Volume 10: Ancient Battleship Chapter 535: Unexpected Disaster
"Has the situation become so serious?" Ke Lan was a little stunned... The last time the block isolation wall was lowered was after the Prophet attacked the Security Bureau base. The order was issued in order to round up the number one dangerous element. After that, the isolation wall has never been activated again.
Even in the Arasaka Group incident, the defense line used to blockade the East 9th District was composed of the Security Bureau and the garrison troops, rather than an alloy isolation wall several meters thick.
These isolation walls, like the blockade of the entire ship, are equivalent to the last barrier of the Ark. If even this barrier is breached, it means that the current crisis is no longer enough for the Ark's top management to take the lives of ordinary people into consideration.
If we use a more refined word, it would be - "destroying all lives".
There are 50 million civilians on the Ark. Excluding the large families and conglomerates with private armed forces, and the mercenaries, relic hunters, and retired soldiers with a certain combat capability - the remaining, at least 40 million people are ordinary people who have no combat capability at all. Except for shooting targets a few times with the Type 01 rifle during the popular military training, these people will never have any intersection with words like weapons and combat in their entire lives.
When disaster strikes, the only thing they can rely on is the protection from the top management of the Ark... and those six to eight meter thick composite armored isolation walls are the last line of defense set up for them by the authorities.
The entire ship is blocked and the isolation wall is lowered, which means that the connection between each block will be completely cut off, traffic will be interrupted, logistics will be blocked, and the production and life of everyone on the Ark will come to a complete halt. Not to mention the economic losses alone, the losses caused by each minute of blockade will probably have to be measured in "billions".
Unless it is absolutely necessary, the United Parliament... No, the United Parliament probably does not have the qualifications to issue such an order - it should be said that unless it is absolutely necessary, the Undead Crew will not activate this plan!
"What happened?" Ke Lan asked again.
However, the soldier just looked at him and did not answer.
Seeing this, Thirty-three quickly stepped forward and found the sergeant with the highest rank in the team of soldiers, and said, "Brother, we used to be from the First Division of the First Corps of the Field Force..."
As he spoke, he pulled up his sleeve, revealing a tattoo on his arm. "Since we were all comrades in arms before, could you please tell us a little bit of news? Then we can feel more at ease."
After seeing the tattoo on Thirty-Three's arm, the sergeant was stunned at first, and then immediately revealed an expression of awe - the First Division of the First Corps of the Field Force, it is known as the ace of aces. Apart from the air fleet and mecha troops, the most powerful force in the human army is the First Division. Countless soldiers have been trying their best to get into the First Division, but few can succeed.
The selection criteria of the First Division were very strict. A soldier who was strong enough to be selected into the spearhead company from other units of the field corps would only , not to mention the elite squads with special numbers under the First Division.
The First Division is the strongest among all the army units, and the combat missions they receive are often the most difficult. According to the statistics of the past ten years, excluding the disabled and missing, the average combat death rate of the Field Corps in five years of service is 4/1000 . The average combat death rate of the First Division in five years is 25%...
That is to say, for every 100 soldiers who joined the 1st Division, only 75 would be alive five years later.
This is the data from the recent years when the war was relatively mild. If it was in the first few years after landing, it is estimated that after five years of fighting, there would be only a few veterans left in the entire First Division - the earliest batch of soldiers had been killed long ago, and the remaining ones were all reserve soldiers who were added later.
No matter whether it is the field troops, the garrison troops, or the air fleet that has always been arrogant, when they mention the First Division, they can only feel admiration and respect in their hearts.
After seeing the tattoo on Thirty-three's arm, which symbolized honor, the sergeant subconsciously saluted him with a standard military salute, and then said with difficulty: "It's not that we don't want to tell you, but we don't know either... Really, twenty minutes ago, we were watching TV at the base, and suddenly we received this order... Even we are still confused."
"Yes, yes." Several other soldiers from the garrison nearby immediately echoed.
"Brother, since you are a retired soldier from the First Division, you must know someone in the higher-ups of your unit. You see, although the entire ship is blocked now, the communication lines are not disabled. Why don't you try to make a phone call and ask?" the sergeant advised kindly.
"According to the current situation, the people I can contact... I'm afraid they won't know much." Sanshisan shook his head slightly, then turned his gaze to Ke Lan.
In his opinion, since Ke Lan is the "captain" of the "Aguna Tor" and the person in charge of this new S-class ruins, he must be familiar with the top management of the Ark. He might even know several members of the United Parliament Group. An official of this level must know the inside story.
"Um... who is the person with the most authority you can contact?" Thirty-three asked Ke Lan, "Do you know any members of the United Parliament?"
Ke Lan shook her head: "You must be joking. How could I possibly know a congressman..."
The conversation between the two was heard by the soldiers, and they immediately looked at Ke Lan in surprise - these soldiers could never have imagined that among these four people, in addition to a big boss who retired from the First Division, there was actually another big shot who had a relationship with the congressman.
But this "big shot" is really too young.
Fortunately, Ke Lan immediately denied Sanshisan's statement, otherwise, these soldiers' jaws would have dropped to the ground in shock.
It’s just that…although he doesn’t know the congressman, he knows a group of guys whose power is even greater than that of the congressman.
"Wait a minute, I'll make a call."
Ke Lan took out his cell phone and dialed the number Demeter left for him. The ringing lasted only two seconds before the call was connected.
"What's going on?" In order to save time, Ke Lan asked straight to the point. He believed that the other party must know what he was asking.
"It's hard to explain over the phone," Demeter said. "Just follow this team of soldiers to the shelter. Someone will come to find you soon."
Ke Lan looked up and saw that the surveillance camera at the intersection was facing this side. The red indicator light representing the working status was flashing rhythmically next to the lens.
