Safe City Ch.188

Chapter 188: There was never an [Ota]

[The remaining contribution points and rewards, along with a set of rules for the remaining world to organize itself, will be issued within two hours at the latest. The remaining Safe Cities are asked to wait patiently.]

The City Lord group chat once again witnessed a legendary moment: complete silence.

It was perfectly understandable.

After all, the nearly two hundred Safe Cities that remained had a combined contribution of only 8%.

Besides, no City Lord was concerned anymore about the fact that the rewards would be distributed in a few hours.

Across the various regions of Moon Silk, the City Lords of the Safe Cities that had just been relocated—some at random, others to designated coordinates—wore expressions that were practically identical to those of people who had seen a ghost.

What the hell?!

What was going on?!

Who was Blue Sea?

Oh! That was the City Lord who had barely said anything since joining the group chat!

If Blue Sea had the highest contribution, then what exactly was going on with [Ota]?

Anyone who wasn’t blind could see that [Ota] had done most of the heavy lifting in this battle.

When the massive army of mutant soldiers with wings sprouting from their backs charged straight into the ranks of [Norn Company]’s soldiers, they tore through the enemy like ferocious beasts ripping apart their prey. The scene was absolutely bloody and brutal.

Although [Ota] had been the first to arrive and therefore had the smallest force, its soldiers had nevertheless managed to drive the remaining [Norn Company] troops into a complete rout.

This war had already cemented an image of [Ota] in the minds of the various City Lords: an utterly ruthless force with seemingly unstoppable power.

Could it be that [Ota] had swallowed up Blue Sea Safe City and replaced its original City Lord?

It wasn’t that the City Lords from the various civilizations couldn’t think of any other possibilities.

The problem was that, from the moment [Ota] had made its appearance until now, its attitude had been terrifyingly domineering, and its combat strength had been off the charts. The impression it left on everyone was that it was absolutely capable of doing something as outrageous as tearing apart a Safe City and replacing its City Lord.

While the other City Lords remained silent in shock, Wen Huahua, who had been quietly carrying out her vow to stop spamming the group chat and remain silent until dawn, had finally reached her long-awaited “dawn.”

[Coriander Safe City: Boss is mighty!! All hail the boss! Liking the boss’s post! Showering the boss with praise.jpg]

[Blue Sea Safe City: =v=]

Coriander’s appearance did an excellent job of breaking the silence in the group chat.

Before going into seclusion, this guy had been one of the more active participants in Moon Silk’s City Lord group chat. His familiar messages and familiar tone of voice helped ease the tension weighing on the minds of the various City Lords.

[Sweet Tofu Pudding Is the True God Safe City: I’m completely lost. What on earth is going on here?]

[Chirpy Fish Safe City: Boss, we didn’t know those were your people on the battlefield! If we’d known, we wouldn’t have tried to steal any of [Ota]’s weapons. Please spare us!]

[Where’s My Mom Safe City: @Blue Sea Safe City Boss, you’re way too strong! To wrest the contribution points away from [Ota] single-handedly in a battle like this—you’re incredible!! I’m kneeling before you, boss!]

For a while, all kinds of extravagant praise and congratulatory messages poured in one after another.

As the saying went, not every City Lord could quickly come to terms with the situation at hand. But now that someone had stepped forward to offer congratulations, wouldn’t failing to follow suit risk offending the person in question?

The Tier 5 and 6 City Lords truly were on a different level from those at the fourth tier and below. Every one of them seemed sincere and enthusiastic. With Blue Sea at the center of the conversation, their attitudes were certainly flattering, yet they managed to make it look entirely natural. Every message seemed designed to put the reader in a good mood.

Nevertheless, Cheng Qisheng could still tell that most of the City Lords were secretly probing her, both openly and indirectly, trying to figure out exactly what her relationship with [Ota] was.

With all three major companies eliminated and three [Heaven’s Punishments] in her possession, Cheng Qisheng no longer had any reason to keep her identity hidden.

She told them the truth.

[Ota is Blue Sea, and Blue Sea is Ota.]

The group chat fell into complete silence once again.

[Blue Sea Safe City: To be precise, there never was an [Ota] in the first place. To complete the world mission, my Safe City disguised itself as the [Ota] Company. =v=]

In everyone’s impression, City Lords who were willing to use emoticons or reaction images in the group chat were generally easier to get along with.

Even if someone had ulterior motives, at least their everyday manner of speaking could make them seem relatively harmless.

But at this moment, as the various City Lords stared at that tiny little “=v=” emoticon, they felt a chill run through their entire bodies.

Before [Ota] launched its war, the three major companies hadn’t been in the state they’d been in recently, where practically anyone could take a swing at them. Back then, it would hardly have been an exaggeration to say that they held absolute power over everything.

