Chapter 367 The Storm is Coming!
1:45 AM
In Dawn City, there were hurried footsteps in the corridor. Seraph Minister Luo Ming walked quickly to the Federal President's office and pushed the door open. A small meeting was going on inside.
Chu Zhaonan was sitting at the head of the conference table, discussing the progress of the Yuanxing Project with some senior members of parliament. When he saw Luo Ming rushing in, he immediately frowned.
"What's wrong?"
"Something happened!" Luo Ming waved his hand, and the content on the combat screen was replaced by a video. Everyone, including Federal President Chu Zhaonan, Senate President and Underground City Committee Director Xu Yan, looked over and found that it was a video of Silent City receiving Vice Chairman Zhou Mingyuan from their perspective.
"Vice Chairman Zhou?" Xu Yan asked curiously, "Didn't this happen yesterday? Why is the video coming now?"
Luo Ming's face was heavy, and he said solemnly: "It came from Silent City, and it went all the way from Jinhai to Dawn City via a high-power co-frequency flying information repeater. Now this video has spread among all the survivors!"
"Well...is there any problem?" said Su Jin, the director of the Yuanxing Project, a 42-year-old female senior executive.
"You'll find out if you keep watching."
Luo Ming directly adjusted the playback progress and played the subsequent communication scenes between Zhou Mingyuan and Mochizuki Shinji, as well as the confrontation between Wen Dong and Lin Xian.
As the holographic video played, the air in the office quickly grew colder. The faces of several senior leaders darkened. Chu Zhaonan, who was sitting at the head of the group, slowly clenched the holographic controller in his hand, which made a clattering metallic sound.
Seeing Zhou Mingyuan's crazy laughter, Xu Yan waved his hand to let Luo Ming stop playing, then turned around with a serious expression and said sternly
“The video is fake!”
"Some are true and some are false." Luo Ming said immediately: "The technical department has decrypted it, and I have arranged for the entire city's network to be interrupted to prevent the spread."
"Then quickly arrange to spread the content that debunks the rumors!" Su Jin had a look on his face that indicated something was wrong.
"I had already synced the rumor-refuting content before the network was disconnected, but it was too late. The old city had already started a commotion!" Luo Ming said, "Now the population control, city defense, garrison, and night patrol departments have all been dispatched. The situation is somewhat out of control."
"Where's Vice Chairman Zhou?" Xu Yan spoke at this time. He looked at Chu Zhaonan and said, "We must immediately ask Zhou Mingyuan to come out and personally dispel the rumors. We must first suppress the unrest."
Chu Zhaonan, who was sitting at the head of the group, had a gloomy expression. He stared at Zhou Mingyuan, who was laughing wildly in the frozen picture, and then said in a deep voice:
"Luo Ming, is Zhou Mingyuan preparing to attack Silent City?"
"Yes, they want to use the Crimson World to paralyze the Silent City."
"So now we have been outmaneuvered by Shinji Mochizuki?" Chu Zhaonan said.
Xu Yan took a deep breath and said, "What about Silent City? Is there any news from the outpost?"
"That's what I want to say."
Luo Ming's face was solemn. He said
"According to the relay station message 5 minutes ago, Silent City suddenly activated the floating mode and is now heading towards Jinhai at a high cruising speed!"
"Jin Hai?!"
"What are you going to do? A surprise attack on Jinhai?"
"What about Lu Tianye?"
"General Lu's Jinhai Garrison Corps has drawn most of its forces to support the outpost in Qilian Mountain, where a large convoy is trapped."
"Chairman, this is not good!"
The office was in an uproar. Chu Zhaonan closed his eyes slightly. Hearing the news, he was not panicked at all. He tapped his fingers on the table rhythmically. After a while, he said in a deep voice:
"Su Jin, notify Jinhai immediately and transfer all the built starships to the Dawn City Starport. Luo Ming, you take the Seraphs to Jinhai now. On the one hand, contact Lu Tianye not to engage in a firefight with Silent City. On the other hand, take your men to negotiate with Mochizuki Shinji in person to find out his intentions."
"Yes!" Su Jin and Luo Ming immediately took their people away.
"This kind of riot only needs to be suppressed by rumor refutation. It won't cause any trouble. Why do we need to make such a big move?" Xu Yan frowned as he watched everyone leave and only two people were left in the office.
Chu Zhaonan's face was calm: "Old Xu, why do you think Silent City suddenly accelerated at night and flew straight to Jinhai?"
