Chapter 512 Unanimous Decision
Chapter 512 Unanimous decision
Where is this?
Who am I?
In a hazy fog, Jiang Xuezhou opened his eyes and looked blankly at the haze around him.
Suddenly, her eyebrows felt a slight pain. She raised her index finger and pressed it on her eyebrows. At the moment when her fingertips touched her eyebrows, the vague memory gradually became clear.
The first thing she remembered was her name, followed by the date of her birth. The surrounding environment also changed accordingly. The haze turned into a vast snow.
”It’s a girl…”
”…The brain cell activity is good, the physical fitness is good, and the hormone levels are normal. She is a good seedling.”
”Thank you, doctor!”
”You’re welcome. This is what I should do.”
”She looks like you.”
”Then…call her Xuezhou.”
”It would be great if she can pass the exam.”
The silhouettes of the memory flashed like a slide.
She saw two kind smiles, and then saw the vague outline stained with white frost, and then watched the voice and face gradually turn into a sad face.
”Mom… Dad…”
She muttered in a low voice.
She seemed to have returned to her childhood.
At that time, the family’s conditions were very difficult. Her father worked in a scavenging team and her mother worked in a garment factory. The staple food was potatoes and beets that could grow in the cold zone. Although the settlement raised cattle, they were livestock entrusted to the local management by the Science and Technology Commission. Most people might not eat meat once a week…
She only remembered that her only wish at that time was to pass the assessment of the Science and Technology Commission and enter the academy to become an explorer.
That was the only way to change her fate besides wandering in the wasteland, and it was also the only way of life planned by the Science and Technology Commission for all survivors.
Any family that could train an apprentice could receive a huge subsidy from the Science and Technology Commission… It was a fortune that everyone would envy. Her parents could live in a bigger house, and her brothers and sisters could also change to a more relaxed position and strive to contribute two more good seedlings to the Science and Technology Commission.
And for the lucky apprentice, he would live a rich and affluent life from now on, without having to worry about trivial matters unrelated to scientific research.
Wait…
Didn’t I pass the assessment?
And I also became a researcher that countless apprentices dreamed of…
Jiang Xuezhou’s eyes suddenly showed a trace of panic. How did
I…
come back?
Apart from what she saw, she seemed to be unable to remember anything. An unknown force froze a part of her memory, limiting its flow rate, allowing it to be released only a little bit, and then studied it in detail.
’Answer me.’
The voice in the dark sounded again, with a bewitching power.
’Recall carefully…’
’Besides your loved ones, who is the most important person in your life? ‘
The most important person besides your loved ones?
A moment of confusion appeared in her eyes.
It seemed that there was no such thing…
After joining the exploration team, people would leave every now and then. She had become accustomed to jumping from one step to another, slowly forgetting the people she met at different stages of her life… including the father and mother, brothers and sisters who she had not seen for many years and who might still regard her as an honor.
Thinking about it this way…
her life seemed meaningless, just a program that was designed just right and has been running well so far. It was
just like…
”NPC”.
It was beyond her expectations.
She thought that the voice in the dark would be as disappointed with her life as she was, but what she didn’t expect was that the voice seemed to be satisfied with her slowness.
A person on the margins of society is undoubtedly easier to replace than someone standing in the center of the stage.
People didn’t have many memories of her, and they wouldn’t be surprised by the sense of disharmony and changes in her. It was
too easy to replace her. It was so
easy that people couldn’t help but wonder if it was necessary.
At this time, the scenery in front of her changed again. The cold wind passing through her neck made her shrink her neck, hug her almost frostbitten arms, and squat on the ground.
It was not until then that she realized that she was squatting naked in the snow, and the boundless wind and snow seemed to completely submerge her.
And the green lights in the distance were like the eyes of aliens, and also like the fire of hell that illuminated the way to hell.
Maybe…
this is her own end.
Like most of the explorers who stepped into the ruins in confusion and died silently with confusion and regret, she could not escape the boring fate after all.
