Chapter 381 Operation Crescent Moon (8K)
Except for leaving and entering the city, the supervision within Dawn City is not strict. After all, there are too many victims of the doomsday disaster. The Federation's jurisdiction in the city is limited to energy, public safety, food supplies, and dark invasion inspection and control. In addition, the Federation uses blood essence as a currency anchor for transactions. Apart from these, all actions that do not involve public safety are not subject to control.
Entertainment, business, including weapons and superpowers, no one cares what you want to do. Rather than calling this a city, it is more like a large gathering place for disaster victims. The federal top brass does not worry about regime issues, but only focuses on city defense security and resources.
After all, the future is no longer visible in the doomsday, and everything is growing wildly for survival.
Lin Xian didn't know what kind of place Deliyou would be, but when the SUV entered a street full of pink bar lights and crowded with women dressed hotly, he probably guessed it.
This is a lawless area.
It was drizzling, and women on both sides of the street were holding umbrellas, wearing hot and revealing clothes and carrying guns for self-defense. All kinds of women could be seen here. Although they were dressed differently, there seemed to be only one emotion on their faces, which was an extreme numbness and depression, as if they had lost any meaning for life except survival.
As soon as the vehicles entered the street, the women slowly moved towards the side of the road, forcing passing vehicles to slow down and forcing people to look at them.
The vehicle gradually drove into the depths of an old city area. This was the original northern city of Dawn City. The buildings were old, cramped, dirty, and crowded. It was occupied by some large car fleets that made use of sex trade, gambling, illegal prosthetic modifications, and some weird industries derived from strange bodies.
"There is basically no surveillance system in this area. The federal government won't keep an eye on this area because the several convoys occupying this area have paid more 'security taxes' than other areas."
Jiang Yun introduced: "Shuguang City no longer has a property management system. All residential areas are arranged by the Population Control Bureau according to regions, which means you have to find a place to stay by yourself."
"So if we have no place to live, we can only live in the car?" KIKI asked.
"Basically, most of the habitable buildings are occupied by the earliest convoys. Some scattered communities are squeezed in by themselves, but they are basically not much different from the motorcade. This area is different. Ordinary convoys cannot enter unless they are merged into the big convoys here. As long as there are no mutation attacks and gunfights in the old city, the Federation will not intervene."
"Large caravans pay more taxes and city entry fees," said Qian Dele.
"Yes."
After approaching an area, Lin Xian's communicator received a message. A strange signal guided them to a former commercial underground building complex. Entering through the tunnel, they saw an underground city that had grown wildly in the concrete ruins, breathing between neon lights and shadows.
Jiang Yun told Lin Xian that there was a small black market downstairs, with colorful neon lights, pornographic posters and various prosthetic modification advertisements everywhere on the walls, and the narrow distance between the buildings made people feel extremely depressed.
Soon, the vehicle stopped in a building, the iron gate at the rear slowly fell, the lights came on, and several fully armed men suddenly appeared in front of them and surrounded them with weapons, the flashlights were blinding.
"Identity confirmed." one of them said.
Lin Xian took out the Red Phoenix Order, pressed the switch, and quickly achieved connection.
At this time, a group of people put down their weapons, Lin Xian and others got out of the car, the crowd retreated, and a slight sound of mechanical footsteps came from the depths of the passage, and then a tall woman with mechanical prosthetic limbs slowly appeared.
Chu Yan.
This was the first time that Lin Xian met Chu Yan officially. In his dreams, he had never been able to distinguish Chu Yan's actual appearance. Now that he saw her with his own eyes, if he had not been able to feel her breathing, Lin Xian would have thought that she was a robot like Mochizuki Shinji.
Chu Yan's voice was cold, she looked at Lin Xian and said, "Hello, Lin Xian, you look more energetic than before."
"It may be because I am sober now." Lin Xian said with a smile.
Lin Xian followed Chu Yan and a group of people into the building. No one knew that there was a well-equipped secret operation base in an underground black market. While still in the corridor, he saw a group of people already standing in the passage waiting.
