Chapter 986: Chapter 986

A young military officer, accompanied by a group of officers and guided by armored soldiers, made his way through the scattered crowd to the deepest part of the hall, where he saw an elderly man sitting with a group of military medics, bandaging the wounded.

"Are you from the Third Brigade? Just give me a moment."

He Ao swiftly dressed the wound on the hand of the soldier in front of him and then injected a dose of hemostatic. Looking at the soldier he said softly, "Rest here. Don’t move around, and wait for the hemostatic to take effect."

The soldier nodded stiffly.

At this time, He Ao stood up and lifted his gaze to the arriving officers, walking towards them.

"Mr. Lin En, Commander Mid is currently at the city gate control center... quelling the rebellion, he may be a bit late in coming over."

The young officer, noticing He Ao’s glance, quickly explained.

He Ao smiled, "He’s doing the right thing. Protecting the city gates is the top priority."

Then he lifted his eyes and glanced at the officers present, "Are all officers from the Third Brigade here?"

"Everyone but Commander Mid is here, he asked us to come,"

the young officer said hurriedly, and then hesitated before glancing at the nearby wounded, "How about over here...?"

"We ran into some minor issues, but luckily everyone was brave enough to put down the rebellion in the end."

He Ao smiled and walked out of the small room’s doorway.

The young officer glanced at the blood-stained hall, swallowed, and then looked around.

There were only busy City Defense Soldiers in sight, no sign of any ’bodyguards’.

His thoughts paused briefly, and his gaze settled on the elderly man who had stepped out of the room.

There were traces of blood on the Elderly, not much, but one could faintly discern that he had likely been through a fierce battle.

Could it be that the Mr. Lin En in front of him had come alone?

Alone, he had resolved several elite combat regiments on the upper floors?

Then his gaze slightly retracted, looking at the busy soldiers around him.

Did he kill some and others surrendered?

How did he achieve this?

The young officer knew that Transcendents were strong and understood the power of Extraordinary Strength.

But even a B-level Transcendent couldn’t accomplish this in such a short time.

His gaze swept over the ’colleagues’ that came with him and he saw the same astonishment in their eyes.

The wide-faced officer who had been with him first was now searching around, seeming to look for hidden Transcendent bodyguards or a secret force, but clearly, he found nothing.

Meanwhile, He Ao had made his way through the crowd, gestured toward the open space to the side, "It’s a bit of a hindrance to the medics here, let’s go over there."

Then he took the lead, his shoes stepping on the sticky blood, toward the open space.

A group of officers quickly followed his pace.

Finally, the wide-faced officer, still scanning the area, seemed unable to contain his curiosity, approached He Ao, and asked softly, "Mr. Lin En, did you come here by yourself?"

In that instant, everyone’s gaze was drawn to him.

He Ao looked at him with a smile and nodded, then seeming to guess the wide-faced officer’s question, he glanced at the soldiers around him and continued smiling, "The victory here isn’t my doing alone, but the merit of these brave soldiers. Without their help, it would have been difficult for me to quell the rebellion so quickly,"

Strictly speaking, it would have been very difficult for He Ao to confront those fully armed soldiers alone.

If he really had done that, by the time Mid’s forces arrived, he might have still been pinned down in some room by enemy fire.

Hence, He Ao had no intention of completely annihilating these soldiers from the beginning.

The soldiers under Scott were actually categorized by their levels.

Originally, those on the top floor were the most loyal and elite troops who had received the most benefits under Scott. They would fire at He Ao without hesitation, and if they were to stay, they would plot as Scott’s insiders and may even continue attempts to assassinate He Ao, which would destabilize the troops.

Therefore, He Ao showed no mercy to this group of people.

They were elite, had the best equipment, and a wealth of combat experience, but their weakness was exactly this—the combination of being elite and their loyalty to Scott meant their numbers would naturally be sparse.

This allowed He Ao to directly use the Judge’s power to borrow their strength and suppress them.

These were the top-floor elite soldiers who couldn’t be controlled.

But as one moved down from the top floors, the soldiers might still be elite, but their loyalty to Scott wouldn’t be as solid as those of the top-floor soldiers.