Are you telling us that while we were on this bizarre, downright absurd planet of Moon Silk, doing everything we could to keep a low profile, hiding our Safe Cities wherever we could, and sending out our residents to painstakingly curry favor with local powers and secretly mine resources everywhere like underground rats—

Blue Sea Safe City had simply parachuted straight to the very top of Moon Silk’s power hierarchy?

What shocked the City Lords wasn’t that they’d proceeded with caution while Blue Sea had managed to reach the finish line directly.

What truly stunned them was that Blue Sea Safe City had actually pulled it off.

A Safe City had successfully disguised itself as a company in Moon Silk’s extremely hostile environment, and not a single person had noticed. None of its residents had let anything slip. The Moon Silk natives they’d interacted with hadn’t detected anything amiss, and they’d even managed to fool the City Lords, who, to some extent, possessed a kind of “God’s-eye view” of the situation.

Then, without making a fuss, she’d steadily driven a wedge between the three major companies, gathered the local forces of Moon Silk, and allowed the ability users of other Safe Cities to join the fray. In the end, she’d orchestrated a war in which Blue Sea achieved a contribution rate of up to 92%.

Just how meticulous did the planning have to be? How loyal did her residents have to be? And just how powerful did she herself have to be to accomplish something like that?!

The City Lords began showering her with more varied words of praise, making sure not to repeat themselves. Not a single person complained, “That was pretty underhanded of you! Weren’t you just tricking us into sending our residents to help you pave the way?” or anything along those lines.

Come on!

Forget about Blue Sea Safe City’s own strength. With the weapons from Moon Silk added to the mix, its power had practically reached the pinnacle of perfection.

There was just one thing to consider.

Everyone in the City Lord group chat had witnessed with their own eyes as the three [Heaven’s Punishment] weapons awarded by the world mission ended up in Blue Sea Safe City’s hands.

What difference was there between this and facing a big shot who controlled numerous ultimate weapons and saying, “Hello! I’m here to reason with you. If I’m in the right, you can’t use your ultimate weapons against me”?

Most importantly, if they really dug into the matter, they wouldn’t have a leg to stand on.

The entire plan had been about taking advantage of someone else’s military strength to achieve their own goals.

They had been the ones who decided to exploit [Ota]. If [Ota] had been a local power, then everyone would have been happy.

But it turned out that [Ota] was actually one of their own—a Safe City. What right did they have to tell it, “Why didn’t you let us exploit you properly”?

What would that be if not asking for death?!

Oh, no. Actually, there was a difference.

If they said something like that to Blue Sea and made an enemy of it, they’d still be part of the same Safe City system. Even if they managed to escape this world, there would always be a chance of running into each other in another world someday.

And then they’d truly be dead beyond any hope of dying further.

So, the City Lord group chat remained a scene of perfect harmony and mutual celebration.

Of course, there were also City Lords who simply didn’t believe Blue Sea’s story at all.

[Ota] had begun operating in the Broken River Wasteland nearly two years ago.

If it had really been a Safe City from the beginning, there was no way its residents could have gone that long without revealing a single clue.

Anyone who had ever been a City Lord knew that human beings were complicated creatures. The larger the population, the harder it was to keep a secret.

In this battle alone, [Ota] had deployed at least two hundred million soldiers.

Two hundred million people!

How could every single one of them have kept their mouths shut while maintaining such a convincing disguise?

They firmly believed that the real Blue Sea had actually ceased to exist. There had been no disguise of [Ota] whatsoever; the real [Ota] had been operating all along. For some unknown reason, it had broken through the cognitive lock and replaced the original Blue Sea City Lord.

So when Blue Sea warmly invited them, saying, “You all left in such a hurry that you forgot to take your residents with you. Come back and collect your people!” the City Lords remained silent.

Go back?

Not a chance.

What was the difference between this and a tiger that had already bitten wolves to death and mauled bears to death, turning to a group of rabbits and saying, Come on, hop around inside my mouth for a bit. I swear I won’t eat you?

And it wasn’t just the City Lords who firmly believed that [Ota] had replaced Blue Sea. Even those who believed that [Ota] was merely a disguise adopted by Blue Sea Safe City had begun playing dead right alongside them.

Even the dozen or so Tier 6 Safe Cities took exactly the same stance.

But remaining silent wasn’t an option either.

It was like living in a peaceful society when your boss tagged everyone in the company group chat with a message. Even if nobody particularly wanted to reply, they still had to take turns responding with “Received.”

[Where’s My Mom Safe City: I need to get things organized internally, so I won’t be coming over just yet, okay? Sending the boss a heart~]

[Stopwatch Safe City: Same here. We just finished a war, and I really can’t spare the time right now.]

