“`
Moving on, it’s not as simple as obtaining authorization when the Alliance strikes down on Blackbird Heavy Industries. Good luck getting that approved; if possible, both the Star Realm Army and the Imperial Navy will be involved.
In other places, it might be a bit tricky. On an ordinary Empire World, after submitting an application for military support, no one knows how long one might have to wait for the regular forces of the Empire to provide assistance.
But in the Tianma Star Sector, this problem is greatly alleviated.
The Tianma Star Sector is the core of several surrounding Star Sectors and one of the most bustling areas in the entire Dragonhawk Star Domain. The Tianma Fleet and the Third Dragonhawk Legion are stationed mainly within Tianma Star Sector, with the mission to guard and patrol the safety and defense issues of the surrounding Star Sectors.
Things may be slow elsewhere, but in the Tianma Star Sector, the Navy and Star Realm Army truly arrive within minutes to suppress any incidents.
Moreover, the Governor, or rather the Governor’s family, wields a certain influence in the politics of the Star Sector. With such an incident, it might not even be necessary for the Alliance’s military forces to fight desperately.
As long as the intelligence is accurate and evidence is solid, the Alliance’s forces only need to hold their position, and soon the Imperial Navy and the Star Realm Army will come to Rage Owl Star to wipe out Blackbird Heavy Industries.
But wait… thinking of this, Bird realized another problem.
The Dragonhawk Third Legion, that is, this Star Realm Armed Forces unit stationed in the Tianma Star Sector, seems to have… a deep relationship with the Fatches Family. Their main base of operations is on three planets belonging to the Fatches!
Hiss!
This complicates things.
Of course, Bird is just a spy. If there are some things he can’t figure out, doesn’t understand, doesn’t know how to do, that’s okay. After all, it’s not his job to think about these matters.
His only task was to get the intelligence out clearly.
However, even this proved to be difficult.
He could barely move an inch on the streets of Blackbird City, let alone break out of the city on his own.
Within Blackbird City, the defense was not as tight. Although he didn’t have a proper identity to pass through normally, there weren’t many patrollers on the streets. As long as he kept his clothing consistent with others and avoided attention as much as possible, he was fine.
It was slow, but he could still move.
But to leave the city, he had to get past many checkpoints, the outermost one being exceedingly difficult. They lost two people without even finding a way in during their infiltration attempt; leaving now would likely be hellishly difficult.
Forced to wander within the city, he was looking for the comrades who had infiltrated into the city earlier, hoping to get some help.
At first, he did not hold out much hope.
If he could notice and realize certain things, then surely the comrades who infiltrated earlier would also be aware. For such crucial intelligence, if possible, his comrades would not keep silent and would do their utmost to get the information out.
The reason they hadn’t done so was undoubtedly due to some very difficult realities; it’s just that Bird hadn’t encountered them yet.
If he could find his comrades within the city, it would save him from taking many detours.
One thing that worried him, though, was whether his comrades were still alive.
Luckily, after wandering the streets for two days amidst relentless rain, with no place to resupply food, he stumbled upon an unexpected discovery.
In a hidden spot, he saw a scythe symbol.
This symbol was the rendezvous signal agreed upon by the comrades before entering the city.
Seeing this sign, Bird realized that his comrades were not dead—at least not all of them.
Overjoyed, he found an arrow mark near the symbol, wiped it away, and after searching for a full day, he finally arrived here.
Knocking at the door, he encountered a child with modified eyes, was held at gunpoint, and found out it was Tim Winter, although his face was now disfigured…
Despite the myriad doubts in his heart, he still followed Winter into a room.
“`
Here, another comrade lay, but he was now breathing in less and out more, obviously not long for this world without reliable medical support.
Bird’s heart skipped a beat, and a very bad thought occurred to him.
And this thought was confirmed by Wente, “It’s just the two of us left, Orga is also going to die.”
Bird was silent, his mood heavy.
But he quickly adjusted his mindset and asked, “I’ve seen the situation on the streets in the past two days, things are serious. However, you’ve been here for a month, have you gathered more intelligence?”
Wente nodded and then shook his head, “As for intelligence, yes, we have some. We know what the upper echelons of ‘Blackbird Heavy Industries’ are enforcing is the same as the information we initially received in our minds about the ‘Iron Heresy.’ They… they are breeding humans and then ‘helping’ them evolve.”
“This is manifested by their continuous incorporation of people from outside Blackbird City. These people ‘settle down happily’, kept in their custody. Then, according to quotas, they line up for ‘glorious evolution’, which is to be transformed into the mechanical and flesh hybrid monsters you’ve seen on the streets.”
On hearing this, Bird couldn’t help but interrupt, “The people being brought in, don’t they resist?”
“They can’t resist, they don’t have weapons, or a unified organization, how can they resist under strict surveillance?” Tim Wente said, “However, as you say, not everyone is willing to accept this fate. It’s for this reason that we have managed to survive. Cisney… is the child you just saw outside. We settled in his home last week, thanks to the help of his family.
At that time, his parents were still around, but yesterday, his parents lined up for ‘glorious evolution’ and were taken away. Actually, he was also to be taken, but Orga and I hid him, and Orga almost died for it…”
“Wait a minute!” Bird realized another big problem, “You’ve been exposed?”
Wente’s fierce face revealed a helpless smile, “What else? How else would it be just Orga and me left?”
“Then we need to move quickly…”
“We’ve already moved, this isn’t Cisney’s home. This is a place where the owner has just been taken for glorious evolution, and new residents haven’t moved in yet.”
Bird felt even heavier in his heart.
Although he already knew the answer, Bird still couldn’t help asking with the last hope, “Then have you… found a way to get out?”
Who would have thought, Wente curled his lips, revealing a terrifying smile, “Yes, and I’ve been waiting for you to come, only you can do it.”
Bird was suddenly enlightened.
He immediately understood what Wente meant.
These Demon Hunters all possessed a certain Spiritual Talent but were not strong enough to become a formal practitioner of Spiritual Energy. After their successful training, they would all receive a power similar to Spiritual Talent.
Wente’s ability, ‘Homing Pigeon’, allowed him to construct with his spirit a pigeon capable of flying to deliver intelligence.
But the Homing Pigeon he could conjure clearly wasn’t strong enough to fly out of Blackbird City, otherwise they wouldn’t have needed to wait until now.
Bird’s ability, on the other hand, was a weaker version of mind manipulation.
According to Wente, the way he wanted to escape would presumably involve making use of his own talent for mind manipulation.
Bird said gravely, “Let’s hear it.”
…
A day later, in a room on the second floor of a house on the streets of Blackbird City, Bird nervously waited. He peered down through a small crack in the window.
Behind him on the bed, two men were tied together, mouths gagged, faces showing terror.
A little further down the street, a few black, fully enclosed vehicles were slowly approaching.
————
4k