The Vatican had a very precise position throughout the world.
It was not only the most influential religion but also the most successful one in the world.
But the Vatican’s position in the Dark World was somewhat vague.
A force, an organization, and a country.
The blurred position made the Vatican in the Dark World extremely mysterious, but no one could deny that if the Vatican was cla.s.sified as a force, it would definitely be one of the most horrible forces in the Dark World.
Every super force was extremely powerful. Experts of the Invincible Realm, solid foundation, mature operation mechanism, and even murderous weapons were the key factors to determine whether a force was a super force or not.
However, there was also a difference between the super forces.
Perhaps the gap between them was not very big, but no matter how small it was, it was still a real gap.
If we compared the current super forces in the Dark World in detail, the Vatican might be the only colossus that could stand shoulder to shoulder with the w.a.n.g family of Beihai now.
That was the top force in the Dark World.
And the one who was slightly inferior to the Vatican and the w.a.n.g family of Beihai should be the Lin Clan, which had been living in seclusion.
However, the Lin Clan had always been reclusive, so it did not exist in the hearts of the super forces.
Behind the Lin Clan were the Shadow Throne of Rothschild, the Jiang family of South America, and the Polar Ground Alliance before the collapse.
And then, there were Dark Knights, the Fantasy World, and the Heroes’ Club.
The last one was the Purgatory of Heaven Capital, which rose rapidly three years ago. Its strength was strong, but its foundation was unstable, and its operating mechanism was not mature enough.
The first-tier forces in the Dark World came after the Purgatory of Heaven Capital.
Among them, the Samsara Palace was one of the craziest and most spectacular in recent years. The Master of Samsara Palace with absolutely strong strength, 12 loyal Super Masters, the obtainment of the murderous weapon Blue Sky Underworld—all these made the Samsara Palace more and more perfect. But the most fatal flaw was the lack of a foundation that could make them develop.
So now the Samsara Palace looked like a castle in the air that seemed extremely gorgeous but was about to collapse at any time. It couldn’t be counted as one of the super forces.
Similar to the Samsara Palace, there were many first-tier forces in the Dark World that were both extremely powerful but also had defects.
For example, the four families in Eastern Europe could be cla.s.sified in this category.
Sigh City in Zhongzhou State was also a first-tier force.
There were more second-tier forces below the first-tier ones.
Jade Pool, Mount Shu, and Asura Path in Zhongzhou State.
Wuji Palace, Jifeng Sword-reining School, and Liuhuo Palace in East Island.
The killer groups and mercenary groups that could ignore national borders.
Even the European Shadow Throne and the former Polar Ground Alliance were super forces formed by many first-tier and second-tier forces.
Aside from these major forces with transcendent status in their own fields, the power center—the Special Warfare System of all countries, was another system.
Kunlun City, the Men in Black… Each country had its own special warfare hub.
That was the current pattern of the Dark World.
There were three super forces in the Dark World that could be regarded as special warfare hubs.
The Shadow Throne was the special warfare hub of the EU. The reason was complicated and special.
The Purgatory of Heaven Capital was the special warfare hub of East Island, which was also the result of East Island’s compromise in the face of great pressure.
The last one was the Vatican.
The Vatican could be whatever you said it was.
If you said that the Vatican was a super force, then it was a super force.
If you said that the Vatican was a religion, it was a religion.
If you said the Vatican was a country, then it was a country.
If you said that the Vatican was a special warfare hub…
It was a country by itself, and it was also the special warfare hub.
It was the only force in the Dark World with a history of more than two thousand years.
A long history meant the most stable and mature mechanism, magnificent and incomparable.
In the history of nearly five hundred years, there were only two forces that had always stood at the peak of the Dark World. One was the w.a.n.g family of Beihai, and the other was the Vatican.
Even if Rothschild had produced two Popes, the Vatican was still the Vatican.
That was the most terrifying part of it. It was unshakable and irreplaceable!
Rothschild failed to replace the Vatican.
But the family had once produced two Popes, so it could be said that they understood the power of the Vatican the best.
The interior of the Vatican had always been extremely mysterious.
Even the other super forces had limited knowledge of it.
Some of their duties were put on the table publicly.
The bishop group was the spokesperson for the Vatican, aboveboard and positive.
The Holy Disarmament Corps was the strongest armed force of the Vatican, responsible for eliminating heretics.
The Holy Punishment Priest Group was responsible for brainwashing.
Their duties were very clear, but yet they were very vague.
