairs Department, sat in her very large chair. One casual wave of her hand, and dozens of cards were replaced silently — like switching between apps on a device.

Her eyes lingered longest on a handful of them.

The first showed Hathaway. She was convening a family meeting — Night Owl's most trusted operative, the one whose performance this cycle would matter most. For this particular Pioneering cycle, Night Owl had begun negotiating certain arrangements with Black Wolf of the Logistics Department more than half a year in advance. The results were proving excellent.

Hathaway was technically only ranked third, but her position was solid and her advantages were considerable. Two additional high-level Internal Affairs players had just been sent to reinforce her — the foundation was stable.

The second card featured Little John. Also a player distinguished by patience and restraint — his group hadn't killed a Four-Star creature this past month, and Little John had done nothing that stood out. He'd played the delay game.

Which was: always maintain a barely-visible lead. Give everyone else the sense that with just a little more effort, they could catch up. That small, constant sense of hope.

Little John had refined that approach to a genuine art form. One Seed Player, four first-lineup players from five separate departments — complexity that should have made management a nightmare — and he'd navigated it cleanly.First month without killing any Four-Star entity, and they still scored eighth in Pioneering Points. Because not a single one of those four first-lineup players had lain flat, dragged their feet, or caused trouble. Every one of them believed they just needed a little more momentum to reach Head of Household. That feeling of almost there…

When Little John was named Head of Household, they all stared blankly. By the time they thought about triggering a voluntary Critical NG, it was too late.

Next month he'd just keep playing confused and helpless while running the same leash tactic — keeping those four players in a permanent state of illusory possibility, always one good week from the goal, always just possibly right, even when you knew the whole thing was rigged. Turning people into gamblers who wouldn't fold.

"Hmm."

The floating cards extinguished one by one until only three remained. One was George — standing alone on the rooftop at this moment, seemingly turning something over in his mind. From inside the card view, a subtle dark bloody light surrounded him — surrounding everyone there, in fact. That was magical radiation output. It determined NG status. If levels exceeded a threshold, NG triggered.

The second and third remaining cards were the new Liang Yuzhi and the new Li Yue.

Seeing those two, Night Owl's eyebrows drew together with visible unease. For someone who rarely let anything show on her face, she allowed herself a small, quiet sigh.

"Superior — does this kid's luck strike you as a bit rough?" came a mild male voice from behind her, edged with something like mirth.

"A bit rough doesn't cover it. Under normal circumstances, Yang the Widow and Poison Scorpion would never be involved in a Pioneering Mission at this level. Who could have predicted they'd return now? And from the state they're in — did they run into something serious?"

"Unclear. But Yang the Widow has lost two Four-Star Profession Cards — both cultivated to Destiny Grid 40. Gone, just like that."

"Poison Scorpion lost one. Reportedly the one at Destiny Grid 60. Devastating losses. Superior, I'm somewhat concerned—"

"There's nothing to be concerned about on my end. I have ways to protect myself in a Cross-World Mission. What concerns me now is George. Yang the Widow and Poison Scorpion weren't deployed by the Tactics Department or the Commerce Department. Those sides are as confused as anyone. Those two used their seniority to jump the queue. Their purpose is simple: recover some of what they lost."

"It would be useful if he could manage to get those two expelled — force each of them to burn a Five-Star Item Card. That would leave them with at most thirty percent of their overturning capability intact."

Night Owl said this mostly to herself. Five-Star Item Cards weren't unlimited — in a Pioneering Mission, each player could use at most two before triggering the red line. After that, uncontrolled magical radiation wasn't something you could negotiate with.

If George managed to force those two to use a Five-Star card in month one or two, they'd only have the Five-Star Retention Card left. Which was visible and predictable, at her level.

The longer the time earned, the more opportunities opened. A Five-Star Retention Card played correctly was a trump card in the right hands.

"Hm? That's interesting."

Night Owl gave a slight nod. George sometimes lacked the instinct for decisive action — but right now he appeared to be changing. And Leon's look on the rooftop, just that single glance, had been meaningful. He'd read the situation correctly.

