"So, it's decided."
After discussions among everyone at the Countermeasures Research Office's spatial folding passage meeting, a consensus was reached.
"I'll relay the results to the decision-makers. If all goes smoothly, both passages can be completed before the rules end." Gao Liangwei said.
The consensus reached at the meeting was to approve the establishment of spatial folding passages between Heilanja and Namelica and Beixing.
This did no harm to Beixing.
First, the anchor items needed for establishing the passages wouldn't be provided by Beixing, but by the nations establishing them.
Second, the teleportation gates located within Beixing's territory would fall under Beixing's jurisdiction. With the size and area of the gates controllable, and around-the-clock surveillance in place, there was no worry about small nations pulling any tricks through the passages.
The final benefit, as Xisiya's Yelanka had thought, was the ability to conduct spatial folding passage testing without consuming their own nation's anchor items.
After all, anchor items were far too scarce. Even renting them from that Administrator would cost a fortune.
In the best-case scenario, someone else foots the bill while providing you with test results.
After the meeting ended, Gao Liangwei left the meeting room and headed back to his office.
Halfway there, he suddenly thought of something and turned toward another elevator.
He took this elevator to a certain floor. Compared to other floors, the layout here was entirely uniform, and dense surveillance cameras were installed from the corridor all the way to the doorways.
This was the detention and quarantine zone directly under the base, which base personnel generally called the "Solitary Confinement Floor."
He went to the men's section monitoring room on this floor. The duty officer inside was startled to see Gao Liangwei and quickly rose to greet him.
"Head Gao, why are you here?"
The entire Countermeasures Research Office base was enormous. Gao Liangwei usually moved between his office and the meeting room, rarely going anywhere else. He had only been to the solitary confinement floor once before, after Han Qiu's disappearance.
"I came to take a look."
Gao Liangwei looked at the surveillance feeds on the several large screens in the room. They covered not just public spaces, but also private areas like bedrooms and bathrooms.
Of course, the men's and women's sections were separated, and no monitoring room would have surveillance operators of the opposite gender.
Surveillance hadn't originally been installed in private spaces, but ever since Han Qiu vanished into thin air in the bathroom, the authorities had stopped being lenient. Cameras were installed everywhere.
Later, after the wedding incident and the discovery that Han Qiu's corpse had mysteriously disappeared, the Countermeasures Research Office finally had a vague guess as to what had happened.
It was possible that Han Qiu had deliberately avoided the cameras, used some method in the bathroom that left no trace to end his own life, and thereby used a rebirth ability or item to escape the base after death.
This wasn't something to blame the base personnel for failing to think of. From the start of the Doomsday Rules until now, no item or ability capable of reviving the dead had ever appeared, so no one could have imagined that Han Qiu would possess such power.
But even so, when insiders at the base discussed this matter, they all felt that Han Qiu was a madman. Most people, even if they knew they could be reborn after death, wouldn't have the courage to kill themselves, would they?
This undoubtedly greatly increased his danger rating in the eyes of the higher-ups. Although Beixing hadn't issued a global warrant as loudly as Suroma had, the intelligence department had indeed been continuously searching for Han Qiu.
The images on the small screens were too few. Gao Liangwei couldn't immediately find the one he was looking for, so he instructed the surveillance operator: "Pull up Duanmu Feng's room."
"Yes."
The surveillance operator immediately called up the solitary confinement cell belonging to Duanmu Feng and enlarged the image.
In the feed, Duanmu Feng was pacing back and forth in the room. One arm was in a sling, while his other hand occasionally clutched his head, letting out low growls.
Gao Liangwei frowned deeply. "How long has he been like this?"
"It started on the second day of his confinement," the surveillance operator said. "He seems to have intermittent mental issues. Not just shouting and screaming, but sometimes he punches the walls. Once, we had to have someone from the medical department spray tranquilizing mist to snap him out of his mania."
"..."
A flicker of reluctance briefly crossed Gao Liangwei's normally stern face.
After a moment of deliberation, he said, "I'll go in and talk to him."
