Intercepting the Special Plane

"I doubt the questions during the interrogation will include this, right?" Sun Hang said in a low voice, breaking the silence first. "It's not because of oversight, but because these questions are too obvious... It's like when a Peacekeeper takes a statement, they'll ask for your name and gender, but not whether you're dead or alive."

"But... it's too late," Yang Lian murmured. "The others are fine, but the Federation Council representatives have already left Tianfu City on their private jet... The plane took off half an hour ago and should be out of Shuzhou territory by now."

"Have the private jet turn back immediately! Also, gather all the missing people... Explain the severity of the situation to those officials and tell them that if they don't want the Blood Moon to appear in every corner of Tianfu City, they should do as we say!"

Ten minutes later.

Yang Lian put down the phone with a complex expression and shook her head at Sun Hang and Wang Xiyi. "It's no use... The Management Committee didn't agree to our demands. They believe the urgent priority is to immediately restore normal operations in all departments... As for the 'phenomena' the missing people saw, they've firmly declared it to be hallucinations caused by Anomaly influence during Spacetime Displacement, and that they'll recover on their own after some time."

"Idiots," Wang Xiyi's assessment was concise.

"Can't the Public Security Bureau send people to forcibly drag them here?" Sun Hang asked.

"The Management Committee said... we don't have the right to restrict their personal freedom. If we use force, our actions could be defined as mutiny or rebellion," Yang Lian said helplessly.

"I'm speechless... If this plot happened in a novel, the readers in the comments section would have gone ballistic by now, right? The Management Committee is this stupid, and humanity hasn't gone extinct yet? That's too unreasonable!" Sun Hang grumbled.

"Novels need to consider logic and reason, but the real world doesn't," Wang Xiyi said with a half-smile. "Someone once said this world is a giant makeshift operation. Don't think those elites in high positions are that smart; many people just climbed up through their background, luck, or even the benefits of the era. Truly capable people are hard to find, maybe not even one out of ten."

"But the funny thing is, over ninety percent of these incompetents firmly believe they are important and irreplaceable," Sun Hang said, sitting down and sighing. "I'm tired. I suddenly don't want to deal with this anymore. Let them do whatever they want... Just let everything be destroyed quickly."

"Are you really planning to give up?" Wang Xiyi asked.

"What else can we do? Are we going to arrest all those missing people?" Sun Hang glanced at her from the corner of his eye. "You look like you can fight well, but can you take on hundreds or even thousands of fully armed bodyguards, Peacekeepers, and regular army soldiers by yourself?"

Just then, an operative from the field division rushed into the combat briefing room, gasping for breath. "Ju-just now, just now, two high-speed fighter jets took off from Longquanyi Air Force Base. According to the intel, their mission objective is to intercept the Council representatives' private jet that just left Shuzhou territory."

"Huh?" Sun Hang blinked, looking at Wang Xiyi, who immediately shook her head.

"Don't look at me. I'm just a Hunter; I don't have that much power to mobilize the air force at will."

Although the Investigation Bureau and the Research Institute had significant authority to mobilize troops, the military was tiered. They could directly mobilize the Tianfu City Guard, but for higher ranks, like the Federation's regular army, all mobilizations required proper application procedures with strict limitations on personnel numbers, officer ranks, ammunition, and even vehicles and heavy equipment. Among these, the regular army's air force was the most difficult to mobilize.

The "air support" typically requested by the Investigation Bureau was either drones or helicopters belonging to the Guard. As for the regular army's air force, even the director of the Research Institute couldn't convince the Air Force Base commander to dispatch two regular army fighter jets for such a highly unusual and "dangerous mission" in such a short time.

Intercepting a private jet carrying Council representatives... If anything went wrong with such a mission, the responsibility would be too much for even all the incompetent members of the Tianfu City Management Committee combined to bear.

"Is this the Federation Council's order?" Sun Hang asked.

"We only spread this news ten minutes ago. The Council's reaction wouldn't be this fast," Yang Lian shook her head. "Even if some of those council members realized the severity of the issue, their procedures would require a conference call first. By the time they make a decision, the representatives' private jet would probably be close to landing."

"It... it was the Special Operations Team Leader who gave the order," the operative who delivered the news finally managed to catch his breath after downing half a glass of water. "Af-after he learned the news, he directly... directly drove to Longquanyi, pointed a gun at the Air Force Base commander, and forced him to dispatch fighter jets to intercept the representatives' private jet... N-now, the entire Air Force Base is on Level 1 alert, with guard troops surrounding the control tower three layers deep..."

"Tsk, looks like there's still someone with a brain... I like that kind of boldness," Sun Hang's eyes lit up, and he darted to the doorway. "By the way, is that guy still pointing a gun at the Air Force Base commander?"

"If he had put the gun down, he would have been arrested by now... Holding a military officer of a local air force base hostage is a serious crime," Yang Lian said.

"Yang Lian, Night Fiend, let's go to Longquanyi too!" Sun Hang called out to the two of them. "There's an old saying, 'More lice, less itch; more debts, less worry.' Since that guy has already taken the commander hostage, just intercepting a private jet isn't enough. Tell the Tianfu City Management Committee that if they don't gather those missing people, we'll blast out the Air Force commander's brains for them to see!"

"You... this is an act of rebellion!" Yang Lian said, but she immediately gathered her things and put on her backpack.

Wang Xiyi snapped her fingers, and a fleeting flame incinerated the bandages on her body. She casually grabbed the jacket draped over the back of her chair and wrapped it around her naked form.

"Yang Lian, go help Night Fiend find some clothes. I'll drive – meet me at the North Gate!"