Otherworld Advance Team
Chapter 1163 - 1156: Turbulent Undercurrents

Chapter 1163: Chapter 1156: Turbulent Undercurrents

"My, this child looks quite peculiar." someone said.

"Oh dear, why is she so dirty? Has she been injured?" An older woman squatted down trying to help her, but Melia shuddered like a startled rabbit.

"Don’t be afraid, we’re not bad people; we are here to help you." The older woman gestured kindly.

"Speaking of which, that group that entered the emergency room just now seemed to be foreigners too," someone in the crowd mentioned.

"What foreigners, can’t you see that’s a mixed-race?" another retorted.

"Look at her, she has such an aura; maybe she’s a foreign princess," someone suggested.

"Yes, yes, look at her clothes, look at her jewelry, definitely not from an ordinary family," someone agreed.

Surrounded by onlookers, Melia, a stranger in a strange land, felt helpless, unable to trust these people or understand what they would do due to the language barrier.

About five minutes later, the authorities finally arrived. Several stout secret service agents in plain clothes burst into the crowd, encircling Melia, and flashed their badges: "State Security Department here, everyone disperse immediately, no spectating, delete all photos and videos taken, anyone uploading to the internet will be held criminally responsible!"

One of them sent a command to the artificial intelligence through an earpiece: "Initiate message control in the area, prohibit all incoming and outgoing information."

"Received, message control initiated. Currently, 14,892 items of related unauthorized message uploads and 162,849 downloads have been intercepted, and the number of uploads is still increasing..." The earpiece transmitted an artificially synthesized and icy voice.

"It’s all right now, it’s all fine, everyone disperse, no need to gather around!" The state security agents continued to disperse the crowd, and soon the area was cleared.

Shortly after, the headquarters staff also finally arrived, and a female staff member hurried over, covered Melia with a blanket, then helped her leave the hospital to board an unmanned vehicle.

As the head of the group, Li Si followed into the hospital. Upon seeing him, an agent immediately approached him angrily, "What’s going on, why are your headquarters people running around, even to the city hospital, causing social panic, what are we supposed to do about that?"

"There was a bit of a mess in Lipei, they were just scrambling in desperation," Li Si explained.

"Doesn’t Shenghua Academy have a hospital?" the agent asked angrily.

"The doctors from Shenghua Academy have all been transferred to Lipei Health Clinic, which is currently not operational. Moreover, many doctors from other major hospitals are now part of the clinic’s rotation. Lipei’s existence will eventually be revealed to the country, so what are you so anxious about?" Li Si defiantly asked.

"What do you mean, are you saying we’re meddling needlessly?" the agent glared at him.

"I didn’t mean that, speaking of which we should thank you. You protected Princess Melia before we arrived," Li Si shrugged.

"Listen here, as long as the higher-ups haven’t announced your situation to the whole society, you better keep it down and stop causing trouble," the agent said through gritted teeth.

"Thanks for the reminder, I’m going to check on Luo’er now." Faced with the agent’s frustration, Li Si nodded slightly and then, disregarding his expression, headed straight for the emergency room.

He arrived at the emergency room to see a group of fully armed Mobile Troop members standing outside the operating room, looking eagerly inside. Upon seeing Li Si, they turned to greet him, "Boss, you’re here."

Li Si, noting their blood-covered appearance, felt a sudden tightness in his chest. He then said to them, "You guys go back first, I’ll stay here and wait!"

"But..." the group exchanged glances.

"What ’but?’ Look at you, all guns and blood, do you want to scare the patients in the hospital? Go back!" Li Si said.

"Yes, then we’ll leave first. If Captain Luo’er is alright, please make sure to inform us," the men said dejectedly as they left the waiting area.

In the office of the Mobility Office, Wang Xu slammed his fist onto the desk facing the downcast employee, causing tea to splash across the table.

"What kind of situation is this, enemies are running into the Otherworld Gate wreaking havoc. How did you assure me at the beginning, wasn’t identity verification completed? Why are enemies still infiltrating?" Wang Xu ranted furiously.

"We investigated the attacker’s ID tag and found that it wasn’t his. Thirty minutes later, someone found the body of the tag’s owner, a native of Lipei..." someone explained cautiously.

"Can’t you look at the photos? Obviously, they were two dissimilar people. How could he infiltrate Lipei City?" Wang Xu questioned.

"Although everyone is supposed to have their photo taken for our records, but, but this project takes some time, so there are still some people who haven’t had their photos taken yet..." the person continued to explain.

"So it’s our fault, the fault of the higher-ups for not taking the actual circumstances into consideration?" Wang Xu asked coldly.

"No, no, that’s not it. It’s mainly because the attack was so sudden, we didn’t have the chance to register before..." the person stammered in explanation.

"We had already stipulated before that, apart from official military personnel, everyone else is strictly forbidden to carry weapons—even workers, engineers, and doctors from Earth aren’t allowed to carry them. Why didn’t you carefully check for weapons, why didn’t you frisk the suspicious individuals?"

The others had no answers and could only lower their heads, responding with silence.

After venting his frustration, Wang Xu also fell into calmness. He began to recall the process of the incident and suddenly asked, "Who do you think this attack was aimed at?"

At his question, everyone exchanged glances, and one person said cautiously, "It might have been aimed at Princess Melia. Right now, she controls the northwest of Masya, and neither the royal family nor the NATO-supported rebels will let her off."

Another person followed, "There were eyewitnesses who said the attacker shot at Princess Melia, but Luo’er blocked it, so he got hit instead."

"Did that guy say anything?" Wang Xu continued to ask.

"He didn’t say a thing. The cell is very quiet. He hasn’t uttered a word, he hasn’t even made a sound about his leg injury," someone replied.

"Aimed at Princess Melia..." Thinking of this, Wang Xu couldn’t help but feel a shiver go through his scalp. If anything happened to Melia, then the eastern part of Lipei would be in grave danger.

At that moment, a series of hurried footsteps echoed in the corridor. Immediately after, Cheng Ziang rushed in without even greeting and made his way through the crowd to Wang Xu. His serious expression was enough to tell that he probably didn’t have any good news either.

"How is the situation?" Wang Xu asked, looking down.

"When we got there, the village had been razed to the ground, 53 heads were lined up at the entrance," Cheng Ziang said coldly.

"A provocation?" Wang Xu asked.

"Yes!" Cheng Ziang nodded.

Hearing his reply, Wang Xu took a deep breath, then nodded and said, "I think I know who it is. It looks like it was directed at us."

"I heard about Luo’er..." Cheng Ziang asked with concern.

"You should go through the Otherworld Gate to the city hospital to see Luo’er right away," Wang Xu said indifferently.

"Is he okay?" Cheng Ziang immediately became anxious.

"I hope he is," Wang Xu sighed.

Seeing his reaction, Cheng Ziang realized the situation with Luo’er must be very bad. Without asking further, he turned and left.

As Wang Xu watched Cheng Ziang go, his gaze gradually sharpened. He scanned the people around him and said coldly, "The enemy has stepped on our doorstep and insulted us, can we tolerate this?"

"No!" came the angry response from the office.

"Gather everyone in the conference room, we’re going to have a meeting!" Wang Xu stood up and commanded.

"Yes!" came the unanimous response from the office once again.