Atlas of Heaven and Man

Inside the central city, Chen Bitong's convoy passed through several checkpoints and smoothly exited the Weiguang District. Then, the lead vehicle turned and headed northwest.

The convoy drove through the Shenwei District and entered the Hongsheng District, stopping in an open space in front of an abandoned commercial building complex.

By some coincidence, this location was not far from where Chen Chuan had last agreed to meet Su Wei.

Although it wasn't even five in the morning yet, the sky had become bright since midnight last night.

He could see abandoned commercial buildings and dilapidated streets that had been neglected for years. About a hundred meters away, he could see a huge billboard, mostly damaged, with only the metal frame remaining. It seemed to be an advertisement for some kind of cosmetic product, and he could vaguely make out a orchid logo, but it had faded now.

Several birds were perched on top, preening their feathers. When he looked over, they seemed startled, fluttering their wings and flying away.

After looking around, he saw the personnel from the convoy behind him getting out of the vehicles one after another. Then, they silently dispersed, taking out various equipment and weapons from the vehicles and methodically arranging them around the area.

First, they piled up bonfires, pouring the medicated incense from the boxes into them. The rising smoke quickly dispersed the dense swarms of flying insects around. Then, they dug trenches and set up barbed wire barricades beside them.

Some personnel went to inspect the abandoned buildings on the side and set up firing points at the high places there.

These people seemed to be very familiar with this place, and each had their own division of labor. There was almost no communication between them, and the whole scene was silent, giving Yu Lie a sense of oppression.

He tugged at his collar. What exactly were they going to do?

Who were they going to deal with?

At this moment, he saw two people carrying long boxes out of the last transport vehicle. After opening them, they revealed rows of long stakes.

This is… Ironclad Jade Stakes?

In the Old Era, this was a common war tool used by the old Imperial family. According to the records of that time, this thing was "clad in iron, containing a core of gold and jade, producing a sound of metal and jade when struck, resonating for a hundred miles." It was specifically used on the battlefield to transmit military information.

In the New Era, it became something of a ceremonial nature. However, later, with technological improvements, it was replaced with biological materials and became a field creature with special uses, capable of replacing field interference creatures. Moreover, when arranged in an array, the interference range could be very wide, and the effect was very strong.

But these might also have other uses.

Unfortunately, he couldn't transmit this information. Not only was the interference creature constantly activated when he came, but any subtle movements he made now would expose himself.

So, it was better to be a well-behaved positioning coordinate for now. He believed that after he stopped, the people from the action team should be on their way.

Inside the Defense Department's command center, Commissioner Liang watched the large screen above. The fourth wave of fission had begun ten minutes ago, and this time, there were as many as twenty-seven fission bodies.

Each team quickly rushed to the locations where the fission bodies appeared according to the previous deployment. This time, the situation was even more serious than last time. More and more mercenary teams had learned about their situation and participated in it. In addition to intercepting their response forces, there were even occasional firefights between them.

The female assistant put her hand on the interface device at this time. After a while, she said, "Commissioner, the Political Affairs Office says they are under great pressure. The response teams have been greatly delayed, and multiple teams may not be able to complete the recovery mission according to the scheduled time. They are currently requesting the Defense Department's airship support."

Commissioner Liang considered it and said decisively, "Decline."

In fact, as long as a few airships were dispatched from the Weiguang District and Wuding District, the situation would be greatly improved. Even if they didn't use the ones here, even if they diverted some from Mo Tie Mountain and White Bird District, it would be enough.

But they would rather stay put than take out even one to support them.

Of course, his refusal was not due to spiteful reasons, but because he had deeper considerations. He was still thinking at this moment, where was that potentially existing Old Imperial special force? And when would it appear?

Also, that existence that had been hiding since coming from the other side must also be waiting for an opportunity at this moment. He had to hold a few cards in his hand so that he could play them at a crucial moment.

The female assistant seemed to have received some news again at this time, and she looked up and said, "Commissioner, forty-five minutes ago, Chen Bitong left the Weiguang District and is currently suspected to be in the Hongsheng District."

Commissioner Liang frowned and asked, "Why didn't you report this earlier?"

The female assistant replied, "The Bureau of General Affairs sent a message before, but it was intercepted by the people from the Temporary Special Operations Committee. The message that was just sent was their second attempt to send it."

Commissioner Liang shook his head slightly. One of the duties of the Temporary Special Operations Committee was to be responsible for restricting and investigating the Bureau of General Affairs when the Bureau of General Affairs had specific actions, so the Bureau of General Affairs was often restricted by it.

But what time was it? They were still engaging in departmental infighting?

