I Only Wanted A Class In The Apocalypse-Chapter 1942: Taking Control over the City
[From the moment they started attacking him in the meeting!] Moth fired back, his eyes returning to the feed of Hye's flagship. The black sphere radiated lots of black, shadowy arms, growing larger and denser.
[I'm sure he'll know the truth after interrogating the people in that city. We need to know what he knows!] the Grand Elder's message continued.
Moth agreed, but the problem was glaring. They were in a total communication blackout.
[I've already left a loophole in our communication shutdown procedure,] the Grand Elder revealed. [It can't be used many times or for long duration, but once you think he has extracted enough information about what is truly going on down there, let me know. I will open a gap for you to speak with him!]
[Ok!] Moth was inwardly vibrating with excitement. He had assumed the Grand Elder was investigating his most trusted subordinates outside the locked hall, but it was clear now that he was betting the entire outcome on Hye's ability to dig up the rot.
When Moth analysed the strategy, he realised it was the most efficient path. Hye was already on-site. Waiting for a specialised Hescos investigation team to travel there would take far too long—ample time for the traitors to remotely trigger self-destruct sequences, burn the evidence, or execute every witness inside the mountain city.
Hye was clearly thinking along the same lines. He wasn't taking any chances. By seizing total control of the people, he was effectively preserving the evidence. This was a monumental win for Moth and Hye; by purging the vermin within the Hescos upper circle, they were securing an unshakeable position of power and gaining the Grand Elder's absolute trust.
Hye, unaware of the political theatre in the Council, remained focused on the mental assault. He kept feeding bones into the technique, weaving his shadow arms through the streets, barracks, and mining levels of the city.
He couldn't distinguish between a common labourer and a high-level conspirator yet, so he chose the path of total dominance. He forced every single living soul within the city to sign a contract, leaving no one off the hook.
Gradually, the hostile roar of the city's defences began to stutter and fail. One by one, the operators behind the heavy cannon buttons fell under his sway, their hands lifting from the controls. In less than an hour, the once-defiant mountain fortress fell into a state of absolute, eerie silence. The entire city was now under the total control of Hye's will.
"Get into my ships," Hye commanded, his voice echoing in the minds of the hundreds of thousands he had just enslaved. 𝘧𝘳𝘦ℯ𝓌𝘦𝒷𝘯𝑜𝑣𝘦𝓁.𝒸𝘰𝓂
As he cleared the hurdle of the city's defences, he was faced with the monumental task of processing the sheer volume of information available from the city's citizens.
"Cooperate with my warriors," he ordered the newly contracted residents. "Tell them everything you know about the Toranks, the mining operation, and the Elders who authorised your presence here. I want names, dates, and everything related to ores you are mining."
He had taken control of hundreds of thousands of individuals belonging to dozens of different races in the city. Initially, he had imagined the city held a few tens of thousands at most. Facing these huge numbers, he had to improvise instantly. He couldn't simply interrogate them himself, or the process would take weeks, even longer!
"I can't sit here and meet them one by one as I did before with the ships' captains," Hye inwardly sighed. The scale was simply too vast for personal interrogation. Instead, he entrusted the job to his elite warriors.
He ordered them to listen to the stories from everyone and immediately relay any information related to the special god-powered ore they were digging, the underlying purpose of this hidden city, and its ultimate secrets and anything of value.
He gave a direct mental command for his newly contracted subjects to empty their inventories of every shard of that special ore they carried, while his warriors pressed them about the main storage locations for the ores.
As he spread his orders, a large number of ships landed in succession at the city's spacious areas, taking in huge batches of enslaved city dwellers, before flying to free spaces for more ships to descend.
Hye moved first toward the massive industrial buildings the captives spoke about. The information seemed to be a well-known fact among the city's residents, as almost all of his warriors reported the same coordinates in the first half an hour of interrogation.
"These buildings are really massive!"
Hye landed his small ship next to a sprawling warehouse complex. He remained inside the cockpit for a few moments, waiting until he received confirmation from his warriors that the city's environmental shields and devices were operating and holding.
The city was reinforced and specially designed with facilities to shield it from the extreme atmospheric hazards of the Hescos world, creating a localised area that could sustain life by the entire universe's standards.
"Damn! I totally forgot how refreshing it is to be in the open air at night!"
As he stepped onto the wide street, he stood still for a few seconds, closing his eyes and savouring the cool sensation of the cold night air on his skin. It was a stark contrast to being locked in for days inside his ship. But the moment of peace was fleeting. He had a city to explore.
"Time to see how much you hold inside each building," Hye muttered. He kept a steady stream of specific questions flowing to his warriors: How do they mine the ores? What tools are used? And most importantly, how do they ship it away?
He received a deluge of answers, which he began to cross-reference and compare in real-time until he reached the common threads in the testimonies.
"A big ship arrives once per month, takes everything, and leaves? This simple?!"
If Hye had previously harboured even a slight doubt about the intervention of high-ranking Elders in this process, he was now one hundred percent confident.
