Chapter 289 - 229: The Fishing Plan Against Mammon (Part 2)

Chapter 289: Chapter 229: The Fishing Plan Against Mammon (Part 2)

He even suspected the Goddess had lived so long she was just bored out of her mind, messing with dragons for fun.

’First, she finds a low-level Warrior to provoke me. Then, right when Zog is at his most arrogant and complacent, WHAM! She pulls out a cheat code and lets the Warrior get a comeback kill.’

’The Warrior was just playing weak to get the drop on him, and the villain, Zog, is left completely shocked.’

’The face-slapping cliché is complete.’

The one thing he never suspected was that the Goddess might actually be losing her power.

He mainly didn’t dare to test it. What if he did, and it turned out she was still going strong? The risk would be unbearable.

Now that someone else was testing the waters, Zog practically wanted to thank this group of former Soul Ascenders.

Of course, business was business.

Hijacking his Magic Vision Device to stir up trouble was still an offense. So, Zog decided that after these remnants were all wiped out, he’d go burn some paper money on their graves.

Whether this world even had such a custom was another question, but it was the thought that counted.

"So, what do you need me to do?"

"The way they performed their Casting wasn’t directly through the screen. They’ve laid down Magic Arrays in all the major cities. The symbols and prayers on the screen were just to activate those arrays."

"So the incident only broke out in a few major cities."

"Yes. They likely did it this way to avoid using traditional methods of activating a Magic Array, which would have led to them being tracked."

Zog nodded, indicating that he understood.

Every major city had an anti-magic array, one of the Mage Guild’s greatest achievements. The name sounded impressive, but its effect wasn’t as strong as completely prohibiting Casting.

It would just detect when someone was Casting within the city, provided the Magic being released was known to the Mage Guild. If someone tried to use overly dangerous Magic, even if they couldn’t find the Caster, they could quickly locate where the spell was cast.

This was why Mages tended to be on their best behavior in cities.

"And because your Demon Vision system uses too many different planes simultaneously when transmitting the video source, it’s difficult to determine where exactly they altered the feed."

"My fault, is it?" Zog retorted. "That’s to ensure a stable broadcast on the Magic Vision Devices! We have to use multiple planes at once."

"Understandable. But this situation does make it difficult for us to locate these heretics. Unless..."

"Unless?" Zog’s intuition told him nothing good was coming.

"Unless we let them do it again. We can pinpoint their location on the spot, right when they switch the video feed," the Bishop said, laying out the Church’s plan.

Zog’s eyes widened. "So you’re saying I have to risk turning nearly half the city into lunatics again, pretend nothing is wrong, and keep operating the Magic Vision Devices?"

"More or less." The Bishop also looked troubled. He knew that compared to what Zog had achieved on his trip to Hell, the Church’s plan would be hard for the Dragon to accept.

"You’re going fishing, and you want to use me as bait?"

"You can trust in the Church’s ability. If it happens again, we will definitely find the heretics as quickly as possible." The Bishop raised his hand in a pledge, a gesture indicating an oath sworn in the Goddess’s name.

Zog stopped tracing circles with his claws and thought for a moment.

"If this is the only way," Zog said, looking very reluctant, "fine, I accept."

"Thank you for your cooperation."

"So, theoretically, the sooner the Mammon Sect makes its second move, the sooner this whole thing will be over."

"Yes. The Church guarantees we will capture these heretics next time."

"You’d better."

Zog said as much, but in his mind, he was already planning something else.

’How can I make the Mammon Sect launch their next attack quickly?’

’It would be best to provoke them, to anger them. Make them think that I, Zog, am an arrogant, stupid Dragon—the kind of stupid Dragon who is only a tiny bit smarter than a White Dragon.’

An idea began to form in Zog’s mind.

"Alright, goodbye. I’m heading back to Twin Tower City. I’ve got another mess waiting for me there." Zog stood up to leave.

"It’s a pleasure to continue working with you." The Bishop also rose to see him off.

After all, part of the reason for his promotion was his familiarity with Zog.

His connection to the Dragon had elevated his status.

"I’m not exactly thrilled to keep working with you. If this were a novel, it’s like the author couldn’t be bothered to create a new side character, so they just dug you back up," Zog taunted.

"If that’s really the case, then at least the readers don’t have to remember another new character."

The Bishop didn’t get angry at Zog’s passive-aggressive barb.

"Ha, I didn’t realize you were a student of novels."

"Yes. To be precise, I also write novels," the Bishop said, a hint of pride in his voice.

