“Director! Director! The entrance… the entrance to the Black Market… has been broken through! The WagaWaga Helmet Gang suddenly went crazy, drove our tanks, and wiped out the PutPut Helmet Gang stationed there! Right now, the police are flooding into the Black Market through that gap! Director, what’s our next move?”
An anxious mechanical voice came from the communicator in his hand.
The director, who had deliberately designed his body to look bulky, even bloated and fat, couldn’t help but tighten the mechanical joints in his hand, crushing the thin, phone-sized Kaiser Corporation special communicator until it creaked.
“Damn it, damn it, damn it! Without a halo, is the gap really that huge?! Those damned brats—they don’t know anything, yet they have such terrifying power?! On what basis?!”
The carefully tailored special suit he usually maintained was now a mess.
Even his face, which had removed its expression functions to hide his inner feelings and only retained eye lights and mouth lights, flickered wildly out of anger.
He stood on the rooftop of the second-tallest building in the Black Market.
To his left was the Black Market Bank, five stories higher, secretly controlled by Kaiser—
The very image he and his company dreamed of becoming: the Federal Student Council wouldn’t dare turn hostile, the major academies treated it with respect, the smaller schools were suppressed by it, and it could openly possess an armed force disguised as security, essentially a small army.
Any move it made could shake small companies like his.
Ahead of him was the magnificent pure-white Holy Tower piercing the sky—
Their greatest nightmare and nemesis.
The President of the Federal Student Council coldly overlooked the city below, using the Anti-Merger Act to block their small companies from expanding into various academies, forcing them to watch helplessly as the big companies, which had slipped through loopholes, tore away their flesh and completed acquisitions…
“Damn it, damn the Federal Student Council! Damn Kaiser Group! Aaargh! …Zzzzt… Bastards! Hurry and mobilize… zzzzt… the main battle tanks to seal the Black Market gap! Absolutely… zzzzt… don’t let any more police bastards into the Black Market!”
His voice module overheated from anger, emitting a crackling electric sound.
But reality was crueler than what they faced.
The voice on the other end of the communicator sounded on the verge of collapse, speaking in despair.
“Director… we don’t have enough tanks… The other tanks are being pinned down by those kids… Some tanks even had the Helmet Gang drivers bail out because they couldn’t stand the heat in the cabin, and they got captured… The line is slowly crumbling…”
Obviously, the director, who had thought the Abydos main battle tanks would buy them plenty of time, had forgotten: tools are tools, people are people.
While the main battle tanks were certainly capable of a stalemate, the delinquents driving them—
Far weaker than the official Abydos students who had once piloted these monsters—
Could never fully harness their power.
The director felt his logic circuits overloading, dizziness swirling into his thought space.
Then, the subordinate in charge of deploying the self-destruct units delivered bad news.
“Director… the self-destruct units we used to pin down the Defense Bureau director… were disabled and crashed by a special EMP weapon for drones suddenly fired from the artillery position… Now, a large number of Black Hawk helicopters equipped with heat-seeking missiles are heading toward the Black Market’s interior! …Director? What should we do?…”
Facing this situation, the director’s voice module let out a sharp scream.
“Then keep calling in more tanks and Helmet Gang! Kaiser Group pushed us into the battlefield—aren’t they going to show some more support?! Hurry! Keep requesting aid from Kaiser Group!”
In this operation, the small companies behind him were forced by Kaiser into the path of riot and survival—
Just in case, maybe if the riot succeeded, the Federal Student Council would agree to amend that damned law?
To oppose the Federal Student Council, Kaiser—
Which had originally been their enemy—
Had generously provided massive support, including those tanks and the funds to hire large numbers of Helmet Gang and ordinary delinquents.
He could only pray now, pray that Kaiser, the master of the Black Market, would help them one more time, let them hold out a little longer against Kivotos…
Maybe?
Maybe if they held out a little longer, the police would withdraw, and the President of the Federal Student Council would be willing to negotiate? Maybe the famous Defense Bureau director, Buzhihuo Huaye, would let them off?
After all, she didn’t execute every robot that made a mistake, right?
He remembered a case or two where someone who knew a little bit of info was released by the President of the Federal Student Council, wasn’t that right?
“Kaiser Group just sent a message… It says… they’ve already obtained the information they wanted… and they don’t want to be deceived by us rioters anymore… They… they said… we’re on our own, and the Black Market will no longer provide us sanctuary!”
The director heard that utterly despairing news spoken in his subordinate’s utterly despairing voice.
