Chapter 395: Citywide Loss of Control (10,000)

A battle approaching Angel-level intensity caused the Survivor Plaza to boil over in a short span of time. The formidable lethality and wide-area attacks of the fire-type abilities displayed by Lu Xingchen left many fleet leaders with burning gazes; such a team member could absolutely be called an ace when facing the dark night and aberrant entities.

High above, seeing Lu Xingchen hold back, Qin Feng smiled slightly: "Brother Lu, a very impressive display of abilities. I believe that with your strength, you can certainly secure a place among the Four Heavenly Kings of my fleet!"

Lu Xingchen did not respond. His expression became unusually serious, a rarity. He took a deep breath, using his peripheral vision to estimate the plaza's perimeter and the dense crowd surrounding it, then suddenly flew toward the high altitude. Seeing this, Qin Feng frowned slightly; guessing what was happening, he immediately levitated to follow.

If the other party had considered the issue of the masses, then as the leader of the Wireless Alliance, he naturally had to set an example. Furthermore, he had to demonstrate calm, positive suppression rather than passive retaliation.

Yet, as he ascended higher, Qin Feng felt a heatwave boiling like a sea of fire. He shifted his gaze upward and was shocked to discover that a large expanse of fire clouds had inexplicably appeared in the sky, spreading for several kilometers, crimson and vast, with surging waves of heat.

The crowd standing in the plaza looked up one after another, only to find that the original cloud layer seemed to have burned into the shape of phoenix wings flapping in the nine heavens. The great fire scorched the sky, and the hot air rose frantically, whipping up a gale over the entire Gallagher Black Market district.

Qin Feng frowned slightly, having already quietly condensed a large amount of metal elements, which drifted around him like black smoke filling the sky.

"This guy is quite tricky. Even if he isn't Angel-level, he definitely exceeds 9,000. I must resolve this decisively."

As Qin Feng watched the sky, he spoke into his communicator:

"Dispatch 200 Lei Yu drones to assist me. Once I block his strike in a moment, stun him immediately!"

In the underground works, in front of Wen Dong, dozens of technicians were using AI to operate and monitor various weapons and drones. They had even prepared many equipment components—these were 'props' used for Qin Feng to demonstrate his mechanical manufacturing capabilities.

It was just unexpected that the recruitment plan had gone so smoothly, and someone else had stepped up to demonstrate mechanical abilities for them. All they had to do now was help Qin Feng quickly defeat Lu Xingchen. As long as no one else challenged him afterward, this recruitment assembly would be considered a success. Subsequently, as long as the entire alliance expanded its forces frantically, they could utilize the Federation's abundant resources, weapons, and even the Silver Star to complete the Great Transfer.

"200 'Lei Yu' drones—with such immense power, will there be any problems?" Wen Dong couldn't help but ask at this moment.

"Don't worry, the physical constitution of a Destruction-level ability user is very high. Besides, I cannot lose in terms of spectacle. As long as he doesn't die and his limbs remain intact, I will catch him, and incidentally, save myself the trouble that follows." Qin Feng seemed to have considered everything very thoroughly. Soon, after receiving the response, a large number of Lei Yu drones began to fly in from all directions. These drones were deployed by the sky airship, which could perfectly disguise them as being manufactured by Qin Feng.

At this moment, high above, a great fire suddenly burst through the cloud layer. It was a giant, high-speed rotating fire tornado, like a crimson spinning top descending from the clouds. However, this 'top' was comparable to something that could blot out the sun and moon, with a diameter of several hundred meters. Its violent rotation whipped up a fierce hurricane, emitting a thunderous sound of burning air. Those below, looking up, might have thought a giant meteorite was falling from the sky.

Lu Xingchen was currently above the giant fire tornado, his hands wide open, the Infinite Ring buzzing and spinning on his wrist. The violent heatwave blew his hair upright. Looking at this 'masterpiece' unleashed using his abilities, Lu Xingchen couldn't help but shout the name of his self-created move with great satisfaction.

"Divine Art: Flame Heaven Tilt!"

Boom!!!

