Chapter Eighteen: The History of Paloce (Part Two)

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Tom immediately let out a hearty laugh. Then, he continued speaking in a straightforward manner. Aside from the "Old Industrial Zone Explosion," there were two major events in Paloser over the past years.

The first one happened five years ago.

A mineral vein was accidentally discovered in the outskirts of Paloser—a rare mineral used in precision instrument manufacturing and various engineering applications, quite valuable. Under the direction of Emerald Pharmaceuticals, the local joint government began a bidding process.

After several rounds, the giant corporation Southern Domain Heavy Industries had secured the development rights and was about to start building the mining site when another giant, Temporal Transit, suddenly intervened. They pressured the local government to postpone the announcement of the bidding results and brazenly deployed armed units to severely damage Southern Domain Heavy Industries’ Paloser branch.

Due to past rivalries and history, these two corporations harbored deep grudges; this was essentially an act of retaliation.

Southern Domain Heavy Industries naturally would not let it go. They urgently dispatched armed forces to Paloser and even engaged Temporal Transit’s ambush units in the wasteland before officially entering the city.

Once inside the city, the two sides engaged in full-scale combat, fighting from the outskirts into the urban areas and back again. Streets were leveled, malicious network viruses spread uncontrollably, terrifying thermal weapons easily reduced buildings to ashes, swarms of drones launched under intelligent network control bombarded indiscriminately, and fully armed senior psychics entered the fray.

During those days, except for the central hall of the ruling center and the wealthy White Gate district, other urban areas frequently suffered network collapses, loss of water and electricity, and sporadic artillery fire that turned homes and neighborhoods to ashes.

It is said—just said—that when Southern Domain Heavy Industries was about to deploy a low-yield "gravitational collapse bomb" to decisively end the conflict, Emerald Pharmaceuticals finally stepped in to mediate.

The details of the mediation remain unknown.

In the end, Southern Domain Heavy Industries retained the mining rights, Temporal Transit received a sizable compensation from the local government and withdrew from Paloser, marking the end of this "small-scale corporate war."

When Tom recounted this, his tone was filled with lingering dread. Even he couldn’t tell whether it was a deliberate show of vulnerability to elicit sympathy or genuine deep-seated fear.

“A corporate war...” Song Shi mused.

Born and raised in Paloser, Song Shi, like Tom, had lived through those days and thus had this memory. However, at that time, he mostly hid in welfare centers and air-raid shelters, rarely venturing out—after all, he was only about twelve or thirteen years old, with no pressure to attend work amid gunfire and explosions.

He only just now learned about some deeper details, like the "gravitational collapse bomb," from Tom.

When a star itself cannot provide enough pressure to counterbalance its gravity and maintain its hydrostatic equilibrium, gravitational forces pull the stellar material inward, causing collapse.

If the collapse reaches its limit, there is a certain chance a black hole will form.

The principle behind the "gravitational collapse bomb" is essentially the artificial creation of a miniature black hole. Even if this black hole collapses almost instantly, its gravity before vanishing is devastating.

If such a bomb of large yield targeted a city, even Song Shi at his peak in his previous life would find it extremely challenging. He might escape, but he certainly could not prevent the collapse.

For Southern Domain Heavy Industries to consider deploying a weapon of this caliber, they must have been serious. This was beyond a "small-scale corporate war." No wonder Emerald Pharmaceuticals couldn’t stand idly by and rushed in to mediate.

Had it been used, most of Paloser, except the central hall and White Gate district, would have been affected, and the fate of the people... well.

Perhaps some future plans could be delayed.

Once he regained his strength, it might be better to first eliminate a director of Southern Domain Heavy Industries, then head to the Vanpsta Empire for the Second World War Elector? Song Shi thought to himself, but outwardly knocked on the table and said, "So, what about the other matter?"

According to his memories, Song Shi had some guesses about this matter but still wanted to hear Tom’s perspective.

“Hmm...” Tom pondered for a moment, choosing his words carefully.

“I don’t know if you’ve heard of the ‘Dawnbringers’?”

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“Of course I have,” Song Shi chuckled. “Those guys who always claim to be overthrowing the ‘corporate order.’ Who here hasn’t heard of them?”

“But the Dawnbringers you mean...” Song Shi asked, “Are you referring to the ‘resistance group’ or the ‘extreme armed terrorists’?”

Tom felt his heart skip a beat.

But before he could answer, Song Shi clapped his hands. “Just kidding. Carry on.”

That wasn’t funny at all, Tom thought bitterly.

He didn’t want to casually reveal his stance and get entangled in the struggle between these two giants.

“A year ago, Emerald Pharmaceuticals severely struck the Dawnbringers’ forces in Paloser. The execution videos of captured Dawnbringers were all over the internet. You can still find them if you search.”

After a moment, Tom added, “I heard—just heard—that this operation was planned and personally led by the local security chief of Emerald Pharmaceuticals.”

“That security chief was transferred from elsewhere two years ago, quite formidable, now quite notorious in Paloser.”

