Volume 14: Devastation Chapter 725: Vote Again
First, a turquoise guiding laser fell straight down from the sky and locked onto the target's position. Then, a ball of dark blue plasma shot out from the huge muzzle with a diameter of more than five meters. Under the constraint of a strong magnetic field, it turned into a high-speed flying cannonball and smashed straight down towards the fusion body below.
The Spark cruiser was hovering at a very low altitude, and the plasma shells hit the target almost immediately after being fired. The strong white light like a supernova explosion instantly filled the entire street - if it weren't for Ze Luo's space barrier that isolated the space where the two were from the outside world, Ke Lan, who was standing on the roof of the building, would probably be vaporized in an instant by the high temperature of hundreds of thousands of degrees Celsius.
Even the Starfire's own armor could not withstand such high temperatures. After firing the plasma shells, it immediately activated the energy shield and quickly pulled the hull up.
The white light lasted for about ten seconds, and when the surrounding vision returned to normal, everything had changed completely.
Nearly half a city block was evaporated, leaving behind a hemispherical crater with a diameter of about one kilometer. Through this crater, one could even directly see the sandwich structure and part of the skeleton of the Ark's hull... As for the fusion body that was hit in the center, not even a trace of residue was left.
The metal melt holes at the edge of the pit were still emitting an orange-red light. Everything on the ground that was not resistant to high temperatures either evaporated or was burned. The concrete structure of the building exploded and turned into powder. Even the internal supporting steel bars became soft and bent. No building in the entire economic development zone was spared and all collapsed.
In this case, unless they hid in a safe house that could withstand a nuclear explosion, all the people who remained in this economic development zone would have probably died.
Except Ke Lan and Ze Luo.
Of course, whether the two of them can still be considered "people" now... remains to be discussed.
The department store under Ke Lan's feet had long disappeared. It was less than a hundred meters away from the bombardment center. Both concrete and metal had been sublimated the moment the plasma shell exploded... None of the physical materials currently available to humans could withstand such high temperatures, not even Nino alloy.
Ze Luo brought Ke Lan to a ruin about 500 meters away from the edge of the pit. According to the temperature measuring device on the smart glasses, the ground temperature here is still around 700 degrees Celsius - although the alloy foundation will not be melted, the asphalt road surface on it has evaporated completely.
(Note: Asphalt does not have a fixed boiling point. According to the information I collected online, it is about 200 degrees Celsius to 500 degrees Celsius. The temperature of the nearby land was instantly heated to more than 1,000 degrees Celsius, so the asphalt paved on the road was likely to have evaporated before it had time to self-ignite.)
As for the artificial stone bricks used in the sidewalks, they have all been reduced to powdered raw materials...
A little further away, thick smoke rising from the fire could be seen everywhere... The garrison's aircraft had entered these blocks and began spraying fire-extinguishing foam and gel from the air.
As for the ground personnel, they are temporarily unable to enter these blocks for rescue operations due to the temperature and toxic gases. Protective clothing that is both resistant to high temperatures and equipped with a complete gas circulation device is not available everywhere. The nearest fire department has less than 30 sets in stock. For the entire economic development zone, this number is... The idiom "a drop in the bucket" couldn't be more appropriate to describe it.
But then again, in this situation, there was actually nothing to save... The people left inside were definitely dead, and as for the property left inside, those that could be destroyed were almost all destroyed within a few seconds after the firing. As for those that were not destroyed, this small fire was nothing more than a tickle compared to the "high-energy moment" of just a few seconds.
“Hiss…hiss…”
The magnetic field interference caused by the plasma explosion lasted nearly ten minutes before it disappeared. As soon as the communication was restored, Aya's voice came from the headset: "Did... did it succeed?"
"Well, that big guy was blown to pieces." Ke Lan said, "But the economic losses caused are also huge... I guess a lot of companies will go bankrupt because of this. For these unlucky guys, this is really an unexpected disaster..."
Although Ark will compensate the companies and individuals whose assets were damaged in this incident afterwards, the long and complicated investigation, statistics and accounting work will probably take several months. In addition, in this special period, even if the compensation plan is finalized, it will probably take a long time to actually pay out the compensation... For these companies whose fixed assets have been almost completely lost, the broken capital chain, the loss of means of production, and the inability to resume work and production in a short period of time are almost like being sentenced to death.
Especially for those businesses that rely on commercial loans to maintain operations, the heavy debt alone is enough to crush them.
As for the official compensation from Ark, being able to get it within a year is already unexpectedly efficient.
Far water cannot quench immediate thirst, especially when the "Alexander Disaster" happened not long ago and resources in the whole society were extremely tight...these companies can only blame themselves for their bad luck.
The only thing that the Ark officials need to pay attention to is whether someone will do something too extreme because they are desperate.
After all, when people are in extreme despair, it is easy for them to vent their anger on innocent people or things.
But if we really want to investigate, the cause of this incident can be traced back to the traitor in the Undead Crew... But no matter whether the traitor is found out or not, the official of Ark will not admit this relationship. From the perspective of the public, the main responsibility must be borne by the remnants of the heretical sect headed by the New Star Chamber of Commerce... As the "direct perpetrators", they are not wronged to bear this blame... It's a pity that almost all the remnants of the heretical sect died in the headquarters building of the New Star Chamber of Commerce. The few guys who managed to escape from the hands of the men in black were also caught by the Security Bureau agents and the garrison troops when they passed the checkpoints and were shot on the spot - they didn't even have the opportunity to be tried and convicted.
