Meteor Fall Master in the 'Starry Abyss'
Chapter 125: Frost Plated Memories: David Lyn

Chapter 125: Frost Plated Memories: David Lyn

Warplanes always howled overhead the Elf Island Prison, swooping intentionally lower in speed and altitude whenever the inmates began their outdoor activities. They would skim over their heads before swerving away stylishly, diving back into the cloud-filled sky to deeply impress upon the prisoners the despair of being incapable of escape.

Elf Island was at sea, yet there was no water.

The sea was a parched and frozen seabed, and Elf Island floated thousands of meters above it.

Essentially, the prison was an aerial fortress from an older era that had been repurposed, although most of its inmates now were political prisoners. In earlier times, however, Elf Island mainly served as a detention ground for criminals with superpowers.

After all, cut off from the land and with air thin on a permanent basis, it was perfectly fit to curtail the activities of Transcendents.

But for some reason, as times grew ever more desolate and the environment deteriorated, the number of Transcendents seemed to be on the rise.

Initially, a few at the Alpha Stage who could walk on walls were able to rule unchallenged. Later, the Republic could freeze even those at the Gamma Phase in ice, keeping them in reserve for when necessary.

Now, it appeared as though even Gamma Phase Transcendents were becoming worthless.

It was as if this planet had become aware of some impending crisis and was slowly releasing power from its grasp, giving it over to mortals, urging them to try and save themselves.

But what was the purpose of this self-preservation? And what exactly was it afraid of?

David Lyn read the news in his cell, one of the few privileges he retained.

As the former Minister of National Defense, his subordinates, students, confidants, and the young officers he had promoted were scattered across all corners of the military. Moreover, as a war hero and commander who had resisted the Sky Ring’s invasion, he was adorned with multiple honors, giving President Madeleine reason enough to hesitate in bringing him down.

But on Elf Island, none of that mattered.

The systems of Elf Island operated independently of conventional agencies. It didn’t matter who you were—once inside, you were expected to just sit tight and serve your sentence.

In truth, within the Frost Plated Republic, the only agencies reporting directly to the President were First Rule, Second Rule, and Third Rule. If President Madeleine hadn’t forcibly introduced the Fourth Rule, causing secret service agencies to spread throughout the nation, the President of Frost Plated would not have held so much power.

Nor should she have had that power—David Lyn thought—in times of peace, Madeleine squandered massive funds on striking against political foes and nurturing secret service agencies, how could such internal conflict lead to the construction of a great country?

The more David Lyn understood Madeleine’s policies and ideals, the more dissatisfied he became.

"People like Madeleine are leading Frost Plated towards a new decline every day."

David Lyn flipped through the latest news, a series of negative reports filling him with sorrow.

When the Twin Queens passed away, they left behind a rich and vast kingdom, one that feared neither Sky Ring nor any other nation at that time. After several changes in the form of government, President Madeleine seemingly only farther deviated onto the path of decline.

How to stop Madeleine from leading the country astray...

David Lyn turned the page of the newspaper when suddenly an article in the corner caught his eye:

"Hmm? This piece of news..."

He picked up the newspaper, reading it more closely:

"Humanitarian aid organization Mingji Humanity has been destroyed by bandits, Frost Plated deployed Mobile Armors in pursuit, only to be destroyed in turn..."

"The assailant, named Li Aozi, is suspected to be a spy cultivated by the Red Arrow Empire, known for his violent disposition and ruthless methods, having killed a total of 114 women..."

Mingji Humanity.

David Lyn remembered this entity; Madeleine had proposed funding for Mingji Humanity before turning on him.

"Madeleine had planned for this organization to be responsible for human experimentation, fulfilling military demands, and advancing the military’s Extraordinary System reform."

However, David Lyn didn’t see the use in that; it wasn’t that he opposed human experimentation, but rather he opposed meaningless experimentation.

He had some understanding of the aims of Mingji Humanity, one of which was the new communication system—Mind Commander—that Frost Plated had started to implement, a command system capable of stable operation in complex electromagnetic environments.

On that matter, David Lyn was ambivalent.

He didn’t care how many lives were sacrificed. For the security, prosperity, and strength of his beloved country, sacrificing not just infants and women, but even three-quarters of Frost Plated’s elites and leaders was acceptable.

Clearly though, Mingji Humanity was not a reliable partner.

Behind Mingji Humanity stood Mingji Heavy Industries, which belonged to no particular faction.

David Lyn did not believe that a non-governmental organization would hold loyalty towards the nation. It was neither like capitalist enterprises, which were deeply entwined with the nation’s profitability and formed monopolistic Tolaras-style corporations, nor like patriotic, no-nonsense militaries which unswervingly sided with the nation, driven by nationalism and patriotic devotion.

With age, David Lyn increasingly felt the shortage of trustworthy talent, or rather, his standards kept rising, his trust in others not as fervent and pure as in his younger days.

