Yu Lie followed Chen Bitong and Fang Zhixin downstairs and saw an armored limousine driving over to them.

The car door opened, and two tall men wearing goggles came out of each side of the limousine.

Chen Bitong went into the car, but he didn’t sit at the back. Instead, he went to the front passenger seat. Fang Zhixin and Yu Lie both got into the backseats.

The car door fell shut, and the limousine started moving.

Yu Lie looked back. The two tall men had gone into another car, and more cars drove out from the parking lot. There were about eight of them. If every single one of them had more than one occupant, the team should have around forty people.

To think that Chen Bitong had mobilized so many people in the dark. It was hard to hide tracks like that... Wait. That wasn’t right.

At that moment, he realized something. The breathing from the two men had been too organized, which meant that they were highly likely to be puppets. Their technology was unusually advanced, so he hadn’t recognized them for who they were immediately.

While Paperdoll made puppets, they didn’t have the technology to do this. Was it Proto-Being?

Yu Lie looked away. He didn’t know where Chen Bitong was going, but he couldn’t ask, because that didn’t fit his usual pattern of behavior.

Not that he would get any answers, anyway.

He didn’t have a way to notify the National Ad Hoc Special Operations Committee either. Fortunately, the committee could locate him through the implant in his arm.

“You seem nervous, Lieutenant Colonel Yu,” Fang Zhixin remarked after casting him a glance.

Yu Lie scoffed at that. “I’m excited. Aren’t you excited?”

“Should I be?” Fang Zhixin asked.

“Why shouldn’t you be? We’re going out to do something with Instructor Chen here,” Yu Lie stated matter-of-factly.

“Good, then.” Fang Zhixin smiled, but there was something Yu Lie couldn’t decipher in his smile. Chen Bitong just sat still and said nothing.

The atmosphere in the limousine was a little suffocating to Yu Lie. He tried his best to calm down. He had been controlling his heartbeat and breathing rhythm to remain in a slightly excited state. If he didn’t do that, Chen Bitong was bound to discover that something was off.

After less than one kilometer, they ran into their first road block. It was manned by armed security guards and soldiers.

Since their motorcade was long, someone immediately came forward to check, but Fang Zhixin pressed down on his Realm Pass, and the ones in charge of examining them received some kind of message. They didn’t approach them any further, but gave a wave to the guards at the back and removed the road blocks. The motorcade was then allowed to pass through.

Yu Lie was shocked. He knew just how strict the inspections were. The inspection protocol wasn’t set by just one department either, but made by the World Ring Defense System, the municipal government, and the Department of Administrative Affairs.

Even if Chen Bitong had a good relationship with Mr. Quan, he couldn’t avoid getting examined by the other two departments. Besides, Mr. Quan had explicitly stated that Chen Bitong wasn’t to leave Majestic Light District.

After some thinking, Yu Lie came to the conclusion that Fang Zhixin must have used some sort of technology to bypass authorization. Someone within those departments could have also let them pass.

His heart froze at that. Chen Bitong was going to do something, but Yu Lie couldn’t do anything about it. He could only hope that the committee could locate the tracker in his arm.

He didn’t even dare to look at his arm, worried that Chen Bitong would discover it from his actions. So, he took out the coin and started tossing it again.

***

Mr. Chu was sitting on the sofa in the warehouse in Oceanway District. The screen in front of him showed scenes from various places. Around him were National Ad Hoc Special Operations Committee members busy processing documents and information.

Just then, a technician walked over and said urgently, “Sir, Lieutenant Colonel Yu has started moving.”

“I knew it.” Mr. Chu’s expression was grim, as if he had been expecting this for a long time.

“When should we begin our operations, Mr. Chu?”

“Wait a little longer. Send Unit Four to follow them,” Mr. Chu ordered.

“Understood!”

Mr. Chu then contacted someone on his Realm Pass, and a hoarse voice traveled into his ears. “Boss?”

“Come over, Lao Hu. You have a job to do.”

“Coming.”

***

Back at Glowing Dew District’s Ferris Wheel, Guanshang Jing received information from the company units and mercenary groups he had dispatched. After all, he was the Security Department’s director.

The company had set up multiple domain entities in key areas within the city three years ago. Now, they were in control of multiple information channels and could get information a step faster than other companies.

Even so, Central City was too big. Once the propagation started, domain interference entities popped up everywhere, and information warfare started in every part of the city. The propagated offspring could also appear anywhere, which led to many blind spots in their information network.

Gongying Changxiu had also not sent any news back, even now.

The analysis team had deduced that he had most likely headed to the largest gap. However, based on how the government was dispatching response units, things were not going well for Gongying Changxiu if he went there.

It was likely that they would not be able to get a propagated offspring from that gap. They had to try and capture one from the subsequent propagations.

Of course, if they didn’t succeed, they had prepared a final retreat for themselves. With a stern expression, Guanshang Jing turned his face to the ocean. They should have kickstarted the plan by now.

