Chapter 1267: Chapter 1267: Dawn City Anti-Monopoly Law (Seeking Monthly Pass)
March 6
The Ains Federal Bureau of Investigation headquarters and the Dawn City chapter held a joint press conference, during which they announced a “latest investigation” conducted by the Federal Bureau of Investigation.
According to confessions from mbers of the Order Church, over the span of several decades, the Order Church had collaborated with major conglorates—especially dical conglorates like Stars Pharma—to perform excessive surgeries to amputate patients, euthanize them, or purchase organs from the poor to harvest parts of people’s bodies.
During these operations, victims’ lifeforce would be transferred to these body parts through special thods, ultimately combining them to create the Order Church’s so-called “sacrifices.”
Nurous shocking photographs from sacrifice sites were released alongside the statent.
Within just a few hours, this explosive news spread across the entire Federation, igniting the fury of countless citizens.
——
March 7
During an exclusive interview with the Ains Post, the Federation President stated that he was aware of the recent developnts in Dawn City and was taking action.
He emphasized his commitnt to eradicating the influence of cult organizations within the Federation’s upper echelons during his term, ensuring that such attempts to destabilize Dawn City’s governnt would never occur again.
He repeatedly stressed the importance of preserving the Federation’s order and system.
Backed by a prolonged dia buildup, this interview quickly spread across the Federation.
——
March 9
Massive marches sprang up across the Federation, rallying support for the Federation President and Dawn City Mayor Christos.
City governnts in many urban centers had to rapidly issue statents declaring their lack of affiliation with the Order Church.
Major conglorates also issued statents distancing themselves from the Order Church, accusing the Federal Bureau of Investigation of conducting an “incomplete” and “inaccurate” investigation.
The Dawn City chapter of the Federal Bureau of Investigation arrested several city council mbers at their residences on charges of “collusion with a cult.”
Dawn City Mayor Christos announced plans to revive the implentation of the Dawn City Anti-Monopoly Law.
——
March 12
A group of rioters stord the Minte City Hall, attempting to assassinate Minte City Mayor Viko, but were shot dead by the City Defense Army guarding the governnt building.
The Nolanka Group uncovered several dangerous terrorists disguised as tourists and thwarted several brewing attacks targeting the Nolanka Building.
Kay City announced a temporary upgrade of its entry inspection protocols.
Dawn City witnessed repeated assassination attempts targeting Mayor Christos and council mbers aligned with him. One councilor was attacked en route to a council session; although they narrowly survived, they were shot in the thigh and required dical care.
No assassination attempts on Christos himself have yet succeeded.
Mayor Christos announced increased protective asures for council mbers commuting to and from work.
——
March 16
The Dawn City Council terminated the impeachnt proceedings against Christos.
The Federal Bureau of Investigation headquarters announced investigations into several major conglorates, including Stars Pharma.
Shares of Stars Pharma plumted again, with cumulative losses exceeding 40%, hitting their lowest point in a century.
The stock prices of companies like the Wel dical Consortium and Rockville Energy Group also experienced varying degrees of decline.
——
March 19
The Minte City Council announced the passage of a series of laws, including the Anti-Corporate Monopoly Act and the Workers’ Protection Act. Additionally, the council authorized the Minte City governnt to establish a proprietary asset managent company to conduct investnts in the municipal market.
The Nolanka Group entered Minte City, co-establishing a grain factory with the city governnt to produce affordable bread products.
Minte City Mayor Viko stated that as long as he lived, he would strive to ensure that every citizen in Minte City would have enough to eat and eat well.
——
March 25
The “New Heroes Section” at Dul National Cetery was completed. Christos personally presided over the ceremony, transferring the ashes or relics of heroes who had made outstanding contributions to Dawn City on the night of the incident to the cetery.
A multi-figure statue was erected there, led by Federal Bureau of Investigation Deputy Chief of Staff Suote.
——
March 30
The Dawn City Anti-Monopoly Law failed to pass its first vote in the Dawn City Council.
It was reported that the bill required a supermajority—two-thirds support in the city council—to be passed.
Sources indicated that the bill was actually just ten votes short of passing.
——
April 2
A massive number of citizens surrounded the buildings of all the super conglorates, including financial consortiums like Noel’s, staging widespread demonstrations in support of the bill. Reports suggested that tens of thousands participated in the marches.
