"Ptuh—!"
Yang Kai, seated on the research ship docked near the Alliance Airport, had just scrolled through the content on the holographic screen in front of him and almost sprayed his coffee onto the central controls of the cockpit.
He had just returned to his research ship a few minutes ago, ready to delve into several andnt proposals put forward by the Alliance Managers, when he opened his personal terminal and received this item.
At the mont, the screen displayed a three-page newspaper, with the heading "Clear Spring City Daily."
But what was truly jaw-dropping was the headline—
"Clear Spring City’s Lair had not fallen! Secretly conserved by the Managers!"
That thing could be conserved???
"What is this nonsense?"
Yang Kai’s disheveled expression seed to please Li Ke, who hovered in a holographic image beside him and said with a hint of mockery.
"Our intelligence personnel found this newspaper in the City of Dawn; you could easily pick one up from any newsstand... So, what exactly is your Research Departnt doing?"
He was a researcher from the External Affairs Departnt, with the sa B-Class level as Yang Kai. Ever since this guy emphatically took over the External Affairs Departnt’s work, he had been quite annoyed with him.
Moreover, this wasn’t the first ti!
After hearing Li Ke’s words, Yang Kai’s face stiffened.
He indeed had the research ship’s assistant monitor Alliance broadcasts and television programs to filter out important news, but he had never really studied newspapers.
Mainly because he didn’t have a fixed residence, and no one would know where to deliver a newspaper to him.
But on the other hand.
What era was this, who still read those things???
"...That proves nothing; it’s just a piece of paper." Unable to stand the Schadenfreude, Yang Kai said with a stern face.
"Yes, it’s just a piece of paper, and it’s also the first issue released today," Li Ke continued sarcastically, "Our intelligence personnel checked the outskirts of Qingquan City imdiately after seeing the newspaper. Guess what we found? Sli molds repairing the ruins there! And what did you do? Leisurely strolled to the Alliance Building to attend a eting, without reaching any agreents—"
"I certainly didn’t leave without reaching any agreents; at least the Alliance Managers have shown an inclination to collaborate with us in studying Qingquan City’s relics and Lair samples," Yang Kai retorted with a displeased look, interrupting Li Ke, "And listen, my negotiations with the Alliance have reached a critical stage. I don’t want your rash actions to impact the outco."
Li Ke laughed a little and spread his hands.
"What does it matter? It’s not just us doing this; others are too. Besides, we’re only gathering open-sourced intelligence... Disappointingly, you haven’t even managed to do this basic task properly. You don’t think that intelligence will just fall into your lap while you sit in your research ship, do you?"
Yang Kai was rendered speechless by his retort and simply shut his mouth.
Li Ke didn’t press further and continued.
"In the future, avoid taking on work you can’t handle. Returning to the matter at hand, I believe the newspaper was intentionally released by the Alliance."
Yang Kai slightly furrowed his brows.
"They’re spreading panic in their own habitat?"
Li Ke smiled a little and replied,
"Panic? Are you new to the City of Dawn? The survivors there are famously fearless. You haven’t seen them fight with the military. It was the first ti I’ve seen the Weilante People concede in their own specialty field. That level of intimidation is rely a joke to them."
Yang Kai nodded, conceding to that point.
Although he hadn’t participated in the peace talks in Falcon City, he had the fortune to witness the decisive battle between the Alliance and the Torch Church during his ti in Brocade River Province.
The sky-darkening mutant creatures, like dark clouds, even made him think the Manager was dood, yet unexpectedly, the guy personally entered the fray and smashed the opposing Node Creature’s leader with a hamr.
Those guys totally overturned his stereotype of the Blue Jackets being pushovers.
"What are your suggestions?"
Li Ke straightforwardly stated.
"The Chief Technical Officer’s suggestion is our departnt’s side too. Mr. Technical Officer hopes that you can secure an opportunity to jointly research the central city’s Lair before the Alliance makes an exclusive deal with a third party."
Yang Kai: "What about the relics?"
Li Ke: "Secondary priority."
The Academy had already excavated many relics.
While the relics of Qingquan City were important, they were not irreplaceable. In contrast, the upper echelons of the academy placed greater emphasis on the biological sample in the city center.
Understanding the implications, Yang Kai took a deep breath and said,
"I will strive... from your side, please cooperate with ; I need your intelligence support."
