Chapter 389: Crescent Action (8k)

Except for leaving and entering the city, the supervision inside Dawn City is not strict. After all, there are too many doomsday refugees. The Federation's jurisdiction in the city is limited to energy, public safety, food materials, and dark invasion investigation and control. Plus, the Federation uses blood essence as a currency anchor for transactions. Besides these, all behaviors are uncontrolled as long as they don't involve public safety.

Entertainment, commerce, including armed forces and abilities—no one cares what you want to do. Rather than saying this is a city, it's better to say it's a large disaster victim gathering place. The Federation's upper echelons don't worry about political power issues, only focusing on city defense safety and resources.

After all, in the apocalypse, there is no future to be seen, and everything is growing wildly for survival.

Lin Xian didn't know what kind of place Daili You Society was, but when the off-road vehicle entered a street full of pink bar lights, with women dressed in hot clothes standing densely, he probably guessed it.

This is a lawless zone.

Rain drizzled, and women on both sides of the street held umbrellas. Their hot and revealing clothing also carried firearms for self-defense. One could see all kinds of women here. Although their clothing was different, all their faces seemed to have only one emotion left—an extreme numbness and suppression. It seemed that besides survival, they had lost any meaning to life.

As soon as the vehicle entered the street, the women leaned toward the side of the road slowly, forcing the passing vehicle to slow down, making people have to let their gaze fall on them.

The vehicle gradually drove into the depths of the Old City District. This is the original North City of Dawn City. The buildings are old, cramped, dirty, and crowded, occupied by some large fleets, utilizing sex work, gambling, illegal prosthetic modification, and some ancient industries extended from strange entities.

"This area basically has no monitoring system. Federation people won't stare here because the several fleets occupying this place paid more 'safety taxes' than other regions."

Jiang Yun introduced: "Dawn City no longer has a property system. All residential areas are arranged by the Population Control Bureau by region. That is to say, you have to find a place to stay yourself."

"Then if there's no place to live, can you only live in the car?" Kiki asked.

"Basically all are. Most buildings that can accommodate people were occupied by the earliest fleets. Some scattered communities squeezed in themselves, but basically there is no big difference from car camps. This area is different. Ordinary fleets can't get in unless they are merged by the large fleets here. As long as there are no mutation attacks and fire incidents in the Old City District, the Federation won't care."

"The taxes and entry fees paid by large fleets are more," Qian Dele said.

"Yes."

After approaching an area, Lin Xian's communicator received information at this time. A strange signal guided them into an original commercial underground building complex. Driving in from the tunnel, an underground city growing wildly in concrete ruins, breathing between neon and shadows.

Jiang Yun told Lin Xian that this below was a small black market. Colorful neon lights, pornographic posters and various prosthetic modification advertisements everywhere on the walls, narrow building distances made people feel extremely suppressed.

Soon, the vehicle stopped in a building, the rear iron gate slowly fell, the lights lit up, and several fully armed people appeared in front, surrounding them with weapons, flashlight beams blinding.

"Identity confirmed," one of them said.

Lin Xian took out the Red Phoenix Order and pressed the switch, quickly obtaining the connection.

At this time, a group of people put down their weapons, Lin Xian and the others got off the car, the crowd retreated, and the sound of light mechanical footsteps came from the depths of the passage. Soon, a tall woman with mechanical limbs on all four limbs appeared slowly.

Chu Yan.

This was the first time Lin Xian and Chu Yan officially met. In his dreams, he had always been unable to distinguish Chu Yan's actual image. Now seeing it with his own eyes, if he couldn't feel the other party breathing, Lin Xian would have thought she, like Mochizuki Shinji, was a robot.

Chu Yan's voice was cold, looking at Lin Xian: "Hello, Lin Xian, you look a bit more spirited than before."

"Should be because I'm awake now," Lin Xian smiled and said.

Lin Xian followed Chu Yan and a team into the building. No one knew that there was a precision secret action base in an underground black market. Still in the corridor, he saw a group of people already standing in the passage waiting.

