Chapter 721.1: The Federation's Desolution!

North Island.

As the capital of the Federation, it was the largest island in the Southern Seas and also the most Prosperity.

Although its population was only a little over 90,000, it housed the Federation's largest heavy industrial complex and shipyard.

Including the Glory, the destroyer that had already sunk beneath the sea, 9 of the Federation's 13 naval vessels had been built there. The remaining were submarines and had been constructed at the submarine factories on Peace Island and Coral City.

After taking control of the Presidential Palace and Naval Headquarters, Chalas declared himself the new President under the support of the Federation’s navy and delivered his inaugural address over the radio.

"... It is with a heavy heart that I inform you all that our President has committed an unforgivable act of treason. At a time when our fleet had already secured an absolute advantage and was on the verge of ultimate victory, he intended to overturn the verdict on the crimes committed by our enemies! He sought to use fabricated evidence and deliberately distorted facts to destroy the unity we had worked so hard to build."

"I will never allow such a thing to happen, even if that man was once someone I deeply respected."

"Hunger, disease, forced labor, suppression of dissent... As long as they put on those blue coats, everything became legal. Go ask your fathers and grandfathers what those hermit crabs were really like in the past! Ask them! Who built the artificial islands completed in Year 50 of the Wasteland Era? Those things that suddenly appeared half a century later, or those of us who have lived here from the very beginning?"

"They were merely fortunate enough to be born inside a shelter. The Prosperity Era left everything to them, and everything built using the tools of that era became their exclusive property. Meanwhile, we survivors who endured generation after generation of hardship outside and rose from the ruins became monkeys in need of education."

"As if we were the ones who appeared out of nowhere. As if we were the ones living off their resources, using their possessions, and residing in settlements they built. As if our fathers were somehow lesser because they never lived even a second during the Prosperity Era! Ask the old bastards in your families whether that's really how it happened!"

"What we seek to settle accounts for was never just a power station. We seek to settle accounts for everything that has happened over the last century! They think that power station was their achievement. They think only they are the descendants of the Federation, only they deserve to inherit its legacy. To them, our blood, our sweat, and our opinions are all worthless. We are nothing but livestock for rebuilding their utopia. Then let them take their arrogance and crawl back underground! That utopia never had our names written in it!"

His impassioned words echoed across the square before the Presidential Palace, through the shipyards, across the military barracks, and throughout the settlements of North Island...

People stopped their work and gathered around radios. On their silent faces, hatred and anger gradually ignited.

Chalas had prepared no speech script, nor did he need one. Public speaking came as naturally to him as breathing. Moreover, he had been one of the principal authors of the Federation's declaration. Calling him one of the founding fathers of the Federation would not be an exaggeration. Within the military, he was also a highly respected hardliner.

Although President Mengo held the position of Supreme Commander of the Federation Navy, that authority came from the Declaration, or rather, the Constitution, not because the military had genuinely elevated him to that position of its own accord.

Whether in personality or governing style, the man was viewed as an almost old-fashioned bureaucrat. Officers and Chalas alike shared that opinion. As a conservative, he may have enjoyed support from most survivors and government officials, but within the military, his popularity was nowhere near Chalas's own.

And to be fair, Mengo really had done something foolish. It wasn’t by turning a blind eye to the power station incident, nor by appointing Chalas as Chief-of-Staff. His true mistake had been attempting to merge two fundamentally incompatible factions through political opportunism.

The conservatives and radicals both wanted a Federation, but for entirely different reasons.

The conservatives sought equality in identity and political rights. The radicals sought freedom from the ghosts of the Prosperity Era.

The men sitting atop battleships and heavy guns had never asked for a rule-abiding president. Their ambitions extended far beyond a Federation and far beyond merely serving as its defensive wall.

That had originally been a problem that could have been resolved through negotiation and compromise.

Shame, a reckless military and political gamble had postponed all disagreements. The Federation, born in injustice, was like a handful of sand squeezed together by a hand. It had never truly become stone, nor had it been given enough time to do so. The moment the hand loosened its grip, it would crumble back into sand.

