"It’s a squadron of three Sky Behemoths," The well-built officer stood in front of Corvey, swiftly explaining as he switched to the next photo. This photo, taken from a further perspective than the previous one, clearly showed Mechas, drones, and Dragon Cavalry Fighters surrounding the huge war machinery. "Besides these, there’s also a large squadron including reconnaissance jets, supersonic fighter jets, and large bombers." The robust officer switched to the next photo, barely visible were dense planes above those three massive Sky Behemoths, almost obscuring the entire sky. "They really are sparing no expense," The middle-aged officer standing beside Corvey remarked coldly, "They wouldn’t even want to deploy this much machinery against an Angelic Tier exotic beast." "Currently, these fighters are rapidly approaching the gates of South City, they will reach beyond the safe zone in at most an hour." The officer displaying the photos looked at Corvey, "If these war machines unite to attack the city, the doors of South City might not hold them off, nor might the anti-aircraft guns stop those bombers from bombing the city." "From which direction did these air combat squadrons come?" Corvey looked towards the robust officer. "These jets should have departed from different military bases of Yiwis Space Systems, thousands of kilometers away, with a supply point probably in the southwest, Seine City," The officer projected a map on the projection screen, then stepped forward, pointing to a city in the southwest direction of Yilan City and spoke softly, "Seine City is a small city of just over a million people, next to Twilight City, about 300 kilometers from us, and is completely under the control of the Yiwis Space Systems. "Based on intelligence we obtained earlier, Yiwis has built airports and warehouses both inside and outside this city which allows fighter jets to land and refuel, and also act as a temporary base to attack cities within its radiation range." "They were prepared to target us all along?" An officer in the crowd asked hoarsely. The robust officer shook his head gesturing with his electronic pen, drawing a circle centered on Seine City, "This arrangement was actually aimed at Dawn City; Dawn City is also within the ’military base’ radiation range of Seine City," He turned back to look at everyone, "In fact, Yiwis Space Systems had plans to build a temporary military base near our Yilan City as well. We are closer to Dawn City, and the threat is even greater. "Even the previous city government had finalized discussions with them, but they failed to be re-elected, and Mayor Lin En took office, so that project was shelved." "If that military base had been constructed," An officer in the crowd spoke slowly, "Then by now, all we could do is surrender." "Did the Central Army receive the message that was sent to them?" Corvey turned his head to look towards a rather skinny officer on the other side. "The Central Army said that the exercise of the Yiwis Space Systems’ Mercenary Corps had been approved by the Federal Central, as long as they don’t cross into the safe zone, the actions of the Mercenary Corps are legal, and they can’t interfere," The skinny officer sighed, "They said they could only try to send someone back." "These air combat squadrons, from outside the safe zone to right outside the city gates, it’s a matter of minutes. Such a massive scale of combat squadrons, even exotic beasts in the sky would have to detour around them," The officer showing the photos sighed, "By the time the Central Army gets the message about the Mercenary Corps breaking through the safe area, countless of our people would already have died." "How is this safe zone drawn so close? A plane swishes by and it’s already here, what’s the difference between drawing it and not?" In the crowd, an officer couldn’t help but complain. "When this safe zone was marked, our aviation and weapons levels were not as advanced as they are now," the middle-aged officer standing in front of the map said slowly, "It’s been centuries without any incidents, and the Federation is gradually moving towards unity, so the rules haven’t changed." "Has the First Wilderness Army Brigade finished its exercises?" Corvey looked at the middle-aged officer beside him. "The exercise just ended not long ago, and they are still reorganizing outside the city." The middle-aged officer answered slowly, hesitated for a moment, and asked in a low voice, "Should they continue the exercise?" "Let these kids come back," Corvey looked at the map on the wall, his tone calm, "If the enemy is only the army, we can still cover them, but once the air combat group arrives, they will become live targets, and sending them to die is not fighting." The middle-aged officer nodded. "Pass my order, close the South Gate, shut down Jar City," Corvey began to speak slowly, "Activate all the anti-air systems, and be ready to repel the attacking enemy." As he spoke, the surrounding officers immediately gathered together, forming a line, standing neatly by his side. Then Corvey turned back, looking at the officers