"Boss, you're just letting him go?"
Grey Wolf took his eyes off the monitor in the control room and looked at Qin Feng, scratching his chin with a claw.
"That old geezer looked dishonest from the start. What if he goes back and tips them off, and the Blue Lightning Tyrant Dragon Clan escapes?"
Qin Feng turned and walked back to the elevator inside the city wall.
"Escape?"
"He won't get away."
"The nanobots I injected into his body are more than just trackers and bombs."
"They're signal relays and mobile sources of infection."
"From the moment he steps into the Blue Lightning Tyrant Dragon Clan's sect, the genetic information of every direct descendant in the clan will be collected and uploaded without anyone noticing."
"When that happens, even if they flee to the ends of the earth, my 'Rod of God' will find every person with the surname Yu."
Grey Wolf's dead fish eyes lit up.
"Holy crap, Boss, you're planning to wipe out nine generations of his family! At the genetic level, no less!"
"No."
Qin Feng corrected him.
"I'm just building a precise 'target user profile database.'"
"Even war needs to pay attention to the user experience."
The elevator doors opened onto the Central Control Room on the third basement level.
Qin Feng walked to the main console and looked at the people in Nuoding City, visibly unsettled by the battle that had just taken place.
Simply stopping a Titled Douluo wasn't enough.
He needed to get these people truly involved.
He had to make them understand that this war was being fought for their sake.
"Red Queen."
Qin Feng issued an order to the empty control room.
[I'm here, sir.]
The pleasant electronic voice sounded from every direction.
"On behalf of the Nuoding City Municipal Management Committee, issue a Level One War Mobilization Order to the entire city."
[Command confirmed.]
[What are the specific contents of the mobilization order?]
"It's simple."
Qin Feng pulled up a brand-new three-dimensional design. The flying vehicle had a strikingly aggressive look, somewhat like an armed helicopter, but its propulsion system was an anti-gravity engine.
"Tell all the citizens that in three days, we'll launch an expedition against the Blue Lightning Tyrant Dragon Clan."
"This isn't a war that belongs to me alone. This is Nuoding City's first roar of defiance against the old world."
"I need weapons. I need vehicles."
Qin Feng lightly tapped the design.
"Send this design for the 'Conqueror Type I' airborne assault craft to every citizen's ID Terminal."
"Tell them I need a thousand of them."
"Within three days."
Nuoding City, First Industrial Park.
Tie Shan was leading more than a hundred blacksmiths, all of them sweating profusely as they learned to operate the brand-new "mother machines."
Just moments ago, they had used the five-thousand-ton hydraulic press to stamp out their first flawless piece of hundred-refined steel.
The revolutionary production efficiency had moved the men, who had spent their whole lives working at forges, so much that they had nearly knelt before the machine on the spot.
"Put some damn spirit into it!"
Tie Shan bellowed.
"The boss gave us this incredible equipment. It's not here for us to stand around and gawk at!"
"If you can't read the blueprints by the end of the day, nobody gets dinner!"
Just then,
"Bzzzz—"
All the lights in the factory suddenly turned red, the color of an alarm.
Then Red Queen's voice, emotionless yet crystal clear, rang through every corner.
[Level One War Mobilization Order.] [Attention, all citizens: In three days, Nuoding City will launch a righteous expedition against the old power known as the 'Blue Lightning Tyrant Dragon Clan,' which steals the people's wealth and disregards the law.] [The production task for the 'Conqueror Type I' airborne assault craft is now open.] [Target: one thousand units.] [Time limit: seventy-two hours.] [Citizens participating in production will receive triple the standard work-hour points and priority in the allocation of the new-generation alloy safe houses.]
The blacksmiths were stunned.
An expedition?
Against that Blue Lightning Tyrant Dragon Clan that sounded so powerful?
And we're the ones doing it?
Tie Shan's mind was spinning too. Without thinking, he activated the device that had just been issued to him for his wrist, the one known as a "Citizen ID Terminal."
A holographic display projected into the air.
It showed the complete design for a flying machine unlike anything they had ever seen, brimming with futuristic style.
Every component and module had been laid out in clear detail.
Beside it were production procedures and assembly videos so meticulous they were almost absurd.
"My heavens..."
A young blacksmith leaned over to take a look, his mouth hanging wide open.
"Th-this thing... we're supposed to build it?"
Red Queen's voice sounded again.
