Let the Storm Rage Harder!

"Pffft—!" Aboard the research vessel docked near the Alliance airfield, Yang Kai leaned back in his seat, reading what was displayed on the holographic screen before him, and nearly spewed a mouthful of coffee across the cockpit's central console. Just a few minutes ago, he had returned to his research ship, preparing to study the proposed modifications raised by the Alliance Administrator. But the moment he powered on his personal terminal, this thing popped up. At that moment, a three-page newspaper was projected onto the screen, bearing a large header that read: *Qingquan City Daily*. Even more flabbergasting was the headline blazoned across the front page: *The Qingquan City Broodmother Has Not Fallen! Secretly Kept in Captivity by the Administrator!* Can that thing even *be* kept in captivity??? "What the hell is this?" Seeming thoroughly pleased with Yang Kai's discombobulated look, Li Ke, floating beside him in a holographic projection, spoke with a mocking tone. "Our intelligence operatives picked up this paper in Dawn City. You can grab one at any random newsstand... So tell me, what on earth is your Research Department doing?" He was a researcher from the External Affairs Department, holding the same Class-B rank as Yang Kai. Ever since Yang Kai had overstepped his bounds to snatch a job belonging to External Affairs, Li Ke had harbored intense displeasure toward him. And this wasn't even the first time! Sure enough, after hearing Li Ke's words, Yang Kai's expression froze. He had indeed instructed the research ship's assistant system to monitor Alliance radio broadcasts and television programs to filter key information from the news, but he had never bothered looking into physical newspapers. Mainly, he didn't have a fixed residence here—if he tried to subscribe, no one would know where to deliver it. Besides, what era was this? Who still read that kind of thing?? "... That doesn't prove anything. It's just a newspaper," Yang Kai said with a stiff face, unable to stand the man's gloating expression. "Yes, merely a newspaper, and today was its very first issue," Li Ke continued derisively. "The moment our operatives saw it, they immediately went to the eastern outskirts of Qingquan City to verify the situation. And guess what we saw? Slime mold repairing the ruins over there! And what did you do? You leisurely strolled over to the Alliance Building for a meeting, and wound up reaching zero agreements—" "I didn't fail to reach an agreement. At the very least, the Alliance Administrator showed an intention to conduct joint research on the Qingquan City ruins and the broodmother specimen with us," Yang Kai interrupted, his face darkened with displeasure. "And listen: my negotiations with the Alliance have entered a critical phase. I don't want your rash actions jeopardizing the outcome." Li Ke laughed aloud and spread his hands. "What does it matter? We aren't the only ones doing this; everyone else is too. Besides, we're merely gathering public intelligence... Yet disappointingly, you couldn't even manage the most basic legwork. Did you really think intelligence would just deliver itself to your door while you sat in your research ship waiting?" Yang Kai was left at a loss for words by the jab and simply kept his mouth shut. Li Ke didn't press him further and moved on. "Don't bite off more than you can chew in the future. Back to business—I believe the Alliance released this newspaper on purpose." Yang Kai frowned slightly. "They're spreading panic in their own settlement?" Li Ke chuckled. "Panic? Is this your first day in Dawn City? The survivors there are notoriously fearless. You didn't see them when they scrapped with the Legion. That was the first time I've ever seen the Wilante back down in the domain they excel at most. An intimidation of this level is nothing more than a joke to them." Yang Kai nodded, grudgingly accepting the explanation. Although he hadn't taken part in the Falcon City peace talks, he had had the privilege of witnessing the decisive battle between the Alliance and the Church of the Torch in Jinchuan Province. The sky-blotting swarm of mutant organisms had rolled in like dark thunderclouds. Even he had thought the Administrator was bound to stumble there. Yet unexpectedly, the man had personally donned armor, charged onto the front line, and obliterated the opposing lead node organism in a single strike with his hammer. Those people completely shattered his stereotype of blue-jackets being harmless nice guys. "What is your side's stance?" Li Ke answered briskly. "The Chief Technology Officer's stance is the External Affairs Department's stance. The CTO hopes that before the Alliance enters into an exclusive agreement with any third party, you secure at least an opportunity for joint research on the downtown broodmother." Yang Kai: "And the ruins?" Li Ke: "Secondary priority." The Academy had excavated plenty of ruins. While the ruins in Qingquan City were significant, they weren't irreplaceable. By contrast, the Academy's upper echelon