After lunch, Chen Chuan held a warm drink in his hands and looked down from the porthole. He had never seen Central City from this angle.

As the sun shone through the clouds, its light shifted through different shades. The intersecting, spacious streets looked like curved lines he could manipulate with his hands whenever he wanted. The skyscrapers that shot into the clouds and were out of reach were now all under his feet, making it feel like he had transcended.

Pan Xiaode spoke up from the side. “This airship is in charge of maintenance and emergencies. It’s patrolling the districts back and forth and receiving messages from all parts of the city. The Department of Administrative Affairs and the World Ring Defense System is in charge of those messages, though, to prevent any crucial information from being leaked. Still, they tell us some of it.

“Apparently, aside from an invasion from the creatures of the merged space, the royal family is also attacking us, but they’re held off at the sea. The Department of Administrative Affairs and the World Ring Defense System are still in control of the overall situation.

“I think this is going to last for another two days or so.

“By the way, you don’t know this, but the resistance group showed up as well. There was a huge fight at Grand Morals District not too long ago. I went to take a look at the aftermath. The entire street is in ruins. I think it was all caused by Third Limit martial artists. Let me show you.”

He sent a few pictures over and asked curiously, “Are all Third Limit martial artists this destructive?”

“Not everyone can do this,” Chen Chuan replied.

Pan Xiaode looked forward to having this sort of strength and wished to become a Third Limit martial artist immediately.

Chen Chuan checked the pictures. Some of the buildings had pits in them, while the road looked like it had been repeatedly hit.

Third Limit martial artists who could create such massive destruction had to have learned the Heartborn Force. Chen Chuan was pretty sure that this was done by more than one Third Limit martial artist. By the looks of it, a lot of organizations had entered Central City to interfere with the government’s effort to keep the Fu-Mu Entity’s propagation under control.

As long as the propagation continued, such scenes would keep popping up.

***

Back at the command center, Liang Guanghai checked his watch. There were ten minutes left before 1 p.m.. Soon, the Fu-Mu Entity would go through its tenth propagation.

According to Sentry Tower, the Fu-Mu Entity might split anywhere from thirteen to fifteen times.

While it produced a lot of offspring, they were small and had some kind of flaw.

If the Great Shun Republic’s government wanted to develop a new domain entity, they would pick the best offspring as backup. If they couldn’t find one that met the standards, they would modify the ones they picked until they were satisfied. This inevitably meant the usage of tons of resources. If other organizations wanted to develop their own domain entity, they would also need to be strong enough, or they wouldn’t be able to handle it.

Hence, theoretically speaking, the propagated offspring weren’t important by themselves, but they were important in other aspects.

Based on previous estimates and Sentry Tower’s current analyses, the command center had basically confirmed that the subsequent propagations weren’t going to be so tightly packed together. The interval between each wave was going to be longer.

Then, they would no longer have to be in a hurry to mobilize forces. Instead, they could begin to concentrate them in certain areas.

The companies wanting to get their hands on a propagated offspring should know this too, which was why they had taken action during the beginning or middle of the propagation. Usually, the companies drained almost all of their manpower during the first half. Liang Guanghai couldn’t tell whether some were still going to try and steal a propagated offspring, but he was willing to believe that they would exercise some restraint. Still, he had to set the necessary defenses.

Liang Guanghai cast a glance at the screen showing what was happening beyond Oceanway District. The imperial conqueror general was still in a standoff against Xue Shou. By the looks of it, he wasn’t going to leave until the end of the propagation.

Everything else was going smoothly, but Liang Guanghai was worried about the unknown existence.

Where exactly was it?

He couldn’t figure it out. Aside from the existence, there was one more group that needed his constant attention—Ferris Wheel.

According to confirmed information, in order to join the Union and break free of their current state of being restricted from all sides, they had brought all the forces they had mobilized to the table.

Ferris Wheel’s next course of action was going to depend on the naval battle. Yet Liang Guanghai hadn’t received any news about how things were going there.

***

There were ship remains floating on the surface of the sea beyond Eight Pots Island. The thick scent of sulphur and burnt wood filled the air.

A large number of buoys and rafts floated on the water as well. The crewmembers of the joint fleet between Azure Dragon and Ocean Development Corporation were trying to save the capsized people, both allies and enemies alike.

The naval battle between the three companies had started at 5:20 a.m. and lasted until 1:30 p.m.. It had gone on for nearly eight hours and ended with Azure Dragon and Ocean Development Corporation’s joint fleet’s victory.

Five out of nine of Ferris Wheel’s Distant Mountain-Class were sunk. Three were captured, while one had escaped. Of the twelve gunboats, nine were sunk, and three were captured. More than twenty-five airships had fled.

The Great Shun Republic had only lost one scout ship and a gunboat, while four of its twelve Eternal Guard-Class warships were damaged lightly. All in all, it was a major victory.

The battle had been quite perilous.

When it began, Ferris Wheel had released the modified flying insects provided by the Linacrox Union. They could attach themselves to the airships’ envelopes, then secrete a unique bioliquid through the stinger on their bellies. After they left, the bioliquid would quickly catch on fire.