The violent explosion of the tornado instantly caused the expressions of the tens of thousands in the plaza to change in shock, and the millions on the live-streaming network boiled over. Seeing this, Qin Feng's face turned livid; he seemed to regret only calling for 200 drones—he should have called for 2,000...

But things had reached this point, and he had no other choice. After all, having reached the Angel-level standard, Qin Feng had never psychologically believed his strength was inferior. Moreover, he couldn't dodge in this situation, or the posturing he had done in front of so many people would have been in vain.

Consequently, Qin Feng also let out a cold shout, raising a monstrous black mist of metal, condensing it into a giant sword. With a heavy, air-piercing sound, he charged straight up to meet Lu Xingchen's fire tornado head-on!

Boom!

As if a giant thunderclap had exploded, the black, sharp giant sword crashed into the fire tornado. In an instant, incandescent molten metal sprayed out. In the sky, like iron flowers being struck, blinding fireworks erupted, looking both dangerous and beautiful. This violent display left countless people tongue-tied.

In just a split second, Qin Feng felt the powerful suppression of the high-temperature fire tornado, almost causing him to lose his breath. Before he could hold on for even a few seconds, one-third of the giant sword had already melted. Qin Feng, who was frantically manipulating the magnetism, felt a sharp pain in his brain and a cold sweat poured down.

At this moment, Qin Feng had already used his full strength. While controlling the giant sword to ascend, he shouted into his headset.

"All drones, circle around and take him down!"

Buzz, buzz, buzz!

In an instant, under the control of the backend AI, the 200 Lei Yu drones, plus the previous 200 artillery drones, formed a dense swarm and soared into the sky, precisely bypassing the fire tornado to prepare for a sneak attack on Lu Xingchen from the rear.

"Let me show you the extensibility of mechanical abilities, what is called intelligent warfare!"

Qin Feng sneered quietly as he watched this scene, thinking to himself. He had only recently adapted to this ability user's body, and the sequelae and damage were immense. Coupled with his own experience and the differences between abilities, he figured that his 10,150 Angel-level frontal combat strength might not necessarily be able to completely defeat this man surnamed Lu. Fortunately, however, this was his home turf. As a mechanical ability user operating drones for systematic warfare, others would have nothing to say.

Who would have thought that just as this thought passed, a thundercloud exploded above the fire clouds in the sky. Qin Feng raised his head and suddenly discovered that just above the fire tornado, space was gradually distorting. Within the thunderclouds, a giant mechanical gate had strangely appeared and was slowly opening. On the other side of that mechanical gate was a black hole rotating like a banished distant star, with arcs of electricity flashing across the sky. Qin Feng's drones, at this moment, were swallowed into that mechanical space as if they were out of control, and then the mechanical gate, which resembled a space portal, closed and vanished in the blink of an eye.

Drip...

In the underground works, the few technicians responsible for drone control looked at the signals of the 400 drones that had disappeared simultaneously on the control screen, their expressions changing drastically, and they all stood there stunned.

"Lost contact?!" one staff member shouted loudly immediately.

"What did you say?!" Wen Dong's expression changed: "What lost contact?"

"Our drones... they... they're all gone!" another staff member screamed as if they had seen a ghost.

Upon hearing this, Wen Dong immediately sensed a bad premonition and pointed at the screen, shouting: "Quick, send out all the drones."

"It's already too late..."

The subordinate responsible for monitoring looked at the screen, where the giant fire tornado was gradually swallowing Qin Feng's black sword completely, and said anxiously.

Above the plaza, watching his sky full of drones disappear in an instant, Qin Feng's mind went blank.

"Where are my machines?"

"No."

Boom!

The sky-filling fire tornado struck, like divine punishment; the entire sky above the plaza was burning.

At this time, Qin Feng had completely lost his composure, his mental power beginning to spiral out of control. A large amount of metal powder scattered chaotically, and the giant sword condensed by his abilities quickly became loose, turning from sharp and pointed into a pile of loose sand, instantly swallowed by the fire tornado.

At this moment, Qin Feng, in his panic, saw this scene and actually felt a sense of impending death welling up in his heart. Looking at the fire tornado about to swallow him, he actually forgot to defend or flee, instead shouting with his brain crashed:

"Stop, stop, stop, don't kill me!"