The directors and other company executives were paying attention to this particular event, because Ferris Wheel’s entire future depended on the outcome of this battle.

A naval battle between three companies was about to erupt on the roaring waves of the ocean.

Azure Dragon and Ocean Development Corporation had occupied the important sea routes for a long time, which allowed them to control main transport and naval trade routes and limited Ferris Wheel’s development. They were stuck at their current state with a leash tied around their necks.

They longed eagerly to remove that leash.

Hence, after Ferris Wheel was established, they spent a decade building a naval unit in secret with the help of the Linacrox Union and other organizations in hopes to break the hold these two Great Shun Republic companies had over the sea routes.

Before this, they had never had the chance to attack, because the two companies had the Great Shun Republic’s support. In any other situation, it was impossible to win against them.

Now, most of the government’s attention was drawn to the gap in the World Ring and the propagation of the Fu-Mu Entity in Jibei Road’s Central City. This was a chance that came once in a blue moon, so some of the island nations had decided to work together with Ferris Wheel to break the two companies’ hold over the sea.

Half a month before the Gate to Heaven opened, Ferris Wheel had sent multiple ships to Hillside Island from various ports and secret locations.

Last night, those ships went to Grand Shen Port of Eight Pots Island, where Azure Dragon and Ocean Development Corporation’s main commercial escort ships and a large number of cargo ships were anchored.

They had to do whatever they could to destroy those ships in one go. Then, the two companies wouldn’t be able to fight against them on the ocean anymore. Once the Union saw this, they wouldn’t ignore them anymore. Even the Linacrox Union would support this.

In the current day and age, all countries were trying to overpower each other and suppress conflict, so all the Great Shun Republic could do afterwards was to accept the result.

This was the Spring Formation. They didn’t just want to snatch a propagated offspring, but to completely get rid of the enemy’s naval threat.

***

At that moment, Azure Dragon and Ocean Development Corporation received information that Ferris Wheel’s naval unit was headed for their cargo ships and commercial escort ships.

Ferris Wheel hadn’t been able to hide the mobilization of their naval unit. No one could. So, the two companies had known what Ferris Wheel was doing behind their backs, but most of the time, the ships anchored at ports and islands belonged to the Linacrox Union. They had even made use of ships the Linacrox Union had phased out.

The Linacrox Union had also trained most of their sailors and some of them were even part of the Linacrox Union.

Azure Dragon and Ocean Development Corporation had a clear grasp of what Ferris Wheel and the Linacrox Union were doing. In truth, the Great Shun Republic had done plenty of such things in Oceanland itself.

But since all the countries were avoiding full-on confrontation, only the companies could go up against each other. Neither the Great Shun Republic nor the Linacrox Union would allow things to escalate past this point.

The two companies’ naval fleets sailed off the port.

***

An intelligence officer reported the situation to Feng Dingshan, the captain of Ten Thousand Lis, the flagship of the fleet.

“Ferris Wheel has sent out twenty-three ships. Twelve of them are commercial escort ships that have been repurposed into gunboats. Two of them are small assault and reconnaissance ships. The other nine are Distant Mountain-Class warships Ferris Wheel bought from the Linacrox Union.

“They also have twenty-five airships with them.”

“Lao Feng, this is about the number we predicted and practiced against during our simulations. It should be most of their ships,” the vice captain said.

“They really can’t change their habit of betting everything in one go. They loved doing it ninety years ago, and they still love doing it now,” Feng Dingshan said.

No one said a thing. The atmosphere was tense, but morale was high.

The merged fleet was formed of thirty-one warships. Twelve of them were the Great Shun Republic’s Eternal Guard-Class warships designed to rival the Linacrox Union’s Distant Mountain-Class warships. They also had thirty-six combat warships flying in the air.

More than half of the two companies’ warships were gathered here.

As for the other half, it wasn’t as if they didn’t want to utilize them, but the Linacrox Union’s western fleet was acting abnormally, so they had sent a fleet over to work together with the Great Shun Republic’s own naval fleet.

Besides, it wasn’t as if they only had these many ships. Four submarines from the Great Shun Republic were following them silently to provide support from underwater.

On paper, their strength was greater, but all battles had certain risks, and they didn’t know whether Ferris Wheel was hiding some secret weapons under its sleeves.

If they managed to get rid of the naval and airship units, Ferris Wheel wouldn’t be able to stretch its hand across the ocean and influence island nations anymore, even if they managed to survive this encounter. In the end, they would be trapped on land and die.

Feng Dingshan checked his watch. It was 4:35 p.m.. In another hour or so, the sun would be up. He checked the rising and falling waves, illuminated by the lights from the ships. In a firm voice, he said, “We need to settle this matter once and for all with this battle today! Strive to destroy Ferris Wheel’s naval power!”

With a rustle, all the captains of the other ships saluted him.

The two naval fleets drew closer. When the battle was about to start, the Fu-Mu Entity’s fourth propagation wave started in Central City.