Book 3, Chapter 348: Operation

After the three departments made their decision, they quickly standardized their statements and came up with the main steps of the plan.

First, they needed to bypass the municipal government to perform this joint operation, so they had to act fast and strike precisely at the heart of the problem. This also meant that they needed to finish while the Fu-Mu Entity was still propagating.

If they gave the time for the municipal government to figure out the plan, they would certainly interfere. After all, many of the politicians had ties with the big companies, and they wouldn’t agree to let three departments use such harsh methods on a company.

Besides, politicians could mobilize military power, and tons of it, for that matter. Hence, the departments had to avoid open disputes with the politicians. This would not only lead to internal conflict within Jibei Road’s Central City, but also the entire country may get affected. If that were to happen, the consequences would be dire.

Second, they had told the public that the Linacrox Union’s experiments and certain mercenary groups were the reason for the damage in Central City.

These excuses didn’t answer all of the questions. Ferris Wheel had ties with the Linacrox Union, so they were the perfect scapegoat.

Besides, Ferris Wheel had also sent mercenaries to attack Central City and launched a series of attacks against the government departments and officers. Not to mention that they had engaged in a naval battle with the Great Shun Republic.

Last, after this incident, the reports should state that Azure Dragon and Ocean Development Corporation had attacked Ferris Wheel. This would restrict the scale of the conflict to solely a competition between companies.

Even though everyone could guess what the truth was, such a stance and cover were still important.

If they managed to pull this off, the government departments would have more control in the future.

But this was just a plan. They couldn’t immediately carry it out just because they had set it up. Plenty of things were involved, and they had to consider backup plans and how to deal with the cleanup. The three departments handed their discussion notes to Sentry Tower so that he could perfect it and correct any flaws.

After the details were out, the three departments set the time of the attack to be during the Fu-Mu Entity’s eleventh propagation. They named it Operation Horizon.

***

Guanshang Jing had returned to the ship at the eastern port when he received an analysis report from Wu Qi. Based on the calculations, the Fu-Mu Entity was going to propagate around fifteen times, and it might last until noon the next day.

It had even done an estimation. If Ferris Wheel wanted to snatch another propagated offspring, their chances of doing so would be the highest before and after the twelfth propagation. If they delayed it, their chances of success would plummet.

Guanshang Jing checked his watch. It was 3:03 p.m.. The Fu-Mu Entity had just gone through its tenth propagation. Based on estimates, the next propagation would happen in four hours.

His expression was grim. Ever since the Resolution Department intercepted United Might’s motorcade, Guanshang Jing had been waiting for the existence to do something. Then, their chances of getting another propagated offspring would increase.

But up to now, the existence hadn’t done anything, as if it had disappeared. They hadn’t gotten any news from the fleet either, so the ship was filled with stifling anxiety.

Just then, a stern voice entered his ears. “Mr. Guanshang.”

Guanshang Jing’s expression turned serious, and he answered respectfully, “Mr. Yingwei.”

“The board of directors is displeased with you dragging things out. Why haven’t you done anything, even though several hours have passed?” Mr. Yingwei demanded.

“Sir, the Resolution Department is watching us. Please give me more time. We’ll do our best to get a propagated offspring,” Guanshang Jing immediately explained.

“You should have received Wu Qi’s analysis. We don’t have much time left. Tell us your thoughts. What exactly are you waiting for? If it makes sense, I’ll convince the board of directors to wait,” Mr. Yingwei said.

“Sir, I believe that as the Fu-Mu Entity continues propagating, the existence will do something. Once it takes action, we’ll have a better chance of getting the propagated offspring,” Guanshang Jing said respectfully.

“If that’s all, you don’t need to wait anymore,” Mr. Yingwei said sternly.

Guanshang Jing looked up in surprise.

Mr. Yingwei snapped, “Are we supposed to put our fate in the hands of an existence from the other world? Have you ever considered the possibility that it might also be waiting for us to do something?

“Those existences can’t do anything against the active biosentient entities in Central City if their status isn’t high enough. Since it hadn’t done anything at the start, it means that it’s weak. How can we hope to rely on a weak existence? Mr. Guanshang, the previous setbacks have made you lose courage. I’m disappointed in you.”

Even though they were talking through the Realm Passes, Guanshang Jing bowed. “I’m sorry. This is my mistake. I didn’t consider things fully.”