[Coriander Safe City: Boss, I’ll sit this one out. I didn’t send any residents out in the first place, hehe. I’ll meet up with you when it’s time to leave this world!]

[Stonefish Safe City: I only sent out a tiny number of residents, and their combat strength was terrible. They should already be dead, so there’s no need for me to go. By the way, boss, would you like some milk tea? Thank you for helping us complete the world mission. Please accept this box of milk tea!]

Apart from Coriander, who had told the truth, every other Safe City came up with its own excuse.

They were enthusiastic, fawning, and full of congratulations—but none of them was willing to get close.

The group chat might have looked perfectly harmonious, but in reality, the think tanks of every Safe City were working at full speed, frantically trying to determine whether Blue Sea was telling the truth or lying, whether she harbored any hostility toward them, and exactly how this entire charade had begun.

To some extent, today was Blue Sea Day, because nearly two hundred Safe Cities, from top to bottom, were all revolving around Blue Sea.

The situation was especially bad for the Safe City belonging to City Lord Greenroot.

“That’s the thirteenth City Lord who’s come to me to fish for information.”

Greenroot, the City Lord from the Treant civilization, reached up and ruffled the leaves on top of his head.

“No, seriously, why does everyone think I’m Blue Sea’s plant? Shouldn’t that Coriander guy look much more like someone from Blue Sea’s side?!”

The chief steward beside him said, “Uh… perhaps it’s because City Lord Coriander barely said anything toward the end, whereas you were the one who drove the entire process of recognizing and approaching [Ota].”

To be honest, the only reason the chief steward himself hadn’t reached the same conclusion was that he’d stayed by his City Lord’s side throughout the whole process.

If he hadn’t witnessed everything firsthand, even he would probably have suspected that Greenroot was a plant working for Blue Sea, given the outcome.

Greenroot exclaimed, “I genuinely have no idea what Blue Sea is up to! I was just doing what I thought was the best way to complete the world mission!!”

Another private message popped up, asking him in a friendly, enthusiastic tone what kind of person Blue Sea really was, whether she was easy to get along with, and whether she would attack other Safe Cities.

This particular City Lord was fairly familiar with Greenroot. At that moment, they were asking in an excited tone that practically screamed, How could you know someone like this and not tell me?! They wanted to know when Greenroot had first made contact with Blue Sea and how he’d managed to get acquainted with such an impressive City Lord.

Nobody blamed City Lord Greenroot. After all, the plan had indeed succeeded, they’d indeed benefited from the contribution points, and Blue Sea was even willing to return their residents. It was just that they didn’t dare go and collect them.

Most importantly of all, everyone knew that Blue Sea was someone they couldn’t afford to provoke. Naturally, when speaking to someone they suspected of being Blue Sea’s plant, they were all sweetness and courtesy.

Greenroot: “…Oh, Great Tree God!! I swear I’m really not a plant working for Blue Sea!”

The Treant civilization had its own standards of integrity, thank you very much!

As a treant, he’d always sold information honestly and diligently cultivated personal connections. Why on earth would he ever become someone’s plant?!

As City Lord Greenroot stared at his fifteenth private message and began plucking leaves from his own head, the Safe City rules that calculated contribution rates and had been “moved” into the world as rewards once again automatically announced the remaining City Lords’ contribution rates in the group chat.

[Greenroot Safe City: Mission contribution rate: 1%.]

[Rewards confirmed: 13 types of energy and mineral resources (100 million tons of coal, 30 million tons of petroleum, 9 million tons of iron ore, copper ore… bauxite… tungsten ore…)]

[100 crates of Moon Silk gravity grenades, 300 freezing guns and cannons, handheld fusion guns…]

[3,000 frozen carcasses of edible mutant beasts…]

Long lists detailing the quantities of energy and mineral resources, along with other supplies, appeared before City Lord Greenroot.

Every single item was listed in precise detail.

[All the above rewards have been distributed.]

City Lord Greenroot’s eyes flew wide open in shock. He immediately stuffed the leaf he’d just plucked into his mouth.

He hurriedly opened the surveillance system inside his Safe City. Before he even had time to look at the footage, one of his subordinates came rushing in.

“City Lord! A massive amount of energy has suddenly appeared in our energy storage facilities! Supplies have also materialized out of nowhere in the cold-storage facilities and weapons depot—”

Greenroot silently spat the leaf out of his mouth.

These rewards were so unbelievably generous that they felt like a windfall falling straight from the heavens. So many precious resources, delivered right to his doorstep just like that?!

Could a mere 1% contribution rate really earn this many rewards?!

He ordered his subordinates to count the energy resources they’d received, then continued staring intently at the group chat.

