The conference room was dead silent.
But the question Wu Fanghou asked stuck in everyone’s mind.
The photos of the girl were scattered on the table. All of them captured the moment of the girl smiling innocently to the camera. But one of the photos was wet by Wu Fanghou’s tears.
“Sighed… It is also not easy for Miss Ke…” Liang Xingdong sighed.
Huo Jiashan didn’t say anything immediately. People at his age and with his life experiences would not overthrow their own ideas easily just because of the one-sided words of others. In fact, he, Wu Fanghou and Liang Xingdong were the same kinds of people and they were very persistent in their own judgment.
The only difference between them was that Liang Xingdong would always try not to offend anyone and hide his real opinions. Wu Fanghou on the other hand, rarely discussed his judgment with others, and he often made decisions arbitrarily.
Huo Jiashan waited until Wu Fanghou calmed down then said, “General Wu, the things that happened in Wu Yang city, I have actually personally read the report in detail. We were not ignorant like you said. I admire you from the bottom of my heart and I respect the soldiers who died in battle and the countrymen who sacrificed themselves to save the future of humanity. They are also our heroes!
In terms of the help you mentioned, I think your defense strategy was deeply flawed at that time. We didn’t want to send out our men to die for nothing!
You hate us, and it made you forget that our energy practitioners have risked their lives several times to go to Wu Yang city to ask you to retreat. We have told you clearly that you wouldn’t be able to withstand the push, don’t do those meaningless fights and don’t make unnecessary sacrifices!
They don’t like water, and Hong Kong is surrounded by water on three sides. The insects would not be able to surround us. We could also narrow down the front line to defend just one side. Their advantage, which is their numbers, would become useless. In fact, this advice has been proven working several times after you retreated into Hong Kong.
Besides, even if we can’t withstand the push, there are many islands around Hong Kong we can retreat to.
However, you rejected those reasonable proposals and tried to fight to the end. In the end, all we could do was to help those refugees who fled from the north. We had already suffered from food shortage problems at that time. Despite that, we still helped as many people as we could. We even doubled men several times to risk their lives to search for new food supplies in some dangerous places.
I believe that we will be able to defeat those creatures one day. But not now. What we need to do is to reserve our limited resources, to study them as much as we can. We need to create chances for our children!
I don’t know what you were thinking at that time. Maybe it was the problem between Hong Kong and mainland China during the age of light that made you hesitate, or maybe it was something else. But this is no longer the problem between China and Hong Kong, nor is it the problem of stupid pride. It is also not the time to show your stupid patriotism. It is the problem of the entire human race.”
Wu Fanghou shook his head and disagreed, “Your proposal was based on the emergence of a large number of the insects. At that time, no one would expect that the insect would have us surrounded in just one night. As you said, this war is all about information. But we didn’t know anything about them. We all made decisions without having sufficient information. If we don’t know what would happen when we retreat, why do we need to sacrifice countless lives to retreat…”
Huo Jiashan sighed. They argued more than once on this issue, but never once were they able to come to an agreement. No one was able to persuade each other, so he decided to stop wasting time on this subject and get straight to the point.
“I don’t want to argue with you anymore. I understand that Miss Ke saved a lot of people, and contributed a lot to Hong Kong as well. But you need to understand one thing, saving a person’s life, doesn’t grant you the right to kill that person. I am grateful for what she has contributed to Hong Kong, everyone in Hong Kong also felt the same way. But if you think that she could destroy Hong Kong just because she made some contributions, then you are wrong!
Now the second thing I want to talk about is, I don’t think Miss Ke is completely controlled by the bow. She still has some self-awareness. The reason why I am saying this is that she was still able to find a way to force me to order my men to kill that group of insects.
In fact, the whole thing is a paradox. If Miss Ke found out that a certain insect had threatened her control of the bow and she was able to soberly decide to eliminate it, then, how does the bow control her?
Is it really the bow that keeps telling her to kill those people? or Is it just what she thinks?”
Wu Fanghou immediately interrupted him and said, “I don’t want to talk about the nature of Qianer. I have watched her grow up when she was just a baby, she is just like my own granddaughter. I believe her no matter what.”
Surprisingly, Huo Jiashan nodded his head, “General Wu, I understand your feelings, you and Mr. Ke are the best friends. Your friendship can even compete with Damon and Pythias. All I am asking for is to restrain her. Not just to allow her to do whatever she likes.
You also admitted that she has changed, and you also think that she has done it inappropriately at that time. Then, why didn’t you stop her? If she carries on like this, she will become a killer rather than a hero. Do you not know that this kind of thing happened way too often in history?”
Wu Fanghou’s face was extremely cold. He didn’t say anything and the conference room fell silent again.
