Drawing Borders to Unite Governance

Skyline...

Chen Chuan thought of his earlier discussion with Hu Kan and the current situation in the Outer Ocean. He had a fair idea why the two men had come.

"I know a little about it," he said.

Gu Haiting and Song Yuan exchanged a glance. Song Yuan spoke again. "Director Chen, may we use the Domain Field screen in your home?"

"Of course." Chen Chuan tapped his World Token. A beam of light shone above the living room, and he granted them access to its information controls.

Song Yuan tapped his World Token to connect to the Domain Field system there. After a moment, the light flickered several times and displayed a map of the East Continent. The view then zoomed out, bringing the Outer Ocean Islands into focus while Great Shun's East Coast receded to the edge.

From the Cold Sea at the northernmost tip down to the Vast Sea in the south, the entire stretch belonged to Great Shun. By administrative division, the vast, sparsely populated Haixi Province lay at the top, followed by Hedong Province, Jibei Province, Huainan Province, Jiangdong Province, and the other provinces.

Looking only at the East Coast, four provinces had coastlines: Haixi, Jibei, Huainan, and Jiangdong. Haixi alone occupied more than half the map, but because it was so vast, its Central City was not on the coast. Closest to the East Coast and the other provinces was Hedong Province, northwest of Jibei Province.

As the collision between the two worlds intensified and biotechnology advanced rapidly, however, food production had soared and the population grew every year. The number of Central Cities had been increasing for decades, and Haixi Province was quite likely to have another Central City carved out of it.

Every Central City on the map was marked by a