Chapter 2551: Occupation Model and Partition as Hostage
In the conference hall of District 001’s District Government, the council led by Valen and some council candidates were silently waiting in front of the table.
At least half of the tables were empty. Those empty tables belonged to the Chief Governor of the District Government and two-thirds of the original council members.
The people who didn’t come were originally the core members of the entire District Government, but now all of them are absent. They and their families, along with the families of the key figures present, were all missing on the same day, the day the relic area was sealed, and it’s been over a month without any real effective information sent back.
The disappearance of these people is inseparable from the Holy Sword Society, but District 001’s strength is not weak. To capture so many government dignitaries in one go is something the Holy Sword Society alone can’t achieve. Such swift and flawless execution could only come from a hidden, more powerful opponent.
A tracing device placed in the home of a key figure happened to record the other’s trail. Even if identity information was hidden, judging by their habits, they are likely from a powerful faction of a certain district. As to which one, the people of District 001 couldn’t determine. Even Rank-B has dozens of wormhole points, and how many of these wormhole points have powerful and profound player families? Thousands upon thousands.
So there is no way to start an investigation.
But the opponent’s motive is very clear: they want to replace District 001’s original government dignitaries with their people and turn District 001 into a supply zone.
District 001 has been integrated into the game for a while, so they understand some of the tactics of large factions at advanced wormhole sites.
Generally, advanced wormhole sites wouldn’t act on newly appeared districts or districts newly integrated into the game. It’s not worthwhile. Players and districts alike are resources, and the evolution of players also represents the evolution of districts. The better the evolution, the more resources within the district, of course, these resources can also become resources of an advanced wormhole site.
But there are exceptions, such as when there’s an exact need for an experimental site or a farming zone, they might directly arrange to destroy a district for use.
For districts that have been in the game for a while and have some strength, it isn’t easy for other districts to take over. First, because the districts are many and large, actually controlling requires manpower and energy. Second, if control isn’t managed well, there could be backlash—during the initial phase of game evolution, districts weren’t directly merged into one, nor multiple wormhole points into one, except for minimal evolutionary timing differences; there’s also player retaliation that some districts have paid a heavy price for.
Of course, this doesn’t stifle the ambition of powerful districts. After all, a district’s resources are limited, and instead of infighting, it’s better to seize from elsewhere, which has given rise to three occupation models.
The first is player wars; if one side wins, they naturally take the district.
The second is like what’s currently happening with District 001, openly undisclosed, covertly transitioning slowly.
The third is direct slaughter; if worried about future retaliation, then eradicate the possibility completely.
For technologically advanced districts, slaughtering a district isn’t difficult; it could even be said to be very simple because each district stores a certain amount of super large-scale weapons. They just need people to interfere with the weapons, and the district will self-destruct immediately.
Of course, this method is rarely used, especially for developed districts, merely to loot resources there’s no need to use such a costly approach.
But it is indeed a method, so once a district is chosen and targeted, everyone in the district becomes a hostage. Powerful districts might not even need to take any actual action to acquire a district.
For a district like 001, with enough strength and resources, they can’t use the slaughter method lightly. Public warfare would result in huge losses, so covert transitioning is most appropriate, reducing casualties, controlling the information.
With the council election in District 001, it’s even better; all they need is to have key figures smoothly bow out at an opportune time, and new people can naturally replace them.
District 001 realized the conspiracy behind only too late, and when realized, it was already irreversible. Moreover, they couldn’t reveal the impending invasion news. Firstly, to protect those who were kidnapped, and secondly, to protect the ordinary people who knew nothing about it. But the outcome of becoming a supply zone is well-known; how could the District Government willingly let their descendants unwittingly become someone else’s nourishment?
Too late to turn the tide, they could only rely on time, planting a cause, hoping to bear the fruit they wanted in the future.
The final election day hadn’t arrived yet, but half a day ago, they gave up on searching for the families of the key figures, eight hours ago gave up on searching for the key figures, seven and a half hours ago gathered the military, law enforcement teams, and player organizations’ advanced players to stand by, six hours ago, all the staff of the District Government left the office building, five hours ago the United Capital started a lockdown, dispersing all protesting citizens, four hours ago military bases around medium and large cities in District 001 entered a lockdown state, three hours ago all players on confidential missions outside were recalled, two hours ago the government office area unlocked the game’s disconnect, one hour ago children who had been pre-screened for talents were being sent away in batches and directions...
Many other tasks were being conducted secretly, but time was tight, and the Outer District Forces wouldn’t allow them to take away important resources. So, besides children and high IQ talents, everything else was compromised for quantity, at least to leave District 001 with an undisclosed fortune.
A specially encrypted terminal was placed on the meeting table, which could directly contact all members of the first team. Once they returned to District 001, the terminal would immediately receive a signal, and the ultimate purpose of gathering around the table here was to wait, wait for a result.
If a new Super Player was born, District 001’s crisis would soon be resolved, but if only some players escaped, their latest order was to evacuate.
If District 001 was successfully invaded, then this group of elite players would be both torches and fire seeds. Their strength and experience would be enough to educate many subsequent generations.
"Mr. Valen, there’s only eight hours left." The player who previously welcomed Xu Huo and the other two into the District Government came up behind Valen to remind him. There were eight hours left until the final election results were announced.
Valen took a deep breath, glanced at another Outer Zone candidate sitting by the table. This was his colleague and comrade. Their eyes met, and they nodded slightly toward each other.
"Go to the Wan Family personally," Valen said. "Send the Hero ahead first, this sinner will follow shortly."