Volume 14: Devastation Chapter 645: Devastation
"I always feel that this way of dying is too easy for you." Ke Lan sighed and sheathed his sword.
Of course, Ke Lan also wanted the prophet to suffer before his death, but considering the special nature of this guy, keeping him would only lead to more troubles... Who knows what cards he can come up with after he recovers from the near-death state. What's more, even if he is subjected to the most painful punishment in the world, it cannot offset the evil deeds he has committed.
Tens of millions of people died because of it, and this is a blood debt that can never be repaid.
"Please send a plane over with enough active cells of flesh-eating worms and napalm." Ke Lan said to the members of the Undead Crew, "Clean up this battlefield thoroughly and burn all the remaining biological tissues. Don't leave even a single cell behind."
Remembering to finish off the enemy is a good habit, and it is a valuable experience that Ke Lan has learned from countless film and television dramas and novels.
"The cleanup team will arrive in three minutes," Demeter replied, "and now we need you to return to the Ark immediately—"
"Control me?" Ke Lan asked casually.
"You may understand that, but our original intention was to protect you." Demeter said, "The man who killed Pan, his next target is likely to be you."
"No, I don't think so. I think you are more dangerous than me." Ke Lan sneered and continued, "If he wanted to kill me, he would have had countless opportunities in this operation... On the other hand, you didn't even realize that Pan was poisoned to death, so how can you talk about 'protection'? If that person wants to continue killing people, the target is more likely to be one of you here, not me, a dispensable... 'chess piece'."
"In fact, the main reason we asked you to come back is to have you officially join the Undead Crew and become the new fifth member, the 'Pope'." The old voice said, "Because of Pan's death, the number of members in the Crew has now become an even number... According to the rules set when the Crew was first established, when a resolution has a tie in votes, all votes on that resolution will be invalid."
"An even number of members? A tied vote will not take effect? But you originally had twenty-two seats, so how did you vote in the beginning? Now Chiron is dead, Pan is dead too, and there are twenty seats left. Just vote the same way you voted originally?" Ke Lan said.
Although he was eager to join the crew... after all, after joining, all the secrets that he "had no right to know" would be opened to him, but now the other party was urging him so urgently, it was obvious that there were some unknown motives.
"Because in all our previous votes, there has never been a situation where the votes for both parties were tied." The other party answered very straightforwardly.
“So it appears now?”
"That's right."
“What is the resolution that needs to be voted on ?”
"'Disclose the true information of all members within the crew meeting', one vote abstained, and one vote was invalid because it was the proposer of the resolution. There are eighteen seats left, nine votes in favor and nine votes against." said the old male voice.
"Abstain? Can you abstain from voting?"
"The one who gave up was Dionysus the Fool... This was his privilege as the Zeroth Seat, and the only privilege among all the members of the Undead Crew."
"Although the seat numbers in the Undead Crew have no practical meaning, the zeroth seat is an exception," Demeter added.
"Privilege? Exception?" Ke Lan was stunned for a moment. For some reason, he suddenly recalled what the "fake information dealer" had said to him -
“I prefer to be an observer rather than a participant in events.”
Could it be that the Zeroth Seat "The Fool" was the person who pretended to be the intelligence dealer? But why did he kill Pan? Judging from this privilege, the Zeroth Seat is obviously different from the other members, and it is even very likely that he is the founder of the Undead Crew... With such a transcendent identity, why would he use Pan's name to mobilize the army?
He could even exclude Pan from the matter and have the conversation with himself in person. I believe the other members of the crew would not have any objection.
As for the motive of "The Fool" Dionysus to kill Pan, that was not something Ke Lan could figure out... After all, as for the people in the Undead Crew, he knew almost nothing about them except a seat number and a code name borrowed from the name of a god in ancient Greek mythology.
"It seems that the people who want me to join the crew club should be the ones who voted in favor, right?" Ke Lan asked.
After all, the people in the crew club know his information better than Ke Lan himself. Ke Lan himself does not feel any pressure to make the information public... and his purpose of joining the crew club is to learn more secrets related to it. If he is allowed to participate in the vote, there is no doubt that he will stand in the camp of voting in favor.
"Then I have a question... You are all smart people, and you all know what choice I will make after joining the crew union. Why was this resolution passed? Shouldn't it be a tie of nine votes to nine?" Ke Lan continued to ask.
"Because... 'After this operation is over, you will be allowed to become a full member'. This resolution was proposed before Pan's death." Demeter said, "In that vote, Pan voted in favor."
"So that's how it is... So Pan's position is that everyone should be open and honest with each other? Could this be one of the reasons why he was killed?" Ke Lan speculated.
"We can't be sure of that," Demeter said, "because he was still alive at the time. From a causal perspective, if it weren't for his death, perhaps we wouldn't have initiated this resolution."
"It seems to be true..." Ke Lan scratched his head awkwardly. At this moment, a high-speed transport plane hovered above his head. A large number of soldiers wearing the highest-standard protective clothing descended by ropes and began to deal with the messy scene.
"By the way," Ke Lan said, "can you tell me who voted in favor and who voted against?"
In any case, at least he had to figure out the factional issues within the Undead Crew first, and know who were his "allies" and who might become his "enemies" - even if it was just a superficial relationship... If he couldn't even see the faces painted on other people's masks clearly, how could he confirm whether the person under the mask was a friend or an enemy?
"I can only tell you this after you officially join the Undead Crew," Demeter replied.
…
…
Two hours later.
Ke Lan did not return to the Ark directly, but took a transport plane to the temporary front-line command post at the foot of the White Ridge Mountains.
