Volume 6: Mecha Contest Chapter 306: Cocktail Party Tragedy
Everyone in the banquet hall once again focused their attention on Ke Lan. To these young masters and young ladies, the scene just now was like a top action movie... Only this time, they were not the audience sitting on the comfortable sofas, but a group of cannon fodder in the movie who could die at any time...
"Why are you all looking at me? Why don't you save people quickly?" Ke Lan's words made the people who were stunned standing there react - those who were killed by the heavy-armored rhinoceros shovel actually only accounted for a small part of the casualties, and the vast majority of the injured and dead were caused by the pushing and trampling of the crowd.
Many people still had an expression as if they had just woken up from a dream on their faces. It was not until the hotel security and medical staff rushed into the banquet hall that rescue work could be carried out.
The brief silence before disappeared, and was replaced by various voices of cursing and questioning - of course, this time, their target was not Ke Lan.
There were also people kneeling on the ground sobbing in front of the bloody corpse... But Ke Lan noticed that the heels of the crying girl's high heels were covered with blood and flesh, and the corpse in front of her had several bloody holes on its body caused by the heels...
Ke Lan was a little confused for a moment: Was this woman heartbroken because of the death of her lover, or was she afraid of some "responsibilities" she was about to bear?
After all, judging from the wound, that unlucky guy must have been stepped on to death by her...
Ke Lan lowered his head and checked his condition: he was not seriously injured, but the suit that Sofia had made for her was in a terrible state. There were cuts and tears all over his clothes and pants, and they were stained with blood and wine. It was obviously unwearable.
He shook his head with some distress, and said to himself: "What a pity, such expensive clothes were worn out after less than an hour..."
"If you like, I can have someone make a few more sets for you so you can wear them in rotation. It's okay to wear a different set every month." Zofia said. She had walked behind Ke Lan, while Lu Che was standing not far away, holding a cell phone and talking to the person on the other end of the line at a very fast speed.
"Forget it. This formal suit may look good, but to be honest, it's not as comfortable as my own clothes... Besides, wearing such expensive clothes always makes me nervous, afraid that they will get scratched or rubbed and feel uncomfortable." Ke Lan refused.
"Whatever you want...Also, I have to remind you that you have been targeted by the Morgan family."
"I knew it..." Ke Lan said helplessly. Although the one who brought the Heavy Armored Rhinoceros Spade into the cocktail party was the young master who was already dead, if he hadn't taken action to save the gladiator who owed him a debt, the Heavy Armored Rhinoceros Spade would naturally not have triggered the "stress mutation"... and this tragedy would certainly not have happened.
What's more, such wealthy families have always protected their own people. It is impossible for the Morgan family to blame their own people... What's more, the person is already dead, so they can't blame him even if they want to... They will only transfer all the hatred to themselves.
"The Morgan Consortium won't ask me to pay compensation, right?" Ke Lan looked around the messy Empire Banquet Hall. Not to mention the entire hotel, the cost of this banquet hall alone would probably be an astronomical figure.
"They won't ask you to pay, and they will thank you for what you did... After all, no one can predict the monster's mutation. From a factual point of view, it was you who saved the children of the noble families in the banquet hall." Zofia said softly, "But from today on, the entire Morgan family will regard you as an enemy who must be eradicated. Those secret methods are what you need to be wary of."
"Like... sending assassins to kill me?"
"Including, but not limited to." Zofia said in a voice that only Ke Lan could hear, while holding one of Ke Lan's arms and using her other hand to wipe the blood off Ke Lan's face with a napkin, "You'd better strengthen your personal security on weekdays... Or, I suggest you live directly in my house, which is the safest way."
"It's not good to live together before you're officially married, right?"
"There are many empty rooms in the villa, you can choose any one. As for the public opinion outside... I don't care much, do you care?"
"Well, I think I'd better forget it. At worst, I can move to the safe house provided by the military. No matter how powerful the Morgan Consortium is, they wouldn't dare to send killers to the military's safe house, right?" Ke Lan said. It wasn't that he minded those rumors, but if he lived under the same roof with Zofia, he would always have a feeling of being "monitored" all the time. If those secrets were accidentally leaked out, it would be much more troublesome than offending the Morgan family.
