Descent of The Demon Master [EN]: Chapter 1955

“Wait, just a moment…”

Wiggins stopped speaking, clutching at his chest.

His lips were pressed together as if he couldn’t easily speak, and his face was filled with an indescribable shock.

“A nuclear missile launch facility… an ICBM [Intercontinental Ballistic Missile]?”

“That’s impossible. Missiles and nuclear warheads aren’t stored in the same place to begin with. And launching a nuclear missile requires numerous approvals. To input the launch command, there needs to be a key…”

“Calm down.”

Kang Jin-ho said curtly, watching Wiggins begin to ramble.

“There’s no way that guy doesn’t know that.”

“If he wasn’t fully prepared, he wouldn’t have started. He’s moving because he’s finished preparing. That’s the Black King.”

Kang Jin-ho stared at the Black King on the screen with a calm gaze.

‘I wondered what he was waiting for…’

The Black King wasn’t the type to waste so much time just to wait for Kang Jin-ho to exist in this world. Of course, that was definitely one of the reasons, but he must have been waiting for his plan to mature.

Time would have been more than enough for him.

He had waited for nearly a hundred years until he could perfectly obtain every element without a single error.

“That’s an absurd scale.”

In many ways, in many ways.

“The key!”

But Wiggins couldn’t stand it without confirming this fact. He almost yelled at the chief secretary and the aide behind him.

“What happened to the key! The launch codes? Did that guy secure them?”

“The key…”

The chief secretary’s face was completely drained of color.

The chief secretary’s face was as white as a corpse, and he forced himself to continue speaking, his chin trembling.

“T-the launch codes require three keys to open.”

“Three?”

“Yes… One is held by the base commander, who is the chief of the launch site, another by the commander of the People’s Liberation Army Rocket Force, and the last one… is held by the chairman. Each of the three is accompanied by someone carrying a bag containing the key, never leaving their side…”

Wiggins’ eyes shook momentarily.

“The base commander… since the base was captured, he must have had his key taken, but what about the Rocket Force commander? Ah, no, since the chairman is here…”

Wiggins closed his mouth.

The person carrying the bag with the key never leaves their side. Then where is that person now?

“…Did that person come to the bunker?”

“I’m asking if you brought that person to the bunker!”

“N-no, they didn’t.”

Sweat broke out on Wiggins’ forehead.

“Then what about the Rocket Force commander?”

“…I heard a little while ago that he was assassinated…”

Wiggins closed his eyes.

‘So that’s what it was.’

What’s the best way to hide a plan?

Make them believe another plan is the real one.

The Black King had been assassinating high-ranking Chinese officials for some time. Wiggins thought that this series of actions was a warning to prevent them from responding to the terrorism they were carrying out, and at the same time, a ploy to corner and capture the chairman.

But that was exactly the Black King’s intention.

From the start, the Black King had no interest in the chairman, nor did he care about threats to high-ranking officials. What he was aiming for were the keys held by the commander and the chairman. That was all.

“That damn…”

Wiggins tore at his hair.

Now that he knew, it was clear. Why the things the Black King had done so far had flowed in this way, it was so obvious that it was stranger that he hadn’t noticed it.

But until just a moment ago, he couldn’t even imagine it.

‘Can a person do something like this?’

Looking back, the attacks on civilians, the collapse of buildings, and the bold attempts on the chairman were all just performances to give the impression that they were trying to overthrow the world with force without a grand plan.

He had been deceived by it.

No, he had no choice but to be deceived.

Who could have imagined that a mere martial artist would plot such an absurd thing?

No matter how hard a frog in a well tries to think, how could it know the vision of a hawk flying in the sky? [A Chinese idiom meaning someone with a limited perspective cannot understand someone with a broader view.]

Since the premises are different from the start, there’s no way to guess.

Step, step, step.

A person slowly walked into the room.

“I’ve confirmed it.”

The people in the room turned their heads to look at the person who had entered.

Lee Hyun-soo walked in with a stiff face and reported to Kang Jin-ho.

“The people around the assassinated commander were also wiped out. We searched the area, but we couldn’t find the bag containing the key.”

“And the chairman’s key escort who was waiting at the presidential palace is also missing. Probably…”

“Dead, bribed, or brainwashed.”

“Yes. It seems so.”

Kang Jin-ho shook his head.

That guy is always like this.

Even Kang Jin-ho, who thought he knew him best, couldn’t imagine the things he did so casually.

In terms of predicting people’s actions and staying ahead, the King of Creation might be superior to the Black King. No, if you consider it from the perspective of a strategist, the King of Creation is definitely better than the Black King.

Nevertheless, Kang Jin-ho didn’t think that the King of Creation could face the Black King.

If the King of Creation is a game master, the Black King is a game changer. Those who move within the rules can never face him.

Just like now.

“In other words…”

Lee Hyun-soo bit his lip and spoke again.

“There’s a high probability that what that guy is saying is not a bluff. If he planned this far in advance, he would have already finished securing the personnel and eliminating the variables for launching the missiles.”

“The power to destroy the world is in his hands.”

Those words pierced the hearts of everyone present.

The power to destroy the world.

That wasn’t a figurative expression, but a physical reality.

