**Chapter 14: Main Quest Changes**
"I originally thought this world was just an ordinary technological world, but I didn't expect there to be such things..."
Thinking of the terrifying scene they had witnessed today, Zhou Ming and Yang Zhisheng still felt lingering fear.
"This massive explosion has truly brought too many things to light."
"The Cronus Organization self-destructed its base, all its high-ranking members disappeared, nearly a hundred people were killed or injured, and even demons appeared."
"It even changed our main mission. The waters of this world run deep."
Yang Zhisheng and Yu Man both sighed, while Zhou Ming gave a wry smile.
"The main mission has been changed."
"Eliminate the remaining members of the Cronus Organization. For every one of the nine high-ranking members eliminated, gain 500 reward points. For every one still alive upon return, deduct 500 reward points. Current progress: 1/9."
"Side mission triggered: God and Demon World."
"Obtain the Pen of Destiny, the Horn of the Demon, and the Stone of Death. For each item obtained at the end of the mission, gain 3000 reward points, with a chance to trigger a follow-up mission. If no items are obtained at the end of the mission, deduct 5000 reward points."
"If all three extraordinary items are obtained, the follow-up mission 'God and Demon Overture' will inevitably be triggered."
"Due to the mission difficulty exceeding the expected difficulty for this world mission, temporarily gain a special buff: Eye of the World. You can view the location of any mission target once per hour, regardless of the person. All reincarnators share the cooldown time for this buff."
This was Yang Zhisheng and Yu Man's mission list. It had nothing to do with Zhou Ming, whose mission remained unchanged from beginning to end.
The change in their missions also meant that Zhou Ming had lost the possibility of continuing to follow them.
Because in the past few hours, Yang Zhisheng and Yu Man had already used the Eye of the World buff multiple times to determine the locations of several mission targets.
Among the three extraordinary items, the Pen of Destiny and the Stone of Death were together, located in the Golsa Great Desert of Yanzhou, thousands of miles away.
The Golsa Great Desert was equivalent to the Sahara Desert on Earth from Zhou Ming's previous life—the most vast desert in this world.
As for the other item, the Horn of the Demon, it was moving rapidly along with several high-ranking members of the Cronus Organization, whose locations had also been scouted by the Eye of the World, and their destination was precisely the Golsa Great Desert.
And according to information obtained from interrogating assassins earlier, a reliable speculation about the location of the Council Organization's headquarters was the Golsa Great Desert.
Thus, the situation suddenly became much clearer.
The high-ranking members of the Cronus Organization, carrying extraordinary items, were heading to the Council Organization's headquarters, clearly intending to fully integrate into the Council Organization.
If Yang Zhisheng and Yu Man wanted to complete their mission, they absolutely had to go to the Golsa Great Desert and venture into the Council Organization's headquarters, which was comparable to a dragon's den.
Such an action would be a near-death experience even for two experienced reincarnators, so they would certainly not act rashly.
They would definitely wait until their injuries were healed and their condition returned to peak before taking action.
The reincarnators' mission time was thirty days, giving them ample time to recover.
Zhou Ming, however, only had ten days, making it impossible for him to waste the last few days here waiting for them to slowly recover. He couldn't keep up with their actions.
This time, participating in the mission of two experienced reincarnators—since it wasn't his own main mission—the Main God Space didn't display specific data, so Zhou Ming couldn't be sure how much he would gain.
To maximize his gains, he could only rush back to Hemahe Island and continue participating in his own main mission.
The remaining time was five days.
"It's full of difficulties." Zhou Ming sighed.
He was currently a wanted man. He couldn't take a plane, nor could he go to crowded places. How to get back to Hemahe Island was a problem in itself.
The sixth day in this world was a day for healing.
The Grass Root Gu was only a One-turn Gu, with limited healing abilities, powerless against Zhou Ming's gunshot wounds, internal injuries, and bone fractures.
Fortunately, there was still Yu Man's healing ninjutsu, as well as various medicines brought by the two experienced reincarnators from the Main God Space.
In just one day, Zhou Ming had transformed from a heavily injured cripple into a pale-faced, recovering patient, fully capable of normal activities.
However, his combat power had inevitably decreased. It was fine against ordinary people—even if he could only use one hand, it would just be a matter of one or two shots. But if he encountered someone of the level of a Cronus assassin, it would be quite dangerous.
On the seventh day, Zhou Ming boarded a ship for illegal immigrants.
The ship was arranged by a local smuggler found by Yu Man. Under a dual assault of money and force, Zhou Ming successfully boarded the ship and left Sao Country.
Eighteen hours later, Zhou Ming returned to Hemahe Island without incident. It was already the eighth day, with two days remaining until the mission's end.
Two hours later, Zhou Ming walked into the lobby of the Midsummer Coast Hotel.
Sao Country's wanted order couldn't reach here, so Zhou Ming didn't need to hide. He walked in openly, not attracting any particular attention.
Then, Zhou Ming took the elevator directly to the seventh floor and knocked on the door of room 705.
Room 705 was He Yunxiao's room, one of the three newcomers with him. Zhou Ming's own room was 704.
