"Commissioner Wei, it's hard to explain everything over the communication. Let's meet and talk in detail."
Zhou Zhengde said this in a gentle tone before hanging up on Commissioner Wei Linzheng.
After that, he quickly discussed with the governor and the commander before boarding the plane back to the fortress.
Dongfang Zhenghong had already begun the cleanup and memory erasure related to the "Black Storm." All technicians in the command vehicle would undergo a minor memory surgery that wouldn't affect their health but would make them forget events from a certain period.
Zhou Zhengde thought carefully on the plane for a long time. He didn’t dwell much on what his future would be like. Everyone must take responsibility for their decisions. Zhou Zhengde knew the crime he had committed when he pointed a gun at the commander, and he also understood that his strict grandfather would not let him off easily.
Now, before Zhou Zhengde faced judgment and imprisonment, he could make full use of this prison term.
"The development of spiritual energy weapons takes time."
"The situation at the front line is too complicated. The Thirteen Institutions have been infiltrating around my grandfather for decades."
"Then we should try to turn Fortress 76 into a research institute for spiritual energy weapons, giving Wang Zheng enough space and time."
Zhou Zhengde made up his mind and sighed. He picked up the communicator and hesitated for a few minutes before sending a communication request to Wei Na.
Wei Na had just woken up and was lying on her hospital bed, being carefully attended to by two nurses.
"You’re calling now because the beast problem is solved?"
"Yeah, the fortress hasn't reported it yet," Zhou Zhengde replied softly. "He helped a lot."
"That's good!"
Wei Na let out a light breath: "Awesome, survived another day. Tomorrow, I’ll find a new boyfriend!"
"Tsk," Zhou Zhengde couldn’t help but mumble, "Don’t you care about me? My tone is so gloomy!"
"Hahaha."
Wei Na laughed: "Do you need me to care? Captain Zhou? There are too many people who care about you; I’m not needed. But, as a childhood friend and former bed partner... do you have anything sad to share? Let me hear it and cheer me up."
Zhou Zhengde felt a headache coming on.
"Nothing! I’m going to find a new girlfriend!"
After hanging up, Zhou Zhengde couldn’t help but rub his forehead and leaned back in his seat.
Well, once he got into military prison, he might as well try matchmaking; after all, there wouldn’t be much to do there besides military training and reading.
Half an hour later, the aircraft descended toward the fortress's surface. Zhou Zhengde observed the orderly military camp below and suddenly spotted a figure surrounded by a crowd.
A mechanical dog was walking among the people, carrying a stretcher. The figure on the stretcher was covered with a white cloth, and in front was the deep-sea commander walking slowly.
Zhou Zhengde’s eyes widened.
Covered with a white cloth!
"Get down! Go down in front!"
Zhou Zhengde shouted, unbuckling his seatbelt and almost jumping out.
Two minutes later, Zhou Zhengde stumbled through the crowd and reached the mechanical dog. He looked at the figure covered by the white cloth, then at the scratched and nearly broken long spear, and the torn tactical gloves...
Zhou Zhengde's lips trembled.
"Wang..."
The tactical glove lifted slightly.
A soldier nearby shouted, "Damn! The commander has come back from the dead!"
The deep-sea commander scolded, "What are you all doing here? Spying on military secrets? Move along!"
As soon as this fierce combat commander spoke, the surrounding soldiers quickly saluted and hurried away.
Zhou Zhengde let out a sigh of relief and angrily shouted, "Hey, why cover his head with a white cloth for no reason?"
"It's to cover his face," the deep-sea commander muttered. "This is a medical cloth, not a shroud. The boss's helmet and nano-mask are broken... He’s in bad shape. I’ll send him back to the Lingtong supply station immediately. He said he can only have Lingtong take care of him."
Zhou Zhengde’s legs were shaking as he took a step forward, but Wang Jixuan's large hand grabbed him.
Zhou Zhengde grasped Wang Jixuan's hand and leaned closer to the end of the white cloth, whispering, "What do you want to say? You can tell me everything!"
"Take..."
Wang Jixuan struggled to speak.
"What take? Don’t rush, speak slowly! What sauce do you want? My mom's cooking?"
Zhou Zhengde caught a glimpse of the red snake flying in from a distance, holding Lingtong, whose left mechanical arm was malfunctioning.
Wang Daolong swallowed under the cloth: "Take... the crystal cores... down..."
Zhou Zhengde’s forehead was covered in black lines.
This guy really never forgets his priorities.
"Okay, this time I will leave enough crystal cores for you," Zhou Zhengde said firmly. "I swear on my mother's cooking!"
The deep-sea commander smiled but said nothing.
The red snake flew overhead, and Lingtong fell in a smooth arc.