cared far more about that biological specimen in the city center. Understanding this, Yang Kai took a deep breath. "I'll fight for it... On your end, please cooperate. I need your intelligence support." Seeing the man finally lower his head, a smug smirk tugged at the corner of Li Ke's mouth. However, knowing better than to push his luck too far, he coughed softly before Yang Kai could fly into a rage. "No problem. The CTO already anticipated that you might botch things. Oh, right—I read your uploaded report. Regarding the special administrative zone proposed by the Alliance, the CTO feels it's open for discussion. In his view, Binghai City is a fine choice. The conditions across the board are decent there, and nearby abandoned urban sectors happen to contain a frozen broodmother. Of course, if the Alliance has other thoughts, that can be negotiated." "Fine..." Having listened carefully to the suggestion, Yang Kai nodded. Li Ke nodded back, about to disconnect the comms. Just then, he suddenly remembered something and spoke up. "Ah, right. You'd better hurry. Not long after you left, people from Enterprise made contact with the Alliance." Hearing that, Yang Kai froze. "Not long after I left... Wait, not long after I left?" Li Ke looked at Yang Kai with a puzzled expression as the latter bolted upright in agitation. "What's wrong?" "Nothing..." Swallowing the words on the tip of his tongue, Yang Kai was so furious his nose almost twisted out of shape. Clenching his fists, he cursed up a storm in his head. Back at the Alliance Building, that guy's subordinate had told him their Administrator was in a meeting with Enterprise representatives. It turned out to be an utter sham just to brush him off?! Seeing Yang Kai's flushed face, Li Ke wore a strange expression. "Are you all right?" Yang Kai said stiffly, "I'm fine." Li Ke coughed. "If something's wrong, it's best to speak up—" "My terminal's out of battery." Before Li Ke could finish, Yang Kai swiped an index finger through the air and terminated the call in exasperation. *** Meanwhile, in the browsing room on B4 of Shelter 404. Facing Chu Guang's question regarding where to establish the special zone, Yin Fang considered for only two seconds before offering his thoughts. "If you ask me, Binghai City is a good choice." Looking at the location Yin Fang circled on the pre-war Human Alliance map, Chu Guang paused slightly. "That far?" Hearing the name 'Binghai,' he had already felt something was off, and checking the map confirmed his suspicion. This wasn't merely far north; it was at the northernmost edge of the Wandering Marsh. A couple more steps north and you'd be inside the Arctic Circle. As if expecting Chu Guang's reaction, Yin Fang rubbed the bridge of his nose and let out a chuckle. "Don't let the remote location fool you. Under the Science Committee's administration, it's the settlement with the most complete facilities and the most comprehensive resources." Pausing briefly, he went on to introduce the settlement's circumstances to Chu Guang. Because the Science Committee adhered to the principle of high output and low consumption, the survivors living in most settlements—even those where production technology and methods were not backward—still led relatively frugal, even austere, lives. The only path to escaping a hand-to-mouth subsistence level was to become a prospector. Yet there were exceptions. While the Academy detested Enterprise-style wastefulness, a few settlements under the Science Committee's governance still enjoyed a comfortable quality of life. Binghai City was one of them. This settlement had once been a doomsday seed vault. Not only did it possess NBC protection systems comparable to a shelter, but the temperature in every sector could be freely regulated. After taking over the seed vault, the Academy had converted most of the space into living quarters and agricultural zones, keeping the temperature in each sector consistently between twenty and twenty-five degrees Celsius year-round. Thus, although the settlement lay in the frozen far north, inside it was not cold at all; rather, it felt like perpetual spring. Backed by high technology, the frigid climate, far from being an obstacle to survival, became a natural barrier isolating the settlement from the wasteland. The vast majority of mutant species across the Wandering Marsh could never reach so far north. In the bitter cold, where temperatures hovered year-round between minus twenty and minus fifty, even broodmothers had no choice but to hibernate underground. Owing to its superior living conditions, some mid-to-high-level Academy researchers arranged for relatives who couldn't enter the Academy proper to live there. Over time, its supporting amenities had steadily developed. Healthcare and education in particular, while slightly behind Academy headquarters, were worlds apart compared to other settlements under the Science Committee. It even surpassed Enterprise's Ideal City by a wide margin. This was why most Academy researchers didn't envy life in Ideal City, and