BFET Chapter 27

Fang Ganlang, who was standing in front of the French window, turned around upon hearing this.

His gaze paused on Xie Yi for a very brief moment, then he gestured towards the sofa next to him, “You’re here, sit.”

A tea set was arranged on the oval table, and the hot water next to it had just boiled. The temperature on the thermometer stopped at 100℃ for a second, then dropped to 99℃.

After the hot water was poured, a musty, post-rain smell wafted through the office.

“It’s rare for someone to sit here and wait for me to brew them a cup of tea,” Fang Ganlang gently placed the brewed tea in front of Xie Yi. “Try it.”

Xie Yi lowered his eyes to look at it. A few blue tea leaves floated on the surface of the porcelain cup, with even more settled at the bottom.

He didn’t reach out. After glancing at it, he looked up to meet Fang Ganlang’s gaze, “I didn’t expect the General Commander to personally review me.”

Fang Ganlang looked to be in his fifties. Perhaps it was because he held a high position and had endless matters to worry about, the lines between his eyebrows looked even deeper than Fei Yuelan’s, more like a Mariana Trench.

When he looked at people, he didn’t have much of an expression. Even his eyes were indifferent, yet they gave people an invisible sense of pressure.

Xie Yi calmly withstood this pressure. While concealing the unexpected aspects of Shen Shu, he reported the situation in Jiangbei before the explosion, and then said, “After encountering the Curse Gu, almost all of the mid-level and above Mutated Entities in Jiangbei at that time basically died. Only their corpses were being controlled. Even if the explosion caused a pollution imbalance, the impact wouldn’t be too great. But if the Curse Gu followed us out of Jiangbei, the Curse Gu itself, coupled with so many Mutated Entity corpses moving around on a large scale, would also lead to a pollution imbalance, and the scope would be wide, with a greater impact, and a risk of affecting other surrounding Enclosed Zones. Weighing the two evils, destroying Jiangbei was the best choice, especially since we had the conditions to do so at the time.”

Xie Yi: “Activating Jiangbei’s self-destruction system was a decision I made alone. If the General Command wants to hold someone accountable, I am willing to accept the punishment.”

After Xie Yi finished speaking, Fang Ganlang didn’t say anything. He picked up the teacup, took a sip, and then slowly opened his mouth, “Mutated Entity riots cause pollution imbalance, and pollution imbalance in turn causes Mutated Entity riots. The consequences of their interaction are indeed troublesome, but choosing the lesser of two evils, your choice was not wrong.”

“The current pollution imbalance in Jiangbei and its surroundings is not considered serious. It can be said to be the lightest pollution imbalance on record,” Fang Ganlang said. “The Second Branch team also discovered a large number of Mutated Entity carcass traces at the scene, concentrated around the core emitter. Apart from the Fire Tree Silver Flower, which shouldn’t have appeared, the other types were all mid-level and high-level Mutated Entities recorded in Jiangbei. As for that Curse Gu…”

“Before your report yesterday, the Second Branch team had already discovered a small amount of red threadworm traces on the Mutated Entity carcasses at the scene, but they never saw any trace of the Curse Gu from beginning to end.”

Xie Yi pursed his lips. Although he knew it would be difficult to solve the Curse Gu problem in passing, he still felt a little regretful when he heard the result.

Fang Ganlang: “Alright, we’ll touch base on the Jiangbei matter later when the Second Branch team returns. Next, let’s talk about other things.”

At this moment, his tone carried a hint of imperceptible smile, and in an instant, he seemed to have transformed from a leader into an amiable elder.

Then, Xie Yi heard him ask, “Xie Yi, are you interested in joining Bai Er?”

Bai Er?

Xie Yi was stunned for a moment, then said seriously, “I think that no matter who in the General Command is asked this question, no one would say they weren’t interested.”

As everyone knows, the Security Defense Teams of the several large safety zones nationwide have three joint elite squads: Hound, Zhulu, and Bai Er.

The team names are different, corresponding to different regions, but their responsibilities are the same: year-round overseas deployments, performing high-risk Enclosed Zone clearing and reconnaissance missions.

