Cyber Era Witch
Chapter 446 - 399 Shunzhou City_2

Chapter 446: Chapter 399 Shunzhou City_2

"Yo," she waved at Du Qianqian and Wei Shiyue, "you’ve made a new friend, dug up from a graveyard? Do you mind introducing me?"

Just as Du Qianqian was about to come up with some excuse, Wei Shiyue stepped forward and started speaking to Mizuiro Yoshioka with ease.

"I’m called Little Wei," Wei Shiyue said, "I met Du Qianqian in the war-torn countryside. It’s a pleasure to meet you."

"A friend of Qianqian’s is a friend of mine," Mizuiro Yoshioka nodded, "But the place we’re heading to next is confidential, I’m afraid I can’t invite you onto this car."

"It’s okay, Little Wei can be trusted," Du Qianqian winked at Mizuiro Yoshioka, signaling she was under threat.

Mizuiro Yoshioka patted the back seat.

"Then, come aboard," she said, "Qianqian, you sit behind me, and Little Wei, take the side seat."

Once they were seated, Mizuiro Yoshioka pressed down on the accelerator pedal, the electric engine roared and propelled the vehicle to speed along the highway into Shunzhou City.

Du Qianqian looked back and saw a large, wheeled solar generator attached behind the vehicle, its pale blue solar panels reflecting a subtle metallic sheen, arranged neatly.

"So Old Cui’s family has been found?" Du Qianqian asked.

"A bunch of things happened while you were away," Mizuiro Yoshioka increased the speed of the car, as if her mood was also not great, "After the Righteous Army moved southward, the whole territory of Xingping South Road was responsive, but for some reason, there were a bunch of nonsensical military maneuvers from Xin City. Honestly, all absurd actions. That Anberly, known as the Think Tank, now seems like a fool, missing the opportunity."

"Shunzhou City responded too?" Du Qianqian was curious.

"Yes," Mizuiro Yoshioka nodded, "Two million citizens of Shunzhou City stirred up, crossed the streets, forced the corporate people in the city center to flee, captured the artillery, and welcomed the Righteous Army in. They held a grand meeting to commend the meritorious citizens and formed the Temporary Committee together with half soldiers’ representatives and half citizens’ representatives. This city now belongs to every ordinary person."

"Modern Entertainment will not let things go easily. What about their military movements?" Wei Shiyue asked.

"I don’t know," Mizuiro Yoshioka drove the electric trike into the urban area of Shunzhou City and stopped at a service station near the highway exit. The Flying Birds Group temporarily occupied this place as a camp.

Gazing out, Du Qianqian saw thousands of refugees clinging to the outside of the camp houses, setting up simple tents with cooking smoke rising, families displaced and on the move. She looked toward the urban area of Shunzhou City, noticing the roads into the city jammed with vehicles, soldiers passing through like a comb, everyone eager to flee into the city, not wanting to linger in the countryside that resembled a bloody slaughterhouse.

Kong Tai distributed the firearms seized from defeating the warlord gangs to the newly enlisted Silla People. There were many, enough to arm three thousand. They signed contracts, willing to become new members of the Flying Birds Group and to fight for the group’s interests, finding solace in belonging to an organization amidst chaos.

Du Qianqian saw Cui Junyou’s wife and daughter in a makeshift sheet metal shelter. His wife, Jin Shishuang, was dressed in plain clothes, keeping silent, a very strong woman who had been repeatedly tracked by the Corporate Alliance Special Agents, leading her daughter in hiding throughout the Silla countryside, yet remained unbroken, enduring multiple interrogations and persisting until today, finally having the opportunity to be reunited with her husband. Thinking that the eccentric Cui Junyou could have such a wonderful wife was quite an eye-opener for Du Qianqian.

His daughter, Cui Xiaoying, was a stylishly dressed pretty girl, obviously the rebel type on the streets, lying on a simple cot playing with her phone amidst the chaos, her hair dyed bright pink as if to ensure she was seen by all, even pretentiously sporting fake freckles. She was amazed at how her father, once a fugitive thought-criminal, had become a well-off Prosthesis Doctor, truly a turn of fortune.

"They are still under surveillance by special agents," Nidelaide said from outside the hut, her arms crossed, "Seeking Shadow and I had a hard time getting the master’s wife and daughter out while keeping it a secret from the special agents."

"You’ve worked hard," Du Qianqian looked around, "Where is Seeking Shadow?"

"There," Nidelaide pointed. Seeking Shadow was behind a collapsed stone wall practicing Shadow Kill, tirelessly drilling the martial arts contained in the archives.