even sneered at its superficial prosperity. "... Binghai City is situated in a harsh, frigid land, so consuming more supplies is entirely justifiable. Consequently, when survivors across most Science Committee settlements hear about its location, they react with surprise just like you, never imagining they should envy life there... What they don't know is that even when people there harvest potatoes, they're sitting in heated greenhouses watching automated machines do the digging." Listening to Yin Fang's teasing remarks, Chu Guang sighed after a long moment. "Wherever there are people, there are politics." Yin Fang chuckled. "I don't mean anything bad by it, just that you shouldn't underestimate those folks. They might look honest sometimes, but they have plenty of tricks up their sleeves. And whatever you do, never talk to them about sentimentality or trustworthiness. Anyone who's made it above Class-C basically has neither... I won't say it's absolute, but that's generally how it is." Evidently, the man harbored no small resentment toward his former employer. When speaking of Enterprise, he showed at most disdain and contempt, but whenever his old employer came up, he inevitably sounded like an aggrieved spouse. "I'll keep that in mind..." Chu Guang cleared his throat softly and returned his attention to the red circle on the map. The card of establishing a special zone could be played in two ways. Beyond simple technology exchanges and headhunting, he could use this window to export the Alliance's fine goods back into Academy territory. His interactions with Ideal City had already demonstrated that while many Alliance products were not yet mature, as novel imports never seen before, they possessed considerable appeal. Especially in the cultural realm. At present, the Cr foreign exchange revenue generated by the Changyue Group alone had already caught up to a third of the industrial zone's total output in Xizhou City! And a certain gaming company, through several VR blockbusters featuring novel—or rather, retro—gameplay, had garnered millions of fans on Endpoint Cloud! Behind this lay not only massive economic value, but also countless intangible benefits. For instance, the volunteers who spent their own money to come teach at the Alliance's Refugee Home and orphanages were largely drawn by the Alliance's thriving culture. As for how to balance the ratio between NPCs going to the Academy to learn new knowledge and players going there to stir up trouble, he still needed to study the matter thoroughly. Just as Chu Guang was pondering how to maximize his gains, Xiao Qi's voice drifted into his ear. "Master, Enterprise's Ambassador to the Alliance, Yi Chuan, wishes to meet with you. It's getting late today; shall we schedule it for tomorrow morning?" Hearing Xiao Qi's report, Chu Guang replied casually, "Sure. By the way, did he mention what it's about?" Xiao Qi: "It seems to be about that newspaper." A newspaper? Chu Guang was taken aback. Sensing Chu Guang's confusion, Xiao Qi thoughtfully expanded a holographic screen. Displayed on screen was the headline from the *Qingquan City Daily* that Old Charlie had handed him earlier. Seeing the three-page paper on the holographic screen, Yin Fang raised an eyebrow and asked out of curiosity, "What's this? *Qingquan City... Daily*?" His laboratory subscribed to various newspapers. Did Dawn City publish one like this? Chu Guang's expression turned nuanced. "Nothing... Just an unfunny joke." Good grief. Someone actually bought into that crap...? *** Meanwhile, in the Highway Town inn. Sun Yuechi, dressed in a traveler's outfit, sat in a corner of the lobby. Having ordered a glass of honey butter beer recommended by the tavern owner, he was quietly flipping through a newspaper he had just bought from a nearby newsstand. "... *The Qingquan City Broodmother Secretly Kept in Captivity by the Administrator?*" His eyebrows twitched slightly. Following the lines of text downward, he couldn't help marveling under his breath. "Commanding fruiting bodies to rebuild civilization... That's actually not a bad approach to breaking the deadlock. The Administrator of this shelter truly is a talent!" Shelter 404. Come to think of it, what had been the mission of that shelter again? He racked his brain for a long time without recalling anything. Shaking his head, he stopped letting his thoughts wander and resumed reading the paper in his hands. Just then, a booming roar shattered Sun Yuechi's train of thought, prompting him to look up involuntarily. "Enough! That's utter rubbish!" A burly man slammed the table and stood up, his face flushed and neck veins bulging as he glared at several visiting mercenaries sitting nearby, barking angrily: "Our Administrator values the Alliance more than himself! If I hear you utter another word of baseless slander, I'll shove this damn table down your throat!" He was a veteran of the First Corps, having followed the Administrator through southern expeditions and northern campaigns long ago. His feelings toward Shelter 404 ran far