Moreover, the Actions Committee was not only too radical in its actions, but also sometimes disregarded the means and consequences in order to achieve its goals. In the current situation, it was obvious that they wanted to take over the matter and were unwilling to let others interfere.

He hoped that the people from the Actions Committee had the ability to handle the matter well and that there would be no mistakes.

Hongsheng District, near the abandoned commercial building complex, the ironclad stakes formed a horizontal and vertical array after being erected, and they shimmered with golden light under the light of the sky.

Fang Zhixin checked it again, communicated with the surrounding team members, and then walked to Chen Bitong's side and said, "Teacher, it's all set up. What else do we need to do?"

Chen Bitong said, "There's nothing else to do. Just wait here."

"Okay."

Yu Lie felt that the two people were speaking in riddles, but in theory, as someone who fanatically admired Chen Bitong, he would usually do whatever Chen Bitong said and never asked any further questions, so at this moment, he could only hold back and not speak.

After waiting for another seventeen or eighteen minutes, he noticed that the rifts around him were becoming more numerous and denser. This was very different from the situation just now. He was shocked, "This is…"

In front of Chen Bitong, those continuously flashing rifts were actually gradually tending to merge, and finally merged into a larger rift.

Yu Lie was shocked. It seemed that Chen Bitong had already determined that there would be a rift appearing here. How did he know? Could it be…

He glanced at those jade stakes. Could it be related to these things?

Fang Zhixin came over at this time and said, "Major Yu, you seem to have some doubts?"

Yu Lie looked nonchalant on the surface, "I do have some doubts, but that's all there is to it. I will support whatever Teacher Chen does."

"Anything?"

Yu Lie said without hesitation, "Anything."

Fang Zhixin said with a smile, "No wonder Teacher wanted to bring you along this time, Major Yu. Then please stand over here." He indicated a position.

Yu Lie looked at it. It was right next to Chen Bitong. He didn't ask why, walked over and stood still, and asked, "What's next?"

Fang Zhixin smiled and said, "Don't worry. When the time comes, you, Major Yu, will have a chance to shine. I believe you have the patience for that, right, Major Yu?"

Yu Lie scoffed and took out that coin again and started flipping it.

Standing in front of the gradually enlarging rift, he didn't know what would happen, and he inevitably felt nervous in his heart, but he still maintained that nonchalant appearance on the surface.

But not long after, he suddenly felt a slight tremor under his feet. At first, he thought he had encountered a slight earthquake, but immediately after, he realized that this was… the fifth wave of Fission Mothers?!

But it shouldn't have been too long since the last fission, right? Why was it coming so fast this time?

Immediately, he suddenly saw a wisp of a crack appearing on the ground, and a little bit of very small and fragmented things emerged from it, about the size of a fingertip, floating upwards. In the process of rising, they gradually rolled and grew larger, and he could see sponge-like objects, surrounded by a layer of seemingly transparent liquid.

This is… a fission sub-body?

He felt even more uneasy in his heart. Even if he wasn't a member of the Central City Government, he also knew that the location of each fission sub-body was very difficult to determine. At most, they could only outline a rough range. Otherwise, wouldn't they have sent people to guard it? Then there would be no future troubles. But what was the situation now?

There was actually a rift right here, and there was actually a fission sub-body right here?

He looked at Chen Bitong, who was standing in front of him. None of the people present had done anything to the fission sub-body, but the things they were going to do must be even bigger. Why hadn't the people from the action team arrived yet?

At this moment, he inevitably felt anxious in his heart.

After the fission sub-body appeared, it entered the light of that rift, and then the rift became more stable.

Inside the command center, the sentry tower issued a report: "A stable rift has been detected in the No. 5 abandoned commercial area of Hongsheng District. A fission sub-body has entered it. It is recommended to deal with it as soon as possible."

Commissioner Liang looked at the area marked on the light screen. Hongsheng District… Could it be a coincidence?

The place where Chen Bitong went just now was the Hongsheng District.

He said in a deep voice, "Send an additional dispatched response team and…" He paused for a moment, "Let 'Team Two' go there to stand by."

The female assistant glanced at it, and then saw the authorization given to her by Commissioner Liang on the interface device, and then began to notify.

The previous dispatch teams only needed to directly issue instructions, but this team was so special because the team was composed of capable personnel drawn from the Handling Bureau and the Defense Department.

The strength of the team members was very strong, and they were the main force to deal with key problems. Even when the third wave of rifts had problems just now, Commissioner Liang did not mobilize them, but when encountering a possible confrontation with Chen Bitong, he had to play it.

But after thinking about it, he instructed again, "Send a dose of medicine to restore physical strength to Captain Chen Chuan."

The female assistant was slightly surprised, but didn't ask any more questions, nodded, and began to issue instructions to the interface device.

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