When Lingtong landed, she quickly rushed over, and her barely functioning right mechanical arm scanned Wang Jixuan's data.
Spiritual energy almost gone, heart rate very slow, blood pressure extremely high.
Lingtong asked, "How is he?"
"He's fine," the deep-sea commander quickly replied. "He just needs to sleep."
"Please let me take care of him."
Lingtong said softly: "The command center orders, Deep Sea and Red Snake, assist Captain Zhou immediately."
Zhou Zhengde's eyes brightened.
Deep Sea asked, "Where to?"
"Chase away the flies."
Zhou Zhengde took a deep breath, straightened his chest, and raised his head: "I’m about to go to the military court for trial, but I’ve just been appointed as the investigator for the spiritual energy misconduct at Fortress 76!"
The red snake laughed, "I like this kind of work."
Deep Sea said, "Wait a few minutes; I need to equip the spirit-slaying armor. I need to be a bit careful with these two B-level spiritual energy users."
"Honey, you still have me!"
"Wife, you need to maintain the blade-slaying armor. There are still some blade beasts underground; they’ve just been pushed back. The oxygen is low down there, and the pressure is high. We need to clean it up little by little... Captain Zheng and the others are guarding below."
"Haha!" The red snake cheered, "I thought there would be no meat left when I got back! While Lingtong is getting repaired, my achievement points will surpass hers!"
Lingtong showed no reaction.
She adjusted her position, using her single mechanical arm to lift the injured Wang Jixuan onto her shoulder and walked toward a nearby multi-rotor aircraft.
Zhou Zhengde, the red snake, and Deep Sea:...
"Did I not teach Lingtong how to reasonably handle men?" The red snake frowned and pouted.
...
More than ten minutes later.
On the third floor of the fortress, the home of spiritual energy users. A team of soldiers in powered armor armed to the teeth moved in.
In the corridor outside the spiritual energy users' meeting room, the sound of footsteps grew louder.
Zhou Zhengde took the lead, followed closely by the two half-human mechas, Deep Sea and Red Snake, with several fortress officials bringing up the rear.
Inside the meeting room, Wei Linzheng sat at the end of the table, looking extremely serious.
He had miscalculated.
According to his estimates, the sudden attack by the blade beasts would make it impossible for Fortress 76 to hold out. The fortress's main forces and three half-human mechas had gone to fight the young king bug, and the fortress could only guarantee the main structure above the 38th floor at most.
He and Uncle Feng were actually ready to take action.
But this shouldn’t have been... his side should set the conditions first, the military should negotiate, and then the military should yield to them to some extent?
How many times had it been like this?
Didn’t the great spiritual energy users have to show their worth and then play the savior, rescuing those 'excess' humans?
When Zhou Zhengde scolded him, Wei Linzheng didn’t pay any attention.
The young man simply didn’t understand.
Politics is the art of compromise.
But he never expected... the blade beasts would suddenly be resolved.
Wei Linzheng had already received some information, such as the "Beast Language Boy" playing a huge role in the extermination of the young king bug, and the "Black Storm" had also appeared.
Wei Linzheng was just taking a gamble, betting that this boy would be unable to exert his abilities today, betting that the officials and soldiers in the fortress wouldn’t ignore the lives of the humans in the lower city. — Although he thought this was quite naive.
The information channels from the spiritual energy home had been completely cut off, and Wei Linzheng had no idea what was happening in the lower city.
They had just received notice that an investigator was about to arrive to read the orders signed by the governor of Fortress 76.
The meeting room door was opened by two soldiers.
Zhou Zhengde, dressed in a sharp suit, walked in with a smile, slightly raising his head.
Wei Linzheng's face immediately darkened.
When Deep Sea and Red Snake appeared, Wei Linzheng's expression softened.
A soldier shouted, "All spiritual energy users, stand up!"
The group of spiritual energy users looked at each other, then all turned to look at Wei Linzheng.
Uncle Feng frowned and said, "What do you want? What right do you have to make us stand and salute?"
Zhou Zhengde slightly raised his right hand.
With a rustle, soldiers in the meeting room simultaneously raised their rifles, red dots aimed at the heads of the spiritual energy users.
Deep Sea squinted with a smile, and Red Snake stepped back a few paces, creating distance between the couple’s half-human mechas and adopting an attack stance.
Wei Linzheng silently stood up slowly.
The spiritual energy users stood up one after another.
"Ahem!"
Zhou Zhengde cleared his throat, took the document handed to him by a female officer from behind, glanced at it, and then said loudly:
"According to the Fortress Protection Treaty Article 056, the Combat Zone Operation Regulations Article 4435, and the new version of the D5 Combat Zone Spiritual Energy Incident Handling Measures:
"Now, in accordance with the law, all spiritual energy users within Fortress 76 are to be detained and escorted!