Xu Yan took a deep breath, "First they spread the news that Zhou Mingyuan was colluding with the Crimson World and was going to attack Silent City, then they flew directly to Jinhai. It was obvious that they were trying to make us afraid to act rashly. In this case, whether it was the Crimson World or our people who attacked them, it would directly prove that our Dawn City was colluding with the Adventists to carry out anti-human conspiracy. The more than 100,000 people in Silent City are more than 100,000 mouths, and I'm afraid that a touch would cause a wave of uproar."
"Yes, Zhou Mingyuan's plan was to let the Crimson World take action, but they used a little trick to outwit him. At this time, if Silent City really encountered trouble from the Crimson World, no matter how much rumors were refuted, it would be useless." Chu Zhaonan said.
"Zhou Mingyuan wanted to kill someone with a borrowed knife, and now both the blood and the knife are on him."
"Then there is no need for us to give up Jinhai, right?" Xu Yan said, "Doesn't our move just mean that we are disrupting our own position?"
"I haven't given up on Jinhai."
Chu Zhaonan tapped his fingers on the table, indicated the time in the holographic screen with his eyes, and whispered: "Ye Lan's Zhentian ship will enter Shuguang City in an hour. Isn't it too coincidental?"
"Do you think that Silent City teamed up with the Phoenix Society to stir up trouble?" Xu Yan said
"Whether it is true or not, the time has come for the key to the Crimson World to be used." Chu Zhaonan slowly stood up and said, "When I chose to cooperate with Linglong Group, I thought there would be such a day."
He took two steps forward and whispered:
"Please invite Wen Hui over for me."
"Yes." A guard hidden in the shadows walked out quietly and quickly left the office.
He seemed to have stood there for a long time, but no one noticed his presence.
Chu Zhaonan looked out the window. Deep in the huge underground city, a rail-mounted lifting device was lifting a large device, covering the lights of the city area.
Click, click.
Soon, Wen Hui appeared at the door: "Chairman Chu, are you looking for me?"
"Wen Hui."
Chu Zhaonan turned around and said, "Tell Julius that I am going to start the Pioneer Project right away!"
Wen Hui's pupils trembled when she heard this, and her face turned pale for a moment. After two seconds of hesitation, she said
“Okay, we’re very supportive of that.”
After saying that, she turned and left.
Xu Yan looked at Wen Hui's back as she left and said solemnly:
"Has it come to this? It's happening much faster than we expected."
"Time is not on our side!" Chu Zhaonan said sternly: "One year, one month, one week..."
Chu Zhaonan's heavy face was reflected on the floor-to-ceiling window of the office: "Old Xu, do you remember when I was elected as the chairman of the Federation?"
Xu Yan was silent for a moment.
"643 days. I should be the ruler who has suffered the most losses in human history. 11.6 billion people died and 85% of the main cities were lost. Now in my eyes, there is no concept of population, no concept of resources, no right or wrong, justice and morality. I don't care about other people's evaluation of me, whether it is infamy or spit on. This spark..."
Chu Zhaonan's eyes narrowed slightly: "It must not be extinguished in my hands!"
…
Dawn Dungeon, Earth Core Administrative Hall.
Bang!
The exquisite ceramic tea bowl smashed into pieces on the ground. The senior officials of Shuguang City, led by Zhou Mingyuan, were furious and looked at Zhou Mingyuan in a rage.
"How can such a lowly rumor be allowed to spread into the main city's network!!"
Zhou Mingyuan had never been so angry before. His face turned red, he was breathing heavily, and even his eyebrows were raised.
"Don't we have speech control? What are you doing with it?!"
"The other party transmitted the information via a high-power same-frequency flight information repeater. All residents can receive it directly. Our intranet did not respond at all. Investigation revealed that the intranet system was hacked. It should be done by an insider from Silent City." An official reported with a cold sweat on his face.
"Check it out for me now!"
Zhou Mingyuan shouted sternly. At the same time, two secretaries were quickly helping him get dressed in formal attire. He arranged for a city-wide curfew and prepared to hold a press conference to clarify the matter.
"The evidence and speech for refuting the rumors are already prepared. Chairman Zhou, do you want to send the content out first to ferment it before holding the meeting?" said a female official.
Zhou Mingyuan simply waved his hand and shouted to the crowd.
"Wen Dong."
Wen Dong walked out of the crowd with a complicated expression: "Chairman Zhou."
"You...you hurry up and notify them." He raised his hand and pointed: "Jinhai must ensure the safety of Silent City and bring the support team over. This must also be publicized!"
Wen Dong's eyes flickered, and he understood what he meant, and nodded, "I understand."
Having said that, he turned and left.
After arranging things for Wen Dong, Zhou Mingyuan prepared to go to the press conference. At this time, one of his subordinates came up to him and whispered something in his ear. Halfway through his walk, he suddenly stopped.
"What's wrong, Chairman Zhou?"
