The Surrender Faction

The convoy wound along the mountain road, the jarring jolts of the rutted dirt track making Lin Zhiyan scowl repeatedly. Some of the deeper potholes threatened to pitch her straight into Lu Zhao. Lu Zhao was far more experienced, keeping a firm grip on the grab handle above the window the entire way. After crossing four mountains and covering thirty kilometers, they finally reached the frontline forward outpost. Perched atop a mountain ridge, the forward outpost commanded views of two main river channels on either flank, locking down the chokepoint of the mountain pass. A six-meter-tall brick-and-concrete perimeter wall encircled the post. Watchtowers stood at the four corners, built with embrasures for snipers and ports for lobbing grenades, their flanking fire covering the walls below. Searchlights and heavy machine guns were mounted along the parapets. It was an impregnable bastion of war. As the convoy drew near, a loudspeaker boomed, "Approaching convoy, cut your engines immediately and present your credentials!" The vehicles stopped. Xu Fang leaned out the window and called, "Comrade, we're from the special investigation team!" "Present your credentials!" The voice through the loudspeaker remained cold and unmoved. Xu Fang frowned. "Can't these soldiers recognize border defense station vehicles?" This was the first time their special investigation team had ever been shut outside during an inspection tour. Sitting in the back seat with her arms crossed, Lin Zhiyan chuckled. "Perhaps our Senior Lu here is emulating Zhou Yafu's discipline at Xiliu." "Thank you for the compliment," Lu Zhao countered. "Unfortunately, you're no Emperor Wen of Han, but I might just make general." Lin Zhiyan took no offense, countering mildly, "My grandfather once held a permanent seat in the Hall of Martial Virtue. Theoretically speaking, it's not impossible for me to attain it." Lu Zhao replied, "So long as they reach the fifth rank, any citizen is eligible to become Chief of the Hall of Martial Virtue." Bested, Lin Zhiyan dropped the subject rather than courting further embarrassment. Reaching the fifth rank was easier said than done; one might not emerge out of ten million people. Without sufficient life-force development, no amount of background would ever make someone Chief. It was precisely because of this that the Federation had always held to the principle that 'nobility does not last three generations.' If the first generation was a Martial Marquis, the second might only manage to lead a prefecture, and the third would be lucky to serve as a deputy at the municipal level. The Chen family, for instance, had seemed illustrious, yet once Martial Marquis Chen died, practically nothing was left. Chen Qian was currently scraping by as a police chief in an outer feudatory district, unable to rise any further because both her track record and her life force fell short. Above the level of Martial Marquis, power belonged to the marquis, not the marquis to power. Lu Zhao pushed open the car door, stepped down onto the muddy road, and went through the required protocols. Only then did the heavy gates of the forward outpost slowly grind open. The convoy drove inside. The outpost's layout was straightforward: a two-story dormitory building, a command post hollowed out within the mountain rock, and an armory. "Sir!" The squad leader on duty saluted Lu Zhao, then eyed Lin Zhiyan and the rest of the special investigation team with curiosity. Garrisoned at this forward outpost year-round, they were somewhat cut off from news and knew nothing of the special investigation team. Lu Zhao introduced them. "This is Team Leader Lin from the higher authorities. She is here today specifically to inspect our forward outpost." At that, the squad leader saluted Lin Zhiyan. Lin Zhiyan nodded in acknowledgment, then cast her gaze across the rather cramped station. Though compact, every soldier here exuded a sharp, palpable edge of aggression. That was something not to be seen back at the main border defense station. She said approvingly, "You train troops well. The overall caliber of these soldiers is on par with the regular army. Quelling the border subjects shouldn't be an issue for them." Lu Zhao answered, "If permitted to fire at will, they could suppress and control an area the size of an entire county." "Very impressive. Show me around." "Yes, ma'am." Lu Zhao stepped half a pace ahead, guiding Lin Zhiyan through the post. From the spartan yet orderly dormitory to the chilly command post housed inside a karst cave, they finally ascended the watchtower to gaze out over the vast mountains of Nanhai Circuit. Looking across the nearest ridge, one could faintly make out plumes of smoke from cooking fires