Madam Speaker

Li Yuqing, a sophomore; Huo Qixing; Qin Wu, a junior; Fu Wenyu, a senior…

It could be said that all the academy’s elite had been gathered in one place.

The people they knew noticed their gazes and nodded slightly in greeting.

At exactly nine o’clock, the side door of the conference hall opened.

Su Yuehe’s back straightened instantly.

The woman who walked in was in her early forties. She wore a light-gray suit, and her long hair was tied back behind her head. Her features bore a striking seven-point resemblance to Su Yuehe’s, but her presence was entirely different.

Su Jin.

Su Yuehe’s mother—and the chairwoman of the council.

As she entered, her gaze swept across the entire hall. It rested on Su Yuehe for less than half a second before moving away, finally landing on Deputy Commander Song.

“Let’s begin.”

Those few words instantly silenced all the murmuring in the conference hall.

Deputy Commander Song rose to his feet and turned on the projector.

“Over the past seventy-two hours, Rift No. 4 has exhibited three abnormal fluctuations. The peak energy level reached the upper limit of the eighth tier. According to our current predictive models, we cannot rule out the possibility of a large-scale overflow within the next week.”

“The reconnaissance support team’s mission is to locate the source of the anomalies within a five-kilometer radius of the rift before the formal containment plan is finalized.”

Deputy Commander Song drew a circle over the projected image with his laser pointer.

The red dot landed on three yellow warning zones marked along the edge of the rift.

“These three zones experienced the most intense energy fluctuations over the past seventy-two hours. The nearest one is only two kilometers from the defensive line.”

Su Jin withdrew her gaze from the projection. “Two kilometers. What countermeasures did you deploy before the situation escalated?”

Deputy Commander Song’s finger paused on the remote. “We immediately assigned two additional companies to conduct round-the-clock surveillance. At the same time, we established three layers of sensing barriers around the outer perimeter of the warning zone.”

“What tier are the barriers?”

“Sixth tier.”

By now, Deputy Commander Song was sweating profusely. This was less a coordination meeting than a face-to-face performance review for the chairwoman.

Anyone with eyes could see that she was displeased. The people from the Great Wall were under tremendous pressure.

Although they were an independent organization with no direct subordinate relationship to the council, who was the woman standing before them? Even the head of the Great Wall was merely a council member. If this matter was mishandled, everyone’s positions would be on the line.

And perhaps more than just their positions.

White Eagle walked to the front of the projection and took Deputy Commander Song’s place.

“The reconnaissance support mission will be carried out in three stages,” she said crisply. “During the first stage, the team will enter the outer perimeter of the five-kilometer warning zone and conduct a preliminary search for the anomaly source.”

“During the second stage, they will narrow down the search area based on the results and confirm the level of overflow risk.”

“During the third stage, they will submit the preliminary data required for the command center to formulate a containment plan.”

Su Jin leaned slightly forward in her seat. “Team Leader White Eagle, how have you arranged the reconnaissance range and personnel for the first stage?”

White Eagle answered loudly, “Twelve people per team, covering the eastern, western, and northern directions respectively.”

A voice came from the side.

“May I ask why no reconnaissance team has been assigned to the south?”

The speaker was a young man in a dark coat, seated toward the right side of the middle rows.

A silver school emblem was pinned to his chest, but it was not the style used by Huaxia Academy.

White Eagle turned to look at him. “The southern area is the main defensive line. The Great Wall’s own monitoring system covers the data there, so no additional reconnaissance team is necessary.”

“But based on the latest information, the situation in the south is no less serious than in the east.”

The young man stood up, holding a printed data report in his hand.

Chen Guan recognized the graphs on it. They looked very similar to the ones An Changqing had examined on the plane.

White Eagle’s expression did not change. “Which organization are you from?”

“Yanjing Academy. Senior year. Wang Shuo.”

“Student Wang Shuo, the data in your hands was extracted from a public monitoring channel. Its accuracy is only sixty percent that of the frontline system, making it insufficient as a basis for tactical judgment.”

Wang Shuo looked as though he wanted to say more, but Deputy Commander Song raised a hand.

“We’ll discuss this issue separately later. For now, let Team Leader White Eagle finish explaining the mission framework.”

Wang Shuo sat back down. He looked unconvinced, but did not speak again.

Chen Guan glanced over at the people from Yanjing Academy.

There were six of them, all elites.

Hong Yuan whispered, “That Wang guy looks pretty dense.”

Chen Guan did not respond. His attention had been drawn to Su Jin’s movements at the head of the table.

Su Jin was looking down at a thin booklet. Her finger stopped on a particular page, and her thumb gently rubbed the corner of the paper.

Then she closed the booklet and raised her head.

“White Eagle, when will the mission commence?”

“Five o’clock tomorrow morning.”

“Move it up to ten tonight.”

White Eagle’s brows finally furrowed.

“Chairwoman, moving the start time forward will require us to reorganize our logistical support. The schedule is too tight.”

Su Jin pushed the booklet to the center of the table and opened it to the page where she had paused moments earlier.

“This contains the records for Rift No. 4 over the past month. Look at it yourselves. The interval between the fourth fluctuation and the third was nineteen hours shorter.”

Deputy Commander Song took the booklet and glanced through it twice. The sweat on his forehead became even more pronounced.

Su Jin leaned back in her chair, her eyes sharp as an eagle’s.

“If the interval before the fifth fluctuation continues to decrease at the same rate, you’ll have less than forty-eight hours left.”

Under normal circumstances, she would not have come to the front line herself. There were countless matters waiting for her attention.

But this time was different. Her daughter had come here, and according to the intelligence she had received, the waters here were far murkier than the reports suggested.

Moreover, the commander stationed here was nothing more than a useless figure occupying his post, accomplishing nothing. This White Eagle, on the other hand, was the one actually getting things done—and she knew how to seize opportunities. She was a promising talent.

This was only Su Jin’s first day here. Who knew how many other problems remained hidden from her?

The more she looked, the more convinced Su Jin became that she had made the right decision in coming.

White Eagle was the first to break the silence.

“Reporting in. I need half an hour to readjust the deployment.”

“You have one hour.”

Su Jin was not being unreasonable. Haste led to mistakes. There was no need to compress the schedule to its absolute limit just yet. What mattered now was ensuring that everything was handled securely, rather than pursuing maximum efficiency.

“Yes!”

White Eagle saluted. Su Jin gestured for her to go and take care of it.

For relaying orders, Deputy Commander Song would be enough. When it came to actually getting things done, capable people were needed.

Out of the corner of his eye, Chen Guan observed the reactions of the representatives from the other academies.

Wang Shuo of Yanjing Academy was lowering his head and writing in his notebook. From the force with which he pressed his pen into the page, it was clear he was not taking this lightly.

Chen Guan had never heard of Wang Shuo before. After all, Yanjing Academy was an old-established institution, but in every other respect, it was far inferior to the four top academies: Huaxia, Beishi, Modu, and Shencheng.