Chapter 992: Chapter 992

Heavy panting echoed in the silent corridor as the young officer stared agape at the elderly man sipping tea in profile.

That elderly man seemed unsurprised by the events unfolding; he just sat there quietly as if he were the director of fate, having arranged this very conclusion from the start.

Rapid footsteps came from the other end of the corridor.

The young officer lifted his head and saw Mid running toward him.

At that moment, the elderly man in the office also placed his red tea back on the tray, gently closed the book in his hand, and slowly stood up.

The young officer lifted his head and looked toward He Ao, who was now holding a book and walking toward the door.

His gaze subconsciously glanced at the book in He Ao’s hand and rested on the title—"The Lost City-States of the Era of the Great Cataclysm - An Archaeological Record of the Ruins in the Middle of the Federation."

He Ao glanced at the young officer before him, nodded with a smile, then turned to Mid who had just run over, sweeping his gaze over both of them and quickly said, "Pass my order, assemble the army near the North City Command Center, activate the inner side defense system of the high wall. General Scott should be arriving soon, he must be very anxious now; we need to cool him down."

Mid and the young officer paused simultaneously, immediately placed their hands across their chests, and stood upright to salute, "Yes! Commander!"

"General, there’s no cannon fire on the high wall,"

The long-haired officer’s projection appeared on the control panel of the Floating Warplane, he looked up toward the front, "Kopis Mercenary Corps hasn’t begun their assault yet, we still have time."

"When does the staff estimate that Kopis Mining could reach the exterior of the high wall?"

Scott lowered his head and asked hoarsely.

The long-haired officer paused slightly, "If they’re fast, they should already be attacking the city by now; however, we indeed haven’t seen any cannon fire for the assault, it might also be a delay on their part as the battlefield is ever-changing, and we can’t be certain what will happen specifically."

Scott looked up at the sky, the thick clouds slowly descended, and sparse raindrops hit the Floating Warplane’s window, he seemed to recall something and smirked softly, "Or maybe they are waiting for someone inside to open the gates."

"General, what do you mean?"

The long-haired officer was slightly puzzled.

"It doesn’t matter now,"

Scott shook his head, looking at the long-haired officer, "Let the entire army be on alert, we’re about to enter the combat zone. Once the fighting starts inside, Kopis Mercenary Corps outside the city will sense something is wrong and begin their assault; we don’t have much time, we need to capture and deal with Lin En before Kopis Mercenary Corps does."

The long-haired officer immediately gave a military salute, then he paused, hesitantly asking, "General, can those consortiums truly be trusted?"

"Whether or not they can be trusted, we have no way back now,"

Scott stood straight, looking up at the dark, looming high wall ahead, "In this world, risk, and gain always coexist. There’s a phrase I liked from texts of the Era of the Great Cataclysm,"

His tone was even, his voice slow, letting the raindrops pitter-patter on the window of the Floating Warplane,

"’Steal a hook and one is executed; steal a kingdom and one becomes a prince.’"

The pitter-patter of raindrops passed through the decrepit buildings, the Floating Warplane backed by the distant North City Command Center building, hovering just above a silent, old building.

The elderly man in a silver-gray suit jumped down from the Floating Warplane, his feet landing on a pool atop the building, splashing water around.

The young officer followed He Ao’s steps down, looking around with some confusion.

Soon, his gaze fell on a large antenna not far away, "Is this a military signal transceiver?"

He turned back, looking at He Ao, "Mr. Lin En, where are we?"

"Missile launch shaft."

He Ao casually replied, lifting his gaze to see the dense lights in the rain rapidly approaching the high wall, walking toward the rusted locked door of the rooftop.

"Missile launch shaft?"

The young officer was startled and quickly followed He Ao.

By that time, He Ao had already yanked open the rusted door with a loud ’bang’ and entered the stairwell behind the iron door, descending the spiral staircase at a leisurely pace.

The young officer quickly drew his gun and caught up, following He Ao around the staircase for two spirals, noticing the old brick walls gradually change into a sleek, new steel frame structure.

Then, a control platform appeared in his field of view.

The soldiers guarding the console, having heard their footsteps, raised their guns toward the staircase and pulled the trigger without hesitation.

"Mr. Lin En! Be careful!"

The young officer couldn’t help but shout aloud.

However, before his shout could fade, he saw the elderly man slowly stepping forward, walking through the sudden storm of bullets, while at the same time, a cluster of fresh red flowers bloomed almost simultaneously on the chests of those guarding soldiers.

Accompanied by the dull thuds of bodies falling, the platform quieted down again, with only the echo of the young officer’s shout disturbing the night in this empty space.

Meanwhile, the elderly man, holding his cane, calmly walked past the surrounding corpses to the control console on the other side of the platform.

The young officer patted his head, took a deep breath, and hurriedly ran down the stairs to follow.

He nearly forgot, this was the mayor who had singlehandedly overturned the entire elite forces left to guard the North City. Being old certainly did not mean he couldn’t wield a weapon.

While moving forward, the young officer also glanced at the corpses of the guards around him. From the uniforms, these guards belonged to the most elite first brigade that Scott had transferred away.

Why would there be soldiers from the first brigade here...

He lifted his head, looking sideways.

It was only then that he realized the entire ’abandoned building’ they were in had been vertically cleared, forming a deep ’shaft,’ with countless steel structures clinging tightly to the walls, holding the entire abandoned building upright.

The platform he was standing on was the only platform in this cleared ’shaft.’

He walked to the edge of the platform and looked down. At the very bottom of this ’shaft,’ several High-energy Guided Missiles, their marks erased, appeared in his view.

He swallowed, left the edge of the platform, and walked up to He Ao, looking at the control console in front of He Ao, "Mr. Lin En, is this a missile base secretly established by Scott?"

