MCL CH103

Chapter 103: “Will you still stand on the side of humanity…”
 

Boom—!

A series of huge explosions resounded over the sea. The equipment operated by the Ninth Administration’s gunners was extremely powerful against the contaminants. Under the continuous bombardment, the sea surface was almost densely covered with mangled corpses. However, no one’s face showed any joy. On the contrary, the atmosphere, carried by the sea breeze, became even more solidified.

Su Muye’s face no longer held any trace of a smile. Hearing footsteps, he turned his head and saw Su Qiuyin returning from the rift. Only then did he manage to force a mindless curve onto his lips. “I know what you’re going to say, but please don’t scold me. I just contacted the boss. He should be arranging for personnel to transport the latest equipment over soon.”

“Yan Xingzhou?” Having successively cleared several rifts, Su Qiuyin’s face couldn’t hide his fatigue. His already furrowed brow didn’t relax in the slightest. “He has a way to deal with these contaminants?”

“I guess so. The boss said that among the equipment recently developed by the group, there is indeed a compatible model, but…” Su Muye looked steadily at Su Qiuyin and gave a bitter smile. “This quantity is indeed a bit too large, you know.”

A dead silence fell over the area.

It was obvious that everyone was well aware of the situation in their hearts, but no one was willing to say the three words, “we can’t hold.”

After a moment, Su Qiuyin spoke again. “Understood. I will come up with a plan as soon as possible. Before that, the liaison work with the Wanyuan Group is up to you.”

He casually grabbed a cloth to wipe the contaminant plasma from his hand and asked, “Where is Lin… Lin Ni?”

“Should be in the main control room,” Su Muye answered without thinking, giving him a strange look. “You’re not in a hurry to contact headquarters, why are you looking for him?”

Before he could finish, Su Qiuyin had already turned and strode away. “Don’t forget, I’m still a criminal. The real decisions still have to be made by him, the director.”

Su Muye wanted to say something more, but before he could, the tall figure had completely disappeared from his sight. “…”

Although what he said was correct, for some reason, it felt like something was off.

On the screen wall in the main control room, every scene was filled with the tragic intensity of the fierce battle.

When Su Qiuyin walked in, the man sitting in front of the screen was holding a teacup in one hand. His detached and calm demeanor made it seem as if he were watching nothing more than a newly released sci-fi blockbuster.

This scene fell into Su Qiuyin’s eyes, causing his steps to pause for a moment before he approached.

Lin Xi heard the footsteps and looked back. His gaze lingered on Su Qiuyin for a moment, and his brows raised slightly. “It seems the rifts that appeared are quite tricky, to make our Director Su so disheveled.”

“Just a routine rift cleanup.” Su Qiuyin seemed not to have heard the teasing in his words and turned to look at the screen wall. “The really tricky things are probably these things outside.”

Lin Xi followed his gaze, took a slow sip of tea, and spoke in a tone devoid of any fluctuation, as if having a perfectly normal discussion. “Faced with this kind of endless reproduction ability, unless you can annihilate them all in one fell swoop, any resistance will become meaningless if even a single remnant is missed. No matter how you look at it, the step that Shen Nanyang proposed at the international conference back then has been taken, and it’s irreversible. Let me think, what did he say the future we need to face would be like… In any case, I’m quite curious about this kind of trade-off. I wonder what kind of choice humanity will make this time.”

What kind of choice humanity will make.

Su Qiuyin quickly caught the wording. After a moment of silence, he spoke again. “Then what are you going to do?”

“Me?” Lin Xi tilted his head and smiled. “As the supreme commander of this operation, of course I will conscientiously fulfill my duties. Don’t worry, seeing that you’re all busy, I’ve already transmitted the situation from the front lines back to headquarters. If nothing unexpected happens, little Gu should already be holding a tactical meeting. We just have to wait for news.”

After he finished, he saw no response from Su Qiuyin for a long time and looked over strangely.

Their eyes met. In the momentarily subtle atmosphere, he slowly blinked and waved his hand with a smile. “It’s all what I should do, no need to be polite.”

Su Qiuyin: “…That’s not what I was asking.”

He looked straight into Lin Xi’s eyes. “I’m asking, what are you going to do. Executor, will you still stand on the side of humanity?”

The last layer of paper was ripped away. Su Qiuyin’s question was undoubtedly as blunt as it could be.

Before Lin Xi could answer, a mocking voice had already sounded in his mind: [Hee hee hee, he’s not even human anymore, and you still expect him to continue standing on the side of humanity? This director of the Third Administration usually seems quite sharp and capable, how can he ask such a foolish question?]

As if he hadn’t heard Calamity’s cold sarcasm at all, Lin Xi still leaned back in his chair naturally. His faint, smiling expression didn’t waver for a moment. Instead, he felt a trace of curiosity because of Su Qiuyin’s form of address. “Executor? That’s a nostalgic title. So in your heart, am I still your Executor?”

Su Qiuyin: “Always have been.”

This unhesitating answer surprised even Lin Xi. His gaze slowly swept over the person before him wearing a collar. The scene of him calmly taking all the blame during their time in Country A couldn’t help but surface in his mind. As his eyelids lowered again, he couldn’t help but let out a soft laugh. “I never thought even you would learn to play the sentiment card.”

He placed the cup in his hand aside, patted his legs, and stood up from his seat. He walked up to Su Qiuyin and gently patted his shoulder. “But I’m sorry, I really can’t give you a clear answer to this question right now. Because before that, I need to find a satisfactory answer for myself first.”

“Is that the purpose of your return?”

Su Qiuyin stood his ground, unmoving. “…Then what if you can’t find the answer you’re looking for, or if the answer you find doesn’t satisfy you?”

“That’s a rather pessimistic hypothesis.” A smile lingered in Lin Xi’s eyes. “If it really comes to that, perhaps, even I am not sure what I might do.”

His peripheral vision caught the figures of several staff members passing by the door. He slowly leaned in close to Su Qiuyin’s ear and whispered slowly in a voice only the two of them could hear, “Of course, if it really comes to that, Director Su Qiuyin, you should also follow the choice in your heart, just like—three years ago.”

After a full ten seconds of silence, Su Qiuyin’s lowered eyelids hid the depth in his eyes. “Understood.”

“You understand just like that? So in a way, out of all the people in the United Administration, I still like you the most.”

Lin Xi smiled and stood up straight, turning to look at the fierce battle continuing to erupt on the screen wall. His narrowed eyes were filled with indifference. “Come on, let’s chat while we have some free time. What do you think headquarters will plan to do?”

Su Qiuyin replied, “If there are no surprises, the research institute will probably take the opportunity to propose the Ark Project.”

In an instant, he had returned to his usual demeanor and tone, as if the entire previous conversation had been an illusion that never existed.

“The Ark Project?” Lin Xi pondered for a moment. “I remember I already rejected that proposal back then.”

“But two and a half years ago, the Central Research Institute submitted a new 2.0 version of the plan.”

Su Qiuyin glanced at Lin Xi. “You know what his ability is, so after careful consideration, Executor Gu convened a high-level meeting of the United Administration. After a full three days and nights of discussion, they ultimately approved this new proposal.”

The roaring artillery fire illuminated the sky outside, which should have been bright.

The boundless sky and the sea horizon merged into a single line in the distance. The invisible sea breeze became the only movement in this magnificent expanse.

Lin Xi gave a faint laugh. “It seems today’s difficult problem already had an answer two years ago.”

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