Of course, Chalas admitted he had also done something foolish.

He had told so many lies that he had eventually started believing them himself. When he signed that Declaration, he should have recognized that he was an opportunist and that he never had the luxury of taking things slowly.

Once the war ended and President Mengo reopened the investigation into the destruction of the power station, Chalas, who had helped the Torch Church conceal the truth, would inevitably face judgment. And so would every officer involved.

The new administration would certainly do it.

After all, once the true culprits were punished, they could sever ties with the past and march hand in hand with the residents of Shelter 70 into a new era.

As for Chalas and his supporters, no one would thank them for preserving the Federation's unity. They would spend the rest of their lives behind bars.

Because of that, everyone directly or indirectly implicated in the power station incident was his natural ally. They had to choose him, and they could only choose to stand by his side.

Only if he won could the correct version of history be written. Only then could they avoid becoming fools who lifted a stone only to smash their own feet.

Looking at the burning determination in the eyes below the podium, Chalas announced the final outcome in a calm and solemn voice.

"... President Mengo refused to submit to lawful judgment. Not only did he resist arrest, he attempted to launch a coup. He has now been killed by our soldiers."

"The Declaration signed by a criminal is no longer valid. A new cabinet will draft a new legal code, and until then, I will serve as Acting President until we achieve final victory!"

...

Peace Island.

This picturesque island was home to just over 50,000 people, yet it contained the Federation's largest naval logistics base. Half of its residents were active naval personnel and their families, or at least people engaged in naval logistics work. There were also some refugees from Coral City.

The Southern Seas' earliest shipyard had been built on Peace Island, and it was also where the first transport ships and deep-sea mining vessels had set sail from.

If Ring Island was the first artificial island built by the survivors of the Southern Seas, then Peace Island was the first natural island where the flame of industry had been ignited, predating even the opening of Shelter 70!

It was precisely because of the parts manufactured here that Coral City, the miracle beneath the sea, came into existence, followed later by North Island's heavy industrial center and massive shipyards.

Yet now, the island that had first lit the fire of industry was itself engulfed by another invisible flame.

First came Captain Dongwen's final message, then came the news of the sinking Glory. Next came Chalas' inauguration speech filled with lies.

Those shocking events connected together into a single chain that completely ignited the anger of the soldiers and officers stationed at the base.

In truth, until the dock guards received Captain Dongwen's final message from the commander of the maritime patrol fleet, many people at the naval base still supported Chalas.

Some even justified his actions by claiming everything was for the unity of the Southern Archipelago Federation..

However, when the absurd report arrived claiming that the Glory had been lost due to a mutiny among its crew, very few people were willing to believe another word from Chalas. No one doubted that the man had gone mad. For his personal ambitions, he was willing to make the Federation fleet slaughter itself!

Those who followed him were equally insane.

Officers loyal to the Constitution immediately took action, arresting Chalas's confidants and accomplices and throwing them into prison. Until those men proved they would not follow Chalas into further madness and sincerely reflected upon their past actions, they would not be released from their cells.

At the same time Chalas was delivering his inaugural address, Vice President Li Minghui, the Federation's Deputy Naval Commander and the highest-ranking commander on Peace Island, stepped forward and delivered a public speech through the island's military broadcast network.

"... Just moments ago, we witnessed the darkest and most shameful chapter in our history. Through a disgraceful betrayal, we lost not only the Glory and the 200 brave young sailors on board, not only our President, but also the Constitution we signed together and the dignity we maintained for less than four months. Chalas seeks to drag our Federation into a bottomless abyss through lies. This war is no longer a war! It has become his tool for seizing power and eliminating opposition. The Laken hidden beneath human skin has finally revealed its greed and fangs and seeks to drag us all into the abyss."

"We will never compromise with beasts, nor will we accept peace maintained through lies. What we need is true unity! From this day forward, Peace Island will no longer recognize the legitimacy of the North Island government! At the same time, we call upon survivors across all islands to unite and fight alongside us! For our future! For every survivor living in these waters!"

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