Chapter 979: Chapter 979

In the modestly decorated private office, He Ao raised his bracelet and answered the call.

Then, the scene in his field of view flickered for a moment, and a short-haired girl with a high ponytail and dark skin, who looked somewhat nimble, appeared before him.

The girl looked at the screen, took a breath, then lifted her head to look beyond the screen at He Ao and smiled, "Mr. Lin En, hello, I am the head of the Chenxi City Wilderness Wanderer Mutual Aid Organization. You can call me Penny."

He Ao gazed at the familiar cheeks, smiling and nodding.

Penny was a girl from the Ronald Camp; after her parents died in an attack by an exotic beast, Ronald had taken her in as a sister.

After the Wilderness Wanderers Act passed, Penny seemed to have stayed in Dawn City.

At this moment, she appeared to have shed much of her girlish naivety; although she was still young, she looked much more competent and mature.

However, He Ao wasn’t surprised; when he saw the caller ID, he knew it was Penny.

He had personally chosen this phone number for Penny.

Watching He Ao’s smile, the girl on the other end of the call seemed to recall something and was momentarily distracted, but she quickly recovered, adjusted her expression, and continued,

"Mr. Lin En, this is the situation, your commission was initially taken by several senior members of our mutual aid organization, but because of the high requirements of your information, it was transferred to me. However, please rest assured, all procedures are completely confidential. We are professionals when it comes to working in the wilderness."

"Alright, I trust you all,"

He Ao looked at the young girl in front of him, speaking slowly, "So, what information have you collected?"

"I’m afraid it’s not good news,"

Hearing He Ao’s words, Penny’s expression slightly darkened. She raised her hand and sent some intelligence to He Ao’s bracelet,

"Based on our observations, a mercenary corps under Kopace Mining is approaching Yilan City’s North City Gate at a very fast speed. According to the intelligence we have gathered so far, North Yilan seems to have noticed this mercenary corps and has closed its city gate and cut off the trade routes."

She then paused slightly, seemingly opening a document in front of her, and continued,

"But this is not all the forces that Kopace Mining has brought. We have gathered all the logistics intelligence in the northern wilderness of Yilan City over the past half month."

She lifted her hand, and a photo, seemingly of a wilderness caravan, was projected onto He Ao’s bracelet,

"Look at this photo. It was obtained from a wilderness wanderer camp in the northern part of Yilan City.

"The caravan claims to be transporting cotton and food, but the tracks of their vehicles are very deep, suggesting they are transporting some kind of heavy machinery.

"Moreover, as a food caravan, they have additionally purchased a large quantity of food supplies, and there are many workers in the caravan who exhibit military habits.

"After analysis, we believe this caravan is likely a small military force disguised as a caravan,"

She then swiped her finger again, sending a report in front of He Ao, and quickly continued,

"After finding this clue, we investigated all the wilderness wanderer families and camps in the northern wilderness of Yilan City, and found that almost every camp had such caravans passing through during this period.

"Some disguised themselves as food or industrial product caravans, others as ore caravans, and their final destinations are almost all the mines under Kopace Mining.

"Within half a month, these small military forces, like streams, have converged into the mining fields of Kopace Mining north of Yilan City."

The mines of Kopace Mining on the north side of Yilan City were already very close to Yilan City, with a few mines even within the safety zone.

He Ao stared at the flowing numbers in the report sent by Penny while Eve was quickly analyzing the data, and he lowered his head and asked quickly, "How many people are there approximately?"

"Based on our calculations,"

Penny paused slightly, speaking quietly and quickly, "There might be a full-fledged mercenary corps, and they are likely also carrying a lot of mechanized military equipment."

"So you’re saying, in addition to the mechanized mercenary corps that is currently approaching,"

He Ao looked at Penny on the screen, "Kopace Mining also has a mercenary corps scattered and hidden in their mines to the north? North Yilan now has two full-fledged mercenary corps altogether?"

"From the intelligence we have obtained so far, that seems to be the case."

"Can you send me all the original data of this intelligence?"

He Ao looked at Penny and asked rapidly.

Penny immediately opened a file, "Encrypting and transmitting now, the transmission might take some time, please wait a moment."

At the same time, a file transfer progress bar window appeared in front of He Ao.

He Ao glanced at the progress bar and then redirected his gaze to Penny on the screen, asking softly, "Can you talk to me about your Cooperation Organization? It seems like you have quite an influence in the wilderness?"

"Actually, we are primarily a simple mutual aid organization,"

Penny looked at He Ao, hesitated for a moment, and slowly said, "Before, our Cooperation Organization was a Wilderness Wanderer Camp. Due to an A-class exotic beast migration, our leader decided to bring us into the city. As you know, Wilderness Wanderers don’t have official identities, and living in the city is quite difficult. Later..."