in villages across the border. "Beyond lies Miye Sanjiang. From what I hear, things are quite chaotic over there." Lin Zhiyan waited a few seconds without receiving a response. Turning her head, she found Lu Zhao maintaining strict silence. It seemed that unless it concerned official duty, he would offer no answer whatsoever. "Staff Officer Lu, what is the situation in Miye Sanjiang?" Lu Zhao answered, "'Miye Sanjiang' is too broad a term for me to give an exact answer. My knowledge is limited to the area bordering Ant Ridge." Miye Sanjiang was merely a general geographical designation, not a single unified power. Some sectors were ruled by transcendent clans, others by religious cults, and others by violent syndicates like Greenwood. Every conceivable human-adjacent and pseudo-human organization could be found there. What bordered Ant Ridge was Greenwood, which was relatively civilized among the many cross-border factions. Out there, a gang of outlaws was practically considered benevolent. After hearing his explanation, Lin Zhiyan asked, "Staff Officer Lu, if you were placed in charge of planning the border defense for the entire Nanhai West Circuit, what would you do?" Lu Zhao replied, "The current model is already the best one. External forces cannot be completely wiped out, nor is there any need to." Though the War of National Defense had ended ten years ago, the scars it had left on the Federation had yet to heal, and some were already festering with pus. "Some have proposed reviving the old system and issuing household registrations to everyone, claiming it would resolve border issues and the Hua-Yi conflict." Lin Zhiyan offered the argument with a self-evident absurdity. It was like suggesting that if the rich simply divided their money among the poor, poverty would cease to exist in the world. Yet Lu Zhao knew that such voices truly existed within the Federation. They advocated throwing open household registrations and embracing everyone as citizens. Ordinary people would curse them as hypocritical moralizers, but those who commanded a voice within the Federation were not fools—they were simply evil. Under the current system, they still had to observe rules and regulations. But if Shenzhou were reduced to the festering lawlessness of Sanjiang, those rules would no longer apply. The deeper agenda was capitulation: abandoning resistance against the Ancient Gods. Humanity would not go extinct; it would simply become part of the new era. Yet the Federation would shatter, and humanity would regress to the age of city-states. People usually called those who held this view the surrender faction. Was Lin Zhiyan one of them? Lu Zhao did not rush to voice an opinion. He merely watched her in silence. Lin Zhiyan looked out into the distance and continued, "A certain Martial Marquis surnamed Chen spent quite some time clamoring every day at the Circuit Politics Bureau, even pushing to merge the Hua and territory sectors in Cangwu City. Wouldn't you call that foolish?" Lu Zhao said, "Not foolish. He was simply evil." Lin Zhiyan smiled faintly. "It seems you belong to the steadfast faction, Senior." Lu Zhao neither agreed nor disagreed. Two generations of his family had perished in the War of National Defense; if they surrendered now, wouldn't his family have died for nothing? *** Upon returning to the border defense station, Lu Zhao sat in the staff office, tapping his fingers against the desktop. His thoughts lingered on his exchange with Lin Zhiyan. People like Lin Zhiyan never indulged in idle banter without an underlying motive. Within the Federation, one could not afford slip-ups in speech. A single wrong word could cost an opportunity at best, or shatter a political career at worst. Consequently, everyone spoke in veiled terms, which also served as a means for superiors to maintain their authority. If her words had a purpose, taking into account the transfer order she had handed him alongside her remarks, Lu Zhao was certain of one thing: Lin Zhiyan was sounding out his stance. She wanted him to state his position first so she could confirm where his loyalties lay. As for why she needed to test him, the answer had been obvious from the start. Nanhai West Circuit was the domain of Martial Marquis Chen, who had governed it for twenty years. Every major bureau was staffed with Chen family loyalists. Meanwhile, the Lin family held immense power in the East Circuit and likely sought to strike a blow against the Chen family. By now, the Lin family had probably already extended their reach inward. Lu Zhao drew the transfer order from the General Security Bureau out of his drawer, staring at the name signed upon it: Liang Chengyun. The chief of the General Security Bureau was a Lin family man.