Translator: CinderTL
Back with the main group, after finishing lunch, Feng Qi pulled out his tablet and resumed reviewing the footage from the unmanned reconnaissance drone.
Feng Qi wasn't the only one monitoring the unmanned reconnaissance drones; many other reconnaissance soldiers were also reviewing the footage.
A communication box appeared in the upper right corner of the screen.
Whenever an unexpected discovery was made, a message would pop up in this box.
Clicking the message would immediately switch the display to the drone footage being viewed by the soldier who sent the alert.
After a moment, Feng Qi exited the drone footage.
After a moment's thought, he opened Future City's City Forum.
As Future City's largest online community, the forum buzzed with an immense volume of daily posts.
The city's civic affairs departments regularly monitored the forum to gather residents' opinions and suggestions.
Currently, every message in Future City was related to the war.
A flood of residents were voicing their opinions:
Low-Level Cultivator: I still don't understand what's happening. Why is Star City attacking us? For centuries, Future City and Star City have been sister cities, helping each other through countless crises. We even worked tirelessly to build the subway connecting us. How could war suddenly erupt? More importantly, I can't access Star City's forum anymore. It seems they've locked down the city, blocking external network access. We can't even hear what's happening inside Star City.
Lonely Wolf: I have a friend in Star City. Before the lockdown, he sent me a message saying Future City had been infiltrated by the Domain Force. He only learned about it recently, and before we could discuss it further, he hung up.
Golden Legend replied to Lonely Wolf: Are you out of your mind? Future City infiltrated? The news I heard was that Star City had been infiltrated, and even the Star City Military Department and other major factions are now under the Domain Force's control. That's why we haven't sent representatives for negotiations—what's the point of talking to the Domain Force?
Windwalker (Old Day City resident): I'm about to lose my mind! War is about to break out, and no one's trying to mediate! Our forum in Old Day City is exploding with demands for high-level envoys to intervene. Humans fighting humans—what's the point? Could it really be like the brothers above said, that Star City has been infiltrated by the Domain Force?
Reverse Death (Winterfrost City resident): I think this war has too many incomprehensible aspects. All the theories could be true. Public opinion across the cities leans toward the idea that the super virtual game is a mind control device.
Star City's promotion of the super virtual game Dawn over the years had already planted the seeds of future problems.
The root cause of this war lies in the Domain Force, hiding behind the scenes, manipulating players who had previously used super virtual devices to launch an attack on Future City.
This theory seems to neatly explain Star City's inexplicable actions.
But has anyone considered this: what if the target of infiltration was actually Future City? What if Star City discovered Future City's vulnerabilities and deployed troops to reclaim the Domain Force's control over Future City?
Do you really think that what seems logical must be true?
You know nothing of the true details behind this incident. Judging logic based solely on surface appearances with your limited intelligence is utterly pointless.
Of course, these are just my personal thoughts. I simply hope people won't blindly jump to conspiracy theories and start attacking each other before understanding the full truth.
The ferocious giant beast retorted with Reverse Death: "You fucking idiot!"
All eyes across the major cities were now focused on Future City.
This led to a massive influx of netizens flooding the Future City Forum to voice their protests and share their opinions.
Meanwhile, Feng Qi had already shut down Star City's network.
His purpose was to prevent interference with the subsequent deployment of his battle strategy. He had no interest in engaging in a propaganda war with the Domain Force; he wanted a real, bloody fight.
Through the Future City Forum, he observed the diverse voices of residents from various cities.
Some netizens strongly condemned and criticized Star City's military intervention in Future City. Others analyzed the underlying reasons behind Star City's actions. Many protested, urging city representatives to intervene and resolve the impending war, arguing that humans should coexist peacefully rather than turn against each other...
The majority of voices advocated for a peaceful resolution while expressing confusion about the sudden war crisis, suspecting there were hidden issues they couldn't see.
Amidst the cacophony, Feng Qi also noticed many rational voices.
However, these voices were often drowned out by the louder, more emotional ones, making it difficult for them to gain traction.
Yet, these discussions clearly showed that residents across the major cities opposed the outbreak of war.
The Five Great Cities were humanity's last bastions. Losing even one would have catastrophic consequences for the future of humankind.
This potential city war could halt human progress for decades, even causing civilization to regress.
This was undoubtedly a catastrophe for all of humanity.
The voices opposing war were clearly a key factor preventing the Black Shadow Faction from rashly resorting to nuclear strikes.
At this point, controlling public opinion would be ineffective.
Even if the Black Shadow Faction could easily manipulate public opinion, they could only control the details, not the overall narrative.
For example:
When a civilization faces an external crisis, manipulating public opinion to execute a suspected spy would be perfectly acceptable, and the public would readily believe it.
But when a civilization's rulers choose to cede territory and then propagandize this as the right course of action, the public would never accept it.
No matter what, the people would never endorse the idea of surrendering land to appease an enemy, as it violates fundamental principles.
A similar situation was now unfolding.
The residents of all major cities were united in their belief that war must be avoided at all costs. They argued that any problem could be resolved through negotiation, and that humans should coexist peacefully.
Meanwhile, the Black Shadow Faction also seemed to favor a peaceful resolution.
They didn't want war either, and they couldn't understand why this conflict had erupted. They even believed that even if Star City fell under the Domain Force's control, the two factions could coexist peacefully, each pursuing their own future plans without interfering with the other's.
Even if they were destined to become enemies in the future, that conflict should be resolved in the future, not during the initial stages of planning their future development.
After browsing for a while, Feng Qi closed the Future City Forum and opened the Star City Forum.
Upon passing the authorization check, the Star City Forum interface appeared on the screen.
Compared to the posts from netizens in other cities, the comments from Star City residents stood out as particularly unique:
"Dawn is striking! Crush them all!"
"If I met the requirements to join the Dawn Army, I'd be on the front lines right now, smashing those domain trash! Dawn is invincible!"
"After years of restraint, it's time to unleash our fury! We're all comrades on this battle line—charge!"
Seeing these fiery comments, a smile spread across Feng Qi's face.
Look at how warm and welcoming the netizens of Star City are!
(End of the Chapter)
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