Extreme Cold Era: Shelter Don't Keep Waste-Chapter 894 - 123: Citywide Lockdown

Just half an hour later, the descending army from the Floating City sealed off the entire city.

In the sky, the massive Floating City released countless Steam Knights and Godslaying Armor units. Their arrival, accompanied by the roar of machinery and the surge of steam, locked down the entire city.

The entire city seemed to instantly become a gigantic cage, with an atmosphere of tension and unease pervading the air.

Perfikot was poisoned in the food—a matter undeniably shocking for the whole Victor Empire.

As the Regent of the Empire, Perfikot is not only a symbol of the nation but also humanity's hope for survival in the extreme cold apocalypse.

Her wisdom and leadership enabled humanity to achieve unprecedented technological advancements within a few short years, even challenging the gods.

However, this poisoning incident is not just an attack on her personally but a provocation against the entire Victor Empire.

To put it brutally, if anything happens to her, the entire human society would become unstable and might even lead to human extinction.

Perfikot's presence isn't merely symbolic; she is the central driving force behind human technological advancement.

Her death would signify humanity losing an irreplaceable leader, leading to technological stagnation, maybe even regression.

In such an extreme cold apocalypse, the pace of environmental deterioration far surpasses humanity's ability to adapt. Without Perfikot's leadership, humans would struggle to meet the increasingly daunting survival challenges.

Given the current situation, this is very likely to happen, because if Perfikot dies unexpectedly, causing humans to be unable to withstand the onslaught of the gods, then humanity would be destroyed by them.

Although Perfikot's technology currently withstands the gods' attacks, this is merely a temporary balance. Once she falls, this balance will be shattered, throwing humanity back into endless darkness.

Though someone might succeed Perfikot's position, nobody can lead human technological development as swiftly as she does, as if on cheat mode.

Perfikot's wisdom and capabilities are unparalleled; she can rapidly understand and solve complex technological problems through the power of the Jade Record.

Her presence enabled leaps in human technology within a few short years, from steam engines to Godslaying Armor, from Floating City to energy cores—none of these inventions are without her guidance.

After all, relying on the power of the Jade Record, she is truly on cheat mode.

Once she no longer accelerates human technology, although humanity won't be wiped out overnight, without a leader like Perfikot who can solve issues swiftly, solely depending on human technological development speed makes it nearly impossible to cope with the worsening environment in this extreme cold apocalypse.

The environment of the extreme cold apocalypse is deteriorating at a frightening pace; temperatures continue to drop, resources are increasingly scarce, and natural disasters occur frequently.

Humanity needs to continuously invent new technologies to meet these challenges, and all this depends on Perfikot's leadership. 𝙛𝓻𝒆𝒆𝒘𝙚𝓫𝙣𝙤𝒗𝙚𝓵.𝙘𝙤𝙢

Without her, human technological advancement would stagnate, possibly regress, and eventually be unable to meet the increasingly severe survival challenges.

Currently, whether it's the Steam Knights and Godslaying Armor units descending from the Floating City or Marsel's local garrison, their thoughts aren't as complicated.

Their sole mission is to ensure Perfikot's safety and find the mastermind behind the poisoning.

On the streets, soldiers patrol closely, every corner is thoroughly searched.

Marsel's local garrison also joined the lockdown; they are anxious, for the Empire's Regent was assassinated in Marsel, and they can't escape responsibility.

As the symbol of Victor Empire's rule in the local area, the garrison should ensure the city's safety, yet Perfikot encountered a poisoning incident right under their noses.

This is not just a serious dereliction of their duties but also a disgrace to the entire Victor Empire.

The garrison commander is livid; he knows that if anything happens to Perfikot, Floating City's wrath will target not only the Assassin but also implicate them, the "derelict ones."

The Steam Knights and Godslaying Armor units from the Floating City are no pushovers; in their anger, they could easily erase Marsel along with the garrison from the map.

Therefore, at this moment, Marsel's garrison is like being whipped, frantically searching every street, every house, and even every sewer in the city.

Soldiers, armed, knock on doors and search, not even sparing trash cans and basements.

The commander's orders are simple and ruthless: "Find the Assassin, or we're all doomed!"

Soldiers dare not slack off; the sound of their footsteps echoes on the deserted streets like death's countdown.

However, despite the garrison's utmost effort, the search is not going well.

This is largely due to their long-standing high-pressure control over Marsel's residents.

Since Victor Empire took control of this land, the garrison, in the name of maintaining order, administered harsh control over residents, including frequent unwarranted searches, arrests, and extortion.

Residents have long harbored resentment against the garrison, only refraining from open resistance due to the threat of force.

Now, the garrison faces this significant crisis; while residents might not boldly step forward to support the Assassin, they could very well shelter the Assassin or provide some help for their escape under these circumstances.

Expecting residents to cooperate with the search? That's simply a pipe dream.

When garrison soldiers knock on residents' doors, they are often met with indifferent gazes and perfunctory answers.

No one is willing to proactively provide clues; some even deliberately mislead search directions, leading soldiers to meaningless corners.

The residents' silence and resistance made the garrison's search work painstakingly difficult, as if the whole city was working against them.

Not to mention, the Assassin hasn't been exposed and hasn't reached the point where they need help from Marsel's residents.

The garrison's search is more like blind exploration in the dark, utterly clueless.

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While the garrison is frantically searching for the Assassin, Perfikot in the Marsel Hotel, after taking an antidote, has already escaped danger.

Or rather, this food poisoning only made her feel very uncomfortable but didn't reach a life-threatening level.

If an Extraordinary could be so easily poisoned, the world wouldn't have relied on them as a nation's military might and symbol before the industrial revolution.

Moreover, Perfikot herself is an outstanding alchemy master, skilled in human transmutation.