This prison severed his network, making it impossible for him to offer strategic counsel or point out the flaws in Madeleine’s governance.

"In the end, I’m trapped here, probably for life, and what becomes of my country is perhaps known only to the heavens..."

Just as David Lyn was deeply concerned about the future of Frost Plated, he suddenly noticed something within the newspaper’s insert.

He glanced towards the position of the surveillance camera, took the newspaper to the toilet, and pretended to read while using the facilities. In reality, he took advantage of the toilet tank’s cover to gently tear open, fold, and turn the surface layer of the newspaper.

When he sat on the toilet, staring at the unfolded new content in his hands:

"Laundry room, second row, washing machine number fifteen, inner drum, code 333."

At seven in the evening, it was the other inmates’ time to watch television and get the news education.

David Lyn was, unsurprisingly, assigned the task of washing and collecting clothes; following the information he saw that morning, he found the second row, washing machine number fifteen, and discreetly began to touch the drum.

It was very light to the touch, seemingly already out of order.

David Lyn didn’t have to put in much effort before he had dismantled the drum and found an old model portable terminal in the base.

"A communicator? But how was this delivered?"

David Lyn picked up the terminal, turned it over, and found a note stuffed in the seam of the casing:

"Wishing you a speedy escape from your cage, leading Frost Plated to the world’s pinnacle again——BY some unlucky sod."

"Unlucky sod?"

David Lyn smiled knowingly and tucked away the terminal.

"Looks like there are still plenty of people willing to support me, no, willing to support the resurgence of Frost Plated."

A few days later, David Lyn found a gap and used the terminal to make his first contact with the outside world.

Never doubt a politician’s networking ability, for there is a saying in Frost Plated: an official who goes to prison is even more fearsome than one who doesn’t.

With David Lyn’s influence in the military, if he were willing to confess, a large number of officers would be implicated.

Exactly so with the bureaucratic elite, safeguarding each other, never pushing matters to a dead end to maintain stability.

Originally the officers believed that during the Grante war, Frost Plated would definitely not want the military to be unstable, not to mention with David Lyn caught up in the investigation, President Madeleine would surely want to win them over.

However, no one expected that Madeleine trusted her subordinates in the Fourth Rule Agency too much, not only allowing female agents to invade the Grante Republic in place of the regular army but also allowing Fourth Rule agents to freely investigate "gender discrimination" cases in the military.

Thus, all male soldiers who were originally hesitant and neutral were pushed onto the side of the reformists.

David Lyn was well aware of this, and since Madeleine had given him the opportunity, he would certainly take full advantage of it to pursue an unrelenting counterattack.

However, what was strange was that, while making a call to his former subordinates, before he could even begin to exchange pleasantries, a voice suddenly cut in forcefully:

"Rather than these courtesies, let’s talk about serious matters, Minister David Lyn."

"Judging from your accent... you’re a Zhengxu person?" David Lyn stated coldly, "You’re from the Zhengxu Heberon Defense Company here to contact me, right? I know your intentions. Are you planning to interfere in another country’s government again?"

"Heh, as expected of someone from a conventional military background, indeed more understanding than that old woman Madeleine," said the Zhengxu person with a laugh. "Madeleine’s legitimacy is already quite weak, and now she’s militarily intervening in the Grante Republic, putting Zhengxu under direct pressure from Sky Ring Country."

"So what? You want to install a strong military leader to counter Sky Ring’s aggressive policies?"

"Exactly. It truly saves time talking to an intelligent person, Comrade David Lyn."

"Thank you, but I’m a capitalist supporter, not one of you."

"That may not be entirely true... You possess many excellent qualities, and even if you believe you’re on the conservative side, we trust that your actions will have a strong progressive nature. It’s foreseeable that you’re exactly the person we need."

"Let’s not make such definitive statements," David Lyn said. "Sir, let me express an unvarnished point: I am a patriot, my country must come before others, my people must surpass other peoples, our citizens must be happier than others, for these things I am willing to pay any price— even so, would you still support me?"

"Of course," the Zhengxu person said with a laugh. "You should know that Zhengxu is a permanent neutral country; we just want to live in peace. A strong Frost Plated can counter the Red Arrow Empire and Zhengxu, and also bring peace to the smaller nations. That is precisely what we hope to see."

"Then, here’s to a pleasant cooperation."

David Lyn paused before asking:

"What do you plan to do?"

"We will try to be comparatively gentle. After all, Frost Plated is a major nation..."

"Is that so?"

"I promise you, no civilian will be harmed in our actions."

The Zhengxu person changed tack:

"However, once you take over Frost Plated, what you do in the face of the situation is not our concern."

The informal conversation ended quickly, and David Lyn sunk into a long silence.

He did not know whether such a course of action was good or bad.

"If possible, Frost Plated’s matters should still be resolved by the Frost Plated people themselves."