beside him whose bodies were slightly tense, "Don’t be nervous, we haven’t fought a war, and the enemy isn’t likely to have rich experience in waging wars against humans. Do everything as we did in past exercises—the more nervous and rushed we are, the more likely we are to make mistakes." All the officers straightened up and responded immediately. Then Corvey’s gaze fell on the middle-aged officer standing in the forefront, "Send all the intelligence and information to the White Jasmine Palace, all the orders to commence battle should be issued by the Mayor." The middle-aged officer nodded. The breeze under the sunlight fluttered through the Jasmine Flower Sea, and He Ao, sitting by the bed, glanced at the flowers outside the window and lowered his head to look at the content on the tablet in his hand. This was a summary report prepared by Eve after gathering all the intelligence on the Prisoners’ Gang sent by the City Defense Army. The report was full of gaps because almost all the Prisoners’ Gang strongholds had physically destroyed the hard drives containing various key data by the time the City Defense Army burst in, leaving the places in complete disarray. Much of the data could only be reconstructed by interrogating those who were still alive. However, these living members of the Prisoners’ Gang, particularly those at higher ranks, exhibited severe mental issues, and the few C-level members who appeared in the resistance against the City Defense Army were nearly all madmen, and even when caught alive, they could not be interrogated for information. Thus, all the intelligence was exceptionally fragmented. He Ao had no choice but to request the City Defense Army to photograph and sample every stronghold, not to overlook any details, and to send all the data. It was not until recently, right after a press conference had ended, that all the data had finally been sent and subsequently handled by Eve. Eve re-modeled all the images and data, then recalculated the possible past scenarios of these strongholds, and finally merging all the intelligence and testimonies obtained from the City Defense Army into this report. Although the Prisoners’ Gang had destroyed a lot of evidence and clues, it was clear from Eve’s calculations that high-ranking Transcendents must have lived in the gang’s various strongholds. Even though these high-ranking Transcendents might have stayed in some concealed secret rooms and rarely interacted with the ordinary gang members, the traces of their existence could not be erased. Through Eve’s analysis, most major strongholds have at least one C-level Transcendent, or one close to C-level. In some large strongholds like the Low-rise District, there are even suspected B-level Transcendents. Of course, B-levels are rare. According to Eve’s calculations, excluding the thin man from the Low-rise District, there are probably no more than three B-levels within the entire Prisoners’ Gang, including the mysterious Great Tutor. But such strength was already terrifying enough. Generally speaking, a relatively strong C-level, coupled with some cleverness, could already become an underground world leader in a super-large city. For instance, Viktor, the Boss of Money Rat Gang in Dawn City, and Heish, the Scavenger Leader in Vitland City, were both only C-levels. In smaller cities, C-levels could even become local tyrants who commanded the wind and rain. These formidable Transcendents, who could dominate an area in other cities, were commonplace within the small Prisoners’ Gang. Also, they had seized a lot of powerful military hardware from the Prisoners’ Gang strongholds that had yet to be taken away. This gang didn’t even seem like a gang; it was more like a Transcendent special forces unit with an organized structure and fixed strongholds. He Ao scrolled through the content on his tablet, deep in thought. Such a special forces unit, this configuration, just to control a Southern District? Additionally, according to Eve’s analysis, these Transcendents at various strongholds had chosen to evacuate almost immediately when faced with attacks from the City Defense Army. Many evacuations even occurred before the City Defense Army officially launched their attacks. They destroyed all documents, wiped out almost every clue, drove most people who knew of their existence mad, all to avoid combat squads from the City Defense Army whose combat prowess wasn’t even close to theirs? Or was it to conceal their existence? He Ao continued flipping through the report in his hands. After completely controlling the Southern District, Corvey had also arranged a thorough search of the Southern District, but still found no information on those powerful Transcendents. Where were these people hiding? He Ao rested his hand on the office desk and activated the projection. A map of the Nevus District’s southern part appeared in his field of view. His hand on the map, he whispered softly, "Eve, help me mark out the divisions of each district and the locations of each Prisoners’ Gang stronghold in the Southern District." Almost the instant his words fell, the