socalfunplaces Chapter 24: Looking around, the entire army was filled with Sky Drive nails.
Chapter 24: Looking around, the entire army was filled with Sky Drive nails.
A week has passed since the new situation mission was released, and it has yielded more benefits than Zhang Qiming had expected.
The number of players in the Sky Drive faction surged as if a valve had been punctured. In just a few days, the number of players who officially joined the faction had exceeded 10,000, and this number was still rising rapidly.
Rumors were circulating everywhere on the forums that this was probably a limited-time event, and once it was gone, it was gone. So a bunch of people, with the mentality of "get on board first," were clamoring to join the Skyward faction, afraid that if they were a step too late, they would miss out on this hot main story event.
While the players were having a blast, the real power machine on Mars had already begun to quietly turn.
After a period of wrangling, Hagia Sophia recently used various means to finally formally establish a truth investigation committee.
Ostensibly, the committee was there to investigate the assassination of Cardinal St. and to arrest Skydrive terrorists.
In fact, as soon as it was established, it began to extend its reach into the military, security and censorship systems. The most crucial step was that, under Zhang Qiming's instruction, Saint Sophia, with Ares's authority, quietly opened up basic background checks and censorship of anomalous entities.
Having influential people at the top makes things easier. Only by establishing a committee and utilizing religious authority can players successfully infiltrate the military system.
Players who did not join the Skyward faction had a hard time passing the Holy Covenant Army's personal review, so many players joined the Skyward faction one after another later.
Of course, some players wanted to try reporting, but their reports were quickly intercepted by Ares and Zhi Shilang's Invisible Master, who then used the in-game terminal to directly open their personal information and send it to the Sky Drive faction players.
Then came the much-anticipated PK battle at the fountain, the kind where teams compete against each other.
Online reporting is ineffective, and they lack evidence if reported in person.
Besides, the Truth Investigation Committee is now composed of Skydrive agents. If you dare to report them to their face, they'll be ready to give you a piece of their mind.
As for the College of Cardinals, their response was slow.
On the one hand, Sky Drive has been making too many moves lately, causing headaches for the higher-ups. Several of the most cowardly cardinals have barely left their homes these past few days, hiding in their heavily guarded mansions to avoid assassination attempts. They simply don't have time to keep an eye on these personnel changes at the lower levels.
On the other hand, after the Truth Investigation Committee was established, Saint Sophia, under the guise of military review and emergency expansion, personally erased a considerable number of details that should have been seen, and concealed the influx of the anomalous entity within layers of legal procedures.
Thus, a large number of Skydrive players quietly began to receive government funding from the church through the joint efforts of Skydrive and the Truth Investigation Committee.
They were crammed into the Covenant ground forces and dispersed to various key but inconspicuous locations, transforming themselves into genuine Martian soldiers.
After taking on the secondary profession of soldier, they also unlock the Covenant's quest chain.
Military supplies handling, camp patrols, security for military dependents' quarters, nighttime martial law, local garrison assistance, warehouse verification, engineer clearing, ordnance registration, perimeter checks, temporary escort...
This is a perk that comes with a military side job. The church's rations are much more generous than the commissions from the black clinic. In addition to these lucrative missions that involve taking bribes and demanding favors, they also have spy missions that are automatically triggered by the Skyward Faction.
……
……
Sailor Valley, the third garrison area of the canyon industrial zone.
This is a medium-sized military area on the edge of Mariner Valley. On the bed, the Martian military uniform-clad man, without moving, begins his Martian military journey in such a respectable manner.
Just a few days ago, he was a low-level Martian prisoner who was outwitting a shady clinic owner to repair a piece of subcutaneous armor. Now, he's wearing the Covenant Army's standard uniform and is officially receiving religious rations from the church.
It's true what they say, fortunes change every three days, so don't underestimate the potential of the fourth calamity!
Logically speaking, a group of newly recruited soldiers, especially a group of abnormal individuals with strange origins, ambiguous backgrounds, and behavior patterns that are different from normal people, should be repeatedly interrogated and then obediently sent to the recruit camp for further training.
But under Ares's powerful influence, all of this was smoothly glossed over, and he was even placed in a semi-closed area under the guise of "special supplementary personnel under unified management".
Those below dared not ask further questions, and those above simply didn't have time to investigate thoroughly.
And so, the world once again revealed its makeshift nature.
That's how the players infiltrated the military region.
Of course, sneaking in doesn't mean they can just sit back and eat; they'll still do the Covenant quest chain in a proper way to earn experience and Covenant faction reputation.
Standing still in the crowd, this area was full of people openly displaying their player IDs.
[Guobao You], [Teppanyaki Sauerkraut Fish], [Rebirth: I'm a Mine Security Guard], [You're Right], [Cyber Traditional Chinese Medicine Practitioner]...
Looking around, the entire army was filled with Sky Destroyer Spikes!
An Bing's lips twitched, and he muttered under his breath, "Damn, this isn't a recruit training area, it's clearly a Skyward Expedition team building event."
The person next to him, who was eating a large meal, chuckled and nudged him.
"Don't be shocked yet, look ahead."
An Bing didn't move and looked in the direction he was pointing. He was stunned for a moment, then his eyes lit up immediately.
"Isn't it because our Skydrive war correspondents don't eat beef?"
Not far away, a familiar ID was hanging casually in the crowd; that person was none other than—"Doesn't Eat Beef".
"What a small world." An Bing smacked his lips.
Despite the large portion of food, he lowered his voice mysteriously and added another sentence.
"Not only that, our Skyward Assassin's number one is also here."
He paused for a moment, then his mind raced for half a second before he realized what was happening.
"You mean pounds... pounds?"
After he finished speaking, he looked around and his voice lowered.
"No, how dare this guy? According to Stellaris, we players are anomalous entities."
"As anomalous entities, we're immediately put on the red-list for any wrongdoing. Given what the British pound did, there's no way he could easily wash off the red list. How did he manage to infiltrate... oh no, how did he continue fighting for the organization?"
The large portion of light meal made her roll her eyes on the spot.
"Come on, this is the interstellar age. Facial prostheses, bone structure adjustments, bionic skin, voice correction—these days, modifying a 3D model is as easy as getting a filling at the dentist. As long as you have the money and the connections, modifying a 3D model is a piece of cake."
An Bing didn't move and listened, and he also thought it made sense.
As he spoke, the man with the large meal portion raised his hand and pointed to the outermost edge.
What used to be an open space filled with military supply crates and scrapped training targets has now been surrounded by a large group of players, three or four layers deep, making it as lively as a roadshow suddenly taking place in a military camp.
"It's over there."
Anbing moved closer without moving, and when he looked up, he saw the amazing ID that everyone in the crowd couldn't help but glance at—【英斤就是磅】.
This guy was standing on a high pile of military supply boxes and empty ammunition boxes, his military uniform was crooked, and he was holding a training baton that he had picked up from somewhere. Just by looking at him, you could tell that he was definitely not a law-abiding person.
The next second, he raised his hand and pointed the stick forward.
"Brothers, follow my lead!"
The area below immediately quieted down considerably.
Standing on high ground, Pound looked around, his expression of "I'm about to start something big" completely undisguised.