“Officers, Can you allow me to express my opinion?” a weak but unusually calm voice broke the silence of the conference room.
Huo Jiashan nodded and signaled him to carry on. The voice belonged to the mysterious “military advisor” of the General Administration Department. Though the person was very young, he had repeatedly made several critical advice, including the defense system of Hong Kong and the final retreat plan. He had been very quiet from the beginning. No one knew why he suddenly wanted to talk.
The pale young man suddenly coughed heavily. There was a trace of blood vessels in his eyes, it seemed like he was struggling to talk, “According to the information provided by each officer, and the conversation you just had, I have some personal opinions on this matter. It is just my personal opinion and please don’t interrupt me before I finish.
Judging from the available data, the starting point of the entire incident was in the northeastern region of Hong Kong, where the seven insects first appeared, and it was caused by the temporary shutdown of the old energy-shield field.
Plus the strange combination of the seven insects, it can basically be inferred that they did not enter Hong Kong with a premeditated plan. Entering the city by accident is already the consensus of every officer, so there is no need to argue that.
Now the first question we should be asking is where did those insects come from. If their original plan was not to come to the city, where did they want to go?
There is not enough information for us to answer those questions.
But I think there are some details in the entire incident worth discussing.
After they dug into the city, they did not send the green-shelled insect to call for help immediately nor did they attack any human beings. Instead, they immediately demanded a negotiation.
So it is possible to speculate that they are not from the creep in the north of Hong Kong but from other places.
Based on this, I disagree with the view of those scientists in the Academy of Sciences. I think that the red-shelled insect that can write Chinese characters is not a clone of the Wisdom Unit of the creep in the north, but it is a special wisdom unit that we have never seen before.
This insect has two characteristics that we have never seen before. First, it can write Chinese characters and understand human language. Second, the ability it used before it escaped, we have also never seen before.
Moreover, the seven insects were basically moving under its command. It means that its position in the group is not commensurate with its red-shelled insect’s body. There is another detail. When the seven insects were in danger, they repeatedly threw the red-shelled insect back so it could escape safely. With this point, it is enough to explain its position in the group.
If we use divergent thinking and our imagination on this matter. It is not hard to guess that maybe it was because the red-shelled insect had swallowed too many human brains and it had evolved human thinking.
In this way, we will be able to explain why Miss Ke needed to kill it.
If I am not wrong, the original owner of the bow was swallowed by that insect. There may be some kind of unknown fusion between them. Put it in a simpler way. It caused an insect to have a human mind.
But in terms of whether it is an insect or a human being, because there is not enough information, so I cannot make further inferences. However, I can confirm that it is at least an insect with humanity in it. This was probably one of the reasons why it did not harm anyone at the beginning…”
The young man took a weak breath, leaned on the chair and insisted on continuing,
“Since we have solved the question about where they came from, now, move to the next question, where they were going.
According to the report gathered by the Academy of Sciences, after the emergence of the seven insects, in addition to the strong fluctuations of fire elemental energy around them, they also clearly discovered a leakage of wood elemental energy. The energy index of this wood elemental energy even exceeded the sum of the fire energy that all those seven insects had!
However, at the scene, we did not find any objects related to wood elemental energy, so I speculate that they were most likely carrying some kind of material that contained wood elemental energy with them.
Didn’t that smart red insect say that they were on a mission?
I don’t think it was lying. A green insect could fly, a golden insect could dig, a worm could supply them with energy, a wisdom unit, and a small combat unit. They are in fact a small team with a clear division of labor.
With a team like this, they might be on a long-distance mission.
In terms of what the mission was about, we don’t know about that yet. But that’s not important.
The important thing is that when we killed the five insects and brought their bodies back, we did not find anything special.
But that smart insect brought back the swarm to ask for the bodies of the rest of the insects.
Judging from the records of our previous engagements with insects, this is something that has never happened before, so I’m sure that the smart red insect must have used some kind method to threaten the wisdom unit of the creep area in the north. It must have forced them to give up the battle in the north.
It may be related to that wood elemental energy leakage, but I am not sure. So all the focus should be on that smart red insect!”
Liang Xingdong suddenly asked, “your analysis is good. So what are your suggestions for the current situation?”
The young man coughed violently until his mouth was full of blood, but he still carried on, “I have two suggestions for you to consider.”
Liang Xingdong instinctively reached out his hands wanting to help. But he stopped halfway. It seemed like he was scared of something, and it made him slowly move his hands back, “Do you need to take a break?” he said with concern.
The young man shook his head and pulled out an exquisite handkerchief to wipe off the blood of his mouth. “The first one, gathering all the forces in Hong Kong to look for this red insect and kill it. Erasing its link to the bow. After Miss Ke gains full control of the bow, her power will likely to grow dozens of times or even hundreds of times stronger. At that time, the insects in the north will no longer be a problem.