The leader was a man who looked to be in his forties. He was dressed in a neat military uniform and had the insignia of the United Front and the Order of the Phoenix on his chest. He looked lean and serious.
As soon as he saw Lin Xian, he quickly glanced at Lin Xian and the team members behind him, then calmly extended his hand towards Lin Xian.
"Xu Zhenyue, Chief of Staff of the North American United Front, I will be in charge of this Crescent Moon Operation."
"Hello, General Xu."
"We are currently waiting for your arrival and conducting a combat meeting." Xu Zhenyue looked at KIKI and others behind Lin Xian: "I am glad that you and your team are willing to assist us."
Soon, Xu Zhenyue and Chu Yan led Lin Xian and his party into the hall. In addition to the North American United Front team, there were also four action teams from the Phoenix Nightwalker Organization. The person in charge of the task was named Qinuo, a young man with a fair face and sharp eyes. When he saw Lin Xian, he immediately came up to shake hands and introduce himself.
There is also a special operations team from the 83rd Iron Guard Brigade. The captain is Zhou Jin, a tough soldier with a stern face and 1.9-meter-tall stature.
"Captain Lin is here, let's get started." Qi Nuo was not a talkative person, he pulled out a stool and sat down and took out a pack of cigarettes. Lin Xian looked at him in surprise, Qi Nuo thought Lin Xian was a little bothered, so he stood up and walked to the door of the room to turn on the exhaust fan, then said: "Compared to morphine and alcohol, cigarettes are a good thing in the doomsday, they can relieve stress and stabilize the mental defenses, and will not affect judgment or mental changes."
"Captain Lin, my name is Zhou Jin, and I'm the captain of the 83rd Iron Guard Brigade Special Operations Team." Zhou Jin, who was sitting opposite, glanced at Lin Xian and said directly, "You can trust us."
Without much politeness, several teams sat down casually in the hall. Lin Xian's team sat at the end. After Qi Nuo lit a cigarette, he said to Lin Xian: "I have heard of the airport and Xilan City. Brother, you are awesome."
Lin Xian felt a little stressed. Looking at the people in the room, he couldn't help but ask, "So many teams, are they all on the same mission?"
"Almost. Since this is a saturation mission, the action team has prepared five teams."
“Five?” Lin Xian asked in surprise, “Including me?”
“Not really.”
Qi Nuo shook his head and exhaled a puff of cigarette: "You are quite special. You are a support item arranged by Commander Ye, so I have a team here to protect you."
Lin Xian was a little surprised when he heard this. To be honest, he thought it was too simple.
He thought that this action plan was given to him to carry out, but looking at the room full of action teams, Lin Xian's heart trembled. Saturation mission is a cruel word. The Phoenix Society's arrangements are meticulous and will not just let Lin Xian take risks alone.
At this time, Xu Zhenyue, who was presiding over the action meeting, signaled to Lin Xian with his eyes, then tapped the table with his fingers, and the meeting room suddenly became quiet.
"First, let me briefly introduce the background of the operation to Captain Lin."
The holographic screen opened, revealing a large amount of intelligence information about the Crimson World, with the image of Julius Litt flashing in the center.
"We have now confirmed through the intelligence and information we have obtained that Julius, the Asia-Pacific director of Crimson World, has been cooperating with Shuguang City for several months through Wen Hui of Linglong Group. I won't go into the details, but there is a serious problem at the moment."
Xu Zhenyue adjusted the screen, and a huge humanoid figure appeared above the conference table, with information about dark erosion cells beside it.
"The 14th S-class creature, Gray Mist Walker, invaded the B2-B3 defense sector of the No. 1 city wall two weeks ago, causing the deaths of more than 30,000 people and the sacrifice of more than 2,000 garrison troops. The body of this S-class creature was recovered by a large convoy called "Echo" at the time. After investigation, it was found that this organization was actually a disguise of the Crimson World. Our special operations team intercepted some intelligence about Julius' clone at the Bailutan Star Observation Base in Aksai, and found that the Crimson World successfully extracted a living tissue sample of "Umbra-Cell" from this S-class corpse and sent it to the White City Base in the No. 5 Star Abyss for proliferation and cultivation, which was successful."
