Chapter 2705: Chapter 1830: Boiling Start
It must be said that the atmosphere was somewhat awkward after that. Looking at Mary, who was walking silently ahead of him, Duanmu Huai also didn’t quite know what to say. Although Mary knew about his relationship with other girls...
"Mary... um..."
"Please rest assured, Mr. Duanmu."
Mary’s voice was unwavering.
"I am only your secretary, Mr. Duanmu, and will truthfully record everything you experience, such things are inevitable. I will write in the next book that you were very efficient, the battle ended in just three minutes..."
"No, no, no, it was at least twenty minutes, you can’t just write that."
Duanmu Huai suddenly understood why ancient emperors could not raise their heads in front of historians; it’s a joke, if Mary were to write in the book that he surrendered in three minutes, Duanmu Huai would rather fight a hundred-year war with the Four Chaos Gods again.
Food can be eaten carelessly but words cannot be spoken carelessly.
"Hmph."
Mary snorted softly, not answering, and Duanmu Huai didn’t know what to say either, so he could only walk with a stiff face beside Mary. On the contrary, Mianmu Zuoniao didn’t seem to care at all (and she really didn’t care), bouncing and jumping behind them, humming a song lightly as if nothing had happened.
Fortunately, after that, Mary didn’t dwell on the topic anymore but brought Duanmu Huai to the wall. Duanmu Huai examined the wall carefully and then took out the Bird Divination Tool to investigate.
"It should be a secret room in the back... a hollow? No, it might be some secret passage."
As Duanmu Huai spoke, he clenched his fist, and Mary promptly reached out to cover her ears. Then with a deafening crash, the thick metal wall that could be used as Titan Steel Armor was punched through by Duanmu Huai, and he extended his hand to tear a big crack in it, like ripping parchment, and peered inside.
"Hmm, just as I expected, a secret elevator. I wonder where this leads to... speaking of which..."
Duanmu Huai poked the Servo Skull beside him, which he found in the Mechanical Temple and had Lumiaire control after activating it, allowing Lumiaire to assist him in this way.
"Where does this lead to? Can you activate it?"
"Let me have a look."
Accompanied by Lumiaire’s voice, the Servo Skull flew to the elevator’s control panel and extended its mechanical tendrils.
"Hmm... it’s specially encrypted, but it can be decrypted."
"Where does this thing go?"
"The 563rd lower hive district."
"Speaking of which, why haven’t I seen any guards coming?"
Duanmu Huai withdrew his gaze, sweeping a glance at the outside silent corridor, he had already informed Lumiaire of the situation here, and the latter should have immediately informed the Emperor to send people to clean up. Although the foot soldiers of the Planet Defense Force are usually quite incompetent, they shouldn’t be this incompetent.
"I was just about to report this to you."
Lumiaire’s voice was quite calm.
"There’s been a riot in the lower hive district, the Emperor has already diverted most of the guards to defend the gates and passages to prevent the riot from spreading upwards."
"A riot? What’s the cause?"
"Hmm........"
Lumiaire investigated.
"The surface reason is the candle tax increased by five percent."
"Candle tax?"
Mary blinked, while Duanmu Huai shrugged, pointing to the side.
"Do you see those candles?"
"I see them."
These candles are seen everywhere, especially in various religious places, even ordinary people use them for lighting. Honestly, the entire Hive City seems like a giant candle to Duanmu Huai, each layer burning millions of candles... these candles are not only for lighting but also hold religious significance.
"These things are taxed, oh, not consumption tax but an additional tax."
"..........."
Mary paused for a moment, then silently sighed.
"Ah, I see, I can understand..."
"You can understand?"
"Yes, my country also used to have a similar tax."
Mary recalled and explained it to Duanmu Huai.
"It’s called the window tax, and the levy is determined by the number of windows in a house. Less than ten windows require a payment of two shillings, ten to twenty windows cost six shillings, and more than twenty windows are ten shillings... Of course, that’s in the past, and it’s been abolished now. I just didn’t expect there would be something similar in this world..."
"These kind of oppressive taxes exist in every era, civilization, and country. Ultimately, it’s just a way for the powers above to grab money. If I weren’t a Judge, I’d want to kill these idiotic bureaucrats... Actually, I could still kill them. I can find out who came up with this stupid plan, label them as heretics for deliberately disrupting internal order of the Imperial, and then burn them directly."