“Anyway, since last year, I’ve rarely heard of any Dawnbringer actions in Paloser. So the rumors of the ‘severe blow’ might be true.”

Three events:

The Old Industrial Zone Explosion thirteen years ago, the small-scale corporate war five years ago, and Emerald Pharmaceuticals’ devastating strike on the local Dawnbringers a year ago.

“Hmm...” Song Shi absorbed the information.

He wasn’t surprised by the Dawnbringers’ failure.

As the largest anti-“corporate order” resistance within the Corporate Alliance, he had dealt with them somewhat in his previous life and even knew a few friends among them.

Fourteen years after this point in his previous life, the Dawnbringers stormed the Sky Tower data center of the giant Zero Network corporation, seizing control of the “Drafted Super AI: Loom,” shaking the world with that epic battle. He was even hired by the Dawnbringers, personally participating in the battle and helping bring down a Zero Network spaceborne mothership.

—but—

Due to the actual disparity in resources, the Dawnbringers were mostly at a disadvantage overall.

Facing realities like equipment, personnel replenishment, logistics, and supply bases, they could never compare to the Corporate Alliance’s vast scientific and industrial system.

Moreover, a crucial point was that the Dawnbringers upheld certain morals, whereas the corporations had none.

Regarding their strongest figures:

The Dawnbringers did have several elites, especially their previous generation leader—no, at this time still the current leader.

Balance Path, a fifth-ring peak psychic, the strongest among anti-corporate forces, the undisputed leader of the Dawnbringers:

The Rebellion, Chacolo.

Though Song Shi disliked admitting the gap, recalling their several meetings in his previous life and what Chacolo displayed... he could only acknowledge that Chacolo fell at the peak of the fifth ring, while he himself died at the peak of the fourth ring.

But this life?

That was uncertain.

Putting aside these memories and focusing on the present—

The last confrontation between the Dawnbringers and Emerald Pharmaceuticals in Paloser ended with the former’s defeat.

So, currently, the situation in Paloser still favors the corporations?

Since he was now aligned with Emerald Pharmaceuticals—or rather, their subordinate research institute—perhaps he could try contacting the Dawnbringers in Paloser?

Even without the influence of those friends from his previous life, he felt quite favorable toward the Dawnbringers.

After all, he couldn’t just side with the Corporate Alliance.

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As a freelance bounty hunter, Song Shi had offered the Dawnbringers a super friendly price for the battle to seize the “Drafted Super AI: Loom,” practically giving his services away—and they knew how to reciprocate. After the battle, Chacolo personally gifted him a very rare psychic technique suitable for him.

Thinking this over, Song Shi’s expression remained unchanged.

“I’ve told you, Jack... my friend, that’s all I know.”

Tom tried to soften his voice, looking at him: “I wonder if you’re satisfied?”

“Look at you, friends should help each other. There’s no such thing as satisfied or not,” Song Shi said with a laugh, but soon his smile faded.

“I have two reasons for judging your psychic identity.”

He raised two fingers, wiggling them: “First is simple—just intuition. The aura of consensus is too strong on you. From the moment you greeted me, I had this feeling.”

“Intuition? Aura?” Tom was dumbfounded. What kind of explanation was that? He even wondered if Song Shi was messing with him.

“Intuition is intuition. If you want, you can replace ‘intuition’ with ‘experience,’ but it’s the same thing.”

Song Shi shrugged, then added, “I can’t help you with that, but I can give you a tip on the second reason.”

“...What’s the second reason?”

“The consensus path is a psychic route deeply connected to the spiritual world. Before the third ring, the ‘brain’ is the absolute core, and most psychic techniques mastered at this stage rely on the brain as the release foundation.”

“So, mid- to lower-level consensus psychics have much stronger psychic energy concentrated in their brains than in other parts.”

“This is dictated by reality, no arguments.”

“—But,”

At this moment, Song Shi took on the tone of a patient teacher explaining to an ignorant student.

“We’re now ‘avatars’ in the net domain, not in reality.”

He pointed at himself, then at Tom, emphasizing:

“In this case, your psychic release doesn’t have to rely so much on the ‘brain’; you can do so as you wish.”

“But due to habit or path dependence, your psychic energy still subconsciously concentrates in your head—even if there’s only your imagined ‘brain’ there, which is quite obvious.”

In fact, Song Shi left out one thing.

Though psychic energy can be sensed in the net domain, it’s much harder than in reality.

Without the intuition and experience of a fourth-ring peak from his previous life, how could an ordinary first-ring psychic detect this? Even if Tom used psychic energy openly, it wouldn’t necessarily be obvious.

But there was no need to tell him that.

“Is that so...” Tom murmured, seemingly shocked.

He wanted to argue but realized when he instinctively used psychic energy that Song Shi was right.

“Learn to use psychic energy freely in the net domain. It reduces the chance of revealing your identity and also benefits your control over reality.”

Seeing Tom lost in thought, Song Shi stood up.

Tom realized this and quickly stood as well.

“This is a... little trick, but whether you use it is up to you.”

With that, Song Shi pushed the door open and left, leaving behind a still somewhat dazed Tom.