Start a Core Pod

 Chapter 979 Choice

Although there is no basis, Duanmuhuai feels that the core focus of this mission is probably the Salvation Army.

 After all, you see, doesn’t Joel also want to take Ellie to find the Salvation Army? There are no such coincidences in this world.

Hmm, probably not.

 It’s better not to have one.

The main and side tasks are as follows...

The reason why Duanmuhuai made such a guess was that, in addition to the overlap of tasks, it was also because of these survivors. After that, Duanmuhuai determined that the next stop was to go to the Salvation Army, and the other survivors discussed it and decided to go to the Salvation Army. Stay and help this gathering place rebuild. After all, after Duanmuhuai's troubles, the city is considered safe for the time being. At least there is no need to worry about zombie invasion in the short term. Even if it is a blood moon, considering that all the zombies around are wiped out, this blood moon should not pose much of a threat.

Coupled with the fact that this gathering place currently needs manpower and occupies such a good place as the oil warehouse, Takashi Komuro and other students and Aiden plan to stay here - after all, they can't help much if they go to the Salvation Army, right?

Since their stay did not trigger any special plot, it means that these survivors are not the core characters. The only ones left on the train now are Joel and Ellie.

Since the destination of both parties is the same, it seems that the key to their leaving this world lies in the mission of these two people.

But why did Joel take Ellie to find the Salvation Army?

Joel didn’t know this either. He and Ellie were not related to each other. Even at first, Joel simply regarded Ellie as his task - but the two of them established some feelings along the way. But even so, when Joel asked Ellie why she wanted to find the Salvation Army, the latter still kept her mouth shut and said nothing.

This situation continued until they came to the city where the Salvation Army was located.

Compared with the previous gathering place where they only occupied a food processing factory and barely made a living, the territory of the Salvation Army is indeed large enough. They occupy almost half of the city and even built a towering city wall. You can see heavily armed soldiers everywhere. Patrolling with firearms, it seems that the Salvation Army is indeed quite developed.

“Okay, I think you all know what to do.”

Duanmuhuai glanced at Mary, Ogis, and Qiuwei, and then looked back at Joel and Ellie.

“Let’s send Ellie to the Salvation Army first—Joel, do you have any way to contact these guys?”

"certainly."

 Joel nodded.

"That's good. After the people are delivered, you can do whatever you want. We will investigate the Salvation Army. If the Salvation Army really modulates humans to create mutants as we think, then we This gathering place will be completely destroyed...do you understand now?"

 “Mr. Duanmu...”

After Duanmuhuai finished speaking, Mary quickly raised her hand.

“This gathering place looks like... there are a lot of people there. Do we really want to completely destroy this place?”

“The Inquisition does not tolerate any heresy that creates aliens.”

 Duanmu Huai shook his head.

"I could give them hundreds of reasons to justify why they did it, but it makes no sense. The right means bring the right results. Remember, a lot of people who say we have to do this are mostly depraved. Start. The short-term gains are far outweighed by the long-term threats.”

Speaking of this, Duanmu Huai couldn't help but think of those green-skinned orcs. The green-skinned orcs were originally created by the Ancient Sages as combat tools to deal with the Necrontyr and the Star Gods. In the end, the Ancient Sages just had to play with them and lost control. As a result, the green-skinned orcs have become an irrevocable scourge in the universe...

Although for now, perhaps for humans, mutants can help them fight zombies and blood moons, it is certain that in the distant future, these mutants will become the same disaster as the green-skinned orcs.

Of course, some people will say that if you can't survive now, then you can't talk about the future - but this is just sophistry. People can come up with a thousand excuses to rationalize what they do, but reality doesn't care about such small things. It is just as understandable that the Ancient Saints created green-skinned orcs to protect themselves, but this does not negate the fact that the green-skinned orcs eventually became as terrifying a threat as the Necrontyr and the Star Gods.

 In fact, there are different opinions on this within the Inquisitor.

 For example, a planet is contaminated by Chaos and is about to perish.

So at this time, the majority of the evacuees are civilians who have no skills and are basically coolies?

 Or a high-ranking nobleman with certain skills and connections?

Or to be on the safe side, just kill them all with one kill without saving anyone?

Each inquisitor has his or her own different approach. Some people think they can save as much as they can, while others choose to save nobles based on rational analysis. After all, ordinary civilians have no skills and abilities, but nobles still have some ability, don't they?

