Volume 5, Chapter 5 – Controversy

Qinglao Mountain lay in the eastern part of Wangchuan Circuit, named for the narrow sunken valley hidden within it.

By the time Shen He set out on her trip, the entrances to that mountain range had already been sealed off by large numbers of modified vehicles. Many inspectors in black stood guard along the road, and passing vehicles had to undergo careful inspection before they were allowed to leave.

“They’re taking it very seriously.”

With that remark, a young man stepped into view from off-camera. He had silver-gray hair, corpse-pale skin, and deeply sunken eye sockets. A cigarette hung from his mouth, and cold light flickered in his silver-blue eyes.

“That’s only normal.”

A pretty young woman with short black hair came walking up right after him.

“For a medium-sized circuit city like this, one that isn’t on the front line, the Sky Sea is their greatest barrier.”

“And once the Sky Sea dissipates, that barrier disappears with it. Even if they get lucky and not too much filth has built up overhead over the past ten years to come crashing down with it, from this point on they’ll still have to worry about inadequate defensive strength.”

The silver-haired young man glanced at her and asked, “Because it’s now certain that the voidfiends are intelligent?”

The black-haired girl shook her head lightly. “Dead things get hit by some kind of external pollution, end up half-dead and half-alive, and then, in that state, give birth to intelligence all over again… Whether that really counts or not isn’t for you and me to decide.”

“But it’s at least something like instinct, right? They can sense where there’s a gap. From now on, voidfiends will keep coming down from above without end. There isn’t much time left for them to make their decisions.”

“That’s why they sent us here, I suppose.” The silver-haired young man kept his eyes on the checkpoint ahead. “Call it a ‘peaceful visit’ if you want, but in essence the monitoring stations predicted the dissipation of the Sky Sea, and on that front we’ve already won.”

Whoosh.

As soon as he finished speaking, a heavy armored vehicle roared past. In that instant, the driver turned her head and cast a glance at the two of them, briefly locking eyes with the black-haired girl.

“Those two…” The person in the passenger seat was a middle-aged man. Seeing this, he frowned slightly. “They may have been given permission, but getting this close is still a bit inappropriate.”

“It’s not as if any of this is a secret. So what if they see it?” The driver spoke, and her voice was stern and unmistakably female. “If they were granted access, then that means we’re not afraid to let them see. This is Eastern Xia. We’ve always conducted ourselves openly and honorably.”

She was a woman dressed in tight leather trousers and high boots. Her black hair was pinned up beneath a peaked cap. She wore brown-tinted sunglasses on the bridge of her proud nose, and through those glasses one could vaguely make out a savage scar running down from her left brow ridge past her eye. It completely ruined the natural advantage of her face, giving her instead a unique air of ruthless resolve and ferocity.

“I understand.” The middle-aged man nodded. Though he found it somewhat strange to hear words like that from her mouth, her authority was intimidating enough that he did not press the matter further.

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His name was Zhang Heren, one of Wangchuan Circuit’s three Commandants. The woman driving was called Qiao Wen, the Roads Directorate Watchman who had only been transferred here last year.

Qiao Wen looked very young. Rumor had it she was not even thirty-five yet. To rise to the position of Watchman at such an age, either her own capabilities had to be extraordinary or she had powerful backing. In the span of a year, she had gained a preliminary grasp of Wangchuan Circuit’s overall situation, and Zhang Heren counted as one of her trusted subordinates.

The reason Zhang Heren found Qiao Wen’s words so strange was that she sounded too magnanimous. It did not fit with her consistent efforts to push for the introduction of mecha technology.

That made her political stance seem hard to read. The intelligence Zhang Heren had received was that she was a hardline loyalist to the Imperial Court, yet Qiao Wen was also the one promoting the importation of Western personnel and technology. In the eyes of some conservative old officials, that amounted to selling out the nation.

High Emperor Ancestor Xia had gone to great lengths to set heaven and earth in order again and establish qi methods. And now, after only ten years, how could they turn to foreign paths just because of a few difficulties?

Traitor.

Disloyal.

Those were the labels many officials in the circuit had pinned on Qiao Wen.

Zhang Heren had been promoted by her, so he had been tagged along with her as well. It was less that he resented it than that he had no power to do anything about it. But after yesterday’s news spread, he began to suspect that Qiao Wen might have some other purpose.

“So you think I’m disloyal to her too?” Qiao Wen parked the vehicle, then suddenly turned her head to look at the adjutant beside her.

Was that really a topic that could be discussed in a situation like this?

Zhang Heren nearly lost half his soul from fright. He glanced at Qiao Wen, but with the sunglasses in the way he could not read her eyes.

“The Watchman must naturally have her own considerations,” he said after a brief hesitation. “Since the Watchman holds the Imperial Court’s jade warrant and governs Wangchuan on its behalf, we naturally obey the sacred will.”

“Is that so?” Qiao Wen smiled. Then she continued, “If I told you that I simply believe qi methods should be combined with mecha technology, what would you think of me?”

The moment those words came out, the other half of Zhang Heren’s soul nearly left him too.

“Forget it.” Qiao Wen pushed open the car door. “Come down with me.”

Probably only she herself knew that she was not joking with Zhang Heren.

At her level as Watchman, the information she received from the Imperial Court’s jade warrant every cycle was beyond what ordinary outsiders could imagine. One of the most direct pieces of analysis was this: based on the current speed at which the Sky Sea was receding, at most one more year remained before the entire curtain of Sky Sea hanging over all of Eastern Xia would vanish completely. In other words, one year from now, all fourteen provinces of Eastern Xia would be facing the same problem Wangchuan Circuit faced today.

