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North America District:

"Are you sure?"

The Speaker of North America, upon receiving the message, neglected even the most crucial vote canvassing meeting and hurried to the data center’s congress to convene all senior officials.

"It shouldn’t be a rumor!" The department responsible for intelligence work, now called the Cybersecurity Department, used to be the renowned CIA.

The director also seemed shocked by the news, explaining, "Since the outbreak of the incident, of the over seven hundred spies we had planted in Huazhong Digital City, three hundred forty-seven lost contact almost instantaneously, unreachable by any means, and these were precisely the ones operating in Huaxi District! "

Huaxi District, recognized as a high-tech park within Huazhong Digital City, houses numerous valuable technologies and is the place where the Federation invests most heavily in spy operations.

"Could it be that all the spies were exposed and Huazhong deliberately set up a trap?" someone couldn’t help asking.

"Only someone with water on the brain could ask a question like that," the intelligence agency’s director scornfully glanced at the official who had just spoken. The quality of today’s officials really couldn’t compare with the past; mostly they were people who got their start through propaganda and gimmicks, the same concept as those old Green Parties or Environmental Parties, who rose by stirring things up and were foolishly elevated to congress.

"Let’s set aside whether Huazhong has such exaggerated counter-intelligence capabilities; even if it does, what would be the point of causing such a panic?

To tempt us into declaring war, so they can find an excuse to wipe us out?

If they had that kind of capability, why bother with this charade?

Any excuse would do—being displeased with the size of our pores could serve as a reason to hit us! "

The man was so rebuked that his face reddened, but he dared not retort any further.

The director of the intelligence agency has always been domineering, and he holds spy forces that even the Speaker isn’t aware of.

These gimmicky politicians may seem defiant in public gatherings, but when facing such a person with real power, they wouldn’t dare to be presumptuous.

Who knows, perhaps one day they might meet with an "accident" inside some mechanical device...

"If I’m not mistaken, there must be a problem with that project in Huazhong," an official said solemnly. "The Demonic World project, we’ve sent many intelligence officers into it, and the conclusion is that it’s a resource drain.

Huazhong is reluctant to let go of that project, and the expenditure has caused many scientific projects to be delayed over the years, leading to no small controversy. "

"The project suddenly restarted because of a character named Chen Qing, and it even persuaded the entire Federation to invest resources. Didn’t we recently send elite intelligence officers into that world? Has any intelligence come out?"

The intelligence department’s director looked at the official who had spoken, his expression slightly less severe. It seemed there were still some officials with somewhat normal brains.

The Speaker looked towards the intelligence agency’s director and said, "John, have the intelligence officers received any related information?"

"Not at all....," the other party shook his head, "That world is very strange; everyone who enters it can be reborn and reincarnate. Right now they are all still in women’s bellies, how can they gather intelligence for us?"

The crowd: "....."

"I was originally against that project," John said with a cold laugh.

"Huazhong is just playing for time against us, claiming information sharing, but our people having to start all over once they enter there—trying to get established inside would take at least twenty years. By that time, whatever Huazhong wanted to occupy would have long been taken by them. It’s clearly a situation where they eat meat and we sip soup, and this kind of humiliating cooperation is something only your congress could agree to. "

Everyone was left with iron-blue complexions by John’s unkind words.

The project was indeed quite passive, but the prospect of eternal life through infinite reincarnation within that world is something the Federation’s upper echelons could not refuse.

If he had not agreed to it, he was sure that he, the Speaker, would be found dead in some corner the next day, replaced by a more compliant Speaker.

He thought it no surprise that those big capitalists would go to crazy lengths for the chance at eternal life.

"So, what do you think we should do now?" an official asked coldly.

"Of course, we should apply pressure!" John laughed coldly.

"Whether or not the chaos is real, by putting pressure on them we can’t lose.

Clothed in a banner of justice, we immediately have our allies apply pressure.

If there really is such major turmoil inside, this is once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.

These yellow-skinned monkeys also have their day! "

The Speaker nodded at his words; John was a pure racist, one of the more extreme ones, but his words were not wrong.

If the intelligence was true, then this indeed represented a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.

Huazhong’s productivity was improving, and its actual status within the Federation was already not weaker than theirs; if things continued this way, being surpassed one day was not impossible.

