The seemingly scatterbrained Yulice had three dinners in a row with Alexander, all of which were captured by reporters.

Tartarus, consumed by jealousy, immediately mobilized his resources to strike at Alexander, the man daring to take liberties with his fiancée.

However, Tartarus's powerful backer, the Poison Wolf, stopped this act of settling a personal score. Alexander was now a hero heavily promoted by the Federation, second only to Gu Xechen, having wiped out twenty-four thousand elite Roman soldiers in a single engagement—a magnificent victory. How could the Poison Wolf allow Tartarus to harm Alexander over a trifle of romance? The Poison Wolf personally issued an order freezing the power Tartarus held, strictly forbidding the Intelligence Bureau under his command from targeting Alexander.

Even more baffling to Tartarus was the complete indifference shown by his own family, a lineage with immense potential influence within the Federation, towards a matter that could significantly affect their interests; they refused his pleas for aid.

What made Tartarus even more unbearable was that Alexander’s backing organization, the Darkwood Knights—the Federation's most infamous radical group—issued a direct warning, demanding he stay away from Alexander, or the Darkwood Knights would deploy their full influence within the military to crush Tartarus.

Furious to the point of madness, Tartarus issued a formal challenge to duel Alexander.

The result of the duel was Alexander walking away unscathed, while Tartarus lay in a medical pod for half a month, the residual sword energy inside him leaving behind a hideous scar!

The duel’s defeat had already stripped Tartarus of all honor, and now murmurs of dissatisfaction with Tartarus were emerging from Yulice’s own family, fueling Tartarus’s rage to explosive levels.

"Esteemed Gu Xechen, if you help me crush that shameless scoundrel this time, I will heed your every word from now on!" Tartarus’s eyes were bloodshot as he frantically hammered his own chest.

He had just burst from the medical pod, and the violent impact cracked the sword wound on his chest, spewing forth a torrent of blood.

"Calm yourself, please!" Gu Xechen raised both hands placidly, pressing them gently downward. He spoke with perfect composure, "I understand this situation. Clearly, Lieutenant General Alexander is in the wrong. You and Miss Yulice were childhood sweethearts, and your relationship was established; his snatching her away by force is utterly unjustifiable."

"Exactly!" Tartarus roared, his eyes blazing red, "This is an insult to me, to my entire family!"

"This is too much bullying!" Gu Xechen nodded earnestly.

"It truly is bullying!" Tartarus felt his heart about to ignite, overcome by the urge to mobilize every soldier at his command to kill Alexander. Yet, every one of his subordinates had already been sternly warned by the Poison Wolf; none dared obey an order against Alexander.

"Hmph, what you need right now... is a friend!" Gu Xechen narrowed his eyes.

"Are you my friend?" Tartarus gazed expectantly at Gu Xechen.

Gu Xechen paused in thought. To provoke Alexander for the sake of Tartarus—was it worth it? Gu Xechen was a businessman, and a businessman must weigh the ratio of investment to return. If the cost was too high and the profit too low, it was clearly unwise.

The Darkwood Knights—a secret society composed of military radicals whose connections and influences were extraordinarily complex, capable of tracing relationships with over seventy percent of the Federation's power brokers—backed Alexander. As the Darkwood Knights' Deputy Commander and the Federation military’s freshly minted hero, moving against him rashly carried unpredictable consequences.

Tartarus stared intently at Gu Xechen, his hands clenched so tightly that blood began to drip from between his fingers. Blood streamed from the sword wound on his chest, staining the majority of his body crimson.

After three agonizing, suffocating minutes, Gu Xechen let out a soft sigh. "You know, I am a merchant."

Tartarus roared in response, "Get rid of that bastard, and I will become your most loyal ally!"

Gu Xechen frowned slightly. "But the future is uncertain, is it not? How can you guarantee me the status of your most loyal ally?"

Tartarus pondered for a moment, then, in a tone of utter desperation, hissed out, "Of course, I can be your most loyal ally! Have you ever heard of the Seal of the White Hall Knights?"

Gu Xechen’s heart constricted painfully. He recalled a matter Siren had told him about, dredging up old tales of the Tongulas family history.

Faint, pale-colored veins suddenly burst forth on Siren’s and Aredia’s foreheads. Their heart rates nearly matched Gu Xechen’s pace when fighting for his life. This violent throbbing surged blood throughout their systems, causing their vision to dim momentarily; several capillaries in their eyes suddenly ruptured.

Had they not immediately used their immense mental power to control their body's physiological response, they would have collapsed from sudden cardiac arrest. Gu Xechen looked at Siren, who was gritting her teeth back at him.

Gu Xechen then smiled with effortless ease. "The White Hall Knights? Apologies, I truly have no idea what that object pertains to. However, are you suggesting that by giving me that Seal, you would place yourself under my complete control? Very well. When I return to Earth, I expect to see the Seal of the White Hall Knights immediately."