The remaining warships of the three fleets sent all the surviving officers and soldiers here, but even so, the troops gathered in the camp did not even reach 10,000 people.
There were 160,000 people when the war started, but only a few thousand now... Ke Lan felt that using the word "tragic" to describe this war was too light.
Hundreds of medical cabins were put together to build a temporary battlefield emergency center. Soldiers with lighter injuries were transferred here, while those with more serious injuries were left on the battleships - without the support of medical cabins, many people would not be able to survive until being sent back to the Ark.
However, the three fleets also suffered heavy losses, and they also had a large number of wounded soldiers. In fact, only about one-fifth of the seriously injured soldiers could be allocated places in medical cabins, and the rest could only receive rescue in ground emergency centers.
When Ke Lan entered the camp, he saw a trailer full of body bags coming from the opposite side of the road. The soldiers in these hundreds of body bags were still alive when they were sent here, but now, they have turned into cold corpses.
A lieutenant colonel in a white coat and disheveled hair was making a phone call in front of the tent. He was very emotional, and nearly half of the ten words in his sentence were curse words: "What do you mean by rescuing everyone? Do you know how many seriously injured people there are? How many doctors can perform surgery under our command? Many people waited for surgery but died on the operating table due to lack of medicine and heavy bleeding... Damn it (beep——), I'm telling you one last time, either you hurry up and send me the medicine, equipment and plasma, or I can only choose to give up those dying wounded and save those who have a greater chance of survival!"
His eyes were bloodshot, with heavy dark circles around his eye sockets, and his white coat was covered with hardened bloodstains.
"That's Director Lister of the temporary emergency center. He has been operating on the wounded since the attack began..." A soldier at the side whispered to Ke Lan, "Every medical staff in the emergency center is working around the clock... but there are still not enough people. Many wounded are waiting in line for surgery. Every minute, a brother who can't hold on for treatment dies..."
"What about the medics in the army?" Ke Lan asked, "Generally speaking, soldiers should have taken battlefield first aid courses, right? With the cooperation of the medics in each team, they should be able to save a large number of people, right?"
"The wounded sent back this time... most of them are seriously injured, and the medical soldiers can only take care of those with less serious injuries." The soldier sighed, "In the past two hours, almost 30,000 people were sent back... but at least 20,000 people were sent out."
The "sent out of the camp" he referred to were naturally the dead.
Although the situation here has become so bad, no one in the camp blames Ark for why the support has not arrived yet. Even the director of the emergency center who speaks sweetly only asked the logistics department to send more medicines, but did not mention anything about sending more manpower.
Everyone knows that the situation in the Ark will only be worse than here.
Even if these wounded can be transported back to the Ark in time, they probably won't be able to get better treatment conditions.
"I'll try my best... to have the people above send more supplies over here." Ke Lan sighed, "But don't hold your hopes too high, because right now the Ark is also..."
"We all know." The soldier nodded and looked silently in the direction of the Ark.
From this position, the view can just pass through the "gap" in the White Ridge Mountains, and vaguely see the Ark standing on the distant plains... and the shocking huge wound on one side of the Ark.
Ke Lan did not stay near the emergency center for long, but walked quickly towards the temporary command center, where other members of the God Hunting Group were waiting for him.
…
"The old dog who stayed behind in Yaguna Kotor returned to the Ark first. His mood is very unstable. I asked Qin Zhao to follow him and help keep an eye on him. In addition, Leighton will also go back. With him around, the old dog should be fine." Ivan said to Ke Lan, "In addition, Sanshisan also went back first... He has several comrades-in-arms and usually lives in the East District... "
"Why didn't you go back? Na... Natasha..." Ke Lan hesitated to speak.
"Natasha is fine." Ivan forced a smile and patted Ke Lan's shoulder in relief. "When the disaster happened, she happened to be going to West Fourth District to purchase supplies and escaped."
"That's good." Ke Lan responded, "By the way, how is Ye Yan doing in Yaguna Kotor?"
Ivan had a gloomy face, pursed his lips and shook his head. He was silent for two or three seconds before he said, "Not so good... Ye's foundation is almost all in the East District. This time... except for a small number of Ye family members who hold positions outside, almost all... In addition, all of Ye's subsidiaries and industrial lines were destroyed, and the asset losses are countless."
The image of the little fat man with a deathly pale face suddenly appeared in Ke Lan's mind, and he couldn't help but sigh: "Wait for me to go back and persuade him... At least he is fine, and the Ye family will have a chance to rise sooner or later. As for the victims of this incident, their enemies have turned to ashes, and those of us who are still alive can only choose to accept the facts."
"Yes, the dead rest in peace, the living strive for success... I have heard this sentence many times, but this is the first time I feel that the comfort of words is so pale and powerless."
"By the way, what are your plans next ?" Ke Lan asked.
"The emergency center here is very short of staff, I will stay here to help. Also, it is said that the Mitsui Group will send aid here... Well, I think it should be Miss Sakurai who is coming, so Asano Akira had better stay here, so that the girl won't come here empty-handed." Ivan said, "Zelo and Valentina plan to go to Yaguna Kotor, organize their equipment, and then return to the Ark to participate in the disaster relief work... What about you?"
"As for me... there are still a lot of troubles waiting for me to deal with. First of all, I have to go back and report on my position..."
"Reporting to the Undead Crew, right?"
"Well, they said they were going to make me a regular employee, but I don't think it's that simple."
"Be careful."
"I know." Ke Lan nodded.
