Book 4, Chapter 165: One Storm After Another

Xu Chan’s team had finished the nutritional meal sent by the airship crew and were resting in the lazy chairs in the guest cabin in the middle layer of the airship.

Captain Hu was stuffed. His body was warm, and his face was flushed red. “Martial arts masters certainly eat differently from us. At least we’ve got a taste of it today.”

“Their food has too much nutrition. If we took any more than this, our bodies might be unable to handle it,” Hai Gao commented.

“Still, it’s really tasty. I couldn’t stop. I can die in peace after eating this meal.” Captain Hu patted his stomach.

“It’s tasty, yeah, but we almost died for it,” Captain Lu interjected.

The cheery mood instantly died down. When they boarded the airship, they learned that the artifact was actually a scheme from the central government to kill the conqueror general.

Hai Gao was a smart man, so he didn’t say anything about this, but Captain Lu had been letting his resentment boil in him. Captain Hu, surprisingly, was fine with it, even though he was the most rash among them. “But we’re alive, aren’t we? Besides, while the central government treated us as bait, the Resolution Department and the World Ring Defense System never gave up on us.”

“I’m not mad for me. I’m mad for Captain Xu,” Captain Lu snapped. He turned to Xu Chan and grumbled, “You’ve poured out your blood, sweat and tears for the country, and this is how they treat you?”

Xu Chan shook his head. “There are certain things you can’t avoid during war. We’ve been fighting against the former royal family since the day we formed our country, and so many people have died for it. Everyone’s lives are precious, no?

“If the war continues, more people will die, and our descendants as well as our friends might be among them. The sooner we end it, the fewer people will die. I’m sure that the central government made up their minds the moment they saw that they could cut down on the number of casualties.

“My life isn’t worth that much more compared to the martyrs from before and in the future. If a stray bullet can find its way to them, then it can find its way to me too. When I put on this uniform, I was already prepared for it.”

They fell silent. His words made sense, but that didn’t mean that they were okay with it. Nothing about their emotions conflicted with each other.

Captain Lu looked up. “You might be right, but I’m a simple man. I only know that we made it back alive this time because of Lead Investigator Chen. I don’t care about what the others did.”

The moment he said this, the others agreed with him.

“You’re right!”

“We’re only going to acknowledge him as the one who saved us!”

“I can’t even put into words what he did for us. All of us owe him our lives.”

Chen Chuan had come to help them, and he had done so without knowing about the plan beforehand. They were grateful to him from the bottom of their hearts.

Xu Chan didn’t join their discussion. He took out a card holder from his pocket and opened it to stare at the photo of his wife and twins. As he stared at their smiles, his lips curled up too.

***

Word about the Great Shun Republic getting the artifact got back to the Union’s representative team, along with the news that the World Ring Defense System had engaged with the imperial army and defeated it.

The representative team immediately organized a meeting, and a representative said sternly, “Jibei Road’s army fought in the merged space and crushed the imperial army. That’s a first. Something unusual must have happened. Has the intelligence division prepared a report for it?”

The person-in-charge of the intelligence division stood up. He bowed to everyone and said, “Sirs and madams, based on what limited information we have, we believe that something happened to the imperial army’s martial arts master. Most likely, he lost in the fight for the artifact and is either severely injured or dead. That’s why Jibei Road’s army launched a full-on assault.”

“What I want to know is, is this a coincidence, or has Jibei Road’s Central City been planning for this for a long time? Have you found any information about this?” the representative asked pointedly.

The person-in-charge answered, “We’ve gathered all that we could from our informants and other channels. Through this, we’ve come to the conclusion that Jibei Road’s World Ring Defense System was not ready for a full-on assault. They also showed no signs of mobilization before this. All their orders were issued in haste, and the assault only started last night, when the command center of the World Ring Defense System issued its orders. I think this was entirely spontaneous.

“Sirs and madams, this should be an unexpected event. Of course, we won’t exclude the possibility that it was a scheme by the Great Shun Republic, but that would involve the central government, and with the limited information that we have, we can’t make a reliable analysis.”

A representative who seldom joined such meetings asked, “What about the active biosentient entities of the branch companies in the merged space? Didn’t they join the operation?”

“They did not receive any telegrams or messages. Due to the restraints from the agreement, the active biosentient entities from the companies weren’t allowed to join.”

“It seems like we were kicked out of the fight for the artifact,” a representative stated calmly.