As for the two captured instructors, they were buried in the rubble when the Nova Chamber of Commerce building collapsed. Whether they were eaten by the fusion or died in the bombardment of the plasma cannon, they would not suffer the pain of being cursed, so Ke Lan did not break his promise.
"Is that matter over?" Aya lowered her voice deliberately on the other end of the communicator, "The crew will go over there..."
"For you, this matter is over." Ke Lan said to Aya, "As for the Undead Crew, that is another matter. You can't intervene."
"I know that with our level, we can't get involved in a game of this level..." Aya lowered her voice a few degrees, "But if we are needed, I... I won't refuse. Even if I can't mobilize the power of the Security Bureau, I will..."
"Don't rush to choose sides." Ke Lan interrupted her, "The crew's affairs here are, um...how should I put it, very complicated. You just need to pretend that you know nothing."
"...Okay, alright." Aya's answer seemed somewhat dejected and unwilling.
"By the way, Ms. Aya Breya, there is something I want to confirm with you." Ke Lan suddenly changed the subject.
"What's up?"
"Are you working for the Undead Crew, or for the humans on this ship?"
There was silence on the other end of the communicator for a few seconds before Aya's firm voice came through: "For humanity."
"Okay, then I feel relieved." Ke Lan curled the corners of his mouth and exited the communication channel.
…
…
In the central core area, there is a dedicated meeting hall for the undead crew.
As the initiator of the vote, Ke Lan glanced expressionlessly at the virtual projections sitting on both sides of the long table. One after another, red or green light beams lit up... Finally, at the empty main seat at the end of the long table, a red light beam lit up last.
If the votes are equal, with ten in favor and ten against, the result is invalid and the proposal is not passed.
Compared to the crew's surprise when the red light beam lit up at this location last time, everyone's emotions were much calmer this time, as if they had already anticipated this result.
"Chiron, the time of every member of the crew is very valuable." The fourth seat "King" Zeus said impatiently, "Didn't we just ? I think you are wasting our time."
"Don't you spend most of your time sleeping in the 'Coffin of Eternal Life'?" Ke Lan challenged the man openly, not fearing that he was much more experienced than her. "Besides, the content of my vote this time is not exactly the same as last time."
That's right, this time, Ke Lan really added the condition "except for the zeroth seat 'The Fool'" to the proposal as he joked last time, but the mysterious Fool still voted against it.
This was clearly a good opportunity to get other people's information for free. Why would he refuse?
According to Ke Lan's last analogy, it is equivalent to nationalizing the private property of everyone except the "world's richest man". The biggest beneficiary of this is not the "impoverished" Ke Lan, but the Fool, who still retains the "largest private wealth".
People are not worried about scarcity but inequality. The existence of fools is the greatest "inequality".
Ke Lan thought about it and listed three possibilities:
The first one is that the Fool is one of the traitors. Although his secret will not be revealed, his "accomplices" are likely to be exposed by him. In order to protect his accomplices, he must vote against it.
This possibility is the most direct and logically plausible...but for some reason, Ke Lan always feels that this possibility is the lowest.
Just like when answering multiple-choice questions, many people subconsciously feel that the shortest and simplest option is often not the correct answer.
The second type is that the Fool is a stubborn conservative who wants to maintain the status quo and does not want the members of the Undead Crew to split among themselves. Even though there are traitors among them, he will not take any radical measures as long as the balance of power between the two sides is maintained.
Ke Lan felt that if the content, nature and camps of the two parties were swapped, the Fool would still cast his vote for the camp with only nine votes.
Ke Lan and the others wanted to change, but the Fool didn't want the situation to change at all.
Some people say that "responding to ever-changing situations with constancy" is a manifestation of great foolishness and wisdom, but in Ke Lan's view, maintaining stability is equivalent to chronic suicide.
This time it was the basement of the Nova Chamber of Commerce, so where would it be next time?
Pan is already dead, and there is no way to tell who did it... So, who will be the next to die?
The Fool does not want to change the current situation, but the Traitors obviously do not think so. They are already taking action for their own purposes... If they take the initiative to break this stable situation, it will be too late.
It is impossible for a fool not to understand this truth.
Then there is only the third possibility - Ke Lan's purpose in initiating this proposal is to expose the underwear of everyone except the Fool, so that they no longer have any secrets... But perhaps for the Fool, the other members of the Undead Crew don't have any secrets at all... He knows everything, he also knows clearly who the traitor is and what the traitor's purpose is.
He didn't need to vote to know these things... In order to prevent the conflicts among the crew members from escalating quickly, he cast a vote against it?
Then... does he have his own plan?
Ke Lan was still staring at the empty seat at the end of the long table when Zeus' slightly angry voice rang out beside him: "Watch your attitude, Chiron! Not long ago, you were just a chess piece who couldn't decide your own life or death... We gave you the opportunity to become a chess player!"
"Oh, you also know that it was not long ago? But now I am a member of the Undead Crew. According to the rules of the crew, we should be completely equal, right?" Ke Lan glanced at "Zeus" with pretended contempt, "Also, I remember that you voted against my joining the Undead Crew, right? My opportunity was not given by you. I really don't know how you shamelessly count yourself as one of 'us'."
Ke Lan was in a bad mood, so when Zeus jumped out, he decided to give this guy a hard slap who had never given him a good face since he joined the crew.
Even if Zeus decided to "impeach" him because he was angry, the result of the vote would most likely be a tie - since the Fool had not interfered in his joining the Crew Guild, he would not be kicked out just because he verbally offended a member of the Crew Guild.
