126: Chapter 126 New World

Qi Yan stood by the command vehicle, watching the Caravan, which stretched for hundreds of meters, slowly roll over the gravel road.

When the third rearguard was intercepted by an Anomaly Tide on the Provincial Road, he had personally led the charge to break the encirclement.

Lu Chen and Lin Du had used up all their special ammunition, and Shi Lei had suffered a wound on his right shoulder from an Elite Specter that was deep enough to expose bone.

But they had made it out.

At this moment, the surviving Caravan was heading toward the nearest Mangyan Safe Zone along the route designated by the Central Safe Zone.

The Head of Intelligence sat in the back of the command vehicle, flipping through the encrypted telegram that had just arrived.

"The Central Safe Zone agrees to accept the evacuees from Beishan Safe Zone, but all Sequencers must re-register upon arrival at Mangyan Safe Zone and be managed by the Central Safe Zone," the voice of the Head of Intelligence came from the carriage.

"The new base that Dr. Guan defected to has been listed as a high-priority observation target, and Mangyan Safe Zone is required to assist with follow-up investigations."

Qi Yan withdrew his gaze and looked toward the unknown horizon shrouded in gray fog ahead of the Caravan.

He had guarded Beishan Safe Zone for over half a year; from the moment the first crystal lattice was contaminated, he knew this day would come sooner or later.

But what truly made his heart sink was not the collapse of the high walls, but the new power that had grown in the area southeast of the Provincial Road after the walls fell.

There was a sentence in that telegram he had never figured out how to reply to: Please evaluate whether this stronghold possesses the basic characteristics of an independent Safe Zone.

After the collapse of Beishan Safe Zone, a new power had emerged in this area.

And the Central Safe Zone was redrawing the map.

A new force was slowly unfolding on these ruins.

Mangyan Safe Zone was located in a basin surrounded by low hills, a place easy to defend and difficult to attack.

The perimeter walls were made of reinforced concrete, and every few dozen meters, there was a sentry tower equipped with searchlights and heavy machine guns.

Outside the main gate, a long line of hundreds of refugees waited, and staff from the Registration Office were checking identities one by one.

Above the city gate, the number and name of the Safe Zone were painted in white, and a faded Tiantong Sequence flag hung next to it.

Standing beneath the flag were two rows of armed garrison soldiers.

This place was much larger than Beishan Safe Zone.

The outer shantytown alone stretched for hundreds of meters, and the Trading Market was bustling with people.

Vendors were shouting at the top of their lungs, and several information brokers had set up stalls at the city gate, selling new maps of the Provincial Road to the refugees who had just entered the city.

The staff at the Registration Office worked with practiced indifference, checking the roster of evacuees submitted by Qi Yan one by one, their pen tips leaving neat checkmarks on the paper.

A few survivors who had been lucky enough to follow from Beishan Safe Zone looked up at the heavy machine guns on the sentry towers as they walked through the gate, then lowered their heads and continued walking.

To them, this was just another Safe Zone, only the walls were higher and the garrison was larger, but the rules were still the same old rules.

But to Qi Yan, everything here reminded him that Beishan Safe Zone was merely the most remote node on this vast network, and the network itself was far larger than what he had seen while at Beishan.

Qi Yan waited for a moment in front of the garrison headquarters building.

The light in the hallway was very dim; the habit of the Logistics Department to cut electricity quotas was clearly not unique to Beishan Safe Zone.

A huge regional map hung on the wall, a full size larger than the one in his office, marking all the Safe Zones, strongholds, material transit stations, and high-density Anomaly areas under the jurisdiction of Mangyan Safe Zone.

Every Safe Zone had a number, population statistics, number of Sequencers, and risk assessment level.

The number B-07 for Beishan Safe Zone had been marked with a red cross, with "Cancelled" written next to it in a black marker.

To the southeast of the red cross, a small area was circled, with a question mark next to it.

That question mark represented the new base.

Qi Yan stood in front of the map for a long time.

He had stayed at Beishan Safe Zone for over half a year and had never known that such a large area existed southeast of the Provincial Road, let alone that several abandoned Safe Zones, industrial ruins, and unexplored Anomaly nests were scattered throughout this region.

The scope marked on the map far exceeded his imagination, extending from Mangyan Safe Zone all the way to the southernmost end of Beishan Safe Zone's old jurisdiction, with several large and small Safe Zones, supply stations, and fallen zones in between.

Beishan Safe Zone was just a corner of this area.

And it had taken him over half a year to just barely see the world beyond this corner.

garrison Commander He Jun received Qi Yan in his office.

