Chu You, at least, hadn’t embarrassed Lin Mo in the cafeteria.
It wasn’t that she was particularly kind-hearted, but rather that Lin Mo had promised he would find an appropriate opportunity to explain to everyone that there was nothing between them in that way.
At 2:30 in the afternoon, inside the largest tent of the temporary command post for the rescue operation, an emergency meeting was convened.
Seated upright in the main seat, Lin Mo lightly tapped his fingers on the table, swept his gaze around the room, and spoke the first sentence of this meeting with a solemn expression…
“Don’t misunderstand, everyone.”
“I have a completely pure relationship with Commissioner Chu.”
As soon as these words were spoken, everyone wore astonished expressions, and then, in unison, turned to look at Chu You, who was seated diagonally behind Lin Mo, attending the meeting as an observer.
Chu You also snapped her head up to stare at the back of Lin Mo’s head, her eyes bewildered.
Wait, what?!
So this bastard’s idea of an explanation was to pick a moment like this, using that kind of tone and attitude?
Look at everyone else’s reactions… one after another, they were all struggling to suppress their laughter—none of them seemed to be taking Lin Mo’s explanation seriously.
If anything, the misunderstanding had only deepened, right?!
Chu You regained her composure, just about to open her mouth to explain.
“Alright, let’s begin the meeting now.”
However, Lin Mo gave her no such chance, immediately starting in on the main topic of today’s meeting.
He turned his head toward the technician seated next to the leader of Team Eight on his right, and asked in a deep voice, “How is the data collection for the identification beacons going? Can we confirm the specific cause of the magnetic anomaly?”
The technician adjusted his glasses, fingers dancing across the terminal for a moment before pulling up a page densely packed with numbers.
“For now, most possibilities have already been ruled out.”
“Minister Lin, everyone else, please look here…”
The technician displayed the screen to everyone, pointing to a highlighted index.
“The SGR index is very high, which means…the likelihood of a spatial variant aberrant’s nest is almost zero. The residual Oracle fluctuation index is hovering between zero and one, indicating that there’s probably not an Oracle wielder with spatial abilities, like Commander Gu, active nearby either.”
“Now, please look here—”
“The PD reading is unstable, fluctuating up and down about twenty times per minute on average.”
The technician lowered his hand, tapping lightly on the table, and stated with certainty, “In other words, the possibility of a subspace domain established by the Yaogu race is also ruled out.”
“In that case, there are basically only two possibilities left.”
Sitting opposite the technician, an elderly man with graying hair spoke gravely, “Unstable spatial magnetic fields produced after a high-intensity battle by a top-tier powerhouse, or—”
He leaned forward slightly, uttering a word that made everyone’s heart sink: “Deathscape!”
This unremarkable-looking old man was an expert dispatched from the provincial capital for technical support, and served as deputy director of the Nanwan 101 Research Institute.
In the minds of almost everyone present at the meeting, his words represented both authority and fact.
The level of battle intensity required to destabilize the spatial magnetic field like this—such powerhouses weren’t just rare in Binhai, but even in the entire Nanwan Province, there were only two or three at most.
In other words, it was basically certain that it was a Deathscape.
And, judging by the route the 2nd Synthetic Brigade had taken to return to their base, it was indeed possible they’d passed through that Deathscape region.
So, as the expert’s words fell, the mood inside the tent suddenly grew heavy.
For a long while, no one spoke.
Lin Mo raised his hand and tapped the table, breaking the oppressive silence.
“Everyone, what we’re facing is a super-large-scale Deathscape that has never appeared in history.”
“Dealing with a Deathscape of this magnitude—let alone us, even North Headquarters, or indeed the whole world, has no relevant experience… I understand the pressure, the risks.”
As he spoke, Lin Mo slowly stood, his voice somewhat heavy.
“But—”
He looked into the eyes of each person in turn, his tone resolute: “Who are we? Swordbearers, city officials, aberrant response specialists…”
“If even we start to lose hope, to become pessimistic about handling this properly, about rescuing the trapped 2nd Synthetic Brigade soldiers—then who else will step up?”
“Retreat once, and there will be a second time, a third time… until we keep falling back, until there’s nowhere left to retreat!”
“Behind us stand our parents, partners, children, our families, and the people who have placed all their hopes upon us.”
“I can’t guarantee that we will succeed…”
“But what I can guarantee,” Lin Mo slowly raised his hand and held it across his chest, giving the standard Swordbearer salute to everyone present, “is that I’ll be at the very front.”
“Here and now, as a Swordbearer, I ask all of you to advance and retreat alongside me.”
After finishing, Lin Mo slowly lowered his arm, took half a step back, and gave a deep bow to everyone.
“I’m counting on you, comrades.”
Once he finished speaking, the conference room once again fell into silence.
A moment later, a middle-aged man sitting at the end of the long table abruptly stood up, straightening the creases in his clothes, and smiled: “Wang Jianye, Acting Director of Binhai Law Enforcement Bureau, on behalf of all colleagues in the bureau…requesting to join the battle!”
No sooner had he spoken than a young Swordbearer on the other side immediately stood up: “Lu Ming, Binhai Division, Special Operations Unit member, Bronze Sparrow Swordbearer…requesting to join the battle!”
“You think it’s your turn to speak, brat?”
Diagonally across from the young Swordbearer, a burly man in his thirties rose with a laugh and looked toward Lin Mo.
“Captain of Special Operations Unit One, requesting on behalf of all my brothers and sisters—requesting to join the battle!”
“Unit Two…requesting to join the battle!”
“Special Operations Group One, Security Division, requesting permission from Minister Lin to join the battle!”
“Get out, get out, you old guys in Group One don’t have half the guts of us in Group Two! Group Two, requesting to join the battle!”
“Our logistics division might not be as strong in combat, but we never shy away in times of trouble…Minister Lin, just give the order! How do we fight this battle?”
“City Administration Department will fully support the operation—even if we have to charge into the Deathscape with guns blazing, there will be no complaints.”
Lastly, Captain Gao Yuan, who had come from the provincial capital to support Binhai, stood up slowly, looked at Lin Mo, and declared firmly: “Minister Lin, for now, my people and I are your soldiers. Just say the word—what’s the plan?”
The chorus of people eager for battle quickly swept away the oppressive mood.
Beside Chu You, Gu Qiancheng, who was also sitting quietly as an observer, couldn’t help but sigh lightly at the scene, lowering his voice, “Sigh…they’re getting all fired up, and now I’m itching to join in too.”
At those words, Xia Ji, who had kept her head down all along, looked up at Gu Qiancheng and softly consoled him, “Don’t be upset, Commander Gu, remember? Even if you can’t go to the frontlines, you can still contribute.”
“That’s true,” Gu Qiancheng muttered, “But I had an even cooler battle speech ready…damn it…”
Because his Oracle was countered by the Deathscape, that brat Lin Mo had stripped him of the qualification to attend the meeting as a formal participant, leaving him to perch on a tiny stool at the back as an observer.
That schemer Lin Mo…now he’d stolen all the limelight, and Gu Qiancheng—the natural main character, the genius heartthrob—had been reduced to a mere extra.
Is there any justice left?
For heaven’s sake, is there any law left?!