Chapter 828: Chapter 828

The morning sun’s radiance spilled onto the pure white snowflakes and also onto the young man in a tailcoat standing inside the wooden house door.

"This is the tea cup I made before,"

The young man with glasses, holding a packaged iron cup, handed it over, "I was planning to bring it to you the next time I visited... I pressed it myself with a machine, but it’s not done very well..."

He Ao reached out and took the iron tea cup.

Compared to the mass-produced cups sold in the market, this one was obviously a bit simpler, and the welding between the cup holder and the tea cup was very conspicuous.

On the front of the tea cup, a small track mining machine pattern was engraved with a laser, which was Nell’s favorite toy as a child.

"It looks very nice."

Holding the tea cup with both hands, He Ao smiled as he answered.

"Recently, the temperatures in the ice field have been very low. Are you cold over there?"

The young man with glasses looked at the thin tailcoat on He Ao’s body, asking cautiously.

He Ao shook his head as he reached for the gold-inlaid cane leaning against the door, "It barely counts as inside the city; the snow and wind outside cannot blow in."

"Take good care of yourself,"

After a brief pause, the young man with glasses, focusing on He Ao’s cheeks, softly said, "Be careful, we’ll have everything prepared."

The tall young man standing behind the one with glasses opened his mouth, seemingly wanting to say something, but in the end, the words at his lips turned into a light, "Be careful."

He Ao nodded. He glanced back at the rising morning sun in the sky, put on his round-top hat, and slightly lifted his cane, "Third brother, fourth brother, I’m leaving now."

He then turned around, his feet stepping into the pristine snow, walking towards the distance.

The two brothers stood at the door, calmly watching the young man slowly walk away.

The tall young man near the door frame took a deep breath, his chest muscles tensing slightly, and ultimately, though he seemed to want to say something, he didn’t know how to say it.

Finally, watching He Ao’s retreating figure, he slowly opened his mouth, "He’s gone again."

His voice was calm, yet within that calmness, there seemed to be a slight tremor.

Hearing these words, the young man with glasses paused slightly, took a deep breath, and slowly spoke, as if preparing to comfort his brother beside him.

Just then, the young man in the tailcoat, already stepping into the snow, suddenly remembered something, turned around, raised his gold-inlaid cane, and smiled, "Third brother! Fourth brother! See you next time!"

The warm morning sun poured over the youth’s pale cheeks and gentle smile.

The thousands of words that had been prepared melted in their chests into a warm flow, turning into slight smiles. The young man with glasses raised his hand, raising his pitch a bit, "See you next time!"

The tall young man beside him also lifted his hand, saying loudly, "Next time, fourth brother will bake you your favorite mini cakes!"

"When did you learn how to bake cakes?"

The young man with glasses looked at his younger brother with some confusion.

"Didn’t I always know how?"

The tall young man looked back at his brother with confusion, "When mom was too busy, I helped out, didn’t I?"

The young man with glasses seemed to remember something, "You’re not talking about that lump..."

"Yes, I bake really well; mom said it was good."

The tall young man looked at his brother with perplexity.

"If mom didn’t say it was good, would you be so eager to help her?"

The young man with glasses glanced slightly away, "Fourth brother, how about we give a different gift next time."

"Brother, you don’t believe me?"

The tall young man’s eyes instantly widened in surprise, rolling up his sleeves, "I have to show you my cooking skills today."

"Let’s not, we still have things to do, I’m still young, I’m not married yet, I want to live a few more years..."

The young man with glasses quickly grabbed his brother’s hand.

He Ao, standing in the distance, watched the "exchange" between the two older brothers, a faint smile crept onto his face.

Thick steam billowed from his mouth and turned into a hazy white mist in the bright sunshine.

He turned around, stepped into the pristine snow, and gradually moved into the glow of the rising sun.

The misty breath, trailing his figure, dispersed into the morning’s rosy light.

The young man with glasses stopped what he was doing and watched as his younger brother’s figure faded into the distance.

Soft music began to play around the mine, as the early-rising workers yawned on their way to the cafeteria.

Smiles spread across their faces as they greeted each other.

"President, good morning."