The gray-haired old commander sat behind his desk and flipped through the incident report of Beishan Safe Zone from beginning to end.

When he flipped to the page about Dr. Guan's defection, his finger paused for a long time.

"Dr. Guan applied to transfer to your Beishan from the Central Safe Zone on his own initiative.

His design philosophy in the field of Exorcism Array Eye technology is still one of the best solutions to date, only it was too advanced.

The Central Safe Zone attaches great importance to his defection, and the Tiantong Sequence has personally issued an order to evaluate the threat level of the source vine base."

He closed the report and placed it on the desk.

"The area under the jurisdiction of Beishan Safe Zone is still officially part of Beishan Safe Zone's old jurisdiction.

At present, the new base has effectively controlled a significant portion of that territory."

"According to the regulations, jurisdictions abandoned by a Safe Zone are reclaimed and redistributed by the Central Safe Zone.

But the Central Safe Zone is too far from here, and Mangyan Safe Zone is the official Safe Zone closest to this area, so the higher-ups dumped this matter on us."

"When Beishan Safe Zone was still around, the raiders and scattered survivor strongholds on the Provincial Road were all under the Safe Zone's system.

Now that the high walls have fallen, whoever controls the Provincial Road controls the flow of people and materials in this area."

He Jun stood up, walked to the huge regional map on the wall, and his fingertips slowly traced the Provincial Road between Beishan Safe Zone's old jurisdiction and Mangyan Safe Zone.

"There is a complete material allocation route and Sequencer rotation mechanism between the Safe Zones in this area.

The Exorcism Field data for each node is reported regularly, and the jurisdiction of each Safe Zone has clear boundaries.

Once Beishan Safe Zone fell, the southernmost node of this network was broken.

The Central Safe Zone's intention is for Mangyan Safe Zone to fill this gap, but whether it can be filled is not up to me; it depends on how big the thing that has newly grown in that gap really is."

He tapped his knuckles on the region number at the top of the map.

"The region number is the same, and all Safe Zones operate within this system.

Before, you only saw the Beishan Safe Zone node, but now you see the whole network.

This is the New World."

Qi Yan's gaze fell on the map.

He saw the location of Beishan Safe Zone, the location of Mangyan Safe Zone, and the location of the Central Safe Zone further away.

That connecting line ran from south to north through several fallen zones, through the coverage of Exorcism Fields, and through the gaps between countless Anomaly nests and human strongholds, extending all the way to the top of the map.

He suddenly understood one thing: Beishan Safe Zone was never an isolated island; it was just the most remote node on this network.

And now, that circle marked with a question mark was standing in a brand-new position, not as a vassal of some Safe Zone, but as a new node.

"The vanguard of the first investigation team has already set out and will arrive in the Beishan area the day after tomorrow.

Their mission is to evaluate the threat level, confirm the whereabouts of the heart of industry, and verify whether Dr. Guan's defection caused any technology leaks.

The evaluation conclusion will be reported directly to the Tiantong Sequence as the basis for the Central Safe Zone's subsequent decisions."

He Jun pressed his knuckles on the location of the ruins of Beishan Safe Zone.

"But you and I both know that even if the Central Safe Zone wants to manage it, it is too far away, with several fallen zones and high-density Anomaly areas in between.

The cost of troop deployment and the pressure on supply lines are too great, which is why the higher-ups dumped this mess on Mangyan Safe Zone."

He Jun finished flipping through the pages and turned the report back to the cover.

The line "Beishan Safe Zone No. B-07 is cancelled effective immediately" made him silent for a long time.

The high walls of Beishan Safe Zone had already fallen, but what had newly grown on these ruins caught everyone by surprise.

He used a fountain pen to write a few lines on the cover of the report: Read. Forward to Central Safe Zone.

Recommendation: Prioritize evaluating the threat level of the source vine base and temporarily delay the suppression of the Fang Organization to avoid multi-front warfare.

Additionally, the source vine base has effectively controlled the core area of Beishan Safe Zone's old jurisdiction, the Exorcism Field is stable, and its combat power assessment meets the standards of an independent Safe Zone.

It is recommended that the Central Safe Zone consider incorporating it into the regional Safe Zone network after the evaluation is complete.

He set down his pen and handed the report to his orderly, telling him to send it to the Central Safe Zone as an urgent dispatch.

As the orderly took the report, the gray fog outside the window was slowly churning along the edge of the hills.

This area was about to welcome a brand-new landscape, and that circle marked with a question mark was becoming a name that no one could ignore, at a speed far exceeding everyone's estimates.