Chen Bitong passed through multiple checkpoints and successfully got out of Majestic Light District. Then, after taking a turn, they headed northwest.

The motorcade drove past Deep End District and entered Roaring Victory District’s area full of abandoned commercial buildings.

It was quite a coincidence, because this place wasn’t far away from the place where Chen Chuan met with Su Wei.

“We’re here. Let’s get out,” Fang Zhixin said.

Yu Lie opened the car door and got out with one hand in his pocket. With a casual fling of his arm, he chased away some of the insects before looking around.

Even though it wasn’t even 5 a.m. yet, the sky was bright. It had been bright since midnight.

Aside from the abandoned commercial buildings, the roads were also full of potholes due to them not being maintained for years. The sidewalk was more than a hundred meters long, and there was a mostly damaged, large billboard set on a metal frame. It seemed to be showing some kind of advertisement for a cosmetic product with the image of an orchid, but the color had already faded away.

Birds were preening themselves on top of it. When Yu Lie looked over, they were startled and flew away with the flapping of wings.

After looking around, Yu Lie saw the people from the other cars getting out and silently spreading out. They retrieved the equipment and weapons from their cars and set things up in an orderly manner around them.

Once they were done, they set up bonfires and poured incense powders from the boxes they took out. The smoke rising from the bonfires chased away the swarms of insects around them. Then, they dug trenches beside the bonfires and set up barbed wire and other road blocks.

The other members inspected the abandoned buildings before setting up firing positions from high points.

The men seemed familiar with the place and had a clear distribution of work. They said nothing to each other, and it filled the place with a silence so great that it suffocated Yu Lie.

He tugged at his collar. What were they trying to do? Who were they trying to kill?

Just then, he saw two people dragging out long boxes from the last delivery truck. After they split up, they opened the boxes and pulled out long stakes from them.

Were those... Iron Gem Stakes?

It was a common weapon of war for the royal family of the old era. According to the records, the stakes were encased in iron and contained cores made of gem and gold. When struck, the cores hummed and trembled so loudly that the sound traveled more than fifty kilometers. They were made specifically to pass messages on battlefields.

In the new era, they became purely ceremonial, but after being modified with biomaterials, they became domain entities with unique functions. They could do domain interference, and if they were positioned strategically, their range was incredibly large. The effect was strong as well.

Yu Lie wondered whether the stakes had other functions.

Unfortunately, he couldn’t send any message outward. Not only had the group kept a domain interference entity active the whole way, but there was also the fact that Yu Lie would have risked exposing himself, no matter how tiny his movements were.

Right now, he should just play his role before Chen Bitong properly. He was sure that now that they stopped moving, the committee would soon arrive.

***

Back at the command center, Liang Guanghai stared at the screen ahead. The fourth propagation wave had started ten minutes ago. This time, twenty-seven propagated offspring had appeared.

The units acted based on previous arrangements and headed swiftly to their assigned destinations. This time, the situation was worse than before. More mercenary groups had figured out their manpower and firepower and joined the hunt. Aside from attacking their response units, they also occasionally fought against each other.

The assistant put her hand on her Realm Pass. After a moment, she said, “Special Officer Liang, the Department of Administrative Affairs is saying they’re under immense pressure. The response units are experiencing major lag, and many of the units are unable to perform their retrieval duties. They’re applying for airship support from the World Ring Defense System.”

Liang Guanghai considered it before saying resolutely, “Denied.”

If they sent over some of the airships from Majestic Light District and Martial Order District, the situation would change in their favor. Some out of Motie Mountain and White Bird District would do as well.

But he would rather have them on standby than sending even one out for support.

Of course, he wasn’t rejecting the request on a whim, but because he had greater considerations. They still didn’t know where the other army of the royal family was. When would they appear? 𝙧𝙚𝙚𝔀𝒆𝓫𝓷𝙤𝓿𝒆𝙡.𝒄𝙤𝓶

There was also the existence that had kept itself hidden after coming here. It had to be waiting for a chance to act, so Liang Guanghai needed several cards up his sleeve for crucial moments.

The assistant received some information at that moment and said, “Chen Bitong left Majestic Light District forty-five minutes ago and is currently suspected to be at Roaring Victory District.”

“Why didn’t they report this sooner?” Liang Guanghai asked with a scowl.

“The National General Affairs Bureau sent us the information earlier, but the National Ad Hoc Special Operations Committee intercepted their message. This is their second message,” the assistant answered.

Liang Guanghai shook his head at that. The National Ad Hoc Special Operations Committee had an extra duty: To limit and inspect the National General Affairs Bureau. Because of this, the movements of the National General Affairs Bureau often were restricted.

