In the underground sewer pipes, where no one can see, swarms of rats are marching rapidly.
Driven by inexplicable hatred, they planned to make a comeback in the Lower Three Districts, to devour and submerge the place that had slaughtered their companions.
They aim to tear apart the defenses of the lower three zones from within.
To the rats' surprise, after searching underground for a long time, they found that the pipes that should have led to the surface, toilet, and floor drain had all disappeared.
No, to be precise... they were all blocked by quick-drying concrete!
It's important to know that the federal construction industry is one of the most outstanding industries; otherwise, they wouldn't be able to build skyscrapers that are over a hundred stories high.
That quick-drying concrete contains special chemical components, it dries in 10 seconds, can withstand a magnitude 7 earthquake, and requires special chemical reagents to dissolve it during demolition.
This thing is perfect for clogging drains, it's like child's play.
The parents' association happens to be involved in infrastructure projects and is responsible for repairing dilapidated buildings, so they have a lot of concrete left over and used it all for this project.
The Rat King harbored hatred for the Lower Three Districts because it initially planned to use the filthy and chaotic Lower Three Districts as its granary, and then spread its influence throughout the entire city. However, it failed in its first attempt and had no choice but to turn its attention to the Fifth District.
Now it has returned with a vengeance, thinking that such a huge swarm of rats would surely succeed in its revenge, but... they can't even find an exit!
At this moment, the rats were scattered on the ground, searching back and forth for an exit. Some rats even tried to dig through the concrete, but after digging for a long time and breaking their fingernails, they still couldn't pry open the sewer.
The parents' meeting really kept the lower three areas under control too thoroughly. The Rat King had no idea how crazy these family members could be in order to be recognized as advanced!
Moreover, the rats suddenly smelled food as they were moving along.
Some mice instinctively went looking for food and then saw the rice grains in the sewer pipe.
A few rats took a few bites and died instantly. It was rat poison that the parents had put in before pouring the concrete. Based on the principle of killing as many as possible, the family poured all the rat poison they could find on the market into the sewer system.
A rat died suddenly after taking poison, and the rats next to it pounced on it and tore at it, trying to eat their own kind.
But before they could take more than a few bites, they too died suddenly.
Apart from the rat king, the rats in the entire group were not fully intelligent, so this batch of rat poison killed thousands of rats in places that could not be seen.
It wasn't until the Rat King noticed something amiss that he commanded the underground rat swarm to evacuate quickly.
On the ground, nearly a thousand family members were armed and ready for action, while tens of thousands of gang members were armed with kitchen knives and guarding Longlin Road, Lianmeng Road, and Binhe Road. There were also sentries on the buildings.
In the end, the rat swarm did not choose to continue attacking the lower three districts, but instead surged towards other districts like a tide.
The Rat King has awakened its intelligence. It doesn't want to fight to the death with the Lower Three Districts. It would be better to devour other places first and then deal with this isolated and helpless Lower Three Districts.
At this moment, the residents of the three lower districts were stunned. What was going on? Why had the rat swarm receded?
At this moment, Xiao San loudly explained to the residents, "Please don't be afraid. All the sewers have been blocked. During this period, we have taken advantage of the special rat extermination campaign to check all possible places where rats can pass through. There will be no omissions. Please evacuate in an orderly manner as soon as possible..."
At this point, Xiao San probably felt that his fierce persona was about to crumble, so he quickly became ruthless again: "Get the hell moving! Anyone who dares to delay the advance of the troops, I'll shoot him dead right now!"
The difference in attitude before and after left the residents bewildered, but they were no longer so resistant to the parent-teacher meeting arrangements.
In the night sky filled with wails outside the Lower Three Districts, the Lower Three Districts, which were originally despised, became a real temporary haven.
With 120 parent-teacher association liaisons traveling to every corner of the city, more and more families began to gather at the headquarters, gradually alleviating the manpower shortage problem.
The family members, looking fierce and menacing, were organizing the migration of millions of residents, while the mistress frowned deeply.
They have four key doors, and at the current speed, they should be able to allow two people to pass through per second, meaning four doors allow eight people to pass through per second.
One hour is 3600 seconds, and 28,800 people are evacuated per hour.
The lower three districts are home to more than half of the population of City 10, totaling as many as 6.31 million people according to the household registration statistics of the Parents' Association.
Therefore, it would take at least nine days to evacuate all residents of the three lower districts.
Will the rat swarm give them nine days? No, according to the parents' estimates, the rat swarm will wipe out the entire Upper Sixth District in three days at most.
Xiao San leaned against the defense line, lit a cigarette, and silently watched the residents' procession advance rapidly.
Behind the key gate, people gradually understand what is happening in City 10.
Those gang members who had just been fierce towards them did not choose to run away when faced with disaster, but instead left the chance to live to them.
...
...
A reporter from Hope Media quietly hid in the crowd and followed the residents of the three lower districts as they evacuated.
He originally came to investigate the anomalies in the lower three districts, but now he's been intimidated by the parents' meeting and has been forced to go downstairs.
One night, while passing by, the reporter noticed that the Lower Third District, which should have been completely dark, had become brightly lit. So, he found himself drawn into the area.
Before he could even get his fill of watching, he ran into the parents' meeting enforcement.
The reporter witnessed the family raiding two burglary dens in a building, and the onlookers applauded.
People gather happily on the streets at night to chat, and women even dare to walk alone at 2 a.m.
You should know that even in the fourth, fifth, and sixth districts, women cannot walk like this after midnight. If they just walk through a dark alley, they might be gone.
The reporter subconsciously looked towards the alleyways in the lower three districts, where surveillance cameras were installed and signs were posted such as "No urinating or defecating in public, or you will be paraded through the streets," "No breaking the law, or you will be arrested," and "I'm watching you."
