Soon, the group arrived at a nearby office building, which had clearly been requisitioned by the military; almost all those coming and going were soldiers.

Before they reached the entrance, an officer with a captain's rank had already come out to greet them.

The accompanying female government employee hurried forward to introduce them. The officer managed a slight smile on his stern face: "Welcome, welcome!"

After exchanging a few pleasantries with the group, he led them into a conference room.

Soldiers promptly delivered tea.

"Have the military martial artists not arrived yet?" asked Qin Liuyuan as he sat down at the head of the table.

"Sorry, they haven't. Please wait a while. There's still half an hour until the agreed time," the officer said after checking the time. "Well then, I won't disturb you. If you need anything, feel free to have a soldier call me."

He gave a quick greeting and then hurriedly left the conference room, closing the door behind him.

"This is too neglectful!" Zhou Dapao remarked with some dissatisfaction.

"It's normal. After all, this is their home ground. Maybe they're trying to seize the dominant position?" A middle-aged man named Zhao Zhishan took a slow sip of tea, smiling as he spoke, appearing quite unperturbed.

"I suppose so. I heard that the military's martial artists are quite competitive; they might even give us a hard time later," Zhou Dapao said.

The military is a closed and self-contained system, and the same is true for the military's martial artists. As the most efficient part of organized society, discipline and purity of the team are prioritized above all else.

Compared to absorbing societal martial artists into the military, the military prefers to recruit young martial artist apprentices and train them into full-fledged martial artists. As a result, although there aren't many military martial artists, their discipline and cohesion far exceed those of societal martial artists.

Qin Liuyuan's expression turned somewhat grim. He was the leader on the city government's side for this mission, so any intimidation would most likely be directed at him. It wouldn't be a private fight, but at most, a loss of face.

Time ticked away second by second.

It was soon approaching two o'clock.

A series of orderly footsteps could be heard outside, and soon the door to the conference room opened.

A group of six officers in jungle camouflage uniforms walked quickly into the room, exuding an imposing presence.

Chen Shouyi glanced up; at the forefront was a colonel in his thirties, of average height, thin lips, and a slightly downturned mouth, giving off an aura of authority without anger, clearly a person of serious nature.

His sharp gaze swept over the group. Except for Qin Liuyuan, who remained unfazed, the rest instinctively avoided eye contact, not daring to meet his gaze. As for Chen Shouyi, he looked up briefly before lowering his head to study the patterns on the conference table.

"Who is Qin Liuyuan?"

"I am!" Qin Liuyuan replied in a deep voice, not getting up.

The two of them exchanged a glance, somewhat confrontational.

At this point, the colonel took the initiative to ease the atmosphere, showing a slight smile: "I've heard of your name. I'm Xiao Changming, the leader on the military side for this operation. The intelligence briefing before our departure will be conducted by me, as the military has more information. You don't have a problem with that, do you, Captain Qin?"

There was indeed nothing worth contesting, nor could he contend over it, and even if he were truly asked to lead the meeting, he wouldn't know how. However, he still snorted coldly: "This is your turf, after all. I naturally have no objections."

"Alright then, everyone, take your seats," Xiao Changming instructed the military martial artists standing behind him.

"Yes, Captain!" they responded in unison.

The military martial artists sat down in their chairs with crisp, neat movements.

Compared to the disciplined military martial artists, Chen Shouyi himself felt that the martial artists on his side were quite undisciplined, like a group of scattered soldiers.

"The departure time is set for two-thirty. Time is tight, so I won't delay further. Liu Yongqi, distribute the documents!" Xiao Changming instructed a martial artist sitting beside him.

"Yes, Captain!" The military martial artist, referred to as Liu Yongqi, immediately stood up, took out some documents, and began distributing them one by one.

Xiao Changming continued, "These are some intelligence reports we have on the Giant Scythe Insects. Please have a look."

The documents were only a few thin pages and still had the fresh scent of ink. Chen Shouyi skimmed through them quickly and found them not much different from what he already knew, only more detailed.

Before long, the martial artists on the city government's side turned pale.

"Are there Silver Giant Scythe Insects as well?" Qin Liuyuan asked gravely.

"That's right. These Silver Giant Scythe Insects are relatively small but more powerful than the black ones. Fortunately, there aren't many; the military has only found two in total," Xiao Changming explained.

"How powerful are they? The documents don't seem to describe them much!" Qin Liuyuan asked with a slight frown.

"I'm not exactly sure. Of the two Silver Giant Scythe Insects, one died in shellfire, and the other was supposedly killed by a great martial artist on your side," Xiao Changming replied.

Seeing Qin Liuyuan's frowning expression slightly relax and a hint of relief appear, Chen Shouyi hesitated inwardly, wondering whether to warn them not to underestimate the danger.

The reason he had succeeded in the past was mainly due to the steam tank; without the advantage of it being scalded by high temperature, whether he could have killed it was uncertain. He might have died instead.

He had no particular good feelings toward Qin Liuyuan and wouldn't care if he died in another situation!

However, given the perilous nature of this mission, he wasn't very confident. Having one more strong team member could provide more security.

Yet considering that his strength would inevitably be exposed after this mission, Chen Shouyi no longer hesitated. He suddenly spoke:

"The Silver Giant Scythe Insect is likely hard to deal with even for a single great martial artist."

His current discretion was due to the absence of any upheavals, with the Great Xia Country still in order and with clear communication. As a seventeen-year-old great martial artist, he would undoubtedly draw attention, with various situations scrutinized closely.

To avoid unnecessary trouble, he naturally had to hide his strength.

But now, things were entirely different.

With the cessation of electricity and the interruption of communication, the Great Xia Country transitioned overnight from a highly digitalized big-data era to a loosely structured steam civilizational era.

Previously, specific information about a person could be easily found through an information database with a keystroke. Now, that had become utterly impossible.

The efficiency of information transmission, which once took less than a second, now required at least several days. Similarly, the speed of processing information had also slowed. This remained the case despite the reconnecting of regions by steam-powered trains, rendering the central government's control over localities weaker than ever before.

Moreover, given the unprecedented crisis facing humanity, who would waste substantial societal resources to investigate him?

...

As soon as Chen Shouyi spoke, all eyes turned to him.

The gazes were mixed with emotions ranging from surprise, amusement, and disdain.

Qin Liuyuan's face showed a flicker of displeasure; what nonsense.

"And you are?" Xiao Changming's expression turned somber, his brow slightly furrowed as he asked.

"Chen Shouyi!" Undeterred by these looks, Chen Shouyi continued as though already expecting this reaction, "The Silver Giant Scythe Insect you mentioned was likely the one I shot."

The atmosphere immediately fell silent.

Qin Liuyuan gave Chen Shouyi a look upon hearing this.

Xiao Changming's expression also changed slightly, though he remained skeptical, asking seriously, "This is not something to joke about. How can you prove it?"

"Prove it?" Chen Shouyi smiled slightly, and with a sudden draw of his sword—it gleamed with a flash, like a fleeting gleam of light—the sword was already sheathed again.

Except for the two great martial artists who could barely see clearly, the others were all confused.

In the next moment, the long conference table suddenly split in two and collapsed to the sides with a loud crash.

Everyone scrambled to their feet in a hurry, retreating in disarray.

"I think this should serve as proof!"

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