Whoosh!

The fire tornado instantly disintegrated into monstrous sparks. Lu Xingchen stood proudly in the air, stepping on fire like a god. Upon hearing Qin Feng's plea for mercy, he also immediately held back. However, the explosive shockwave brought about by the fire tornado still blasted Qin Feng, who was at a loss and had not reacted, directly downward. Countless people only saw a person emitting black smoke fall from the sky, landing with a 'bang' in a pile of withered grass in the plaza park, dust rising, smashing out a human-shaped crater.

Silence.

The scene was once terrifyingly quiet.

Countless gazes looked at the fallen Qin Feng, who was dead or alive, and then at Lu Xingchen, who stood in the air with flames filling the sky. This unexpected reversal left everyone stunned for a moment.

Then, after a few seconds of silence, an uproar erupted in the plaza.

"Is that Qin Feng who fell?"

"Is he dead?"

"Probably not..."

"Wow!!!!!" The uproar sounded in waves.

"Isn't Qin Feng Angel-level? How did he crash in two minutes?"

"Holy crap, fire-type abilities are really awesome!"

"Are mechanical abilities that lame?"

"My god, this guy was acting so tough just now, wanting to challenge 16 people, and yet he couldn't beat a single one of the Four Heavenly Kings. What's the point of recruiting..."

"This is a huge embarrassment..."

On the side of the large fleet camp, Lin Qingyu, Lei Zhen, Luo Heng, Han Tiege, and other fleet captains stood up one after another, while Xu Yufei, who was standing in the ranks of the Four Heavenly Kings, had an expression of disbelief.

"Lost so quickly?" Lei Zhen widened his eyes, surprised while slapping his thigh and sneering: "Oh my god, this is a huge embarrassment, hahahaha."

"Logically, an Angel-level combat power of 10,150 shouldn't be defeated so easily." Luo Heng looked confused, watching the now chaotic recruitment scene, and muttered: "Even if the ability index is just a reference, can't mechanical abilities defend or dodge?"

"Either this guy underestimated the enemy, or his Angel-level status is watered down." Fatty Han Tiege said at this moment.

Lin Qingyu shook his head: "The Evolution Light Ranking is tested by the Seraphim Department, so there shouldn't be any water. However, ability duels shouldn't just look at ability indices; there's a huge gap between ability attributes. With the same ability index, beast-forms or blood-qi types definitely have a hard time competing against natural types like fire or lightning. But Qin Feng was indeed defeated too quickly; he was so calm in the first two moves."

After speaking, he looked at Jiang Yun, who was standing calmly to the side, and found that this guy didn't seem as surprised as they were, so he asked.

"Captain Jiang, what do you think?"

"I think what Qin Feng needs to worry about now isn't losing the duel..." Jiang Yun raised his gaze: "But how this recruitment assembly will end."

"That's true." Lin Qingyu's gaze darkened: "I'm afraid there's going to be trouble."

The recruitment plaza ahead was already in chaos. Li Jian led a group of subordinates and rushed over anxiously, pulling the charred Qin Feng out of the crater like pulling a radish.

Fortunately, he was covered and protected by interstellar-grade nano-power armor, and Lu Xingchen had held back at the end, so Qin Feng didn't suffer major injuries. However, he was currently in a coma, and seemed to be rolling his eyes, foaming at the mouth, and convulsing due to mental disorder. This miserable appearance was a far cry from the recruitment assembly initiator who had previously been heroic and generous, delivering salvation speeches and wanting to challenge the Twelve Zodiac Lords and the Four Heavenly Kings.

Watching this scene, Li Jian's face turned livid. He immediately turned to look at Lu Xingchen, who had descended from the sky, and rushed over with anger.

"You cheated! Where did Captain Qin's drones go?!"

"Hey, are you being reasonable?" At this moment, Kiki, one of the Four Heavenly Kings, walked out and said with disdain: "You others aren't even allowed to use power armor, and we haven't even complained about you using so many ready-made drones as weapons. How can you say others cheated just because you couldn't beat them? Everyone saw the duel just now. If you can't beat them, you can't beat them. Can't you have some grace?"