Leading them was a man in his forties, in a capable military uniform, wearing the medals of the United Front and the Phoenix Society on his chest, looking a bit lean and serious.

As soon as he saw Lin Xian, he first swept his gaze quickly over Lin Xian and the members of the team behind him, then calmly reached out to Lin Xian.

"Xu Zhenyue, Chief of Staff of the North American United Front. This Crescent Action will be commanded by me."

"Hello, General Xu."

"We are currently waiting for your arrival to conduct an operational meeting," Xu Zhenyue looked at Kiki and the others behind Lin Xian: "I am very glad that you and your team members are willing to assist us."

Immediately, Xu Zhenyue and Chu Yan led Lin Xian's group into the hall. Besides the North American United Front team, there were four action groups of the Phoenix Society's Night Walker organization. The person in charge of the mission was named Qi Nuo, a young man with a fair face and very sharp eyes. Seeing Lin Xian, he immediately came up to shake hands and introduce himself.

There was also a special action team of the 83 Iron Guard Brigade, the team leader named Zhou Jin, with a cold face, a tough military man of 1.9 meters.

"Lin Dui has arrived, let's start directly," Qi Nuo was not a person who liked to talk nonsense, pulled out a stool and sat down, taking out a box of cigarettes. Lin Xian cast a surprised look. Qi Nuo thought Lin Xian was a bit bothered, stood up and walked to the door of the room to turn on the exhaust fan switch, then said: "Compared to morphine and alcohol, cigarettes are good things in the apocalypse, relieving pressure while stabilizing the mental defense line, without affecting judgment and mental mutation."

"Lin Dui, my name is Zhou Jin, captain of the 83 Iron Guard Brigade special action team," Zhou Jin, sitting opposite, swept his gaze over Lin Xian and said directly: "You can trust us."

Without too many pleasantries, several teams sat in the hall casually. Lin Xian's team sat at the end. After Qi Nuo lit his cigarette, he said to Lin Xian: "Airport, Xilan City, I've heard of them. Brother, you're awesome."

Lin Xian felt a lot of pressure, looking at the room full of people, couldn't help but say: "So many teams, are they all on the same mission?"

"Pretty much, because it's a saturation mission, so 5 action echelons were prepared."

"5 echelons?" Lin Xian was surprised: "Including me?"

"No,"

Qi Nuo shook his head, lowered his head and exhaled smoke: "You are special, you are a support item arranged by Commander Ye, so I have a team here, used to protect you."

Lin Xian was a bit surprised upon hearing this. To be honest, he thought too simply.

He thought this action plan was just handed to him to carry out, but at this moment, looking at the room full of action teams, Lin Xian felt a chill in his heart. Saturation mission is a cruel word. The Phoenix Society's arrangement is meticulous, not just letting Lin Xian take risks alone.

At this time, Xu Zhenyue, who was presiding over the action meeting, signaled to Lin Xian's side, then tapped the table with his fingers, and the conference room suddenly quieted down.

"Briefly introduce the action background to Lin Dui's side."

The holographic light screen opened, showing a large amount of Deep Red World intelligence data, with the image of Julius Lite flickering in the center.

"Now we have confirmed through the intelligence and data obtained that Julius, the Asia-Pacific supervisor of the Deep Red World, has been cooperating with Dawn City for several months through Wen Hui of the Linglong Group. We won't talk about the specific details, but there is a severe problem at present."

Xu Zhenyue adjusted the screen, and a huge lying humanoid strange entity appeared above the conference table, accompanied by dark-corrosion cell data.

"The 14th S-class creature, Gray Mist Walker, invaded the B2-B3 defense sector of Wall No. 1 two weeks ago, causing more than 30,000 deaths and the sacrifice of more than 2,000 Garrison Army soldiers. And the corpse of this S-class creature was recovered by a large fleet named 'Echo'. After investigation, this organization is actually a disguise of the Deep Red World. Our special action team intercepted part of the intelligence on Julius's clone at the White Deer Beach Star Observation Base in Akse and discovered that the Deep Red World successfully extracted a living tissue sample of a type of 'umbra-cell' from the corpse of this S-class and sent it into the Baicheng base of Star Abyss No. 5 for proliferation and cultivation, which was successful."