"Through this cell, we discovered some of the principles by which dark creatures can transform dark invasions, and can block dark invasions at a rate of 18%. However, because this cell has not actually been activated, we are unable to obtain comprehensive data. We have discussed this with various research laboratories and believe that if we can activate this cell and successfully master the concurrent effects of its biological potential, we can obtain a solution that truly blocks and filters dark invasions."
Xu Zhenyue continued: "But the problem is that humans do not have the means to activate this dark biological cell, except for one, of course."
"Mycelium?" Lin Xian asked.
"That's right."
"Mycelium is essentially a kind of dark creature. The Crimson World has previously established a large number of research bases and conducted living research, but has never conducted this type of connection with the S-level. So this is essentially a very dangerous signal. It means that human thinking is about to connect to the Star Abyss, which is likely to cause a catastrophic disaster to us. And we believe that the Crimson World..."
"It has already been done."
The people on Lin Xian's side all looked discolored when they heard this.
KIKI frowned and said, "Are you saying that the attack this morning might be related to this?"
"more than."
Xu Zhenyue pointed his finger, and the holographic image turned into a map of the area. He saw that Star Abyss No. 5 to the west of Dawn City, Star Abyss No. 7 to the southwest, and Star Abyss No. 8 to the southeast were all showing an abnormal elliptical expansion trend. In the direction close to Dawn City, the dark tides began to deform as if driven by the gravitational force of some large mass.
"In the 16 hours since last night, the edge of Xingyuan has expanded abnormally, and almost at the same time, Yunlan, Longjiang, Luling, Tianwei, and Chenli cities have all observed strange body tide riots, so we all agree that this may be related to the ongoing actions of the Crimson World."
"Right now, the remaining survivors in these directions are rushing towards Dawn City in large numbers. It is not clear how many people there are, so this is a dangerous signal for us."
Lin Xian's face darkened. "If we have already taken action, then what exactly are we going to do with this Crescent Moon Operation?"
Chu Yan, who was standing by, looked over and said in a stern voice:
"Intercepted information."
"What's the meaning?"
Xu Zhenyue looked in the direction of Lin Xian and said, "Dawn City is preparing to carry out the Pioneer Plan, so some tissues of Organism No. 14 will definitely be used, and the interconnection and activation of this dark erosion cell may expose a large amount of existing human information to the dark world, but similarly, those who carry out this interconnection are also likely to obtain some information about the dark world through Organism No. 14. Everyone in this operation has a basic understanding of the current situation. In the words of Captain Zhou, humans and darkness may have a foggy relationship of hide-and-seek before, but if darkness knows human information, then we must also have information equality. No matter how this disaster evolves, humans can only have a glimmer of hope and initiative. The next combat goal is very clear, which is to intercept the dark world information connected to the mycelium of the 'Gray Fog Messenger' before Dawn City launches the Pioneer Plan. This information may be of great significance to the survival of human civilization."
"At present, Dawn City has completely blocked the communication channels. Now a large number of armed forces in the city have returned to defend the No. 2 city wall. This should be to protect the launch mission that Starport is about to carry out. As the situation develops, there may not be such an opportunity again. We have two advantages now. The first is the mental ability of Chu Yan's team. Once the target is confirmed, the information can be intercepted immediately. The second is Captain Lin Xian's mechanical ability, which can directly control the self-destruction function of the brain-computer system. At the same time, it can also help us obtain the authority of the Dawn City weapon system control center to prevent the Crimson World or some rebels from taking advantage of it."
"The most difficult point now is that we still don't know the specific action time of the Vanguard Plan, as well as Chu Zhaonan's follow-up actions. Our intelligence team has discovered that Zhou Mingyuan, Wen Hui and other senior federal officials are acting in secret, and may be preparing to join forces with the Crimson World to control the inner city by force after the Vanguard Plan. The garrison army is currently being held back by regional threats, so our action meeting this time is to first search for the activities of the Crimson World in Dawn City, and second, to find the Gray Mist Messenger!"
