The people in the outer ring had not realized that the devices protecting them had been destroyed.
They continued as always, working their asses off.
Nick decided to remain in Crimson City for a while longer to watch how things would develop.
While the people in the outer ring didn't notice anything, the elite immediately fell into an uproar.
Several families had lost a member of their family.
Executives from a couple of companies had been assassinated by something unknown, and they immediately ran to the government for help.
Naturally, the leaders of the government knew exactly what had happened.
The Envious Researcher had attacked.
It was a brutal shock to everyone.
However, the leaders of the city were not very concerned with the dead executives.
No, they were concerned with their research team.
Almost every member of the research team had been killed!
These were the people who developed Barriers, Containment Units, weapons, and all the other gadgets that use Zephyx.
Naturally, Herman had been among them.
Herman had been the CEO of Ghosty's Lab, and he had worked under Nick as his captain of the guard for years.
Nick had even considered him as sort of a friend.
Sadly, for the good of mankind, Nick couldn't put his feelings before results.
The researchers were innocent in all of this, and Nick knew that.
They just wanted to research and develop things.
It was not their fault that a couple of rich people misappropriated their technologies.
However, they had also knowingly developed this technology and decided not to tell Aegis about it.
Whenever any major technology was created, it had to be transmitted to Aegis so that they could find a way to distribute it without the Envious Researcher becoming active.
But that was easier than said.
Over 90% of the technology would never be distributed since it was such a gigantic act to get past the Envious Researcher, and even if one of the technologies was chosen,the developers would need to wait for years, if not decades, before the technology could be used safely.
Of course, not everyone was willing to accept such a gamble for some safety.
In fact, the Envious Researcher would have become active anyway. It would have just taken a couple more years.
It needed between five to ten people to know of a technology before the Envious Researcher became active, and Nick believed that only two to four people had read his booklet before the Specter appeared.
That meant a couple of people had already figured out how the devices worked.
Over time, the number would increase, and the Envious Researcher would strike.
Nick had just accelerated the process.
Of course, while the researchers were definitely reckless, they weren't guilty of torturing the poor people in the outer circle.
'I am willing to kill ten innocent people to save a thousand,' Nick thought as he saw the corpses of people he had known for a long time.
'We don't have the luxury to care about the fate of individuals when all of humanity is fighting for survival, and I can't spend several years here to micromanage all of this without killing innocents.'
'What's right or wrong isn't important. Results are important.'
A day later, the leaders gathered to talk about this subject.
They still had access to all of their previous technology. The technologies had been documented very well, and they were not subject to the Envious Researcher.
They could just follow the plans and use the machines to make more Containment Units and Barriers.
However, Crimson City's long-term technological growth had been crippled, and it would take a long time to make more researchers that could perform at similar efficiency.
The most prominent topic of the big meeting was the outer ring.
How would they handle the outer ring now?
On this topic, the leaders were split.
Some of them said that they should just keep this entire thing secret.The people in the outer ring wouldn't notice a difference.
Sure, a couple of them would die occasionally, but the city's profits wouldn't take a big hit.
However, there were also a couple of them arguing against that.
They claimed that the people would notice when more and more died to Specters, and they would lose trust in the city's government. They might even abandon their houses altogether and sleep on the streets in the Outer City.
At that point, they also wouldn't need to work as hard anymore since 80% of their expenses were gone.
The debate went on for over two hours.
Until someone said something out of annoyance.
"You know," Jornis shouted into the round with crossed arms, "you might not like to hear it, but things were easier when the Liaison was running things."
Naturally, several people took offense to that, most of all the Governor.
"Stay on topic, Jornis," the Governor said with a reprimanding tone.
"What topic is there to discuss?" Jornis answered with more annoyance. "We all talk about possibilities here and there. This could happen. That could happen. Profits here, profits there. Why can't we just do things how he did it? I don't like him either, but I can't deny that the city improved a lot under him."
Jornis turned to Vanessa. "Do you want to go back to the old days of Kugelblitz before the Liaison took over?"
Vanessa was a bit more proper than Jornis. She wasn't a big fan of talking out of line.
Yet, her face showed some annoyance at the fact that she had to agree with Jornis.
While they had been part of the most powerful Manufacturer in the city, she had felt like they had reached the end of their rope.
She wanted to become a Governor, but she couldn't do so with Markus Julius there.
She wanted to become an Agent, but she had had no idea how she could go about that.
Nick had given them the opportunity to join Aegis early as aides to the Governor.
They also didn't need to worry about profits and other Manufacturers anymore.
Well… that was until Aria left and William took over.
Now, it feels similar to how it had been back then.
"I do not support Jornis' sudden change in topic, but I believe that there is relevant truth to his words," Vanessa said after some seconds.
The two of them glanced at Libran Baneling, the last former Hero of Kugelblitz.
Libran just shrugged, signaling that he didn't have anything to add.
Naturally, William wasn't happy with the subtle denunciation of his capabilities, but he was a Governor and could keep himself under control.
"And what would the Liaison do in this case?" he asked with a strict tone.
"Just build a wall," Jornis answered. "The people of the outer ring are part of the city, and if we want a good city, we have to give even the poorest people the minimum amount of safety and care. At least, that's how he would probably phrase it."
William wasn't the biggest fan of that idea.
"Governor," Vanessa said, gaining William's attention. "A couple of years before Aria left, she said something to me in anger, and her words made me pause. I think that's because her words hurt but also hit the truth."
"Mind my crude language as I quote these words. She was quite annoyed at the time."
Vanessa coughed.
"What's your problem? Why are you so against this? Why is it so fucking hard for you to be a good person for once?" Vanessa said, imitating Aria's tone.
William was not happy at all to hear these words.
They sounded naïve.
They were the words of a child who hadn't been involved in the world of business.
"Let's be decent people for once," Jornis said as he leaned back in his chair.
Vanessa and Libran nodded.
William looked at the other Heroes in the room.
The other Heroes were essentially new Heroes who had risen after Nick had left.
Jornis, Vanessa, and Libran were the veteran Heroes, and the Heroes had mostly listened to their commands.
Because of that, they just indicated that they were not against the proposal.
They didn't indicate their support. They just said that they didn't oppose it.
"Fine," William said unwillingly.
He didn't want to build another wall due to the insane cost. This was bound to cannibalize the city's savings.
However, William was a businessman and politician.
If the most powerful people in his group were against something, it would be stupid to oppose them.
He needed their support.
In the end, it was decided that a newer and taller wall would be built around the outer ring, even leaving a lot of space for additional buildings.
Might as well turn this into a long-term investment.
Like that, the issue wouldn't come back up for a while.
Construction began shortly, and Nick left.
Nick didn't need to stay for long.
He just wanted to make sure that things would go the right way, and they did.
Nick left Crimson City and made his way back to Aegis' headquarters.
He had to have a long conversation with the Technician about the things he had seen.