Resolution

After finishing lunch, Chen Chuan picked up a cup of hot drink and stood by the porthole looking down. Seen from on high, Center City offered an entirely different perspective. Sunlight streamed down from above, shifting through varied depths of light and shadow as it descended. The broad, crisscrossing streets seemed reduced to mere threads one could idly manipulate with a finger, while those towering skyscrapers that normally pierced the clouds—appearing utterly out of reach—now lay beneath his feet, inevitably evoking a sense of transcendence. Beside him, Pan Xiaode remarked, "Our airship is assigned to maintenance and emergency relief, patrolling back and forth across every district, so intelligence from all quarters gets routed to us. Right now, it's the Government Affairs Hall and the Defense Department handling everything. Key details aren't allowed to leak, but ordinary updates aren't kept from us. "Word has it that aside from the bio-incursion from the Confluence, the former imperial house launched a surprise attack as well, though they were intercepted over the eastern sea. Overall, the situation remains under the control of the Government Affairs Hall and the Defense Department. "I'd wager things will stay like this for another two days. "Oh, right, Chen Chuan, you might not know this, but the resistance organization has supposedly shown up too. Not long ago, they had a brawl over in Fengde District. I just saw the footage—the whole street was pulverized. Looked like it was caused by third limit fighters clashing... Here, let me show you..." As he spoke, he transferred the footage over, asking curiously, "Chen Chuan, do all of you third limit fighters possess such tremendous destructive power?" "Not everyone can achieve that," Chen Chuan replied. Pan Xiaode looked thoroughly envious, itching to leap across that threshold right away. Chen Chuan examined the footage. Portions of the high-rises were pocked with gaping craters, and the roadways appeared as if repeatedly bombarded. To cause such wide-scale devastation, it was almost certainly the work of third limit fighters who had mastered mind jin, and more than one at that. It seemed a great many factions had indeed reached their hands into Center City this time. And as long as Fumu's split-breeding continued, similar scenes were bound to keep happening. Inside the Defense Department command center, Commissioner Liang checked the time. Ten minutes until one in the afternoon; Fumu's split-breeding would soon enter its tenth wave. According to the watchtower's analysis, this cycle might reach roughly thirteen to fifteen waves. Yet although the sub-bodies were numerous, the conditioning had reduced their individual size and increased their quantity, which meant every specimen had defects to varying degrees. Whenever the Great Shun government sought to cultivate new field creatures, it typically selected the finest specimens as candidates. If none met the baseline standard, this batch would undergo further conditioning, meaning an even greater investment of resources—an expenditure rarely affordable for any organization that wasn't a major power. Therefore, in theory, no single specimen was vital, yet every single one mattered. Based on prior estimates and the watchtower's current analysis, they could virtually confirm that the subsequent intervals would not be as compressed as earlier on, instead stretching out longer. This meant their mobilization of forces wouldn't be as frantic as before, allowing them to concentrate greater strength. In truth, the corporations eager to meddle surely understood this as well, which was why they had mostly made their moves during the early and middle stages. Having largely depleted their strength during those phases, it was hard to say whether they would strike again. He leaned toward the assumption that they would exercise restraint, yet proper precautions still had to be taken. He glanced at the visual display outside Jiyang District, where the former imperial house's General of Subjugation remained locked in a standoff with Xue Shou. It seemed he wouldn't leave until the splitting concluded. For now, other matters were manageable; his greatest worry remained that entity. Still... where on earth was it? He couldn't fathom it for the moment. Yet aside from that, there was another target demanding their attention: the Ferris Wheel Company. According to reliable intelligence, in order to gain entry into the syndicate and break free from its own constrained predicament, that company had placed every ounce of strength it could openly muster onto the gambling table. And the Ferris Wheel Company's subsequent reaction would depend heavily on the outcome of that naval engagement. Only, no news had returned regarding the situation there. *** Out upon the waters beyond Bahu Island, half-submerged wreckage drifted across the ocean's surface, the air thick with the acrid stench of sulfur and charred wood. A great number of buoys and life rafts floated upon the waves as the crew of the corporate joint fleet attempted to rescue personnel who had fallen into the sea, friend and foe alike. This naval battle among the three corporations had raged from five-twenty in the morning until one-thirty in the afternoon—nearly eight hours—ultimately ending in victory for the joint fleet of the Canglong Company and the Ocean Exploration Group. On the Ferris Wheel Company's side, out of nine Yuanshan-class warships, five were sunk, three captured, and one fled; of twelve gunboats, nine were sunk and three captured; and of twenty-five aerial airships, more than half had retreated from the battlefield. Great Shun, by contrast, had lost merely one reconnaissance vessel and two gunboats, while only four of its twelve Changwei-class warships sustained light damage. It was nothing short of a resounding triumph. In truth, however, the battle had been fraught with peril. Right at the outset, the Ferris Wheel Company had unleashed modified flying bio-constructs supplied by the Linax Federation. These insectoid creatures could actually cling to the airships' gasbags and inject a specialized bio-fluid using their abdominal stingers, rapidly igniting fierce fires once they departed. These were likely newly engineered bio-constructs developed by the Linax Federation, completely unknown to the corporate joint fleet beforehand, resulting in the loss of a third of their airships right away despite their