Conflict Escalates

Dawn City, Alliance Building. Sitting on the sofa in the reception room, Yi Chuan pulled back his right sleeve, glanced at the time projected onto his wrist, and tugged the sleeve back down. It was midnight. He was certain that in this building, completed less than two months ago, the reception room he was in was likely the only place with a light still on. At the thought of his colleagues all fast asleep while he was still slaving away, he could not help letting out a long yawn. By all logic, this ungodly hour was no time for business. Yet as the representative of the Silverwing Group and the Enterprise's ambassador to the Alliance, listening to the Alliance's leadership was part of his job. So even though the hour was an imposition, upon receiving a summons request from the Alliance Administrator's office, he had gotten dressed and rushed over immediately. Of course, if after rushing over in such a hurry, the esteemed Mr. Administrator only wanted to discuss trivial matters—like subsidies for volunteer teachers, construction schedules for compulsory schools, or runway maintenance budgets—then he would not hesitate to give him a piece of his mind. If that turned out to be the case, he was going to complain bitterly! Thinking this, Yi Chuan could not help a smile touching his face. On a personal level, he actually quite liked the guy. While that man loved to haggle over every penny whenever Alliance matters were involved and never missed a chance to take advantage, Yi Chuan, having interacted with him privately, knew well that he was only like that when working. Off the clock, he was actually quite straightforward and pleasant. Perhaps that was just the duality of human nature. Even so, meeting him in this kind of setting always forced Yi Chuan to stay at top alert, not daring to let his guard down for a second. One slip-up, and you could fall right into a pit dug by that guy... Footsteps sounded in the hallway outside. Lost in his thoughts, Yi Chuan instinctively straightened up, looked toward the door as a knock echoed, and cleared his throat. "Come in." The door opened. Chu Guang, dressed in casual clothes, pushed open the door and stepped inside. "Sorry to disrupt your sleep at this hour, but an emergency came up on our end... Please understand why we had to bypass normal procedures to meet with you." Closing the door behind him, he walked over and sat on the sofa opposite Yi Chuan. Seeing Chu Guang without his powered armor, Yi Chuan felt a spark of surprise; he had almost thought the suit was permanently grafted onto the man. It was evident that this gentleman had also dragged himself out of bed not long ago. The thought that he wasn't the only one up in the middle of the night working overtime made Yi Chuan feel considerably better. "I understand. Urgent matters call for extraordinary measures. So, could you tell me... what exactly is this emergency?" Chu Guang did not answer immediately. Instead, he took out a memory card, set it on the coffee table, and slid it forward with his forefinger. Staring at the fingernail-sized card, Yi Chuan frowned slightly. "This is..." Looking at the puzzled Yi Chuan, Chu Guang said seriously, "This isn't something that can be explained in a few words. To avoid communication roadblocks, I'd like you to review this data before we get into our discussion." "..." Yi Chuan gave Chu Guang a suspicious glance. Under the urging of Chu Guang's gaze, he asked nothing in the end. He drew a pair of foldable holographic glasses from his breast pocket, flicked them open, and set them on the bridge of his nose. Then he picked up the fingernail-sized storage card and inserted it into the slot on the temple of the glasses. A green indicator light blinked, a stream of data cascaded across the lenses, and dense constellations of light flooded his eyes. After a brief skim of the materials on the card, Yi Chuan's expression gradually grew subtle. The origin of the Chi Tribe could be traced back a century and a half ago to a biological research institute operated by the Post-War Reconstruction Committee's Technology Department in Yunjian Province! The very first mutants to arrive in Jinhe City had actually been researchers from the Gestalt Lifeform project team! And their arrival directly triggered the collapse of Singularity City! From the standpoint of an Ideal City citizen, seeing such documents hardly put Yi Chuan in a pleasant mood. After all, to the Enterprise, what had happened a century and a half ago was undeniably a dark chapter. Even if the splintering of the Post-War Reconstruction Committee wasn't solely one side's fault, it was still a fact that the Production Department had lit the fuse. To this day, many historians in Ideal City argued that the Yunjian Province Reconstruction Act and its heavy-handed implementation bore inescapable