Chapter 40 It's too late

Rand's men remained in disbelief even as they were being led into the police car. However, he remained unfazed. He simply glanced around and casually asked the people in the police car, "Faith? What faith? Since ancient times, the planet Volk has had only one faith: to live a good life."

"You trust this planetary commander so much now, aren't you afraid he'll sell you out? Honestly, I used to wear this police uniform just like you, but I ended up getting sold anyway. My wife and children died, and that's when I learned to live for myself."

"Let's get started now. Oh, there's another injured brother over there, right? Will the commander of Qianren Planet pay for this?"

Suddenly the injured man stood up and said indignantly: "Not only will they pay for it, they will also give me a subsidy."

He banged his head from rising so suddenly, causing the squad leader to instinctively reach out to hug him. According to official rules, special operations squads aren't supposed to engage in excessive conversation with suspects while on duty. But the squad leader, seeing Old A's uncontrollable expression, turned to Rand's men and said, "Given the fact that everyone can now enter the melting cave, we won't listen to you, no matter how much you try to slander the planetary commander."

Rand's men couldn't help but sneer again. "What's the big deal about everyone entering the Melting Cave? Food, clothing, housing, and transportation all cost money here. It's just a matter of paying first and paying later. What's the difference with her?"

"Yes," the special operations squad leader said with a look of piety. "She said, 'Long live the people of Planet Volk.' We are currently at a fork in the road of Volk's destiny, so every choice is crucial. This time, we choose to trust and follow our planetary commander."

Rand's men: ...

He turned and glanced at the other silent members of the special forces squad. Seeing their determined eyes, he knew that it was pointless to incite them any further. They had already made their choice, just like he had done back then.

However, this also made Rand's men extremely curious about the new planet commander. He had seen many ways of buying people off over the years, but this planet commander was the only one who made them even more puzzled.

When she made a stunning appearance by killing Dr. Scream, he thought she was just trying to get a seat at the table. Now that everyone is allowed to enter the Melt Cave for free, has she gone crazy enough to break the entire order established on the planet Volk?

Too arrogant, he had to follow the people's line just to make himself king? Rand's men couldn't help but sneer at the thought, then relaxed and sat back in the seat of the police car.

Originally he was planning to take action in the police car, but now curiosity made him want to meet the planet commander first.

Soon, he was sent to a special interrogation room. He took a look around the plain room. There were no torture instruments, only monitors. Even the chair used to control him was a bit simple and there was no electric shock device installed. Opposite him was a long table with two chairs behind it. There was nothing else.

Suddenly the door opened, and two people came in. None of them was the planet commander. The moment he saw the other person, he taunted him: "If there is no interrogation equipment, I will not cooperate obediently."

"Why, do you think torture would be appropriate for the interrogation scenario at hand?"

Unexpectedly, the interrogator's first words were filled with black humor. Bud's men sneered and shuddered, uncertainly: "Oh—I just thought that perhaps the new planetary commander could be a little innovative in interrogation?"

At this time, the interrogator noticed that there were needle marks and unnatural bruises on the arms of Bud's men, and simply pointed it out: "Do you have a habit of taking addictive drugs?"

"Humph" Bud's men snorted again, saying that life was difficult and they couldn't survive without looking for some excitement.

He had only said it casually, but he hadn't expected the other party to seize on it and change the subject: "Reality is already a torture for you, what else do you need us to torture you with?"

Bud's men: ...

He looked at the young man in front of him who was interrogating him in disbelief. He had no way to refute this statement, but an irrepressible anger gradually rose in his heart. What on earth did this young man in front of him know? Knowing what he had been through, he dared to speak so arrogantly and even look down on him?

"Do you think the planet commander will let everyone in now and it will be paradise? We only have eight months in the melting cave. At the rate you're squandering it now, it won't last more than three months. After that, there will be starvation everywhere. Will you still have time to sit here and mock me by then?"

