How's the situation in the Northeast Region?
During the conference video conference, the Northeast Region was the last to go online, and the officials and officers in charge all looked very tired.
The person in charge looked troubled and said, "After the public outcry, the most people on our side wanted to evacuate immediately. But we couldn't act rashly to avoid causing riots. However, we couldn't control some of our subordinates who forcibly seized back the machinery. Now there's a lot of chaos, and conflicts are erupting everywhere."
The other members of the council showed expressions of understanding. The Northeast Region was the entertainment district, home to the largest entertainment complex in Central China Data City. Maintenance engineers or low-level miners who were out on weekdays would choose the Northeast Region as their first choice if they wanted to return to Data City for entertainment, as it was where the largest concentration of casual laborers in Central China gathered.
Most of these migrant workers don't have their own household registration or long-term residence permits in the Data City. It's perfectly reasonable for them to leave. We can't expect them to finish their spending and leave quickly all the time, and then prevent them from leaving now, can we?
The key issue is that each of these scattered individuals owns a piece of machinery. After all, all the energy industries Data City rely on them for their survival. However, a problem has arisen: the Data City is no longer safe, and many people want to temporarily escape to the outside world. As a result, their machinery has become highly sought after.
Most of the equipment owned by individual farmers is rented. At this time, when the market price is high, the equipment owners, whether they want to quickly buy it back to resell it or keep it for their own use, will invariably choose to buy it back.
However, the lease term had not yet expired, and ordinary people were naturally unwilling, so the conflict broke out. The scale of this conflict was almost catastrophic. The number of active civilians in the Northeast Region was as high as 800 million. Even if all the military personnel were transferred there, it would be difficult to maintain order in such a large-scale vicious conflict.
In this situation, if someone is late for a meeting, naturally no one can say anything.
"The most urgent task now is to stabilize the internal situation and prevent further outbreaks; otherwise, those outside might seize the opportunity and really take action!"
"They dare!" A man in military uniform said, his face turning ashen.
"What's there to be afraid of?" an officer from South China Area said coldly. "In the current mode of warfare, advanced life forms are everything. What's there to be afraid of?"
In the digital age, modern weapons that once dominated the world are almost useless, because no missile can reach us from a distance. Modern intelligence can intercept them almost 100% of the time, leaving no chance for anyone.
Since the establishment of the Digital Federation, there has never been a war, but which district hasn't conducted numerous drills?
There are only two war modes. The first is that everyone is encased in mechanical devices and not connected to the network, engaging in single-player battles. However, this mode is almost useless and was eliminated a long time ago.
The reason is simple: no matter how sophisticated your combat robot is, if it is compromised by data, it can be destroyed from within. With the evolution of digital life, there are now many ways to transmit data to individual devices, such as a particle-sized robot or a vast fiber optic network. Any machine that gets close to that area can be compromised by data.
If they can't be destroyed from a distance, and they can be easily overpowered in melee, then spending money on combat robots would seem like a stupid waste.
The second type is the positional warfare of digital life.
The auxiliary robots are responsible for laying fiber optic cables, while modern weapons provide cover. Once the fiber optic cables are laid, they will be laid directly towards the enemy's Data City, energy stations, and other locations. Currently, the weapons and equipment of the major powers are roughly the same, so if you can intercept me, I can also intercept you. There is almost no point in resisting. The real battle will be when the networks are connected, and digital life forms will directly confront each other in the network domain.
If you don't fight back, the enemy will advance all the way to your Data City. If you abandon the Data City, they will continue to advance to your energy equipment areas. Without energy to sustain them, those data life forms, even with equipment, will eventually be unable to survive.
This is the current mode of warfare.
In this mode of warfare, advanced digital life forms are extremely important. In the network, those digital life forms that can use the power of the Virtual Realm are almost overwhelming to ordinary digital life forms. Therefore, the more advanced the digital life form, the higher its status.
Everyone knows that three-quarters of the main military force in Central China was cultivated in the Jade Dynasty World. With the closure of the West China Region this time, more than half of the advanced life forms were trapped in the Jade Dynasty World, their fate unknown.
Most importantly, the high-level combat forces of the various families also suffered heavy casualties during this observation project.
If outsiders were to learn of this at this point, they might actually take action.
After all, Central China has accumulated considerable resources: a high-quality engineering workforce and the largest nuclear power project in the entire Federation. Who wouldn't be envious?
" The North America Region has Alliance with other regions to put pressure on us, which is clearly a test. If we can't give them a shock in a short time, things could really get out of hand."
"Recall all military forces and deploy them to the Data City front line, ready for battle!" the South China Region Military Commander said. "We must be tough. The more we show weakness now, the more they will take advantage of us. Please ask Elder Yun to come out of retirement and personally participate in the Federation's convening meeting!"
"All the military force has been deployed to the front lines? What will happen to Data City then?" someone couldn't help but ask. "The situation is chaotic right now, and we need a large military force to maintain order internally. And most importantly, what if something else takes the opportunity to cause trouble?"
"What do you mean by 'other things'?" the commander of the South China Region asked.
"That thing that's been leaking from that project!" someone said seriously. "Although we've shut down the West China Region urgently, if we fail to contain it, and then redeploy troops to the front lines, what if something happens here?"
"From the time West China sent out the top-level intelligence to the time West China shut down, only ten minutes had passed. In such a short time, how could the other side break through multiple network blockades and escape beyond the West China Region? Then we don't need to do anything else, we can just surrender!"
"But..." The man also felt it was unlikely, but something still seemed strange.
But something was strange about it, though it was hard to pinpoint exactly what was wrong.
"Let's vote!" the South China Region Commander said. "I think we should transfer the remaining high-level combat forces to the front lines to guard against external threats. Raise your hand if you agree."
Almost everyone in the parliament hall, dressed in military uniform, extended their right hand, clearly indicating their support for a hardline stance against foreign aggression.
"But what about the internal chaos?" one member of parliament couldn't help but ask.
"In chaotic times, harsh measures are necessary. Arrest a few typical cases, punish them severely, and make an example of them!" an officer said. "Let's suppress the unrest temporarily first. As for restoring public morale, we can deal with that after the overall situation stabilizes."
All the senior councilors looked at each other and ultimately approved the plan.
"By the way, have we not been able to contact the highest command center yet?" the commander, who had just made the decision, suddenly remembered and asked.
Those who shut down West China urgently bear a heavy responsibility; ultimately, someone must be held accountable for this incident.
Most of the people in the command center were high-ranking members of powerful families, but he remembered that there were two who came from humble backgrounds, held extremely high positions, and had no connections, making them perfect scapegoats at this time.
"The coordinates of the command center are encrypted, and we've begun the process of eliminating possibilities. We'll notify you as soon as we've pinpointed the location," the technical official said in the conference room.
"Isolate them as soon as possible; we must never let something like what happened at West China Hospital happen again!"
"Yes!"
The commander nodded, and then concluded, "Let's arrange things this way for now. During this special period, please remain on standby. The conference room will not be closed, and we ask that you attend every time we call upon you."
Everyone else nodded in agreement, but just as everyone was about to leave the meeting room, the secretary in charge of organizing the documents for the South China Commander suddenly gave this usually assertive general a strange look.
The commander of South China is the heir to the Hou Family and has always been assertive. He was acting like he was in charge, and everyone was used to it. His tone and manner were fine, but for some reason, the secretary felt that the general was a little different today.
How should I put it? I always feel that the other person's body and facial expressions sometimes have a strange stiffness!
I'm so sorry for posting this so late...