“Chief Secretary.”

Lee Hyun-soo handed the documents in his hand to the chief secretary.

“I’ve identified the missile bases that are not currently responding to normal communications. Please verify the information. I don’t have the authority to access it.”

The chief secretary snatched the documents from Lee Hyun-soo’s hand and began to flip through them frantically.

“How many nuclear warheads and ICBMs are there at that base right now?”

“Officially, China has about 320 nuclear weapons. But we all know that’s not all of them. This is an emergency situation. How many nuclear weapons are there inside?”

The chief secretary looked back at the chairman with a trembling face. Then the chairman nodded silently.

Only after receiving permission did the chief secretary stammer and open his mouth. He looked flustered, not befitting his high position, but no one could blame him now.

“A-as far as I know, there are about 30 ICBMs and 20 nuclear warheads at that location…”

Lee Hyun-soo closed his eyes tightly.

‘Damn it.’

No one but a fool would put all their nuclear weapons in one place. And China has at least dozens of missile launch facilities.

He had hoped for the minimum number, but the mention of 20 missiles took away his last hope.

“What are the types of ICBMs?”

“The types are…”

“Are they the latest models?”

The chief secretary swallowed hard and said,

“There are Dongfengs [lit. ‘East Wind’ – a series of Chinese ballistic missiles]. The Dongfeng-41 and the recently deployed Dongfeng-100…”

“What is their range?”

“The Dongfeng-100 is a supersonic cruise missile, but its range isn’t that long. But the Dongfeng-41 can fly 15,000 kilometers…”

“It can easily reach the United States.”

Lee Hyun-soo let out a hollow laugh.

“Chairman.”

“Yes.”

“There will be no external intervention.”

Lee Hyun-soo said definitively.

“The moment it’s revealed that they’ve secured that facility, no other country will try to intervene militarily. If they touch it carelessly and end up in mutual destruction, they’ll go to hell.”

Bator laughed.

“But we can’t just leave it in the hands of those guys.”

“If it were before, that would be the case. Before, I thought people valued their lives. That was before the series of suicide bombings that happened all over the world.”

Bator closed his mouth.

“Just twenty years ago… no, even ten years ago, there might have been people who would have tried to suppress it by force. But now the world knows. The world knows that there are many people who are willing to die to enforce their will, and there are many who will drive others to their deaths to enforce their beliefs. In this situation, who would attack that place? If they just flip the table and everyone dies, that’s it.”

Lee Hyun-soo bit his lip until it bled.

One thing is certain.

The Black King must have considered all of this. No matter what he did, a military suppression against him would definitely occur. No matter how great he was, if the whole world attacked him, there would be no other way.

But with this one move, the Black King had fundamentally blocked any military intervention from other countries. Which country’s leader would launch a suppression operation against a madman who had secured ICBMs loaded with nuclear weapons?

The moment it’s confirmed that they intervened, they would definitely become the number one target.

That is the strongest spear and the strongest shield.

Those who understood the situation turned their heads to look at the screen. Now, all they could do was wait to see what the Black King would say.

[It’s a shame that I can’t see the pale faces of some people with my own eyes, but there’s no need to be so nervous. I’m not a terrorist, nor am I a misanthrope. If my demands are met, these lumps of metal will never see the light of day.]

Wiggins looked at the Black King with a bloodless face.

It was terrifying.

When he first saw the Black King, honestly, Wiggins didn’t feel that scared. It was worse when he first saw Kang Jin-ho, or when he became aware of the existence of the King of Creation.

He knew the Black King was strong, but he thought he lacked the charisma to overwhelm people.

But not now.

Just looking at the face on the screen made his heart feel like it was being torn apart.

‘How can this…’

The Black King on the screen, who had no way of knowing Wiggins’ feelings, continued to speak.

[My demands are simple. Give the Quanzhou City area as territory for the martial artists. Of course, I’m not making the unreasonable demand to separate the country. A place where China’s laws and rules apply. But the political power will be on our side. Yes. Declare the Quanzhou City area as a martial artist autonomous territory, and block any possibility of military intervention. Announce this fact to the world and enact and approve a law at the party level.]

The Black King smiled.

[I’m sorry to those who were expecting more. I’m a small person, so I’m a little scared to ask for more than this. But with these conditions, it shouldn’t be too difficult to approve.]

The Black King waved his hand at the screen.

[The communication channel can be SNS, video sites, anything is fine. We will respond on our side. But the government side, please don’t leave comments, send direct messages. Don’t send people around unnecessarily. It’s annoying to have to turn their necks.]

“That madman…”

[Well, then I’ll wait exactly fifteen days. If approval is not given within fifteen days, the nuclear warheads here will fly towards the countries I have set. And where are those…]

The Black King shrugged his shoulders playfully.

[That’s a secret. I’ll leave it to your imagination. Well then, goodbye.]

The screen froze, showing the Black King waving his hand with a bright smile.

And not long after, the screen went black.

At the same time, an indescribably heavy silence filled the room.

Click.

Kang Jin-ho stubbed out his finished cigarette on the table, leaned back on the sofa, and tilted his head.

“A new world…”

It was too fast, too sudden… and too radical a change.