blame. Although Ideal City's populace had long reflected on that history—neither dressing it up like a doll nor sweeping it under the rug—having new clues dug up after all this time was still somewhat distasteful. Especially now, just as they had resolved to carry forward the will of the Pioneer, correct the mistakes of the past century, and step out of Ideal City with heads held high... Tapping the side of the frame with his index finger, an eye visible behind the reflective lens, Yi Chuan looked at Chu Guang in disbelief and asked inquiringly, "Is this... real?" Chu Guang nodded. "I won't claim every detail is one hundred percent accurate, but I can assure you these findings come from an objective, impartial investigation." This included not only materials gathered and compiled by players on the official forum, but also intelligence collected by his Guards Corps through fieldwork and inquiries around Jinhe City. Yi Chuan leaned back against the sofa and let out a soft sigh. "To be honest, seeing these things shocks me... so much so that I don't know how to respond. "Speaking strictly personally, I'm inclined to believe there are misunderstandings here. After all, this is merely an investigative report, and most of the supporting points come from rumors of questionable authenticity. At least here, I don't see any incontrovertible evidence." His wording was cautious. He neither validated the dossier nor completely dismissed it, adopting a diplomatic stance that left room to advance or retreat. Pausing for a moment, Yi Chuan continued, "From the standpoint of the Supreme Council, we regret what occurred a hundred and fifty years ago, but resolving history is not part of the Council's purview. Our authority reflects the collective will, but defining what that will should be is perhaps better left to academia and the public to debate. "If today's meeting is to ask our opinion on this report, my opinion is... you should be summoning the media, not me." Seeing Yi Chuan's guarded expression, Chu Guang could guess with his toes that this fellow had got the wrong idea, assuming Chu Guang was looking to fleece them again and instinctively falling into a defensive crouch. Give me a break. Am I really that shallow? Putting on a helpless expression, Chu Guang patiently went on, "You misunderstand. I'm not trying to use this dossier to pressure you, nor am I here representing the survivors of Jinhe City to demand reparations... We have no right to speak for others. What we want to discuss with you isn't the past, but the present." "...The present?" Yi Chuan looked at him blankly, a flicker of confusion rising in his eyes. Everything in this file looked like old, settled scores. Chu Guang nodded. "A hundred and fifty years ago, the Production Department launched a raid on the Technology Department's biological research institute in Yunjian Province, prompting the Gestalt Lifeform technicians to flee with their experimental data. Many of the mutants on the wasteland today sprang up back then—" Yi Chuan cut him off in annoyance. "That claim is biased! The Wieland Laboratory on the West Coast was also researching the Gestalt Lifeform, and chronologically, the Legion took control of relevant research facilities far earlier than we did! "I'm not saying we're blameless, but asserting that 'the mutants were created by us' is completely irresponsible speculation! The truth is, we've been exterminating those beasts all along. Over the past century, at least half the bullets we've fired were aimed at mutants!" "I know, please hear me out," Chu Guang continued patiently. "We're well aware that the Gestalt Lifeform project wasn't handled by a single research entity. Beyond facilities controlled by the Enterprise, the Legion, and the Academy, there may well have been stray independent laboratories conducting that unfinished research behind closed doors—which is why mutants have evolved into so many different strains. "If it were merely a bunch of mad scientists hiding in a vault swirling test tubes, then even with risks involved, the experiments themselves would at least remain contained... But now, a cabal of lunatics has spent twenty years quietly expanding the scope of their experiments, using any means necessary to advance their research." Yi Chuan frowned deeply. "What do you mean?" "Exactly what it sounds like." Chu Guang laid an electronic pen on the table, flicked his index finger through the azure beam, and several holographic projections floated in front of Yi Chuan. In the center was aerial footage captured by a drone. Surrounding it were several first-person combat recordings from players. All of these videos had been transmitted back to Dawn City through signal repeaters before the Seagull drone was hijacked by the Church of the Torch's electronic warfare operation. Staring at those contorted, ferocious