Just when she was about to close her eyes and accept her fate, a figure suddenly walked out of the heavy snow.
He was wearing a black exoskeleton, and the bulletproof plate on his chest was dented by the collision. The howling wind seemed to have a great impact on him, and every step forward was difficult.
Who is this guy?
The voice in the dark seemed confused and did not answer her question.
The man called her.
”Hey.”
A trace of panic appeared on her face, and she even forgot that her whole body was frozen, and she collapsed backwards on the cold snow.
”Don’t come-”
”Don’t talk nonsense, how long do you plan to sleep here.” The man walked in front of her without stopping, ignored her reaction, and grabbed her arm.
Jiang Xuezhou instinctively wanted to struggle, but the man didn’t intend to pay attention at all, and pulled her back without saying anything.
”Let’s go.”
That was the last sentence she heard.
The surrounding scenery changed rapidly like the window of a train, and the world built by the fragments of memory collapsed in an instant.
In the blink of an eye, she seemed to have arrived in another world, and the blocked memories flooded into her mind like a tide.
This feeling was like being pulled back to the shore from the bottom of the sea, and the incomplete five senses returned with a big gasp.
At this time, a hand took off the glasses on her head.
”Ah!!!”
Jiang Xuezhou let out a startled cry, quickly shrank to the wall and hugged her arms, only then did she realize that she was fully dressed.
Her fair face gradually turned the color of a lantern.
Fortunately, the person who took off the neural connection device on her head was not looking at her at the moment.
”Is this all right? I have tried my best to see if it works or not.” Ye Shi looked at Yun You who was standing aside and said.
Yun You, who had put away the tablet, nodded and smiled.
”Well, it has been successfully separated. You did a good job.”
”Really?” Ye Shi glanced suspiciously at the girl who was sitting in the corner with a red face, and muttered, “But why do I feel like there is something wrong with this guy’s brain.”
Yun You was stunned.
”Maybe… it will be fine after a while?”
According to Zhuang Lan, if one’s mind is not strong enough, taking off the glasses directly will easily lead to schizophrenia, unless it is turned off through normal channels.
That is, put on the neural connection device and connect it to the memory extraction device, enter the dream constructed by her memory fragments, and let her wake up from the dream on her own initiative.
Ye Shi originally didn’t want to go through so much trouble, but the “Venerable Grandma” from Ideal City said that she couldn’t leave the little girl alone.
In order not to affect the subsequent plot, he could only go to the entertainment room in the living area to find a neural connection device with a universal interface and play a dungeon with Jiang.
Speaking of which, this guy seemed to have a very long nightmare, with aliens, mutants, predators and so on…
He counted and just went through at least six dungeons.
But the last one was surprisingly simple, so that he felt that he didn’t do anything at all, just helped her.
Then she woke up.
He thought there would be a boss battle later, but he was still looking forward to it for a few seconds.
By the way, just before he took the virtual reality device to play the dungeon online, the time bomb stuck on the floor-to-ceiling window had been removed by him and Yunyou.
That thing turned out to be a miniature nuclear bomb with an equivalent of 10,000 tons.
Choosing to detonate near the reactor, it seems that the people of the Enlightenment Society intend to completely destroy this place after taking away the data here.
Gradually recalling the whole story, Jiang Xuezhou slowly loosened his grip on his collar, blushed, lowered his head and whispered.
”…Thank you.”
”Don’t thank me, I just helped you, thank that person if you want to thank someone.”
Ye Shi pointed to Yun You next to him with his chin, “A lot of work was done by her, I can’t understand those codes.”
Jiang Xuezhou blushed and nodded, and whispered a thank you to her.
Looking at this polite girl, Yun You smiled with her arms folded, and said in a relaxed tone.
”You’re welcome, although we have been together for a short time, we can be regarded as partners who have experienced life and death together.”