Seeing Yang Kai finally bow his head, Li Ke’s lips curled up slightly in satisfaction.
However, he knew well enough to not overplay his hand and, before Yang Kai could get angry, he lightly coughed and said,
"No problem, Mr. Technical Officer had already guessed you’d ss this up. Oh, and I saw the report you uploaded about the special zone proposal ntioned by the Alliance; Mr. Technical Officer thinks it’s negotiable. He feels that Ice Sea City would be a good choice given the conditions there, and it also has a frozen lair in a nearby abandoned city district. Of course, if the Alliance has other thoughts, we can discuss further."
"Okay..." Yang Kai nodded seriously after listening to the suggestion.
Li Ke also nodded, preparing to disconnect the communication.
But just then, he rembered sothing and ntioned,
"Ah, right, you better hurry up. Not long after you left, representatives from the Company contacted the Alliance."
After hearing this, Yang Kai suddenly froze.
"Not long after I left... wait, not long after I left?"
Li Ke looked at Yang Kai, who suddenly sat upright with puzzlent, and asked,
"What’s wrong?"
"Nothing..." Swallowing the words at the tip of his tongue, Yang Kai’s nose twisted in frustration, and his fists clenched, cursing inwardly.
Earlier at the Alliance Building, that guy’s subordinate told him that their Manager was eting with representatives from the Company.
Were they fooling him all this ti!?
Seeing Yang Kai’s face turn red, Li Ke’s expression grew bizarre.
"You’re alright?"
With a rigid face, Yang Kai replied.
"I’m fine."
Li Ke coughed once.
"It would be better to speak up if there is sothing wrong—"
"My device ran out of power."
Without letting the other person finish, Yang Kai reached out with his index finger, drew a line in the air, and hung up the communication with an annoyed expression.
...
On the other side, at Shelter No. 404, browsing room on Floor B4.
Facing Chu Guang’s query about where the special zone should be set up, Yin Fang only pondered for two seconds before giving his opinion.
"If you ask , Ice Sea City is a good choice."
Watching Yin Fang circle the location on the pre-war map of the United Human, Chu Guang was slightly startled.
"That far?"
The mont he heard "Ice Sea," he felt sothing was off, and a look at the map confird his suspicion.
This wasn’t just north; it was right at the northernmost edge of the Wandering Swamp, practically stepping into the Arctic Circle.
Anticipating Chu Guang would say so, Yin Fang touched his nose and spoke with a smile.
"Don’t be fooled by its remote location; this is one of the most well-equipped and resourceful settlents under the committee’s jurisdiction."
After a pause, he continued to introduce the situation of the settlent to Chu Guang.
Since the committee advocated high yield and low consumption, most settlents, despite not lagging behind in production technology and thods, still led a relatively frugal—even sowhat strained—life.
The only way to escape the harsh subsistence standards was to beco a prospector.
However, there were exceptions to this situation.
Although the Academy despised corporate waste, under the committee’s administration, there were still a few settlents where life was decent.
Ice Sea City was one of them.
This settlent had once been a Doomsday Seed Bank, containing a nuclear biochemical protection system comparable to a shelter, and the temperature in each area could be freely adjusted.
After taking over the seed bank, the Academy had remodeled most of the space into living quarters and planting areas, with the temperature in each area set at a constant 20 to 25 degrees.
Therefore, although the settlent was located in the Far North Land, it was not only not cold inside, but spring-like all year round.
With the support of technology, the cold had not beco a barrier to survival, but instead a barrier that isolated the settlent from the wasteland.
Most Variants from the Wandering Swamp couldn’t reach such a northern place, and in the constant sub-zero temperatures of up to 20 or even 50 degrees, even the lairs had to hide and hibernate.
Due to the favorable living conditions here, so higher-level researchers from the Academy would arrange for their relatives who couldn’t enter the Academy to stay here.
Over ti, living anities here had gradually improved.
Especially in terms of dical and education, although still slightly inferior to the main campus of the Academy, it could literally be described as "a difference between heaven and earth" compared to other settlents under the committee.
Even the Company’s Ideal City was significantly outclassed.
This was also the reason why most researchers did not envy life in Ideal City and even sneered at its superficial prosperity.