The surveillance operator was alarmed. "What? That won't do, it's too dangerous, Head Gao!"
Gao Liangwei shook his head. "He's an old subordinate of mine. He won't lay a hand on me. And even if he loses his mind, he can't hurt me."
"But... I think you should at least bring a few guards in with you?"
"No need. Execute the order immediately."
"...Yes!"
The surveillance operator had no choice but to obey. Once Gao Liangwei arrived, he unlocked the door to Duanmu Feng's cell.
Gao Liangwei opened the door and entered the cell. Duanmu Feng, who had been pacing in circles, froze when he saw someone come in. When he recognized who it was, his entire body trembled violently.
"Head... Head Gao..."
"Since when did you start stuttering when you speak?" Gao Liangwei said. "This isn't the decisive, swift-acting Squad Leader Duanmu I used to lead."
Hearing the words "Squad Leader," Duanmu Feng recalled his military years from long ago, and his eyes grew hot. "Company Commander Gao..."
Gao Liangwei was visibly moved by the address as well.
Years ago, when he was still a company commander in the military, Duanmu Feng had been a squad leader under his command.
It was precisely this connection that made him give Duanmu Feng special consideration, and previously override objections to place him in solitary confinement rather than subject him to harsher punishment.
"How's your arm recovering?" Gao Liangwei glanced at the bandages on Duanmu Feng's left arm.
"It's fine." Duanmu Feng let out a self-deprecating laugh. "I know Lecturer Jingyi went easy on me. With her strength, she could have killed me on the spot."
"...Tell me seriously, what exactly is wrong with you?" Gao Liangwei asked sternly. "I refuse to believe that the excellent squad leader you once were would be driven half mad by battlefield trauma."
Duanmu Feng stood still, facing Gao Liangwei, and was silent for a long time before finally revealing the truth.
"Company Commander Gao... that night... I saw... I caught a glimpse of... a glimpse of Scarlet Terra."
Gao Liangwei was taken aback. "What?"
Duanmu Feng clutched his head in agony. "At the time, countless parasitized forms launched an attack. The battlefield was complete chaos, and almost all of my subordinates died in battle. While fighting the parasitized forms, I accidentally saw a photo of Scarlet Terra stuck on one of them. Even though I looked away the instant I saw it, some images still appeared in my head..."
He could barely continue. Gao Liangwei let out a heavy breath. "So that's how it is. So it's not just battlefield trauma, but also the power of the rules. The two compounded together pushed you to the brink of collapse... Then why did you agree to teach at the academy? Why didn't you tell me clearly and go properly recover?"
"I'm sorry, Company Commander Gao. I didn't want others, didn't want you, to know how weak I am... So I pretended to be fine and agreed. I thought I could recover on my own, but in the end... in the end, I made a terrible mistake."
"Foolish! Since when does trauma mean weakness?" Gao Liangwei cursed, then thought for a long time. "...I understand your situation now. I'll have someone send you to a specialized mental and psychological treatment center as soon as possible to receive care."
Duanmu Feng shook his head at that. "I know I've done something serious. I've harmed many students, and I nearly killed or injured the academy's Dean and lecturers. I'm willing to accept any punishment."
"What punishment?" Gao Liangwei said in a low voice. "You lost control of your behavior due to double psychological shock and mental instability. Even under the law, you'd be sentenced to receive psychological treatment."
Duanmu Feng looked at Gao Liangwei. "You know better than anyone that the laws of peacetime no longer apply to this world now, don't you? And I know that in order to protect me, you must be bearing pressure from all sides. That's not good for you, nor for the Countermeasures Research Office."
Gao Liangwei: "..."
"I..."
"Say no more." Gao Liangwei turned and walked out of the room. "This matter is already decided. I'll arrange for someone to send you away soon. Just wait and receive treatment."
The door slammed shut heavily, and the lock clicked back into place.
Duanmu Feng stared at the doorway and murmured to himself: "Company Commander Gao, thank you for protecting me. But I won't make things difficult for you..."