Zhou Jin, the captain of the 83rd Iron Guard Brigade Special Operations Team, said at this time: "Is it possible that this Gray Mist Messenger is in the underground city of Star City? After all, it needs to be launched in conjunction with the Vanguard Plan."
"It's possible. Our investigators lurking in the underground city of Star City have never found such anomalies, so we suspect that they are only using part of the Gray Mist Messenger's torso to carry out the operation, which is more efficient." Xu Zhenyue said
"I think we should first confirm who is the person who is connected to the S-level mycelium?" said Zino, the head of the Night Walker Organization.
"This is easy." Lin Xian interjected, "Since this plan is operated by Chu Zhaonan, we can directly steal his consciousness. This way we can not only know the time of the action, but also the detailed content of the action."
"No, at present, Chu Zhaonan's action information is the least for us, and..."
"We have tried it before." Chu Yan, who was beside Lin Xian, said at this time: "I was also present at the meeting between Commander Ye and Chu Zhaonan. Chu Zhaonan's mental power is very strong. Unless he falls asleep, there is no way to obtain it."
"It's just as difficult to make the president of the federation fall asleep as it is to kidnap him directly." Qi Nuo flicked the ash off his cigarette. "Chu Zhaonan is surrounded by Luo Ming's Seraph team and the garrison troops. Moreover, we don't know any traces of his movements yet. This plan is obviously not feasible."
"What about the other people in the Pioneer Project?" Monica was the first to ask on Lin Xian's side.
"The list is sealed, and no one else knows the launch time of the Pioneer Project. Currently, we only know that the person in charge of the Pioneer Project is named Su Jin, and the captain of the Pioneer Project's mid-range starship is Chu Zhaonan's son Chu Jing, who graduated from the Naval Academy and was formerly a colonel in the Liaohai Fleet." Chu Yan said.
"Wow, the chairman's son, so he must know." KIKI also asked.
"Similarly, whether it's Su Jin or Chu Jing, all the people involved in the Pioneer Project are now in a top-secret state, and no one knows their whereabouts."
"In other words, they may take off in the next second?" Qian Dele frowned.
"Yes." Xu Zhenyue nodded: "So we are now racing against the unknown time."
"There should be someone who knows about this... at least part of it." Lin Xian said at this time: "General Xu, you just said that Zhou Mingyuan and his group might be preparing to join forces with the Crimson World to take armed control of the inner city and the underground city. If that's the case, then they must be aware of the Crimson World's current operations?"
Xu Zhenyue said at this time: "You are right. We have also thought of this. This involves a more troublesome problem, which is what kind of cooperation form the two factions of Crimson World and Dawn City have."
"Logically speaking, the Federation is divided into two factions. How can the Crimson World cooperate with Chu Zhaonan and also unite with Zhou Mingyuan to target Chu Zhaonan?"
"Then will there be two factions within the Crimson World?"
"No matter which faction it is, it doesn't matter now."
“I think we need to take that into account.”
"Then taking action from Zhou Mingyuan's side is a feasible plan." Qi Nuo nodded and said.
"Then we will start the breakthrough from here." Xu Zhenyue looked at everyone and immediately adjusted the holographic screen: "In order to ensure efficiency, the tasks will be carried out at multiple points."
After that, he said to Chu Yan: "Chu Yan, your target is Zhou Mingyuan."
"good."
Qi Nuo raised his hand: "Wen Hui is an important person, I will be in charge of her. There are three more teams on the Night Walker side, so I will be in charge of several important officials from the Population Control Bureau of the Night Patrol Guard Battalion. They are all Zhou Mingyuan's followers."
"There is another one, Wen Dong. This person has previously participated in some of the Crimson World's operations in White City. We should be able to get something from him." said a team leader.
"But Wen Dong hasn't appeared in the inner city recently."