He Ao nodded lightly, quickly operating the console.

This missile base’s system was rather rudimentary and didn’t have a precise assist-guidance system; Scott did not install these either but directly used the assist-guidance system of the North City.

So, this base’s guidance part had to be integrated into the main system of North City. Scott played a trick by camouflaging this missile base within the permissions of an official missile squadron, and at first glance, nothing seemed amiss.

But this couldn’t fool Eve. She quickly traced the signal of this missile base and took control of the missile base’s control system through the connection with North City.

However, it was unknown whether Scott had anticipated this situation because this base’s control system version was rather simple and could only launch missiles manually, not through an intelligent system.

So, someone still needed to come and clean up this mess here.

"Are there any other guards here?"

The young officer, appearing busy as he watched He Ao, held his gun and looked around cautiously.

"No, Scott only left a team here."

He Ao responded casually.

The base had surveillance, and Eve, while controlling the main control system, had checked all the surveillance and figured out all the structures and personnel of the building.

During the conversation, He Ao had already lifted his hand and pressed various mechanical buttons, putting all the missiles into ready-to-launch mode.

This missile base had already fired most of its missiles during the last time, leaving only seven missiles, one of which had a damaged warhead.

Accompanied by loud mechanical noises, several black missiles, two to three meters in diameter, were slowly raised by mechanical arms extending from the surrounding steel frames.

He Ao turned his head to look at those black missiles.

The black paint on these missiles was not only to erase the numbers but also served as a type of lightweight stealth paint that could to some extent shield against radar detection.

At that moment, He Ao seemed to suddenly remember something and looked back at the young officer.

But before he could speak, his bracelet vibrated with an incoming voice communication request.

He glanced at the contact labeled ’Lunsar’ on his bracelet and lightly touched his earpiece, "Eve, help me shield the background noise."

He then lifted his hand and chose to answer.

"How has Mayor Lin En been lately? I hear you’ve taken control of North City now."

A voice with a slight smile sounded in He Ao’s ear.

"You are quite well-informed,"

He Ao casually replied, "So you’re calling to congratulate me?"

"Of course, I definitely need to congratulate Mayor Lin En first, and also give you some ’friendly reminders’."

Lunsar said with a laugh, "Mayor Lin En, you are a very capable person, as you can see the situation now. With Kopis Mercenary Corps outside the city and Scott’s rebel army inside the city, even if you control North City, there is only one outcome under such military pressure, and that is being crushed."

He paused then continued, smiling,

"But we, Nord Bank, really value talent. If you surrender now, I can convince Scott not to kill you,

"The offer I proposed before is still effective: cash and stock worth one billion federal coins, a promotion to B-level, and a bright future for your daughter.

"Numerous people in the world crave these, and now, you only need to nod, and you can easily have it.

"Mr. Lin En, I think this is your last chance. Although we at Nord are quite patient, clearly, Kopis Mercenary Corps and Scott do not have that patience.

"Survival or death, it’s all up to your decision."

"Hmm, your offer does have its attractions,"

He Ao said slowly, with a laugh.

The voice on the phone also laughed.

He Ao looked down at the ruby on his cane, "I prefer to have my fate in my own hands."

The smile on the other end of the phone stiffened, "Mr. Lin En is always so confident, I hope when the army breaks through the city later, you won’t regret it."

"Then I’ll wait and see in a bit."

He Ao smiled calmly and hung up the phone.

"Analyzing background noise of the call, weakening the human voice, restoring background noise."

As He Ao hung up, Eve’s voice also sounded in his ear.

Suddenly, the sound of raindrops hitting the window, car horns, the noise of crowds, the broadcast of street vendors, blurry outdoor advertisements, shouts from tavern patrons, and rowdy dance music from bars, along with distant gunfire resonated in He Ao’s ear.

It seemed Lunsar used good call software; even with He Ao’s hearing, he could only discern voices and a bunch of subtle noise during the call.

In the city, the distant gunfire probably came from Yilan City. Lunsar must be in Yilan City now.

The rain was summoned by He Ao using an extraordinary item, covering a limited area near the North Gate.

"Background noise confirmed possible location of the caller."

While He Ao was pondering, Eve’s voice sounded again in his ear.

He looked down at the address Eve sent, which was a bar not too far from the North City Command Center.

It seems this Mr. Lunsar is quite confident too.

"Mr. Lin En, Deputy Commander Mid sends word,"

The young officer, holding his bracelet, raised his head to look at He Ao, "Scott’s army has reached the ruins outside the North City Command Center and is now confronting our forces."

He Ao nodded slightly, looking towards Lunsar, "Is the most elite Mechanical Army squad under your command now?"

"Yes, that Mecha Squad is currently on standby not far from us, specially designated to protect you,"

The young officer nodded, looking puzzled at He Ao, "Do you need something?"

He Ao looked over at the missiles prepared for launching.

"Do you know how to operate a Mecha?"

The young officer widened his eyes.

He Ao raised his cane, speaking calmly.

North City Command Center

Under a sparse curtain of rain, standing in a Floating Warplane, Scott gazed down at the dense army below, followed by the high walls and the command building, and took a deep breath.

At that moment, the projection of a long-haired officer appeared on the control panel, "Should we broadcast a demand for their surrender?"

Scott shook his head, "Lin En will not surrender. If he were going to, he would have done so already; only fools would still think he will surrender now."

In fact, over the past year, he had little respect for this new mayor named Lin En, even though he had been given extra military funds in an attempt to win him over.

He had never thought that in just a short day or two, he would change his opinion of this mayor.

In fire, true gold is tested.

"Our former mayor is a heroic figure, only through battle can we truly honor him,"

He raised his hand and pressed the button for all-army communication, "All forces, prepare for the attack!"