"Through this kind of cell, we discovered part of the principle of how dark creatures can transform dark invasion, which can achieve an 18% shielding rate for dark invasion. But because this kind of cell has not been actually activated, we have not been able to obtain comprehensive data. We united research laboratories from all sides to discuss and believe that if we can activate this kind of dark creature cell and successfully master its biological potential concurrent effect, then we can obtain a real plan to shield and filter dark invasion."

Xu Zhenyue continued: "But the problem is, humans do not have the means to activate this kind of dark creature cell. Of course, except for one."

"Mycelium?" Lin Xian asked.

"Right."

"Mycelium is essentially a type of dark creature. The Deep Red World had previously established a large number of research bases and conducted living body research, but had never conducted this type of connection on S-class. So this is essentially a very dangerous signal. It means that human thinking is about to connect to the Star Abyss. This is very likely to cause a catastrophic disaster for us, and we believe that the Deep Red World..."

"Has already done so."

Lin Xian's group changed their expressions upon hearing this.

Kiki frowned: "Are you saying that the attack this morning might be related to this?"

"Not just that."

Xu Zhenyue pointed his finger, and the holographic screen turned into a regional map. He saw Star Abyss No. 5 to the west of Dawn City, Star Abyss No. 7 to the southwest, and Star Abyss No. 8 to the southeast all presenting an abnormal elliptical expansion trend. Near the direction of Dawn City, those dark tides seemed to be driven by some large-mass gravity, beginning to deform.

"In the 16 hours from last night to now, the edge of the Star Abyss has shown abnormal expansion, and it was almost simultaneous. Monster tide riots have been observed in the directions of Yunlan, Longjiang, Luling, Tianwei, and Shenli City. So we unanimously believe that this may be related to the action the Deep Red World is currently carrying out."

"Now the remaining survivors in these directions are fleeing to Dawn City in large numbers. It is currently unclear exactly how many people there are, so this is a dangerous signal for us."

Lin Xian's face sank: "If it has already started, what exactly is this Crescent Action of ours going to do?"

Chu Yan on the side looked over and said sternly:

"Intercept information."

"What do you mean?"

Xu Zhenyue looked at Lin Xian's direction at this moment and said: "Dawn City is preparing to carry out the Vanguard Project, so it will definitely use part of the tissues of the 14th creature. And the mycelium connection activation of this kind of umbra-cell might expose a large amount of human information to the dark world. But at the same time, those who carry out this kind of connection are also very likely to have obtained some kind of information from the dark world through the 14th creature. Everyone in this action has a basic understanding of the current situation. To use Captain Zhou's words, before, humans and darkness might have been in a fog relationship of hide-and-seek, but if the darkness knows human information, then we must also have information equality. Regardless of how this disaster evolves, humans can only gain a glimmer of survival and have the initiative. The next combat goal is very clear: to intercept the dark world information connected by the 'Gray Mist Messenger' mycelium before Dawn City carries out the Vanguard Project launch. This information may have significant meaning for the survival of human civilization."

"Currently, Dawn City has completely blocked communication channels. Now a large amount of armed forces in the city have returned to defend the No. 2 city wall, which should be to protect the starport that is about to carry out the launch mission. The information of an S-class creature with an active action brain, with the development of the situation, is very likely not to have such an opportunity again. We have two advantages now: the first is the mental ability possessed by Chu Yan's team. Once the target is confirmed, information can be intercepted immediately. The second is Lin Dui's mechanical ability, which can directly control the self-destruct function of the brain-computer system, and at the same time, can help us obtain the permission of Dawn City's weapon system control hub to avoid the Deep Red World or some rebels using it."