——
April 5
Massive demonstrations supporting the Anti-Monopoly Law erupted across all districts of Dawn City, except for so streets in the Crown District.
Even several constituencies that had consistently opposed Christos joined the movent. Nurous voters across these constituencies accused opposition councilors of being “untrustworthy.”
Reports noted that Christos’s steadfast presence during Dawn Night demonstrated the courage and resolve of Dawn City’s people. The successful resolution of the crisis further proved his capability and appeal as a leader.
This seed to align with the preferences of so conservative opposition voters in Dawn City. anwhile, behavior by Stars Pharma and other conglorates had thoroughly enraged the people, uniting the city like never before.
Support was increasingly shifting toward Christos, even from constituencies previously opposed to him.
So dia outlets reported that individual opposition councilors had even been pelted with stones by their own constituents.
——
April 7
The Federal Bureau of Investigation headquarters released its final investigative report, confirming collusion between conglorates like Stars Pharma and the Order Church, as well as evidence that these conglorates participated in attempts to overthrow Dawn City’s governnt.
More than half of the board mbers of the conglorates listed in the Dawn City investigation were arrested. Nurous managers of dical institutions under Stars Pharma and the Wel dical Consortium were also apprehended. Over seventy percent of the dical facilities owned by the two conglorates were subjected to FBI investigations, with more than 3,000 ordered to cease operations.
——
April 8
The Federal Central issued a directive revoking the rcenary licenses of conglorates like Stars Pharma, the Wel dical Consortium, nshu Group, Note Intelligence, and West Steel.
anwhile, the Nolanka Group was awarded a third rcenary corps license in recognition of its contributions during the crisis.
Seven cabinet mbers from the Federal Central Cabinet resigned. Impeachnt efforts in the House of Representatives were terminated, and so forr opponents of the President shifted to support him.
——
April 15
The forr Speaker of the House of Representatives announced their resignation, and a pro-presidency representative beca the new Speaker of the House.
——
April 25
Reports indicated that with Stars Pharma and the Wel dical Consortium under investigation, nurous previously suppressed dical companies began to thrive.
The expansion of Pet-Qiming Hospital under the Nolanka Group was the most rapid, making it the third-largest dical conglorate in the Federation.
——
April 28
As investigations into Stars Pharma and other conglorates deepened, the Federal Bureau of Investigation headquarters broadened the scope to include additional Dawn City conglorates and city council mbers.
——
April 29
Christos delivered a televised speech titled “Cutting Down the Canopy Trees in the Forest.”
In the speech, he pointed out that monopolistic conglorates had inflicted severe harm on the economies of Dawn City and the Federation as a whole, and that the ti for reform had arrived.
The events of Dawn Night were rely the ferocious backlash of these conglorates, but he believed their strength was superficial and could never overco the united people of Dawn City.
Christos declared that he would not and a single word of the Dawn City Anti-Monopoly Law and would reintroduce the legislation for another council vote.
——
April 30
While inspecting rebuilding efforts in the city center, Christos was attacked by assassins disguised as workers. An explosive detonated just a ter away from him.
Fortunately, the exoskeleton armor he carried activated in ti, pulling him to safety and shielding him from most of the blast impact.
He sustained minor injuries and had to be hospitalized for observation.
Public outrage erupted throughout the Federation, with citizens of Dawn City flocking to visit him in the hospital.
——
May 10
The Dawn City Anti-Monopoly Law passed in the Dawn City Council by a one-vote margin, achieving the required two-thirds supermajority.
That evening, Christos announced plans to invest in demolishing and rebuilding hazardous and aging buildings in Dawn City.
Supporters of Christos held grand celebrations from the Crown District to Aston, with lights shining brightly until dawn.
——
“Viko.”
A sowhat frail man reached out towards the figure lying in the hospital bed before him.
“Christos.”
Christos leaned against the headboard of the bed, raised his hand, and smiled, shaking hands with the Minte City Mayor in front of him. Then he pointed at a seat by his bedside. “Sit.”
“I never expected,”
Viko said as he sat back in the chair, gazing out at the slightly desolate cityscape outside the window with a soft sigh, “that we would actually succeed.”
“Much of the credit belongs to all of you,”
Christos sighed. “If it weren’t for all of you holding the Northern Gate, I doubt I could sit here now and speak to you.”
