Under the command building of North City, Mid stood on the makeshift platform, looking up at the rows of mechs and warplanes spurting flames in the rain curtain outside the window. He lowered his head, looking at the projections of the officers before him, "I only ask you one question, do you believe in Mayor Linen?" The officers replied almost without hesitation. Half an hour earlier, they might have hesitated, but after seeing the pathetic Kopis Mercenary Corps, any doubts they had vanished. If there really were legendary heroes in this world, they believed Mayor Linen would surely hold his own amongst them. Mid bellowed, raising the gun in his hand, "Then let your young bastards take up arms and show those sons of bitches on the other side who the true elite of North City really are! Who deserves to eat the best food, use the best weapons! Goddamn it!!" The officers also raised their guns and roared in unison. The booming missiles tore through the rain curtain, rushing toward the soldiers in front of the high wall, then intercepted by anti-air missiles erupting from the launch portals on the walls, bursting into flames that filled the sky. Mech after mech in pure white charged out of the flames, colliding with the mechs flying up from below. Fixed automatic cannons on the ground poured out torrents of flames, destroying the approaching armored vehicles one by one, then being blasted into scrap metal by bombs dropped by the overhead warplanes. The surging flames nearly covered every corner around them, and the war had entered an intense phase from the very start. "General, our troops have been held back and can’t reach the command center, the resistance is extremely fierce." Inside the floating warplane, the communications officer raised his head, looking at Scott sitting next to him. "How did this rabble suddenly gain such combat strength? Don’t they need to leave people to defend the city gates?" Scott took a deep breath and quickly asked, "Any detection of a siege?" The communications officer shook his head. "What the hell are the Kopis bastards thinking," Scott pulled the communications officer out and sat at the control panel, "You take a Dragon Cavalry Squad and watch the front lines for me. Anyone who dares to retreat, kill them." The communications officer replied, picked up a flight pack next to the door of the floating warplane, strapped it on, opened the door, and jumped straight out. Scott raised his head, looking ahead at the flames that were burning the rain curtain into mist. Time passed by the minute. The attacking side’s mechs and warplanes were far more numerous than the defenders, continuously leveraging air superiority to dislodge the ground heavy firepower of the defenders. Although the defending soldiers resisted fiercely, with the advantage of equipment and firepower, as well as the pressure from the Dragon Cavalry Squad in the back, the attacking soldiers still slowly pushed the front line to the South City Command Center. Silently watching all this, Scott’s mouth slowly curled up, "Trash is still trash." "General Scott, a Mecha Squad has been spotted on the west side, they’re heading for you!" It was at that moment that the voice of the long-haired officer suddenly rang out from the control panel. Scott turned his head to look. On the western side of the entire army, a squad of five mechs was rushing towards his position at high speed. The Seraphim mech in the lead was unstoppable, raising its broadsword high; it nearly finished off a mech in a single encounter. The opposing mechs and the air force had hardly reacted before they were pierced through by it. With the cover from its teammates, this mech penetrated directly into the heart of the battle in an extremely short time, accompanied by the destruction of mechs and warplanes, closing in on the Floating Warplanes. Surging flames burst behind it in the curtain of rain, like fireworks celebrating a divine being. But the mech’s steps did not halt; it raised its pure white giant sword and charged at the Floating Warplane without hesitation. "When did North City get such good mech drivers, intending to play a beheading game?" Scott watched the mech charging at him calmly and pressed the communication button next to him, "Destroy it!" Some kind of invisible fluctuation spread from around. Instantly, the mechs that were initially around the Floating Warplane fearlessly rushed towards the charging Seraphim mech. The Seraphim mech was caught off guard by this sudden frenzied attack and momentarily hindered. Then one after another, warplanes emerged behind the Floating Warplane. A dense multitude of plasma cannon brightness gathered together like a screen of light, aiming at the obstructed Seraphim mech and those mechs that were blocking it. The dazzling light pierced through everything; surging flames exploded in the sky, countless raindrops were vaporized into mist beneath the flames, sketching out faint rainbows in the night sky. The surging firelight illuminated the side of Scott’s face; he watched the flames devouring the sky with a calm and cold look. "General, High-energy Guided Missiles detected! Coming down from the heavens!" At this moment, the figure of the communications officer suddenly cut into the channel. Scott lifted his head to look up. One after another, the pitch-black missiles, accompanied by flames, descended