Duanmu Huai finished his rant and smoothly shifted the topic back.
"Speaking of which, for just a mere riot, do we really need to mobilize the Guards from the upper levels of the Nest District?"
In Duanmu Huai’s impression, the Emperor generally didn’t care or pay attention to the lower-level Nest Districts. Even if everyone there died, it wouldn’t matter... at worst, they could just find some more people to come in.
"Because the scale is large, and they also have Imperial-standard automatic weapons. Based on the scale... it seems to match the missing part in the production quota."
"That is indeed interesting."
Duanmu Huai chuckled.
This is indeed interesting. In most regions, weapon production is managed by the Mechanical Religion, and the weapon production efficiency of this Hive City hasn’t met expectations. Now not only have the oil men invaded the Emperor’s Contemplator, but they also made a move against me. There’s even an elevator in their Holy Shrine that goes straight to the Riot Nest Area... Hmm, what are these oil men planning?
Duanmu Huai thought for a moment, deciding not to dwell on it. Whatever the oil men are planning, as a Judge, his only job is to ruin their plans.
"We’re taking the elevator."
Duanmu Huai made the decision, then stepped onto the elevator, followed by Mary and Mianmu Zuoniao, and then the Servo Skull controlled by Lumiaire. The elevator quickly started and descended at a rapid speed—basically, it was as if it was in free fall.
However, even an airman would linger for a dozen seconds, so Duanmu Huai wasn’t too worried about this, and continued to communicate with Lumiaire.
"Now, how likely do you think it is that this riot was started by the oil men?"
"Very likely."
Lumiaire was quick to respond.
"I intercepted part of the data stream record. Not long after we eliminated that Electronic Demon, a large amount of data was transmitted from the Holy Shrine to the lower-level Nest District. I think that was when they started the evacuation plan, leaving some people behind as cover."
"Quite surprising."
Duanmu Huai coldly snorted.
"I thought these oil men would use more technical methods to initiate the attack."
"They did use technical methods. In fact, this elevator is connected to the Holy Shrine’s power system. Once activated, it would immediately overload the central power, blow the fuses, and then the entire Holy Shrine would explode sky high. Any investigation would only find the relay having a fault, that a sudden burst of high power broke through the sanctified protection of the relay, or something..."
"...That sounds just like their style, anyway, they would definitely blame it on an accident afterwards."
Duanmu Huai didn’t need to ask why the oil men’s trick didn’t work. In front of Lumiaire, that trick succeeding would be a miracle. It’s undeniable that those oil men had a good plan. If Duanmu Huai hadn’t discovered the hidden elevator, they could have made up a lot of excuses to bully others who couldn’t understand their loony binary language.
If Duanmu Huai had discovered it, they planned to destroy him along with the Holy Shrine.
Too bad, the oil men’s control over machines is still far inferior to the Electronic Elf.
Lumiaire is the real expert.
"By the way, won’t the communication link be interrupted?"
"Don’t worry, I’m using their encrypted channel."
"Impressive."
Duanmu Huai gave a thumbs up, indeed, the enemy might cut off the communication channel in Hive City, but they have to leave one for themselves, and this is completely accessible to Lumiaire without secrets.
Just then, another lively voice chimed in.
"The Emperor is giving a speech."
Ling’Nu cheerfully joined the channel, and it’s likely that the enemy had no idea their communication network had become a tool for Duanmu Huai and others to chat and boast.
"What did he say?"
"Just some cliches, like asking people to remain calm, stay home, and wait for the riot to pass..."
"Keep an eye on him and his deputy. Report to me immediately if there’s any unusual behavior."
Based on Duanmu Huai’s experience, it wasn’t difficult for a Hive City Emperor to be corrupted. Even if he wasn’t, it didn’t mean his deputy was clean. Or rather, based on experience, they were definitely not clean.
Soon, the elevator’s descent began to slow, and the faint sounds of explosions and gunfire could be heard outside. Duanmu Huai silently picked up the Chainsaw Sword, simultaneously signaling Mianmu Zuoniao and Mary to prepare for battle. After all, this was the passage the oil men used to enter and exit their secret base. Considering they were even willing to blow up the entire Holy Shrine to destroy evidence, it was clear this place was extraordinary.
Finally, the elevator came to a halt, and the door slowly opened.
Duanmu Huai activated the Chainsaw Sword, then gave his head a shake.
"Alright, let’s go."
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