Sure enough, everyone else in the chat had been just as stunned.

[Aaaah! So much, so much, SO MUCH energy!! If we had to mine all this ourselves, who knows how many years it would take! And they just gave it all to us in a single reward!]

[They’re actually rewarding us with weapons too!! This is amazing!]

[@Greenroot Safe City Congratulations, boss! You’re going to be rich!]

[How is a 1% contribution rate calculated? Didn’t Greenroot send hardly any residents out?]

Exactly. Greenroot’s main role had been gathering intelligence, and the number of residents it had dispatched was far lower than that of the other City Lords.

Then there was only one possible explanation: when calculating contribution rates, the Safe City rules had counted Greenroot’s act of gathering everyone together and leading them to join [Ota] as a contribution toward advancing the mission.

Even if Greenroot hadn’t done it intentionally.

But the massive energy rewards were real!

In the City Lord group chat, the Safe City rules continued announcing the contribution rates of the various Safe Cities, from highest to lowest.

[Chirpy Fish Safe City: Mission contribution rate: 0.4%.]

[Rewards confirmed: 13 types of energy and mineral resources (20 million tons of coal, 9 million tons of petroleum, 2 million tons of iron ore, copper ore… bauxite… tungsten ore…)]

[Moon Silk weapons…]

[Frozen edible mutant beasts…]

The atmosphere in the City Lord group chat suddenly became lively and enthusiastic. Every City Lord was eagerly anticipating what rewards they would receive.

Nobody had expected Moon Silk’s rewards to be so generous.

But thinking about it carefully, it made sense. This planet was rich in resources and covered a vast area. Even if their contribution rates weren’t particularly high, the rewards allocated to them would still be more than enough to satisfy their needs.

However, one City Lord cautiously raised a question.

[I have a question. Blue Sea contributed 92% of the total contribution points. Apart from the [Heaven’s Punishment] weapons, aren’t they getting any other rewards?]

[Replying to Upstairs, first of all, the [Heaven’s Punishment] weapons are worth more than everything else combined. Secondly, think about it carefully. The rewards for completing the world mission are taken from Moon Silk by the Safe City rules. With 92% contribution, Blue Sea has obtained the [Heaven’s Punishment] weapons. What else could that boss possibly want that she couldn’t get her hands on?]

[Agreed. In a certain sense, Moon Silk belongs to Blue Sea now.]

Greenroot watched the City Lords celebrating in the group chat, then looked at the supplies that had appeared in its three warehouses. Its heart was filled with joy as well.

How could anyone not be happy about this?!

Another private message popped up.

Greenroot glanced at it, and the leaves on its head instantly turned ice-cold.

[Blue Sea Safe City: Greenroot, thank you for speaking up for me. Let’s be friends?]

Blue Sea, which had wiped out all three major companies, commanded two hundred million utterly loyal residents, possessed a vast arsenal of Moon Silk weapons, and held three [Heavenly Punishment] weapons, was asking to be friends with him.

[Greenroot Safe City: Of course, of course!! I’ve always felt that we were destined to get along!!]

[Greenroot Safe City: It’s all fate! Even if I’d known from the beginning that you were disguising yourself as [Ota], I still would’ve gladly played the plant for you! Tree Branch Making a Heart.jpg]

Hahahahahaha! He, Greenroot, was Blue Sea’s plant!!

…

While the City Lords celebrated their bountiful harvest, the residents from the various Safe Cities found themselves utterly bewildered.

[Ota] hadn’t stopped them from scattering to different locations, so once the war ended, they’d made their way without difficulty to the meeting points they’d agreed upon with their respective Safe Cities.

But where were the Safe Cities?!!!

Hadn’t their City Lords assured them that everything was under control? That they’d been watching the battle from above the clouds and would come to collect them as soon as the war was over?!

Among the crowds waiting in vain was the ability user with the [Teleportation] ability, who was carrying one million nuclear crystals.

He was wondering whether something had happened to the Safe City he’d pledged allegiance to when a series of startled exclamations suddenly erupted behind him.

The [Teleportation] ability user turned around.

In the distance, where there had been nothing just moments earlier, an enormous city had appeared at some point without anyone noticing. It was so immense that, at a glance, it was obvious it had wiped out quite a few other Safe Cities—

It practically blotted out the entire horizon. Yet the [Ota] soldiers, who had been so ferocious on the battlefield, didn’t seem the least bit surprised by the sudden appearance of this Safe City.

Instead, they began converging toward it, like fledgling birds returning to their nest, their movements natural and carefree.

He heard himself murmur, “What is that?”

An [Ota] soldier walked past him and gave him a friendly, familiar pat on the shoulder as he went.

“That’s our Safe City.”

“Blue Sea Safe City.”

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