Black Flag Country.
The moment the rules ended, nationwide chaos erupted.
Tens of thousands of people, no, it should be said tens of thousands of parasitized forms gathered together, launching attacks against the minority who had passed the rules.
From the moment the top levels of the Black Flag Country chose to let the deeply parasitized run wild instead of centralized management, the seeds of disaster had been sown.
Now, the seeds had broken through the soil and grown into towering trees at an extremely rapid pace.
Official forces were completely powerless to stop this, because a large number of official personnel had also become parasitized forms. They instead used their host identities to cause even greater chaos more easily.
As for the top-level personnel, they had long since fled to other countries, abandoning the mess they left behind.
And those few who remained clear-headed undoubtedly fell into the deepest despair.
They could not tell if a person was a parasitized form, but the parasitized forms could distinguish between their own kind and heretics.
This made it impossible for those who passed the rules to pretend to be parasitized forms and blend in, even if they wanted to.
An indescribable disaster erupted in this country. Before even a single day had passed, the parasitized forms became the new masters of the Black Flag Country.
Other member states of the Human Consortium were extremely shocked by this and immediately convened an emergency remote meeting to discuss it.
On the large screen, the face of each representative committee member showed deep unease.
The committee member from the Black Flag Country was even absent from the meeting, failing to attend.
All committee members knew that from now on, the Human Consortium would no longer have a seat for the Black Flag Country. From the moment the top levels of that country chose to abandon ship and flee, they had doomed themselves to watch their nation's demise.
"Only a small number of people escaped from the Black Flag Country and came to our Suroma," Mary said. "According to the intelligence they provided, the Black Flag Country is now controlled by the parasitized form collective."
"This is truly terrifying..."
"Could it be that tens of millions of people in the Black Flag Country have all become parasitized forms?!"
"It probably hasn't reached that extent," Mary explained. "According to descriptions from personnel who escaped to us, there are still quite a few non-parasitized individuals within their country. It's just that they are all being besieged by the parasitized forms and simply cannot escape."
"Hmph, describing the abandonment of their own country and fleeing from their people so lightly, that's truly the style of the Black Flag Country's top levels," the committee member from the Kingdom of Xisiya couldn't help but curse.
"The key issue now is how to rescue the survivors," Gao Liangwei spoke up.
"If the Human Consortium doesn't take any action, the remaining non-parasitized individuals within the Black Flag Country will definitely be eliminated. And what's more terrifying than elimination is that they might be secondarily converted into parasitized forms, further strengthening the power of the parasitized."
Although Gao Liangwei's words made sense, every committee member looked grave and remained silent.
Mary said, "Committee Chairman Gao, right now, each member state of the Human Consortium hasn't even solved its own parasitized form problem. Some member states are only slightly better off than the Black Flag Country, but they also face the risk of being overthrown. Under these circumstances, we simply don't have the capacity to provide aid to the Black Flag Country."
"I know," Gao Liangwei looked at Mary. "So my proposal is that our Beixing and your Suroma provide the effort."
Several other committee members nodded upon hearing this.
Currently, under the premise of controlling their own domestic situations, the only ones with any spare capacity to provide aid to another country were Beixing and Suroma.
Both were major powers in technology and weaponry. Just by relying on various modern advanced weapons, they could carry out large-scale bombing and sweeping operations against large numbers of parasitized forms.
Beyond that, Suroma also held the advantage of intelligent robots, capable of mass-producing them for armed operations, reducing human losses.
Beixing's advantage lay in having the largest population retention, which meant the number of Ascendants within its borders was also the highest. They could form large-scale Ascendant legions, creating formidable combat power.
Seeing Mary pondering, Gao Liangwei knew she felt there was no benefit in doing this and was unwilling to agree.
Especially since some top-level figures from the Black Flag Country had already transferred their assets, along with large amounts of Ascension Coins, items, and so on, to Suroma. This meant there weren't many "resources" left locally in the Black Flag Country.
"If you feel there's no profit to be gained, then think about those Black Flag people who are still alive," Gao Liangwei said.
