Victoria Kingdom, the capital, Oranck.

Lu Yan wore a finely tailored dark tailcoat, adorned with an exquisite silk bow tie at the collar, with delicate embroidery decorating the cuffs and edges of the collar.

In his hand, he held an ebony cane, topped with a gleaming silver lion's head. His high leather boots tread on the cobblestone road, making a slight clattering sound.

Walking through the morning fog stained by coal smoke, surrounded by red brick buildings with sharp chimneys that continuously spewed thick black smoke. On both sides of the road, gas lamps were not yet extinguished, their dim yellow light piercing through the gray fog, illuminating his figure.

The factory whistles in the distance pierced the dawn, the wheels of carriages rolled over the damp stone roads, mixed with the hurried footsteps of workers.

Occasionally, passing workers would cast curious glances at Lu Yan, wondering whether this well-dressed gentleman was a factory owner or an important figure from the top here to inspect.

Yet Lu Yan merely watched everything quietly, taking in the scenes before him.

It had been a day since the update version was opened.

A day earlier, when Lu Yan descended at the mysterious version, he brought with him a momentary second Heavenly Dao Position.

Although the second Heavenly Dao Position quickly dissipated, it was still captured by the Seven Gods Church belonging to the mysterious version, causing him to be regarded as the True God descending upon this world.

With Lu Yan's descent came a massive amount of divination and deduction.

These divinations and deductions had very high Positions, at least comparable to Divinity Transformation level strength, and even at certain special nodes, Lu Yan sensed the aura of This World's Only One.

The True God Churches, Evil God Sects, used the mysterious True Gods' strength backing them to trace the roots, attempting to divine information about Lu Yan.

Helplessly, Lu Yan could only use Creation and Transformation to guide all information anchors towards the second Heavenly Dao of the grand crossing version and left behind the true name of Fengdu.

As for Lu Yan himself, he used Creation and Transformation to evolve Profound Unity True Intent, successfully hiding in Oranck, the capital of Victoria Kingdom.

This move, although it solved some troubles, also left certain hidden dangers.

If Lu Yan were to unleash his full strength in the future, causing the Profound Unity True Intent evolved by Creation and Transformation to fail, those divinations and rituals might still lock onto Lu Yan himself.

This left Lu Yan somewhat apprehensive, not daring to use his full power lightly.

"However, if these divinations and rituals are used properly, they may not necessarily be a bad thing either."

Lu Yan pondered silently in his heart.

The number of workers on the surrounding streets began to increase gradually, men and women in faded work clothes poured out from various alleys, their shoulders slumped, faces weary.

Parts of the once quiet factories began to continuously emit roaring sounds, massive chimneys spewing thick black smoke, the collision of iron wheels and gears mixed with the hissing of steam, echoed in the morning air.

Meanwhile, some special figures began to appear on the streets. These people, mostly tall and fierce-looking, with broad shoulders propping up black coarse wool coats, wore uniform black shirts with a corner of a red handkerchief peeking from the chest pocket.

They stood in groups of threes and twos at street corners, their burly arms displaying menacing tattoos, their sharp eyes scanning the workers on the street.

Workers, upon seeing these people, immediately turned pale, cursing their bad luck in their hearts, then hurriedly lowered their heads and passed quickly under the cover of the morning fog, or turned into alleys and fled swiftly. Fear flashed in their eyes, yet it was laced with a helpless acceptance of their fate.

However, some unfortunate workers failed to evade in time, grabbed by these people by the collar and dragged roughly to the corner. A skinny young man with a freckled face was surrounded by two men in black, followed by a series of threatening interrogations.

"Little Wood, why are you running when you see me?" The man in black bared his yellow teeth, glaring fiercely at the young worker, poking heavily at his chest with a finger. "I remember you haven't paid the protection fee for two months!"

Another man in black pulled out a small booklet, turning the greasy pages with rough fingers. "Old York, are you trying to avoid today's protection fee?" His voice was like rusty iron scraping together.

"The boss said it must be settled today, otherwise, there's no telling what might happen to you."

He didn't finish his sentence but made a throat-slitting gesture, causing the worker called Old York to turn ashen, trembling as he hastily explained, fumbling to take out a few coins from his pocket.

The one who looked to be barely of age, Little Wood, had a malnourished face colored with splotches, his body so thin it seemed like only bones were holding his flesh together.

He looked at the men in black, pleadingly said:

"Brother Booker, could you... could you give me two more months' grace?

My sister fell ill, got fired by the textile factory boss, and didn't even get her wages.

I advanced two months' salary to treat her, and now I really have no money."

The man in black called Booker frowned upon hearing this, questioning sternly:

"Are you lying to me?"

"How could I!" Little Wood trembled all over and said: "How dare I deceive Brother Booker?"

"Who doesn't know your boss is George the Stingy Rooster, would he advance your salary?"

Booker, with a hostile look, grabbed Little Wood's collar and hoisted him like a chick into the air.

Little Wood dared not struggle, hastily saying:

"I took my sister to the Black Light Clinic for treatment, and it was boss George who paid for it.

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