Several miners passing by the wooden hut saw the young man with glasses standing in front of it and greeted him with smiles from afar.

Their miner uniforms were somewhat worn, but they walked together in small groups, laughter in their eyes, sparkling with light.

The young man with glasses also smiled and waved in greeting.

When he looked back again, the young man in the distant dawn light had walked away.

He watched as the young man disappeared from his field of view, then looked up at the sky, where the fiery sun illuminated the clouds.

Back in the building, He Ao found a heavy safe and locked the tea cup inside, then he stood up and looked at the young man suspended in the air.

The young man spread his hands slightly, his eyes tightly closed, hanging high in the towering vertical shaft, like a Divine Being in deep sleep.

At this point, the Character Card’s usage time had long ended, but after it had, he still maintained control over this "offspring," no longer having the Strength to "absorb" from him.

As he had anticipated, after completely cutting off the supply of Strength, this offspring remained in existence for nearly an hour.

He watched as the "body" that had entered a ’deep sleep’ began to dissolve and disappear with the last of his Strength.

Wint City, Storm Zone

"Yiluo, what’s wrong?"

The golden twin ponytails appeared in He Ao’s field of view. Vili was tilting her head, looking at He Ao.

He Ao shook his head and regained his composure, lifting his gaze to look at the people gathered around the meeting table, "How’s the situation now?"

At the time the Character Card ran out, while he was controlling the offspring’s body in Rock City, he had convened a meeting here.

In fact, there were only four people attending the meeting: apart from He Ao, there was Lena, Vili, and the young Investigator following Gast, each representing a different faction.

"The Security Union has been besieged by United Industries several times; there aren’t many left now."

Lena stood opposite He Ao and said in a low voice.

"The Federal Bureau of Investigation can choose someone, but the Director says the people at Headquarters can’t be fully trusted, basically meaning we can’t find anyone."

The young Investigator added his piece.

"The Twilight Society is still doing okay. We weren’t too involved in the incidents before,"

Vili spoke slowly, "Including the Mecha you deployed before, we still have two Mechas in the city, along with some exoskeleton equipment. The members of the Twilight Society all have a grudge against the Eternal Secret Teachings. The core part should be trustworthy."

"Our current strength compared to United Industries and the Eternal Secret Teachings is too big of a gap."

Lena looked at the holographic map in front of her and spoke slowly, "They’ve already taken control of the City Defense Army and closed the city gates last night under the guise of temporary control. Now it’s impossible to call for external reinforcements, and there isn’t enough time; even if the nearest city rushes here, it’ll be too late."

Her tone paused, "If we could really get some of the City Defense Army’s support, there might be a chance for a turnaround."

"If we want to get the City Defense Army’s support,"

Vili lowered her head, looking at the map where the Mayor’s Mansion was marked, "We’d need to get Uncle Endir’s support, but United Industries has already anticipated this, they have surrounded the Mayor’s Mansion."

"Perhaps we can wait for internal strife between United Industries and the Eternal Secret Teachings?"

The young investigator pondered.

"We can’t wait any longer, we’ll most likely need to prepare to face both United Industries and Eternal Secret Teachings,"

He Ao shook his head and raised his hand to mark a new location on the map.

"The airport in Aka District?"

Lena looked up at He Ao.

"The news from Gast is that tonight at seven o’clock, the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s investigative team will arrive in Wint City,"

He Ao looked up at the sunlight outside the window, which was already nearing midday, then turned back to face everyone, "This might be our only chance to turn the tables. If we fail, all of us, including everyone in this city, may die. We need everyone to work together."

If, as he suspected, Eternal Secret Teachings had completely taken over United Industries, then United Industries’ attitude toward the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s investigative team would undergo a major shift.

According to the information he had gotten from Gast last night, the leader of the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s investigative team is a seasoned C-level with strong combat capabilities and also carries high-end equipment.

Whether it was to take down the investigative team or to control it, United Industries would most likely send B-level mercenaries from the Mercenary Corps.

That is to say, of the three B-levels in the city, one would be at a fixed time and place.

And here, was the opportunity to make a move.

"Some within the Security Union may be weak; give me some time, and I’ll handle them."

