321 What the Star Academy Discovered (1/2)
Pomelo was silent and desolate after the war. The whole city had turned into one of ruins and death. The corpses everywhere were covered with flies, which filled the air with the heavy stench of rotting flesh. There wasn't a sound, and there were no living people. When some card artisan reporters finally broke out through the jungle to enter Pomelo, what they saw was only a lifeless city.
The only thing that remained of the former bustle were the ruins and the corpses all over the place. It was a true hell such as had never existed in the entire history of the federation!
Once the scene had been transmitted to the whole federation, the people were shocked! Both in the flourishing districts and in the ordinary residential districts, they were all horrified by the disastrous scene after the battle.
There were only 10,000 people left alive in the huge city of Pomelo, and the one who started the tragedy—the Federation Comprehensive Academy—immediately became the target of a mass crusade. The public's fury sent the prestige of the Federation Comprehensive Academy to an historic low.
* * *
At the Federation Comprehensive Academy, Pavchek was staring at Tang Hanpei with a hideous expression. That disciple who had brought him so much pride and glory—the one he had been most pleased with his whole life—was getting further and further away from him.
”What did you think you were doing?” Pavchek asked in a deep voice, suppressing the rage he felt.
Tang Hanpei's expression remained calm, and he didn't say a thing. After a full three minutes of that, Pavchek's eyes grew even colder.
”What about the Central Island Firm? Ren Wenzhou?”
That time, Tang Hanpei opened his mouth and calmly said, ”Ren Wenzhou was killed by Qiao Yuan.”
”Which means you didn't get the Central Island Firm's technology?” Pavchek's tone was getting still colder.
”That's right,” Tang Hanpei straight-up confessed.
”Argh. Get some rest, then.”
With stunning efficiency, the upper ranks of the Federation Comprehensive Academy administration passed a resolution. Tang Hanpei was exempted from all duties and strictly permitted to be active only inside the academy.
However, before they could even react to what had happened, counterattacks had already been launched by the Central Repository of the Classics and Faya. There had been another victim in that battle in addition to the Central Repository of the Classics. That would be Faya. The extent of their losses was unknown, but judging from their backlash, they seemed to have taken some serious injuries.
Within a brief three days, the Federation Comprehensive Academy's 15 garrisons were all fiercely attacked, leaving heavy casualties. Both the Star Academy and the Bitter Solitude Temple remained silent about it. Tang Hanpei's conduct had enraged the two of them just as much as the others, but they didn't do anything because Tang Hanpei had guaranteed the safety of personnel from both academies.
The battling between Moon Frost Island and Desert Camp kept escalating. The two of them were putting everything into it, with both sides continually increasing the level of their card artisans as well as their numbers. The whole disposition of the war was gradually expanding. The strategic materiel in the Heavenly Drum Village District was surging in price like crazy under that influence, which drew endless complaints from quite a few card artisans.
With Qiao Yuan and Mi Xiaqing having been killed, the attacks on the Central Repository of the Classics became foundational. There was no other ace at the level of Qiao Yuan, apart from the lord of the academy. He was already elderly at 72, so he really couldn't join the war in person. The Central Repository of the Classics was fresh out at the level of an ace.
Just as everyone assumed the Central Repository of the Classics was going to fall down in the race, a sudden piece of news got everyone's attention. The House of a Hundred Depths had sent a diplomatic mission to visit the Central Repository of the Classics, and the two sides engaged in confidential talks. That was the first time ever that a mission from a different region had met with a local power without first having consulted with the Heavenly Federation government.
Could the mysterious region of the House of a Hundred Depths want to participate in that already chaotic and messy competition? That put everyone on their guard. If one were to say Tang Hanpei's conduct made the Federation Comprehensive Academy fall into a quagmire, then the Central Repository of the Classics was doubtlessly about to be pushed into a pit of fire.
After a few days, the Central Repository of the Classics announced the news that they and the House of a Hundred Depths were engaging in a deeper collaboration.
There was an uproar once that news got out. In addition to the Federation Comprehensive Academy, the other four of the Big Six clearly expressed their warning to the Central Repository of the Classics not to complicate the situation. The Federation Comprehensive Academy was extremely fierce in their own media attacks about what had happened.
Still, the Central Repository of the Classics had already lost so much that they weren't afraid of losing anything else. They kept openly emphasizing that their collaboration with the House of a Hundred Depths was limited to business. Nobody was believing that nonsense, however.
The vicious media attacks from the Federation Comprehensive Academy didn't improve the situation, and the bystanders remained bystanders. The new collaboration didn't pull the Star Academy and the Bitter Solitude Temple into the battle. General Wei Yueqing, the military representative to the Federation Comprehensive Academy and the leader of the First Army, remained silent and smug.