But why were they fighting at a time like this?

Setting aside the fact that the National Ad Hoc Special Operations Committee was at times too extreme and would do whatever it took to achieve their goals, they had prevented the National General Affairs Bureau from sending their message to the World Ring Defense System, in order to take sole responsibility for the matter and prevent any interference.

Liang Guanghai hoped the committee would be able to deal with this properly and not make any mistakes.

***

Back at Roaring Victory District, once the Iron Gem Stakes were set up around the abandoned commercial buildings, they formed a perfectly straight grid that flickered in gold when the light from the sky shone on them.

Fang Zhixin inspected the stakes and spoke to the team members around him before going to Chen Bitong and saying, “The formation is ready, Instructor Chen. What do we need to do next?”

“Nothing. We just need to wait here,” Chen Bitong said.

“Alright.”

Yu Lie felt as if the two were speaking in code, but since he was supposed to be a rabid Chen Bitong fan, he had to do whatever Chen Bitong asked him to without question. That was why he could only swallow his curiosity and not ask anything.

After around eighteen minutes, he noticed that the number of gaps around them were increasing, and the distance between them was small. This was different from before the formation was set up. Shocked, he blurted out, “What’s this?”

The flashing gaps in front of Chen Bitong started merging together to form a large gap.

Yu Lie was surprised. It was as if Chen Bitong had been sure that a gap would appear here. How did he know? Could it be...

He cast a glance at the stakes. Was it related to these things?

Fang Zhixin walked over and said, “You seem curious, Lieutenant Colonel Yu.”

Yu Lie quickly plastered on a nonchalant expression. “I’m curious, yeah, but that’s all. I’m still in full support of whatever Instructor Chen wants to do.”

“Whatever it is, huh?”

“Whatever it is,” Yu Lie repeated without hesitation.

“It’s no wonder why Instructor Chen decided to bring you along. Please stand here,” Fang Zhixin said with a smile and motioned to a spot.

The gap was right next to Chen Bitong. Yu Lie went there and asked, “What else?”

Fang Zhixin smiled. “Patience. You’ll have room to shine later. I’m sure you can be patient until then, right?”

Yu Lie clicked his tongue and took out the coin to start tossing it again.

As he stood in front of the expanding gap, he did not know what was going to happen and was quite nervous. Even so, he showed an unbothered expression.

Soon, he felt light tremors under his feet. In the beginning, he thought that it was just a small earthquake, but soon, it became clear that this was the Fu-Mu Entity’s fifth propagation.

But it had only been some time since the fourth propagation, hadn’t it? Why did the fifth arrive so soon?

Then, he saw a crack appear on the ground. Tiny, scattered bits rose from it. They were about the size of finger pads and were rising to the air. Once out, they started tumbling about and growing in size. They resembled a curled up sponge, and they were all encased in a crystalline, semi-transparent liquid.

Were these... parts of a propagated offspring?

Alarm bells screeched in his head. Even if he wasn’t part of the municipal government, he knew how hard it was to locate where the propagated offspring would appear. At most, they could only determine the general location. Otherwise, they would have stationed the response units next to where the propagated parts would appear and faced no problems whatsoever. So, what was going on here?

There was a gap, and it just so happened to have a propagated offspring?

Yu Lie cast a glance at Chen Bitong. No one was doing anything to the propagated offspring right now, but he was sure that they were going to do something big with it. Why wasn’t the committee here yet?

Yu Lie started feeling anxious.

After the propagated offspring appeared, it entered the gap, and the gap became sturdier.

***

Back at the command center, Sentry Tower gave a report. “Detected a stable gap in Roaring Victory District’s fifth abandoned commercial district. A propagated offspring has entered it. Action is suggested to be taken swiftly.”

Liang Guanghai cast a glance at the region marked on the screen.

Roaring Victory District... Was it a coincidence?

Chen Bitong had gone to Roaring Victory District.

“Send a response unit over, and have Unit Two go there to be on standby,” he said gravely.

The assistant cast him a glance before seeing Liang Guanghai giving her authorization to issue orders. Then, she started sending the orders out.

Before this, Liang Guanghai was the one who issued direct orders to the other units. Unit Two was special because it was formed of elite members from the Resolution Department and the World Ring Defense System.

These members were incredibly strong and were the main force used to deal with crucial problems. Even when various problems had appeared during the third wave of propagation, Liang Guanghai hadn’t dispatched them, but now, they might have to fight against Chen Bitong, so he was forced to send them out.

After some thinking, he gave another order. “Send a unit of recovery medicine to Captain Chen.”

The assistant was quite surprised, but didn’t ask questions. She simply nodded and started issuing orders.