—

In that same moment, on the building rooftop, George had no idea he was being watched in real time. His brow was lightly creased, thoughts turning.

'What I want to know is — how exactly do these two plan to turn things around? I'm ahead by a significant margin. What angle gives them the leverage? Or am I overthinking it? They don't even have codenames... though that doesn't mean they don't have expensive cards to spend.'

He turned it over carefully several times. Something still sat uneasily. Extraordinary people did extraordinary things. Compare the way Leon and Thomas had performed weakness against the way those two had performed weakness, and the gap in execution was immediately apparent — different tier of player entirely.

'If my read is right, the new Liang Yuzhi and new Li Yue each hold a Five-Star Retention Card. That could extend a six-month mission to nine months. As long as they become Family Elders — they don't even need Head of Household — they can start making moves. With their capability, systematically killing Four-Star mutants, collecting Universal Gold Cards, steadily ramping up mission difficulty. An open strategy, nothing hidden about it.'

'I wonder which teams they belong to. The department bosses really will push any angle for competitive advantage. Their caliber is concerning.'

George made his decision quietly.

'What if I just expelled both of them outright, right now?'

'Expelling both is probably too aggressive. But removing one would cut the pressure in half.'

'Though I have to account for the possibility they're holding Five-Star Item Cards.'

He thought it through a moment, then decided it was worth testing. Five-Star Item Cards started at a thousand gold — forcing one to be used was already a meaningful return. And he had a pretext ready, which would have some minor lasting consequences, but was still worth executing.

Ha.

He went to the fourth floor.

He looked at the new Li Yue, still sitting in a half-dazed, vacant state, with those alarming wounds covering her. This was thoroughly brutal. Which meant one of two things: either someone had done that to her, or she'd done it to herself — and both options said something significant about who she was.

George's eyes filled with visible grief. Then a kind of powerless fury built, and spread, and his eyes went red as he turned on the new Liang Yuzhi and shouted:

"You — how could you let her end up like this? Why didn't you protect her? She's eighteen years old! Get out. Just — get out!"

Completely irrational. Petulant, lashing out, projecting anger onto someone else, the portrait of an emotionally immature older brother who dotes obsessively on his younger sister.

He had to go there. Without a believable reason to expel this Liang Yuzhi, he had no grounds — she'd just arrived and hadn't done anything. At this player's level, she'd never give him an opening again.

【Do you confirm expulsion of your second aunt Liang Yuzhi? Cost: 100 Family Contribution.】

【Confirmed.】

【You have initiated an expulsion-based Plot Kill. As Head of Household, as the true authority of this Scavenger Camp, you have the power to do this. Though it may seem unreasonable, the action is within the rules.】

【Your second aunt Liang Yuzhi has used a Five-Star Item Card — Change of Heart. Your anger has dissipated. You have realized that although your sister Li Yue's ordeal is devastating, blame cannot reasonably be directed at others. In this ruined world, being alive is already a luxury. You cannot initiate expulsion against her again for one month.】

"Brother!"

Li Yue burst into tears at exactly that moment and threw herself at George, refusing to let go.

George was entirely unsurprised. Good. Expected outcome confirmed.

The new Liang Yuzhi had a Five-Star Item Card in hand — which confirmed that she was here with serious intent.

As for the new Li Yue's response — that was the minor lasting consequence. When two players at this tier were in the room, and you'd used the younger sister as your pretext to expel the older one, that player would seize the "devoted little sister" identity with both hands and never give it back.

No problem. They'd navigate it.

George let himself settle into something soft and patient — like the night outside.

He held a Li Yue who seemingly had no intention of ever letting go, and eventually coaxed her to sleep. He even sang a children's rhyme to sell the character — since the persona had now been cracked open, the best move wasn't to patch it but to lean into the chaos: you're in mine, I'm in yours, let everyone fight for position. Who was afraid of who?

Near dawn, George himself slept. The good news: Li Yue had finally released her grip.

This one was fierce. Some traces of Hathaway in her. No — she was at Hathaway's tier.