faces and the surging horde of walking corpses, Yi Chuan couldn't help swallowing hard. "What on earth are these... gnawers?" "Without question, they are living people—or at least they were... Right now, they can only be called the living dead." Looking at the incredulous Yi Chuan, Chu Guang added, "When have you ever seen gnawers wearing clothes?" Yi Chuan said nothing, his eyes glued to the images on the holographic display. Seeing his silent friend, Chu Guang continued, "This settlement is called Pinecone Farm. The Church of the Torch seized it, using an addictive fungal crop called na fruit to turn the residents into puppets to assist in completing their Gestalt Lifeform experiment." "You're calling this an experiment?" Yi Chuan's Adam's apple bobbed as he said with difficulty, "...What kind of experiment is this supposed to be?" Chu Guang shook his head. "Unfortunately, I don't know either. We attempted to investigate, but our people were trapped the moment they stepped inside, falling into an elaborate ambush laid by those lunatics. "Ashamed as I am to admit it, we initially thought their alliance with the mutants was just to exploit the mutants' combat prowess. But now it seems everything was a setup for the Gestalt Lifeform itself." "Torch... That Torch? Could it be connected to the Enlightenment Society?" Musing over the name, Yi Chuan muttered under his breath. Chu Guang pondered for a moment and offered his thoughts: "I'm inclined to believe there's no direct connection. The difference between them is like the difference between mutants in the Great Desert and mutants on the East Coast. One carries on the pre-war People's Federation's Project Torch, meant for worst-case scenarios, while the other seems merely inspired by Project Torch. "They share a goal in that both believe the world must be wiped clean rather than reformed upon the old order. However, their execution differs fundamentally. One leans toward old-world neutron purge technology, while the other pins its hopes on unfinished singularity technology from the Era of Prosperity... replacing old humanity with a new humanity to execute their world reboot step by step." Even among the most extreme ideologies, one could distinguish between relatively moderate reformists and more radical transformers. In their methods, the Enlightenment Society was plainly more radical, directly denying wastelanders the right to exist. Yet in the ultimate outcome, those elitists were actually more conservative. At the very least, they believed the new world should still be ruled by human beings, with recognized elites steering every aspect of society, rather than turning people into some 'new humanity.' The Church of the Torch was different. What they sought was a species-level ascension, a complete leap from the shell of old humanity into a new vessel. Even if humans of the old era were allowed to live in the utopia they envisioned, it would only be as livestock devoid of political rights. Only the chosen new humans would live as gods in that utopia. The psychic interference device was designed to accomplish that very end. In the distant old era, convincing people to selectively or entirely surrender their brains required a barrage of propaganda from countless Mr. Houses, backed by an entire systematic apparatus. And even with massive expenditures, a few minor slips could still render the narrative self-contradictory. Yet with na fruit, they didn't need to utter a single word to easily turn settlements into feedlots or plantations. A bead of cold sweat trickled down Yi Chuan's forehead. If ten minutes ago he had been reluctant to involve himself in a dispute between the Alliance and local survivor factions, after reviewing this evidence, he realized the matter had to be reported to the Council immediately. Psychic interference technology was no secret; it had caused quite a sensation back in 2113, and compared to a singularity technology like the Gestalt Lifeform, it was hardly remarkable. Yet he had never imagined that this relic would find a second life on the wasteland in such a manner. And the Council likely hadn't, either. After all, Jinchuan Province and Haiya Province were simply too far from them... Watching the speechless Yi Chuan, Chu Guang continued, "Pinecone Farm is an epitome of settlements across parishes ruled by the Church of the Torch. Similar occurrences are rampant in Jinchuan Province and even Haiya Province. On the surface, those settlements look no different from ordinary communities, but their cores have long since been replaced by Church puppets... And now, this green plague is spreading north. "Originally, na fruit was a tropical crop, but the Church of the Torch modified it so that it grows normally even in subtropical climates... If they are allowed to continue this dangerous experiment, I fear the fall won't be