Kiki's words could be described as both lethal and heart-piercing. The recruitment duel required others not to use weapons, but because Qin Feng had 【Mechanical Abilities】, most people present tacitly assumed those drones and his battle armor were part of his combat means, but they hadn't thought about how such a duel was inherently unfair.

If you directly prepared 10,000 drones, or a robot army, how could that prove it was a contest of ability strength?

Once Kiki pointed this out, many people realized it. You, Qin Feng, using drones prepared in advance to fight is one thing, but how can you be such a sore loser now that you've lost?

Upon hearing this, Li Jian became furious. He stared at Kiki and realized:

"Oh, I know, it must have been you! You're a mechanical ability user, quickly hand over our drones!"

"Pfft, who took your drones." Kiki was a typical 'loves to watch the chaos' type, standing with her hands on her hips in the posture of a hot-tempered loli, and immediately began to scold: "Lost is lost. Now that we are in danger, a fleet captain doesn't necessarily have to be the best at fighting. What's important is whether they have the ability to lead the team to survive. There are many things mechanical abilities can do: manufacturing weapons and ammunition, modifying fleet defenses, developing survival and manufacturing spaces, planting and breeding tool manufacturing, and even building shelters, vehicles, aircraft, and starships. These are all important potentials. You can lose to fire-type abilities, but at the very least, you should respect your team members, right? Is this how you treat us new teammates?"

Once these words were out, the tens of thousands of people who had already been recruited into the Infinite Fleet erupted into an uproar. The onlookers were even noisier, and the various discussions, mockery, and debates made these recruited team members feel very embarrassed. Their 'captain' was now being carried away charred, and this referee hosting the recruitment assembly was still at odds with the team's backbone. For a moment, the awkward atmosphere made many people start to think about retiring, and many felt that this recruitment assembly might fail, so people began to leave the ranks.

"You!" Li Jian's face turned black. He felt the situation was about to spiral out of control. In his headset, Wen Dong was also shouting at him: "Stabilize the situation first, arrange squads and accommodation, and bring everyone to the base!"

Li Jian's gaze shifted rapidly. He swept his eyes over Kiki and Lu Xingchen, and quickly softened his tone, saying: "Fire-type abilities are indeed powerful, with high attack power, and ability duels do have great uncertainty. But our goal is to target aberrant entities. This Miss Chen is right. You, as a mechanical ability user, should know best that mechanical abilities indeed have the most potential in functionality and assistance. And as a 【Civilization Creation】 level ability, there is a lot of room for development. I believe that if we all join hands, we can definitely create miracles!"

Upon hearing this, Kiki squinted and smiled, gesturing toward Qin Feng, who was being carried away in the back: "Why don't we wait until the captain wakes up? So many people are watching; perhaps everyone thinks this fire-type ability user is more suitable to be the captain?"

Upon hearing this, Lu Xingchen immediately cooperated by standing with his hands behind his back and nodding: "This one has no objections."

For a time, everyone's expressions changed. They looked at Lu Xingchen. The scene of the Fire God descending just now had truly gained him many fans. The internal network was boiling, and Lu Xingchen's fame exploded overnight. In a short time, he had become a well-known expert, even if he wasn't on the Evolution Light Ranking.

Upon hearing this, Li Jian's expression was extremely ugly. Even if he were stupid, he could see that these people were all here to cause trouble. But he was in a dilemma and had to quickly ask Wen Dong for help.

"Not good, these two are here to cause trouble, the situation is about to get out of control."

Just as he finished speaking, Wu Bin, who was standing in the ranks of the Four Heavenly Kings, suddenly turned around indifferently and left the team.

"Heavenly King Wu, where are you going!!"

A recruitment officer shouted anxiously. Wu Bin didn't say a word and left the plaza directly. Judging by his posture, he clearly had no intention of coming back.

At this moment, Lu Xingchen and Kiki looked at each other, and upon hearing Lin Xian's arrangement, they also left the plaza...

Three of the Four Heavenly Kings had left all at once. Seeing this, Li Jian was dumbfounded. With the departure of these heavyweight figures, the plaza was in an uproar, and along with them, a large number of newly joined team members began to leave.