Zhou Mingyuan's eyes flickered as he thought about something, then he waved his hand: "Cancel the press conference and just record a video and send it out."
Afterwards, with the help of his assistant, he pretended to record a solemn statement video with stern wording. After the video was finished, Zhou Mingyuan sent everyone away and left himself alone to pace by the clear pool.
"Mochizuki Shinji...why did you suddenly do this?"
Zhou Mingyuan's eyes were filled with anger. He had not expected that Silent City, a small floating city, would take the initiative to attack in such a despicable way, catching him off guard.
Now in the doomsday, Dawn City is crowded with people and full of complaints. Millions of people are just trying to survive. Even if their work intensity and tax payments continue to increase, as long as their lives are not in danger, the situation will not be affected in any way.
But the problem is that the kidnapping of a large number of people has made all the survivors hate the Crimson World. In this situation, if it is revealed that Dawn City and the Crimson World have a collusion of interests, it would be like a nuclear bomb exploding in the city. Zhou Mingyuan had a thousand tricks but he did not expect the other party to show their cards directly, and they were fake cards, which directly pierced the sky!
"It seems to be related to the Phoenix Order."
Zhou Mingyuan also thought of this at this time, his face changing from gloomy to bright. His subordinates had just told him about Chu Zhaonan's actions, and he immediately felt the seriousness of the matter.
"Chu Zhaonan must have known something and is going to burn his boats in advance."
After saying that, Zhou Mingyuan's eyes became stern, and he walked towards the distant wall. He stretched out his hand and pressed a hidden position. After a special palm print mechanism scanned it, a metal door slowly opened, and white cold mist gushed out from it.
He walked in and saw more than a dozen freezer compartments displayed inside. These were the spare parts he had carefully selected.
"What's the use of all this? If you can't escape, you'll still die in the end..."
…
Jinhai
This city used to be one of the busiest hubs in the circumstellar orbit and an important industrial cluster in Dragon Country. However, after the Day of Apocalypse, several important cities surrounding Dawn City, including Jinhai, Qingbo, Changuan, and Tianwei, were severely damaged in the war during the first polar night. The once prosperous place is now like a disemboweled mechanical behemoth, dragging across the earth.
Most of the city was burned and destroyed. Giant explosion craters, collapsed high-rise buildings, and uncovered ground almost constituted the main picture of the city. However, in the night sky, large areas of artificial light could be vaguely seen coming from the city center. That was once the industrial core area. The towering starship port tower tilted and pierced the night sky. The Dawn City garrison and various survivors have circled this large area into a semi-temporary "safe zone". The street entrances leading to the safe zone are either composite armored walls made of reinforced concrete and steel plates, or "isolation walls" welded together by the survivors' convoy using abandoned vehicles and various steel frames.
Because Dawn City has heavily guarded the industrial production lines here, many survivors who were unable to enter Dawn City or who fled from various places chose this place as a temporary habitat. These people are almost all scattered around the periphery of this area, because inside are several important factories that are enclosed and protected by high-net iron walls used by the garrison, including a Jinhai starship manufacturing port and a large military machinery factory.
In the Jinhai Starship Port, a 300,000-ton star-class starship is under construction. At other construction berths, various Dragon-type and Ray-type transport ships, Dreadnought-class aerospace battleships, and various airships are operating on automated production lines.
On the production line in the military machinery factory, the production lines of war weapons such as the 'Iron Guard 3' military assaulter, the T8-Z Vulcan military assault type, and the Arcturus heavy integrated armor are running 24 hours a day to provide firepower supplement for the city defense system of Dawn City.
After the Day of Apocalypse, almost all of humanity's industries were shattered by doomsday. The financial, cultural, and entertainment industries that once symbolized prosperity were all sent to the graveyard by the darkness of the night. Only the factory's foundry furnace was still roaring. Every opening and closing of the furnace was a counterattack of civilization, and every stream of molten steel was a declaration of war written by mankind to doomsday.
Woo~woo~
Suddenly, a sharp alarm sounded in the originally quiet industrial area, and countless engineers and security personnel began to take action.
"De-arm starships at berths 3, 4, and 6, and prepare to land on the bridge."
"All personnel, proceed to D-12 landing pad and prepare to board the transport ship!"
"Load all batches of mechas into the freight train cabinets, quickly!"
"Weapons transfer!"
The starport berth area and cargo rail station suddenly became busy in the dark night.
West of Jinhai.
A huge monster, accompanied by a violent gale, rumbled forward in the air, even the clouds and mist were swept away. The huge Silent City was approaching Jinhai quickly with a crushing force.
After traveling more than 400 kilometers, there were only ten to twenty minutes left to reach Jinhai.