limited to Jinchuan Province. The eastern provinces, and even Yunjian Province, will not be spared. Or are you confident you can forbid your own citizens and neighbors from consuming that stuff?" Yi Chuan looked intently at Chu Guang and said, "I see your point. This matter is indeed of utmost gravity... I will report to the Council at once!" Chu Guang nodded, returning his serious gaze. "I'm glad you understand the urgency. But filing a report is only one part of it. We need to let more people know about their conspiracy, and while spreading the word, we must also take action. If the Council debates this for a month, and we have to wait out another Tide, Jinchuan Province may be beyond saving." At Chu Guang's words, a look of conflict crossed Yi Chuan's face. Acting on his own before the Council reached a verdict violated procedure. "...You know that's impossible. Even if I wanted to help you, as a diplomat I couldn't possibly possess that kind of authority." Chu Guang did not give up at that and pressed on, "Then do something within your authority. We don't need military assistance—the Alliance Army takes a back seat to no one—but we need your technical support! Specifically, we need an electronic warfare expert!" The reinforcements dispatched to Pinecone Farm were already en route and would arrive shortly. Yet without suppressing their opponents in electronic warfare, their smart weaponry could not operate at full combat efficiency. Unfortunately, hacking was not Xiao Qi's specialty; it was fundamentally an assistant AI. Even if the Vault possessed virtually impregnable defenses in information security, that was credited to security protocols running on the Vault's mainframes; Xiao Qi could merely allocate those resources. Furthermore, Xiao Qi's core resided in the Vault, eight hundred kilometers from the front lines. Asking a main tank to wade into battle and smash faces while lagging under high ping and interference was asking far too much. He needed an electronic warfare specialist on the scene to handle the problem for him. That included providing cyber-defense for the drones, and dragging that Bishop named Luo Qian out of his so-called Sanctuary... Hearing Chu Guang's request, Yi Chuan sank into thought. Suddenly, as if struck by inspiration, his eyes lit up and he sat bolt upright. "That's easy enough! There happens to be an electronic warfare expert right here in Dawn City!" Chu Guang immediately asked, "Who?" Yi Chuan said, eyes gleaming, "Eclipse! Model A-110 androids—every last one of them is an expert in electronic warfare!" ... Just as Chu Guang concluded his meeting with the Enterprise representative, in the urban area of Jinhe City not far from the farm, a large force of mutant warriors had likewise assembled. A hulking, semi-cybernetic mutant brute strode heavily before Gahn, clasped his fists, and rumbled, "Kuru, fully assembled!" Behind him, a sea of green heads bobbed, an immense, swarming mass as far as the eye could see. Most of these mutant warriors had undergone cybernetic modifications, differing only in degree. Some had replaced their hearts with iron ones; some had their forearm bones swapped for alloy steel, or mounted cannon barrels and chainsaws onto their arms. They were nothing like the rabble led by Og. The soldiers under Kuru were the elite of the Chi Tribe, with behemoths like Pido seen everywhere. The Chi Tribe's honor had been disgraced by those weaklings, who had actually lost to a bunch of timid, cowardly two-legged sheep! Kuru swore he would reclaim the glory that belonged to his clan! Gahn looked at Kuru expressionlessly and nodded slowly. Then, turning his gaze toward the dense ranks of mutant warriors standing behind him, he raised his voice in a roar: "Our allies are in trouble! "The ones causing them trouble are the very same bastards who killed our brothers! "To Pinecone Farm! "The survivors there are our meat!" Rallying these bloodthirsty beasts required no grand, stirring rhetoric; it was enough simply to tell them where they could vent their primal savagery. A thirst for blood and violence ignited in an instant, deafening roars echoing across the ruin-strewn city. Mutants brandished their weapons, bellowing and cheering at the top of their lungs: "Awoooo!" "Eat them all!!" ... A massive host of mutants departed from Jinhe City's eastern district, marching toward Pinecone Farm. At the same time, a towering steel airship departed Dawn City, pushing southward toward Jinchuan Province. What began as an infiltration mission of barely twenty men was now escalating as all sides raised the stakes. Unbeknownst to anyone, that settlement of fifty thousand had become the epicenter of this storm. This outcome had clearly caught the Church of the Torch off guard as well. When they learned from the Bishop that an Alliance airship was bound for Jinchuan