"...Ice Sea City, located in a bitterly cold area, reasonably consus more resources. That’s why, like you, the survivors from most other settlents under the committee were surprised upon hearing about the location of this settlent and would never envy life there... But what they don’t know is that even when people there dig potatoes, they do it in a heated greenhouse, watching automated machines do the digging."
After listening to Yin Fang’s mocking banter, Chu Guang expressed his feelings after a while.
"It seems wherever people gather, there follows complexity."
Yin Fang laughed with a "heh heh" sound.
"I an no offense, I just hope you don’t underestimate those folks; they sotis appear simple but are actually quite cunning. And you should never talk to them about emotions and trust, for there hardly exists such a thing at class C and above... I can’t say absolutely, but that’s generally the case."
It seed this guy harbored quite so resentnt towards his forr employer.
Talking about the Company, he showed disdain and contempt, but whenever he ntioned his old employer, he invariably turned into sowhat of a complainer.
"I’ll keep that in mind..."
Chu Guang cleared his throat softly, bringing his focus back to the red circle on the map.
There were two ways to play the card of establishing a special zone.
Besides simply exchanging technology and poaching talents, he could also use this window to reverse-export good stuff from the Alliance into the Academy’s territory.
Interaction with Ideal City had already proven that many things from the Alliance, although still immature, were attractive as novelty imported goods never seen before by the other side.
Especially in the cultural domain.
Currently, just the foreign currency inco created by Long Moon Group alone had already matched one third of the industrial production value of West State City!
And a certain ga company had, through several innovative... or perhaps retro-style blockbuster VR gas, amassed a million fans on Endpoint Cloud!
This not only represented huge economic value but also many unseen hidden values.
For instance, volunteers who ca to the Alliance from their own pockets to work as teachers in hos for refugees and orphanages were largely drawn by the prosperous culture of the Alliance.
He still needed to carefully study how to balance the proportion of NPCs going to the Academy to learn new knowledge and players causing trouble.
While Chu Guang was contemplating how to maximize benefits, Xiao Qi’s voice suddenly floated gently into his ears.
"Master, a Liaison Officer from the Company in the Alliance, Yi Chuan, wants to et with you. It’s getting late now; how about tomorrow morning?"
After hearing the ssage from Xiao Qi, Chu Guang casually replied.
"No problem, by the way, did he ntion what it’s about?"
Xiao Qi: "It seems to be about that newspaper."
Newspaper?
Chu Guang was montarily puzzled.
Seemingly perceiving Chu Guang’s confusion, Xiao Qi considerately launched the holographic screen.
And at that mont, displayed on the screen was precisely the headline from the Clear Spring City Daily that Old Charlie had previously handed to him.
Looking at the three pages of the newspaper on the holographic screen, Yin Fang raised his eyebrows upward, asking curiously.
"What is this? Clear Spring City...Daily?"
His lab did order so newspapers.
But does City of Dawn issue this one?
Chu Guang had a subtle expression on his face.
"It’s nothing... just a not-so-funny joke."
Well, then.
Soone actually believed that stuff...
anwhile, at the Highway Inn,
Sun Yuechi, dressed in a traveler’s outfit, was sitting in a corner of the lobby. He ordered a honey butter beer recomnded by the innkeeper and quietly flipped through a newspaper he had just bought from a nearby newsstand.
"... Clear Spring City’s lair being secretly fard by the manager?"
His eyebrows raised slightly as he continued reading down the lines, clicking his tongue in amazent.
"Using sub-entities to rebuild civilization isn’t a bad strategy for breaking the stalemate... This refuge’s manager really is talented!"
Shelter No. 404.
What was the mission of this particular shelter again?
He thought hard but could recall nothing, then shook his head and stopped contemplating, continuing with the newspaper.
However, just then, a loud roar disrupted Sun Yuechi’s reflection, compelling him to involuntarily look up.
"Enough! It’s absolute nonsense!"
A burly man slamd the table and stood up, his face red and neck thick as he glared at a few foreign rcenaries seated nearby, angrily continuing,
"Our manager values the Alliance more than himself. If I hear you spouting those baseless slanders again, I will shove this table in your mouth!"
He was an old soldier from the First Army Corps who had followed the manager through many battles long ago. His feelings for Shelter No. 404 were deeper than other survivors’ because those people always charged to the frontlines, always placing themselves in the most perilous positions.
