The Andai region lies in the tropics, and to the south it borders the sea.
After Sakura Prayer Country relocated here, its ships also ca to this stretch of ocean.
As a forr island nation, shipbuilding and navigation had long been Sakura Prayer’s national strengths. In the past, those industries were a pillar of the country, generating substantial trade surpluses.
But after the earthquake rule, Sakura Prayer’s factories and industries almost sank with the islands. So of the talent in related fields moved elsewhere, but starting from scratch on a barren new land is far from easy.
This wasn’t a problem unique to Sakura Prayer. Even powerful nations like Suroma and Beixing experienced large-scale industrial decline during the Doomsday Rules era.
Yes, decline rather than progress.
People around the world once assud that when faced with an apocalyptic threat, humanity would throw all resources into technological research, triggering so sort of technological explosion.
Reality proved otherwise.
Scientific research is not like playing pool; brute force won’t produce miracles.
Research is ninety-nine percent sweat and one percent inspiration.
These industries don’t always speed up with more people—sotis more people make things worse, creating a slew of project managent issues.
The bigger problem is that research needs a stable external environnt, which humanity currently lacks.
Fire Thief releases a new Doomsday Rule every so often. With the unknowns, people can’t prepare in advance; they are always scrambling after the rule drops, desperately trying to cope.
That prevents many from settling down and doing serious work.
In peaceti, only those with stable property have perseverance.
Those without stable assets live with daily uncertainty and tend to give up or take day-to-day gigs, living one day at a ti.
Researchers are human too; they have the sa weaknesses.
When their minds are constantly anxious over the rules, how can they focus on research?
Beixing fared sowhat better. One purpose of setting up the Counterasures Research Office was to solve this problem. The office marshals national resources to protect its mbers so top-tier specialists can focus on research without wasting energy on rules.
And the old shipbuilding power Sakura Prayer has now lost the ability to build new large ships. It can barely keep the remaining vessels afloat, and regular maintenance is out of the question.
When those ships break down, they’ll either sail to Suroma or Beixing ports for repairs, or be retired and scrapped.
“Luckily, ti hasn’t been too cruel to us yet. Don’t you think so, Dr. Kurokawa?”
Yuzawa Jun sat on the deck, gazing at the starry night.
He wore a felt hat that concealed most of his face.
Behind him stood a man in a long coat, also wearing a black fisherman’s hat that hid his features—the technical lead of the genetic modification experint, Kurokawa Etsu.
“Your enemies will discover this place sooner or later,” Kurokawa Etsu said. “Andai’s territory isn’t large. If they find nothing elsewhere, they’ll suspect the ocean. But you’re right—ti is on our side.”
“Has the mass-production experint succeeded?”
“We can initially achieve a 1:120 good-rate.”
“One hundred-plus to get one controllable specin? That’s low.”
“The main issue is material quality,” Kurokawa said. “With all due respect, if the materials were Ascendants, the good-rate could be controlled to about 1:10. Most ordinary people’s physiques are too weak to endure the pain of the conversion reaction. Staying conscious throughout is necessary for success.”
“...As for the global number of Ascendants, Beixing still has more—at least on the order of tens of millions.”
“Yes. Tens of millions of Ascendants outnumber many countries’ total populations.”
Yuzawa Jun looked north, toward Beixing.
“If I were Beixing’s decision-maker, I would have already used that power to conquer the world. Unfortunately, the Beixing people are complacent and lack ambition… That arrogance born of strength will be their ruin. They only see the surface.”
“Indeed,” Kurokawa sighed, sounding regretful.
“You bought arms from Suroma to lull Beixing, but your true weapon is the ‘Serpent Slave Army,’ and Beixing knows nothing... It’s a sha that ‘Shadow’ exposed a corner of our secret.”
Their original plan was to conduct experints in secrecy until complete success—that was phase one.
Phase two was to lie dormant and wait.
A direct assault would be unwise. Even with the Serpent Slave Army ford, facing Beixing’s advanced modern weaponry, military, and a massive number of Ascendants would leave them at a disadvantage.
So they would wait—wait for Fire Thief to issue a rule that plunges Beixing into internal chaos. That would be the best ti to attack and begin phase three.
In Yuzawa Jun and Kurokawa Etsu’s plan, swallowing Beixing whole like a serpent swallowing an elephant was unrealistic; Beixing was simply too big.
But if they devoured a piece, they could slowly nibble away and expand.
Using Beixing’s population advantage, they could produce more Serpent Slave troops.
Like a snowball, it would grow until devouring Beixing entirely would be only a matter of ti.
With Beixing’s population under their control—whether conscripted for battle or converted into Serpent Slaves—they would possess the power to conquer the world.
Yet this perfect plan was jeopardized by Shadow.
“The exposure of the gene hybridization experint must have warned Beixing’s top levels,” Kurokawa said. “That’s why Beixing forcibly sent an investigative team to uncover the truth.”