She paused, her voice growing a bit somber, then continued,

"Later, our leader reached some sort of agreement with Mr. Christos, the Mayor of Dawn City. Dawn City eventually passed the ’Wilderness Wanderers Act,’ giving us all a place to settle in Dawn City. However, our leader sacrificed himself during that incident,

"But as ’new citizens,’ and due to our previous identities as Wilderness Wanderers, after entering Dawn City, we inevitably faced bullying from the local powers. So following the arrangements set by our leader before his sacrifice, we maintained the organizational structure of the previous Wilderness Wanderer Camp, forming a mutual aid organization,

"Relying on this united organizational structure, we tried to stabilize in the city while keeping in touch with the wilderness, doing the jobs we were familiar with,

"At the same time, we absorbed many solo Wilderness Wanderers into the organization.

"It started with some Wilderness Wanderers who had been tricked into the city joining us, and as more Wilderness Wanderers entered Dawn City, more and more people joined us,

"So we changed our name to the Wilderness Wanderers Mutual Aid Organization, to provide assistance to new Wilderness Wanderers in Dawn City.

"For this reason, we gained a relatively high prestige among the Eastern Federation’s Wilderness Wanderers. Even the Wilderness Wanderer camps and families who didn’t want to change their lifestyle and preferred to continue living in the wilderness also thought about having a backup plan in the city.

"So they got in touch with us as well. They handed over their goods like fur and raw meat for us to sell, and we helped them buy necessities from the city, such as food, weapons, and ammunition.

"With these contacts, we established some information channels and also took on commissions to gather intelligence in the wilderness."

As she said this, she quickly added, "But what we do is all legal trade. We abide by the law and don’t oppress others, earning our keep through our own abilities."

This explanation was probably because many media outlets in the Federation portrayed Wilderness Wanderers as deceitful bad elements to gain viewership, leading to significant prejudice from those born and living in the cities.

He Ao said with a smile, "When I was young, I often traveled in the wilderness as well, and the vast majority of Wilderness Wanderers are actually very reliable."

Hearing He Ao’s reassurance, Penny breathed a sigh of relief, then she looked at He Ao and asked softly, "Mr. Lin En, since you used to frequent the wilderness, have you ever visited our Wilderness Wanderer Camp?"

Then she quickly explained, "Our camp used to be under a snowy mountain called Winno, just a bit north of Yilan City."

He Ao shook his head gently, "It was many years ago."

In Lin En’s memory, he couldn’t quite remember if he had visited Ronald’s camp. He seemed to have visited, but that was when Ronald’s father was still around.

Then he looked at the young woman in front of him, smiling and asking, "Any questions?"

Penny shook her head, "Nothing,"

She looked at He Ao, seeming a bit wistful, and then smiled, "Seeing you just unconsciously reminds me of our leader."

Her tone paused slightly, "You have the same qualities as him, gentle, brave, and kindly, like a flame in the darkness, illuminating both brilliance and warmth."

"That sounds like quite a compliment."

"I’m not merely flattering. We have heard about your stories; you are a man worthy of admiration,"

Penny said with a smile, then she glanced at the screen in front of her, "The data will be fully transferred soon."

"You must have spent quite some time and effort collecting this data?"

He Ao looked up at the lengthy progress bar; the size of this raw data packet was somewhat beyond his expectation.

In fact, he hadn’t expected to receive such precise information from the Wilderness Wanderers. He had been prepared to get only bits and pieces of clues, then try to gather more information from other sources and finally deduce the rest on his own.

"Our leader once enlightened us with a beam of light, and we hope to help others who are also seeking light. If this data can be helpful to you, that would be the best,"

Penny said earnestly to He Ao, "And if you have any needs, you can also contact me."

A window indicating that the file reception was complete popped up in He Ao’s field of vision. He picked up the cane beside him, looked at Penny on the screen, and smiled, "This intelligence is very useful. Thank you for your help, and I hope things keep getting better for you."

"Thank you for your blessing,"

Penny responded with a smile, "I wish you all the best."

He Ao nodded lightly and ended the call.

The bracelet popped up a new window, and Eve was already deciphering all the raw data.

He Ao took a deep breath and slid open the small door in front of him.

The somewhat noisy holographic projection appeared in his field of view again.

His current office was Corvey’s private office, directly connected to the outside combat hall with excellent sound insulation. Seeing that he needed to take a call, Corvey had introduced him to this office.

As he opened the door, Corvey, who was standing at the main console, also turned his head at the noise.

"How’s the situation?"

He Ao looked toward Corvey.

"It’s still a stalemate; they’ve completely learned their lesson, advancing slowly like turtles,"

Corvey shook his head, "Our firepower is still lacking a bit."

Then he looked at He Ao, "The vehicle is ready, they will escort you out of the command center. Do you need more escort?"

He Ao shook his head, "I’ll drive my own car once I’m out of the command center."

Before taking the call, he had already had Corvey prepare a car for him to leave.