initial overwhelming aerial advantage. If they lost supremacy in the skies, the subsequent fighting would become grueling in the extreme, leaving them entirely without cover from above. Fortunately, acting on a staff officer's suggestion, the joint fleet had brought along a batch of modified avian constructs manufactured by the Winged Blade Light Nest Company. These timely reinforcements checked the offensive of the modified bio-constructs, allowing the naval engagement to proceed in their favor. Among them, the four submarines dispatched by the Great Shun military performed meritorious service, accounting for the destruction of most of the sunken Yuanshan-class warships—all within the first two hours of the engagement. The Ferris Wheel Company, already possessing fewer ships than the joint fleet, never recovered from this crippling blow. It took the joint fleet nearly six hours of relentless pursuit to sink or compel the surrender of the remaining vessels one by one. With that, the fleet that the Ferris Wheel Company had spent ten years of painstaking effort to assemble was completely wiped out, destined henceforth to exist solely in historical archives. Upon confirming the battle results, Captain Feng Dingshan immediately transmitted an encrypted telegram, dispatching the outcome of the battle to the Center City Defense Department. *** At one-thirty in the afternoon, this telegram arrived inside the Center City Operations Command Center. Commissioner Liang received the news at once. After repeatedly verifying its authenticity, an enormous weight lifted from his heart. This naval battle was of paramount importance. Had the joint fleet been defeated, the sea would have offered no barrier to the Ferris Wheel Company, enabling its forces to withdraw or return at will, leaving the authorities in an extremely passive position. Now that the Ferris Wheel Company had lost its maritime power, even if they did nothing at all, they would henceforth be trapped on land, unable to budge. He handed the telegram to his female assistant and instructed, "Relay this news as an encrypted dispatch to Chief Administrator Qi and Director Tan." The female assistant carried it out immediately. Roughly ten minutes after the message went out, the female assistant touched her boundary credential and said something to him. Commissioner Liang nodded, left the second-floor public area, and proceeded up to the executive hall on the third floor. The surroundings dimmed, and the light screen on the wall flickered as the silhouettes of two figures appeared. On the left was Qiao Yang, trusted secretary to Chief Administrator Qi of the Government Affairs Hall; on the right was Deputy Director Wu Quan, who oversaw operational affairs for the Disposal Bureau. "Chief Administrator Qi and Director Tan should have reviewed the telegram by now," Commissioner Liang said. "Do the two of you have anything to convey?" Qiao Yang was in his forties, wearing gold-rimmed glasses and projecting a gentle, refined demeanor. Smiling faintly, he said, "We need to provide the public with an explanation and an accounting for this incident. The Ferris Wheel Company makes for an excellent scapegoat." Commissioner Liang instantly understood the Government Affairs Hall's intentions. After a moment of thought, he asked, "What does Speaker Quan say? If we move against Ferris Wheel, the Municipal Council likely won't consent." Qiao Yang replied with a faint smile, "Special circumstances call for special measures. These are extraordinary times, subject to military regulations—though strictly limited to the present window." Commissioner Liang nodded. As matters stood, apart from the security forces stationed to guard Weiguang District, Wuding District, Feiniao District, and Mount Motie which could not be touched, all remaining military power rested in the hands of their three departments. Furthermore, beyond those several districts, communications were far from seamless. If they took action, they could sever all communication signals in advance, leaving the council completely unable to obstruct them. Once this period passed, handling it would prove vastly more difficult. He offered a caution: "Don't forget, however, that the people from the former imperial house remain pinned right at our doorstep. We cannot simply turn a blind eye to them. Moreover, we still don't know what that thing that slipped through from the other side wants, or even where it is. "In the face of these threats, is it really prudent to divert forces to deal with the Ferris Wheel Company?" Deputy Director Wu spoke up then: "With Mr. Xue handling the confrontation with the former imperial house, that front is sufficiently covered. Unless they find another stable fissure, there is no chance they will breach our perimeter—and under the present circumstances, that possibility is practically nonexistent. "As for that entity, Commissioner Liang, Director Tan has already confirmed with headquarters: the Disposal Bureau's active conscious entity, 'Andun,' can be deployed to counter it accordingly." Commissioner Liang looked at him. The Disposal Bureau's active conscious entity was essential for neutralizing the active conscious entities of the various corporations. In truth, those corporations were the ones they genuinely needed to guard against; if it were committed elsewhere, weren't they afraid those corporations might make a move? Deputy Director Wu said in a deep voice, "We have already liaised with Wuyi Academy. Should the corporations stir, their active conscious entity, Hongfu, can substitute for Andun if necessary." Commissioner Liang understood. It seemed the stances of both departments regarding the Ferris Wheel Company were abundantly clear, reflecting the will of the upper echelons backing them. Now, they were merely waiting for his endorsement. Pondering for a brief moment, he looked at the two figures and said slowly, "Given that the Ferris Wheel Company has repeatedly disrupted public order in Center City of Jibei Dao and posed severe security threats to the Center City government, I, in my capacity as the Defense Department Commissioner stationed in Center City of Jibei Dao, propose..." His voice hardened. "...to enact the National Special Purge Regulations, launching a comprehensive purge and restructuring of the Ferris Wheel Company to ensure that the national security and public interest of Great Shun remain unviolated." "Seconded!" "Seconded!"