Alice in the Land of Steam

Chapter 252 Have you thought of your code name?
When the meteor streaked across the night sky, all the creatures on the ground looked up at its burning trajectory and expressed different amazement. At the same time, on the border between Metosh and Mindrias, a huge and majestic steel fortress stood silently like a mountain range, drawing a heavy shadow under the night sky. Its terrifying physique like a prehistoric behemoth brought a heavy sense of oppression, making people have difficulty breathing and their heartbeats stop at the first sight of it.

The black muzzle is twenty meters in diameter and one hundred and fifty meters in length, making it a spear piercing from the ground to the sky, demonstrating that human power is enough to roar the heavens and earth and shake the mountains and rivers.

Under the thick shadow of the gun barrel is the deck, where a group of people are standing, casting different glances at the distant mountains. Deep in the mountains, a towering castle can be vaguely seen, with a bloody afterglow lingering in the distorted space.

That was the lair of the god "Heavenly Feast" believed by the cult organization "Blood Red Banquet". The Inquisition dispatched the Scarlet Night Gate, tracking the coordinates all the way here from the territory of Metosh, and finally blocked the evil magician at the door of his lair, waiting for the final judgment.

"He is obviously a monster, yet he still brazenly calls himself a god. How ridiculous." The girl with a golden ponytail and silver eyes sneered, pulled up her dark red goggles, and said to the adjutant beside her: "I leave it to you, Melquiades, pronounce the sentence first. If that guy is more sensible, we can save some trouble."

"Yes, Master Fei Er."

Adjutant Melquiades was a handsome but somewhat cold young man. After he agreed, he took a silver-white magic device from other members and injected magic power to activate the magic circuit on the surface.

Soon, the cold and calm voice of the verdict echoed in the deep night, waking up countless wild animals and birds in the empty mountains and forests. Even the cultists in the castle could hear it clearly: "The criminal Heavenly Feaster and the cult organization he founded, Blood Red Feast, openly violated the Religious Decree, secretly deceived the world with ignorant and barbaric doctrines, infiltrated state organs by intimidation, threats and persuasion, sold illegal drugs prohibited by law for personal gain, incited other religions and nobles to rebel against the church and the state system, secretly planned and implemented terrorist actions that threatened the entire city, resulting in hundreds of deaths and thousands of injuries."

"This behavior has seriously violated the provisions of the Eternal Summer Palace Treaty, the Magic Management Regulations, the Truth and Civilization Initiative Convention, and other laws and regulations. Here, as the deputy judge of the Balance of Order, a subordinate judgment body of the Tribunal of the Church of the United Members of the Church, I hereby declare that the main offender, the Heavenly Feaster, and the cult organization Blood Red Banquet will be tried for crimes such as illegal preaching, endangering social order, endangering national security, terrorist attacks, and treason."

"If you give up resistance and surrender, except for the principal offender, the rest of the accomplices will be exempted from certain prison sentences; if you are stubborn and resist to the end, then -"

Fei Er smacked his lips and did not continue arguing with him, because he knew he could not win, so he turned to the other person and said, "The timing and order of firing will be decided by you, Lang Ning."

After the words were spoken, there was deathly silence.

"There is such a rule? It's really troublesome." Fei Er, who has a bad memory, waved his hand casually: "Then you can continue to read it, although I think it's a waste of time. You have been reading this set of rhetoric for so long, and few guys have really surrendered. If you ask me, killing them all is the most appropriate way. Why go to so much trouble?"

It was already said that, so Lang Ning naturally couldn't refuse, so he nodded and agreed: "I understand, Master Fei Er."

"Tsk."

He paused for a moment, and uttered cold and ruthless words: "Destroy them all, no one will survive."

She was about to give the order, but was stopped by the adjutant, who raised an objection with a serious face: "Please don't be too anxious, Lord Fei'er. According to the provisions of the Arbitration Act, the verdict must be pronounced at least three times. Only after confirming that the criminal's will to resist is strong and there is no room for maneuver can the official order to start the trial be issued."

"It should be this satisfying." Fei Er showed a satisfied expression and said, "After destroying the Heavenly Eaters and the Blood Red Banquet, your evaluation scores for this quarter should have greatly improved. If you do it a few more times, maybe you will soon become philosophers. How about it, Lang Ning, have you thought of your own philosopher code name?"

"Oh my." After a few minutes, there was still no response from the castle. The girl named Fei'er scratched her cheek and laughed jokingly: "It seems that guy is going to resist to the end. Does he really think that his lair can withstand a cannon of judgment from the Feiyemente? Then let's give it a try."

He only read it the first time.

"Me?" When she called him, Langning Ravel was stunned for a moment. His first reaction was to refuse: "I'm afraid I can't take on such an important task, Lord Fei'er."

"This is the rule, Master Fei Er."

Fei Er was too lazy to bother with so many details, and said casually: "It doesn't matter, I'll do it. It's just a matter of shouting "fire", it won't be that difficult. Besides, the coordinates of the Heavenly Eater's lair were originally provided by you. In this case, you can put an end to this guy, which can also be regarded as comfort to the victims in Linweier City, how about it?"