"But you don't have to worry too much. Although you have a feud with the Morgan family, among the people you saved, there will always be a few families that will extend an olive branch of friendship to you... These big families check and balance each other, and the Morgan family may not dare to touch you."
As if to verify what Sofia said, out of the corner of Ke Lan's eye, she saw a white, chubby "spherical object" walking towards her.
This guy was originally a fat man, and he was wearing a white suit, even his leather shoes were white, which made him look even more "inflated" visually... However, there were no wrinkles on his suit, and his hair was not messy at all. He must have found a place to hide and saw the whole process of Ke Lan luring and killing the heavy-armored rhinoceros.
"Hello, Miss Zofia. I haven't seen you for a few months. You are still as bright and charming as ever." The fat man first smiled at Zofia and then turned his gaze to Ke Lan. "I guess you are Miss Zofia's fiancé, Mr. Ke Lan?"
As he spoke, the fat man bowed to Ke Lan with some difficulty: "Only in my own name, I would like to express my highest respect for your heroic behavior just now. Including me, many people in this banquet hall have been saved by you."
Although the fat man said a lot of clichés, at least it is not advisable to hit someone who smiles at you. Ke Lan could only give him an awkward but polite smile in return.
"Oh, sorry, I forgot to introduce myself." The fat man extended his hand to Ke Lan, "Ye Group, Ye Yan."
"God Hunter Group, Ke Lan."
Unlike second-rate consortiums like the Anderson Consortium, the Ye Consortium can definitely be regarded as one of the largest consortiums on the Ark. Even the influence of the Morgan Consortium, the organizer of this cocktail party, is slightly overshadowed by the Ye Consortium. The Ye Consortium only runs one business - arms.
Especially in the field of military mecha, the Ye Group almost dominates the market... Currently, more than 60% of the companies producing mecha or mecha accessories on the market are assets of the Ye Group, and the remaining mecha brands will most likely adopt the technology provided by the Ye Group - the "New Era Military Mecha Unified Regulatory Standards" were jointly formulated by the Ye Group and the Institute's Weapons and Equipment Development Division.
The famous Ark Mecha Competition, known as the "New Era World Cup", is hosted by the Ye Group.
As soon as the two men loosened their grip, Ye Yan took out a hard card with no patterns or words on it from the inside pocket of his suit and handed it to Ke Lan with both hands.
"What is this?" Ke Lan asked puzzledly. This thing looked neither like a business card nor an anonymous credit point storage card. If you had to say what it looked like, it looked a bit like a key card for a luxury car or a luxury house... But considering Ye Yan's background, could this card be a startup card for a new mecha?
"A VIP card. Of course, you can also regard it as an invitation." Ye Yan said, "In one month, the 21st Ark Mecha Competition will begin. With this card, you can freely enter and exit the VIP viewing area. By then, I will have a special thank-you gift for you."
"VIP viewing area?" Although Ke Lan had never purchased a ticket to watch the mecha competition, he would watch the live broadcast of each competition on the Internet. He also knew how rare it was to get a ticket to the VIP viewing area - money alone could not buy it. The tickets to the VIP viewing area were not sold to the public at all. Only those with special identities could obtain this qualification through special channels.
If Layton knew about this, he would probably be so excited that he would break the wrench...
"By the way, can I bring my friends with me?" Ke Lan realized something was wrong just after she said that, and quickly changed her words: "It's no fun for me to go alone. I plan to go with Zofia and some friends in the hunting group. How many people can I bring with this VIP card?"
Despite this, Ke Lan still felt Zofia pinching her arm gently.
"There is no limit." Ye Yan shrugged somewhat exaggeratedly. "Generally speaking, a VIP invitation can only bring in five people at most, but this card is different--"
He pointed at the card in Ke Lan's hand and continued, "Actually, this card was originally prepared for me, but even if I didn't have this card, they wouldn't dare to stop me outside - as long as you hold this card, Mr. Ke Lan, you can bring as many people as you want. Even if you want to play a few games yourself, that's fine. This card also includes a spot for a participating team."
"A place for a participating team? If you give me this card, your team will be..."