Lin Xian and Mochizuki Shinji have already arrived at the lobby of the main bridge. At the same time, dozens of core members of the United Train and Silent City have gathered here.
The current action is also synchronized to everyone.
At this time, a group of talents reacted and realized that within just one day, Silent City and Dawn City had been confronting each other, and a war was about to begin!
"Oh my god, I was wondering why it suddenly took off in the night, and I thought it encountered a monster." Shi Diyuan looked incredulous: "So, when we get to Jinhai, we will fight with the garrison of Shuguang City?"
"There is such a possibility, but it is very small." Lin Xian nodded: "There is no benefit in fighting them with us, it will only exacerbate the civil unrest, so the closer I am to the city and Jinhai, the safer I will be."
"But the Crimson World is a variable. They are not reasonable people." KIKI said at this time.
"It is precisely because of this that we came to Jinhai." Lin Xian looked at KIKI: "You forgot what Zhou Lei said, Jinhai is very likely the nest of the Crimson World."
"If there is going to be a conflict, we can fight directly on their territory. It would be more proactive for us." Qian Suxun nodded and agreed, "That does make sense. The Crimson World is also full of people. We are not afraid of people, but we are afraid that they will create a bunch of weird bodies or something."
"Then if we attract a large number of dark creatures in Jinhai, we won't be able to escape, and neither will the Crimson World's lair!" Qian Dele was quite excited: "Good fellow, this is a move that will destroy both us and the enemy."
“It’s a good strategy indeed.”
Monica looked at Lin Xian with interest: "It can not only make Dawn City afraid to act rashly, but also restrain the Crimson World from being destroyed together. If we really go to war with the Crimson World in a city as big as Jinhai, Dawn City would be anti-human if it doesn't help. Now the Phoenix Society is here too, and we are putting pressure on them from both ends. It depends on how they play their cards."
Shinji Mochizuki stood at the end of the crowd with his sleeves rolled up, and said leisurely:
"We still have 10 minutes to reach Jinhai. No matter how I calculate, there is a high probability that there will be a battle, so I have asked Silent City to open up full-band communications. All residents and survivors in the city can leave only after we dock at Jinhai, but they probably won't leave at this time. So, Dawn City will know everything that happens in Jinhai. There may be some delays, but it doesn't matter..."
"Wow, full open mic mode?"
"interesting."
"Then be prepared, there might be a tough fight tonight!"
"How long do you think the fight will take?" Stilyuan looked at Mochizuki Shinji.
"We will win if we can hold out until dawn." Mochizuki Shinji said calmly, "The Sky-Suppressing Ship has entered Dawn City, and the 83rd Iron Guard Brigade in Yongcheng Port has also been dispatched. The storm surrounding the entire Dawn City has gathered. After dawn, it will no longer be our home ground."
"That's not necessarily true."
Lin Xian spoke at this time, and everyone looked at him.
"Have you forgotten how abundant Jinhai's martial virtue is?"
…
At this time, in a research institute deep underground, Julius Litt, a blond man, was sitting in an office chair, gently stirring the coffee in front of him with a spoon. On the holographic screen, there were four avatars with only black shadows, and their voices had also been specially processed.
"It seems that because of the Phoenix Order, Chu Zhaonan is ready to launch the Vanguard Plan ahead of schedule. This is good news for us." Julius swung the spoon on the edge of the coffee cup, then picked up the coffee cup, took a sip and said.
Number One: "As far as I know, Ye Lan shouldn't have met Chu Zhaonan yet, is that the reason?"
Number Two: "It doesn't matter what the reason is. It won't affect the progress of our experiment."
Number Three: "We need to quickly formulate a plan to take over Dawn City. Julius, as the head of Asia-Pacific, you will be in charge of Dawn City until the new world arrives."
Number Four: "What is the condition of Subject 03? We must conduct a reliability test before using the Dark Erosion Cells."
"The board of directors can rest assured. Chu Zhaonan has asked Wen Hui to contact me personally. The Phoenix Society can no longer stop it. Everything will develop according to our plan." Julius paused and said, "Of course, the sudden attack by Silent City tonight was a bit beyond my expectations. It should be Ye Lan's arrangement. However, they are just minor characters and can't change anything."
"If the Sky Curtain is broken, a world-class disaster may be disturbed, and the evolution of the Crimson Regions must be accelerated!"
“Everything will develop according to the Lord’s will. There won’t be any surprises.” Julius smiled. “The Phoenix Order’s actions were because a group of the North American United Front obtained some information from me. However, their efforts will be in vain. No one can stop the evolution of mankind. It’s just a matter of a few days or a few dozen days. A new era…”
“It will come eventually!”
(End of this chapter)
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