"I know where he is." At this time, Jiang Yun, who had been silent, suddenly spoke up on Lin Xian's side: "In the Gallagher black market, a mechanical mutant named Qin Feng used the Silver Star to recruit team members. There was a big sensation. You should have noticed this. The Silver Star is an asset of our alliance. It was previously controlled by Wen Dong at the Star City Orbital Station. Such an important asset appeared in the survivor team. It must be closely related to the Federation."
"We did notice this." Chu Yan looked at Lin Xian at this time: "There is no information about this Qin Feng in the Phoenix Society. Currently we have other investigators keeping an eye on this person."
"Is it because of mechanical powers?" Lin Xian asked.
"Yes, the Phoenix will be very curious about this."
"I'm curious too." Lin Xian said.
"Leave this to me then." Zhou Jin, captain of the 83rd Iron Guard Brigade's special operations team, said at this time: "I will lead the team to capture Qin Feng and see if we can find Wen Dong."
"Okay." Xu Zhenyue immediately arranged: "Let's do it this way. Prepare the communication frequency band and start immediately."
Lin Xian looked puzzled: "General Xu, what about me?"
Xu Zhenyue said to him at this time: "Captain Lin, once there is progress here, we will need your assistance. Leave the investigation to our action team."
"That won't work." Lin Xian suddenly retorted, causing Zhou Jin, Qinuo and others to look over.
Lin Xian raised his hand and pointed to the team members behind him and said, "Since General Xu said that this is an emergency and it concerns the survival of mankind, it is a bit too polite to ask us to stay here and wait for news at this time. Since you chose to come here, you naturally know the dangers here, and it's not the most dangerous time yet. It's just an investigation. I can help, right?"
He looked at Zhou Jin and said, "Captain Zhou, let's go with you to Wen Dong's place. The mechanical mutant, the Silver Star, and Wen Dong, all three of these things happen to be related to us." Lin Xian smiled and said, "Even we ourselves have this plan."
Xu Zhenyue nodded, his eyes swept over Lin Xian and Chu Yan, and then said: "Okay, but you should try to hide your identity. If you are targeted by the people of the Federation, it may be very troublesome to carry out the subsequent plan."
"This is not that simple." Lin Xian turned around and looked at the team members.
"From now on, we are all Captain Zhou's team members. We specially went to attend this recruitment meeting to see if there are any plans to join Captain Qin's team."
After the meeting, Lin Xian's team prepared to go to Gallagher Black Market with Zhou Jin. Chu Yan found Lin Xian before the action and communicated with him alone.
"I know what you are thinking, but please believe me, General Xu did not arrange for you to take action, not just out of consideration for your safety."
"what else?"
Chu Yan had a cold expression. Lin Xian looked at her. Although the woman in front of him was made of a mechanical body, she had a faint scent of gardenia and her face seemed a little tired.
"The most important goal of Operation Crescent Moon is to obtain information, and I am the main direction of action."
Lin Xian was slightly startled and looked at her, as if he understood something.
"I see."
Chu Yan looked at Lin Xian. Although it was their first meeting, they were like old friends who had experienced life and death many times. She said, "The city may soon be out of control. By then, no one will care about your identity. But before that, I must complete this mission. Time is short, so be careful."
Lin Xian nodded: "Okay, you should also pay attention to safety."
Gallagher Black Market is also located in the north of the city, where the most crowded survivor camp community is located, and the dense doomsday-transformed buildings are like a jungle.
When Lin Xian and Zhou Jin's convoy arrived, they saw that several streets were already blocked by cars.
Most of them were heading towards the north of the city. To the north was Qingbo City, the headquarters of the Phoenix Society. The most people were leaving the city from this direction, and most of the vehicles here were large convoys.
Lin Xian saw a long queue of survivors begging to join the big team on the roadside, gathering at the edge of the street like a beehive. In addition, many people were rushing towards the Gallagher Black Market. Taking advantage of the momentum of the Infinite Train Recruitment Conference, many other small and medium-sized teams were recruiting, which attracted many people to go there, all wanting to quickly grab the big guys and run away.