If the current turmoil could weaken them, or even better, directly dissolve them, that would be the best outcome.

The energy stations occupied by Huazhong, as well as those elite engineers, are all solid currencies in the age of Digital City!

"Immediately contact the three major districts, issue a joint statement claiming that internal issues in Huazhong could threaten the entire Federation’s security, and they must disclose their intelligence to ensure the Federation’s right to know; otherwise, for our own safety, we must take necessary measures. "

"Notify all soldiers in the Virtual World immediately, aside from those on essential missions that cannot be abandoned—everyone back to Digital City immediately!!"

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"See? Didn’t I tell you something big had happened...""

As soon as the Federation released its statement, many civilians who saw the news on the official website started to boil over again.

The official Federation website issued a statement, claiming that a major crisis had occurred in Huazhong, with all four major districts jointly demanding that Huazhong disclose intelligence to ensure the safety of the entire Federation.

Huazhong District immediately refuted this, accusing the four major districts of taking advantage of the crisis to create panic, with their intentions deserving condemnation. The official statement expressed severe condemnation and firm opposition!

However, such declarations did not lead to stability within the region; most areas were still plunged into panic.

"What on earth has happened?"

"How would I know? Anyway, it’s not without reason. What a joke, shutting down the entire Huaxi District. If there wasn’t something serious, I’d swallow feces and commit suicide."

"Damn, isn’t the Zhu Xian project in Huaxi as well? It couldn’t have been shut down too, could it?"

"As an employee of the Zhu Xian project, I solemnly declare that the Zhu Xian project is fine. Do not listen to what people are saying online; this time, the shutdown in Huaxi is just technical. Everyone, please don’t panic."

"I don’t believe you for a second; my cousin’s in the Zhu Xian project, and I can’t get in touch with him now!"

Online public opinion was boiling more and more, obviously showing no sign of calming down, and this kind of panic sentiment also led to real panic in society.

The lower class, consuming within Digital City, all applied to leave the city at the first opportunity.

Meanwhile, many in the middle class took advantage of the situation to start hoarding energy crazily. In just a few hours, the price of robots capable of leaving Digital City doubled!

For a while, the entire region fell into chaos.

------------------------

"Is this what you wanted?" Wu Xiaoli asked with an ashen face as she looked at King of Qin.

King of Qin kept looking at the information on the network, a smile appearing on his face.

"You lunatic!!" Wu Xiaoli nearly screamed.

She could no longer remain calm. Three hundred million lives, gone just like that, all because of the culprit before her. And looking at the current situation, who knew how many more would die!

"Interesting... am I the lunatic?" King of Qin scoffed. "I only killed some high-ranking people. But what have your people done? Without hesitation, they shut down a whole district!"

"Three hundred million people, and they didn’t even frown before taking action, and you call me a lunatic? Who is truly insane, don’t you know?"

"Isn’t it because of you?" Wu Xiaoli said coldly.

"Haha..." King of Qin suddenly laughed: "Because of me? Am I some kind of biological virus that requires such measures? I didn’t massacre civilians, did I?"

"They acted out of fear that the system would be challenged. Just because there was a possibility of such an event, they would rather sacrifice three hundred million people immediately to strangle me in the cradle, blaming it all on me — that’s hardly fair..."

Wu Xiaoli: "...."

"Do you know why nuclear weapons can maintain peace? Is it because they have such a high civilian casualty rate? Not really..." King of Qin shook his head. "It’s because those weapons truly threaten the upper class. That’s why the little Sun Nation surrendered so decisively back then, because if one more bomb was dropped, it wouldn’t be civilians dying, but them.

When have you noble families ever cared about the lives of ordinary people below you? What are you pretending for here?"

"You bastard!" Wu Xiaoli’s eyes reddened: "You’re the same, just the same. You knew the consequences well, and yet you still did it; you’re also one of the murderers!"

"No..." King of Qin shook his head. "If you noble families had been willing to risk negotiating with me for the sake of three hundred million lives in Huaxi, I wouldn’t have taken this step.

But facts have proven that you are no different from before.

You never considered us lowly people as humans.

The Demonic World needs change, and this place. .. needs change too!"