"It's over. Internal strife and leaving the team before recruitment is even finished. I'm afraid this alliance won't be able to get off the ground..." someone said gloatingly.

"Not necessarily. Qin Feng is Angel-level after all, and the benefits they give are indeed high. They will definitely be able to recruit people."

"They can recruit people, but since all these powerful ones have left, his recruitment assembly was in vain, and it also has a great impact on the team's confidence."

"Yeah, actually, Qin Feng didn't need to hold a duel. If he had just shown off his mechanical abilities, wouldn't these people have been recruited anyway?"

"Exactly. An ability user who isn't good at fighting insists on holding a duel. The fire-type ability user who was such a powerful god of war ended up leaving. What a pity..."

"Look, many large fleets are going to approach that Chen Sixuan and Lu Xingchen. They are probably trying to recruit them."

On the plaza side, seeing a large number of teams leaving, Xu Yufei, the only one remaining among the Four Heavenly Kings, sighed, his expression somewhat disappointed. For him, as long as the team was successfully formed, he was willing to join. But in the current situation, even if he wanted to, the more than 10,000 people under his command certainly wouldn't want to.

Consequently, Xu Yufei said to Li Jian: "It seems the cooperation can only be shelved. Tell Captain Qin that the Iron Fortress is withdrawing from the Infinite Alliance." Li Jian's teeth were almost ground to dust. He watched with bloodshot eyes as the recruited team members flowed away in large numbers, wanting to lash out but feeling helpless.

Wen Dong's scolding in his headset was incessant, and he knew that the people in the underground city were probably even more furious.

Originally, including Xu Yufei, they had recruited over 20,000 people, and the vast majority were elites. Then, through these Four Heavenly Kings, mechanical abilities, and the Twelve Zodiac Lords, they could attract even more talent to join. This model was exactly what Li Jian and Wen Dong had pondered. They were just a little bit away from success, but Qin Feng, who was Angel-level, had strangely suffered a miserable defeat under the eyes of millions. This made it impossible for him to accept.

Not long after, there were fewer than 5,000 people left on the field, and only 3 of the Twelve Zodiac Lords remained. After all, these people were originally important figures in their respective fleets, with both ability and ambition. A team that had already lost its spirit couldn't keep people.

"Uncle, why don't we just let the Night Patrol Group take action, directly capture those two troublemakers, and then we'll put on a self-proving act to turn the situation around? Anyway, these guys are all here for shelter and benefits. I don't believe we can't recruit experts!" Li Jian said, cursing as he looked at the out-of-control situation.

"No need."

At this moment, Wen Dong's tone in the communicator became heavy: "Just received notification, something happened to the Council. Have people immediately bring the recruited people back to the orbital station for settlement and configuration. You and Qin Feng return to the Earth Core Administration Hall, quick!"

Upon hearing this, Li Jian's expression changed, and he hurriedly responded in a panic, "Okay."

He then handed the scene over to the recruitment officers and the original cadres, and then left with the unconscious Qin Feng through the ground passage entrance.

Watching this hastily ended recruitment assembly, the onlookers complained in an uproar. It was already 16:00 in the afternoon. The failure of the Infinite Silver Star Alliance's recruitment had instead brought a lot of new main forces to other large fleets.

Who would have thought that at this moment, a sudden change would occur. Someone in the crowd shouted:

"It's bad! The Federation has announced the dissolution of the Council, the citywide curfew is lifted, and the city gates are free to enter and exit!"

"What? The Federation has dissolved?!"

"What happened?"

For a time, the whole city was in an uproar. Countless people took out their mobile phones. The internal network of Dawn City was almost paralyzed. All controls seemed to have disappeared. Many teams that were still queuing to leave the city discovered that the Population Control Bureau and the City Defense Battalion responsible for managing the city gates had all been replaced by Garrison personnel, and the passages were completely open, without any control.

Not only was leaving the city uncontrolled, but entering the city was also completely open!

On the side of the large fleet camp, the fleet leaders who received the news all had solemn expressions.

"Something big is going to happen!" Jiang Yun looked at the news coming in constantly: "The South City E Defense Sector issued a bulletin, intercepting over 3,000 survivors carrying Level 2 Dark Marks, all of whom escaped from the Qilian Mountains."