Partner…
Jiang Xuezhou silently glanced at Wall-E lying on the ground, and the scrapped Xiao Wang beside him, bit his lip lightly, wanting to say something but not knowing how to start.
Ye Shi walked over, lifted Wall-E’s arm, and lifted the Weyland man from the ground.
Although the person is already cold, he still has to give an explanation to the legion.
”Let’s go, don’t let everyone wait too long.”
…
Living area.
Su Ming, Meng Liang and Pangolin, who had gone to the manager’s office earlier, had already arrived here and were now sitting silently in front of a dusty table.
Especially Su Ming.
After watching Lu Yang’s video before, he seemed to have changed into a different person, and he didn’t say a word all the way from the manager’s office to here.
Sitting between the two people, Meng Liang smiled bitterly, silently praying that his partner would come back soon…
Just then, the door next to him opened.
Three people walked in from outside.
”Sorry to have kept you waiting.” Sitting at the table, Yun You glanced at the three people at the table apologetically, then looked at Jiang Xuezhou, “You sit down too… What we are going to talk about next is very important.”
Having already understood the whole story on the way here, Jiang Xuezhou didn’t say a word, and silently pulled out a chair and sat down.
Ye Shi temporarily put Wali in the corner, clapped his hands with a “hey” sound, and also returned to the table to find an empty chair.
”… Let’s discuss about the Torch Project and this ‘Shelter 0’.”
Su Ming coughed lightly, breaking the silence in the room first, looking around at everyone present, and spoke.
”I can’t represent the company’s position, but… as a citizen of Utopia, I think we should destroy this place.”
After a pause, he continued.
”Physically destroy it.”
The air was quiet for a while.
”I vote in favor.”
Pushing his glasses, Yun You looked at everyone sitting here seriously and continued.
”… With the current level of mutual trust between the various forces in the wasteland, there is no communication channel. Once this evil weapon is unearthed, even if it is just a blueprint… everyone will fall into a prisoner’s dilemma.”
Ye Shi was stunned.
”… What do you mean?”
Yun You smiled and was about to explain to this silly but not bad-hearted child, but Jiang Xuezhou on the side was half a step faster than her and spoke with a complicated look.
”It means that the first person to ‘press the button’ will get the most benefits, so even those who are not interested in this weapon at all will have to join the competition, because no one can guarantee that others are not carrying out this plan behind the scenes.”
Seeing that someone has already said it for him, Yunyou coughed and said.
”…Just as she said.”
In reality, the prisoner’s dilemma is not absolutely unsolvable.
The reason why prisoners become prisoners is that there is no channel for information exchange. If the information exchange channel is opened, many problems will naturally be solved.
However, the difference between the wasteland and the real society lies in this. Let
alone the Internet, there is not even a telephone line between the top level of the enterprise and the academy. There are huge differences between the parties from the collective social form to the individual thinking logic.
Even the Alliance, an organization with a small management scale, was troubled by who to contact when it first met with the enterprise.
Not to mention the academy and the legion, which are large organizations that focus on one route and have developed independently for a century and a half.
Once you enter the prisoner’s dilemma, it is almost unsolvable.
Jiang Xuezhou stared at Yunyou intently.
”But how can we guarantee that you didn’t get the research data? You just proposed to destroy the shelter because you didn’t want others to get it.”
Su Ming frowned and stood up, staring at Jiang Xuezhou.
”Are you doubting us?”
”It’s just a reasonable doubt, but your reaction now makes me feel more suspicious.” Stared at by the murderous eyes, Jiang Xuezhou’s face was not very good, but he did not give in at all.
This is no longer related to her.
It’s the fate of many people…
Ye Shi glanced at her unexpectedly.
I always feel that this guy seems to have become different after coming out of that dream.
Looking at the angry Su Ming, Yun You coughed lightly and said in a calm tone.
”Su Ming, Ms. Jiang from the college is indispensable. There is at least one person from all parties involved here… So sit down.”