"The most difficult point now is that we don't know the specific action time of the Vanguard Project, as well as Chu Zhaonan's subsequent actions. Currently, our intelligence team has discovered that Zhou Mingyuan, Wen Hui, and a group of Federation upper echelons are acting secretly, possibly preparing to unite with the Deep Red World to armed-control the inner city and the Underground City. The Garrison Army is currently tied up because of regional threats, so this action meeting of ours is to search for the Deep Red World's activities in Dawn City, and the second is to find the Gray Mist Messenger!"

83 Iron Guard Brigade special action team captain Zhou Jin said at this moment: "Is it possible that this Gray Mist Messenger is in the Star City Underground City? After all, it is to unite with the Vanguard Project launch."

"It's possible. Our reconnaissance personnel lurking inside the Star City Underground City haven't discovered such abnormalities, so we suspect they are only using part of the Gray Mist Messenger's torso for action, which is also more efficient," Xu Zhenyue said.

"Do you think we should first confirm who this person who is mycelium-connecting with the S-class is?" Night Walker organization person in charge Qi Nuo said.

"This is simple," Lin Xian added: "Since this plan is operated by Chu Zhaonan, just steal his consciousness. This way we not only know the action time, but also know the detailed action content."

"No, currently Chu Zhaonan's action information is the least for us, and..."

"We have already tried it before," Chu Yan on Lin Xian's side said at this moment: "Commander Ye and Chu Zhaonan's meeting, I was also there. Chu Zhaonan's mental power is very strong. Unless he is asleep, there is no way to obtain it."

"Making the Federation Chairman sleep and kidnapping him directly have the same difficulty," Qi Nuo flicked the cigarette ash: "Chu Zhaonan has Luo Ming's Seraphim team by his side, and layers of guards from the Garrison Army. And we don't know any of his action traces. This plan is obviously not feasible."

"Then what about the others in the Vanguard Project?" Mo Nika on Lin Xian's side took the lead to ask. "The list is sealed. Others don't know the Vanguard Project launch time. Currently, only the person in charge of the Vanguard Project is known to be named Su Jin, and the captain of one of the Far Star-class starships in the Vanguard Project is Chu Zhaonan's son, Chu Jing, who graduated from the Naval Academy and is a colonel of the former Liaohai Fleet," Chu Yan said.

"Wow, the Chairman's son, then he must know." Kiki also asked.

"Similarly, whether it's Su Jin or Chu Jing, everyone involved in the Vanguard Project is now in a top-secret state. No one knows their whereabouts."

"In other words, they might launch in the next second?" Qian Dele frowned.

"Yes," Xu Zhenyue nodded: "So we are now racing against unknown time."

"There should be others who know these situations... at least know part of it," Lin Xian said at this moment: "General Xu, you just said that Zhou Mingyuan's group might be preparing to unite with the Deep Red World to armed-control the inner city and the Underground City. Since that's the case, they must know about the actions the Deep Red World is currently carrying out, right?"

Xu Zhenyue said at this moment: "You're right. We also thought of this point, which leads to a more troublesome problem, and that is what kind of cooperation form the Deep Red World and Dawn City's two factions have."

"Logically speaking, the Federation is divided into two factions. How can the Deep Red World cooperate with Chu Zhaonan, and how can it unite with Zhou Mingyuan to target Chu Zhaonan?"

"Then will the Deep Red World also have two factions internally?"

"Regardless of how many factions, this is not important now, right?"

"I think we need to consider this point."

"Then let's break through from Zhou Mingyuan's side, it's a feasible plan," Qi Nuo nodded and said.

"Then let's act from here," Xu Zhenyue looked at everyone, then adjusted the holographic screen: "To ensure efficiency, the mission will be carried out at multiple points."

After speaking, he said to Chu Yan: "Chu Yan, your target is Zhou Mingyuan."

"Alright."

Qi Nuo raised his hand: "Wen Hui is an important figure. I'll be responsible for her. There are three other teams in the Night Walker organization, so they will be responsible for several important officials in the Night Patrol, Garrison Camp, and Population Control Bureau. They are all Zhou Mingyuan's party members."

"There is one more, Wen Dong. This person previously participated in some of the Deep Red World's actions in Baicheng. We should be able to get something from him," a team leader said.