deeper than those of other survivors, because those people always charged ahead of them, always placing themselves in the most hazardous spots. The great Administrator even more so. He practically wore himself to the bone for the Alliance, so busy he hadn't even fathered children of his own, and these bastards dared badmouth him to his face! He was itching to blow this guy away with a single shot! The mercenary had been shouted at until he was utterly bewildered. Just moments ago, he had been chatting with his companions about the paper from the newsstand, specifically touching on one of the conspiracy theories inside—that the Alliance Administrator, having seized the downtown broodmother and sequestered it in Qingquan City's eastern district, was concocting a terrifying plot. When the time was ripe, that lord would suddenly trigger a Tide, turning everyone here into marionettes just like the fruiting bodies. The mercenary didn't actually believe that theory himself; he had merely been gossiping for amusement. But his voice had probably carried a bit too loud and caught someone's ear. What he hadn't expected was for a bystander to react so violently. Back in Bugra, you could point right at Sigma's nose and curse him out with zero consequence. Big shots like that didn't care about cockroaches like them anyway, and you'd never run into him in person. In the Alliance, however, it seemed to be a different story altogether... The tavern lobby fell dead silent. Facing a single enraged fellow wouldn't normally have terrified the mercenary so much. But he quickly realized that more than one pair of eyes had locked onto him. Among them were no shortage of formidable Awakened. "I..." Cold sweat trickled from his forehead. Feeling an unprecedented weight of pressure, he stammered, unable to form a coherent sentence. Fortunately, his companion reacted quickly, hurriedly offering an apology to the menacing brute who had risen to his feet. "Sorry, brother, we meant no harm... It's our first time coming here with a caravan, and we don't know much about you folks, so we bought a paper to have a look. We didn't make this up. If anyone's to blame, it should be the newspaper, right?" Saying so, he held out the paper. Still fuming, the burly man took the newspaper with a dark face, crumpled it into a ball, and hurled it aside. The mercenary cursed inward, but dared not cause trouble on someone else's turf after all. He spread his hands awkwardly. "Can I take that as making amends? Just a drunken slip of the tongue. We truly meant no harm..." As the atmosphere remained tense, Old Hook, noticing the commotion, coughed and stepped in to smooth things over. "He's right. Giving him a hard time accomplishes nothing. If you want to blame someone, blame that *Qingquan City Daily* that sprang out of nowhere... Speaking of which, I received a stack of them this morning too. The printing press sent them mixed in with other papers. I took one glance and tossed them out as trash." "Someone actually prints garbage like this!" The burly man also realized his reaction had been over the top; venting on passersby was inappropriate. Mumbling an irritated remark, he took the offered out to de-escalate. Old Hook shrugged helplessly. "That lord has far too many matters to worry about. He can't oversee every single detail in person, can he?" Of course, that was also his virtue. He cared only whether people could afford what was on the shelves; as for what they chose to buy, he rarely interfered. Just as he had declared at the last festival: so long as what was traded did not infringe upon honor and dignity. The patrons began chattering all at once, indignantly discussing the *Qingquan City Daily* that had seemingly materialized out of thin air. Watching the crumpled ball of newspaper roll near the bar counter, In Debt God curiously picked it up and gave it a glance. One look, and his temper flared. "Holy crap! Is Yu that kind of person?!" He hadn't read the conspiracy theories carefully and didn't care much about them anyway. The crux was that the way the paper wrote it made Yu sound like the Administrator's slave! They paired the wrong ship! Lao Bai, holding his drink, teased with a grin, "Yu doesn't seem to be human, though." Resting her chin on the back of her hand, Chen Yutong, already tipsy, chimed in playfully, "True, but I think it's way cuter than humans." Lately, she had picked up bits of the players' slang. Though not completely fluent, she had no trouble with everyday communication. Lao Bai laughed heartily. "Your taste is pretty unique." In Debt God let out a beer burp, stood up tipsily from the counter, and angrily crumpled the paper into a ball before tossing it into the trash. "Human or not, it's a comrade who fought alongside us shoulder to shoulder! And most importantly, it's my good bro Luoyu's wife!" Elaina gave him a comical look. "You're just taking advantage of Luoyu's absence to spout absolute nonsense." Wait, could this guy be grinding affection points? Didn't he carry Yu's fruiting body on him or something? "*Burp*—Anyway! I, In Debt God, will never let anyone slander our Yu!" Planting a foot on a nearby table, In Debt God rolled his eyes, turned toward the indignantly murmuring drunks, and bellowed in Human Alliance language: "Someone dares slander our supreme Lord Administrator!" "I am Brother Edge, commander of the Death Corps! Whoever the hell that bastard is, we've gotta teach him a lesson!" Hearing him invoke Brother Edge's name, Elaina nearly spat out her drink. Right at that moment, the thoroughly hammered In Debt God suddenly yanked a handgun from his pocket and fired a shot straight at the ceiling—*BANG!