Alien Relic Hunter

First, a turquoise guidance laser fell straight from the sky and locked the target's position. Then, a ball of blue plasma was ejected from the huge muzzle with a diameter of more than five meters. Under the constraints of the strong magnetic field, It turned into a high-speed flying cannonball and hit the fusion body below.

The Starfire cruiser hovered at a very low altitude, and the plasma cannon hit the target almost immediately after being discharged. The intense white light like a supernova explosion instantly filled the entire street - if it weren't for Arisawa Luo's space If the barrier isolates the space between the two people from the outside world, Ke Lan standing on the roof of the building may be vaporized by the high temperature of hundreds of thousands of degrees Celsius in an instant.

Even the Starfire's own armor could not withstand such high temperatures. After firing the plasma cannon, it immediately turned on the energy shield and quickly pulled the ship's body up.

The white light lasted for about ten seconds. After the surrounding vision returned to normal, everything completely changed.

A small half of the city block was evaporated, leaving behind a large 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 at the center of the bombardment As for the body, not even a bit of dregs remains.

The metal fuses on the edge of the pit are still emitting orange-red light. Everything on the ground made of materials that are not resistant to high temperatures has either evaporated or been burned. The concrete structure of the building burst into powder, and even the internal supporting steel bars have become The soft bend caused all the buildings in the economic development zone to collapse.

In this case, unless they were hiding in a safe house that could withstand a nuclear explosion, everyone who stayed in this economic development zone would probably have died.

Except Ke Lan and Ze Luo.

Of course, whether the two of them can still be considered "human" now... remains to be discussed.

The department store building at Ke Lan's feet has long since disappeared. It is less than a hundred meters away from the center of the bombardment. Whether it is concrete or metal, it has been sublimated the moment the plasma cannon exploded... At present, human beings can None of the physical materials used can withstand such high temperatures, not even Nino alloy.

Ze Luo took Ke Lan and floated to a ruins about 500 meters away from the edge of the pit. According to the temperature measurement device that comes with the smart glasses, it can be known that the ground temperature here is still around 700 degrees Celsius - although The alloy foundation will not melt, but the asphalt pavement laid on it will evaporate completely.

(Note: Asphalt has no fixed boiling point. According to the information I collected on the Internet, it is between 200 degrees Celsius and 500 degrees Celsius. The temperature of the nearby land is heated to more than 1,000 degrees Celsius in an instant, so it is paved on the road. The asphalt will most likely have evaporated before it can spontaneously combust.)

As for the artificial stone bricks laid on the sidewalk, they have 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 neighborhoods and began to spray fire-extinguishing foam and gel downwards from the air.

As for ground personnel, due to the temperature and toxic gases, they are not yet able to enter these blocks for rescue operations. Protective suits that can withstand high temperatures and are equipped with a complete gas circulation device are not available everywhere. The nearest fire department only has less than 30 units in stock. For the entire economic development zone, this number... The idiom "a drop in the bucket" cannot be more appropriate to describe it.

But then again, in this case, there is actually nothing to save... The people left inside must be dead. As for the property left inside, it can be destroyed in a few seconds after the cannon is fired. The interior was almost completely destroyed. As for what was not destroyed, this small fire could only be regarded as scratching the itch compared to the "high-energy moment" of just a few seconds.

"Hiss...hiss..."

It took nearly ten minutes for the magnetic field interference caused by the plasma explosion to disappear. As soon as the communication was restored, Aya's voice came from the earphones: "Is it...successful?"

"Well, that big guy was bombarded to the point where there was nothing left." Ke Lan said, "But the economic losses caused were also huge... It is estimated that a lot of companies will go bankrupt because of this. For these unlucky guys, Said, this is really an unforeseen disaster..."

Although the Ark official will compensate the companies and individuals whose assets were lost in this incident afterwards, the long and complicated investigation, statistics, and accounting work are estimated to take several months, plus it is such a special period now. , even if the compensation plan is finalized, it will probably take a long time to actually issue the compensation... For these companies that have almost lost all their fixed assets, the capital chain is broken, the production materials are lost, and they are unable to resume work and production in a short time. It was directly sentenced to death.

Especially for companies that rely on commercial loans to maintain operations, heavy debt alone is enough to crush them.

As for Ark's official compensation, being able to get it within one year is considered surprisingly efficient.

Water from afar cannot quench local thirst, especially not long after the "Alexander Disaster" occurred and the resources of the whole society were highly strained... These companies could only admit that they were unlucky.

The only thing 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 extremely desperate situations, it is easy to anger some innocent people or things.

But if we really want to investigate, the cause of this incident must be traced back to the mole of the Undead Crew Association... But regardless of whether the mole has been found out, Ark's officials will not admit this level of relationship. From the perspective of the people, the main responsibility must be borne by these remnants of the heretical sect headed by the Xinxing Chamber of Commerce... As the "direct perpetrators", they are not unjustly blamed for taking the blame... It is a pity. Almost all of these remnants of the heretical sect died in the headquarters building of the Xinxing Chamber of Commerce. The few guys who were able to escape from the men in black were also seized by the Security Bureau agents and the garrison when passing through the checkpoint, and were shot to death on the spot - even There was no chance for them to be tried or convicted.

