Chapter 82
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Chapter 82: High-Energy Photon Cannon
Hu Jiao and the two others finished reading the messages and nodded at each other without saying much. Seeing that their work here was done, they each left the high-end villa, which was now just a charred frame.
As Hu Jiao walked to the roadside, she glanced back at the wreckage. They had arrived just in time; when she got there in the evening, several high-ranking members from the Euyun family were waiting for news from the Bureau base.
Their original plan for the night was to send someone to take control of the other four Federal directive officers in the Bureau Office, then seize control of the Time Bureau, and extract the largest operational time capsule, the Poseidon, to make the first batch of time escapes. Once successful, they would deploy all time capsules for subsequent relocation.
Although the damage at Noah Launch Site had ruined some of their prepared supplies, a batch of technological resources was still not in place. They quickly sent people to deliver those items outside Liujin City, waiting to load them for departure.
The Euyun family’s backup plan was decided quite hastily, but they thought that a quick action could have its benefits. By moving swiftly and setting up multiple lines, even if news leaked out, the Space Administration wouldn’t have time to respond in multiple directions.
Unbeknownst to them, the three directive officers from the allied countries in the Bureau Office learned about the incident at Noah Launch Site right away. They began preparing to use this as leverage to kick the Federation out of the Bureau Office on the grounds of violating the space integration operation agreement.
On this day, both sides secretly set their moves in motion. In the Bureau Office’s office floor, they crossed paths, exposing the Euyun family’s scheme. Jacob Euyun’s men were captured on the spot.
Meanwhile, Hu Jiao had also made preparations. She intentionally scheduled a day off after setting the trap. Sure enough, when she arrived at Jacob Euyun’s private villa, she received news that the maintenance team had captured several intruders trying to break into the Poseidon hangar.
Seeing that things at the Bureau base were going smoothly, she felt at ease and climbed over the villa’s wall. She met with Zhu Long’s two loyal subordinates and, after disabling the outer electronic security devices, they led away some bodyguards, allowing Hu Jiao to enter the villa alone.
When she reached the grand hall, a group of men, both young and old, were gathered there, loudly discussing how to restore their family’s glory from five hundred years ago. Peering through a crack in the door, she recognized Jacob Euyun standing in the center, holding a wine glass and talking to someone.
A young man positioned in the second batch of immigrants stepped forward to ask him if he could bring his girlfriend.
Jacob Euyun disdainfully shook his glass. “What women! We aren’t bringing any women this time! Once we get there, what kind of girls will we not have? Why bring that kind of baggage?”
A middle-aged man nearby chimed in, “Exactly. There will be better and cleaner ones over there, take your pick!” He then leaned closer to the young man, gesturing with his hands and laughing lewdly, “You could even search for those little ones, they’re something else.”
Hearing this, several people laughed sinisterly, urging the young man, “Don’t soften your heart for a woman. If you really bring her along, it’ll be inconvenient to find someone else later!”
Others added, “Right? Besides, the women who go there will be more fertile. Unlike those women today who make it seem life-or-death to give birth, who had ten or eight children back in the day? There wasn’t so much complaining then!”
“I think the infants born now have so many problems because the quality of women has declined. Our lineage can still regain vitality, but if the earth is polluted, how can they bear fruit?”
The room was filled with loud agreement: “Exactly!”
Just as the conversation reached its peak, the main door suddenly crashed open with a kick, the door frame couldn’t withstand the force and fell heavily to the ground, sending dust flying from the carpet.
Everyone in the hall startled and turned their heads. A tall, masked figure entered, brandishing a high-energy photon cannon and immediately began firing without explanation.
The previously cheerful atmosphere in the hall turned into chaos, filled with cries akin to ghosts and wolves. Those men, regardless of their gentlemanly image, scrambled and crawled on the ground in a panic to escape.
However, there were no obstacles around that could withstand the high-energy beam from the cannon. In an instant, blood splattered everywhere, along with fragments of tables, cabinets, and walls flying about.
As the masked figure continued to step into the room, the sound of the photon cannon, the cries of the men, and the impact of the beams on their targets mixed with the smell of burnt skin and luxurious fabric.
These self-proclaimed aristocrats lost all their dignity in a matter of moments, fully revealing their ugly sides in the face of a direct attack. They didn’t even have time to beg for mercy or curse before being reduced to mere scraps.
The masked figure had no intention of leaving any survivors; they swept through the entire hall without missing a single corner. By the time the room fell silent, only a few minutes had passed since her entry.
After inspecting the hall, she stepped out just as the bodyguards they had temporarily pushed away arrived. When they saw the blood-soaked hall, with not a single intact body left, they realized they were dealing with a tough situation. They immediately turned to flee but were blocked by the two who had lured them away.
The three eliminated the bodyguards cleanly from both directions of the villa’s corridor. They then separated to check each room, collecting the Euyun family’s vault keys left in the Federation and the Neutral Continent before setting the luxurious villa ablaze.
Because the villa estate was located in a remote area of Liujin City, surrounded by a ring of artificial oases, isolating it from the noisy streets, no one noticed the unusual fire when it first ignited.
Only when the flames soared to the sky did the patrolling night watchmen urgently contact firefighters. By the time the fire trucks arrived, the villa was nearly burned down to just its frame, and the fire was starting to diminish.