“To be precise, the credit belongs to Suote.”
Viko said quietly, “If not for him, I would probably already be dead. The City Defense Army and the Wilderness Wanderers wouldn’t have supported us, let alone held the Northern Gate against the rcenary corps.”
At these words, Christos fell into silence, and the atmosphere in the hospital room turned somber.
In the quiet, Viko turned his gaze to a blade of grass ornant on the desk that shimred with a lustrous jade-like quality. He spoke softly, “I’ve always had a question: why did the Gray Stone Palace and the Federal Bureau of Investigation support us?”
“It wasn’t so much that the Gray Stone Palace chose to support us,”
Christos sighed gently, casting his gaze out the window. “It’s more that they had no choice but to stand with us.”
He withdrew his gaze and looked at the jade-like ornant on the table. In a low voice, he said, “That blade of grass was a gift from Dawn City’s Legion Commander, as an expression of his ‘apology.’ The leaf is tainted with an angel’s blood and can preserve my life to so extent.”
“Hmm?”
Viko was slightly stunned, unsure of Christos’s aning.
“The Legion Commander is the angel protecting Dawn City, and at the onset of the incident, he was diverted,”
Christos remarked, looking at Viko. “Still, even though he was diverted, he sensed that sothing was ‘off’ and left certain contingencies behind. Those contingencies helped both and Suote at critical monts.”
“Angels are that powerful? They can foresee the future?”
Viko was slightly taken aback, as he knew little about the domain of the Transcendent.
“I don’t know about other angels, but the Legion Commander is indeed that powerful,”
Christos said hoarsely before continuing, “But even the Legion Commander told that his premonition of that crisis felt unusually ‘abrupt.'”
Hearing this, Viko was stunned, but he quickly deduced, “You’re suggesting that soone deliberately used specific ans to ‘alert’ the Legion Commander in advance?”
“It wasn’t until my eting with the Legion Commander that I pieced it all together and fully understood Suote’s arrangents,”
Christos sighed and looked at Viko. In a low voice, he asked, “Have you read Suote’s résumé?”
“He graduated from Ains Industrial University and joined the Federal Bureau of Investigation. Step by step, he beca the youngest deputy chief of staff in the Bureau, supporting nurous investigations related to the Evil God…”
Viko spoke slowly. “Seems perfectly normal. He’s extraordinary.”
“He is indeed extraordinary,”
Christos shook his head. “But if you scrutinize his résumé, you’ll realize that Suote was involved in virtually every Evil God-related investigation concerning conglorates over the past two years. He even spearheaded nurous FBI actions targeting conglorates.”
He looked at Viko. “What do you think conglorates would do to a bureaucrat like him?”
“Undermine him, find a way to transfer him to so remote corner, or outright eliminate him,”
Viko mused, bowing his head in thought. “But… he did indeed get ambushed in Minte City, nearly losing his life there.”
“That’s true; he was indeed ambushed in Minte City,”
Christos nodded lightly. “But that happened after he had engaged in so many sensitive investigations. Why do you think the conglorates tolerated him for so long?”
“He had backing?”
Viko pondered before shaking his head. “No, if he really had backing, he would have told us. And if he did, things wouldn’t have been so tough for him.”
Then, an idea sparked in his mind, and he lifted his head, speaking cautiously, “He had no real backing, but the conglorates still feared the power behind him? Could it have been the Order Church? Was he once a high-ranking mber and later fell out with them, leading both the conglorates and the Church to attempt to kill him?”
“At first, I thought the sa,”
Christos replied softly. “But later, I realized that his actions didn’t align with the interests of the Order Church. And he had been in his original Talent Sequence and role for a long ti. If the Order Church truly valued him, they wouldn’t have left him in that position for so long.
“Which led to consider another possibility,”
he said, turning his gaze out the window again to the clatter of tools in the city center’s ruins. “He might actually have been ‘working’ for another group. This group protected him, albeit subtly.
“Still, it seems he was not closely tied to that faction, as they didn’t fully bring him into their circle—only extending him a degree of protection.
“This is because, to a certain extent, as long as he stayed true to his core duties and upheld the justice of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, he was effectively working for that faction.”
Christos paused for a mont before concluding, “Of course, Suote may have sensed all of this from the beginning. However, before now, he perhaps didn’t want to truly join any ‘faction’ and simply wanted to do his job.”
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