"In light of the repeated failures of the protective functions of the spiritual energy home in Fortress 76, resulting in the infiltration of mimic blade beasts into the lower city to kill indiscriminately, and the refusal to fight during the blade beast attack, we have reasonable suspicion that your spiritual energy users have been infiltrated by mimic blade beasts!
"Therefore, your spiritual energy users must be escorted in batches to the D5 Comprehensive Combat Zone Command Center for further verification and questioning!"
Zhou Zhengde closed the document and looked at Wei Linzheng, smiling as he said:
"If there is any resistance during the enforcement process, it will be treated as if that spiritual energy user has been controlled by the mimic blade beasts."
Wei Linzheng's thin, old face darkened like the bottom of a pot.
The soldiers produced self-destruct collars one by one, and Wei Linzheng's patience was about to reach its limit. Deep Sea continued to watch Wei Linzheng with a smile.
There was no conflict.
When Wei Linzheng's patience reached its peak, he began to endure with great intensity.
There was no other way; Wei Linzheng knew he couldn’t touch this young man in front of him, or he would provoke that devil to go crazy.
He was just respecting that devil commander.
Including Wei Linzheng and Uncle Feng, all spiritual energy users put on collars and handcuffs and were taken away in batches.
Wei Linzheng walked last and paused when he brushed past Zhou Zhengde, saying in a deep voice:
"My investigation results will only be positive.
"Captain Zhou, you are too eager. Even your grandfather cannot shake the entire spiritual energy capital.
"This matter will surely alert the higher-ups of our spiritual energy capital, and you will bear immense pressure. I wonder if you, as an investigator, can handle it."
"I should be fine."
Zhou Zhengde said with a smile: "You may not know, but I’m also about to go to the military court for trial. When you are detained in the front line detention center, I will bring crucial evidence into prison to serve my sentence. This investigation will be indefinitely suspended along with my sentence.
"No investigation, no result; no result, indefinite detention.
"I just learned this trick from one of my teachers. I always thought he was very old-fashioned.
"Commissioner Wei, may I offer you a few words of advice?"
Wei Linzheng's lips trembled.
Zhou Zhengde leaned close to this dangerous B-level spiritual energy user and whispered behind the old man:
"The reason Fortress 76 was easily breached by the blade beasts is because Professor Zhuang let Kong Nu mess up those trash laboratories. I have already put your face on the documents from those laboratories.
"This underground young bug nest will be classified as a dangerous young king bug breeding experiment.
"You and Kong Nu instigated it together.
"If anyone from your spiritual energy capital touches the bad luck of Fortress 76, I will add their name to this list... Who will save you then?"
Wei Linzheng was about to turn around when Deep Sea's destruction cannon was pressed against his forehead.
Zhou Zhengde took two steps back and shook his head lightly.
Wei Linzheng trembled as he walked out of the meeting room, muttering an elegant curse.
Zhou Zhengde raised his hand to smooth out the wrinkles in his clothes and suddenly punched the air a few times, letting out an excited shout.
"Awwoo!"
...
Half an hour later.
In the external C zone, at Lingtong's supply station.
Wang Daolong was stripped of his clothes by Uncle Tai, who had just returned, cleaned the blood off him, changed into fresh pajamas, and lay down comfortably to sleep.
He was enduring an unprecedented backlash.
Before he passed out, he managed to remind Uncle Tai to tie him to the bed with straps and asked Lingtong to guard by his side.
It was simple; Wang Jixuan was afraid that if he used magic too frequently, he wouldn’t survive this backlash and would truly go mad.
Magic, going mad, and falling into darkness are completely different concepts.
Then Wang Jixuan began to fight against the backlash. This time, it wasn’t just a mental struggle; his physical body also endured immense pain.
Before he completely lost consciousness, he roughly estimated the harm this would cause.
The harm was indeed significant, but there were also gains and losses. The most troublesome issue was the damage to his foundation and the cracks appearing in his soul, which would need to be slowly repaired later.
Lingtong moved a chair next to Wang Jixuan. Having removed her left mechanical arm, she sat there without leaving his side.
Before long, Lingtong pursed her lips, and her upper eyelids began to kiss her lower eyelids.
The previous assault on the young king bug had subjected Lingtong to intense mental shocks. Although most of these attacks were resolved by the Eight Trigrams, she still couldn’t suppress her drowsiness and slowly leaned toward the bed.
She barely saw Wang Jixuan, who was tied up like a rice dumpling, and carefully shifted positions to avoid her mechanical arm hitting him, then finally relaxed and began to doze off.
Bang!
Her ponytail gently bounced on Wang Daolong's chest.
(End of Chapter)