Command Tower

Sun Hang's words were actually quite cunning. If you analyzed them word by word, every single one was true, perfectly avoiding any form of deception.

Since he hadn't lied, if there were any repercussions later, there would be plenty of room to maneuver, and he could even completely shift the blame.

But when these few sentences were put together, it was inevitable that the NCO would misunderstand. It seemed as if the hijacker had been infected by the Anomalization Virus, which led them to commit the heinous act of kidnapping the base commander...

And these two Anomaly Hunters were here precisely because of this incident.

A hint of hesitation flickered across the NCO's face.

"Think it over carefully," Sun Hang said. "When dealing with anomalies, things like guns and cannons might not be useful. You really need professionals to handle it... If you stop us here, and something happens inside, can you, a mere corporal, bear the consequences?"

After a moment of hesitation, the NCO replied, "Please wait a moment, I'll make a call to get instructions."

A short while later, the NCO jogged back and nodded at Sun Hang. "You can go in, but you'll need someone to accompany you the entire time. The escort personnel will be waiting for you at the base entrance."

"Okay, thanks, soldier boy, love ya~" Sun Hang flashed a dazzling smile at the NCO, took back his and Wang Xiyi's licenses, and stepped on the gas, zipping under the rising barrier.

"Uh... honestly, the way you acted just now was a bit disgusting," Yang Lian said, a look of distaste on her face. "I feel like your mental state isn't quite normal..."

"Disgusting? Heh heh, that's the point," Sun Hang maintained his smile. "To be honest, that NCO was pretty good. Dedicated to his duty, he didn't flinch even after knowing there were two people in the car who could kill him in an instant. He followed regulations to the letter. I really like people like that... I wish the higher-ups in the Xiazhou Federation were all like him."

"Dedication to duty is good, but being rigid and inflexible isn't necessarily so," Wang Xiyi chimed in. "If the hijacker really was an infected person, by the time a whole set of application procedures was done, this place would already be a sea of corpses before we even got inside."

"I'd rather there be no flexibility. Too much flexibility breeds privilege, privilege leads to corruption, and it makes the management structure bloated and inefficient... If everyone could strictly follow regulations and do their duty, humanity's living space would probably be much larger than it is now?" Sun Hang couldn't help but sigh.

"What you're describing is a computer program, not human society. Humans have desires, all sorts of desires... Besides, even computer programs can have bugs... Your ideal society is too perfect, it's impossible to achieve," Wang Xiyi continued.

"Too perfect... like a utopia." Sun Hang chuckled self-deprecatingly and didn't say anything further.

Perhaps it was precisely because this world was so terrible... that those anomalies appeared?

If humanity were truly wiped out by anomalies, it would only mean that humanity was no longer adapted to this world... Survival of the fittest, the strong prey on the weak... For nature, this was the most reasonable thing.

Civilized society was meaningless in the face of absolute power.

After driving into the base, Sun Hang and the others switched to a convertible SUV driven by an escort. In addition to this SUV, there was a wheeled light armored vehicle positioned both in front and behind. Sun Hang squinted as he looked, the barrel of the mounted heavy machine gun glinting with a black iron sheen under the sun.

"Tsk, this escort is quite extravagant. Do people from the Management Committee even get escorted by two armored vehicles when they go out?" Sun Hang muttered.

"These two armored vehicles aren't here to escort us, but to keep an eye on us," Wang Xiyi said slowly, yawning. "Don't forget, we're the most dangerous beings here."

"Hmm, that makes sense... By the way, how long would it take you to deal with these two armored vehicles?"

"It'd be a bit tricky without Beast Transformation, but with it..." Wang Xiyi thought for a moment and said, "Tearing them apart would only take a few seconds. Using fire breath would be even faster."

Sun Hang glanced at the pale-faced soldier in the driver's seat and patted his shoulder with a smile. "Don't be nervous, we're just joking... But speaking of which, you've really gone all out with this setup."

The open ground within the air force base was already filled with armored vehicles, tanks, and self-propelled artillery. Countless gun barrels were aimed at the Command Tower in the distance. Around the Command Tower, a large number of military drones and helicopters hovered. Dense auxiliary targeting lasers shone through the windows of the Command Tower, locking onto a certain target inside.

"This setup looks less like they're trying to capture the hijacker, and more like they want to blow up the hijacker, along with your commander and this entire Command Tower," Sun Hang remarked.

"We've... arrived."

The convertible SUV stopped in front of the Command Tower. An officer disembarked from the armored vehicle in front, spoke a few words to the people guarding the entrance of the Command Tower, then pulled back the cordon and said to Sun Hang and the others, "Follow me inside."

The interior of the Command Tower was also packed with soldiers at this moment – all of them were elite Federation regular troops, not a single Peacekeeper or city guard in sight. Every person's firearm was loaded, and an extremely tense atmosphere permeated the corridor.

In contrast, Wang Xiyi, wearing ill-fitting clothes, and Sun Hang, in casual wear, stood out glaringly. Almost every soldier they passed gave them an extra glance – at a time like this, the presence of non-military personnel in this building was truly baffling.

"I know the hijacker is the leader of the Special Operations Team, but what about the other members of that team? Were they involved?" Sun Hang asked casually.

"They're all here... They even had a violent confrontation with the base officers earlier. One of them was injured, and five of the base officers were wounded."

"Looks like their combat effectiveness isn't bad. By the way, no one died, right?" Sun Hang asked again.

If someone had died, the nature of the situation would be entirely different.

"No one died," the officer shook his head. "But the situation has been at a standstill until now... And given the hijacker's special identity, we don't dare to rashly use a sniper to eliminate them..."