Meteor Fall Master in the 'Starry Abyss'
Chapter 262 - 083. Complex disputes

Chapter 262: 083. Complex disputes

How did the Red Arrow Empire rise? The process was arduous and complex, yet in any case, as a newcomer, it joined GTB and became today’s hegemon, dominating globally in technology, finance, and healthcare.

The Mechanical Legion shattered the glaciers and old dreams; Red Arrow generals, bearing treaties of old and crimson arrows, marched forth. One by one, upon breaching the capitals that once usurped their land, the soldiers of Red Arrow plastered those humiliating documents all over the locality, nailing them with Red Arrow nails on door panels to remind them of their past mistakes.

Over the past three hundred years, the Red Arrow’s territory kept expanding—drinking from the rivers of the East at Sky Ring, sweeping through Frost Plated in the West, annihilating and assimilating dozens of nations. Their territory had far surpassed what once was of the Blue Ink Alliance. They no longer feared the Great Powers; now, they were the Great Powers.

However, for five hundred million Red Arrow people, reclaiming the Hameda Archipelago was the greatest demand of their lifetime.

The dispute over the Hameda Archipelago dated back to ancient times—it was a fragment of a nuclear-powered continental block from an earlier era. However, following the Ersha crisis, the whole world was frozen over, and the Hameda Archipelago ceased to move, staying in place and conveniently forming a man-made defensive line that sheltered the Blue Ink Alliance.

If it’s hard to grasp this concept, imagine a unsinkable aircraft carrier that could launch ten thousand fighter jets at once, loaded with military facilities from the Yamiriko Federation aiding the Blue Ink Alliance from ancient times.

The technology and productivity of Azure Star, compared to the old era, are too vast a gap. Whoever gets the Hameda Archipelago would essentially be reclaiming the full suite of old-era chips and programming technology.

For example, Azure Star’s most advanced fighter jet today is Frost Plated’s "Vulture," yet the maximum number of Loyal Wingmen that a Vulture could link at the same time is merely twelve. If old-era chips and programming technology were used, this number could increase to 220.

This isn’t a joke. The same issue occurs with Mobile Armor. Everyone knows that massive humanoid Mecha are utterly absurd for atmospheric environments and have no real combat value. However, the people of Azure Star have no choice; in the Outer World, if they don’t increase the size, the machines simply can’t withstand the cold.

But with old-era technology, the size of humanoid Mechas could be reduced to under five meters while still maintaining the same speed and operational efficiency as before.

With such critical resources at stake, how could Sky Ring possibly return them to the Red Arrow Empire?

To protect the technological equipment, the two long-standing military powers proactively withdrew above the archipelago chain but never forgot to declare their sovereignty over it and engaged in continuous gunfire around the surrounding areas for forty years. Red Arrow, driven by the belief in their ancestral land and the importance of technology, was relentlessly firm on this issue, imposing various economic sanctions that plummeted the value of Sky Ring currency, leading to the current high unemployment rate and stagnation in Sky Ring Country.

As is well-known, when the economy declines, the cost of committing crimes lowers. Those homeless and jobless individuals can only resort to crime to survive. In such an environment, ordinary workers and students again become victims of crimes.

—What? Do you think the poor would rob the rich? Rob the lords and the Clans of their money?

All Four Nations have a notion of gun prohibition; however, with the economic level of civilians, the best firearm they could get their hands on is probably just an assault rifle. The mansions of politicians and business families are protected by Beta Rank powerhouses, elite samurai, and legions. Anyone would be insane to rob them, right?

The weak draw their blades only on the weaker.

The Sky Ring Government’s permissive style of management essentially resorts to a simplistic and brutal approach to these internal conflicts: war.

You don’t have a job, do you? Gather a few people and form a security Pioneer Group. Go claim some territories in the Outer World by robbing them. As long as you pay your taxes, Sky Ring will recognize you.

In such an environment, countless people armed themselves and stormed into the Outer World, and in just twenty years, the territory of Sky Ring had expanded by 33%, accompanied by a soaring birth rate and death rate due to the war and the people brought in by the samurai.

However, the majority of students could no longer tolerate such an environment; they were merely children of ordinary salaried workers and the education they received made them aware of the true nature of war. The constant death and fear made them abandon the illusion that ’studying can change one’s fate,’ beginning to dislike and detest the war.

If this continued, the country would be doomed.

It was at this time that Sky Ring began its repeated plans to land on the Hameda Archipelago, a move that severely agitated the Empire’s nerves. The Empire stated coldly, "Although we don’t have many nuclear bombs, carrying the whole world with us to oblivion is still enough."

But such an attitude only further fueled the split within Sky Ring—the hawkish faction, who favored war, became more rampant, believing this to be a sign of weakness, while the dovish faction criticized the domestic economy which was already a mess, saying there was no need to further confuse the people.

Upon hearing this news, the students of Sky Ring completely broke down: if the archipelago war broke out, they would be the first to be sent to the front lines as cannon fodder.

Rather than dying in such an unjust war, they might as well go all out with Park Jung-soon, that bastard.

Sky Blazing Ring, Red Brigade, the United Army, Sky Ring Students’ Salvation Alliance... such student organizations sprouted all over the country, initially starting with strikes and walkouts, but later, as they blew up police stations and seized some military arsenal, they began various terrorist attacks.

The struggle finally had an effect. The politicians of Sky Ring Country couldn’t withstand the pressure and directly let the Clan Groups intervene and strike.

Within a year, 220,000 students were arrested and imprisoned. The absolute disparity in strength caused most organizations to be directly disbanded; some even turned to banditry, transforming from heroes who resisted the war into violent thugs on motorcycles committing robbery and vandalism. Survival became more important than anything else.

"Ring of Heavenly Blaze, a heart dedicated to saving the nation, the undying red sun, shining upon the East!"

The Sky Blazing Ring, Red Brigade, was the last still adhering to this creed, maintaining organizational discipline and scholarly military spirit. Because the full name was too long, people simply called them ’Red Team,’ though there were too many imitators or organizations falsely claiming the name in public... To be precise, it’s still better to call them Red Squad.

Red Squad and the Monarchist Party were originally one of the two main storylines of Sky Ring:

Players could choose to join the Red Squad, attacking the military’s logistics, assassinating corporate executives, promoting anti-war sentiments to win the people’s sympathy, ultimately overthrowing the Ring King and the Clan Group to establish a normal regime.

Alternatively, players could choose to join and become retainers for the Clans, obtaining glory and wealth as samurais while continuing to maintain the war-torn and deteriorated order.

Li Aozi wasn’t a person from Sky Ring, but he was still very familiar with these two main storylines.

People of Sky Ring discriminated against Mutants and Arcane Users, considering them monsters and aliens that corrupted the pure human gene. On the other hand, Red Squad, in its bid to gain any possible advantage, had absorbed many Arcane Users and even broadly attracted international volunteers to join the fight because of this reason.

For instance, ’Black Knight’ Gretto Yegg.