Chapter 32 - The Fruit of Wisdom (10)

Zhang Xun hurried to the Headquarters with Adam and was immediately taken into the war room.

The light in the deep underground war room was dim and the computers showed expressionless faces. The huge screen hanging in mid-air constantly displayed the shield monitoring system and radar system in different areas of Lost Paradise and there were countless cameras on all sides of the high wall to observe for enemies who could approach from any angle.

At a long wooden table illuminated by a huge chandelier overhead, a group of senior officers, headed by Zhang Shuo, lined up in turn. In addition, Zhang Xun saw Jabari and two others from James' group sitting on the outer chairs. They were in a sorry state, their faces were muddy and there was blood on Jabari's head.

Zhang Xun's whole heart seemed to sink into a deep trench.

Adam stood quietly behind Zhang Xun, his eyes calmly taking in the gestures and expressions of everyone in the war room into his mind.

Sitting next to Zhang Shuo was General Wilson. He was the first to speak and said in a cold voice, "Mechanic Zhang, you must have heard about the return of the hunting group."

Zhang Xun even forgot about etiquette and he asked urgently, "Where's James? What happened? Was it the robot soldiers? Have you...have you activated..."

"Zhang Xun, calm down." Zhang Shuo's deep voice sounded, not in a hurry or slow, but still calm, "We called you here today hoping to learn more from Adam."

"Adam has been with me the whole time and knows nothing more than we do. If you think it's Adam..."

"Mechanic!" Zhang Shuo's voice became more severe and Zhang Xun had to stop talking.

General Wilson spoke slowly, "The hunting group indeed successfully avoided the robot soldiers' searches by relying on the technology provided by you and Adam. So we do not suspect that the disappearance of Captain James Kugel is related to Adam."

Disappearance?

That is to say, he wasn't neutralised?

General Wilson looked at the three hunting regiment members. Jabari opened his mouth and said, "We broke through the robot soldiers' line of defence, arrived at Reindeer Bay and connected with the arms dealer, Red Lady, as planned. Her goods were ready, but we didn't expect that there would be other people who wanted to buy them."

"Other people?" a Major General asked in confusion. "People from the ordinary world?"

Jabari shook his head, "No, they were men, and they came in very advanced military aircraft...all of them were well-equipped, well-trained soldiers, but not Lost Paradise men."

Not Lost Paradise men, but soldiers... Could there be other refugee settlements near Lost Paradise that they didn't know about?

Moreover, an aircraft would very easily be discovered by Eden, but they dared to swagger in with this, which showed that their aircraft must have extremely advanced stealth technology. Not only was it undetectable to radars, but even the naked eye couldn't easily detect it and the ear couldn't hear noise from it, so it was possible to avoid Eden's ubiquitous eyes and ears.

Jabari continued, "The Red Lady raised the prices and whoever paid the highest price could take the goods away. The other party was very generous and the universal currency we brought wasn't enough. With the military on our backs we tried to negotiate to bring back some of the goods, but they didn't agree. In a moment of desperation, a young man in our team fired a shot in anger. The other party's weapons were far more advanced than ours and apparently they have Eden's bullet tracking technology. Three of us were seriously injured and everyone else was wounded to some degree, so the Captain led those people away alone in order to cover our escape. We tried to go back to find him afterward but the robot soldiers had already blocked the area."

"He left the signal range of the neutraliser, so no one knows whether James is still alive now." General Wilson shook his head regretfully, "But now it's more important to find out who those people are."

"Will we send a search and rescue team?" Zhang Xun asked.

Zhang Shuo glanced at him with some sadness in his eyes, "We have never sent out a search and rescue team for a missing hunter, so we won't this time either."

"But he may still be alive, or even in the hands of those people. If we find him, we might also find those men of unknown power." Zhang Xun's mind was racing, trying to find a way to convince them. He turned his head to look at Adam, "When you were Eden, how much did you know about other refugee countries?"

Adam said: "Apart from Lost Paradise, the refugee camp in the Middle East desert was poor and weak, it rejected new technologies and after several failed terrorist attacks, it has been completely disintegrated by Eden. The refugee country in New Zealand has few signs of activity and it seems that a self-sufficient social system has formed. Their level of technology is not as advanced as yours, but it is widely used, unlike here, where all technology is in labs and institutes and is controlled by a few elites. However, in recent years, several new refugee settlements have appeared in Central America, the Cyclades and Asia. While most of them are just small villages, nowhere near the size of Lost Paradise, some of them have financial and technical support from anonymous agencies. Eden was trying to identify these agencies before I was kidnapped. Eden thinks some humans in the government are secretly trying to snatch more control from it."

Adam had already revealed some pieces of this information to Zhang Xun, and it had been mentioned in Zhang Xun's weekly report to Zhang Shuo, but apparently this information hadn't been taken seriously until now.