This was likely a new modified creature that the Linacrox Union had developed, since the joint fleet hadn’t known about its existence. It led to them immediately losing one-third of their airships, even though they originally had the absolute advantage in numbers in terms of airships.

Losing their aerial advantage would make the subsequent battle really difficult, since their cover in the sky would be severely lacking.

Fortunately, a tactical advisor of the joint fleet reminded them that they had brought a batch of modified birds produced by Photon Nest. They halted the modified insects’ offense and allowed the joint fleet to fight more smoothly.

Among them, the four submarines sent by the Great Shun Republic played a major role. Most of the sunken Far Mountain-Class warships were their doing, and they did it within two hours.

Ferris Wheel had fewer ships than the joint fleet to begin with, so once the number went down even further, they were unable to make a comeback. The joint fleet then took almost six hours to take them out by either sinking or forcing the remaining ships to surrender. 𝐟𝚛𝕖𝚎𝕨𝗲𝐛𝚗𝐨𝐯𝐞𝕝.𝐜𝗼𝗺

At the present moment, the fleet Ferris Wheel had spent ten years building was completely wiped out. Their existence could only be found in the history records.

Once Feng Dingshan, the captain of the joint fleet, confirmed the results, he sent a coded telegram to the command center.

At 1 p.m., the telegram was delivered to the command center and went straight to Liang Guanghai’s hands. After reading it repeatedly to confirm the news, he felt a huge weight lift off his shoulders.

The naval battle was incredibly important. If the joint fleet had lost, they would have no way to stop Ferris Wheel in the sea. The company would be able to come and go as they pleased, and the Great Shun Republic would be forced into a passive position.

Now that Ferris Wheel had lost their naval power, the company was trapped on land and unable to move even if the government didn’t do anything.

Liang Guanghai handed the telegraph to his assistant and instructed, “Send this message in code to Chief Secretary Qi and Director Wei.”

The assistant did as told.

Around ten minutes after the message was sent, the assistant put her hand on the Realm Pass and said something to Liang Guanghai.

He nodded and left the public space on the second floor to go to the office on the third floor. Everything around him turned dark, and the screen on the wall flashed. The images of two men showed up.

On the left was Qiao Yang, secretary and confidante of Chief Secretary Qi of the Department of Administrative Affairs. On the right was Wu Quan, the deputy director of the Resolution Department, who was in charge of the operation.

“I believe that Chief Secretary Qi and Director Wei have read the telegram. Do you have any instructions for me?” Liang Guanghai asked.

Qiao Yang was in his forties and wore gold-rimmed glasses, which made him appear gentle and elegant. While smiling, he said, “We need to offer an explanation and take accountability for this matter. Ferris Wheel is a good scapegoat.”

Liang Guanghai understood what the Department of Administrative Affairs was thinking. After some consideration, he said, “What is Mr. Quan’s opinion about this? I don’t think the municipal government will agree to us attacking Ferris Wheel.”

“This is a special situation, and it requires a special solution. We’re in an emergency, so it’s the perfect time to use military regulations. Of course, it’s only for this situation,” Qiao Yang said.

Liang Guanghai nodded. With the current situation, they weren’t allowed to touch the security forces stationed at Majestic Light District, Martial Order District, White Bird District, and Motie Mountain. Aside from these, the rest of the military forces had been split among the three departments. Also, communications in these districts weren’t running smoothly.

If they wanted to take action, they could cut off all communication signals. Then, the municipal government wouldn’t be able to stop them. But after this, taking out Ferris Wheel would become much harder.

“We can’t forget that the imperial army is waiting outside our door. We can’t just ignore them. We also still don’t know where the other existence is, and what it’s trying to do,” he reminded them.

“Despite all these threats, is it a good idea for us to draw more power to get rid of Ferris Wheel?”

Wu Quan cut in. “Mr. Xue is facing the imperial army, and that’s enough. Unless they find another stable gap, they won’t be able to breach our defenses. Based on the current situation, this possibility is almost nil.

“As for the other existence, Director Wei has already confirmed with the headquarters that Safe Shield can fight against it.”

Liang Guanghai stared at him. The Resolution Department’s active biosentient entity was tasked with fighting against the other companies’ active biosentient entities, which were their greatest threat. If they used Safe Shield against the existence, wouldn’t the companies be free to act as they pleased?

“We’ve also contacted Martial Valor University. If the companies step out of line, Hongfu will stand in for Safe Shield,” Wu Quan explained.

Liang Guanghai understood what was going on. Judging by what they said, the two departments’ stance against Ferris Wheel was clear. They were even representing the ministries in charge of them. Right now, all that was left was for Liang Guanghai to state his stance.

He pondered over it for a while before turning to the two men and said, “Due to Ferris Wheel disrupting the order in Jibei Road’s Central City multiple times and being a huge threat to the security of the municipal government, in the name of the special officer of the World Ring Defense System stationed in the city, I propose activating the national special neutralization regulation to eliminate Ferris Wheel. It is necessary to ensure the Great Shun Republic’s safety as well as to make sure Ferris Wheel will no longer impede public interests.”

“Agreed.”

“Agreed.”