"No expulsion?"

"There's no way to expel them. The Garrison has concentrated these people in an independent area of the outer city and isolated them." On this side, Luo Heng also received news from his team: "There will definitely be large-scale fighting tonight."

"People in the outer city are pouring into the city in large numbers now. Both leaving and entering the city are almost blocked." Lei Zhen spat lightly and looked at everyone: "Gentlemen, goodbye. We definitely can't leave tonight. I estimate there will be a city defense battle. Once the city gates are open, it won't be safe inside the city."

Han Tiege watched Xu Yufei's fleet leave quickly and immediately said: "Captain Xu is leaving fast enough."

"He received the news and is preparing to take his team out of the city tonight. Don't worry about him, he's a coward." Lei Zhen greeted them and also set off to leave.

"Leaving the city in the dark won't necessarily be safer than inside the city. But now the city is in chaos, and I guess many people are worried that Dawn City is finished." Lin Qingyu's expression was cold, and he also prepared to leave. Before leaving, he said to Jiang Yun: "Captain Jiang, if there's a chance, let me meet that Captain Lin. When our few alliances transfer, we can also look out for each other."

"Certainly."

After communicating, Jiang Yun urgently headed toward Lin Xian to rendezvous.

In the crowd, Lin Xian, Xiang Xiang Ningjing, and Shizhi began to retreat into the distance. He knew that this recruitment had basically failed. Seeing Qin Feng being carried away, Lin Xian was moved. Through the detection just now, he had already found the nearest entrance to the underground works that could be breached and infiltrated, so he prepared to contact Zhou Jin to discuss the plan.

Dawn City, Earth Core Administration Hall. Watching the failed recruitment plan, the atmosphere was extremely heavy.

Zhou Mingyuan was extremely angry, but looking at the chaotic scene of the crowd, he knew that being angry was of no use.

So he let all the original high-ranking Federation officials and councilors leave, leaving only Wen Hui behind.

Wen Hui was also frowning, completely losing her composure.

In the vast Earth Core Administration Hall, only Zhou Mingyuan and Wen Hui remained.

Zhou Mingyuan tapped his fingers slowly on the desktop, deep in thought. After a long time, he said: "Wen Hui, if it were you, would you choose to seek peace with the Phoenix Society to escape Dawn City or the Vanguard Plan?"

Wen Hui frowned: "I would choose the former, but the Phoenix Society won't let us go. Once the cooperation content is exposed, the teams we lead will also turn against us."

Zhou Mingyuan nodded and sighed: "Yes, in this world, the only thing maintaining the foundation of power is force, yet we don't possess that."

After speaking, he took a deep look at Wen Hui and waved his hand at her: "Go prepare for the Traveler Plan."

Upon hearing this, Wen Hui's expression tightened, and she turned and left.

At this moment, after Wen Hui left, Zhou Mingyuan went to that secret room again. Here, the excellent successor bodies that Deep Red had chosen for him—one of them had already been given to his subordinate Ji Kun for testing, and he had already seen the results.

Risks, sequelae, mental collapse, unstable lifespan—these were all problems he was worried about.

*Ssh. *

Zhou Mingyuan opened the first freezer. A tall, male body slowly appeared in the cold air. He picked up the nameplate he had looked at countless times, sighed, and said:

"In the end, it still has to come to this step."

Wen Hui left the Administration Hall, took a car, and under the protection of guards, came out of the inner city and drove toward the outside of the city. She contacted and summoned all the Wen family members of the Linglong Group for an emergency meeting along the way. The road was extremely congested, and Wen Hui told the driver to take a detour quickly, while she contacted Wen Dong via the communicator.

"How is Qin Feng's condition?" Wen Hui asked immediately.

"Excessive use of abilities has led to mental detachment. Even if he is rescued, he might be an idiot. But Zhou Mingyuan and his group cannot know about this." Wen Dong's voice came from the other side of the communicator.

"He won't know. I guess he is already choosing his new body."

"Zhou Mingyuan is going to use the experimental body?"