Province, the Apostles at Pinecone Farm turned pale. They had originally planned to turn the tables, using the little mice who had snuck into their pasture for an interesting experiment while teaching the northern Alliance a small lesson. What they had not anticipated was that those northern bastards were such sore losers—seeing their infiltration go sideways, they had simply flipped the table. They did not fear an armed clash with the Alliance, nor did they believe an organization founded barely a year ago could pose a threat to them. Yet they were visibly unready for immediate war, and no one had expected the Alliance to deploy its airship right on the cusp of the Tide. At a distance of eight hundred kilometers, the airship wouldn't arrive until tomorrow morning. Still, they were not naive enough to think the Alliance relied solely on an airship for transportation... The four Apostles scrambled like ants on a hot pan, frantically debating countermeasures, while not far away inside the estate, gunfire roared incessantly. The underground laboratory beneath the Annex. Ye Shi pulled the short blade lodged in the Torch Executioner's forearm, stripped him of his gear, and bound his hands and feet with plastic zip ties. The VM data copy was complete. Dragging the captive into the chamber housing the psychic interference device, Ye Shi aimed his gun at the man's head and threatened, "Shut this thing down!" Wu Zhe curled his lip and chuckled. "Hate to disappoint you, but I'm just a grunt... I don't know how to turn it off. Why don't you try blowing it up?" Ye Shi wasted no words and kicked him hard in the gut. Enduring the excruciating pain in his forearm, Wu Zhe gritted his teeth and sneered at Ye Shi, thinking to himself what a pity it was. If he could trick this guy into blowing up the psychic interference device under Pinecone Farm, it would count as mission accomplished for him. In fact, just minutes earlier, Ye Shi really had planned on blowing the place to pieces, but after reviewing the data downloaded from the terminal, he had abandoned the idea at once. Merely shutting off the psychic interference device wouldn't restore the people outside to normal, just as smashing a monitor wouldn't turn off a computer. The device induced test subjects into a 'trance,' but what truly turned the locals feral like gnawers was the Band 03 signal it transmitted. The machine had already etched frenzied signals into their brains; as long as they entered a trance, they would devolve into this horrific state. It was only a difference of severity. Unless different signal frequencies were fed through the psychic interference device to rebrainwash those affected by na fruit, they would likely drift in and out of lucidity, going mad unpredictably... Leaving them like this was actually better for now. At least while sharing the same trance state, they wouldn't slaughter one another. Looking at the tight-lipped captive, Ye Shi gritted his teeth, hoisted him over his shoulder, and walked out of the laboratory. Wu Zhe winced in agony, simply shut his eyes, and didn't utter another word. The little girl named Xiaoyang stood trembling by the doorway, staring at the two emerging from the lab at a complete loss. When her eyes met Ye Shi's, she looked away in shame, not daring to meet his gaze. Active camouflage only worked during slow movement, and moving between environments of differing brightness also caused glaring distortions. Clearly, she had seen the intruder. Yet under the Executioner's threats, she hadn't made a peep—she might have even told him she was alone inside, standing by while the bastard carried his rifle in to flank Ye Shi. However, Ye Shi held no grudge against her for not warning him. To be fair, if she had cried out, it would have gotten in the way. It wouldn't just have put her in danger; it would have alerted the enemy and hindered him from turning the tables using his talent. "Things have changed. I need you to stay down here for a bit... Remember to keep an eye on Yinyin. Don't let her hurt herself, but don't get too close either." Hearing this, Xiaoyang's eyes filled with despair and misery, but in the end she said nothing, merely nodding in silence. She had betrayed the person who had helped her. Being abandoned was only to be expected... Seeing this precocious little kid jumping to conclusions again, Ye Shi chuckled, reached out, and ruffled her hair. "What's going through that head of yours? I'm not leaving you behind. Just wait here for a while... If you're tired, get some sleep. I'll be back shortly." Xiaoyang asked in a small voice, "Where are you going...?" "To slaughter those bastards!" Ye Shi grinned, flashed what he considered a dashing silhouette, and headed toward the stairwell. Dangling in his grip, Wu Zhe sneered and scoffed. *Slaughter them all?* *What a bragging piece of shit!*