Two hours later, on the ninety-ninth floor of Dawnrise Tower, in the conference hall.
The deep blue walls were made of blast-resistant alloy. The lights were so bright they were hard to look at. A long table of polished beast bone stood in the room, with a holographic Watchman emblem hovering above its center: a blue circular background symbolizing the planet humanity called home, a golden shield embedded in it, and twelve silver stars circling the planet.
At the head of the table sat Yuan Zhen, who greeted everyone who came through the door.
To Yuan Zhen's left sat the commanders of the various mech legions. Half of them were attending as holograms.
To her right sat officials from the Alliance's non-military departments. In order from nearest to farthest were the deputy secretary-general of the Unified Command Center, the War Factory's chief technical officer, the deputy minister of the Joint Theater Defense Department, and the heads of various other departments.
There were plenty of empty seats on both sides.
But whether they had come through the door or joined by hologram, everyone cast a curious glance toward the chair at the end of the table as they took their seats.
A special hologram was sitting there.
A mech, scaled down to human size!
Yu Xiao had chosen not to appear in human form, but his posture was just like a person's—back straight, hands clasped on the table, and his glowing red eye fixed on the Watchman emblem hovering at the center.
Apart from Yuan Zhen and General Chen, who had joined as a hologram, no one greeted Yu Xiao.
"Is everyone here?" Yuan Zhen asked with a smile, her casual gaze sweeping over everyone at the table before settling on Yu Xiao. "Then I declare this meeting officially underway."
"Normally, a meeting like this should be chaired by the deputy secretary-general. But since he's repeatedly declined, I'll just have to step in and do my best."
Who here would dare act like the boss in front of you... Yu Xiao muttered to himself.
"I'm not one for pleasantries, so let's get straight to the point." Yuan Zhen rose slowly, bracing both hands on the table. "Today's meeting has three main items."
"First, we made a number of major discoveries during this joint operation. We need to review it in detail and settle on our next course of action.
"Second, while we were fighting in the Silent Graveyard, the Joint Front Legion—which had come under attack by a beast tide and retreated inland—lost all contact with headquarters. The mechs sent to support them haven't responded, either. Satellite maps show that the beast tide has penetrated deep into the Fourth Defense Line's islands. We must stop the monsters from advancing any further.
"Third, we need to clarify the status and role of Xingtian, our special guest at this meeting, within the Watchman Alliance.
"Any questions?"
Though Yuan Zhen's tone was relaxed, her words weighed on everyone like a mountain pressing down on their chests.
They had just won a glorious victory, but the world was still sliding toward disaster.
"Then let's start with the first item."
Yuan Zhen sat back down and waited for someone to speak first.
But the heavy atmosphere left the meeting as quiet as a funeral.
"I'll go first." General Chen broke the silence. "I believe I'm responsible for how this all started. I ordered Bai Ying, a Tieyu of the Xuanse Cangqiong Legion, to take Xingtian to the Silent Graveyard for a mech upgrade."
At his words, every eye in the room turned toward General Chen.
"I didn't expect Bai Ying to clash with the people from the Silent Graveyard. In fact, before the beast tide appeared, Bai Ying and Xingtian had already caused considerable damage there."
"Ahem, let me interrupt..." Yuan Zhen coughed twice. "The main responsibility for the conflict should actually fall on Dr. Chris of Omega. As for Gao Tianzhi, Poison Scorpion, and the others involved, they've already been detained. We can discuss that later. Let's start with the monsters' appearance."
"Then let's have one of the people involved tell us what happened." General Chen deftly steered the discussion back on track.
As soon as he finished speaking, Yu Xiao felt everyone's eyes shift to him!
"I agree."
Xingtian's answer only made everyone even more curious about him!
Just as they expected Xingtian to recount the whole story in detail, a holographic call window suddenly appeared above the table!
"Hello?"
The speaker was a bewildered Bai Ying.
"Bai Ying, you were there. We'd like to hear what you encountered before the Truth arrived at the battlefield. Start from when the monsters appeared." Though it had been Xingtian who brought Bai Ying into the call, General Chen was the one who explained the situation.
After hearing General Chen, Bai Ying realized that Xingtian had pulled her in to give a report.
"The first thing we encountered was a kind of... creature we'd never seen before. I don't know what to call it. It was something between a monster and a mech." Even now, recalling those scenes gave Bai Ying goosebumps. "It moved much like a monster, but it could use a mech's abilities."
Bzzzt!
To help everyone understand Bai Ying's account more clearly, Yu Xiao projected footage of the battle he had recorded.
When the Blue Hawk in the footage let out a distorted roar and charged toward the Xingtian piloted by Bai Ying at an astonishing speed, everyone watching drew a sharp breath.
"My scans showed that it had traits of both the second-generation Blue Hawk mech and the Type One monster Devil Shark. Other enemy units also had multiple identification signatures," Yu Xiao added.
"Monster mechs..." Yuan Zhen was the one who spoke this time, her expression turning grave. "All the second-generation mechs shown in the footage were lost in the Boundless Sea. Because of the giant beast Leviathan, the Alliance has never been able to recover their wreckage."
"If monsters can parasitize and control mechs, then whatever happens in future battles, we must never let them fall into monster hands!" The War Factory's chief technical officer spoke with firm resolve.
"That's easy for you to say—whatever happens, indeed. If the monsters beat the mechs down, how are we supposed to recover them?" The commander of the Crimson Fortress had personally taken part in the joint operation. He was one of the few people actually sitting in the conference hall.
His tone was unpleasant, but everyone was used to it. People from the Sarris Federation were naturally hot-tempered and loved a fight. While others kept cats or dogs as pets, they preferred to keep brown bears!
"Keeping mechs out of monster hands is the ultimate goal. Recovery isn't the only option."
Yuan Zhen's sky-blue eyes were as cold as ice.
"If we can't recover them, then we self-destruct them."
Before you continue