Chapter 404 - 208: Unstoppable, Farsighted, and All Factions Pay Homage

Chapter 404: Chapter 208: Unstoppable, Farsighted, and All Factions Pay Homage

The design was predominantly black, slim-fitting and cinched at the waist, with sharp, angular lines. The details were inspired by military uniforms, befitting the image of a front-line Commander.

The ceremonial officer immediately led a group of tailors, using whatever fabrics they had on hand—including luxury suits from the mall—and began working around the clock to rush its creation.

Highly experienced, he sketched out the basic patterns with nothing more than a sharp pair of scissors before assigning specific tasks to each tailor, speeding up their progress severalfold.

Watching from the side, Han Yuxin and Chen Yanyan exchanged a look of mutual astonishment.

For an ordinary ceremonial officer to be so capable was far beyond what common people like them could imagine.

It just went to show that royalty was royalty. With a lineage stretching back hundreds, even thousands of years, even if its political system was obsolete, the sheer depth of its high culture was something common people like them could never hope to match.

At the very least, Princess Betty’s retainers were intimately familiar with a new monarch’s coronation, well-versed in all the necessary arrangements and details.

But the most brilliant of all was Lin Feng himself.

From the very beginning of the apocalypse, he had foreseen this day, laying the groundwork by forging a connection with Betty to create the legal pretext for his future dominion.

Otherwise, the ragtag group Han Yuxin had assembled wouldn’t have even been able to produce a proper set of procedures, let alone host guests from the various factions.

Even if Jin City Base possessed immense military strength, it would still be considered a third-rate power, unfit for the main stage, if its internal administration was in chaos.

It would be like a caveman holding a Nuclear Bomb.

It would have no depth, and no foundation for growth.

So even if others feigned fear and respect on the surface, they would never truly submit. They would even use any means necessary to sow discord among your key members and dismantle your already fragile organizational structure.

Military might can only be used to its full potential when wielded by a mature, functioning system.

A bullet from a gun in a child’s hand is just as deadly as one from a soldier’s, but the child can be coaxed into surrendering. The soldier, on the other hand, is a machine built for Slaughter.

Lin Feng might not have known how to build a mature system from scratch in a short time, but that didn’t stop him from using the traditional power behind Princess Betty to his own advantage, achieving his political aims.

Only now, as the various factions arrived to pay homage, did Han Yuxin and Chen Yanyan once again truly grasp the profoundness of Lin Feng’s strategy.

This was the source of his confidence, the reason he could afford to be a hands-off leader.

And Han Yuxin, well-versed in these matters, took her thoughts a step further: ’If bringing in Princess Betty was to perfect the base’s top-level design and facilitate dialogue with other factions...’

’...then his final choice of companion—the superstar and "national goddess" Jiang Yun’er, who came to the Thirteenth Division on a publicity tour—is clearly aimed at the masses.’

Now that the apocalypse has come, danger and opportunity coexist. It’s no longer like the past, where the lower class were treated as nothing more than disposable cattle.

Every individual has the chance to achieve Awakening by killing bugs, becoming an Awakener who wields a Superpower.

The larger the population, the greater the chance of finding subordinates with immense potential.

Furthermore, if Lin Feng wants the base to grow bigger and stronger, he can’t rely solely on the legitimacy of his rule; he also needs immense popular appeal.

Only then will Awakeners who want to grow stronger, and even ordinary civilians, flock to him in a ceaseless stream, like the waters of the Great River.

They would become the wellspring of power for the base’s continuous development and expansion.

And to achieve that, he needs a public face that everyone recognizes and trusts to constantly promote the heroic deeds and countless victories of both himself and the base.

As the "national goddess," Jiang Yun’er,

was the perfect choice.

’I’ll have to arrange for people to protect this hidden chess piece ahead of time,’ Han Yuxin thought, biting her lip.

The more prominent Princess Betty’s role became, the greater the threat to her own status.

’Aligning with Jiang Yun’er to create a counterbalance might be a good option...’

As the sewing machine whirred, stitching the seams, the three women—each lost in her own thoughts—chatted for a while about base affairs and amusing anecdotes about Lin Feng before returning to their duties.

「11:30 AM.」

A ship’s horn blared from the docks.

As two ferries docked, one on either side of the pier, Princess Betty and Han Yuxin led the base’s senior staff forward to greet them.

Trailing just behind them was Liu Yueqi, who had just completed her Secondary Awakening, her face a mask of displeasure.

Han Yuxin had dragged her along to put on a show of strength.

After all, an ordinary Tier Two Warrior wasn’t rare. But a female Awakener who had reached Tier Two at the tender age of seventeen...

...was likely one of a kind in the entire world.

Her presence was far more impressive than stationing a few extra Tier Two Warriors, and it served as a much greater testament to the base’s power.

Besides, Liu Yueqi’s innate Superpower was several times stronger than a common Physical Enhancement.

Her attacks were so potent that even a Tier Two Middle Stage Awakened Warrior would have to face her with extreme caution.

As the ferries lowered their ramps, a procession of dignitaries in black suits slowly walked onto the red-carpeted pier.

The man in the lead, a high-spirited Hu Fei, strode up to Han Yuxin, extended his right hand, and said with a great deal of feeling,

"Long time no see, Miss Han..."

"No, I should say Vice City Lord Han!"