Volume 10: Ancient Battleship Chapter 528: Airport Pickup
"Oh, someone from the Morgan Consortium..." Ke Lan deliberately dragged out the tone, "Then let him wait a little longer."
"Is this... not a good idea?" Qin Zhao said with some concern, but Valentina looked indifferent.
"What's wrong with that? When these bastards framed me before, they didn't show any intention of holding back. Now they want to give in? There is no such a cheap deal in the world."
"Uh... Captain, the person in that video that was previously posted online shouldn't be you, right?" Qin Zhao asked cautiously.
"It's me, what's wrong?"
"Ah?!" Qin Zhao couldn't help but let out a low cry, and a blush suddenly appeared on his face.
"Did you misunderstand something? The first half of the video was indeed genuine. At that time, I had just seen through their tricks and planned to handcuff the two women and take them back to the warship for interrogation, but they ended up taking my words out of context. The sound of the black screen at the end was the false evidence they fabricated."
"In other words, the statements we issued are all true?" Qin Zhao asked in disbelief.
"Of course, a person with a clear conscience has nothing to fear. I didn't do those things, so what's the harm in making the truth known?" Ke Lan shrugged.
"But, I've seen the public relations of those companies... they don't do it this way..." Qin Zhao said puzzled.
"Because the butts those people need to clean are already covered in shit." Ke Lan said, "Our hunting group is an excellent company that abides by the law. We are not afraid of any black material being dug up, so naturally we don't need that kind of public relations tactics. As long as the truth of the matter is made public and stated clearly, anyone with a brain can see who is the problem at a glance."
"Then, what about those... 'brainless' people?" Qin Zhao's face was full of confusion. "When the video was first exposed, many people believed that you really...really did that kind of thing. Even if we later announced the truth, there will always be people who have preconceived ideas and think that this is just a way for us to 'whitewash'..."
"These brainless people...Except for a few with ulterior motives, how much do you think they can do in guiding public opinion?" Ke Lan paused and continued, "You know the story of three people making a tiger, right? Since negative rumors can spread three people, why can't the truth spread three people? Although the truth of this matter is far less 'stimulating' than the fabricated rumors, there is a bigger melon involved behind it...If you were an ordinary netizen with a passerby's perspective, would you be willing to delve into the so-called 'scandal' of a small hunting group that was established less than half a year ago, or would you be willing to see the Morgan Consortium, which has a history of thousands of years and has been passed down from the old era to the present, suffer a setback?"
"..." Qin Zhao opened his mouth slightly, as if he wanted to say something, but in the end he couldn't say it.
What Ke Lan said makes sense. Those netizens who love to watch gossip will always enjoy the fun. Since it is all a scandal related to the new S-level ruins "Aguna Tor", why can't the protagonist of this scandal be the Morgan Consortium?
Although it was Anaheim Electronics that was exposed on the surface, the person who ordered the hackers to attack the Anaheim database was from the Morgan family, and was the fifth of the six sons of old Morgan. Although he would most likely not be able to win the fight for inheritance rights over his brothers, even if he could not become the head of the Morgan Consortium, he was still a very important figure.
In fact, everyone knows that few of the top executives in these conglomerates have clean bottoms, but no one dares to say it... or it would be useless to say it.
In ancient China, there was a saying that "no punishment shall be imposed on doctors". However, in the era of capitalism, capitalists suddenly became the "aristocrats" of the new era, so this saying naturally became "no punishment shall be imposed on tycoons".
Let’s not talk about anything else, let’s just talk about the most typical capitalist country in the old era, the United States. In that era, the words of the boss of the Morgan Consortium carried more weight than those of the President of the United States.
Although this situation is not serious on the Ark, because these consortiums hold a lot of wealth and power, they can still be regarded as the privileged class of the new era.
Ordinary civilians who have been at the bottom of society for many years like to see the plot that the characters who were originally in the privileged class fall from the unreachable clouds overnight and fall into the stinking and filthy quagmire. Anyone passing by the quagmire can curse him and spit on him.
Although the privileged class still exists, the lives of ordinary people will not be substantially improved by the fall of one or two scumbags - but at least it will be nice.
"Let's go to the commercial street first. I've been stuck in the ship's office for the past few days. I feel like mushrooms are growing on my body."
"Where are we going?" Valentina asked, "Do you need me to drive the mecha over?"
"No, no." Ke Lan quickly shook her head. Although the Undead Crew would, in the name of the United Parliament, grant permission for the God Hunters to allow their armed mechas to travel on the public roads within the Ark, it would be too ostentatious if they had to drive a mecha just to go shopping.
"But, without Valkyrie, I can't guarantee your safety 100%. " Valentina was wearing a straight windbreaker that was longer than her knees. She was very thin, but the windbreaker looked a little bulging on her body... Needless to say, there must be all kinds of weapons stuffed under the clothes.
Fortunately, they all had special passes, otherwise, if they went through security check with such stuff, they would probably scare the security guards to death.
"This is in the Ark, not in the wilderness... Not really, really." Ke Lan walked around Valentina and couldn't help asking, "Uh... How many weapons did you bring?"
