"The nature of society is by no means so shallow, but this problem does indeed exist in the Atlantis star region alone." Tan Jize recorded the passage above on his terminal, then stood still for a moment, lost in thought. He walked over to the bed, drew back the curtains, and gazed toward the distant city skyline.
At the edge of his vision stood countless skyscrapers that soared into the clouds. Brilliant lights and colorful images and characters danced across the crisscrossing beams of light, as if posing and preening between those giant-like buildings—extravagant to the extreme, and utterly bewitching.
Yet in Tan Jize's eyes, he could feel none of the prosperity and abundance of civilization. All he felt was an oppressive, garish chaos.
This was Solitary Night City, a metropolis and the capital of the Blue Star Commonwealth's New Atlantis star region. With a permanent population of over 65 million, it was not only the largest city on the planet Olympus, but almost the largest city in the Blue Star Commonwealth as well.
Though it lay in a border region of the Commonwealth, unlike the remote backwater of New Shenzhou, the Olympus system, where Solitary Night City stood, was a major transportation hub. One route linked it to the Arm region; beyond the Explorer's Rift lay the territories of regional powers such as the Iron Army Federation and the Minlan Republic. Another route extended "south" to the Gibraltar system, connecting directly to the home territory of the Terra star region, the Alliance, and even the New Continent. The last route ran "north," bordering the nations of the disputed Winterless Expanse, including the Cherk Kingdom, the Grand Duchy of Hailar, and the United Clans of the Blazing Claw.
Beyond the Winterless Expanse lay the galaxy's greatest hotbed of chaos: the