It was estimated that the members of the Undead Crew were watching him from behind the camera right now... For some reason, Ke Lan suddenly had an urge to make an "international friendly gesture" to the surveillance camera.
"What do you want from me? Are you looking for a conscript? Since you want me to do some work, you should at least let me know what the work is about."
"The person who comes to see you later will tell you...but you need to be mentally prepared. Things will be more troublesome than you think." Demeter said in a very calm tone.
But after hearing her words, Ke Lan couldn't calm down.
Damn it... Even the Undead Crew said this matter is much more troublesome than I thought... I guess it can't be described as " troublesome ...
This is not a "trouble", this is a "disaster".
"Okay, I understand." Ke Lan was silent for two seconds before he responded.
"Beep——" After receiving a positive reply, the other party hung up the phone without hesitation.
After putting down the phone, Ke Lan realized that everyone around him was staring at him - except for Sanshisan, Qin Zhao and Valentina, the soldiers of the garrison also had curiosity in their eyes.
They are also human beings. When they take off their military uniforms and put down their guns, they are no different from ordinary people. When encountering such things, they will inevitably have doubts, worries, fears and other negative emotions in their hearts... Especially in this situation where it is obvious that the sky is falling, but they still don’t know anything, these negative emotions will be magnified hundreds or thousands of times...
Compared to the civilians who only need to wait for rescue in the shelter, these soldiers are the ones who really need to face this "disaster"... If things are really serious to the point where they are unspeakable, then perhaps only death awaits them.
When the landing area was first opened up, the earliest advance troops who landed knew that the battle was a sure death, but they still resolutely jumped out of the vehicle... and now, the same thing has happened to these soldiers.
Several young soldiers looked obviously uncomfortable - when Ke Lan and Demeter were talking on the phone just now, they did not deliberately avoid these people, and in the extremely silent environment, the sound leaking from the receiver was also transmitted to the ears of the people around them very clearly.
Although the two people on the call spoke in a calm tone, this calmness was more like a "calm before the storm": thick dark clouds hung down from the sky, pressing people so hard that they seemed to be unable to breathe... After this short period of calm, they will face an unimaginable storm, and a strong cyclone will sweep through and sweep away everything...
Of course, there is no such climate landscape on Alpha. Ke Lan has only seen a similar scene in an old-era science documentary, but using this picture to describe the current situation is so appropriate.
"Brother...who was the person you just talked to?" The sergeant thought for a long time and couldn't help but ask.
"A friend." Ke Lan said. Although the Undead Crew had tacitly allowed these people to eavesdrop on the conversation, it did not mean that Ke Lan could tell them about the existence of the Undead Crew.
"Well, what is the identity of your friend?" Unconsciously, the sergeant had already used the honorific "you".
"Could he really be a member of the United Parliamentary Group?" Thirty-three interrupted - he would rather believe that Ke Lan's statement that he didn't know the member of parliament was just a joke.
"She's not a member of parliament, but she's almost like one..." Ke Lan said vaguely. He was right. After all, the United Parliamentary Group was just a group of puppets. The people who really performed the functions of the Parliamentary Group were actually the people hiding behind the scenes...
"Just now, the congressman... no, it was that lady. She seemed to ask you to handle this matter..." The sergeant swallowed and continued to ask Ke Lan, "Excuse me... who are you?"
"God Hunter Group, Ke Lan." Ke Lan had no need to hide his identity. "Oh, I'm the person in charge of the S-019 ruins 'Aguna Kotor' that made the headlines recently."
As soon as these words came out, the soldiers all looked at him sideways, and the sergeant couldn't help but open his mouth wide. He was stunned for several seconds before he reacted: "I'm very sorry! We have caused you trouble! If you need it, we can arrange transportation for you now, and we should be able to send you out of East District 8 before the isolation wall is lowered!"
The sergeant's palm holding the butt of the gun couldn't help but ooze out a dense layer of sweat. He never thought that he just stopped a group of people and actually stopped such a "big shot"... and the worst thing was that this "big shot" seemed to be the key person to solve this incident.
Even if he did not violate any rules and regulations, and could even be considered a soldier who performed his duties conscientiously, his interception did delay the opportunity. If his actions caused a butterfly effect, I'm afraid that being shot a hundred times would not be enough to atone for his sins.
"It's okay. Since that person asked me to wait in the shelter, let's go there quickly." Ke Lan said.
"Ah... OK! I'll drive you there!" the sergeant said hastily, then turned to the other soldiers and said, "You continue to patrol along the edge of the New East District 9. If you find anyone lingering, immediately control them and send them to the shelter!"
"Yes!" responded the other soldiers.
…
Fifteen minutes later.
The "temporary shelter facility" mentioned by the sergeant was actually a department store with its doors and windows sealed and surrounded by several circles of barricades outside. The people brought by the patrol teams were concentrated on the second and third floors of the department store. The containers were pushed to one side, and the yellow and black cordon divided the entire building into dozens of areas, each of which was occupied by thirty to fifty people.
Some of these people were making phone calls with anxious looks on their faces; some were sitting on the ground, staring at their phones with frowns on their brows; and some were constantly trying to talk to the soldiers standing guard nearby, trying to get some information out of them.
They were all like Ke Lan, walking peacefully on the street when they were suddenly brought here by the soldiers rushing over - there were some bloodstains on the floor tiles at the door that had not been wiped clean... No one knew whether there was a stampede or a violent conflict.
"Mr. Ke Lan, please wait here for a while. If someone comes to see you later, I will definitely inform you as soon as possible... In addition, I hope you don't tell the people here about what happened just now. I'm worried that it will cause collective panic and the situation will be difficult to control." The sergeant said to Ke Lan.
"Okay, of course I know that." Ke Lan nodded.