"Those who can maintain their sense of self in that kind of environment, not following the tide and being parasitized by spores, must all be Ascendants with strong willpower. Such people are valuable talents, warriors. Don't you think it's a pity to let them fall in vain, isolated and without support?"
Mary's eyes lit up upon hearing this. She had actually forgotten about that.
Those Black Flag Ascendants who were still holding on were indeed a precious kind of "resource."
"Even if Committee Chairman Gao hadn't said it, I was about to," Mary said. "We will absolutely not abandon the warriors still fighting. After the meeting, I will definitely persuade the Senate and His Majesty the King to send troops to the Black Flag Country to save those warriors!"
Seeing this, several smaller countries forced out some smiles, because they might need this kind of help in the future as well.
"Excellent."
"Now those survivors in the Black Flag have hope."
"However, does humanity really still have hope?" One committee member couldn't help but show a look of dejection. "Fahe and the Black Flag Country, both former world powers. Now, one has its entire populace turned into followers of the Fire Thief Worship Cult, and the other is occupied by parasitized forms..."
Everyone fell silent.
After the remote meeting ended, Gao Liangwei rubbed his temples and called Zhang Minglu over the phone.
Zhang Minglu had dark circles under his eyes and looked haggard, as if he hadn't rested in a long time.
"Director, you wanted to see me."
"How are the casualty statistics for the mobile team? Have they been compiled?"
"Overall casualties exceed half," Zhang Minglu sighed. "The team I took to Quarantine Zone No. 3 fared a bit better. At that time, Dragon Soul stepped in and stabilized morale. However, the situation in other zones wasn't so good."
Beixing's large population was an advantage, but a large population also meant more parasitized forms.
After Zhang Minglu discovered that the host consciousness of the parasitized forms had perished, replaced and controlled by the spores, he immediately contacted Gao Liangwei to issue a warning. But at the same time, many quarantine zones still ran into problems.
In some, parasitized forms suddenly erupted violently, launching attacks and causing heavy casualties.
In other quarantine zones, the parasitized forms chose to hide. They blended into the non-parasitized groups and successfully left the quarantine zones.
Compared to the former, the latter was what gave the authorities the biggest headache.
Parasitized forms possessed the host's memories and intelligence, and their outward appearance and behavior were no different from normal people. Letting them blend into human society was like a drop of water mixing into the ocean. How easy would it be to filter them out?
"The top priority is still to find a method to identify parasitized forms as soon as possible," Zhang Minglu said. "Director, you need to push the research departments harder. Their efficiency is crucial!"
"I know," Gao Liangwei nodded. "All research departments are giving their all. The reason I called you here now is that there's a new mission requiring you to mobilize some personnel and the mobile team."
"A new mission?"
"The Black Flag Country has completely fallen. The parasitized forms have occupied the nation, but there are still a small number of unparasitized ordinary people and Ascendants holding out and resisting. Without external assistance, their destruction is only a matter of time."
"You mean we're going to rescue them?"
"Yes. As expected, this time we will likely conduct a joint operation with Suroma, primarily using military forces for large-scale firepower strikes. Your Ascendant squad and the mobile team will serve as battlefield support forces, also heading to the Black Flag Country."
"Alright," Zhang Minglu agreed immediately. "To be honest, this is a perfect opportunity for them to temper themselves through actual combat. Judging by their performance during this emergency situation, relying solely on training and sparring isn't enough."
"It seems you already have candidates in mind?"
"Yes. I plan to send out the squad led by Bai Xuewu, plus four teams totaling two hundred people from the Research Office Mobile Team to participate in this battlefield support."
Gao Liangwei nodded, pondered for a moment, and asked, "How is the progress on Shadow's side?"
"Silver Fox notified me not long ago. Based on their on-site investigation, they believe the Yuzawa Family's laboratory has been moved onto a ship. Currently, our intelligence department is conducting a search via satellite."
"It seems the progress is good."
"Yes. If we complete this cooperative operation with Shadow successfully, I think deeper cooperation in the future will be easier."
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