* The gunshot ignited the atmosphere throughout the lobby in an instant. A crowd of rowdy men began shouting in hot-blooded fury. "Damn right!" "We gotta teach that bastard a lesson!" "Where do we find him, though?" "The printing factory that delivered the papers!" "*Awooooo!*" Watching the scene spiral out of control, Lao Bai froze in place, while Elaina snatched the handgun right out of In Debt God's grip. "Are you nuts?! Trying to get your account banned?!" "Hehe, don't sweat it, they're blanks." Stepping down from the table with a goofy grin, In Debt God bent over, picked up the spent casing, and waved it in front of Elaina. Yet to his surprise, he still ate a five-minute yellow card. Before he could finish gloating for two seconds, his eyes rolled back and he was forcibly logged off. Lisa, her face pale, looked at him worriedly and asked in a low voice, "Is he all right?" Long accustomed to this, Lao Bai comforted the young girl with a smile. "He's fine. The guy had too much to drink. We'll carry him back to sleep it off." In truth, Xiao Qi had gone easy on him. Discharging a firearm in a public venue—even with blanks, even for a first offense—warranted at least a twenty-four-hour yellow card, let alone inside a tavern. The bunch of drunks couldn't care less about the wimp who had collapsed from drinking. Vaguely catching the call to arms from the 'Death Corps Commander,' their blood boiled, and they rose from their seats one after another, shouting threats. Seeing the atmosphere turn increasingly terrifying, the mercenaries who had started the discussion hastily threw down money to settle their bill, slipping out before even finishing their drinks. Old Hook looked on helplessly, but made no move to stop the mob surging toward the door. Tossing his rag aside, he glanced at Lisa, who stood holding a dining tray in a daze. "You can clock out early today." Lisa asked apprehensively in a small voice, "Is it really all right to leave them be?" "It's fine. With the shelter residents around, they'll know where to draw the line. It shouldn't get too out of hand..." Old Hook wasn't entirely certain either, tacking on a quiet "probably" at the end. Truth be told, he didn't like seeing anyone smear their Administrator either, even if that lord might not bother with such trivialities himself. If that lord hadn't taken them in back during that bitter winter, his old bones would probably be lying in some forgotten ditch in the wasteland. Life today felt like a dream to a wasteland wanderer like him; he would never forget that kindness in his lifetime. Pity he didn't know who had written that article, or he'd certainly plant a boot in the guy's rear. Watching the drunks get up and pour toward the entrance, Sun Yuechi in the corner hurriedly tucked his newspaper away, dreading that someone might spot a copy in his possession. However, nobody paid him any mind, and even if they had, they wouldn't have cared. Someone had already pointed them toward their target: they were heading for the printing factory, where their rage could be properly unleashed. Watching the fanatical mob surge onto the street in droves, black lines formed across Sun Yuechi's forehead. Is this settlement truly normal? He couldn't help beginning to doubt the rumors he had heard along the way... At the same time, Sindisen, sitting before the window of a guest room in the very same inn, wore a gloating smile from ear to ear. Especially when he saw the growing crowd gathering on the street and the guards rushing over to maintain order, his grin broadened even further. "Tsk, tsk. It's about to descend into chaos." Just as he had anticipated. The newspaper he had concocted in league with other merchants had indeed ignited the fury of these survivors. As long as public sentiment continued to ferment, the fruiting bodies in Qingquan City's eastern district would soon become a hot potato. When that time came, they could step forward before the Alliance authorities like saviors, purchasing those fruiting bodies at a bargain price. Then again, using such intelligent fruiting bodies merely to make nutrient paste would be such a waste. Perhaps he could hire a few researchers to figure out whether those fruiting bodies could be put to work for him. Brokering labor would be far more promising than merely "collecting junk," wouldn't it? Sindisen clenched his fists in excitement, silently cheering on the assembling survivors. Let the storm rage harder!