Before returning, Zhou Ming had already contacted He Yunxiao and the others in advance and learned about their experiences over the past few days.
In summary, it was two words: miserable.
The departure of the two experienced reincarnators had left the three, who had not yet completed their mental transformation, with a severe lack of security, gradually leading to panic. This kept them constantly uneasy—sometimes worrying about Adele being assassinated, sometimes worrying about themselves being killed by assassins. They couldn't sleep or eat well, practically on the verge of a nervous breakdown.
This situation continued until the day before yesterday, when assassins again launched an attack on Adele. The three mustered all their courage to fight back, resulting in Zhang Changlin being seriously injured and He Yunxiao lightly injured. Only Zhao Ting, who was too scared to act, came out completely unscathed.
And that assassin, under the combined efforts of Zhang Changlin and He Yunxiao, was injured and retreated, not appearing again all of yesterday.
To care for the two injured, Zhao Ting could only abandon her guardianship of Adele. Fortunately, the assassin did not continue to act, otherwise their main mission would probably have failed by now.
Looking at He Yunxiao, who had a bandage on his arm and a somewhat pale face, Zhou Ming could only offer a few words of comfort. He then asked about Zhang Changlin's condition and, learning that he was in the hospital and no longer in life-threatening danger, didn't inquire further.
Ultimately, he didn't have much friendship with the three of them, so he naturally couldn't bring himself to show excessive concern or inquire about their well-being.
"There's still over two days left. I'll protect Adele for these two days. You should get some good rest."
Leaving this last remark, Zhou Ming left He Yunxiao's room and headed upstairs.
Adele's room was the presidential suite, located on the top floor of the hotel.
Zhou Ming took the elevator up and immediately saw two tall, burly bodyguards standing outside Adele's door in the hallway. Before Zhou Ming could get close, two pairs of eyes stared directly at him.
These two bodyguards were two of the four bodyguards who had been protecting Adele when Zhou Ming first arrived in this world and saw her on the beach.
The two men had good memories. They had only seen Zhou Ming once, yet they remembered him. However, they still didn't let Zhou Ming approach, extending their hands to block the door.
"Aren't you supposed to be secretly protecting young miss Adele? What are you doing up here?"
"I want to see young miss Adele and ask her a few things," Zhou Ming said with a smile.
"Young miss Adele is busy right now and doesn't want to see you," the bodyguard on the left said coldly, his face a poker mask.
The one on the right directly mocked, "You almost let young miss Adele get into danger last time. You're doing your job so poorly, and you still have the nerve to see young miss Adele?"
During the assassination attempt the day before yesterday, the assassin's bullet had almost hit Adele. Although Zhang Changlin and He Yunxiao had fought desperately, Adele's impression of them had still plummeted.
From the words of these two bodyguards, one could tell how displeased Adele was with them.
"My apologies. Last time was an accident. I can explain." Zhou Ming wasn't angered, still calmly saying, "This time, I indeed have something I want to ask young miss Adele. Perhaps it can solve the assassination problem once and for all."
"I said, young miss Adele is busy right now and doesn't want to see you, nor does she have time to see you." The two bodyguards wouldn't budge.
"If you want to see young miss Adele, wait for us to speak with her. If she agrees, we'll notify you to come over. For now, please go back."
Zhou Ming's eyes narrowed, and a killing intent naturally emanated from him.
"I just want to see young miss Adele. You're obstructing me in every possible way. Could it be that you've already been bribed and have imprisoned young miss Adele?"
The two bodyguards flew into a rage. The one on the left shouted, "What nonsense are you spouting? Get out of here."
As he spoke, he reached out to grab Zhou Ming's shoulder, but Zhou Ming was faster. He grabbed the outstretched hand with both of his and twisted it sideways, causing the bodyguard to grimace in pain, his body involuntarily tilting with the twist of his hand.
His companion beside him immediately came to help, raising his fist to smash at Zhou Ming. Zhou Ming, still holding the left bodyguard's hand, took a step back, moving the bodyguard's body, which perfectly blocked the incoming fist.
Zhou Ming released his left hand, reached out, and grabbed the right bodyguard's fist that had struck the left bodyguard. With a pull and a tug, the two bodyguards lost their balance and fell to the ground in the same direction.
The floor was covered with thick carpet, and the two heavy bodies landing on it only made a muffled "thud" sound, without much commotion.
The two still tried to struggle to their feet, but Zhou Ming directly drew his gun and aimed it at them.
"Gentlemen, your actions against me have only deepened my suspicion. Now, only by letting me in and seeing young miss Adele safe and sound with my own eyes can I be at ease. What do you say?"
Facing the black muzzle of the gun, the two immediately cowered.
It wasn't that they were unprofessional. From a status perspective, Zhou Ming was their colleague, and any conflict between them was an internal matter.
Moreover, Zhou Ming's gun had a silencer. Eliminating the two, while not exactly a grand spectacle, could certainly be described as silent. If he had any malicious intent, there would have been no need for him to say anything, and the two wouldn't be sitting on the ground unharmed.