But Rothschild clearly understood the specific responsibilities of the various organizations within the Vatican.
The Holy Punishment Priest Group’s duty was to control instead of brainwashing.
To control and trial.
The most comprehensive control could be achieved in many ways, and all the measures were the duties of the Holy Punishment Priest Group.
The most important thing was that despite having left the position of Pope for centuries, Rothschild still had p.a.w.ns that could play an important role in various departments of the Vatican till now.
Prance said that Patriarch Johnson Jodl of the Jodl family was Priest Hall in the Holy Punishment Priest group.
The Jodl family was one of the traditional wealthy families in the British Empire and had a close relationship with the royal family. In the whole of Europe, the Jodl family could not be regarded as a family of first-tier strength, but it was much stronger than the second-tier forces. It could be said to be one of the most core parts of the Shadow Throne.
Johnson Jodl was the patriarch of the Jodl family.
If his true ident.i.ty was Priest Hall of the Vatican…
KingTong felt that she shouldn’t believe Prance’s nonsense.
How could a person in charge of the military intelligence of a country, which might not even be considered a third-tier one in Europe, casually reveal the most important secret of the Vatican?
However, KingTong had truly heard of the name Priest Hall.
Hall.
He was one of the nine Red-clad Priests of the Holy Punishment Priest Group and one of the most important a.s.sistants of the Holy Virgin, who controlled the Holy Punishment Priest Group. His code name was Illusion. He was good at camouflage, lurking, and hypnosis.
In the entire Vatican, he was an influential Red-clad Priest, and his status was not inferior to that of the well-known cardinal in the Vatican.
KingTong glanced at Johnson Jodl with a gloomy look in her eyes.
There was no panic or disbelief on Johnson Jodl’s face. When he heard General Prance’s words, all he showed was his anger.
“Enough! General Prance, you have to be responsible for every word you’ve said. In the near future, the whole Wulan State will pay for your stupid behavior today.”
His gaze was tough and hot. “It’s a heavy price to pay.”
Prance began to laugh, and then he said an inexplicable sentence, “High Priest Hall, someone told me many years ago that we had a drink by the Lengsen Lake.”
Johnson sneered and only felt it a bit ridiculous. He had never been to the extremely famous Lengsen Lake in Eastern Europe.
“But now it seems that we won’t have another chance to drink together. I’ll miss that pot of wine.”
Prance whispered, “Your Highness KingTong, you can doubt my words, but you have the chance to prove them. The real patriarch of the Jodl family has been secretly a.s.sa.s.sinated by the Vatican half a year ago, replaced by High Priest Hall. He should not have time to undergo the most thorough plastic surgery. If you can remove the mask on his face, I believe you will be able to obtain enough surprises.”
Johnson closed his eyes very quickly, covering up all his emotions for a moment.
Then he turned around, looked at KingTong, and asked seriously, “Your Highness, do you believe in me?”
KingTong was silent for a moment.
Johnson was merely a Half-step Invincible Realm expert.
If KingTong wanted to verify his ident.i.ty, it would not be difficult.
But now…
KingTong looked at Johnson.
There was a calm look in Johnson’s eyes.
Elvain, another senior member of the Shadow Throne, was quietly looking at the pale Poppy.
Poppy was looking at KingTong, with undisguised pleading in her eyes.
Countless uneven breathing sounds came from behind her.
At this moment, KingTong suddenly realized that the moment Prance spoke, the whole situation was no longer under her control.
After Wulan State attacked the Shadow Throne, the killing intent gathered by the Shadow Throne surprisingly dropped to the lowest point. At this time, everyone was frightened and looked at their companions with suspicion.
Everyone had a demon in their hearts.
When this demon was ready to move, everyone considered the other people demons.
KingTong suddenly felt a little powerless.
In her sight, Johnson’s face was sincere and yet fake.
But at this moment, KingTong really did not have the courage to do anything.
To remove the mask?
Or without a mask?
The second result was undoubtedly the best.
But if the first result were to happen, tonight’s Shadow Throne would be bound to be wiped out.
Most importantly, she really had heard of Priest Hall.
“Prance provoked the Shadow Throne.”
KingTong gritted her teeth and said word by word, “Kill him!”
She really didn’t dare to take off the mask on Johnson’s face.
She just wanted to end everything tonight.
However, what she didn’t know was that given her personality, the fact that she didn’t nail Prance’s lie on the spot was an extremely abnormal matter in the eyes of others.
As a result, the morale of the elites in the Shadow Throne weakened once again instead of condensing.