He stood frozen, like a mechanical joint that had run out of lubricant, stuck in place. Then—
“KAIZER!!!!!”
The desperate scream finally overheated his voice module.
Laughing in spite of his rage, with coolant wildly surging through his body, the director now felt that his little company was nothing short of ridiculous.
Maybe from the very beginning, these small companies trying to survive in Kivotos were just clowns or pawns for the big corporations and the President to toy with and manipulate.
They wore shackles and performed ridiculous comedies on the stage built by the Federal Student Council, while big companies like Kaiser sharpened their knives backstage, and the President of the Federal Student Council sat coldly in the audience, watching.
—Bastards! Even if I die, I’ll tear a few chunks off you!
“Immediately notify everyone stationed inside the company! Activate the detonation device! Once my mental signal disappears, immediately send the transaction records between Kaiser Group and us to the Federal Student Council! Also, detonate all bombs buried inside the company immediately! Prevent the police and the Defense Bureau from getting anything from us!”
He roared into the Kaiser special communicator, which had fallen silent.
“Zzzzt…”
Only a monotonous, eerie electric sound came from the communicator.
“Hey! Did you hear me?!”
He roared again, but still there was no response from the communicator.
Suddenly, his heart skipped a beat.
Then, from behind him, a gunshot rang out—
Bang!
—
Kivotos, D.U White Bird District, inside the Black Market, 3:30 PM.
“Comm check, comm check. We have entered the Black Market interior. Begin lockdown immediately. Begin…”
A black giant bird screamed as it swooped low over the Black Market.
On a normal day, such a provocative act would either draw indiscriminate attacks from the Black Market residents and the Helmet Gang, or get shot down by the Black Market’s “neutral” security—
Security that claimed to have no ties to any company—
Using rocket launchers and anti-air missiles.
But at this moment, everyone in the Black Market simply hid in their rooms, not daring to make a sound, occasionally stealing a glance through their windows at the chilling helicopter formation that shattered the Black Market’s rules.
—Federal Student Council Defense Bureau business.
Unauthorized personnel who interfere will be treated as “violating discipline.”
Even those delinquents who had dropped out and lost their student status didn’t dare bear the cost of “violating discipline”—
For a girl, solitary confinement, forced discipline study, mandatory labor service—
These things were still too terrifying.
As for ordinary beastmen and robots, the Defense Bureau always treated them with respect—
Well, only the “attitude” of respect.
After all, the Defense Bureau consisted of kids, so nothing too excessive could happen.
At worst, it was prison terms or deprivation of rights and expulsion from Kivotos.
After all, only students were legitimate political subjects in Kivotos, and most students were naive-looking, innocent-talking, weird-thinking teenage girls, basically without any malicious intent.
But the current Defense Bureau director was that Buzhihuo Huaye, a legend who had carved the President’s discipline into her bones—
A person with the duality of gentleness and coldness.
Not daring to bet whether she was around, the Black Market crowd could only pray this riot would end soon…
When the Black Hawk formation silently dispersed to begin searching, something unexpected suddenly happened.
Boom!!!
Inside the Black Market, a building that had looked just like any other residential structure, only taller, suddenly exploded! Flames and heat waves, mixed with shattered cement and glass shards, rolled over the ruins that had just been bombed by missiles, surging straight toward the Black Hawk formation!
“Flying units, immediately perform an emergency climb! Avoid interference at all costs! Avoid interference at all costs!”
The formation soared upward like a flock of birds.
Though a bit slow, a few helicopters wobbled from the heat wave, but they quickly adjusted and stabilized.
“Immediately recon the explosion site! Airdrop officers for ground clearance!”
“Copy that!”
Buzhihuo Huaye squinted, listening irritably to the reports coming through the comms—
“The WagaWaga Helmet Gang has entered the rear area, and that Defense Bureau advisor is negotiating with the group…”
—While staring with probing suspicion at the building that was slowly collapsing amid flames and continuous explosions.
—
Federal Student Council press conference report.
Recently, due to some companies’ dissatisfaction with the Anti-Merger Act issued by the Federal Student Council President, certain individuals incited discord among students, leading to riots in specific areas.
However, within just five hours, the Defense Bureau director and the newly appointed Defense Bureau advisor, leading the Valkyrie Police Department, successfully resolved the situation and eliminated the source of the riot.
The involved companies have already been punished.
The “director” in charge of the riot command was found to have apparently committed suicide and detonated the relevant building to destroy evidence when the situation turned unfavorable.
Details are still under investigation.
Some media outlets believe this riot was instigated by Kaiser Group, which has not yet responded to the claims.