“Please do something quickly. Don’t worry so much. We should soon receive word from the naval battle. If we win and you get the propagated offspring, we’ll get support from the Union and the Linacrox Union. The Great Shun Republic then won’t dare to continue putting pressure on us,” Mr. Yingwei said.

“If we manage to do both, we’ll be the victors. Nothing else matters! If we can’t do it, do you think they’ll forgive us? Do you understand what I’m saying?!”

Guanshang Jing’s heart stiffened as he said firmly, “Understood.”

After the conversation, Guanshang Jing no longer hesitated. He started mobilizing manpower.

Since Ferris Wheel had come into this event with war in mind, the headquarters had sent them a large security force.

In order to ensure success, they had received nearly one thousand guards. They had also come with tons of heavy weaponry and bioweapons.

All the security guards had combat implants and were the elites of the company. Along with them were also martial artists the company had trained itself, as well as plenty of martial artists from the three martial arts schools of the island nations. They had a number of Third Limit martial artists and custom-made combat puppets. This time, Guanshang Jing sent them all out.

This number of fighters and firepower would be enough for them to fight a small-scale, regional battle.

Guanshang Jing was staking everything on this.

As tons of armored cars drove out of Ferris Wheel, the monitoring officers from the World Ring Defense System immediately sent a warning of an emergency to the command center and asked for instructions.

“Should we stop them?”

Liang Guanghai took a look at the set up and plan Sentry Tower provided before answering, “Remove the road blocks and let them through.”

Then, he said to his assistant, “Contact Lao Xu.”

A moment later, Xu Chan answered.

“Captain Xu?”

“It’s me, sir.”

“Ferris Wheel has moved out. A moment later, I’ll send you the detailed plan. You’re going to be in charge of the team going up against them. You can gather up your own team. The World Ring Defense System will provide them with the necessary logistics support and information.”

“Got it,” Xu Chan answered. “Are we taking action?”

“Just wait for your orders,” Liang Guanghai said.

Xu Chan understood what he was implying. “Roger.”

While the military took control over administrative duties in a city, the World Ring Defense System’s authority was higher than that of every other department. Once they came up with a plan, the other departments had to follow. Liang Guanghai was the one issuing the final orders. After notifying Xu Chan, he began mobilizing forces and setting up response units based on the plan modified by Sentry Tower.

This time, not only did he summon the two squad captains and Unit One from the attack against the resistance group, but also summoned many martial artists from the other districts.

Since the Resolution Department and Martial Valor University had promised to help with their active biosentient entities and most of the armed forces were drained from all the fighting that happened during the propagations, the command center could free up a lot of hands to join the neutralization squad.

Liang Guanghai was glad that Ferris Wheel had moved out. If they had hid in their company building to defend themselves, it would have been much harder to take them down.

They should have left due to the successful blocking of all information about the naval battle. Ferris Wheel didn’t know that their fleet had been defeated. They also didn’t expect that the three departments would attack them before the Fu-Mu Entity stopped propagating, so they made a mistake.

Once Liang Guanghai finished all the arrangements, he could only wait for the results. Even though Ferris Wheel’s security forces seemed strong, they wouldn’t be able to fend against the joint attack from the three departments.

After this, they could proceed with a complete purge of the company.

Liang Guanghai took a look at the image of the district where Ferris Wheel was located. The company building was on a narrow peninsula extending out from a coastline, and behind it was the large Ferris wheel.

The simplest strategy was to send warships to fire at it. After losing its fleet, the company was practically defenseless against naval attacks.

But that would cause too much of a commotion, and the municipal government might figure out what was going on ahead of schedule. That would be bad. Besides, it would also make it hard for them to deal with public criticism and pressure from all sides. They had to use regular forces instead.

After three hours, his assistant came to his side and said, “Special Officer Liang, most of Ferris Wheel’s strike team has been taken out. We are currently eliminating the fleeing fighters.”

Liang Guanghai wasn’t surprised by this. He just asked, “What are their losses?”

The assistant handed a hardcopy of the report.

Liang Guanghai took a look. He had sent forces which numbered much higher than Ferris Wheel’s to go up against them and had an advantage when it came to fighting power, and also spread fake information to setup the battlefield ahead of time, so the battle had gone smoothly. Most importantly, they didn’t lose a single one of their strongest martial artists.

After reading the report, Liang Guanghai said, “Send the report to the Resolution Department and the Department of Administrative Affairs. Also, tell the units to gather in Glowing Dew District in the World Ring Defense System’s name.”