Atlas of Heaven and Man.

Chapter 1498 Raindrops Latently Reveal Deep Marks

When the vehicle entered the city center, the identity verification was normal, and the items carried were checked through information scanning without any problems, so it was able to pass through the checkpoint smoothly.

Upon entering the central city, one of the men, dressed in a black imported suit and wearing sunglasses, tapped the lower realm token and said to the person opposite him:
"Don't worry, we will deliver Aunt Tao's birthday present on time."

The person on the other end said, "On behalf of Aunt Tao, thank you."

With a beep, the other end of the call was finished.

The man looked around and realized that he was in Jibei Province, but the person he had just spoken to was in Longyou Province. He thought it was incredible that the skyline could connect the two places in real time.

If it's for doing business, it's certainly much more convenient, but unfortunately, no matter how good it is, it won't be available to them; it will only squeeze them out, so they can only oppose it.

This group of people used to work for Lianwei Heavy Driving Company, although the company has since undergone a complete transformation.

Because the branch office was thoroughly investigated and shut down by Jebu Province, Lianwei Heavy Machinery had no choice but to withdraw all its business from there.

The company originally focused on inland escort transportation and security. The absence of the Jibei Road segment has severely impacted the transportation chain. In addition, the rise of airship transportation and the boom in short-distance transportation have continuously squeezed the market.

After the skyline was connected, all violations and penalties were enforced uniformly according to the rules of the central cities of the skyline. As a result, Lianwei Heavy Driving had to move its headquarters from Shannan to the conservative central city, and the company's business plummeted.

This situation is further exacerbated as the skyline expands.

This forced them to adjust their strategy. Although the head office still existed, the top executives had led their teams to separate from the company, merge with other companies to form new companies, and their business no longer followed the traditional land route.

The people entering here now are members of this new company. If they were still operating under the name of Lianwei Heavy Driving Company, it would be impossible to deliver this batch of goods into the central city of Jibei Province.

This time, under the instruction of certain powerful figures, they prepared three routes: land, sea, and air transport. Even if one route encountered problems, the other two routes would find a way to deliver the goods.

Fortunately, they were well-prepared and were able to enter the city smoothly, but that does not mean they can let their guard down now.

They needed to find a place to set up a temporary base, so they had already made contact with the Skull Gang in the city.

The vehicle toured the area before checking into the hotel, while the belongings were taken away by local agents and delivered to the Skull Gang's territory.

In recent years, the security situation in Jebu Province has gradually improved, and many gangs have been wiped out. However, it has not been able to completely change every corner. The place where the Skull Gang gathered is a wasteland.

To this day, everyone here still refuses to use boundary markers and has planted a large number of heterogeneous algae to influence the field.

This is a dead end in the city. Dealing with it would be too costly. Moreover, most of these people are deeply convinced of conspiracy theories and are even mentally unstable. Dispersing them would only make things more likely to go wrong. So, it's better to just let them fend for themselves here.

This area also allowed them to avoid site surveillance. After meeting with the Skull Gang's higher-ups, they chose an abandoned high-rise building and opened the box there.

The inside of the box is a honeycomb-shaped space. At first glance, it seems to be empty. In fact, the mutated creature is too small to be seen with the naked eye. Only the field and mental power can contact and detect it.

The heart-eating worms will chase the nearest information field, attach themselves to it, and then go to the large field creatures, eventually forming a large-scale infection.

However, large-scale biological environments are surrounded by isolation, protection, and filtering layers, so breakthroughs will take some time.

Before acquiring a host, the life cycle of the heart-eating worm is very short, allowing it to rapidly iterate and evolve according to the specific conditions of large-scale organisms. Therefore, during this period, it is necessary to build equipment to provide a special field information as nutrition.

They had smuggled this equipment in several days ago, and the technical staff responsible for its setup had all grown up in the company and had undergone brainwashing and biometric monitoring to ensure absolute loyalty to their superiors.

Anyone who behaves differently from their usual self will be immediately shot or subdued by their colleagues.

For at least seven or eight days, they need to keep the device running continuously for the heart-eating worm to take effect.

On February 3, a light rain fell in the central city of Jibei Province.

Inside the Jebuk-do Administrative Building, the newly appointed Jebuk-do Governor, Kim Guk-gang, is reviewing documents.

He took office in late last month and is considered one of the more conservative factions within the progressive group.

He doesn't need to achieve much in this position; he just needs to maintain his past achievements and stabilize the market.

His political acumen is acceptable, but in the past, his personal conduct was often criticized by many people, who said he was good at scheming and very good at flattery. Of course, now that he has reached this position, no one says these things anymore.