map in his eyes started separating into various colored areas, each area displaying a name, and several red dots also appeared in his field of view. He Ao’s gaze swept over these red dots, then settled on a small area on the easternmost part of the region. Most of the Nevus southern area was the chaotic Southern District, except for a small green area towards the east. That was the South City Defense Command Center and some of the surrounding districts. Though this area was also in the southern part of Nevus District, no gangs dared to cause trouble in this region. So the area around the City Defense Command Center was actually the most stable part of the entire Southern District, with the largest crowd in the Southern District, the Low-rise District, also very close to the City Defense Command Center. That was one of the reasons why Corvey and the City Defense Army could arrive so quickly last night. Just as He Ao was looking at the map, the projection on his desk vibrated slightly. An intelligence report from the South City Command Center caught his eye. As a series of photos containing dense war machinery unfolded, He Ao’s gaze sharpened. However, he did not reply immediately; instead, he lowered his head and looked again at the map on the table. Above each of the marked red strongholds, Eve had also indicated the distribution of likely powerful Transcendents. The further east, the stronger the Transcendents arranged by the Prisoners’ Gang seemed to be. This included the skinny man He Ao had killed, who had been stationed in the East Gate area of the Low-rise District, closest to the South City Command Center. Was it for defense or... attack? If the Prisoners’ Gang controlled the Southern District, was their goal not actually the district itself, but simply to have an overt foothold? He raised his hand, shifting his gaze from the Southern District to magnify the entire area near the South City Command Center. "Eve, show the areas near the South City Command Center where there is high cargo throughput and can store large amounts of equipment." High cargo throughput could conceal the ins and outs of equipment transportation. Areas large enough could store sufficient equipment and hide many people. "Searching for you..." Eve’s gentle voice emanated from the desk, "Displaying for you now." Various special symbols appeared on the map in He Ao’s field of view. There were not many areas near the South City Command Center that could store a large amount of equipment, only three. The first was a large multi-level warehouse; its owner was a bar owner in the Saint Yilan District, whose bar primarily helped gangs in the Southern District fence goods. The items obtained by the gang members would first be stored in this warehouse before being shipped out. Therefore, his warehouse always had trucks coming and going, but after the Prisoners’ Gang took over, his business had significantly cooled. The second was a chemical plant, part of a small chemical company. This small company was ostensibly private, but in actuality controlled through multiple layers of ownership by Kopace Mining; almost fully automated, the factory employed very few workers but frequently had large trucks entering and leaving. The third was a large mechanical factory belonging to Yiwis Space System, which employed a large number of employees and had its own warehouse; large trucks also frequently entered and left this site. Among these areas, the warehouse was the closest to the South City Command Center; the mechanical factory was the farthest, with the chemical plant in between. Looking at these three areas, He Ao’s gaze slightly lowered. The warehouse was close, but too close; it was already within the ground cannon coverage area of the Command Center and the South City Command Center had set up many defensive measures on the warehouse side. If one intended to launch an attack from here, the breakthrough time would be too long. The mechanical factory was too close to the Southern District, even closer to the Command Center than some areas of the Southern District, giving it no positional advantage. Moreover, with many people around, it lacked good secrecy. The answer seemed obvious. However, the information on these areas was retrieved by Eve from the network and was not complete; it still needed to be verified. He Ao picked up the old telephone receiver on the desk, "Have Director Tucker come here." On the other end was the Mayor’s secretariat, and the secretariat staff would connect him with Tucker. After receiving a "Okay" from the staff on the other end, He Ao placed the receiver down and once again brought up the intelligence sent by the South City Command Center. Was South City the only area facing a threat? Almost as the thought flashed through his mind, his bracelet vibrated slightly. It was a private call from the Minister of City Defense, the Commander of North City, Scott. He Ao raised his hand and answered the call. Scott’s expression was somewhat solemn, "We have discovered traces of the Kopace Mining Mercenary Corps approaching in the wilderness to the north."