”…” Hearing the unquestionable order, Su Ming did not speak and sat back silently.
He didn’t think of doing anything to a girl, but just wanted to scare this guy, but he didn’t expect it to work.
If someone from the academy died inside, the conditions for blowing up the shelter without any diplomatic risk would no longer be met.
Even if they could blame the Enlightenment Society for the death of the female researcher, the other party would be forced to make the worst plan, whether they believed it or not.
After all, the two attitudes of dying in there inexplicably and walking out of it openly would produce completely different results.
Yun You looked at Jiang Xuezhou.
”What can we do to make you believe it.”
To everyone’s surprise.
The representative from the academy did not take this opportunity to propose some embarrassing conditions.
After staring at Yun You’s eyes for a while, she suddenly spoke.
”I believe you.”
Yun You was stunned.
Just when she subconsciously wanted to ask why, Jiang Xuezhou seemed to move his eyes away embarrassedly and whispered to himself.
”…If you want to possess it alone, there is no need to spend that effort to save me, right? Anyway, I am just an insignificant little person.”
”So I believe in you.”
”I also hope…I won’t regret my decision.”
”Oh…you should have said it earlier, making us so nervous.” Ye Shi breathed a sigh of relief and leaned back in his chair.
Jiang Xuezhou stared at him angrily.
”Is it too much for me to think about such an important decision for a while?”
Ignoring this “ungrateful” guy, Ye Shi simply raised his hand.
”I vote in favor.”
The reason is simple. The Alliance cannot win this competition.
This is an objective gap.
Even if the Legion’s R&D capabilities and scientific research personnel reserves are above them, the advantage accumulated over time cannot be made up in just a few days and months.
Just like self-confidence and arrogance are only separated by a wall, the results produced are a world apart. He is still aware of this.
What’s more, being dragged into a competition with no visible benefits is of no benefit to the Alliance.
It is foreseeable that, apart from the final weapon to restart the world, the plan will most likely not produce any interim results that will have a positive effect on society.
Also considering this issue, Meng Liang nodded.
”I agree with Ye Shi.”
Except for Ye Shi, everyone looked at the pangolin who had not said a word from beginning to end.
Only one person remained without expressing his
opinion. However, the latter’s answer did not surprise many people.
”Aye.”
Su Ming breathed a sigh of relief, and his tense expression finally eased a little. Yun You smiled happily and looked at the people around him with gratitude.
Just a moment ago, they almost completed a miracle that was impossible to accomplish in this wasteland.
People from four different places, the Legion, the Enterprise, the Academy, and the Alliance, at this moment, cast the same vote on the issue of the future destiny of civilization.
Just like those brave and ordinary people a few months ago, two hundred years ago, or even more distant past.
They made an ordinary but not simple choice.
…
The bomb started counting again.
The group evacuated the shelter.
Before leaving, they spent a little time moving the twelve hibernation capsules in Area X-13 to the entrance of the shelter.
The crew of the Pioneer had been killed. The people
lying inside were all disciples of the Enlightenment Society. According to Zhuang Lan’s confession, there was also a “guide” among them.
In the organizational structure of the Enlightenment Society, the “guide” was between the elders and the disciples, equivalent to the mentor of many disciples.
Although it was a bargain for these guys to let them die silently, as the relevant personnel who had contact with the deleted data, it was the best choice for the people still alive on the surface to let them be buried with the secrets in their stomachs and this shelter that should not have come to this world from the beginning.
As for Zhuang Lan.
It stands to reason that she should be handed over to the Willant people for handling, after all, she killed one of their centurions, but Su Ming and Yun You were very reluctant to do so.
”…We will not extradite anyone to the Legion, which is equivalent to selling criminals to slave traders.”
Pangolin was stunned.
”That’s good.”
Before the establishment of the alliance, they seemed to have sold captured raiders to the mines in Honghe Town. There was nothing shameful about it.
He called it efficient.