It had only been a few days since he was transferred to the Feiyemente. Although he was the fourth ship's officer, there were three colleagues and an adjutant ahead of him. It was obviously more appropriate to entrust such a difficult and important task as launching the Judgment Cannon to them rather than to himself.

Lang Ning shook his head: "This kind of thing is still too far away for me now."

"That won't do. If a person has no dreams, how is his life different from Melquíades?" Fei'er said carelessly, while the adjutant, whom she used as a negative example, was still standing in front of the deck, sentencing the Heavenly Eaters and the Blood-Red Banquet with an expressionless face.

Fei'er pointed at several of her other ship officers and named them one by one: "Asherila, she is only twenty points away from becoming a philosopher. She told me in person that she hopes her code name will be 'Brunhildr'. In other words, she wants to become a Valkyrie that the enemy fears." The future Valkyrie Asherila smiled at Langning with a hint of shyness on her face, which was completely opposite to the lofty goal mentioned by Fei'er.

"Duhalar, I'm 25 points short of the mark. The ideal code name is 'Alexander' or 'Caesar'. How about that? Isn't that a very ambitious goal?"

Duhalar, who was as strong as a little giant, gave Langning a thumbs up with a very proud look on his face, as if he was very pleased with Lord Fei'er's evaluation.

"And Conrad, who was 40 points short of the mark, wanted to be Napoleon, but because the code name had already been used, he had to settle for the next best thing and chose Washington."

Conrad was a man with a calm and elegant scholarly manner. He nodded in a friendly manner to his colleague who had just taken office.

"Look, everyone has their own dreams and goals. On my ship, the most powerful force comes from the deepest motivation. What is your motivation, Langning? You have done so many things in Linville City. Don't you have the motivation in your heart to support you? Tell me, I really want to know the answer."

Those blazing silver eyes seemed to be burning in the night, filled with a strong desire for knowledge and curiosity.

Ronning fell silent for a few minutes, then he whispered a name: "Holmes."

"Holmes?" Fei Er was startled for a moment, then realized, "That's the famous detective. Are you trying to correspond with your old friend Lestrade? He is indeed a very talented person, but unfortunately he rejected my invitation. Also, let me remind you that Lestrade's code name is a loophole. According to regulations, parliamentary philosophers cannot use names from literary works as code names."

Langning turned his gaze to the adjutant who was reading the charges for the third time: "But, Senor Melquiades, you also used a name from a literary work as a code name, right?"

"Him? He's different." Fei Er curled his lips and said, "He has another code name, what's it called... Aleister Crowley? Yes, that's it, this is his real philosopher code name, and Melquiades is just a temporary one. So I advise you to change it, do you have any other code names you like besides Sherlock Holmes?"

Lang Ning was not disappointed. He knew that the code name "Sherlock Holmes" was not in accordance with the rules. He said it out loud only because of some thoughts. Since Master Fei Er asked him to change it, then... after thinking for a while, he slowly uttered another name from his mouth: "Just use Prometheus."

"Prometheus? The fire thief for mankind? Not a bad code name, you have to work hard, I am looking forward to the day when you become Prometheus." Fei Er patted his shoulder to encourage him, and Lang Ning agreed calmly. At this time, a burst of hurried footsteps suddenly came from the direction of the deck bridge, and a member trotted over and handed the information in his hand to Fei Er.

"Lord Fei Er, the command center has received an emergency contact report from Level 1 operator Wade Locke. The target mentioned in the report, Rochelle, a walker from the Fertile Earth Sect, is on his way to Leisenburg. It is suspected that his goal is to join forces with the remaining forces of the Holy Spring Monastic Order of the local church and hold a ceremony to summon the gods. The 11th World Expo will be held in Nimsher, the capital of Leisenburg. If their plan succeeds, the consequences will be disastrous. Therefore, Wade Locke and the operators of other teams jointly submitted an application, hoping to get support from the Scarlet Night Gate."

Through the member's narration and the contents of the report, Fei'er quickly understood the situation. His casual and free-spirited personality was slightly restrained, and his expression became serious: "The God-inviting ceremony, the conception of gods, and the 11th World Expo... these are much more serious than the petty fights of the Heavenly Feasters. Those believers of animism are really worrying. Now, I can't even go to the witch meeting held by Sister Carabosse, alas."

She sighed, put away the report, and gave an order in a stern voice: "Notify all members to return to the control room and the command center and prepare to fire the cannon of condemnation. There is no time to waste, Melquiades, we must deal with these annoying little bats as soon as possible, and then immediately send the Scarlet Nightmoth to Leisenburg. In this way, we may be able to arrive and stop them before they succeed in summoning the gods."

“I have no objection, Master Fei Er.” Melquiades turned off the magic device used for amplification, turned around and said to his immediate superior: “The third round of judgment has been completed. The enemy has no intention of surrendering. The trial can be carried out.”

"very good."

Fei Er pulled down the dark red goggles on her forehead, her eyes sparkling with excitement: "Then what are we waiting for?"

"Let that guy see the power of the Judgment Cannon!!!"

……

ten minutes later.

The deafening roar pierced through the night, destroying the entire mountain range, razing it to the ground without leaving any grass behind.

　Give me some meow
　　
　
(End of this chapter)