The other representatives exchanged glances in acknowledgement. After all, if martial arts masters joined the fight, all those under the Fourth Limit were nothing to them as long as they had stamina. They were simply cannon fodder before these people’s eyes.

They should also give up on the team they sent to the merged space. Since the Great Shun Republic won, they weren’t going to let any of them back. If the Union were in their place, they would do the same.

Osbolt said, “Tabulate our losses. What we need right now is to submit a report to headquarters and decide whether we’re going to stay in the merged space or give up on all our plans.

“I need to remind all of you that your opinions might affect our future plans. Please consider your words carefully.”

Upon hearing this, the representatives discussed among themselves. In the end, most of them decided that they couldn’t give up on Jibei Road. They had to do whatever they could to support the municipal government.

The Union rose to power after the mega alliance crumbled, and it was formed of global corporations and mega corporations sharing the same interests. All centralized governments treated them with great wariness, so the Union worked on limiting and weakening them from all directions while planting their representatives inside them, especially for countries like the Great Shun Republic.

It occupied an entire corner of the world and was incredibly large. Its government centralising more of its power was something they absolutely didn’t want to see.

Besides, Jibei Road was located in an important position. If the Great Shun Republic actually managed to seize all of its power, it could start exerting its influence on Hedong Road in the north and Huainan Road in the south. These two were also relatively important Central Cities in the Great Shun Republic. If all three were connected, their power could spread toward all of the island nations, and that wasn’t good for the Union, not if they wanted to secure their global positioning.

“Without the imperial army holding Jibei Road’s Department of Administrative Affairs back, the department will be able to shift its focus to Central City. I can already see them putting pressure on the branch companies and imposing strict regulations on them. That’s not good for our interests. We need to think of ways to support the municipal government to maintain the most basic of balance,” Merryways stated.

“Before submitting the report and proposal to headquarters, we need to contact the municipal government. They understand the Great Shun Republic better than we do, so they should be able to come up with a better response and countermeasure. Also, I suggest giving the municipal government some of our technology to strengthen them. I, too, would like for there to be no further objections for Proto-Being setting up its branch here. I believe that by doing so, we’ll be able to stabilize the situation faster.”

The representatives exchanged looks before one of them said, “I agree.”

“Seconded.”

“Same.”

Once the representatives stated their views, Osbolt had a secretary send their meeting minutes and final proposal to the headquarters.

They were really efficient. Half an hour after the meeting, they sent a representative for a meeting.

The municipal government had learned that the World Ring Defense System won against the imperial army in the merged space, and they weren’t happy about it. This threatened them a lot.

If the imperial army was taken down, Jibei Road’s Department of Administrative Affairs would have no other external threats to face. This meant that they could then focus on their problems within, and their very first target would, without a doubt, be the municipal government.

While the politicians were panicking and descending into chaos, the Union’s representative arrived. His presence excited and delighted them.

The Union promised to give them technology so that they could create an even better active biosentient entity in Central City in response to the imbalance of power created after the imperial army’s defeat.

While the active biosentient entity belonged to the municipal government in name, in truth, the Union was the one who owned it. At this point, though, the municipal government no longer cared about that.

If they could maintain a balance between themselves and the Department of Administrative Affairs, they could return to their usual fight of interests—their familiar ground.

After some discussions, many of the politicians believed that they couldn’t wait any longer and had to attack first. At the very least, they needed to sow chaos to buy time. Someone suggested doing it through the Resolution Department.

“Out of the three lead investigators, one is dead, one is imprisoned, and the last is in the merged space. Wu Quan’s interrogation is going to last until the end of the month. Right now, only Han Fu is alive and present. We should think of a way to clear his name and restore him to power, then get him to take control of the Resolution Department.”

Another politician didn’t look at this favorably. “This will be difficult. Lead Investigator Chen beat him up in public, like he was judging him on the spot. Han Fu also confessed. Everyone knows that he was in cahoots with the enemy and killed a colleague. His subordinates have either been executed or locked up. Even if he’s released, I don’t think anyone will listen to him.”

“What are the chances of Lead Investigator Chen coming back alive?” the politician who made the first suggestion asked his security advisor.

“I can’t say. Regular martial artists can’t participate in a fight between martial arts masters, because they would only end up as collateral damage. But since the World Ring Defense System won, it’s highly likely that he’s coming back alive,” the security advisor answered.

“Then, delay his return to Central City. Send Wang Weiguang over. Isn’t he a squad captain at the Resolution Department? Let him deal with this. Since we’ve given him pure essence, it’s about time he served his purpose.”

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