If the first step, which is killing the smart red Insect, is successful, then, the success rate of solving the current crisis of Hong Kong is at least 90%! ”
Huo Jiashan knitted his brows and said, “what about the second?”
The young man smiled weakly and said, “The second… In my calculation, the success rate of the second option is only 1%!”
Liang Xingdong asked in confusion, “only 1%? Since there is only one percent, why is it worth mentioning?”
The young man’s eyes suddenly flashed with a strange eerie gleam, “Yes, only 1%, but this 1% is not about saving Hong Kong, it is about saving the entire human race!”
“Entire human race!?” Liang Xingdong suddenly blurted out in shock.
The young man nodded weakly and said, “Yes, entire Human Race. The Insect has evolved, it has humanity in its mind, it tries to communicate with human beings, it does not look down on human beings, and it has a strange ability. This is an opportunity, but it is also a long process. We can try to contact it again, regain its trust. A seed of peace has been planted in its mind, but the chance to make it grow bigger is only 1%!
During this process, the entire Hong Kong will probably be taken over by the insect. But as long as we can germinate the seed, then the seed will continue to grow, Hong Kong may not be able to survive it. But human beings in other places on earth will benefit from it.”
Liang Xingdong took a deep breath and then glanced around. The young man provided two directions for them, now it was time for them to choose.
“Raise your hand if you vote for…” the vote for the future of Hong Kong and the future of humanity began in this small conference room.
…
The young man closed his eyes for a few seconds before opening his eyes again. He then leaned against the wall and stepped out of the conference room.
An old man, who looked around sixty years old, quickly walked over to help the young man and said, “young master, you coughed up blood again?”
The young man’s effeminate face had a hint of fatigue, “It’s alright. I’m used to it.”
The old man asked with concerns, “Would you like to rest for a while?”
The young man leaned over the old man’s shoulder and walked lightly out of the General Administration Department Building.
“No, Ask Xiao Li to drive the car over. You help me to get in the car.”
The old man waved his hand to call a black car over. And then he carefully helped the young man to get in the car. Then, the car quickly drove off the main street.
…
“Young master, which one do you think they will choose?” The old man seemed to be very worried.
The young man sat back weakly and looked at the world in front of the car lights. He replied in a light trance, “In fact, there is one more way. If we hand over the bow to the insect. What do you think will happen? ”
The old man was shocked, “Young Master! If the insect got the bow. How can Hong Kong survive?”
The young man suddenly smiled, “Uncle Wang, you don’t understand. The world has changed, and the rules have changed. That is actually the best choice for Hong Kong. The people in this building are just like you. The way of their thinking still stays in the age of light. It has been confined. They can’t think outside the box.
Do you still remember the UFO incident half a year ago? They were searching for a man called Chu Yunsheng. Chu Yunsheng. Chu… Chu Clan… sword… Don’t you feel a little bit strange?”
“You are saying the man is…” The old man’s voice was shaking.
The young man nodded his head and said, “if I am not wrong. That person should be the real owner of the bow, and that man is the real Chu Clan’s successor…”
“But you were saying the insect earlier. Why do you suddenly talk about him?” The old man was confused.
The young man smiled weakly again, “This is the limitation of your thinking. Why can’t he be an insect? Why? Chu Clan’s knowledge is really wonderful, it really fascinates me! ”
“Why didn’t you tell them about this?” The old man asked.
“I have been working with them for three years now. I know what type of people they are. Even if I said it, they would not believe me, and if Qianer knew about it, she would definitely kill me…” the young man said.
The old man bowed his head down thinking about what the young man said.
“Poor thing. She is sitting on the mountain of treasures, but she is obsessed with a bow. Human beings really are sordid animals. The more they can’t get it, the more they think it is the best. However, I am also the same.”
The old man hurriedly consoled, “young master, you are different. Didn’t you just say that General Wu said that she was possessed by the bow?”
“Everyone has an inner devil in them. People who believe it, would restrain themselves, people who don’t, would let loose the chain of the devil. It has nothing to do with the bow…” the young man’s voice became quieter and quieter until he fell asleep.
…
“Young master, young master… we are here,” The old man gently called.
The young man opened his eyes and said weakly, “are boats and food ready?”
“Yes, everything is ready, young master.”
“Then, let’s go. Sail along the coast. I have prepared quite a lot of Chu Clan’s stuff. So we shouldn’t have any dangers. It is a shame that I can’t see the result myself. I really want to meet with Chu Yunsheng… I hope that the person from the capital, who sold the bow, will not let me down…”