The generals looked at each other. In order not to be manipulated by Eden over the years, Lost Paradise had kept itself behind closed doors so little was known about these changes on the outside.

If it was another refugee country, it would be a good opportunity for them to build mutual support and reconciliation. Why would the other side cause trouble for Lost Paradise? What would they gain from becoming enemies with Lost Paradise?

On the other hand, if the governments of the ordinary world had also begun to distrust Eden, this may be an opportunity.

Zhang Shuo pressed a button on the tablet in front of him. Above the chandelier above his head, a hidden projector emitted a white light, hitting the blank wall behind everyone. It was a view of the battle captured by a camera on Jabari's helmet. The scene was chaotic, the camera shook violently and everyone's roars, gunshots and some strange low-frequency vibration were mixed together. Apparently Jabari was shooting at some silver people. Those people were all wrapped in a mirror-like and very light-looking suit. The beams from Lost Paradise's laser guns and the physical bullets from the rifles couldn't penetrate the mirror-like material. One of the enemies raised their hand and that hand changed shape rapidly, becoming some kind of streamlined weapon, aiming at the camera.

Zhang Xun heard James next to Jabari shouting, "Find cover! Quickly find cover!!"

Everyone rushed towards the nearest trees like crazy and Jabari's heavy breathing seemed to choke everyone's throat. What happened next was somewhat difficult for everyone present to understand. They saw dazzling white light, a disturbing white light that caused a splitting headache. They heard someone screaming and they saw a soldier rolling around in pain. Half of his face seemed to be melted by something hot, the flesh was mangled and bloody.

The video cut off there.

The room was silent.

After a while, Adam suddenly said, "These people have done a lot of mechanical modifications to themselves and it's likely that they were intentionally replaced by prosthetic limbs after being injured. The suits they wear are nano-skin suits developed by Titanium in the past two years. Titanium's technology comes from Eden. Each suit has a unique number, which corresponds to the identity of the suit owner, so I'm sure this suit is only sold to the US, UK and Germany, but a year or so before my hijacking, Titanium had a serious information leak. A senior engineer and her male partner defected to a new refugee colony in Central America with the help of some insiders: Feathered Serpent City. I'm about 70% sure that these people came from there."

"Central America is so far from here, they must have bypassed the United States by sea and it must be about more than just buying arms." Zhang Xun looked urgently at the generals present, "Maybe they're still nearby."

"We can send a team of soldiers to track them down," said a Major General named Shahrukh Kumar. "If they really are staying near Lost Paradise, we must know what they're doing."

General Wilson frowned his bushy grey eyebrows, "We don't know anything about their technology and location. Now three of the team members are dying and sending another team out is likely to attract the attention of the robot soldiers, and, according to Jabari, the robot soldiers have already discovered the traces of the firefight that took place in Reindeer Bay. Besides, maybe they have left already."

"But we have Adam, which is equivalent to knowing all their skills. Last time we were unprepared and were suppressed by the other party, but this time we can at least be prepared, both physically and mentally."

Another General said coldly, "How can you be sure that Adam really told you all the information he knows?"

Zhang Xun was about to refute when Zhang Shuo raised his hand to stop him from speaking. The Commander looked around the crowd and said in a deep voice, "We will never tolerate allowing suspicious persons with unknown purposes and certain hostility to operate around Lost Paradise. Although Lost Paradise has just been hit by a major air strike, it must not lose the courage to defend its homeland."

Several Generals either nodded or agreed silently. Only General Wilson was still worried, "If we want to find them, we would have to act immediately. Where would we find the time to prepare enough new suits and weapons? Besides, they are immune to our weapons, doesn't this mean we have no way to fight back?"

"Although they are immune to physical attacks, that protective suit doesn't protect against sounds." Adam interjected, looking at Zhang Xun with a smile, "The sound of the No.2 expulsion system, designed by Ah-Xun for the Lab, will be a good weapon."

All eyes suddenly fell on Zhang Xun.

Zhang Xun was a little surprised. He hesitated for a while and said, "We could consider weaponizing that sound."

"In addition, their suits and modified robotic arms are all Titanium's technology and Eden has left itself a failsafe for all of Titanium's technology. Eden doesn't trust human beings with perfect technology, it believes that humans will abuse any technology and power they obtain." Adam continued to speak in a melodious and clear voice, without feeling any sense of irony in what he was saying.

Humans created their god with technology, but that god refused to believe in humans.

"A failsafe? What failsafe?" Zhang Shuo asked.

"It's very complicated, so none of Titanium's senior engineers ever discovered it. Simply put, as long as I'm close enough, I can use electromagnetic signals to jam their weapons." Adam smiled politely at the crowd, "So, if you are willing to bring me and my mechanic along, there is a high probability that I will be able to help you."