East 725 District, three thousand kilometers away, lay under heavy clouds, while East 927 District—the true core area—was blessed with perfect sunshine. The Soul Cape had entered a non-interference state, stirring faintly with the ocean vapor above and below the clouds and sea surface.
Bathed in sunlight above the rolling waves, the Martial Emperor seemed to be in fairly good spirits. He generally approved of Ronan's approach. "It's not bad. But you should understand that even if there are problems with their mutual trust and some cracks have appeared, those are only temporary."
"Of course." Ronan was taking it in stride now. "For them to stay in contact for so long, there must be a relatively lasting foundation between them. Otherwise, the enormous benefits of a 'Deep Blue World' alone would have been enough to make both sides turn against each other. This sort of expected 'infiltration' can't overturn that. It probably doesn't count as a Backstab yet."
The Martial Emperor nodded slightly. "If you want to stir up trouble and use the small to overcome the great, you must seize the window of opportunity..."
"I want to seize it, but I have to be able to get close enough first."
The reason Ronan had turned to speak with the Martial Emperor was precisely because, at a moment like this, there was a practical problem that needed a solution as soon as possible.
"Putting everything else aside, the Reclamation Corps really has a firm grip on this matter of 'distance.' The closest things they have to Earth are medium- and low-orbit space stations. Well, those in near-Earth orbit are still all natives. There are only a handful of observers in medium orbit, but that's already thousands or even tens of thousands of kilometers away. We can't reach them."
As he