from the sky, piercing through the hazy veil of rain with a sharp sonic boom, like swords of a divine being striking down vertically at the Floating Warplane below. These missiles had clearly passed through a trajectory much higher than the maximum altitude inside the Fortress City. In theory, anything flying above this altitude would be shot down by the high wall’s Automatic Defense System, so there was nothing inside the city that could exceed this height, and thus Scott’s military surveillance system hadn’t been scanning for objects at that altitude. But now, the Automatic Defense System of the high walls was in the hands of those who had launched the missiles. The enemy had exploited everyone’s inherent cognitive biases, making everyone overlook these objects exceeding the height limit while simultaneously allowing the mech squad to attract attention, thus creating an opportunity for these missiles. Scott roared without hesitation. But at this moment, the warplanes around him all looked up; the ammunition they had been ready with had just been fired in one go, and recharging required time. And most of the mechs nearby had also been destroyed in the recent fight with the Seraphim mech. In this extremely short moment of reaction from everyone, the missiles in the sky had already closed half the distance. Scott silently raised his hand and looked toward the outskirts. Invisible ripples spread out once more. The mechs closest to him did not hesitate to charge into the sky, meeting the missiles head-on. The surrounding warplanes also lifted their heads, using their own bodies to block the incoming missiles. The roaring artillery fire exploded in an instant, a mecha engulfed by the fierce flames of a missile explosion, followed by a second, then a third. Then came the fastest warplanes, one after another. By the time the third warplane had been destroyed by a missile, that intense fire had filled both the sky and all of Scott’s vision. Above the Floating Warplanes, no raindrops fell, all the rainwater evaporated into a hazy mist by that surging fire that blotted out the sky. It was at this moment that a pitch-black missile burst forth like a sword, slicing through the sky-filled flames, charging once again towards the Floating Warplane where Scott was. This was the seventh missile, the last to fall. Scott watched the missile with icy concentration, the warplanes below had completed their energy storage, lifted their muzzles, aimed at the missile, and at the same time, one warplane surged straight up, ascending to meet the missile in the heavens. The dazzling light of the Plasma Cannon shot directly towards the pitch-black missile in the sky. Scott watched the head of that missile, and amid the vagueness, he seemed to see a golden brilliance slicing through the missile’s head from the inside. The radiant light struck the missile, unleashing a surge of flames that joined with the inferno in the sky. The connecting brilliance of the inferno, the colossal warplane shooting straight up, and that surging fire sea that concealed the Firmament, all outlined the entire night sky. Time seemed to come to a brief halt at that moment, everything went silent. Then, a golden brilliance cleaved through the churning sea of fire, like a Divine Being turned into golden thunder, descending from Heaven, hurtling towards the Floating Warplane below. The vertically ascending warplane faced the brilliance from the sky head-on, and a darting light began swirling within the massive muzzle. But before the light could burst forth, that golden brilliance had already pierced into the steel body of the warplane. Right after, that brilliant light flashed, slicing the entire warplane open from its belly, reaching directly above the Floating Warplane in a blink. Scott looked up, his eyes following the trail of golden light, watching the Elderly man with silver-grey hair who held a Golden Longsword, descending from Heaven. Like an aged yet fierce lion tearing through the flames, he charged towards him. The intense explosion of the warplane’s boom resounded behind the Elderly man, the blazing flowers of flame, like a fiery cloak, draped over the Elderly man’s shoulders. At this moment, the Elderly man looked down, their gazes briefly met in the night sky, and the next second, the Floating Warplane hovering in mid-air was cleaved open by the golden light with one stroke. Then, accompanied by the explosion’s flames, two streaks of light crashed out from the flames, hitting a low, abandoned building below, smashing through the entire structure and landing on the ground, creating web-like cracks on the already dilapidated pavement. Scott staggered to his feet, patted his military uniform, raised his hand towards the sky, and the twisted, profound strength emerged from the depths of the night, converging in his hand, forming a crystal spear with pointed ends, similar to a javelin. He looked up, gazing at the Elderly man holding a Golden Longsword and with grey hair not far away. The sudden roar of artillery fire came from afar, seemingly the besieged soldiers of North City had begun their counterattack. Scott, gripping the spear in his hand, looked up and smiled at He Ao, "Have you always doubted me?" "There are only a few people in this city capable of building a missile base. It wasn’t in South City, so naturally, it was in North City," He Ao