There are still people who don’t save anyone - after all, you can’t be sure how many cultists or Chaos-contaminated remnants there are on that planet, so just to be on the safe side, just kill them all with one extermination order, and then there will be no further trouble.

As for who made the right choice, it’s hard to tell. Everyone has different ideas, so everyone just wants to do it how they want to do it, and what it looks like.

  But in the eyes of many Inquisitor players, organizations like the Salvation Army must be destroyed directly.

The reason is very simple. Today you can create mutants to save mankind, but tomorrow you can believe in the Corruption for mankind? Depravity is like taking drugs. Once you start, there is no turning back. If you tell me that you will change your ways, then I will believe you.

By the way, Duanmuhuai prefers to just throw out the extermination order.

 After all...efficient.

 “Okay, let’s go.”

After Duanmuhuai determined the policy, he waved to Joel. Although the latter was a little speechless, this was indeed his mission, so he had no choice but to lead Ellie towards the door of the Salvation Army in front of him.

 “Hey, who are you? What do you do?”

By the time Duanmuhuai and his party arrived at the gate, patrolling soldiers soon blocked their way. Duanmuhuai glanced at them and found that these soldiers themselves had nothing to say. On the contrary, the mutants behind them were actually wearing equipment similar to power armor!

 Hey guys, this Salvation Army is also a COS Enclave, right?

Duanmuhuai narrowed his eyes and carefully looked at the mutant opposite him. The mutants I met at the gathering place before did not have such "heavy equipment", so they were just running around naked in their underpants. Now it seems that those mutants are probably just cannon fodder, and those here are the regular army.

Duanmu Huai doesn't know whether these mutants have IQ, but looking at these mutants wearing power armor and carrying Vulcan cannons, standing behind the soldiers and looking well-trained... it seems like that's what happened. .

Here Duanmu Huai is looking at the mutant soldiers of the Salvation Army, and over there Joel has also finished talking to the guard in charge of the door. He took something, and the other party checked it carefully, and then looked at the girl next to Joel. .

 “Is it her?”

 “That’s right.”

 “Okay, you can come in...”

The guard nodded, and then looked behind Joel—to be precise, Duanmuhuai.

“By the way, the power armor this mutant wears is very special. Is it a new model?”

　　　…………”

Duanmu Huai said that I will wait until I go in to figure out the situation here, and then I will take care of you when I come back.

Fortunately, the other party seemed to regard Duanmuhuai as the client of the Salvation Army and handed it over to Joel, the mutant soldier responsible for protecting Ellie, but did not ask about his identity. Duanmu Huai was also happy to be pure, so he pretended to be deaf and dumb. As for Mary, Ogis and Qiaowei, Joel said that they were companions he met on the road. When the other party saw that they were a few weak girls, they didn't care too much and let them in directly.

 After passing through the gate that looked like it was covered with iron sheets, the group entered the headquarters of the Salvation Army. At least from the outside, this camp was much livelier than the previous gathering place. There are pedestrians everywhere, and you can see many mutants walking around busy.

Duanmuhuai observed it and found that these mutants were basically divided into two types. One was wearing a full set of power armor and seemed to be doing guard work. The other kind is those who wear big pants, and they are basically coolies. Either he was carrying bricks or wood, helping to repair the house or something... It seemed like that.

“It seems like the people here and the mutants get along pretty well?”

Marie looked around carefully and then expressed her thoughts, while Duanmuhuai sneered.

“The Covenant and humanity were facing the Forerunners together, but in the end, they sold humanity before they changed hands.”

 Those who are not from my race will have different minds. Duanmu Huai will never compromise on this point.

The great unity of the galactic nations is a matter for politicians, and the Inquisition is responsible for those who are not our race and will have different opinions.

 To put it bluntly, the Tribunal is just a scapegoat...

Under the leadership of the guard, the group of people crossed the street and came to a gate inside the city - well, I have to say that this place is really interesting. Looking at the heavy gate in the middle of the cave in front of them, well , if it were gear-shaped, Duanmuhuai would be able to find a shelter company to invest right now.

 Unfortunately not. “Boom, boom, boom—!”

The heavy door opened, revealing a clean and tidy metal passage inside. Then everyone saw several people wearing protective suits from head to toe walking out, almost trotting all the way to Ellie.