On his first day in office, he personally visited the Nian Fuli family at the Golden Maple Villa with his personal secretary.

After all, this was a relative of Advisor Chen from the Supreme Advisory Council, and Advisor Chen had made outstanding contributions to Jebu Province and the skyline in the past, so he had to at least give him a heads-up. In the past few days, he had gradually sorted out the initial work, met with and roughly familiarized himself with the administrative officials below him, and the next step was to meet with representatives of major companies, among which Yuanren Company, a global behemoth, was of paramount importance.

At this moment, he was receiving a report from the port via the field screen when suddenly, he felt that the information was not flowing smoothly and seemed to freeze a few times. The images of the people displayed on the screen also became distorted.

He frowned: "What's going on?"

The secretary replied, "Chief, it might be due to a problem with the information field. This situation has been occurring occasionally lately. I heard it's because a batch of new field equipment was purchased, and the field isn't very compatible with it right away."

"Is that so?"

Jin Guogang did not ask any further questions and continued to listen to the report. Such a situation never occurred again, as if it were just a minor accident.

But he didn't let go of this seemingly simple matter.

Having been immersed in officialdom for many years, he knew very well that many major problems often stemmed from a tiny oversight, especially when it came to the information field, which was the lifeblood of the skyline, and could not be taken too seriously.

So after the meeting, he immediately picked up the phone and asked some experts in the technical department about the situation. They explained that there had indeed been such a situation recently.

These devices are used to enhance field signals to meet the expansion of the skyline. In the early stages of coordination, field organisms are often affected by the large field and will often experience a period of maladaptation. This is theoretically possible.

After listening, he asked, "Have similar problems occurred with this batch of equipment in other major cities?"

The person on the other end of the phone paused for a moment, then said, "Chief, we are not aware of the situation in this regard yet..."

Jin Guogang said in a deep voice, "If you don't know, then go and find out. I'll give you three hours to investigate, and I need to see the report in three hours."

He hung up the phone and immediately had someone investigate the source of the equipment. They discovered that at the same time the equipment was being purchased, a company in the central city called Fusion Boundary had also intended to purchase it, but ultimately gave up.

The phrase "boundary fusion" immediately caught his attention.

Because he knew that Consultant Chen and Meng Shu, the president of Fusion Boundary Company, were classmates before, and that Consultant Chen had also worked as a security consultant at Fusion Boundary for a period of time, so he was someone who could talk to the former.

So, before he had a formal meeting with the company representatives, he had spoken with this person in a private capacity.

He thought for a moment, picked up the phone and dialed a number. After the other end answered, he smiled and said, "Mr. Meng, hello, this is Jin Guogang. Hello."

After exchanging a few pleasantries, he stated his purpose:
"I'd like to inquire about something. Of course, if it involves company secrets, Mr. Meng, you don't have to answer me. Haha, Mr. Meng, you're too kind. It's like this: I remember that in the middle of last month, your company originally planned to purchase a batch of field enhancement equipment, but in the end, you gave up on the purchase. May I ask why?"
Hmm... um, oh, I see...

"Oh, it's nothing, no need, thank you for your kindness, Mr. Meng. Okay, okay, that's all then, goodbye."

Jin Guogang hung up the phone and pondered for a moment. Meng Shu had just told him that the quality of this batch of equipment was good and the company was indeed planning to purchase it. However, after analysis and comparison by the strategy team, they believed that another batch of equipment was more in line with the company's needs, so they gave up on it in the end. It was a purely commercial decision.

A few hours later, the technical department sent over a report stating that the equipment had been used in several Skyline Central cities without encountering a similar situation.

The problem with the field information is likely not with the equipment. But if it's not with the equipment, then where is the problem?

His expression turned serious; the situation here needed to be clarified.

He looked up and instructed his secretary: "Immediately have the technical department gather relevant technical experts, as well as the field technicians from Jibei Province dispatched by Zhongjing, to examine the mother."

He thought for a moment and said, "Notify Director Lei of the Secret Cult Review Bureau and ask him to come and take a look at the situation this time as well. Also..."

He pointed with his finger and said, "Have the Bureau of Investigation check if any suspicious persons have appeared in the city center recently."

"Yes!"

After the secretary wrote down what was said, she immediately went down to relay the instructions.

Jin Guogang sat there for a moment, then picked up a phone and dialed a number for a secret department, hoping to get a closer look at recent personnel and situations.

He took this matter very seriously. Two hours later, before the test results were fully available, he personally went to the bottom of the administration building and took the elevator down, eventually arriving directly above the large field creature's habitat, Fumu.

……

……

(End of this chapter)