"Two short-barreled carbine versions of the Ark-01 rifles, with six magazines of 120 rounds; two Bull Tamer submachine guns, with four magazines of 100 rounds; four stun grenades and two offensive grenades; a 9mm fully automatic pistol and a Gauss pistol, two kilograms of plastic explosives; and a telescopic spear." Valentina opened her windbreaker and listed them one by one. "Oh... I also asked Layton to install weapons on my arm and leg prostheses, including hidden firearms with a range of 50 meters and switchblades..."
"Stop, stop..." Ke Lan looked at the gun magazines hanging full of guns on the inside of her windbreaker and couldn't help but rub her forehead with her hand. "Are you going shopping or going to war? Carrying so much equipment... isn't it heavy?"
"The Hound asked me to be responsible for your security, so I can't be negligent." Valentina said calmly, "Also, this windbreaker has a hidden skeleton inside, which can transfer most of the weight to the prosthesis, and it won't hinder my movements."
"I'm afraid you're in the late stage of 'fear of insufficient firepower'..." Ke Lan noticed that even the soldiers who got off the transport plane looked at this side with a dazed look, obviously shocked by the large number of weapons under Valentina's clothes. "If you are performing security tasks, I can understand carrying a pistol and a submachine gun. The CQB model carbine is also within the range of optional weapons... The question is, why do you carry grenades and plastic explosives?"
"Grenades can be used to attack enemies behind bunkers, and plastic bombs are extremely effective for clearing obstacles and vehicles." Valentina answered very seriously.
"Have you ever considered what the consequences would be if these two kilograms of plastic explosives were detonated in a downtown area?" Ke Lan patted Valentina on the shoulder and said earnestly, "Xiao Na, we are relic hunters, not KB members... Even those mercenaries would not carry such things on the street."
As Ke Lan spoke, he reached out and took off the guns and explosives from the inside of Valentina's windbreaker, then waved to the soldiers watching the show over there.
"Please find a safe package, pack these things up, and send it to the headquarters of the God Hunting Group." Ke Lan said to the soldier.
"Yes, sir!" The soldier saluted Ke Lan, then ran away happily with the pile of dangerous goods.
"By the way, didn't Major Chi ever take you to places like the commercial street before?" Ke Lan asked Valentina until the soldier ran away.
"...Major Chi only took me to the commercial street and the black market that sold second-hand mechanical parts. At that time, we basically spent the whole year running around for the participating mechas. By the time we had almost put together a mecha, the mecha competition was about to start." Valentina said.
"The mecha from last year can't be used?" Ke Lan was a little confused. "After a little repair and strengthening, it should be enough. We don't have to start from scratch every year to assemble a mecha, right?"
"You can only get enough prize money if you get a good ranking in the mecha competition, so I try my best every time... Unless the mecha can't move at all, I will not give up voluntarily." Valentina replied.
"I see... It seems you won't give up until your mecha is destroyed... That's too risky. It's a good thing you're still alive today."
"Chi, even if I don't squeeze every last drop of performance out of these mechas, the overloaded skeletons won't be able to participate in the next competition... Other teams have spare mechas and a large number of replacement parts, but we don't. We can only fight from start to finish with one mecha."
"No, no, no... I'm not talking about the mecha, I'm talking about your people. After such a high-intensity battle, the mecha is scrapped, and the pilot should not be much better."
"I'm injured for sure, but compared to my old injuries...those injuries, I actually don't feel much pain." Valentina rolled up a section of her sleeve, revealing her only remaining left arm.
On the pale skin, there was an ugly centipede-like scar extending from the wrist to the elbow. "This was the injury I got during the last competition. It should be the most serious one. The broken armor plate directly split my forearm vertically, and all the muscles were turned outward. But the opponent was even worse. I pierced his cockpit with my combat dagger and cut off one of his legs."
Valentina turned her sleeves back and continued, "Major Chi scolded me many times. He told me not to fight so hard. But if I didn't, I was afraid that the bonus wouldn't be enough to buy the mecha... Besides, I thought I wouldn't live for many years. I would die sooner or later anyway, so I might as well earn more bonuses while I could still fight."
"..." Ke Lan and Qin Zhao looked at each other and neither responded to her words.
"Major Chi hopes to use the prize money to take me to see a better doctor and buy better medicine, but I would rather he spend the prize money on the body, as long as I can win the championship..."
"If we win the championship, the prize money will be enough to pay for our medical treatment, right?" Ke Lan asked softly.
"I didn't think about medical treatment at that time... I just wanted to use the money to track down the man, Mann... find out his whereabouts, kill him, and use the remaining money to leave for Major Chi's retirement."
"Although you don't have to worry about the money for medical treatment now, and Mann is dead, you can still compete for the championship in the upcoming finals... Anyway, this time we use the virtual battle mode, which is quite beneficial to your desperate style of play - other players may not be able to adapt in a short period of time." Ke Lan suddenly paused here, "However, you have to be more careful about the military team."
