I created the Bureau of Anomaly Control

Quiet.

That was Ji Gaochuan's feeling after not receiving any reports from the Hunter teams for a full half hour. He hadn't originally intended to interfere with the ritual, but the fact that none of the five teams had sent back any news made him vaguely sense that something was wrong.

"Do you think this is normal?" he asked Ren Qingxue, who was sitting and looking at her phone. "It's been so long without any reports. Even if they were attacked, they should have said something, right?"

Ren Qingxue replied casually:

"You don't need to worry. The Children of the Hunter all enjoy their hunting process. They'll be completely focused before completing the kill, and if there were any problems, they would have reported to us long ago."

Ji Gaochuan paused and said:

"I just feel like it's too quiet."

Ren Qingxue casually raised her finger and pointed to the tactical communication device in front of him:

"Then just ask them how things are. But if you want to get along with these Children of the Hunter for a long time, respecting their traditions and beliefs is a prerequisite. It's the only important thing to them.

"Hunting is not just a ritual for them, but also a way to recognize the gods and demonstrate piety.

"You outsiders don't understand. Only by personally practicing the guidance of the gods, and by feeling the great essence symbolized by the gods with your heart, can we slowly approach the gods we worship.

"My suggestion is, don't disturb them."

Ren Qingxue hadn't originally intended to explain so much. Most of the Children of the Flame had fairly irritable personalities and not much patience, but the reason she was given this responsibility was that she was slightly calmer than her other brothers and sisters.

She had a different understanding of fire.

Ji Gaochuan was a little surprised that she had taken the initiative to explain these things, and then he immediately followed up by asking:

"Then what about you? Are you going to worship your god by watching the burning phenomenon?"

"Don't ask such stupid questions," Ren Qingxue said. "No one would say how they feel about the gods in their heart. That's disrespectful to the gods. Moreover, we all have quite personal differences in our understanding of the gods. If you're really curious…

"The Children of the Flame are still accepting new members."

Ji Gaochuan didn't say anything more.

It seemed that Ren Qingxue was indeed here to cooperate with the Federation, as she said. At least, she wasn't confronting him on the surface. In that case, as long as he remained cautious, she could indeed become one of his helpers in the Southern Federation.

If he wanted to do something in this land, it was almost impossible without the support of the locals. The former Coordination Bureau and the southern state governments had already proven this. This was also the reason why the Investigation Department wanted to cooperate with the New Gods Alliance—it was a prerequisite for completely controlling this place.

They waited another ten minutes.

Beep.

The walkie-talkie emitted a communication request. It was from the fourth team.

But the communication failed to connect successfully.

"Something's wrong," Ji Gaochuan said. He directly reached out and pressed the fourth button on the communication device, and Ren Qingxue beside him didn't try to stop him this time.

He said into the machine:

"Can you hear me?"

There was no response.

He quickly pressed the first button:

"Fargo, respond if you receive."

Still nothing.

Ren Qingxue stared intently at the communication device.

Ji Gaochuan connected to all channels:

"Teams one through five, respond if you hear this."

Dead silence.

"There might be signal interference. The Salvation Alliance must have really come. I didn't expect them to choose this place to strike," Ren Qingxue said with a slight frown. "Don't be afraid, Fargo might be able to deal with them."

She had known for a long time that the hunting ritual couldn't go so smoothly, but she didn't expect that Godwin State would also have problems.

Ji Gaochuan pressed the Investigation Department's communication channel:

"Is anyone there?"

After a few seconds of silence.

The Investigation Department member's voice came from the device:

"Report, everything is going smoothly on our side."

Ji Gaochuan and Ren Qingxue exchanged glances, and then they both felt a chill run down their backs.

Neither of them was worried about the ritual itself having problems. The death or injury of a few Children of the Hunter wouldn't be a bad thing for either Ji Gaochuan, who belonged to the Federation, or Ren Qingxue, who was also in the New Gods Alliance.

The problem was that they had disappeared silently.

Ren Qingxue threw several flames onto the trees, watching as their pupils began to dilate.

"We're under attack. Is the Investigation Department's protection agreement still in effect?" Ji Gaochuan asked anxiously. "All of the Hunter teams have lost contact."

"It's still operating normally. Wait, headquarters has sent a message. Thirty percent of the hunting rituals being conducted simultaneously have had problems, and seventeen percent have been confirmed to have temporarily failed. It's approaching the predicted number. Once it exceeds twenty, there will be problems."

This was actually good news for the Federation, but Ji Gaochuan, who was in the middle of it, couldn't be happy. The disappearance of twenty ability users only made him feel fear for his own life.

"Retreat, we're retreating now," Ji Gaochuan said, turning around and immediately getting into the car. Ren Qingxue looked at the burning trees and followed him.

The communication device transmitted information from the Investigation Department:

"More than twenty-one percent of the rituals have been declared temporarily failed, and it's still moving towards the critical value of twenty-five. Once it crosses the line, it will be a serious error. Next year, a common scale blood sacrifice must be continued to restart the ritual.

"According to the model, there may be more than three times the number of Tier IV ability users than we have on our list…"

Hearing these words, both of them knew very well that the hunting ritual was destined to fail.

Ren Qingxue said:

"It seems you underestimated the Salvation Alliance."

Ji Gaochuan said:

"It seems that's true. We thought that the number of high-level ability users in the Southern Federation shouldn't be that high. Although the number of low-level ability users here is astonishing, the number of high-level ability users should have been much lower than in other regions."

Ren Qingxue shook her head:

"Let's think about how to report back to headquarters. We've already lost all of our hands and feet. If you need it, I can temporarily have the Children of the Flame come to help, but they can't stay here for long."

The Hunter God would definitely be very angry. He was only one step away from Tier V.

In fact, according to the Fire God, the gods all thought that the Hunter God couldn't succeed in just a few decades, but they didn't expect that the Hunter God would suffer such a heavy blow in the first year…

The first god had already been injured, but for the Children of the Flame, this matter was generally positive.

Because He successfully attracted the attention of these mortals.

The hunting ritual was not the only plan of the southern gods. Besides Him, there were other gods plotting to escape this cursed land.

The Sun God, the Moon God, and the God of Flame and Destruction.

He had his own ideas about the curse and the seal. The Fire God was not used to solving problems, He only destroyed problems.

Now, He was sprinkling sparks on the Titan's curse.