He went inside and took a sniff; sure enough, there was no smell of urine!
You should know that even in some alleys in the third district, people will urinate and defecate.
The reporter from Hope Media was stunned. Was this still the Lower Third District he knew? Shouldn't the Lower Third District be extremely dangerous, dirty, and dark? The Lower Third District before our eyes had become completely different.
There's definitely something wrong with this.
The reporter rented a house in the Lower Three Districts, wanting to experience life there firsthand.
Later, the reporter began to understand that behind the federation of hundreds of clubs was a behemoth called the Parents' Association.
In fact, his investigation could have been completed long ago, but the reporter hesitated because he knew very well that the conglomerate had just not yet discovered the changes in the lower three districts and the transformation of the parent-teacher association.
The conglomerates are simply used to looking down on the top, so they disdain to look down on the lower three districts.
But if we want the media to report on it, it will inevitably lead to the exposure of the parents' meeting. What will happen then? The reporter is well aware of the consequences.
So he burned the manuscript.
Although this matter will be exposed sooner or later, he prefers to let it be exposed later.
Later, the reporter settled in the Lower Third District, where he felt even more comfortable than in the Fifth District.
Just as it was the reporter's turn to enter the key gate, he suddenly left the line.
As soon as he left the group, a family member kicked him and asked fiercely, "What are you doing? Don't you want to live anymore? Get back into the group!"
Another family member was maintaining order in the line: "Those at the back, fill in! Hurry up, all of you!"
The reporter was kicked and fell to the ground, but he wasn't angry. He just stood up, dusted himself off, and looked at Xiao San, saying, "I'm a reporter from Hope Media. I served in the 102nd Brigade of the First Army Group of the Federation. I want to stay and fight alongside you."
The mistress was stunned for a moment: "Do you even know what you're saying?"
The reporter nodded: "My name is Gao Wen. I am willing to stay, and I know what I may face next."
This Hope Media reporter wanted to stay and participate in the fight, and to record what he saw and heard firsthand as a story.
Chapter 679, Going Against the Current
Located at the T101 military base north of City 10, the massive Aoyama-class air fortress is undergoing a comprehensive overhaul.
The black city stood quietly on the ground, surrounded by high maintenance platforms, much like the dense scaffolding outside the walls of a building.
Thousands of maintenance engineers were busy at the maintenance platform, operating huge robotic arms to disassemble the scrapped parts of the Qingshan and replace them with new ones.
Hundreds of engineers are also inspecting the systems and code of the Qingshan.
The battle at Forbidden Land No. 002 left the Aoyama in a state of combat damage.
Anti-gravity devices and reactors must be maintained after being overloaded. The larger and more sophisticated the machine, the more careful it should be.
Currently, repairing its outer armor alone would cost astronomical sums.
At this moment, Li Changqing was dressed in military uniform, wearing the rank of lieutenant general, and sitting in the command post of the military base.
She silently flipped through the intelligence reports sent back by the Red Sparrow organization, and two of them caught her attention.
The first point is that traces of foreigners have been discovered within the northern divine realm, but the flying vehicle they used to cross the Forbidden Sea has yet to be found.
The Forbidden Sea can be crossed; although ships cannot pass through, there is no obstruction in the air.
Even in the real world, a direct flight across the ocean takes only about 13 hours.
People from the West Coast had come to the Union before, and the Union initially welcomed them. However, it was later discovered that those who came were all engaged in espionage, and such exchanges ceased.
Now, the appearance of foreigners in the north must mean they flew in, and the fact that the Federation Army under Kamio did not provide prior radar warnings indicates that Kamio opened the country's doors to the forces on the west coast!
Li Changqing frowned. This was not good news. The West Coast had made a comeback and had probably already found a forward base at sea.
The second piece of intelligence was that an internal conflict broke out in City 5. The conflict was quelled that very night. However, after the failed attempt to overthrow the family head, the family head remained in his cabin on Ginkgo Mountain and did nothing.
This puzzled Li Changqing. What exactly was the head of the Qing family trying to do? How could he pretend that such a serious provocation had never happened?
In fact, what the head of the Qing family really wanted to do has always been a mystery to all the various factions.
At this moment, an operations staff officer walked in with a piece of intelligence. Li Changqing glanced at the markings on the intelligence; it was clearly an S-level message transmitted from the Li family's Privy Council.
Tonight, a young man named Ji Guanya visited the Banshan Manor in City 18 and had a private conversation with Li Yunshou for 20 minutes.
Following the secret meeting, an intelligence report arrived at the T101 military base via an encrypted network.
Li Changqing only glanced at it before immediately standing up: "Prepare a Class A airship; I'm heading to City 10."
Old Twenty-One, who was dozing on a chair outside the command post, asked in confusion after hearing Li Changqing's words, "Why don't we take a Class B airship? It'll be faster."
"I'm going to war. Prepare Class A airships and an escort fleet!" Li Changqing said coldly. "The patriarch said that Qing Chen asked Ji Guanya to send a message that City 10 has been contaminated by the corpse of Kamishiro Chika, and a disaster is about to occur."
Old Twenty-One was stunned for a long time: "Wait a minute, you just came back from the south. There's no need for you to go personally for this kind of thing. Boss, you can just stay in the rear. There's no reason for you to personally go to the battlefield every time there's a war."
Li Changqing glanced at him: "Qingchen is in City 10."
After a long silence, the twenty-first man said, "What a terrible thing to do."
"Where's Little Eagle?" Li Changqing asked loudly.
“I’m here, boss,” Little Eagle said timidly as he walked in from outside.
"Weren't you and Qingchen both at the Time Traveler Academy? Why didn't you tell me this?" Li Changqing asked with a gloomy expression.