"We need to find Cyber Specter to decode these discs," Du Qianqian gestured for Wei Shiyue to hand over the encrypted discs. Seeking Shadow took the discs and headed toward the storage room next door. Since most equipment and arms had been integrated into the information system, Kong Tai would collect any serviceable terminals and electric equipment wherever he went, setting up a battlefield networking center.

Wei Shiyue carefully watched as Seeking Shadow operated on the screen. Seeking Shadow’s infiltration into the deep anonymous network was as enchanting as casting a spell, exchanging, validating, and repeatedly verifying identities with digits and passwords that Wei Shiyue couldn’t decipher, until Seeking Shadow arrived at a secret site hosted on the deep anonymous network servers, where Wei Shiyue saw a terrifying pattern composed of the Crossed Cross, Seven-pointed Star, and Roaring Evil Spirit.

The Cyber Specter had been summoned. Wei Shiyue stood in awe. Legend had it that it was the king of lost souls in the cyber world, the eternal adversary of corporatism.

Seeking Shadow inserted the disk into the terminal, letting it read data and transmit it to distant areas.

"It has told you the answer," Seeking Shadow looked at Wei Shiyue, "Now the enemy is amassing forces, preparing a counterattack. The next target is Shunzhou City."

"Here with us," Wei Shiyue frowned, bending forward, "Which forces?"

Specifically, it includes the K2 Legion’s three to six mechanized infantry brigades and a K3 Legion’s army aviation brigade, with a total force of about twenty thousand," Seeking Shadow read the military intelligence, "Other troops are advancing toward Yaoyin Mountain, aiming to encircle the Righteous Army. The Righteous Army wanted to control the cities that had pledged allegiance to them but ended up leading their own troops from the vast countryside into fixed areas, making them vulnerable to being split up and destroyed."

"If they come straight for Shunzhou City," Du Qianqian reflected, "then we’ll have to run too."

"Shunzhou City has already decided to join the uprising," Seeking Shadow reminded, "This is a city that has turned against the corporation. We either fight it out with the corporate army here or rapidly retreat within a few hours."

Wei Shiyue walked out heavily laden with thoughts, with Du Qianqian hastily following behind her.

"Do you want to hold Shunzhou City?" Du Qianqian asked.

"This is a corporate city on the West Coast, with a port, rich in resources, invaluable. The Righteous Army has already occupied it, and it would not be easily given up, both emotionally and rationally," Wei Shiyue looked up at the sky, then towards the city.

"The Righteous Army fought their way from the valleys to Xingping South Road..." Du Qianqian felt a complex mix of emotions.

A shuttle machine flew by low, broadcasting the latest report through high-powered loudspeakers: Shunzhou City was in a state of emergency, the committee’s officers reached a tacit agreement to resist unreasonable orders from Xin City, recruiting volunteer citizens to join the defense and fight against the corporate military invasion. At the same time, all local factories and shops of Modern Entertainment were seized as public property, calling on citizens to resume work and production, and to manufacture weapons and ammunition to fortify the city’s defenses.

"I’ve been fighting the tycoons for many years, and today is just another battle!" Wei Shiyue raised her fist, "My shell was shattered by a dragon-slaying weapon, but I can still summon the power of new dragon flames! Burn the corporate army to ashes!"

The air-raid alarm sounded as some corporate military aircraft appeared in the distance, preparing to scout and raid Shunzhou City from the air.

Kong Tai, representing The Flying Birds Group, negotiated with the local officers to offer the group’s cooperation in defense, to protect the safety of Shunzhou City. After all, if Shunzhou City were recaptured by Modern Entertainment, they would face a series of troublesome inspections, which would be extremely difficult.

How strange it was, people one by one throwing themselves into the flames of the anti-corporate war. Du Qianqian watched those heading toward the city center ready to be armed. They were frail, oppressed ordinary people. Du Qianqian always felt that ordinary people were as docile as sheep, but at such a moment, they also silently chose to join the struggle of the Righteous Army to prevent the corporate ideology from being restored in Shunzhou City.

Again, the broadcasting shuttle machine flew over their heads, spreading propaganda—this was the only opportunity to break the chains of corporatism, a tremendous change that must begin with bloodshed!

"A person only worth two million even if they work to death," Du Qianqian sighed, "Li Gaoping alone is worth eight hundred billion. What a futile effort!"

"What are you saying," Wei Shiyue shook her head.

"There’s data, you can check!" Du Qianqian insisted.

Wei Shiyue glanced at Du Qianqian, then at Shunzhou City, and finally at the horizon where the corporate army spread as far as the eye could see.

"Here," Wei Shiyue shouted, "Shunzhou City has two million people. Even if what you say is true, then two million times two million is four trillion! Four trillion! Now you tell me... which side is more valuable! Which is more noble!"