“`
…
With this newfound power, Gu Hang arrived at the Polar Industrial City a few hours later.
The speed of the Wind Falcon was demonstrated once again. A distance of 5,400 kilometers was covered in just two hours.
In fact, this was more than twice as fast as the Wind Falcon’s regular cruising speed, as it flew throughout the entire journey at a speed of 2.5 Mach.
Normally, the Wind Falcon would not fly so recklessly at more than twice the speed of sound for so long because, after all, it wasn’t a single-person fighter, but an air warship weighing hundreds of tons. Operating the anti-gravity engine at full speed for such a long duration was terrifying in terms of energy consumption.
However, the Alliance was quite affluent in terms of the limited amount of energy it used. The Low Energy Storm collection plants and energy compression plants in Gaota Province could conveniently produce super-energy crystals. This advanced energy source was more than enough for the Wind Falcon, easily supporting the consumption needed for long-distance, full-power flight.
It was the mechanical structure of the Wind Falcon itself that might not hold up. If it flew like this a few more times, it would likely need to go back for major repairs.
But the essence of war is speed, and there was no time to worry about that. If it needed repairs, so be it.
The elite troops of the Special Warfare Brigade, who were on duty at the perimeter of the seized and cordoned storage center in C7 Zone, were very surprised to see the Governor arrive.
They had no idea that the Governor was coming.
In fact, when Gu Hang left, he had certainly sent a message to the frontline command.
When Tadeusz knew he was coming, he strongly opposed it. With the Governor’s important status, he should not be at the frontline. If anything went wrong, it would be unacceptable to the Alliance.
However, he clearly could not persuade Gu Hang.
As a last resort, he could only pass the message to Commander Matins, who was even more on the frontline.
Yet, the message did not get through.
Matins had already lost contact.
Afterward, Tadeusz tried to send a message to the 31st Airborne Division, asking them to rush to C7 Zone to inform them of the Governor’s imminent arrival.
However, messages take time to circulate, and the 31st Airborne Division had just received the news. Their messenger had not arrived before Gu Hang did.
The shocked elite soldiers standing outside, despite their surprise, reacted first with a salute.
Most members of the Special Warfare Brigade had been selected from the Phoenix Interstellar Warrior selection.
Every one of them had seen the Governor during their training. They even believed that the miraculous changes that had happened to them were greatly related to the Governor. In fact, a considerable proportion of them had attended classes at the Wind-Extinguishing Zhongsi Academy and were extremely loyal to the Governor.
After returning the salute, Gu Hang summoned the person in charge at the scene—a major from the 10th Special Warfare Brigade—to inquire about the current situation.
Gu Hang learned that Matins and his team had gone down about two and a half hours earlier. In addition to the twelve interstellar warriors, thirty-one battle nuns, twenty demon hunters, and twenty special forces elites had also gone down, totaling over eighty people.
That was about the limit. The entrance was just a 6×6 opening, and the preliminary exploration revealed that the terrain below was narrow, with various underground passages connecting many rooms. Sending any more people down would not allow for effective deployment of forces. Instead, a small team of elite operatives was more suitable.
In theory, this number of operatives should have been sufficient.
But, they had not sent back any messages for a long time.
Fearing something was wrong, the major had dispatched another team two hours earlier to investigate.
Before setting off, this team was ordered to report back as soon as possible after seeing Commander Matins, no matter what.
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Yet, they too had not returned.
This had made the major very anxious.
After that, he sent down another team after a certain period of time.
He had already sent over a hundred people inside, but not one had come out.
“…Governor, that’s the situation now,” said the major, his forehead covered in sweat.
He could tell that the Governor seemed intent on going down himself. Despite knowing that his own rank was not sufficient, he still mustered his courage to advise, “Governor, I will personally lead a team down to check again. As long as I don’t die down there, I will ensure the message gets back! Please don’t go down and take the risk yourself, the Alliance cannot be without you…”
Gu Hang raised his hand, stopping him from continuing.
With eyes closed, he was feeling the surge of Spiritual Energy below.
Something terrible was brewing there.
It wasn’t a complete breeding, but more like the madness before death.
If left unchecked, its damage would be relatively limited—in terms of the entire planet, that is.
It would likely form an incarnation of an Evil God that could exist for about a week; it could create a vast storm that would sweep the entire North Territory.
The Polar Industrial City would surely be destroyed, and most people would not survive; aside from the Polar Industrial City, of the over two million population of the entire North Territory, perhaps 60% to 70% could die directly or indirectly as a result.
“`
In total, this might amount to a population loss of around two million.
Switching to the ruthless mode of a ruler, Gu Hang could calculate that this was not an entirely unacceptable number.
Sure, this would nearly annihilate the value of the North Territory, but after a week, the catastrophe would end and would not spread further.
However, this was the very last, the very worst-case scenario.
Gu Hang believed the situation was far from that point.
Even if it truly came to that, he had to rescue the people below and withdraw his troops first.
He was confident in this.
Because he could feel that, below, nearly two hundred fires of life were still burning in the tumultuous sea of Spiritual Energy.
That was evidence his warriors were still fighting.
Gu Hang opened his eyes and said to the major, “I’m going down.”
Having said that, he floated forward.
Of course, the major could not stop him.
Nor did Gu Hang leave any instructions behind.
There was no need.
He wouldn’t fail to emerge, he had strong confidence in himself.
…
After entering through the underground entrance, Gu Hang floated along the corridor.
He saw many bodies, but they were all of the cultists.
Clearly, during the incursion led by the Phoenix Interstellar Warriors, these cult members had put up a stubborn, yet futile resistance.
The Alliance warriors advanced, unstoppable.
As Gu Hang moved along this path, he felt as though he was walking towards the deep sea from the shore. With each step he took, the power of Spiritual Energy became denser.
The frenzied power from the Abyss was like an actual storm, violently lashing against Gu Hang’s psyche.
But with the newly-acquired protection of [Iron Will], these forces had no substantial effect on him.
At the same time, he soon encountered the first Alliance member.
It was a few elite soldiers, lying by the corridor sides, breathing rapidly, their minds clouded.
After a quick check, Gu Hang deduced that their consciousness seemed to have entered a peculiar zone.
It was as if they were engaged in battle, intense, with quickened heartbeats and muscles twitching involuntarily, yet they did not awaken.
If he used [Mind Control], Gu Hang could wake them from this strange state.
But after considering it, he didn’t do so.
He continued to float forward, encountering more Alliance warriors.
Until at last, he reached an expansive underground space.
In the center of this space, surrounded by a multitude of bodies arranged in a circle, was an elderly man dressed similarly to the High Priest Cui Kao that he had met in Revival City.
The old man was also dead.
Beneath those bodies was a blue-and-white, rapidly flickering Chaos Octagram Array.
Simultaneously, Gu Hang saw Matins, Georgette, the Demon Hunter, and dozens of elite soldiers’ figures.
They stood, eyes tightly closed, bodies trembling; their heartbeats were rapid, breathing was hurried, just like the warriors he had found earlier, in the same condition.
There, Gu Hang could still perform a wide-ranging mental intervention to awaken them all.
But he still did not do so.
He probably already knew what had happened.
Upon entering the area blanketed most intensely by the Spiritual Energy sea, he should have fallen into the same state as them. But his powerful spirituality, together with the reinforcement of [Iron Will], had allowed him to avoid that situation.
However, he was about to dive into it of his own accord.