But soon he remembered his undercover role, his face suddenly changed, and he glared at Su Ming fiercely.
”What the hell do you mean?”
Dare to be sarcastic to me?
Damn East Coast people!
Su Ming ignored him directly, looked at Ye Shi who was holding back his laughter for some reason, and continued.
”One thing is one thing, this is our principle… At least in my opinion, it is the management of the Enlightenment Association who should be punished. Even if she killed the people of the Legion, I still feel sick when I think of what the Weilant people did to the prisoners. They are not as simple as sending people to work in the mines… Do you want to hear it? I have heard some from the merchants.”
Ye Shi coughed.
”No.”
It’s better not to make the fun game so heavy. He is not the kind of person with bad taste.
Besides, do we need to guess about this kind of thing?
When they seized the Iron Heart before, they saved many poor people who were abused by those big noses.
A warlord group that follows the feudal system can become a closed small kingdom with as small as an airship or a manor, and the only thing that can restrain the behavior of these Willant people is the moral sense of their direct superiors.
This happens to be the most unreliable.
Even if the legion conquers half of the Middle Continent, the most civilized place may be the Triumph City under the rule of their Marshal.
And even the Triumph City is only relatively civilized.
It is foreseeable that she will not be tried, and her final fate will only be tortured to death by the governor named Cohen.
”So leave it to you to deal with it. Anyway, we will not hand her over to the legion. You can do whatever you want.” Su Ming shrugged and decided the fate of that person with this sentence.
Ye Shi felt that this guy said so much nonsense, in fact, just wanted to throw the trouble to the Alliance.
However, such a result is not bad for the Alliance.
Even if she was just a disciple, with the power and speed of the third-stage awakening and being sent to participate in such a mission, she was at least an “elite monster”.
If you spend some time to ask her something, you may be able to get something out of her.
With so many shelters and occupying the great desert, the Enlightenment Society must have a lot of good things.
Thinking of the strange memory extraction device he saw before, Ye Shi couldn’t help but reveal a dark smile on his face.
Why not use that one?
He thought it was reasonable to give the other a taste of his own medicine.
It is necessary to make a suggestion to the administrator.
”Hey…”
A voice from the side interrupted Ye Shi’s imagination.
Looking in the direction of the voice, he saw a D-level researcher from the academy standing there, looking like he had something to say.
This guy never gave him a good look, and Ye Shi had no interest in her, so he asked impatiently.
”What’s wrong?”
Jiang Xuezhou didn’t speak for a long time.
Just when he was about to get impatient, she spoke in a very low voice.
”…Did you see it?”
”Hmm?” Ye Shi replied casually, not understanding what she wanted to ask.
Seeing this guy pretending to be stupid, Jiang Xuezhou blushed, gritted his teeth, and finally held back the words that were on the tip of his tongue.
”…Nothing.”
Ye Shi: “???”
Fuck!
You got a cat cake!
Quickly changing the previous topic, Jiang Xuezhou continued.
”By the way…”
Ye Shi rolled his eyes impatiently.
”What’s wrong again?”
Jiang Xuezhou asked in a low voice.
”That person… pretended to be me, right?”
Ye Shi: “Yes.”
Jiang Xuezhou asked immediately.
”How did you recognize me?”
She wanted to ask this question before she came out of the shelter just now, but she hadn’t figured out how to start.
Seeing that “admiring” look, Ye Shi smiled embarrassedly.
This.
To be honest, he is also a high-level player after all, but there are too many talented people in the group, so he can’t usually show it.
Especially in terms of intuition.
He’s not bragging, no one in the entire server is more awesome than him. Even the old lady who has lived for more than 200 years was fooled, he identified it at a glance.
”Well, isn’t that very simple… It doesn’t look like it at all.”
Jiang Xuezhou was stunned.
”Not… like it at all?”
Ye Shi said bluntly.
”Well, maybe my intuition is sharper, the moment that person stood at the door, I knew she was not you.”
