Chapter 359: Event: The King Arrives

Noan didn’t rush to teleport back to the Chaotic Zone. Instead, he went to find Billy.

At that moment, Billy was still in his lab, speaking with someone. Suddenly, he sensed something and hurried to his private chamber.

After shutting the door and carefully confirming that no one else was present, he said quickly, "I’m here."

A moment later, Noan appeared before him, looking straight at him. "Anything unusual lately?" he asked.

Hearing the question, Billy sighed softly. "A lot. First, the Jankos Family can’t sit still anymore—they’re planning to overthrow the Empress."

"Hm?!" Noan’s eyes widened in shock. "You’re serious?"

"Haiz..." Billy exhaled deeply. "Yes. They’re forcing me to mass-produce mechanical-type Heroes to resist the Royal Army. It’s nearly impossible, but they’ve taken my wife as a hostage."

"Ah!" Billy suddenly realized something and added quickly, "Don’t worry, I never revealed Noralia’s location. Even when they asked, I told them I didn’t know."

"Besides, that place is extremely secret. It’s shielded with radar jammers—they’ll never find it. And even if they do, Noralia can escape through a hidden tunnel out of the city."

Hearing that, Noan nodded slightly, feeling more at ease. After all, Noralia had already told him about the Insect Clan’s plan—its key figures seemed to be Noralia, Lylia, and Jankos.

For now, Lylia was still in the Chaotic Zone and safe, but Noralia was the one in danger—and he couldn’t bring her into that zone with him.

Returning to the present, Noan frowned. "They actually dare to rebel? You do realize the Empress is practically invincible. The Royal Army itself is terrifying."

Billy shook his head and sighed. "I don’t know where they’re getting their courage—or their confidence. But they probably won’t move for a while yet."

Noan frowned again and nodded slowly. He was beginning to understand why they dared to act. Rebellion was an unthinkable act—no one had ever attempted it before.

If this were an ordinary world, such a rebellion might still have a chance of success, especially if meticulously planned.

But this world was different.

Here, only the strongest could sit on the throne. Empress Catherine, the mightiest Lord alive—her power was immeasurable. In fact, no one had ever truly seen the full extent of her strength.

Yet those people dared to rebel. That could only mean one thing—someone existed whose power rivaled or even surpassed Catherine’s.

And there was only one such being Noan knew of—the Insect Queen.

If she had taken possession of Vylyss’s body, she was likely even stronger than before.

Noan sighed softly. "Billy, if you get the chance, run. This matter involves terrifying secrets you can’t even begin to imagine."

Billy’s eyes widened in disbelief. "There’s something even worse behind all this? Don’t tell me..."

He rubbed his chin, frowning. "No wonder those bastards dare to rebel. So there really is a terrifying being pulling the strings."

"Hm?!" Noan was surprised—he hadn’t expected Billy to know about the Insect Queen.

"It must be the people from the Phoenix Guild."

"Phoenix Guild?" Noan had expected Billy to mention the Insect Queen, but when he heard a different name, he felt a strange sense of confusion.

"That’s right," Billy nodded. "The Phoenix Guild is made up of extremely powerful Lords who disagreed with Catherine’s rule. They left the city and the Safe Zones, venturing into the ’Singularity Points’ to operate there."

At that moment, Noan suddenly remembered Isabella, thinking to himself:

It seems she was also from the Phoenix Guild.

He let out a long sigh, feeling both troubled and bewildered. Too many factions, too many secrets, too many conflicts.

It was as if this world was balanced on a delicate thread of equilibrium, maintaining the current peace.

Or perhaps... this so-called peace only existed because of Catherine’s overwhelming power.

People feared her strength, which was why they didn’t dare to attack the Safe Zones. But if she were ever to falter...

Noan shook his head, refusing to think further. The more he pondered, the deeper his fear grew.

"Anything else?" Noan asked.

Billy rubbed his chin. "Simon and his family are still actively searching for Noralia, but as I said, that place is secure. They won’t find her."

Noan nodded. "Austin’s doing well. He’s no longer a Lord, but he’s found another path."

Billy’s heart trembled slightly, but seeing Noan’s calm expression, he quickly asked, "Will he live well?"

Noan shook his head. "That depends on his own effort. But... you have quite a special son."

"Heh?!" Billy froze, beads of sweat forming on his forehead. "In a good way or a bad way?"

"Both."

"You mean..."

"He’ll become a significant figure in the flow of history. And because of that, he’ll face countless dangers," Noan said honestly.

Billy only half understood, but he could tell Noan wasn’t lying.

"Then... I hope you’ll look after him when you can," Billy said sincerely with a heavy sigh.

Noan nodded once, then vanished instantly.

Billy stood there silently in the room, whispering: "Austin, if your mother and I die... you must live."

...

Noan returned to the Chaotic Zone this time.

The moment he appeared in the room, he saw Violette and Maisy, and felt a bit weary: "I’m not in the mood today, you two should—"

"Master!" Both of them suddenly bowed, their expressions oddly different.

Noan noticed something too and frowned: "What’s wrong?"

Maisy spoke up: "Garek — you remember him, right?"

Noan nodded: "What’s he done?"

"I don’t know whether he’s lucky or cursed." Violette crossed her arms, her face a mix of confusion and disbelief. "Some say he became an Orc King, and there are magic sigils on his body radiating strange light."

"That’s right." Maisy continued: "He can even break a 10-meter tree with a single punch. But... the weird part is all his High Orcs have completely vanished — there’s nobody left."

Hearing that, Noan understood: that idiot must’ve obtained some Fortuitous Encounter and directly replaced parts of his body with Orc King components to grow stronger and prolong his life.

He waved a hand dismissively: "He’s just an ant, you don’t need to worry. How are we doing with managing the other lords?"

Maisy and Violette exchanged glances, then dropped the topic of Garek and only reported some basic information to Noan.

After they finished reporting, Maisy suddenly asked: "Master, the new event — what are your plans?"

"New event?" Noan tilted his head, puzzled.

Violette also looked at him in confusion and asked: "Master, didn’t you receive the new event notice from the System?"

Hearing that, Noan immediately opened the System information panel; indeed there was a notification he hadn’t read.

’Weird — why didn’t I hear the new-event alert?’ Noan thought. ’Could it be because I was outside the Chaos Zone so the System didn’t trigger?’

He opened the unread notice, and an information board appeared before him.

...

Event: The King Arrives.

Description: In this event, any lord who can recruit half of the lords in the same region as slaves will receive the title ’King’.

The slave function temporarily expands slots to unlimited.

Title ’King’: Grants a 50% increase to the power of all your soldiers and heroes and opens a personal safe zone. Depending on how quickly the event is completed, this title can be upgraded.

Note: After becoming a ’King’, you cannot personally fight; you can only command soldiers and Heroes to fight. A ’King’ only fights directly if there is a pact with other kings.

...

’King’... an event that, although he could likely win, signaled a new war approaching.

If every region can only have one ’King’, then soon there will be countless wars between those ’Kings’.

He glanced at Maisy and Violette and smiled: "Act at maximum speed — make all surviving lords accept slavery under me."

"Yes, Master!"