Chapter 761: Chapter 285: Deep Pit Hotel
The matter of Gao Gong using the ’Star-Destroying Weapon’ to eliminate Xie Egui might not be clear to outsiders, but within the upper echelons of the Six Ministries, nobody is unaware.
So, when Yagami Suuji withdrew from the Six Ministries meeting with a livid expression, and called Tong, Collider, and Chapai into the office, the three of them sensed that something major was amiss.
"Captain, let me explain," said Collider, bracing himself, "regarding the ’Star-Destroying Weapon,’ we are also in the dark."
"When did I say I wanted to discuss the ’Star-Destroying Weapon’ with you?" Yagami Suuji asked coldly.
"Uh..."
"Listen to me, Captain, that member of the Xie Family had it coming; who asked him to snatch people’s wives," said Tong righteously. He had met Du Zhaodi once and had a good impression of her.
"Do you really think this is just a simple hormone secretion event of the male species? Du Zhaodi and Xie Egui, Du Gao Technology and the Eternal Financial Group, there’s not a shred of a connection between them?"
"Uh, maybe a little bit."
Tong also sensed something was wrong. In the commercial wars between corporations, the Six Ministries have always adhered to the principle of neutrality, which is one of the reasons they can remain detached. But it seems in this matter, they might have made a mistake.
Yagami Suuji’s purple pupils turned to the last one, Chapai.
Chapai forced a smile and said, "This really has nothing to do with me, Captain, I don’t even know what the Star-Destroying Weapon is, I’m not a veteran of the department—"
Yagami Suuji’s pale fingers suddenly tapped the table, and her icy expression made the three of them wilt like withered cats.
"The other five ministers are asking me to give them an explanation. In the ministerial memorandum, the use of all superweapons is supposed to be notified and registered in advance. This was the tacit understanding of the Six Ministries. Now, the Ghost in the Shell Mobile Division has taken the lead in breaking this tacit understanding, which will inevitably trigger a series of unforeseeable consequences."
"Our department is audacious in dealing with corporations, but that doesn’t mean we go against our peers. Without the support of the other five departments, our department will be a lone wolf. Now, with cases occurring frequently, if other departments choke us, what do you think we should do?"
Yagami Suuji berated the three of them roundly. Since the ’remnant investigation of the data space,’ bizarre cases on this planet have not decreased with the end of the corporate wars; instead, they have risen exponentially. Fake memory incidents in various places, strange personality resetting events, large-scale terrorism, global biological mutations, and the hackers resurfacing with the help of virtual helmets...
Yagami Suuji had a vague premonition that the ’monster under the starry sky,’ as mentioned by the previous minister, was finally showing its hand.
And just at the time when manpower was needed, these three idiots had caused such a major issue, making Yagami Suuji want to smack them, including that new minister.
"Ca-Captain," Collider suddenly weakly raised his hand and said, "The communication device has a notification, our new minister has arrived at the Other Shore of Freedom."
...
Other Shore of Freedom, Zone 3
A slender tall man standing at 1.8 meters and a giant man standing at 3 meters were strolling leisurely down the street.
Looking up, the sky tunnels and sky elevators filled the sky, anti-gravity devices were spread across the street. With a thought, one could ’fly’ to another street. There were no flashing neon lights, replaced by public consciousness storage centers where people occasionally entered to upload their consciousness.
Turning to another street, there was a public body repair center.
Artificially cultivated flower beds were everywhere, and occasionally bird flocks descended, being fed by wealthy women walking their mechanized bionic dogs. The air was exceptionally fresh, unlike the outside, which always had a kind of muddled radiation aura.
The sky was clear and bright, with a sun hanging high in the sky, although known to be ecological simulation, the sunlight was still warm when it touched the skin.
The passersby here were all so beautiful as if they had entered the ’Star Realm,’ with bionic people accounting for 90% of the population here.
Transparent-bodied thought police and memory police emitting a white glow patrolled almost every street, ensuring thought safety and ready to perform memory restoration at any time.
Indeed, in the Other Shore of Freedom, there was the ancient profession of ’police,’ employed by the Memory Supervision Department of the Six Ministries.
This area already fell within the protective scope of the Mother City.
"Brother Gao, are we going to live here now? It’s so prosperous here!" exclaimed Fat Xiang, looking up at the sky. There were many modified flying cars in the sky, modified in all sorts of ways. He even saw some equipped with their family’s ’Mecha Engine.’
"Why, don’t you want to live here?"
"It’s not that," Fat Xiang scratched his head, "I had the impression that the Other Shore of Freedom was supposed to be the most chaotic and lawless place, but here it feels like the law enforcement is too good, there’s not even a single immersive projection advertisement."
"The best prostitutes are always dressed," Gao Gong said meaningfully.
"But why did we come here?" Fat Xiang asked in confusion, "Isn’t Brother Gao going to assume the position of minister?"
"Of course to find a place to live, otherwise where are we going to stay?"