The members of the three teams are evaluated and recommended by the internal assessments of each Security Defense Team. Most of them are experienced field personnel, with high pollution resistance and strong Complete Awakening of ability levels, and of course, a small portion of Evolutionary Awakening individuals.

Fang Ganlang smiled, “Thanks to the courage of you young people, the national Security Defense Teams can have the current situation, but…”

Speaking of this, he changed the topic, “Nineteen years ago, using the Gigawhale, we spent a long time completing the division and integration of the safety zones and Enclosed Zones, grading 60% of the Enclosed Zones, and arranging personnel to conduct Extraction regularly every year, only then did we maintain a stable situation for nearly 10 years.”

Xie Yi had heard this piece of history. Behind these few words was a sea of blood.

In those days, the research institutes of various regions jointly developed Tagging Anchors through the Gigawhale research to divide the Enclosed Zones. The national Security Defense Teams were almost all dispatched for this. He remembered that the previous General Commander had sacrificed himself at that time.

Fang Ganlang suddenly brought this up at this time. He deliberated for a moment and asked, “Is there a problem with the Enclosed Zones that the General Commander suddenly mentioned this?”

“Yes.” Fang Ganlang saw the flicker of surprise in Xie Yi’s pupils, “But it’s not too serious yet, at least not to the point of Mutated Entities besieging the city, otherwise you and I wouldn’t have time to sit here and drink tea.”

“In fact, high-risk Enclosed Zones have been showing signs of unrest since three years ago. The joint squads have continuously discovered the emergence of new Mutated Entities and evolved Mutated Entities of different levels. In order to prevent the pollution of high-risk Enclosed Zones from expanding, our order to the three joint teams is to thoroughly clear them.”

“It was still able to effectively contain it at the beginning, but later, a year ago, the Curse Gu unexpectedly appeared near the Fuan safety zone. The people who had gone deep into the high-risk Enclosed Zone didn’t have time to return to support, which is why there was that cross-city assembly mission with countless casualties. After that, the frequency of Mutated Entity regeneration and evolution in high-risk Enclosed Zones became even more frequent, and to this day, it has begun to affect the tendency of pollution to expand.”

Hearing this, Xie Yi suddenly asked, “So the Curse Gu that appeared in Jiangbei this time was also because of this? And that Lantern Mushroom that appeared in Fengjiang District two months ago…”

Fang Ganlang was silent for a moment, and said: “I don’t know. Jiangbei’s location is actually very far from the high-risk Enclosed Zone, but it’s the same as why that Curse Gu appeared near Fuan a year ago. The reason has not been found yet, but if we consider the worst-case scenario, I think it is. As for the Lantern Mushroom in Fengjiang District, perhaps it is a warning.”

Xie Yi: “A warning?”

“After the incident in Fengjiang District, we made adjustments to the current Enclosed Zone Extraction mission, focusing on solidified and C-level and below Enclosed Zones.” Fang Ganlang tapped on the table, and a holographic screen immediately popped up between the two of them.

The holographic screen showed a distribution map of all the Enclosed Zones in this Extraction mission, which was now displaying varying shades of red.

“According to the preliminary results sent back so far, there are no abnormalities in other solidified ecological Enclosed Zones. On the contrary, evolved Mutated Entities have been discovered in many C-level and D-level Enclosed Zones.” Fang Ganlang’s gaze passed over the holographic screen and landed on Xie Yi, “Apart from Jiangbei, I remember that your squad also made some discoveries during this trip to Zhou Shan.”

Xie Yi nodded.

Fang Ganlang: “Change is a chain reaction. According to our deduction, the solidified ecological Enclosed Zones, which should have been the same as Fengjiang, have abnormalities, but in reality, it is Enclosed Zones of other levels, even A-level. The development of the situation may be faster than expected.”

Xie Yi: “So the General Command now needs more manpower to enter high-risk Enclosed Zones for clearing, to buy time, right?”

Fang Ganlang: “Yes.”

“I understand.” After Xie Yi finished speaking, he lowered his eyes for a moment, then raised them to look at Fang Ganlang, and asked, “If I join Bai Er, how will my teammates be arranged?”