The First Order

Chapter 230 Another image down the drain

Based on the organizations’ understanding of this world, superpowers were unique abilities that were like the DNA of each supernatural being. By matching superpowers, they could identify which supernatural being the power belonged to.

As a result, following the rescinding of the arrest warrant issued by the Qing Consortium, the Li Consortium had put Xu Xianchu on its wanted list.

Xu Xianchu’s power was no secret, after all. Besides, back when Luo Lan was at Stronghold 109, he even enlisted Lu Yuan’s help specifically to capture Xu Xianchu. As such, when Captain Zhou, Lin Qi, and the rest of the platoon returned to Stronghold 108 and debriefed, the head of the Li Consortium’s army immediately realized that all of what had happened in the mountains must have been caused by Xu Xianchu!

As for why the wolf pack had moved from their original location, it was obvious that they must have sensed danger and shifted elsewhere in advance!

Furthermore, they could have been originally targeting the outpost Li Qingzheng was commanding, but it just so happened that the nanosoldiers inadvertently protected the outpost from disaster.

Thinking of it that way, everything started to make sense.

However, some officers in command of the Li Consortium’s fighting forces realized from Captain Zhou’s written statement that “Xu Xianchu” seemed to be gathering their Li Consortium’s nanomachines!

The higher-ups of the organization were very clear about one thing. If anyone wanted to use the nanomachines, an encrypted pairing process would have to be carried out internally by the organization first. So why would Xu Xianchu, a supernatural being, want to get his hands on the nanomachines?

At this time, the powerful think tank of the organization began to analyze the situation. According to the existing intelligence they had, the Qing Consortium had issued arrest warrants for the trio of Xu Xianchu, Yang Xiaojin, and Luo Xinyu. Yang Xiaojin was confirmed as belonging to the Yang Consortium and the Saboteurs. She was from the bloodline of the Yang Consortium, while her status was that of a Saboteurs’ member. The issue surrounding her status was slightly more complicated.

Since Xu Xianchu was wanted at the same time as Yang Xiaojin and Luo Xinyu, there was a high chance that Xu Xianchu was also affiliated with the Yang Consortium or the Saboteurs. However, all of the identified members of the Saboteurs so far were females. As such, Xu Xianchu was tentatively identified as a field agent of the Yang Consortium.

This information was very important as the Li Consortium had intel that proved their neurotech had fallen into the hands of the Yang Consortium after Stronghold 109 was brought down. That meant the Yang Consortium was also conducting full-scale tests and coordination on the usage of nanomachines on their end.

Now that Xu Xianchu had suddenly appeared in the vicinity of the Li Consortium’s controlled area and was stealing their nanomachines, what did that entail? It meant the Yang Consortium might start a war against their Li Consortium!

In the vast room of the command center, dozens of the Li Consortium’s officers were standing by and listening. When this conclusion came to light, everyone looked somber.

Seated at the round table was a middle-aged general. “We intended to strike first, but who could’ve guessed the Yang Consortium had even more urgency? Gentlemen, you represent the glory of the Li Consortium, so go back to your respective posts and prepare yourselves.”

Someone asked, “What do we do about Xu Xianchu and the wolf pack?”

“Xu Xianchu probably ran far away from here after the previous attack. They’re only after the samples of the nanomachines, so it isn’t necessary for them to hang around after getting their hands on some,” another person said. “The most important thing for us is still to clear out the Experimentals from Stronghold 109. Only by doing so can we stabilize the region behind us.”

“Where’s the combat brigade that was recently deployed there?” asked a white-haired general of the Li Consortium.

“They just arrived at the newly established forward operating base yesterday. But they haven’t checked in with us yet today,” a staff officer said.

“Get in touch with them,” the general calmly ordered.

That staff officer immediately went out. But ten minutes later, he suddenly came running back and pushing open the door of the command center. “We’ve lost contact with the entire 4th Combat Brigade. We haven’t been able to contact them since they left the FOB.”

It fell silent in the command center. How could 4,500 people just disappear like that?

Ren Xiaosu, far away at the outpost, did not know anything of what had happened. Meanwhile, Xu Xianchu, further away at Stronghold 178, was even more unaware of the developments.

There was an air of joy at the outpost currently. As the Lunar New Year approached, the former refugees who did not even know when their next meal would come were suddenly treated with an abundance of meat every day. This was probably the best Lunar New Year every one of them had had.

After Lin Qi and the officers left, Ren Xiaosu thought a large force would come up the mountains to lay siege on the wolf pack again. But in the end, there were no signs of them at all.

However, there was a small group that headed into the mountains to try to recover the lost nanomachines. But just as the Li Consortium had expected, they discovered that the nanomachines were most likely already taken away by “Xu Xianchu.”

The only other people who came up to the mountains were Hu Shuo’s men. These people had not come here to report about work to him but to deliver some red paper, ink brushes, and ink.

When everyone first talked about putting up couplet decorations for the New Year, Hu Shuo had refused to write any, saying he had never written couplets before.

But surely they had to put up some couplets, right? There wouldn’t be any New Year festivities if there were no couplet decorations!

In the past, people would always put up couplets to celebrate the Lunar New Year. In the entire town, there were probably only one or two people who knew how to do calligraphy, or rather, only one or two people could get their hands on an ink brush.

Whenever the Lunar New Year rolled around, almost everyone in town would buy their own red paper and approach these “calligraphers” to help them write a couplet. It wasn’t expensive to do so, and payment would probably amount to only enough to buy one meal.

In this season, no one cared about such a small amount of money no matter how poor they were.

Here in the outpost, Hu Shuo was the only one who looked like a cultured person. If they didn’t get Hu Shuo to write the couplets, who else could they ask?

In the end, Hu Shuo could not refuse their constant requests. Thus, he ordered his men to send over some items that were used for writing couplets.

Hu Shuo set down a table in front of the outpost and put a precut piece of red paper on it. Everyone in the outpost surrounded the table to watch. For the refugees, an ink brush felt really distant to them.

Next to Hu Shuo, someone said with a laugh, “Sir, you won’t charge us to write this couplet, right?”

Hu Shuo shot him a glance. “There’s no need to pay.”

“Your writing must look really nice,” someone flattered. Hu Shuo’s image on most days was a sagacious demeanor, and he looked like someone who excelled in the four arts[1].

Hu Shuo did not respond. He deliberated in front of the table for a very long time before writing: “To get rich, / Build roads first.[2]”

Ren Xiaosu silently looked at the ugly cursive words on the paper and lamented, “Never judge a book by its cover. These words you wrote and the image you portray don’t match

at all.”

Hu Shuo was unhappy to hear that. “I already said that I didn’t want to write, but you all still made me do it. I’m already not charging for this. What more do you want?”

Ren Xiaosu said in seriousness, “If you wrote this and wanted to put it up in my previous town, you’d have to pay others to do so.”

Hu Shuo stared at him. “All you know is how to criticize. Would it kill you to not speak?”

However, Ren Xiaosu was very puzzled. “You’re pretty learned and can teach rather well in math, physics, and chemistry. At the least, you’re much better than that Mr. Zhang in my previous town. But who would write something like ‘To get rich, / Build roads first’ for a couplet? What’s more, your handwriting… looks a little crooked!”

Hu Shuo felt wronged and speechless. His image had gone down the drain!

[1] zither, weiqi (Go), calligraphy, and painting

[2] A Chinese proverb. This is a fair way of representing China’s 30 years of economic development: invest in infrastructure by building roads and railroads to power GDP growth