"I didn't organize a team this year. All the good mecha operators were recruited by my eldest brother. I only have the few remaining losers. In a training match, I was defeated four in a row by the pilots under my eldest brother. Why should I go to the main competition and make myself unhappy? So I simply disbanded the team." Ye Yan said very happily.
"Then I would like to thank Mr. Ye for his kindness." Ke Lan put away the card - the fat man gave Ke Lan a good first impression, plus with the background of the Ye Group, if it was just to make friends, Ke Lan would be happy to do so... Moreover, unlike those large groups that wanted to invest in or acquire the hunting group, the Ye Group, in addition to focusing on the research of mechas, did not involve too much in other industries, so Ke Lan did not think that Ye Yan was trying to win him over in order to take over the Hunting God Hunting Group.
Another point is that if Ke Lan refused the invitation and Leighton found out, this guy would probably come after him in a minute.
"It's getting late. I have other plans, so I have to go first. Mr. Ke Lan, please come to the competition in a month."
"Okay, I'll definitely go."
Not long after Ye Yan left the banquet hall, the hotel's statistics came out: including the young master of the Morgan family, a total of 26 people died in the accident, 67 people were injured, including 8 seriously injured and 59 slightly injured.
However, there were only 9 people who died directly at the hands of Heavy Armor Rhino Shovel, and the remaining 17 people died due to being trampled. As for the 67 injured, except for one seriously injured person who was hit by the table overturned by Heavy Armor Rhino Shovel, the other 66 people were also injured by pushing and trampling.
To Ke Lan's surprise, the slave gladiator trapped in the cage, the one who was closest to the Heavy Armored Rhinoceros Shovel, was not dead - this was probably related to the Heavy Armored Rhinoceros Shovel's sensory organs: the vision of this insect is far less sensitive than its hearing and leg and vibration sense organs. At that time, the gladiator had fallen to the ground and was motionless, and the young master of the Morgan family happened to be close to the cage and talking loudly, so the Heavy Armored Rhinoceros Shovel, which had just recovered from a near-death state, chose him as the primary target.
In this way, the young master's death was not unjust.
After all, if you don't seek death, you won't die... What's more, he was the one who brought this heavy-armored rhinoceros shovel to the party.
It’s a pity that the Morgan family doesn’t think so.
During this period of time, many people came to express their gratitude to Ke Lan. In addition, there were even some young ladies and ladies who asked Ke Lan for his contact information in front of Zofia, either implicitly or explicitly - but before Ke Lan could open his mouth, Zofia refused on his behalf.
"Originally, the young master of the Morgan family wanted to be in the spotlight, but now all the limelight has been taken by you." Zofia said angrily, "How about it? Does it feel good to be the focus of everyone?"
"Not at all." Ke Lan said a little depressed, "I attended this cocktail party just to get in touch with the Anderson family, but now I didn't get anything done and got into trouble. It's really unfair."
"You asked for it... Although I don't like this kind of thing, you were still a little too impulsive..." Zofia said, and her eyes suddenly shifted away, "But I have to admit that you were really charming just now. No wonder those women were attracted to you."
"I wasn't thinking about showing off. All I could think about at that time was how to save my life."
"There's a little girl in the corner who has been staring at you for a while, but she seems to be a little shy and doesn't dare to come up and talk to you," Zofia said again.
"Oh...then I'll pretend I didn't see it to avoid embarrassment." Ke Lan scratched his head.
"It's just... this little girl is exactly who you are looking for."
"ha?"
"Heather Anderson, the youngest daughter of Orano Anderson, the current head of the Anderson family."
"Isn't she still in school? Why is she attending this cocktail party?"
"But she is already an adult... In addition, although she does not hold a position in the family, she has a good relationship with her second sister. Getting in touch with her is equivalent to getting in touch with her second sister... and her second sister's ability is probably the strongest among the seven heirs of Orano." Zofia said in Ke Lan's ear, and the air from her mouth gently scratched Ke Lan's earlobe. An abnormal feeling of numbness and itchiness immediately made the hair on the back of Ke Lan's neck stand up.
"By the way...if I go find her, you won't be jealous, right?" Ke Lan asked cautiously.
"you guess."