"The large convoys are leaving the city, while the small convoys and scattered survivors are crowding into the city. This is not a good sign."
On the way, Jiang Yun looked at the dense crowd outside and said.
"Are you worried that the large convoys have all left, and the small convoys will have no choice but to stay in the city and wait for the three Star Abysses to merge and die?" Lin Xian said.
Jiang Yun sighed deeply, "There is no other way. Small people are miserable. They can either take the big caravan and run to the Dawn Center, or they can only gamble on the stability of the No. 1 city wall. What other choice do they have? Even if the Phoenix Society helps with the transfer, there is only one Iron Guard Brigade. Protecting a million people is already the limit."
Lin Xian was silent for a while. At this time, Zhou Jin's voice came from the communicator.
"Captain Lin, we are almost there. Put on your power armor masks. We will see the situation first before taking any action."
"good."
A convoy of dozens of people drove into a crowded and bustling large building complex. The convoy slowly drove into the border of the Gallagher black market, and the roar of the engines was drowned out by the noisy crowd.
Looking around, the whole area was like a huge beehive. Countless convoys of survivors were crowded in the narrow streets. Tents, modified trucks, and rusty armored vehicles were piled together in a disorderly manner, like a maze made of metal and despair. The air was filled with the pungent smell of inferior fuel and the sour stench of rotten food.
Many teams on the street drove their main vehicles to form camps for recruitment. These vehicles were almost all the team's trump cards. The various powerful artillery, electromagnetic guns, anti-aircraft guns, and anti-aircraft machine guns displayed on the roofs were the team's best promotional cards. This place was like a huge talent market, with long queues in every team.
"Please, let me join you! My daughter is still waiting in the north..."
A thin man was kneeling at the registration office of a team called Dragon Hunting Team, holding on to the edge of the table with both hands. His knuckles were white from the force. His face was covered with scars from the weather, and his left eye was covered with a dirty piece of cloth, showing that he was obviously blind.
"I'm sorry, but our resources are limited. You are too old and disabled, so we can't help you. Go to the Federation or the Phoenix Society."
The recruiting officer behind the desk didn't even raise his head, but just waved his hand impatiently. Two fully armed guards immediately stepped forward, dragged him away like dragging garbage, and threw him into a mud puddle on the side of the road.
"Next." The recruiter's voice was as cold as a machine.
At the queue of another convoy, an old soldier with a broken arm was carrying a big gun: "I can fight! I served in the Seventh Legion! Give me a gun, and I can guard the carriage!"
Plop.
At this time, someone knocked on Lin Xian's car window hurriedly. Outside the window, a mother was holding a two or three-year-old child in her arms. The child's lips were cracked due to lack of water, and his eyes were bright and innocent: "Can I join your team? I... I can sew and cook. My child is very quiet and won't disturb others..."
Because the equipment of their convoy looked very good, soon more and more people came up and knocked on the car doors. Lin Xian looked at the frightened faces outside the window and felt that his breathing stopped for a moment.
The convoy drove out of the crowd and there was a huge park square in front of it. The dry trees had long been processed and became the convoy's camp. At this moment, there were hundreds of fully armed heavy trucks gathered here, all equipped with heavy equipment. Tens of thousands of people surrounded the place. In the center of the square, a silver nuclear-powered locomotive was parked quietly, like a sleeping giant.
The Silver Star, it seems that someone has placed a single iconic Eternal-class nuclear-powered locomotive here to showcase its powerful combat core.
Behind the Silver Star, there was a fully armed heavy train parked, which was equipped with powerful weapons and looked amazing!
Above the square, floating drone airships stretch out a conspicuous giant screen.
[Infinite Train, Recruitment Conference]!
"Lin Xian, someone is helping you recruit teammates." KIKI couldn't help but complain when she saw this scene.
Lin Xian's pupils narrowed slightly, and he nodded, "Then let's go and see who this 'like-minded' captain of the Infinite Team is..."
(End of this chapter)
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