Shattered Serenity

Chen Xi's order was like a flare piercing the tranquil night sky, suddenly blazing above Azure Dawn and forcibly illuminating a battlefield no one had anticipated.

The Inquisition's authority was beyond question, especially in the face of this sudden crisis that no one understood.

The global emergency alert was relayed through the orbiting Gabbro and forcibly cut into every communication channel. Its scarlet emblem coldly covered every screen, while the repeating alarm echoed above streets that had been filled with laughter only yesterday. Yet no one could tell whom the alarm was ringing for.

True chaos began with bewilderment. The Planetary Defense Force soldiers had indeed received mobilization orders. Wearing uniforms and carrying standard-issue weapons, they appeared in groups throughout the streets and alleys, carrying out blockades and controls.

But their gazes were vacant and uncertain, their movements mechanical and hesitant.

They set up barricades according to the manual, yet did not know whether those barricades were meant to stop rioting citizens or some foreign invader they had never been told about. They raised their weapons to maintain order, but aside from equally confused and terrified civilians, there was nothing in the direction of their gun barrels.

They whispered questions to one another, receiving only even more bewildered shrugs in reply.

They were pawns pushed onto the front lines, ordered to defend in a war no one had explained to them against an enemy whose name, form, and even existence had never been revealed.

Maintain order? They did not even know why order had collapsed.

At the temporary command center on Serene Peak Island—a hall hastily cleared of its entertainment facilities, with data cables snaking across the floor like serpents—Chen Xi stood before the main screen, his face frozen with frost.

Auregana had directly linked her analyzer to Gabbro's primary