Roland noticed many workers tearing down and changing the billboards on both sides of the road, and the usual bustling construction sites were all extremely quiet, as though the entire modern car dealership project had disappeared in the blink of an eye. The short wall used to divide the construction space had a new scaffolding in place, looking as though it was being used as a base for new exterior wall.
Even more ridiculous were the heavily-armed police on alert as they cordoned off the projects department with sentry posts. Any entrance and exits required identification and vehicles were prohibited from approaching the main building.
After having their credentials verified, the armed policeman saluted them with a standard military salute and opened the guarded entrance.
"Oh my god…" Garcia whispered, "What did you make the Association do?"
"To be honest, I am as clueless as you are." Roland shook his head helplessly. "I haven't even made any requests yet."
As the two walked towards the main building, Garcia suddenly stopped in her steps and frowned.
Standing at the doors and welcoming them was her father, Garde, a member of Clover Group's board of directors.
"I've waited for you for a long time." The man nodded at his daughter first, then initiated a handshake. "Mr Roland, although I've known that you were special the first time we met, I've never thought that you'll be far more special than what I imagined. From this day on, this factory is yours."
Garde's words were clearly filled with good wishes, but his tone did not have the slightest bit of joy—the look on his face was complicated, like an ensemble of contradictions. During their first acquaintance, this middle-aged man showed an obvious contempt towards Roland, a feigned friendliness on the second due to Roland's relationship with the Defender, while the current and third meeting was one of fear, most probably his true emotion.
"Isn't the modern car dealership originally an important development for the Clover Group? Are you guys really that nice to gift it away so submissively?" Garcia mocked, "And here I thought that the Clover Group would be slightly more unyielding, with how all of you were ready to demolish the apartments in spite of public opinion."
To her surprise, Garde did not reveal any anger and merely chuckled ruefully. "The Martialist Association gave the family terms that they couldn't refuse. Although I'm a member of the board of directors, I was unable to stop the decision. Aside from that, the Clover Group has officially terminated the plan to demolish and rebuild the apartments. We will be announcing it at the reception later—there is no longer a need for you to rally for the residents, my daughter."
Garcia was frozen with shock.
"The demolishing and relocation plan has been… terminated?"
"Yes, it has," Garde replied slowly. "I know that even if this passes, you will not forgive me that easily, but at least we are no longer enemies. In the future, if you wish to meet your brother, feel free to come home anytime. Of course… you can bring him along as well." He looked towards Roland.
After leading the startled duo into the main hall, Garde waved before leaving the projects department building.
The secretary responsible for bringing them in led them to the conference room even before they came round to.
Seated around the approximately 100-square-meter room were about 40 to 50 people, all dressed in formal attire. It did not appear anything like a construction site meeting. Placed around the center table were four chairs arranged facing each other. Apart from Defender Rock, there were two others sitting there—one about 40 to 50 years of age and resembled a veteran of war; the other had graying hair but had eyes brimming with vitality.
The last chair was obviously left for him.
Garcia finally jolted out of her reverie and gently nudged him on the back.
Roland nodded, calmly walked over, and proceeded to sit beside Rock.
With the experience of being a King, he naturally did not suffer from stage fright, but instead felt even more curious—from the looks of it, the Association had obviously planned to surprise him.
But after the secretary's announcement of the start of the meeting, every single person in the room were given an introduction, leaving Roland in suspense. Despite knowing that the Martialist Association had a long history and its great influence over the government, the 'surprise' greatly exceeded Roland's expectations.
From metallurgy to materials, from machine designs to automatic controls, every single subject matters expert were present. Among them was an existing laureate from the Nation's Academy of Sciences as well as another leading technical expert from a private corporation. More critically, every single person here was merely a representative. Behind them were enormous teams, each completely capable of undertaking the entire process from research and development to production.
As for the two men seated to his right, one was the overall-in-charge of the technological department, President Wu and the other Executive Manager, Head Liu. The former took charge of all research development while the latter was responsible for the allocation of resources. The professionalism of the entire system was evident and was not something the original small group of the Design Bureau of Graycastle could compare to.
This was the sole reason for the Association to take over the entire land—without the space, they could not have research work happen in parallel.
Aside from that, the two were also representatives of the government; they were sent to assist in the situation and gather information.
The entire project was assigned the name 'Project Nüwa.' It was rather fitting to use the legend of her patching up the sky to describe the resistance against Erosion. Information of the other world was limited to only a few government officials and as a result, the official documents explained that the undertaking was a 'complicated drill' designed to simulate the final destruction of the human race due to Erosion and how the survivors would utilize resources after the war and rebuild civilization from the ruins.
One of the crucial points listed was that some Awakened Beings underwent rarely seen evolutions due to Erosion. They evolved and displayed completely different abilities from what the Force of Nature had; thus, the researchers were required to study all relevant elements around the phenomena. As to what this special abilities were, Chief Hunter Roland was designated by the Association as the overall person-in-charge with full authority to make decisions.
At this point, Roland almost spat the tea that he had just imbibed.
In other words, the main content of the meeting was to listen to the abilities announced by him and investigate their applications. Even if he were to make things up, it was a requirement to take him seriously and consider how the abilities could influence the rebuilding of their civilization.
It was fortunate that the Martialist Association was the one doing such a thing. If Roland had to announce the conditions to this matter that seemed to border on child's play by himself, all the professionals on site would have left immediately.
"I wonder if Mr Roland is satisfied with the proposal?" Rock smiled towards him and said, "When you raised your request to me previously and mentioned its severity to the world, I thought you were exaggerating then. But now, I have finally understood the true meaning behind your words. Taking into account that the magic power manifested from both worlds are different, no matter how absurd or weird your requests are, they will not disagree with you."
Roland raised his eyebrows. "You believe… in everything that I've said?"
"To be honest, I don't know." Rock retracted his gaze. "But as long as we can prevail over Erosion by working together, we will have the opportunity to verify them in the future, is that not? And this new Design Bureau is only the beginning."