Tartarus agreed to Gu Xechen's terms through gritted teeth; having all his honors trampled underfoot, the disgraced nobleman had no other choice!

Taking a deep breath, Gu Xechen stated calmly, "Then, as my most loyal ally, perhaps you would be willing to use some of the power you hold to assist me with a rather trivial matter? I have a list of traitors here. Please exile them all to the mines on the Ninth Colony Star. Do you object?"

Exile traitors? Tartarus nodded indifferently. As one of the key power figures in the Intelligence Bureau, banishing a million people was trivially easy; the Federal Council might even reward him for reducing the population pressure on Earth.

A list detailing every officer and soldier formerly subordinate to Uria within the Special Operations Bureau was sent by Gu Xechen to Tartarus. The entire Special Operations Bureau—officers and agents totaling over half a million, plus their families, amounting to several million people—had their fate decided in this moment, serving as the trading chip between Gu Xechen and Tartarus.

"Inferior goods must be phased out of the market as quickly as possible," Gu Xechen mused, stroking his chin. "I gave them a chance; they just didn't value it. With your authority, Tartarus, by the time we get back to Earth, this bunch of bastards should all be dumped onto immigration vessels, right?"

Turning, Gu Xechen smiled at the bearded commander. "Bearded Uncle, I can only pull manpower from the company now; the Special Operations Bureau is an empty shell!"

The bearded commander happily cradled a black Christo crystal orb, grinning broadly. "No problem, you're still a major shareholder in our Harde Company!"

Twenty-three days later, the heavily laden hunting fleet landed at the secret Special Operations Base in central Australia.

Tartarus had been highly efficient; all personnel in the secret base had already embarked on their journey of exile, leaving the complex as desolate as a ghost town.

Standing on the ramp, surveying the empty facility, Gu Xechen sighed dramatically toward the heavens, "Why must you force my hand? I haven't even finished the corporate restructuring of the Special Operations Bureau! Do these scoundrels not know that multinational corporations have performance bonuses? If the pay is low now, won't the future pay be even lower for you?"

"Stick with me obediently, and you’d be achieving success within two or three years! And now look? Exiled? Your whole family exiled? Damn it, you absolute brain-dead fools!"

After cursing the traitorous Special Operations personnel, Gu Xechen saw a young girl—fair-haired, blue-eyed, elegantly poised, clad in a white robe—slowly emerging from the base tower and walking directly toward him.

The white robe was embroidered with countless golden rose patterns along the cuffs and hem, and a golden cross nearly a meter long adorned her chest. This was the habit of a high-ranking cleric in the Church. Gu Xechen knew that within the Church, only one unit wore such a large golden cross habit and reported directly to the Pope: the Templar Knights!

"This is our Special Operations Base, Federal property. What business do you have here?" Gu Xechen frowned at the girl.

Dozens of white silhouettes flickered around them, clearly the girl’s companions. The ten hunting ships, still hovering, awaiting landing, sensed the shift in atmosphere. They ascended three thousand meters, powered up their energy shields to maximum, and their forward main cannons began to charge.

The girl looked gently at Gu Xechen and spoke with an ethereal voice, sounding like it descended from heaven, "Are you His Excellency Gu Xechen?"

Nodding firmly, Gu Xechen smiled. "Yes! What can I do for you?"

The girl nodded gently, smiling. "You led hundreds of young elites from the Asia Dao Alliance... to hunt near Pluto?"

After a moment of contemplation, Gu Xechen nodded. "Indeed. The most elite several hundred of the younger generation of the Asia Dao Alliance are aboard my flagship."

The girl smiled joyfully. She slowly drew a silver longsword, about one and a half meters in length, a palm's width across, yet thin as paper. With an effortless swing, she scattered a swath of silver holy light, and the girl chuckled, "Allow me to introduce myself. I am Angela, Commander of the Golden Rose Battalion of the Church’s Templar Knights, dispatched to pass the Final Judgment upon you sinners."

"Final Judgment?"... Little Daoist Zhang poked his head out from behind Gu Xechen, grinning ear to ear, "Little girl, go back and drink more milk before you start spinning tales!"

"Insolent!" Angela snapped angrily. Her white robe suddenly burst open, and two pure white, snow-like wings, spanning three meters wide, slowly unfurled behind her.

"Holy hell!"

Gu Xechen stared blankly, moaning weakly, "Damn God, I'm not your believer, but why is this oath so effective? Are angels really coming after me?"

A tremendous gust of wind echoed from a distance. Dozens of angels, each bearing wings just like hers, slowly rose from the ground around the base.

A look of arrogant disdain settled on the faces of these angels; as they looked toward the group, they clearly regarded Gu Xechen and his party as already dead.

Penghua poked his head out beside Gu Xechen, looking coldly at the angels in the sky, then suddenly shouted sharply, "What’s the big deal with a bunch of bird-people? Close the door, unleash the Master!"

The Corpse Emperor standing behind Penghua was utterly choked with exasperation!