[The 'Conqueror Type I' has been redesigned with a simplified modular structure.] [The First Industrial Park is responsible for producing the main frame and armor modules.] [The required material, 'TC4 Titanium Alloy,' has been delivered to Warehouse Three by automatic transport robots.] [The 'High-Precision Laser Cutter' and 'Automatic Welding Robotic Arm' required for production will be installed and calibrated in ten minutes.] [All craftsmen, please prepare to receive the equipment.]
Before the voice had even faded,
the factory's roof slowly opened, and more than a dozen massive shipping containers were lowered inside by an Anti-Gravity Transport.
The containers opened, revealing rows of brand-new production machines gleaming with a cold metallic sheen.
Tie Shan stared blankly at the scene, then looked down at the crystal-clear blueprints on his terminal.
He suddenly understood.
The boss wasn't asking them to build aircraft with hammers.
The boss had given them a complete set of miraculous tools that could turn blueprints into reality!
All they had to do was learn, and then... create!
A surge of unprecedented fervor shot straight to his head!
To hell with the Blue Lightning Tyrant Dragon Clan!
If I can build aircraft, why should I be afraid of some electric eel?
"What are you all standing around for?"
Tie Shan slapped his thigh and roared at the blacksmiths, who were still gawking.
"Didn't you hear? The boss wants us to build a thousand!"
"This is trust! He thinks highly of us blacksmiths!"
"Everyone, get moving!"
"Even if you don't sleep for three days and nights, you'd better get this job done beautifully!"
"Show the boss that we blacksmiths aren't useless fools who can only forge metal!"
"We're damn engineers who can build flying wonders!"
"Roar!!"
A thunderous roar erupted throughout the entire industrial park.
At the same time, in a classroom that had just been renovated at Nuoding City First Work-Study Academy,
a group of children aged six to twelve looked curiously at the holographic desks in front of them.
A Guardian wearing Power Armor was teaching them basic physics in a mechanical voice devoid of emotion.
"According to Newton's second law, F equals ma..."
Suddenly, Red Queen's mobilization order interrupted the lesson on the main screen in the classroom.
The children first grew restless and frightened.
But then the image on the screen changed, showing a live battlefield Simulation transmitted by high-altitude drones.
Blue dots representing Nuoding City and a red zone representing the Blue Lightning Tyrant Dragon Clan appeared on a vast map.
"Students, don't panic."
"This is a lively practical lesson on 'information warfare.'"
The Guardian instructor's voice rang out.
"Look. The enemy's troop deployment, the Soul Master ranks of their fighters, even the location of their sect's treasury—all of it is perfectly clear to us through our 'Eagle Eye' system."
The Blue Lightning Tyrant Dragon Clan's heavily guarded mountain gate was instantly magnified on the screen, its internal layout dissected layer by layer.
Even the locations of hidden sentries, along with their numbers, were clearly marked with red circles.
"And to the enemy, we're a complete black box."
"They don't know how many weapons we have, how far our weapons can reach, or even where we'll attack from next."
"That's called an information gap."
"In modern warfare, whoever controls the information controls victory."
A bright-eyed little boy raised his hand.
"Teacher, that's not fair!"
"Yeah! They don't even know we're going to attack them. That's bullying!"
The children began chattering among themselves.
In their simple understanding, a fight should be face-to-face, fair and square.
The Guardian instructor's red visor flickered.
"Fair?"
"When they stood above you and used so-called 'bloodlines' and 'Soul Rings' to decide that your parents would spend their entire lives as beasts of burden, did they ever talk to you about fairness?"
"When they enjoyed the wealth you created without a second thought, yet refused to share even a single grain of rice with you, did they talk about fairness?"
"No, they didn't."
"So neither do we."
"What we need is to use more advanced productivity, more powerful weapons, and an overwhelming victory to create a brand-new kind of fairness that belongs to us."
"Remember, children."
"Truth exists only within weapons' range."
"And our range encompasses the entire sea of stars."
All the children fell silent.
As they watched the Blue Lightning Tyrant Dragon Clan being completely "stripped bare" on the screen, the fear in their eyes gradually faded.
In its place was a strange light, a mixture of excitement and fervor.
So this was what war could be like?
This wasn't a battle at all.
It was like playing a game you were guaranteed to win, with the entire map revealed!
What a romantic feeling!
Before you continue