 “Is it her?”

The leader looked up at the guard. After receiving confirmation, he stretched out his hand and grabbed Ellie.

 “I’m waiting for you, follow me!”

 “Wait, where do you want to take her?”

Of course, Joel didn't want people to take Ellie away for no reason, and hurriedly wanted to catch her back. But at this moment, the guard next to him suddenly pulled out a gun and pointed it at Joel, putting it on his chest. Pushed back. Ellie just glanced at Joel, said nothing, and followed the people in silently.

 “Damn it, let me go, wait, what are you going to do with Ellie!?”

Looking at Ellie walking into the door with those weirdly dressed people, Joel suddenly roared, and the soldier couldn't help but raise his gun and try to hit Joel. At this moment, a voice suddenly sounded.

 “Okay, leave this to me.”

Following this sound, everyone saw a brown-skinned, black-haired woman approaching. She seemed to have a high reputation here. When the soldier saw the woman, he hurriedly saluted, then turned and left.

 “Ma Lin…”

 Seeing this woman, Qiao Dun's face suddenly became serious. The reason is simple. This woman was the one who gave Ellie to him in the first place... He didn't expect to see her here again.

"To be honest, I really didn't expect that you could actually come here... It seems that maybe this is our fate, the fate of that child."

Marin pulled Joel up, lit a cigarette for him, and spoke silently.

 “Maybe I’m lucky.”

 “Then my luck is not very good.”

Ma Lin shook her head.

“In order to get back here, I sacrificed a lot of people...Forget it, but now, it’s all worth it. Thank you for sending Ellie here.”

 “What happens after this? What happens to Ellie?”

 “You don’t have to worry about her anymore, we’ll take over.”

Marin stared at Joel, and then at Mary and Ogis standing next to her - maybe she didn't feel that these girls could bring any threat.

"No, I'm worried. What are you going to do to that child? Let me see her..."

"no."

Ma Lin shook her head.

 “She is getting ready for surgery.”

"Operation?"

Hearing this, not only Joel was stunned, but Duanmuhuai, Mary and others were also a little surprised. Could it be that Ellie is sick? But along the way, I didn’t notice that she had such symptoms?

 Joel’s expression changed slightly.

“What the **** are you talking about? What kind of surgery?”

 “You know, the child is infected.”

Marlene stared at Joel.

“The doctor told me that the germs in the child’s body had mutated, so she was immune. As long as they could remove the germs in her body, they could make a vaccine... to save everyone.”

"but………"

 Hearing Marlene's words, Joel did not feel at ease, but became nervous.

"But the germ has spread to Ellie's brain..."

　　　…………”

This time, Marlene didn't speak, just stared at Joel, and nodded after a moment of silence.

"Yes."

　　　…………”

At this moment, Duanmu Huai and others who were watching all this also understood that it was obvious that Ellie was also infected with viruses that can turn people into fungi, but the virus in her body mutated, making Ellie immune to this virus. And the Salvation Army wants to use this to produce a vaccine.

The only problem is that the virus has infected Ellie's brain, which means the doctors from the Salvation Army have to take action on Ellie's brain.

 As for the result...well, you can guess it by looking at it like this.

　　　…………”

 Hearing this, Joel was silent for a moment.

 “Find someone else to do it.”

 “There is no one else but her.”

 “I don’t care about this!”

 Joel rushed forward and grabbed Ma Lin's collar.

 “Ellie, she…………”

However, before Joel could finish his words, the soldier next to him suddenly reached out his hand, grabbed Joel's head, and pushed him to the ground.

 Ma Lin just looked at him.

"Joel, this is fate. You know? I have also thought that maybe you will take her to escape, or maybe you will die on the way here. If so, then this is God's will , but you are here, and this is the result... The vaccine can save everyone, and only Ellie will be sacrificed."

 “Why…it’s her…”

 “No why, it’s just like that.”

Ma Lin lowered her head and shook her head.

"Anyway, you can stay here, and I will report to the general. Your merits are enough for you to become an official citizen of this city... As for Ellie, Joel, forget her."

 After saying this, Ma Lin turned around and left, and then, the metal door closed heavily behind her again.

Looking at the scene in front of them, everyone... was speechless.

 (End of this chapter)