This could be seen from the reaction of the soldier who brought the wine.

Under normal circumstances, teams of elite soldiers with less loyalty would probably be led by few highly loyal officers to ensure control over the troops.

The method to deal with these soldiers was very simple.

He would quickly kill those few diehard officers to leave the entire troop headless while simultaneously intimidating the remaining soldiers and crushing their morale.

Then he’d move on to persuading them to surrender.

Of course, the status of being a Mayor was very important in this operation.

After all, the Federation had advanced information technology, and the Yilan City Government wasn’t foolish enough to give up on propaganda to the City Defense Army; the soldiers were well aware that their paychecks came from the City Government funds and also recognized the authority of the Mayor.

They might not know which law of Yilan City stipulated that the Mayor could take over command of North City, but when the Mayor claimed he had taken over control, they naturally tended to believe him.

At this point, "surrendering" to the Mayor was not so much "surrendering" as it was "abandoning the darkness for light."

This made it much easier for the soldiers to accept psychologically.

And at this moment, with these elite soldiers lacking organization and coming in batches, it also gave He Ao a helping hand.

Once the first group of soldiers surrendered, they would immediately find themselves caught between He Ao and the soldiers who followed. In such a situation, they would have no choice but to pick a side.

Since they’d already surrendered to He Ao, taking up arms to fight for the "Mayor" became mentally easier to accept.

Of course, this also explained why He Ao could not spare that gaunt officer; if such a high-ranking commander survived, he could quickly organize troops into formation to encircle He Ao, rather than come up like headless flies in groups to be easily picked off.

Too bad, there are no what-ifs in this world.

These soldiers, who came up in groups, allowed He Ao to break them one by one, kill the officers, and recruit soldiers.

And after the soldiers surrendered, in order to demonstrate their loyalty, they would fight even more fiercely than when they had been under Scott.

Of course, there were some soldiers who turned traitors after surrendering, but these were in the minority and were soon suppressed by He Ao and his growing forces.

When the number fighting alongside He Ao reached a certain critical mass, the soldiers who came up after began to have different thoughts.

After all, with Mayor He Ao standing there, he symbolized a just cause, making it easier for the soldiers to contemplate "abandoning the darkness for light."

So, in the later stages, the development was like an avalanche; in a very short time, the soldiers coming up after continued to surrender to He Ao.

He Ao actually killed very few people and quelled the "rebel army" with minimal force; even avoiding bloodshed during his actions, there weren’t many bloodstains on him.

Upon hearing He Ao’s words, the young officer looked up at the surrounding active soldiers.

He knew very well that these soldiers had previously been among Scott’s elite subordinates—although their loyalty wasn’t that high, it was only in comparison to those bootlickers on the top floor.

Had the old Mayor in front of them not possessed formidable strength and tactics, no matter how much he had the guise of "righteousness," these soldiers wouldn’t have surrendered.

The young officer looked up again at his comrades, and they exchanged glances, easily seeing the shock deep within each other’s eyes.

Killing was easy, but to make people surrender and obey your command, that was not.

They did not know what methods the old Mayor in front of them had used to turn enemies into "subordinates," but they were very aware of the difficulty of this feat.

Obviously, the elderly Mayor in front of them had not only boldness and strength but also formidable means to match.

Perhaps, could this really be a leader capable of changing everything?

And while everyone was exchanging puzzled glances, He Ao, who was leading the way forward, turned his head and asked in a low voice, "How many people are left in North City?"

"The soldiers in North City have a larger establishment than those in South City, a total of six brigades,"

A young officer next to him hesitated slightly before continuing, "Scott took away the most elite First Brigade, as well as the major part of the elite troops and high-tech weapons from the other brigades except the Third."

"So only ordinary soldiers are left in North City now?"

He Ao lowered his head and asked softly, "The most elite troops and advanced weapons, all taken away by Scott?"

A broad-faced officer chimed in, "Although the Third Brigade’s forces are relatively intact, we’ve been suppressed the whole time and barely have any high-precision weapons. Even though we have more people here, Scott holds most of North City’s combat power. Even if we summon everyone, we still might not be able to win a direct confrontation, not to mention the Consortium’s Mercenary Corps outside."