The close-up of KingTong’s facial expression was playing on the huge screen.
On countless small screens, there were the close-ups of the expressions of every senior member of the Shadow Throne.
All the subtle expressions of each of them were clearly shown on the screens.
In the last military truck of the army of Wulan State, Prance watched everything silently through the screens.
He saw panic, horror, confusion, doubt, and fear on these people’s faces, as well as hatred and cruelty.
Prance chuckled. He liked these emotions.
That was exactly what he wanted to see the most tonight.
“Their hearts are in chaos.”
Prance said slowly, “General Jack, you can allow your army to attack.”
Prance was not the commander of tonight’s operation.
General Jack, the trusted subordinate of Prime Minister Reeker, was the true commander. However, with the arrival of Prance, Prance naturally got the commanding rights here.
“Ah? Well, okay.” General Jack replied confusedly, but his eyes didn’t look away from Prance. His eyes were full of disbelief, as if it was not until tonight that he had really seen the true color of Prance, the minister of the Military Intelligence Department.
“Minister…”
Jack hesitated and couldn’t help but ask, “How did you do that?”
“What?”
Prance was slightly startled. His appearance was extremely ordinary, but he looked gentle and elegant, seeming extremely modest.
Jack pointed to the extremely complicated faces of the members in the Shadow Throne on the screen.
Prance chuckled and then said softly, “It’s quite simple. Let them suspect each other and fear each other. Naturally, we can weaken their combat capability and reduce our losses in this way. For example, Poppy. She is one of KingTong’s most trusted subordinates, but trust is sometimes cheap. I know a few things that only the two of them know. I just casually revealed them, and there was a rift between them.”
The corner of Jack’s mouth twitched, and he had nothing to say.
The principle was very simple, but the problem was, how could Prance possibly know the secret that only KingTong and Poppy knew?
Prance said with a smile, “Don’t forget my job. I’m working on intelligence.”
Jack thought about High Priest Hall and asked with a wry smile, “Could it be that your intelligence has gone deep into the Vatican’s top secrets?”
“That’s a coincidence.”
Prance calmed down for a while before saying blandly, “My host saw the Vatican’s heretic list some time ago. It was a list made half a year ago. The Jodl family is one of the families that oppose the Vatican most in Europe, but Patriarch Johnson’s name is not on the list. Isn’t that enough to explain the problem?”
“This…”
Jack was stunned. He didn’t expect anyone other than the Vatican to be able to read the list kept by the Pope, nor did he expect that Prance would have a master as well.
“Minister, you…”
Jack was a little hesitant.
“General Jack, now we can get to know each other again.”
Prance reached out with a smile and whispered, “I’m Prance, the minister of the Military Intelligence Department of Wulan State. I’m affiliated with the Samsara Palace, and I’m also in charge of the intelligence in Eastern Europe of the Samsara Palace.”
Jack swallowed hard and finally understood everything.
All the information just now came from the Samsara Palace.
He remembered what Prance had just explained.
Looking through the Vatican’s heretic list.
This reason could explain many problems.
But that was not a good one.
Nevertheless…
It didn’t matter to him at all.
Jack looked at Prance and asked tentatively, “Attack?”
News of the strange death of Carlos, the previous president of Wulan State, as well as that of his family, had begun to spread throughout Wulan State.
Everyone knew how cruel it was.
Now Jack had been forced to get involved, so he knew very well what all this meant tonight.
It was equivalent to another Date of Death.
Victory or defeat was about life and death.
On the Date of Death, Li Tianlan won, so President Carlos died.
If the Shadow Throne won today, tomorrow, everyone would end up as miserably as Carlos, including himself, Reeker, and even Li Tianlan.
That was the struggle in the Dark World.
There were blood, lies, and sins between the winner and the loser.
Jack looked at the faces of the elites in the Shadow Throne on the screen. His indecision subsided slowly, and he even gained a little more confidence.
“What do you think?”
Prance looked at Jack with a calm smile.
Jack nodded, and without hesitation, he picked up the walkie-talkie and roared, “Wulan State! Attack! Kill them all!”
Prance watched the army of Wulan State suddenly begin to charge quietly. Amidst the overwhelming gunshots, he laughed softly.
Everyone had a demon in their hearts.
That was especially true for forces like the Shadow Throne.
Tonight, Wulan State was bound to win.
However, it would definitely not be Wulan State which was able to devour the Shadow Throne in the future.
Instead, it would be the shadow and the demon that hid in the heart of everyone in the Shadow Throne.