"What do you write? I’ll have to give it a read sometime."

’Zog was just being polite. He had no interest in reading a novel written by an old man who had spent most of his life in the Church.’

"`Path of the Holy Teachings.` It’s on the forums."

’Of course it would have a name like that,’ Zog thought. ’I just didn’t expect it to be a web novel.’

The Bishop continued to describe his novel. "It’s about a modern-day Priest who accidentally travels back to the era of the god wars. He leads the development of science and technology, creates things like the Magic Vision Device, then uses the Shadow of Evil to preach the faith. He earns the Goddess’s favor and eventually becomes the Pope."

"Huh?"

Now Zog was truly shocked. And not just shocked—he was also a little intrigued.

"A historical time-travel story?"

"Oh, that’s an excellent summary. I’ve never known what genre to classify my novel as."

Zog shook his head. This world was just too ridiculous. A transmigration power fantasy, written by a Bishop.

’Oh, right, and there was also that young Priest obsessed with rage games.’

"You and Priest Andrei are like the hidden dragon and the soaring phoenix of the Twin Tower City Church."

"The hidden dragon and the soaring phoenix?"

"It’s a compliment," Zog said without turning back as he vanished into a portal.

「When he reappeared, he was back in the familiar Twin Tower City.」

The city seemed to be functioning again, but there were fewer pedestrians on the streets.

Most of them kept their heads down, walking quickly as if afraid of running into danger outside.

’Perhaps after such a serious incident, people are still afraid to go out.’

’Ah, and I forgot about the batch of unlucky souls who were turned into Tieflings. The reputation of the Tiefling race on this Continent is barely better than that of Devils themselves.’

’They’re basically associated with treachery, deceit, and crime.’

’To be honest, it’s a bit unfair. Because they have Devil’s blood, they’re already disliked by other races, so it’s nearly impossible for Tieflings to get into legitimate professions. They can only resort to shady business, which leads to even more discrimination, making it even harder for Tieflings to integrate into society...’

Zog returned to his corporate headquarters.

The employees were gathered in the lobby to welcome him, paying tribute to the good boss who had "braved great danger" to solve the problem.

Zog could see that he was missing some employees. They had also suffered during the incident.

Furin gave him a loving hug, which restored some of his energy and motivated him to get back to work.

"How are things in the city?" Zog asked.

"It’s okay. Everyone who was affected by the Illusion Technique has been cured. The employees who were injured or unfortunately died have been given compensation. It’s just that the ones who were turned into Tieflings are reluctant to leave their homes for work. Some have taken long leaves of absence, and others have resigned directly."

"Did you accept their resignations?"

Technically, a resignation doesn’t need approval. As long as you submit your notice a month in advance, you can leave when the time is up.

But by custom, there was still an approval process to ensure everyone parted on good terms and avoided any unnecessary bad blood.

"No. We’ve offered to hold their positions for them without pay. They can come back to work whenever they want. And those with financial difficulties can apply for several months of aid."

"Not bad. Did you arrange all this?"

"It wasn’t me, it was all Elsa. She’s been so busy these past few days she’s about to go crazy. She’s barely slept."

’Furin never imagined that this clumsy student of hers, who was so bad at Illusion Techniques, would have such a talent for this kind of thing.’

"Alright."

Zog entered his office. Elsa, the busy bee with greasy, slicked-back hair, was also there.

"Sorry, but you can’t take a vacation just yet."

"Why? You’re already back!" Elsa asked, very reluctantly.

"A raise."

"Your loyal Elsa is at your command!"

"What are our Magic Vision Devices broadcasting right now?"

"Just reruns of old programs. Nobody dares to turn on their Magic Vision Device right now."

’Just as I thought.’

"Here’s the plan. Publish announcements in all the newspapers and on all the websites, declaring that the problem has been solved and it’s safe to watch Demon Vision again. Then, add a function to cut off the signal to all Magic Vision Devices at a moment’s notice, and assign people to monitor it around the clock."

Zog thought for a moment, then added, "Also, prepare a special program. I’ll need a few Demons to act as captured members of the Mammon Sect."

"But Mammon is a Devil."

"It’s fine, people can’t tell the difference. Also, find someone who can represent the common people of Twin Tower City, preferably a victim of this incident. I’ll go pay them a visit, film the whole thing, and turn it into a show. We need to make it clear that we’re not worried about another signal hijacking."

Zog was getting ready to go fishing.

This was easy to arrange. A few hours later, Elsa returned with the results.

The chosen person was a man named Old Mike.