"He has no chance to consider. Whether it's running away with the Phoenix Society or boarding Traveler 1, he has to change his body, otherwise, he worries that he won't possess strong force and will lose his leadership."

"He really is an old fox. He certainly won't know that mycelium consciousness transfer can only last for three months at most."

"Whether it's the Deep Red World or our position, we have no obligation to tell him that." Wen Hui said at this moment:

"It has already been found out. That Lu Xingchen and Chen Sixuan at the recruitment assembly should be Lin Xian's people. That purple-haired Chen Sixuan is that girl Zhao Enqi. I guess they want to take the Silver Star."

"Give it to them. Just consider it as letting that girl inherit these. Anyway, there is only this little time left in this world. What illegitimate daughter, what assets—none of it matters anymore."

As Wen Hui spoke, she suddenly noticed that the car had stopped in a small alley. Even though there was no congestion, it had been stopped in place.

"What's going on? Why aren't we moving?"

The driver did not respond.

Wen Hui sensed something unusual and immediately reached out to pull her gun. Who would have thought that the car door would suddenly open, and a nimble figure would enter like lightning, quickly inserting a syringe into her neck.

Wen Hui's pupils vibrated, and then she slowly lost consciousness.

At this moment, the nimble figure closed the car door, and a squad had already taken control of Wen Hui's entire fleet.

And this figure was none other than Chu Yan!

In a small alley of the Gallagher Black Market, Lin Xian's group and Zhou Jin's side were summarizing the news.

"News from headquarters: our Iron Guard Brigade main force has arrived in Kangcheng, and the fleet is in Pingcheng. After Chu Zhaonan announced the dissolution of the Council, he has already handed over Dawn City to our Phoenix Society!" Zhou Jin said.

"So sudden?!" Lin Xian said.

"There were signs long ago. Now Chu Zhaonan is betting everything on the Vanguard Plan, and he won't care about anything else. But his stance has saved a lot of trouble." Zhou Jin said.

"Referring to Zhou Mingyuan, right?" Jiang Yun said.

"Yes."

"That means Dawn City is now in a nominal state of anarchy?!" Qian Dele frowned slightly.

Zhou Jin's expression was heavy: "That's right. The supreme command has been handed over to Lu Tianye of the Garrison and Luo Ming of the Seraphim. The outer city is now in chaos, and everyone is squeezing into the city!"

"Because of the worry about tonight's dark tide, right? So many dark markers." Kiki also said.

Jiang Yun shook his head: "Not just that. The West City AB Defense Sector has intercepted more and more dark markers. These people are considered the last survivors who escaped from the Yunjiang Plain. It's impossible to expel so many people, and it's impossible to let them into the city, so the Garrison will definitely have to fight a desperate battle."

"What about the Night Patrol Group and the City Defense Battalion?" Xiang Xiang Ningjing asked.

"I guess they are Zhou Mingyuan's private armed forces now." Lin Xian said at this moment: "Earlier, Li Jian and Qin Feng said they would leave in three days. We must confirm this time."

"According to Chu Zhaonan's move, I feel the Vanguard Plan will be launched very soon." Mo Nika hugged her chest at this moment: "Moreover, if I were Chu Zhaonan, the current Vanguard Plan must be ready and could be launched at any time, otherwise he wouldn't have dissolved the Council at this time."

"Makes sense." Lin Xian nodded.

Zhou Jin said at this moment: "The Iron Guard Brigade will enter the city tomorrow to support, but I estimate it won't be that easy. The military units here are all Garrison. Although it is nominally handed over to the Phoenix Society, we are worried that Lu Tianye won't let the Iron Guard Brigade enter the city so easily."

Xiang Xiang Ningjing frowned: "You are worried that the Garrison will conflict with the Iron Guard Brigade?"

"Very normal." Jiang Yun said at this moment: "Standing from the Phoenix Society's position, their consideration is very reasonable. Strictly speaking, the nature of the Garrison is the same as the Night Patrol Group. The only difference is that they are a formal military system in the Federation, led by Lu Tianye, so it still needs some negotiations."

Lin Xian was holding a mobile terminal, quickly browsing the situation in the city.