The great manager was no different.
He had devoted himself to the Alliance to the extent of having no kids of his own, and yet these guys dared to speak ill of him in his presence!
He wished he could shoot the guy dead on the spot!
The rcenary was stunned by the shouting. He had just been discussing with a comrade a conspiracy theory from a newspaper picked up at the newsstand—one that alleged the Alliance manager in the eastern part of Spring City owned and fard the central lair in a horrifying plot.
When the ti was right, the master would suddenly unleash a Tide, turning everyone into puppet-like sub-entities.
The rcenary didn’t really buy into this theory, having discussed it rely for fun, but his voice might have been a bit loud, catching the attention of others.
What he hadn’t expected was such a strong reaction from bystanders.
In Bugra, even cursing directly at Sigma would have no consequences since those high-profile figures didn’t care about insignificant people like them, usually unseen by them.
But the Alliance seed to be a different matter...
The lobby of the inn quieted down for a mont.
Initially, it was just one furious man; that wasn’t scary enough, but he quickly realized that more than a couple of eyes were on him.
Among them were powerful Awakeners.
"I..." Sweat dripped from his forehead, overwheld by such imnse pressure, he suddenly found himself stuttering.
Fortunately, his comrade reacted swiftly, making an earnest apology on his behalf,
"Sorry, brother, we ant no harm... It’s our first ti here with the comrcial team, so we don’t know much about you, which is why we bought a newspaper to check out. We didn’t fabricate this, bla the paper if you need to."
Saying so, he handed over the newspaper.
Still furious, the burly man darkly took the newspaper, crumpled it up, and tossed it aside.
The rcenary silently cursed but didn’t dare cause trouble on soone else’s territory, spreading his hands in an embarrassed gesture.
"Can we consider this resolved? Just a slip of the tongue after so drinks, we really ant no harm..."
Just as the atmosphere at the scene beca tense, Old Hooke, noticing the situation, coughed to interject smoothly,
"He’s right, it’s pointless to trouble him. Bla that unknown ’Clear Spring City Daily’ that popped out of nowhere... Speaking of which, I received a bundle this morning too. It ca mixed with other newspapers from the print shop, I glanced at it and threw it out like trash."
"People actually print such garbage!"
The burly man also realized he had overreacted, taking out his frustration on bystanders, which was unseemly, so he grumbled annoyance and stepped down.
Old Hooke helplessly shrugged.
"That master has too many things to worry about; it’s impossible for him to personally attend to everything, isn’t it?"
Of course, that is also what makes him comndable.
He only cared whether the goods on the shelves were affordable to people, not really ddling in what people wanted to buy.
Just like he said at the last festival, as long as the traded goods didn’t involve honor and dignity.
People began discussing animatedly in groups, indignantly debating about that unexpected ’Clear Spring City Daily’.
Watching the crumpled newspaper roll next to the bar, Debt Giant Eye curiously picked it up and took a look.
He shouldn’t have looked.
He suddenly got furious.
"What the hell! Is Xiaoyu that kind of person?"
He hadn’t paid much attention to the content of the conspiracy theory, nor was he very interested, but the way the newspaper wrote it, it felt like Xiaoyu was so sort of slave to the manager.
Did they get the CP wrong?
Holding a drink, Old White teased with a smile.
"Xiaoyu isn’t even human, right?"
Resting her chin on her hand, a slightly tipsy Chen Yutong also quipped,
"Indeed, but I think it’s cuter than humans."
She had also picked up so of the players’ language recently, although she was not very fluent, basic daily communication was no longer an issue.
Old White laughed heartily.
"Your taste is too unique."
Debt Giant Eye burped loudly, drunkenly rising from the bar and angrily crumpling the newspaper into a ball, tossing it into the trash can.
"It doesn’t matter if it’s human or not; it has fought alongside us as a comrade. And most importantly, it’s my good brother Falling Feather’s wife!"
Elena looked at him with a comical expression.
"You’re just running your mouth while Falling Feather isn’t around."
This guy couldn’t be trying to earn favorability points, right?
Was he possibly equipped with Xiaoyu’s sub-entity?
"Burp—Anyway! I, Big Eyes, cannot allow anyone to slander our Xiaoyu!"
