The politician looked solemn as he observed Uhtred. He had already realized the exact same thing the young pioneer was trying toake him understand, but he remained unwilling to leave the area without giving it a try at the very least.

When Uhtred finally came out of his contemplation, the politician moved forward to meet him, the young pioneer following a step behind still looking entirely certain that Uhtred was going to decline their offer.

"Pioneer... Uhtred, was it?" the politician said hesitantly, drawing Uhtred’s attention.

Uhtred turned his head to look at them, facing them squarely.

The man extended his hand for a handshake.

"My name is Michael. Michael Bush. And my colleague here is John Allen. He was a soldier before the integration happened, a true, loyal patriot... Just like I am," he paused, meeting Uhtred’s flat gaze.

"...and just like I think you are. If I’m correct, you are also a citizen of the United States of America, are you not?"

Uhtred raised his eyebrow slightly, neither confirming nor denying whether that was his country of origin. He simply remained standing still as the politician dropped his hand and chuckled nervously.

After a few seconds, Michael sighed.

"You must pardon me. I’m simply still somewhat afraid of you right now, and that’s the truth of the matter... But despite that fear, I have to do this regardless," he paused, clearing his throat, before continuing: 𝑓𝓇𝘦ℯ𝘸𝘦𝑏𝓃𝑜𝘷ℯ𝑙.𝑐𝑜𝓂

"Before the chaos of the integration ensued, I was a politician... a diplomat, to be exact. John and I were on a diplomatic mission when all of a sudden, we were taken into that weird individual selection space.

Thankfully, unlike most others who got separated from those close to them after the drop, we somehow wound up in the same sector."

Michael paused, gesturing to the illuminated pavilions around them.

"After the System explained everything to us — the mechanics and what we were to expect, we knew the world had changed entirely. Even much more than we had thought. The old world order was essentially scrapped in the span of the blink of an eye..."

"As you would expect, chaos ensued, just like with Scorpion. But even before Scorpion or any of the pioneers arrived, when it was just the civilians who were brought to this safe zone directly, there was still chaos.

People were trying to create factions for themselves. Some people saw it as the opportunity to reset the old world order. Many did not even care that we were part of the government."

He looked closely at Uhtred, trying to read his expression.

"You can guess where I’m heading with this. Right now, it’s only been twenty-four hours. Things have gone terribly bad, but not terrible enough that we can’t enforce order onto the state of things.

However, if we leave people to simply become warlords of their own, doing things as they see fit, then the old world and its hierarchy would truly become nothing more than a relic of the past."

He observed Uhtred’s face for any change, but he saw none whatsoever. Regardless, he continued pushing forward with his speech, reaching the crux of his proposal:

"It is for this reason that we are trying to gather pioneers. Powerful people with high-grade talents and classes. We want to bring them under the banner of the government so that we can quickly stabilize the situation.

I am very sure the same is happening across all sectors. As a patriot, I cannot sit by and watch as the world goes into chaos when I know I can do something within my sector..."

His voice trembled with vigor.

"It is why I have come to seek your help. You are very powerful, Uhtred. Your help would be greatly appreciated and would go a long way to stabilize a whole lot of things. The government itself would be very appreciative of you."

When he saw no change in Uhtred’s neutral expression, the politician continued to speak, quickly trying to offer some benefits:

"Of course, we know you want your independence, especially with the level of power you have. That is why I am very willing for more specific terms to be discussed..."

Michael finally ended his speech and waited for Uhtred’s response.

But Uhtred didn’t even bother to ponder anything for long. He opened his mouth to speak, and Michael intuitively knew his answer was going to be a refusal.

So without waiting for the rejection to leave Uhtred’s lips, Michael cut him off:

"I don’t need you to respond now," he said smoothly. "You just have to think about it for the meantime. I know you’re going to decline my offer now, but it’s something to think about in the long term. A world without a government is simply a world in chaos..."

With those last words, he nodded and turned, leaving Uhtred to watch his retreating back.

​The young soldier, John Allen, waited for a beat longer, staring at Uhtred with a sharp, calculating look. Then finally, he nodded as well.

Uhtred returned the nod in turn, acknowledging the young soldier.

Not accounting for whatever personal reasons, personal ego, or glory the Michael may have had in mind, his and John Allen’s goals actually seemed very logical.

Just like he said, Uhtred was certain that in other sectors, similar situations were occurring. Warlords, thugs, or even perhaps people who were not malicious but simply wanted their own space to do their own thing and be their own rulers, unwilling to fall under any form of governance, were sure to be rampant.

The old authorities must be trying to gain control back again. This was generations worth of civilization and governance gone in the blink of an eye, after all. If they didn’t fight to regain their control, then it would be very unnatural.

However, Uhtred was not interested in any of it. Tomorrow, or perhaps the day after at the very most, he was going to be out of here for sure.

However, before he left, he was going to find out as much as he could about everything the people who had been brought to the safe zone from the onset had learned from the System.

The System, after all, had not really explained much to him except where it was relevant or where Uhtred stumbled on it, usually with the help of Ascendant Favoured One a few hours back.

As if answering his thoughts, Uhtred suddenly spotted the middle-aged scholar standing a short distance away, leaning against the side of a pavilion as if waiting for him.

Seeing Uhtred notice him, Dennis stepped forward.

"I just spoke to some of the pioneers," he said plainly, "and it would seem you have some knowledge gap about certain details the System has already explained to us..."

"I would be happy to tell you all I know."