"But Wen Dong hasn't appeared in the inner city recently."

"I know where he is," at this time, Jiang Yun, who had been silent on Lin Xian's side, suddenly spoke: "Galag Black Market. A mechanical ability user named Qin Feng is using the Silver Star to recruit team members. It has caused a great sensation. You should have noticed this point. The Silver Star is an asset of our alliance. It was previously controlled by Wen Dong at the Star City Orbital Station. Such an important asset appearing in a survivor fleet must have a close relationship with the Federation."

"We have indeed noticed this," Chu Yan looked at Lin Xian at this moment: "The Phoenix Society has no information on this Qin Feng. We currently have other reconnaissance personnel paying attention to this person."

"Because of mechanical ability?" Lin Xian asked.

"Yes, the Phoenix Society is very curious about this."

"I am also very curious," Lin Xian said.

"Then leave this to me," 83 Iron Guard Brigade special action team captain Zhou Jin said at this moment: "I'll take the team to take down this Qin Feng and see if I can drag Wen Dong out."

"Alright," Xu Zhenyue immediately arranged: "Act immediately, prepare communication frequency bands, and unfold immediately."

Lin Xian was puzzled: "General Xu, what about me?"

Xu Zhenyue said to him at this moment: "Lin Dui, once there is progress here, I will need your assistance in the action. The investigation work will be left to our action team."

"That won't do," Lin Xian suddenly retorted, causing Zhou Jin, Qi Nuo, and others to look sideways.

Lin Xian raised his hand and pointed to the team members behind him: "Since General Xu said that it concerns the emergency and human survival, it's a bit too polite to let us stay here and wait for news at such a time. Since we chose to come here, we naturally know the dangers inside, and it hasn't reached the most dangerous time yet. Just investigation, I can also help."

He said this and looked at Zhou Jin: "Captain Zhou, we will go with you to Wen Dong's side. Mechanical ability user, Silver Star, Wen Dong—it just so happens that all three things have to do with us," Lin Xian smiled: "Even if it's just us, we have this plan."

Xu Zhenyue nodded, his gaze sweeping over Lin Xian and Chu Yan, then said: "Alright, but try to hide your identity. If you are targeted by Federation people, the subsequent plan might be very troublesome."

"That's not simple." Lin Xian looked back at the team members.

"From now on, we are all members of Captain Zhou's team. We will specifically go to attend this recruitment assembly to see if there is a plan to join and serve under that Captain Qin."

The meeting ended. Lin Xian's team prepared to go to the Galag Black Market with Zhou Jin. Chu Yan found Lin Xian before the action and communicated with him alone:

"I understand your thoughts, but please believe that General Xu not arranging for you to act is not just out of consideration for your safety."

"What else?"

Chu Yan's expression was cold. Lin Xian looked at her. The woman was completely mechanical, but there was a faint gardenia fragrance on her body, and her face seemed to have a bit of fatigue.

"The most important goal of the Crescent Action is to obtain information, and I am the main direction of action."

Lin Xian was stunned, looking at her, and seemed to understand something.

"I understand."

Chu Yan looked at Lin Xian. The two were meeting for the first time, yet they were like old friends who had experienced life and death many times. She said: "The city might soon be out of control. By then, no one will care about your identity. But before that, I must complete this mission. Time is short, take care of yourself."

Lin Xian nodded: "Alright, you take care too."

The Galag Black Market is also located in the north of the city. There are the most crowded survivor camp communities here, and the dense doomsday modified building complex is like a jungle.

When Lin Xian and Zhou Jin's fleet drove in, they saw that several streets were already blocked with cars.

Most of them were heading north out of the city. The north is Qingbo City, the Phoenix Society's station. People leaving the city from this direction are the most numerous, and most of them are large fleets.

Lin Xian saw many survivors begging to join large fleets lined up in long queues, gathering like a beehive on the edge of the street. Besides that, many people were also pouring toward the Galag Black Market. Borrowing the momentum of the Infinite Train recruitment conference, there were also many other small and medium-sized fleets recruiting, which attracted many people to go, all wanting to hold onto a big thigh and run away quickly.