”… You said it as if I know you very well.”
Ye Shi waved his hand.
”It doesn’t have to be very familiar, it’s just that you are you, she is her… They are not the same person, how can they be the same.”
The white face gradually turned red, Jiang Xuezhou stared at him and gritted his teeth, and finally snorted coldly and walked away.
Ye Shi stared at the back of this guy who turned away inexplicably.
Hey.
It’s really weird.
I thought I could trigger a hidden task, or get some gold coins because I was so grateful, but he just turned around and left.
MMPD!
When did I provoke this guy?
…
Shortly after Ye Shi, Su Ming and his party evacuated from the industrial building, a deafening explosion engulfed Shelter 0. The
10,000 tons of equivalent released inside was enough to completely blow up the entire unfinished shelter, or at least to physically destroy the server part.
The “plan” taken out of the shelter and the video left by Captain Lu were enough to explain everything that happened here.
Although it was a pity that no treasure was taken away from it, it was still a barely satisfactory result for all parties.
However, what everyone did not expect was that the chain reaction caused the collapse of the surface.
As luck would have it, the power room was located just below the landing of the Judge.
The Willant people who hid in the buffer cabin and escaped the disaster had not yet recovered from their shock, and fire was coming out from under their butts.
Fortunately, it was only 10,000 tons of equivalent, and the shelter itself absorbed most of the blast shock wave.
If the equivalent was a little larger, I am afraid that few people would survive…
In the camp.
Adria found Chu Guang and said angrily.
”What happened to the explosion just now?”
Chu Guang looked at this guy with a strange face. What
does it have to do with me?
However, considering the other party’s anxious heart, he still coughed lightly and comforted him in a bland way.
”I heard that it was originally an unfinished shelter. Maybe it was in disrepair… The reactor exploded.”
Hearing this, Adria immediately spit.
”How could a third-generation controlled fusion explode! The critical temperature of that thing must be several billion degrees!”
Or it could be tens of billions of degrees, he couldn’t remember.
But he knew one thing, it wasn’t a gasoline barrel that could be ignited by throwing a lighter.
Chu Guang shrugged and said with a look of indifference.
”How would I know? I’m also confused now… I just hope my people have come back from down there, they might know something.”
Unlike the confused representatives of the legion, enterprise, and academy, he actually knew a little about what was happening down there.
Pangolin couldn’t wait to go offline and report the latest plot to him.
Although he was surprised by the players’ choice, he still expressed respect.
The alliance really doesn’t need that kind of thing.
He said.
He will stay with his residents until the end.
Looking at the furious Adria, Chu Guang smiled and continued.
”By the way, if your airship can’t be repaired-”
”Forget it!”
Before Adria could react, McLen, who had answered in advance, pulled his arm and answered with a vigilant stare at Chu Guang.
”We can fix it ourselves, we don’t need your help!”
Looking at the suspicious General McLen, Chu Guang was stunned for a moment, then said with a smile.
”I haven’t said anything yet.”
McLen said with a dark face.
”I don’t want to know.”
Several Willant people rushed to the direction of the industrial building.
Chu Guang guessed that they should go to find Wally to find out the situation, but unfortunately that guy had been killed by the disciples of the Enlightenment Society.
At this time, his personal guard captain Lu Bei came over.
With his right fist on his chest, the young man said solemnly.
”…Sir, the wolf cavalry of the Death Corps has locked onto the phase cannon that attacked us, but has not found the enemy’s headquarters.”
Chu Guang frowned.
”Didn’t find it?”
Lu Bei nodded ashamedly.
”Well… According to a report from a wolf cavalryman, the local command center should not be nearby. He found a signal tower in the area near the signal source. The signal tower seemed to be connected to other terminals by wired connection, and it seemed to be connected to a very far place.”
——
(Thanks to “Enthusiastic Citizen Xiao Wang” and “Mo Xuan” for their rewards!!!)
(End of this chapter)