Corvey nodded. He Ao didn’t say anything more, and neither did Corvey ask. He raised his hand to point to the exit, "You can get directly into the car there."

He Ao passed behind Corvey and walked to the exit; the black off-road vehicle that had brought them was already waiting at the door.

He Ao quickly got into the car and then flipped open some intelligence documents that Eve had organized.

Yilan City Police Station

"Chief, I’m going to grab some water."

The young man in uniform greeted Tucker, who was reading materials in the office, then took a water cup and left the office, heading to the instant hot water dispenser.

"This thing is really fancy."

The young man looked at the mechanical-style water dispenser, fiddled with it for a bit, and finally got the hot water running.

He then raised his old bracelet, took a photo of the hot water dispenser, found the most recent contact, and sent a photo to show off the ’advanced’ water dispenser.

While the photo was transferring, he scrolled up through some message history.

It was all various messages he had sent including ’arrived at the police station’ and some pictures of the bustling night scene in the Saint Ilan District taken from the police station building.

Inside were all routine conversations. He was very careful not to mention any mission information, and even during missions, he did not send messages.

However, these routine messages did not receive any responses, including the photo of the water dispenser he had just sent.

"What’s up with bro?"

The young man slightly furrowed his brow, then lifted his hand, and after a brief hesitation, directly called this contact.

After a brief busy tone, accompanied by a ’the number you have dialed cannot be reached’ message, the call was automatically disconnected.

"Is there some mission?"

The young man picked up the water-filled cup beside him, slightly furrowed his brow, and headed back toward the office direction.

South City Command Center East Gate

A dark off-road vehicle was parked at the east gate entrance. Here, an old-style luxury sedan was already quietly waiting.

He Ao got out of the auto-driven off-road vehicle, got into the old-style luxury sedan, and started the vehicle.

As the vehicle slowly started moving forward, He Ao, holding the steering wheel, quickly said, "Eve, later on, synthesize my call background in the private office of the White Jasmine Palace."

A gentle voice came from the car speakers.

Then He Ao opened his bracelet, selected a contact from his address book, and directly made the call.

The call quickly connected, and a tall man in a military uniform appeared in the projection, looking at He Ao with some confusion, "What’s the matter? The situation in South City seems quite severe?"

He Ao replied softly, "Evis Space System’s Mercenary Corps is attacking the city full force; Corvey and I were told their firepower is much stronger than ours, it might not hold out for long."

"Evis Space System, these madmen,"

Scott’s expression darkened, speaking angrily, "Are they trying to destroy the Federation?"

"Talking now is pointless,"

He Ao shook his head, looking at Scott, "How is the situation up north? Is that Mercenary Corps from Kopace Mining still there?"

"They’re still there, and moreover, they are speeding up to come here,"

Scott’s voice was somewhat low, "In at most an hour, they’ll also be at our doorstep. I’ve already closed the city gates and cut off the internal and external communication of the army. The army is on high alert."

"Can the forces from the north be diverted to support that side?"

He Ao continued to ask.

"Likely very difficult,"

Scott shook his head, "The Mercenary Corps from Kopace Mining also brought the latest weapons from Evis Space System, and their formation is even larger than that of Evis Space System. If we divert our forces, and they launch a raid, North City might very well fall."

He Ao’s brow slightly furrowed.

"We can only try to divert some forces to support first,"

Scott shook his head, "But if Kopace Mining’s Mercenary Corps also attack the city full force, the north can almost not divert any forces, and saving South City will mean North City can’t be held."

He Ao spoke in a low voice, "we can only save one of South and North Cities?"

"If the Federal Central Army were here, perhaps both could be held."

"It’ll take half a month for the nearest Federal Central Army to arrive, and they haven’t even received the Federation’s permission to deploy."

"The consortium will definitely head to the White Jasmine Palace first once they breach the city,"

Scott hesitated for a moment, speaking slowly, "The airspace in the east and west is not completely blocked yet, the airport should still be operational. I could send troops to escort you···"

"Don’t mention this."

He Ao leaned back, massaging his brow, and spoke coldly.

Scott responded, then cautiously asked, "So, do we need to divert forces from the north to the south?"

"Stay alert for now,"

He Ao shook his head slightly, sighing, "Prioritize protecting North City, be prepared for Kopace Mining’s Mercenary Corps."

He Ao reached out to hang up the phone.

Along with Scott’s projection slowly disappearing in front of him, he raised his head, glanced out the car window at the high walls, and the flames flickering above them.

The war had gradually intensified, and the gunfire illuminated the entire Southern District as if it were daylight.

He Ao leaned back in his seat and activated the vehicle’s auto-drive system.

"Please set the destination."

Eve’s gentle voice echoed inside the car.

Staring at the automatic pop-up city map on the car’s main console, He Ao spoke calmly, "North City Defense Command Center, take the west side."