1831 Murder and Sacrifice
Even so, if the matter had only developed to this point, it would only be a “controversy” or a “scandal” at most, not a “crime.”
However, a journalist had tried to discover the truth.
He was a war journalist who had an established reputation in Dragon City.
Even though his spirit energy realm was not high, he had the courage to fight and risk his life. He was not afraid of death, and he often followed the Red Dragon Army or hunters to the front lines of an intense battle. He would capture every single pore on the monsters clearly.
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As a result, his extremely impactful photographs and video reports made him well-received by the ordinary people.
One of his most cla.s.sic photographs had been taken from below the belly of a ferocious h.e.l.l Beast, the Tyrant Mammoth, with a bird’s eye view.
In the photograph, the Tyrant Mammoth was raising its hoof, which was covered with bone spurs and lumps, high up. There was also a fiendish aura that was visible to the naked eye around its hoof.
It was the condensation of its innate skill, the terrifying War Trample.
The photographs made all his readers and viewers hold their breath. It was as if the Tyrant Mammoth was going to trample them into a pulp in half a second, just like the photographer.
In fact, half of the Tyrant Mammoth’s head had been cut off by a Heaven Realm fighter with a super-alloy battle saber in 0.1 seconds.
However, its hoof still landed heavily, unleashing at least 30% of the War Trample’s power, which seriously injured the journalist and caused him to suffer a serious concussion and comminuted fracture.
Despite that, the war journalist only rested for three days before dragging his hands and feet full of steel nails back to the front line to search for the next Tyrant Mammoth that was bigger and more ferocious.
This man’s working style was evident.
Therefore, when the journalist’s child became mentally deranged, sustained an injured spine, and had his probability of awakening reduced because of Plan A’s gymnastics exercises, the sensitivity of the journalist’s profession made him suspicious. His life-and-death experiences had made him fearless. So, he left the front line and set foot on another more treacherous, unfathomable, and unending battlefield. He was determined to do it for his child, and all the other children like his child, who had been too obsessed with training. Seeking justice was reasonable and even his destiny.
Only, this journalist was used to the horror of the h.e.l.l Beasts and Apocalyptic Beasts.
However, he did not know that the greetings and smiles of humans were often more dangerous and secretive than the fangs and claws of monsters.
One day, about three months later, the war journalist received an invitation to record the opening ceremony of the latest forward operating base in the depths of Monster Mountain Range.
The journalist had been focused on investigating the inside story of the gymnastics exercises, and he had made a breakthrough. As such, he did not agree initially.
However, the invitee was his mentor from when he first started working, the person who had guided him into the industry.
This was an invitation that could not be refused.
It was also a job that he was familiar with.
Hence, the journalist was ready to squeeze in a day of quick action.
Unfortunately, on the day filming, they encountered a beast horde.
His professional habit made him subconsciously charge forward with the warriors, almost slamming the camera into the monster’s b.l.o.o.d.y mouth.
He had experienced similar adventures countless times, and each time, it would be scary but not dangerous. Even if he was covered in injuries, he would, at least, survive.
Unfortunately, if one tempted fate too much, one would get what was coming to them.
Even if there was no such thing as fate, life was fragile, and danger could be lurking around the next corner.
Ultimately, the journalist died.
Many people witnessed him falling into the monster horde and being torn to pieces by the ferocious monsters.
When the news spread back to Dragon City, his friends in the media world and his loyal readers were all extremely sad.
However, at that time, no one seemed to question it in the slightest.
Firstly, the forward operating base was located deep in Monster Mountain Range. It was like hammering a huge nail into the monsters’ territory. It was no surprise that they were besieged by a monster horde.
Secondly, many people had witnessed the journalist’s heroic sacrifice. He had indeed died a tragic death in the mouth of a monster.
Thirdly, a war journalist was a profession with a high casualty rate, and this journalist was the most hardworking one among his peers.
To be honest, it was already incredibly surprising that he managed to last so long.
In the end, several media outlets that the war journalist worked for during his lifetime, the owner of the forward operating base that he had last interviewed—Thundercloud Technology—as well as the relevant departments of the Supernatural Tower, jointly funded a grand funeral for him and set up a foundation in his name.
The purpose of the foundation was to help more war journalists and their families so that they could continue reporting the truth from a closer distance without any worries.
The whole thing was decently carried out from beginning to end.
Meanwhile, the war journalist’s son was bedridden due to an injury during training, and his studies were consequently interrupted. But even he was grateful for the foundation that had been named after his father, who had helped him in every situation.
During the Monster War, there was breaking news in Dragon City every day, and many heroes died heroically on the daily.
Hence, news about this war journalist was quickly buried under other news and stories of heroic sacrifices.
It was not until the Blood Alliance member spilled plenty of inside information to the authorities before him to save his own life that people realized, to their shock, there was more than met the eye to the accident and the sacrifice back then.
They had sent out experienced hunters who were familiar with the habits of monsters and found that if they got close to a monster’s nest and released a certain frequency of sound interference, they could affect its central nervous system. That would cause it to become impatient and much more ferocious. It could even charge out without a care and fight humans to the death.
Using this method, it was possible to create a man-made “monster outbreak.”
When the war journalist was not paying attention, they sprayed some special “pheromone” on his clothes that could not be recognized by human olfactory cells but irritated the monsters greatly. It even made him an easier target for all.
His death had not been an accident.
It had been a murder.
The mastermind was not the Blood Alliance.
Instead, it was an important figure in the Youth Gymnastics Editorial Review Committee.
The mastermind was also a professor from Dragon City University, a leading figure in the mainstream spirit energy martial arts, the Overkill Style.
The motive behind this martial arts grandmaster’s plan for this despicable murder was very simple.
The high-investment, high-risk, and high-return basic cultivation method and the Overkill Style, which focused on the construction of complex spirit magnetic fields and displayed powerful killing techniques, were from the same line.
Ensuring that most of the youths in Dragon City practiced the gymnastics exercises of Plan A from a young age would guarantee that the Overkill Style would always occupy a dominant position.
Not to mention, this leading figure also had several patents for cultivation cabins.
These cultivation cabins had been specially developed for Plan A’s gymnastics exercises for teenagers. They had become the designated teaching aids of many schools and martial arts training inst.i.tutions outside of school.
From the manufacturing of the cultivation cabin to the concoction of the cultivation medicine, to the various training inst.i.tutions with the label of martial arts grandmasters and long-distance education system, as well as the various funds and projects in the academic world, the upstream and downstream industry chains had involved countless people and interests.
The astronomical profits generated by this industry chain were also an important aid that supported the continuous progress of martial arts grandmasters on the road of surpa.s.sing their human limitations.