“...Shadow did cause
many troubles. But what worries
more is that traitor.”
“You an Yamata no Orochi?”
“She no longer deserves the na ‘Yamata’.”
Kurokawa quickly deduced the reason. “You’re afraid she’ll use her bloodline ability to contend for control of the Serpent Slave Army?”
“Exactly.”
Both n’s abilities were tied to bloodlines, and Yuzawa Jun knew that Uenoshi’s bloodline ability is labeled Yoroi on the terminal panel.
In Sakura Prayer legend, Yoroi is the hero who gravely wounded the great serpent.
Yuzawa Jun had once taken her into his service and renad her Yamata in part to use her, and also to study whether her bloodline might counter him in so way.
He had planned to deal with her after the gene hybridization experint fully succeeded, but Shadow intervened and rescued her early.
That upset his plans and left him with an uneasy apprehension.
“Don’t worry,” Kurokawa said. “As an Upper Position Mind Power holder, you can suppress her, who is in an Inferior Position.”
Yuzawa Jun nodded slightly.
That was true—he knew Uenoshi’s Mind Power numbers and there was a definite gap between them.
“In any case, speed up the process. I’ll have more materials sent to the ship. Beixing is already on alert; delay is bad for us. Also, the parasitized forms that appear after this rule ends are beneficial to us.”
A corner of Yuzawa Jun’s mouth lifted. “There must be a large number of parasitized forms inside Beixing now. They are like ticking bombs. If there is no external threat, Beixing’s authorities might suppress and defuse them slowly, but once the external environnt changes...”
Kurokawa’s eyes brightened. “I see, you want to take a page from Black Flag Country’s situation and use the parasitized forms to sow chaos in Beixing.”
“No matter how strong Beixing is, it can’t fight two wars at once. Besides us and the parasitized forms, Suroma will probably stir too… Being too strong can be a curse because everyone watches you, waiting for you to make a mistake.”
“...Understood. I’ll speed things up.”
...
January 3rd, sowhere in Bandzhen.
Silver Fox opened the materials sent by the Research Office on a tablet and showed them to the group.
“This is what the intelligence support unit investigated overnight. Based on satellite video, the large ship that moved the laboratory is likely this one.”
On the screen was a silver-gray freighter with the na Yun Jia carved on its hull.
“According to surveillance by the intelligence departnt, multiple containers from Sakura Prayer were recently loaded onto this Yun Jia. But Sakura Prayer hardly exports anything now, so those containers are not carrying goods...”
“People,” Uenoshi said solemnly. “They are people used as experintal subjects.”
Silver Fox glanced at her and nodded. “The intelligence departnt concluded the sa. This ship is probably our target.”
Guan Tong looked at the image on the screen. “Was no escort photographed?”
“No. The people on board seem aware of that. They rarely go outside. Even when they do, they wear heavy clothing and hats to hide their faces, making identification impossible.”
“In that case, let’s go check it out.” Guan Tong added, “I’ll go investigate first.”
“What do you an? You want to risk going alone?” Uenoshi imdiately objected.
Silver Fox shook her head too. “We operate as a team. Of course, Xiao Na can stay behind.”
“What! I won’t stay. I want to go too!” Chen Na rebutted at once, not wanting to be left alone.
Guan Tong said in a low voice, “I don’t intend to act alone recklessly. I only have long-range reconnaissance ability. We don’t clearly know the situation on the ship; landing directly would be foolhardy.”
“And my goal is only to confirm that this ship is the experintal vessel. Once confird, I want the Research Office to coordinate with Beixing officials to dispatch warships to carry out the sweep.”
If this operation would be conducted with official backing, why risk bringing others along?
If it were just him, that would be one thing. But with others—especially Chen Na—Guan Tong didn’t want to act rashly.
With his abilities and items, he could protect himself easily, but protecting others was another matter.
For example, if he were in danger, he could use Body Swap to escape instantly. But to take others with him, he’d have to summon the Wordless Book shelter, put the people inside, retract the shelter, then use Body Swap—several extra steps.
At a critical mont, there might not be ti for all that.
Using Beixing’s official force to confirm the experintal ship and then sending multiple warships to crush it under a legitimate pretext was far safer.
Also, post-rescue handling of victims couldn’t be managed by a lone freelance investigator; Beixing’s official departnts needed to coordinate and relocate the victims to safe locations.
After Guan Tong explained his plan, everyone agreed.
Silver Fox looked at him with newfound respect. “I thought you’d try to handle it on your own.”
“I’m not a superhero. Safety is the priority. I don’t want anyone on our investigative team to be in danger.”
“Brother Guan is right!”
“Then that’s settled.” Silver Fox said, “I’ll coordinate with the Research Office. As long as we confirm the ship is the experintal vessel and have evidence, dispatching warships should be no problem.”
“Alright. I’ll find the evidence.”
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