Stepping on a nearby table, Debt Giant Eye’s eyes shifted as he loudly ranted to the indignant drunks in United Human language.
"So dare to slander our most exalted Manager!"
"I’m Edge Shoveling, the leader of the Death Legion, and no matter who that bastard is, we must teach him a lesson!"
Hearing his ntion of Edge Shoveling, Elena almost spat out her drink.
Just then, a very drunk Debt Giant Eye suddenly pulled a handgun from his pocket and fired a shot at the ceiling with a loud bang.
The sound of the gun imdiately ignited the atmosphere in the grand hall; all the tough n began clamoring excitedly.
"That’s right!"
"We must teach that bastard a lesson!"
"But where do we find him?"
"The newspaper’s printing press!"
"Howl, howl, howl!"
Watching the scene spiral out of control, Old White was stunned, while Elena quickly snatched the handgun from Debt Giant Eye’s hand.
"Are you crazy? Do you not care about your account?!"
"Heh heh, don’t worry, it’s a blank round."
Stepping down from the table, Debt Giant Eye chuckled, bending over to pick up the spent blank shell and shaking it in front of Elena.
However, what he didn’t expect was that he would ultimately receive a 5-minute yellow card—his boasting didn’t last more than two seconds before he went offline, rolling his eyes.
A pale-faced Lisa looked at him worriedly and quietly asked.
"Is he alright?"
Old White, already accustod to this, smiled and reassured the young girl.
"He’s fine. This guy drank too much; we’ll carry him back to rest."
In fact, Xiao Qi had still held back sowhat.
Firing a gun in public, even a blank round, even as a first offense, should result in at least a 24-hour yellow card, let alone in a beer hall.
A bunch of drunks didn’t care about the wimp who had collapsed; they barely heard it was the call of the Death Legion’s leader, and their blood instantly boiled, with harsh words spurring them to stand up.
Seeing the increasingly intimidating atmosphere, the few rcenaries who had initially sparked the topic, frightened, threw down money to pay the bill and slipped away without even finishing their drinks.
Old Hooke sighed helplessly, not stopping those who surged outside, and tossed his washcloth aside, looking towards Lisa holding a tray in a daze.
"You can clock out early today."
Lisa said timidly.
"Is it alright to just let them go?"
"It’s fine; there are residents of the refuge here. They should be able to keep things under control, and things shouldn’t get too out of hand..." Old Hooke wasn’t quite sure, mumbling "probably" quietly to himself.
Honestly, he also disliked seeing anyone slander their Manager, even though the Manager himself might not care much about this petty matter.
If it hadn’t been for him taking them in that winter, his old bones probably would have been lost in so corner of the Wasteland by now.
Today’s life for him as a Waste Land Wanderer felt almost like a dream; he would never forget that kindness in his lifeti.
It was a pity he didn’t know who wrote that article; otherwise, he would definitely have kicked that person’s rear.
Watching the drunks gradually stand up and flood towards the exit, Sun Yuechi hurriedly stowed away the newspaper, fearing that people would see he had a copy too.
However, people didn’t notice him, and even if they did, they wouldn’t care.
Soone had already pointed them in the right direction—they were headed for the print shop, the place for them to vent their anger.
Watching this frenzied crowd swarm into the street, Sun Yuechi’s forehead was covered in black lines.
Was this settlent really normal?
He began to doubt so of the rumors he had heard along the road...
At the sa ti, sitting in front of a window in the sa hotel room, Sindison wore a face filled with schadenfreude.
Especially when he saw more and more people gathering in the street and the security guards rushing to maintain order, his smile grew even brighter.
"Tsks, it’s starting to get chaotic."
Just as he expected.
The newspapers he had created with other travel traders had indeed ignited the survivors’ rage.
As long as public sentint continued to fernt, the sub-entities in Qingquan City’s East District would soon beco a hot potato.
Then they could present themselves as saviors to the Alliance authorities, purchasing the sub-entities at a low price.
However, such clever sub-entities were too precious for turning into nutrient paste.
Perhaps he could hire a few researchers to see if they could use these sub-entities for labor dispatch—surely a better prospect than collecting junk?
Sindison excitedly clenched his fists, cheering on the gathering survivors.
Let the storm co even more fiercely!
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