The internal network was almost paralyzed. The situation was almost the same as the night the Apocalypse Day arrived. The main roads in the city were completely blocked by two-way traffic. The sound of horns and cursing were intertwined. Refugees from the outer city pushed carts loaded with belongings toward the inner city, forming a deadlock at the intersections with fleets trying to leave the city. The City Defense Battalion, the Night Patrol Group, and the Population Control Bureau were nowhere to be seen, and all order was taken over by the Garrison.

Conflicts and riots were occurring in the Gallagher Black Market and some areas where commercial transactions were conducted. Even warning shots from Garrison patrols could hardly curb the chaos.

A large number of fleets were fleeing, and rumors were flying in the alleys. Survivor fleets were telling each other the news of "Council Dissolution." Some shouted "City Gates Fully Open," causing more uneasy disaster victims to pack their luggage in a panic and rush to the streets.

The streets were full of vehicles loaded with various long and short guns and heavy armor, but there were very few flying vehicles. Only the original City Defense Battalion's patrol airships and various types of drones from survivor fleets remained in the sky. After the curfew and controls were lifted, these flying devices took off all over the sky.

A line of vehicles several kilometers long formed at the city gates. The roar of engines was mixed with the cries of children. After the Garrison removed the checkpoints, they only checked for dark marks on those entering the city. Other than that, all screenings were canceled.

Lin Xian vaguely felt that something was wrong and rubbed his eyebrows. The discussions of the squad members lingered overhead. At this moment, he took a deep breath:

"Tonight is destined not to be peaceful. Team Zhou, our actions must be accelerated."

Zhou Jin understood Lin Xian's words and pressed the communicator. Information expert Li Su took a mobile terminal and opened a topographic map.

"This is the topographic map of the original Star City underground military strategic works. It belongs to top-secret information. I have already checked it just now. There are multiple passages here that lead directly to the Dawn City Inner City Starport. But now the inner city is completely blocked. I heard that the people in the underground city have all been driven out."

"The people in the underground city were driven out definitely because this place is related to the launch of the Vanguard Plan."

At this moment, information from Chu Yan's squad came through the communicator.

"Target Wen Hui has been controlled. The bad news is that we learned from Wen Hui's consciousness that Wen Hui, Zhou Mingyuan, and even the people from the Deep Red World do not know the specific launch time of the Vanguard Plan. And after the Deep Red World prepared the Vanguard Plan, they did not synchronize any information with Wen Hui again. She currently belongs to the abandoned stage. She and Zhou Mingyuan are preparing to escape from Blue Star following the Vanguard Plan via a starship named 【Traveler 1】. The specific location is at a secret military base outside the city. Zhou Mingyuan is preparing to become another ability user through mycelium consciousness transfer, and that Qin Feng is the leader of Zhou Mingyuan's Night Patrol Group, Ji Kun..."

Chu Yan quickly synchronized the information obtained from Wen Hui to Lin Xian's side: "However, there are two very critical pieces of information. The first is that Zhou Mingyuan and Wen Hui, based on Chu Zhaonan's personnel adjustments, believe that the Vanguard Plan must be carried out during the day, and it is in the morning. The second is that the people from the Seraphim Department secretly transported a device containing dark-corrosion cells to the Starport. It is speculated that this should be the key equipment for the Vanguard Plan to break the curtain!"

Upon hearing this, everyone on Lin Xian's side had cold expressions. Everyone realized the severity of the matter.

Now the underground city is already carrying out resident eviction. The entire Garrison and Seraphim Department have surrounded the inner city tightly. The difficulty of wanting to enter the underground city can be imagined.

Lin Xian pointed to their location on the map at their feet: "It seems we can only enter from here."

"Find the people from the Deep Red World?" Zhou Jin asked.

"Perhaps no need to find," Lin Xian said at this moment: "Since the launch of the Vanguard Plan must use the S-level organization to activate with mycelium, if we find the starship, we might be able to find the person who connects the mycelium for the Vanguard Plan. Even if we can't find them, Mochizuki Shinji and I have also mastered the brain-machine conversion technology of the Deep Red World. If forced..."

"Then we can only connect it ourselves!"

(End of chapter) ===== CHAPTER 396 =====