Lena quickly grasped He Ao’s intentions and swiftly spoke, "You can give any orders directly to me."

"The Twilight Society here should also not be a problem,"

Vili took a deep breath and immediately said, "Our core members in the city will have no other thoughts."

The young investigator opened his mouth, "I’m the same!"

He Ao took a deep breath, nodded lightly, and then looked at Lena, speaking in a low voice, "According to the intelligence I’ve gotten from the Eternal Secret Teachings cathedral, there’s still a group of Ancient Teachings followers hiding in the Storm Zone, near the Temporary Cathedral. Among them, there should still be some of the Old Sect’s heritage."

Lena’s eyes shone with realization, "I will have the informants make contact with these heretics; they can help us hold off some of the strength of the Eternal Secret Teachings."

He Ao gazed at the map before him and nodded slightly.

He still needed some people and some arrangements.

He looked up at the ’0.5 Exchange Star’ in his field of view.

The system’s flexibility had increased.

He had tried before to see if he could exchange half an Exchange Star for half the time, but had failed.

But this time, he had succeeded. He didn’t know if it was due to the previous ’upgrade’.

This wasn’t a new feature, but it greatly increased He Ao’s ’leniency’ in using the Character Card.

The teenager turned his head to look out the window at the dark clouds covering the sky.

The veil over the city, just like these heavy clouds, layered upon one another.

The blizzard was coming.

Dusk over the western mountains.

The thick clouds hid the entire sky, and the sunset remained unseen.

The brilliance on the road dimmed, with only a few broken street lamps flashing faintly.

The howling cold wind swept through the streets, thinning the already sparse crowd even further.

A few figures with bandages carefully moved through the streets and slowly approached a building that looked somewhat dilapidated.

The burly leader turned to look at his companions.

A dagger-wielding burly man said in a low voice, "Information from that bar’s proprietress pointed to here; this is where those heretics’ Temporary Cathedral is—their new bishop was wounded by our leader and hasn’t recovered yet."

"Why is the Security Union being friendly with us all of a sudden?"

A burly man in the corner whispered, "Could there be some kind of conspiracy?"

"The proprietress of the Withered Tree Bar hasn’t cooperated with those heretics and has even been marked for capture by them,"

The dagger-wielding man whispered, "She probably loathes these heretics; she lacks the power herself, so she wants to use us to clear them out, heh heh,"

He chuckled softly, "Now that the Leader seems to be in the city, if we take out this wounded bishop, we’re bound to be rewarded, and our rank will surely rise."

"The bishops among heretics are not weak,"

The burly man in the corner spoke quietly, "Even an injured bishop might not be someone we can defeat."

The dagger-wielding man sneered.

"I call it being cautious."

The burly man in the corner said coldly.

The leading burly man huffed and then asked, "Did that proprietress give us a time to act?"

The dagger-wielding man nodded, "She said to move exactly at seven in the evening."

"It seems they must have made other arrangements,"

The leading man nodded slightly and looked towards the dark building, "Send a message to have all our brothers ready."

The dagger-wielding man suddenly remembered something and quickly said, "That proprietress also said..."

"Boss, I can’t connect to the network on my wristband."

Just then, the burly man in the corner suddenly spoke up.

The leader was startled and looked down at his own wristband, only to find that he also had no network connection.

"That proprietress also said that tonight, those heretics might use their influence to implement a cyber blockade..."

The dagger-wielding man slowly finished his sentence.

Lena, dressed in a black bodysuit, raised her hand to check her wristband, then turned to look at the slim youth next to her wearing a robe, "Your judgment is correct."

Then she looked up at the thunderous machines around her, "Why did we come to Novis District?"

The youth didn’t answer her directly, but raised his hand, pointing deep down the street.

Lena nodded and followed the youth’s pace.

The howling cold wind flipped up the collars of the mercenaries as the man in the military officer’s uniform stood on the high platform, watching the deep night fall.

A faint light emerged in the distance, with the roar of a huge aircraft growing from afar.

The man in the officer’s uniform looked at the time on his wristband.

His gaze slipped to the workers in the corner of the airport, then he continued to look up at the approaching light in the distance.

The blizzard had arrived.