"Scott is probably prepared for the possibility of us seizing power,"

The young officer opened his mouth, speaking quietly, "He’s always been wary of Commander Mid."

At that moment, He Ao’s wristband vibrated. He raised his hand to look at the wristband.

A photo was sent over.

It was a picture of the city outskirts sent to him by Eve through the internal network.

"It looks like we need to go a bit further,"

He Ao sighed and walked over to an elevator nearby, pressed to light up the elevator, then turned his head to look at the crowd of officers behind him with puzzled faces,

"Let’s head to the high wall, the main force of Kopis Mercenary Corps has appeared."

Everyone’s expression changed instantly.

Pure white jasmine flowers danced in the night breeze, their trembling reflections shining upon the old palace.

The roaring alarms echoed shrilly through the night, creating invisible ripples in the night sky.

The roaring flames intermingling with the piercing sound waves, highlighting the shapes of mechas in the sky.

Those towering pure white Blazing Angel Mechs, together with the flames behind them, formed a wall that kept the continuous mecha and Dragon Cavalry Fighter forces outside the silent palace.

"General, we’ve reached the White Jasmine Palace,"

An officer with long hair materialized at the control panel of a Floating Warplane, "A Mecha Squad from South City blocks our way, probably sent by Corvey to protect the Mayor. Shall we attack?"

After speaking, he looked at Scott, seemingly awaiting his response.

However, he did not get an immediate answer.

Scott stood in front of the control panel, looking through the warplane’s glass down at the palace amidst the jasmine flower sea, frowning slightly.

An eerie silence spread throughout the Floating Warplane.

"General, what’s wrong?"

The long-haired officer asked with some confusion, then hesitated and added softly, "The White Jasmine Palace has spotted us, that old geezer Lin En is probably making a run for it. If we delay any further, we might let him escape."

However, upon hearing his words, Scott only gazed at the silent palace, frowning and sighing lightly.

The long-haired officer was briefly stunned.

Scott sighed again, looking down at the long-haired officer, "We’ve encountered almost no resistance and easily reached the White Jasmine Palace at the fastest speed."

The long-haired officer appeared somewhat baffled, "Isn’t that a good thing?"

Scott lifted his head to look at the communications officer next to him, "How’s the situation in North City?"

"Everything is normal, General."

The communications officer lifted his head, replying quickly.

"Call the deputy division commander in my name."

The communications officer immediately maneuvered the screen in front of him.

Soon, a busy signal echoed in the quiet Floating Warplane.

As time ticked away under the quiet night sky, the busy signal continued to sound lonesomely.

Eventually, accompanied by a ’beep’ of a light sound, the communication was cut off entirely.

"Connection... timed out."

The communications officer turned back, stuttering while looking at Scott, whose expression was darkening, "General, should I redial?"

Scott said coldly, "Call every retained officer above the rank of battalion commander from the Second Brigade."

The communications officer turned back and operated swiftly.

And this time, the response was still a fluctuating busy signal.

With the busy signal, Scott’s expression grew ever graver.

Finally, as the last call was disconnected, Scott’s face fell completely.

The long-haired officer swallowed hard, looking at Scott, whose expression was steely, shaking slightly, "Is it Mid?"

"In such a short time,"

Scott looked up at the fluttering jasmine flower sea and the palace within it, "Mid is not capable of this."

He turned his head, looking down at the control panel, his voice ice cold and deliberate,

"The First Company stays behind to continue the attack on the White Jasmine Palace, all remaining forces, turn the vanguard into the rearguard, advance at full speed, back to North City!"

The old elevator doors opened to either side, and He Ao touched the miniature earpiece in his ear.

"Scott has called all the deceased officers’ phones."

Eve’s voice echoed in his ear.

You can’t hide matters concerning North City, after all the years Scott managed it, there would certainly be some hidden loyalists who would try to get the message out.

Of course, He Ao had no intention of intercepting the messages.

But Scott was so sharp, so quick to realize there was an issue—it was slightly beyond He Ao’s expectations.

He Ao stepped out of the elevator, looked up past the pitch-black night sky, and gazed down at the densely packed army below.