"Uh, but the Ghost in the Shell Mobile Division should assign us an apartment, right? Also, shouldn’t we live in the Mother City?"
"Your Brother Gao isn’t a struggling worker; he’s a boss, okay? Why live in an apartment just because it’s near the office, instead of a big villa?"
"Oh, oh." Fat Xiang looked at Gao Gong’s back, feeling that his motives were impure, tinged with a bit of yellow.
...
Meanwhile, in the largest hotel in the Other Shore, the Deep Pit Hotel.
In a suite in the hotel, Paradise Bird squinted her eyes, staring out the window. The window continuously simulated the outside environment, showing sandy beaches and seas, snowy landscapes, or blue skies and white clouds.
Paradise Bird had a thought, and the simulation environment froze on the ’snow country landscape.’ Instantly, a gust of cold air blew from outside the window, accompanied by artificial snowflakes that fell gently on her shoulders and hands.
But Paradise Bird knew that this was just ’visual simulation’ + ’tactile simulation’ only.
Outside the real window, there was nothing.
Because the entire hotel was not built above ground, but underground. It was built in a pit that was struck by a superweapon from outer space during World War II, nearly ten thousand meters deep. The geothermal energy from the earth’s core naturally powered everything in the hotel, including the hot springs, which were directly redirected underground water.
The door opened, and Ahong, while drying his hair, lazily said, "Sis, are you really not going to the hot spring? The water here makes me feel like I’m flying. I should’ve brought Aidolu along."
"Do you still remember why we came here?" Paradise Bird asked without turning her head.
"Of course I do. I wasn’t just soaking around. You wouldn’t believe what I found until you see it," Ahong said, plopping onto the bed and massaging his calf.
"I did a bit of probing and discovered that the virtual security defense here has reached enterprise level, with many network defense technologies I’ve never even heard of in the industry."
"New technology?"
"No, I can see traces of old code. You know, the old man used to make us practice ancient programming languages when we were kids. It has that vibe, but the technology is very advanced."
"Both ancient and advanced?" Paradise Bird muttered to herself, "That means we came to the right place."
They spent considerable effort confirming the ruins of the ancient Northern Alliance’s capital, Lent City, which is precisely the Other Shore of Freedom.
As for 320, Third Street, Donglun Special Zone, the meeting place of the Punk Clan, it turned out to be this Deep Pit Hotel.
"Don’t rush into action. Let headquarters investigate the source of this ’Giant Pit.’ After all, there are plenty of old fellows from World War II in the headquarters; they surely know how this pit came to be."
Ahong suddenly put on a flattering smile, "Senior Sister—"
"You informed Xiuyue to come over and help us, didn’t you?"
"Senior Sister, how did you know!? So you agree?"
"If I didn’t agree, do you think you could have sent that message out?"
The pile of excuses Ahong had in mind had nowhere to go, and after holding back for a moment, he turned to confusion.
"So, Senior Sister, have you reconciled with Second Brother?"
"Reconciled? Everything he did was to please the new Minister of the Shell Mobile Division, trying to climb higher. Do you think I would reconcile with him because of that?"
"Then why didn’t you stop me?"
Paradise Bird hesitated and then said, "There are some things in the group that you are not ready to know yet, but there are some things I can talk about. Recently, through certain means, I studied ’Electronic Ascension.’"
"Electronic Ascension?"
"Electronic Ascension isn’t true ascension; otherwise, those three old guys wouldn’t be gone. But thinking in reverse, since ’Electronic Ascension’ isn’t true ascension, then ’ascension failure’ might not be true failure either."
"Uh, what do you mean?"
"It means the old man might not be dead."
"Master isn’t dead!?" Ahong sprang to his feet in surprise.
Paradise Bird didn’t mind Ahong’s shock but looked towards the door instead, "You should know about this, right?"
Xiuyue’s figure appeared at the door, showing his trademark fake smile, "This matter, I’m not too sure about."
"Since that’s the case, then why did you specifically join the Humanity Experiment Department in the ’Fortress’ among the Six Ministries?"
"Well, that might be a coincidence."
...
Meanwhile, in the Mother City, two advanced flying vehicles docked at the airport.
Two groups disembarked from the flying vehicles almost simultaneously, both representing the Electronic Brain Plan; one was the representatives of the Holy Brain Group, while the other was from Mr. G Research Association.
Considering Mr. G wasn’t present, the leader was the authority holder, Du Zhaodi.
Ye the Big Lolita wore a gothic lolita outfit, but it was modified to look formal, giving off a strong aura.
On the other side, Director Du appeared much calmer, still in a standard white lab coat; those who knew would think it was from a factory, those who didn’t might think it was from a hospital.
The two women exchanged glances, showing a mutual understanding.
And yet, someone didn’t comprehend this understanding.
"Little Ye, you’re here! I’ve missed you these days!"
A clueless young girl excitedly waved her hand, shouting loudly.
Ye the Big Lolita’s face darkened.
The expression of the one responsible for reception was also complicated.
Indeed, you guys had a tacit match before.