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And that raised a crucial question: even now, with the barriers of the heaven-seas fixing time and space in place, the number of voidfiends and the intensity of their assaults were already more than the front lines could bear. If that model were recalculated one year from now, the number of voidfiends would increase by at least tenfold… How was all of Eastern Xia supposed to withstand that?

Qiao Wen did not think of herself as disloyal or traitorous. On the contrary, she firmly believed that only by introducing and making proper use of mecha technology could Eastern Xia be saved.

After all, she had her own information channels. In the beginning, mecha technology had been nothing more than a fusion of Dao-Void demon arts and armament-forging methods. Later, it developed further by incorporating technologies such as the biological computers mastered by the Federation.

If the Westerners could produce research like that, why couldn’t Eastern Xia?

Strip out the harmful parts, combine the usable parts with qi methods, and develop something new, just as had been done with void-escape rune arrays and origin-crystal batteries. Hadn’t Eastern Xia always encouraged exactly that sort of fusion and innovation?

Qiao Wen had long wanted to push this plan through, but for the moment the obstacles were immense.

Too many conservative forces opposed her and wanted to block what she was doing.

Everyone was immersed in the prosperity High Emperor Ancestor Xia had brought all those years ago, like people sunk in a beautiful dream, unwilling to wake.

Ten years.

For an individual today, that was not even especially long. From the perspective of a nation, it was shorter still.

But Qiao Wen was not going to give up. Not long ago, she had pushed through the admission of several Federation companies headed by Star Tower Group, as well as the silver-haired man and short-haired girl they had just seen. Those two Federation second lieutenants had only been able to come make their visit because she had granted them latitude.

Compared with the previous dynasty, today’s Eastern Xia Imperial Court was far more open. Not only was it willing to face history head-on, it also dared to discover talent among the common people. Qiao Wen herself was an official who had risen step by step through local recommendation from the countryside.

She herself was a beneficiary of progressive forces. Naturally, she firmly believed that progressive forces would continue to advance.

After she got out of the car, a squad of inspectors came over to escort her. Qiao Wen led Zhang Heren past the checkpoint and stood at the edge of a narrow trail overlooking the valley, where she asked for a detailed report on the progress of the search.

“Most of the people have already been evacuated,” Zhang Heren said. “Shockwave detection shows a total of one hundred and twenty-nine meteors fell nearby. Ninety-four of them landed in the valley. There’s basically no habitation in there, and the evacuation process didn’t cause any casualties.”

“And the demonic-aura detector?”

“The reading is a little over 30 percent, just past the green threshold.” Zhang Heren’s tone eased somewhat as he said it. “That means the voidfiends or demon pools contained in it aren’t too difficult to handle. The Inspectorate can take care of it.”

Almost the moment he finished speaking, one of the black-clad inspectors standing ahead suddenly looked grim. He came over and whispered a few words into Zhang Heren’s ear.

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Zhang Heren said nothing, but his face darkened as well.

Qiao Wen narrowed her eyes at them. Then Zhang Heren came over to report again. “The latest readings… they’ve broken past 35 percent, and they’re still rising.”

A demonic-aura reading above 35 percent meant that whatever was at the source of that aura within the detection range was a full tier more dangerous than the green line indicated.

If it was a demon pool, then its spread would be extremely rapid and its lethality extremely high.

If it was a voidfiend, then it would be exceptionally vicious and would also possess divine abilities.

The Inspectorate would not be able to deal with it at their current level.

Qiao Wen frowned. “How long until the dojo forces get here?”

“Ten minutes,” Zhang Heren answered. “At least ten minutes.”

Then this would be a perfect chance to broaden everyone’s horizons.

Qiao Wen narrowed her eyes.

This was exactly the chance she wanted.

“Have those two come and give it a try,” she ordered.

“Watchman?” Zhang Heren was startled. “That’ll infuriate a lot of people.”

“What kind of trouble can two people stir up?” Qiao Wen’s expression did not change. “I’m standing right here, aren’t I? Go tell them.”

Zhang Heren looked at her, then went to carry out the order.

Less than three minutes later, a call came through to Qiao Wen. After she answered it, an elderly man’s forceful voice came booming through.

“You cannot act so recklessly!”

“Withdraw your order!”

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“The people of Eastern Xia… the land of Eastern Xia does not need those Westerners to rescue it!”

“History rises in spirals,” Qiao Wen replied coldly. “By drawing on what has advantages and growing stronger without ceasing. Wasn’t that exactly how Eastern Xia was founded?”

“You…!”

Qiao Wen cut the call off on the spot.

Meanwhile, the two outsiders were somewhat surprised after hearing the situation.

“I thought we were only here to watch… Who knew we’d get a surprise like this?”

The black-haired girl grinned.

“That woman, her name’s Qiao Wen, right? She’s more interesting than I expected.”

“And your answer?” Zhang Heren forced himself to continue asking.

He truly hated carrying out this kind of task.

For no clear reason.

It just felt humiliating.

“The Federation and Eastern Xia have always been on good terms. Naturally, we won’t stand by and do nothing.”

The girl nodded. She moved in sync with the silver-haired young man, each of them pressing a raised ring beneath the cuff at their wrists.

Zhang Heren’s eyes widened. Both of them were instantly wrapped in a layer of quicksilver-like liquid metal. Their outward forms rapidly fused and changed within it, and in the blink of an eye, two handsome mecha stood there in their place, each four meters tall, silver-gray from head to toe, with sharp, angular lines.

“Then we’re off.”

One of the mecha waved at Zhang Heren. Blue flames burst from its back, and together with the other mecha it shot into the sky, then plunged toward the valley like a pair of meteors.