As for the two captured instructors, they were buried in the ruins when the Xinxing Chamber of Commerce building collapsed. Whether they were eaten by the fusion body or died in the bombardment of the plasma cannon, they would not suffer any harm. Despite the pain of curse and torture, Ke Lan didn't break his promise.

"Is that matter over?" Aya deliberately lowered her voice on the other end of the communicator, "The crew will be over there..."

"For you, this matter is over." Ke Lan said to Aya, "As for the Immortal Crew Association, it is another matter, and you cannot intervene."

"I know that with our level, we can't get involved in a game of this level..." Aya lowered her voice a little lower, "But if there is a need to use us, I...I won't refuse, even if I If I cannot mobilize the power of the Security Bureau, I will also use my personal capacity..."

"Don't rush to take sides yet." Ke Lan interrupted her, "The crew knows how to handle this matter. Well... how should I put it? It's very complicated. You just need to pretend that you don't know anything."

"...Okay, okay." Aya's answer seemed a little lonely and unwilling.

"By the way, Ms. Aya Breya, there is something I want to confirm." Ke Lan suddenly changed his tone.

"What's up?"

"Are you working for the Immortal Crew Association, or are you working for the humans on this ship?"

The other end of the communicator was silent for a few seconds before Aya's firm voice came through: "For humanity."

"Okay, then I'm relieved." Ke Lan curled up the corner of his mouth and exited the communication channel.

…

…

In the central core area, there is a dedicated conference hall for the Undead Crew Association.

As the initiator of the vote, Ke Lan expressionlessly glanced 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 end of the long table, the empty main On the spot, a red light beam lit up for the last time.

Ten votes are in favor and ten votes are against. If the votes are equal, the result is invalid and the proposal is not passed.

Compared to the last time when the red light beam lit up at this location, everyone in the crew was surprised. This time everyone was much calmer, and it seemed that they had already expected this result.

"Chiron, the time of every member of the crew is very precious." Zeus, the fourth seat "King" said impatiently, "The exact same vote was just conducted not long ago, I think you It’s a waste of our time.”

"Don't you spend most of your time sleeping in the 'Coffin of Eternal Life'?" Ke Lan was completely unafraid that the other party was much older than him, and openly challenged him, "Besides, this time I The content of the vote is not exactly the same as last time.”

Yes, this time, Ke Lan really added the condition "except for the zeroth seat of 'The Fool'" to the proposal as he joked last time, but the mysterious Fool still voted against it.

This is obviously the first good opportunity to obtain other people's information for free, right? Why should he refuse?

According to Ke Lan's last metaphor, it is equivalent to publicizing the private property of everyone except the "world's richest man". The biggest beneficiary of this is not the "absolutely poor" Ke Lan, but the Fool who still retains the "most Huge private wealth".

People do not suffer from scarcity but from inequality. The existence of fools is the biggest "disparity".

Ke Lan thought for a while and listed three possibilities——

The first type is that the Fool is a member of the inner ghost. Although his secret will not be exposed, his "accomplices" are likely to be bitten by him. In order to protect his associates, he must vote against it.

This possibility is the most direct and logically explainable... But for some reason, Ke Lan always feels that this possibility is the lowest.

Just like when doing multiple-choice questions, many people subconsciously feel that the shortest and easiest option is often not the correct answer.

The second type is that the Fool is a stubborn conservative. He wants to maintain the status quo and does not want the members of the Undead Crew to break with each other. Although there are insiders, he will not take any radical measures as long as the balance of power between the two parties is maintained. measure.

Ke Lan felt that if the content and nature of the vote and the camps of both parties were exchanged, the Fool would still cast his vote for the camp with only nine votes.

Ke Lan and the others want to change, but the Fool doesn't want this situation to change.

Some people say that "remaining unchanged in response to all changes" 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 Xinxing Chamber of Commerce, but where would it be next time?

Pan is already dead, and there is no way to find out who did it... So, who will die next?

The Fool doesn't want to change the current situation, but the moles obviously don't think so. They are already taking action for their own purposes... If the current stable situation is broken by them, 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 reveal the secrets of everyone except the Fool, so that they no longer have secrets to speak of... But maybe for the Fool, the undead crew will There are no secrets for other members... He knows everything. He also knows exactly who the mole is and what the mole's purpose is.

He didn't need to vote to know these things... In order to prevent conflicts among the crew members from quickly intensifying, he voted 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" said with an angry voice beside him: "Watch the attitude of your words, Chiron! Not long ago, you were just a person who couldn't control yourself. The chess piece that determines life and death...we gave you the opportunity to become the chess player!"

"Oh, you know it was not long ago? But now I am a member of the Immortal Crew Association. According to the rules of the Crew Association, we should be completely equal, right?" Ke Lan glanced pretending to be contemptuous. "Zeus" glanced at him and said, "Also, I remember that you should have voted against the decision for me to join the Undead Crew, right? You didn't give me the opportunity. I really don't know how you could be so shy about counting yourself." To 'us'."

Ke Lan was in a bad mood now, so when Zeus jumped out, he decided to give him a hard slap on this guy who had never given him a good look since he joined the crew.

Even if Zeus decided to "impeach" himself because he was angry, the result of the vote would most likely be equal - since the Fool did not interfere in his joining the crew meeting, he would not have offended a crew member because of his language. Kick yourself out as a member.