The news of the defeat on the battlefield had yet to blow over.
Like a storm, it shattered the Federation's jubilant mood. As Jonas put it, they had avoided throwing away the little things and seized every advantage, only for the Federation to hand District 25 a massive gift-not only surrendering all its earlier advantages, but suffering considerable losses of its own.
Night deepened. The Federation's streets had fallen quiet, with only the occasional flying car passing overhead. Otherwise, there were only sparsely populated sidewalks and dim yellow streetlights.
After news of the defeat arrived, the people in the Slums no longer dared venture outside. In such unstable conditions, they faced far more threats than usual.
No, normally, the Federation's mobile security squads might have intervened. But ever since Jonas exposed the upper ranks' involvement in organ trafficking and human trafficking, the people in the Slums did not even dare cry for help. Being robbed of everything was still better than having their organs harvested and dying miserably in the street, with no one to collect their bodies.
Meanwhile, in a conference room high inside a skyscraper that the people of the Slums could never enter in their entire lives, representatives of the major families and corporations were locked in a heated argument.
"This crushing defeat was absolutely devastating!"
The Brand Family's representative slammed the table, barely bothering to conceal the fury on his face. "The elite Psionics we spent enormous sums cultivating were wiped out in District 25's scheme! Fuck you! Nobody told me this was going to happen!"
"Who knows how elite your elites actually were?" At the other end of the long table, the Calder Family's representative sneered. "Nothing but poorly trained trash, or mercenaries you dragged in from who knows where to pad the numbers. They