looked at him calmly, "Having Kopace Mining arrange the Mercenary Corps to assassinate the Mayor, then pressing the South City Defense Army into a rebellion, cleansing the White Jasmine Palace, "Finally, the North City Defense Forces come forth, defeat the rebelling South City Defense Army, and then you can logically take over a ’clean’ White Jasmine Palace. Was this your original plan?" Corvey’s position was not that aligned with the Consortium, even if he was propped up, the Consortium couldn’t reap the biggest benefits. Therefore, having the South City Defense Army take over the White Jasmine Palace was not a good option, but the Consortium kept pressing Corvey to rebel, clearly indicating they had other plans in place. "If ’Corvey’ is simply a stepping stone prepared by the Consortium for someone, then it makes sense," And in the whole of Yilan City, the only person with enough force to use Corvey as a stepping stone was Scott, the Commander of North City and the Minister of City Defense. Therefore, Scott had to always show his loyalty to the City Government on the surface. Only then would his eventual "suppression of the rebellion" seem justified. And his position as the Minister of City Defense in the Cabinet also gave him the legitimate right of succession. Strictly speaking, it was a perfect plan—whether by the rules or by sentiment. Lin En died, Corvey bore the brunt of infamy, and all the benefits and reputation went to Scott. According to their original plan, after Lin En’s assassination, Scott probably planned to erect a monument for Lin En to show that his power was inherited from Lin En, then he would shed a few insincere tears. Of course, these were just He Ao’s speculations; he could not conclude that Scott definitely had a problem, but it did plant the seed of doubt. The information regarding "the two Mercenary Corps" brought by the Wilderness Wanderer made He Ao’s "doubt" thoroughly overpower "trust." If Scott were a fool, then it would be reasonable for him not to know about the two Mercenary Corps, but obviously, Scott was not a fool. Moreover, in Lin En’s memory, Scott excelled in arranging spies to gather intelligence in the wilderness. Information known to the Wilderness Wanderer could not be unknown to him; he would even clearly know about the Yiwis Space System’s Mercenary Corps approaching South City. If he knew about this and remained silent, deliberately concealing it, then his "loyalty" became suspect. In fact, He Ao didn’t have any concrete evidence to determine Scott had issues until that point. He finally confirmed that Scott intended to revolt when that little girl buying clothes told him about the Mecha heading eastward. But this did not affect that He Ao could go directly to North City whether he had evidence or not. If Scott were loyal, then he could defend the city with Scott. If Scott had issues, he could quickly seize power. Of course, although he had prepared for the worst-case scenario, when things really came to the point of internal and external enemies and troops pressing in on all sides, He Ao was still somewhat nervous. But he could not show it. Once he showed panic, the entire North City might just implode. However, he was fortunate, as he had won the bet. "Linen, sometimes I think you’re a bit too clever," Scott turned his head, listening to the gunfire and shouting not far away, looking towards the towering wall, "You still managed to deploy troops, so it seems there really is a problem with the Kopis Mercenary Corps, those Consortium fellows are really pig teammates." He Ao did not speak, just calmly observed him. Scott lowered his head, gazing at the Golden Longsword in He Ao’s hand, "There is a familiar aura on this sword. So, Wills is indeed dead? South City has been resisting for so long, it seems like the Prisoners’ Gang’s plans have failed a long time ago." He was silent for a moment, then sighed, "At the beginning, I should have just directly sent the North City troops to keep you at the assassination site," He supported himself with the Longsword in his hand, his tone tinged with regret, "For the sake of seeking a perfect ending, I now have to take the worst path." "But it doesn’t look like you have any regrets. I also have a question for you," He Ao took out a Crystal pocket watch from his chest, his gaze still calmly fixed on the man in front of him, "Was the news of Speaker Levi’s departure told to you by that Higher Being from the Abyss?" Upon hearing this question, Scott’s expression slightly changed. He looked at He Ao and smiled, "You know more than I imagined," Then he raised the Longsword in his hand, "It seems that Old Geezer Levi, after staying in this city for a few hundred years, did leave some moves behind. Unfortunately, you won’t get the chance to know the answer, my dear Mr. Mayor," He took a breath, looked at He Ao, and slowly smiled. "You are still as indecisive as before, Mr. Mayor, trying to prove you are not indecisive by recklessly doing foolish things. But this is still indecision, Mr. Mayor. "The thing you should regret most is daring to see me with such serious injuries. When I become Mr. Mayor, I will find you a beautifully scenic grave." "You want to kill me?" He Ao smiled at Scott in front of him, opened the pocket watch in his hand, glanced at the countdown ticking inside, and returned his gaze to Scott, "Come on."