At that moment, a small armed force that the Euyun family had arranged earlier arrived, but their plan was to have already secured control over the Space Administration and Time Bureau by this time. The first batch of immigrants was supposed to advance into the Space Administration base alongside these armed vehicles, but by the time this armed force arrived, the villa was almost gone.
This group coincidentally encountered the Liujin City firefighters and night watchmen who were putting out the blaze. Upon seeing the opposing force, both sides grew tense. After a brief standoff, the private armed group fired first, and the firefighters quickly retaliated, leading to a fierce battle outside the crackling villa.
Hu Jiao and the others hid outside the villa, watching the commotion. Seeing that the private armed group realized the villa was a lost cause and couldn’t contact any Euyun family members, they began to retreat while still firing. The opposing side, recognizing that the group was disheartened, intensified their firepower and advanced.
After about half an hour of fierce fighting, the private armed group scattered due to morale failing, with some escaping and others captured, finishing this skirmish.
As an unexpected event occurred, the night watchmen dispatched additional support, escorting away the captured while leaving some behind for site investigation.
By this time, the fire in the villa had completely been extinguished, and shortly after the fire trucks retreated, the investigation night watchmen surrounded the area with police tape and left.
Only then did Hu Jiao and the others quietly emerge from the outer brush. They circled the area, noticing the villa was burned to charred remains. They had used a photon cannon tonight, leaving no bullet casings or anything behind. After completing their inspection, they reported back to Zhu Long and then left separately.
Hu Jiao looked at the villa, which was now precariously standing, took off her mask with a sneer, and walked away swiftly.
The next morning, Hu Jiao took the Space Administration shuttle to enter the base. At the second gate, she registered her leave ended, and after getting off, she leisurely had breakfast in the cafeteria. Afterwards, sipping coffee, she headed toward the administrative building.
“What’s with the lockdown again? What happened?”
As Hu Jiao reached the west side entrance of the administrative building, she saw a long line forming. Two security checkpoints were set up in front to conduct thorough body searches on everyone entering the building. Many people, confused about the situation, whispered among themselves.
“I heard it seems like high-level people are in trouble…” One person pointed upwards, “The upper floors above the ninetieth are all sealed off.”
Another person shook their head and sighed, “Yesterday, there were three explosions in the Federation that made headlines worldwide. We’re in a time of turmoil; this morning I saw the news that both the Southern Federation and the Western Federation declared independence. With these bombings, the Federation is practically disintegrating. Our side is likely affected by this.”
Upon hearing this, Hu Jiao took out her phone to scroll through the news. Indeed, the top headlines across major platforms were about the dissolution of the Federation. The Southern Federation and Western Federation had long had friction due to population structure and policy bias issues. The Federation’s first dissolution began in these two regions and continued to be areas of civil autonomy until now.
With the destruction of Apollo Port and the Federal agent headquarters being attacked to the point of being nominally non-existent, the cement of unity among the states was completely lost. The second dissolution of the Federation was an inevitable trend.
Behind the scenes, the conglomerates supporting the states within the Federation were largely members of the Sacred Light Society. Recently, due to issues involving the Euyun family, some rifts emerged internally. The states were at a tense standoff, with risks of internal strife resurfacing. Meanwhile, the Northern Continent expressed their determination not to let things settle easily due to the truth behind the Poli Port incident, with spokespeople demanding accountability from the Federation.
Simultaneously, due to the nuclear leak incident, nations across the globe grew anxious. Countries scrambled to introduce restrictions on agricultural product exports to ensure food supply for their own countries in preparation for potential global chaos.
The World Unity Organization also dispatched various agencies to maintain global order, prioritizing stabilizing the economy and people’s livelihoods, and then moving to the Federation and Northern Continent to prevent any potential localized hot conflicts.
Even though the Federation dissolved again, the World Unity Organization sent out official documents to all agencies early in the morning, stating that high-level positions in various agencies would remain unchanged for now. Adjustments would only occur once the situation stabilized. This included the seven positions in the Space Administration’s Bureau Office. Of the three occupied by the Federation, besides Strategic Commander Jacob Euyun, who died in his own villa yesterday, the other two directive officers were not from the Euyun family but the financial groups behind the now-independent Southern and Western Federations.
After Hu Jiao finished the security check, she pondered. The remaining two Federal seats in the Bureau Office would inevitably be replaced sooner or later, but due to the World Unity Organization’s demands, there shouldn’t be any changes for now. The Bureau Office would first fill the current positions before considering further adjustments. The vacancy of the Strategic Commander position was also critical for future circumstances.
Logically, many executive directors from each department in the Bureau had their eyes on the Bureau Office seats, but the Strategic Commander had seen two deaths in three months, which was somewhat unsettling. It felt like a position where whoever sat would face dire consequences.
Hu Jiao opened the Personnel Department’s announcement link and discovered that the “acting Strategic Commander” title had been removed from the candidate list. It now directly listed the candidates for the position of Strategic Commander. At the same time, three candidates with Federal backgrounds had voluntarily withdrawn, leaving just two from the original five.
She looked at Zhu Long, who still held the top spot, and smiled slightly before putting her phone away and entering the elevator, pressing the button for the floor where the Time Bureau was located.