"Large fleets are leaving the city, small fleets and scattered survivors are squeezing into the city. This is not a good phenomenon."

On the road, Jiang Yun looked at the dense crowd outside and said.

"Are you worried that the large fleets have all left, and those small fleets have no way, so they can only stay in the city and wait for the three Star Abysses to close and die?" Lin Xian said.

Jiang Yun let out a long sigh: "No way, little people are miserable. They either hold onto a large fleet and run toward the Dawn Center, or they can only gamble on the stability of the No. 1 city wall here. What other choices can they have? Even if the Phoenix Society assists in the transfer, there is only one Iron Guard Brigade, and being able to protect a million people is already the limit."

Lin Xian was a bit silent. At this time, Zhou Jin's call came through the communicator:

"Lin Dui, we're almost there. Everyone put on your power armor masks. Let's see the situation before acting."

"Alright."

A fleet of dozens of people drove into a crowded and noisy large building cluster at this time. The fleet drove into the boundary of the Galag Black Market slowly, and the roar of the engine was drowned in the noisy crowd.

Looking around, the entire area was like a huge beehive. Countless survivor fleets were squeezed into narrow streets. Tents, modified trucks, and rusted armored vehicles were stacked in a disorderly manner, like a maze pieced together by metal and despair. The air was filled with the pungent smell of inferior fuel and the sour smell of rotten food.

Many fleets on the street drove their main vehicles to surround camps for recruitment. These vehicles were almost the ace combat power of the fleet, displaying various powerful artillery, electromagnetic cannons, anti-aircraft guns, and heavy machine guns on the roof of the car. They were the best publicity business cards of the fleet. This place was like a huge talent market, and every fleet was lined up in long queues.

"Please, let me join! My daughter is still waiting in the north..."

A thin man knelt at the registration office of a fleet called Dragon Hunter, his hands gripping the edge of the table tightly, his knuckles white from the force. His face was covered with wind and frost, and his left eye was covered with a dirty cloth, obviously already blind.

"Sorry, resources are limited. You are too old and disabled, we can't help either. Go find the Federation and the Phoenix Society."

The recruiter behind the table didn't even lift his head, just waved his hand impatiently, and two fully armed guards immediately stepped forward, dragging him away like trash and throwing him into the mud pit on the roadside.

"Next." The recruiter's voice was cold as a machine.

At the queue of another fleet, a one-armed veteran carried a large gun: "I can fight! I served in the 7th Legion! Give me a gun, I can guard the carriage!"

*Plop. *

At this time, someone knocked on Lin Xian's car window urgently. Outside the car window, a mother held a two or three-year-old child in her arms. The child's lips were cracked due to lack of water, and his eyes were bright and innocent: "Can I join your fleet? I... I can sew, cook, my child is very quiet, won't disturb others..."

Because their fleet's equipment looked very excellent, soon, more and more people followed and tapped on the car doors. Lin Xian looked at those fearful faces outside the window, feeling his breathing stop for a moment.

The fleet drove out of the crowd. Ahead was a huge park square. The withered trees had long since become products, becoming the fleet's camp. At this time, there were more than a hundred fully armed heavy trucks gathered here, all heavy equipment. Tens of thousands of people surrounded the place tightly. In the center of the square, a silver nuclear-powered train head was parked quietly, like a sleeping giant beast.

Silver Star, it seemed someone had placed an iconic Eternal-class nuclear-powered locomotive here alone to promote its powerful combat core.

And behind that Silver Star, a fully armed heavy train was parked, equipped with weapons of powerful lethality,

Above the plaza, floating drone airships stretched out conspicuous giant screens.

【Infinite Train, Recruitment Assembly】!

"Lin Xian, someone is helping you recruit teammates." Kiki saw this scene and couldn't help but quip.

Lin Xian's pupils narrowed slightly, and he nodded: "Then let's go and see what kind of person this 'like-minded' Infinite Fleet captain is..."

(End of chapter)