Suddenly the door opened again, and everyone turned around to find that it was the planet commander. At this time, Bud's men couldn't help but laugh contemptuously, saying that the commander behind the scenes couldn't sit still. Knowing that he couldn't be scanned in the citizen system of the planet Walker, he also scraped off his fingerprints. Is he going to come out in person to convince him?

"Interesting! I'd like to hear how you plan to convince me. By the way, you don't have to ask these two young men who follow you and trust you so much to leave."

As soon as Bud's men said this, the two interrogators sitting across from him were clearly getting restless and wanted to stand up and confront him, but Shengxia held them down. Then Shengxia gestured for someone to bring in a microcomputer. In front of everyone, Shengxia suddenly asked Bud's men, "Do you know how long everyone could stay in the Melt Cave for free without worrying about starvation if the resources that Dr. Scream and his men have appropriated over the years were released to ordinary people?"

Bard's men didn't respond, but Shengxia had already had Xiaoai unfold a chart to compare the total medical resources. The upper echelons of the group had unlimited access to medical resources, while the lower echelons would be reduced to mere blood bags or drug testers.

The per capita food ratio, taking aminoacidase, a major component of nutrient solution production, as an example, is calculated based on the fluctuating black market prices and the per capita household possession. Even ordinary people have a shocking 10,000-to-10,000 ratio compared to the corresponding privileged classes.

As for the possession of other necessities of life, the final statistics show that although the people of Volk planet account for 96% of the population, the remaining 1% has not been included in the statistics or cannot be counted. However, the remaining 3% of the population occupies nearly 99% of the resources on Volk planet.

As a result, people's lives are naturally squeezed like hell.

After Shengxia finished playing the data, she turned off the microcomputer and turned to look at Bud's men: "Even you wouldn't have expected how far the lives of ordinary people are from these people."

Bud's men were speechless. They were only accustomed to the fact that the streets of Volk were very dirty and messy. The rich drove super-smart starships everywhere, and the poor sold blood and sold their families on the roadside. This was common. Every planetary commander had been like this. They would divide the tables and share the profits without even looking at the children on the roadside, even if the child was almost starving to death.

So, he chose to sell his soul just to live a better life, but now someone suddenly broke through this layer of paper and told him bluntly, it’s not your fault, this time I choose to stand on the side of the people,

"Are you mentally ill?" Furious, frustrated, and devastated, Bud's men launched into a furious outburst of abuse at Shengxia, angrily demanding to know why she was opening the Melt Hole to the public, why she wasn't learning from past planetary commanders, and why she was concerned about the plight of these impoverished people. They were dirty, lazy, and brainless, so why was she sharing her resources with them?!

"Ah, tell me, tell me, why are you giving your money to the poor now?"

His angry scolding was even more terrifying than torture, so much so that the two interrogators in the interrogation room subconsciously stood up and walked in front of Shengxia to try to protect her. However, this scene made Bud's men even more angry, because in his opinion, Shengxia was obviously the crazy one, the mentally ill person.

But at this moment, in this situation, the looks of the two interrogators seemed to tell him that he was the crazy and mentally ill one.

He started to yell with his eyes closed, and he was becoming a complete madman. But surprisingly, Shengxia calmly walked to the table opposite him and sat down, looking at him with pity in her eyes.

This made him feel even more empty and painful. He was not a bad guy from the beginning. He was forced. Everyone on the planet Walker was forced. It was not his fault, but the world's fault.

He never felt any guilt, nor did he think he should feel any guilt. Everyone did it anyway, so he deserved it.

But now... it was like a mirror reflecting his pale and helpless life. He roared madly, questioning why justice came too late, and hated why he had to be made to see his cruelty and mistakes after he had completely given up hope.

If only the planet commander had appeared earlier or had never appeared at all, Bud's men stared at Shengxia intently, staring at her intently without saying a word, and suddenly became completely quiet.

Then Shengxia suddenly took action and directly removed his jaw. She looked into his eyes and cut off his plan to bite his tongue to commit suicide without saying a word.

The two of them stared at each other in silence for a second. Sheng Xia sighed and said in a low voice, "I didn't capture you to judge your life. I simply wanted to ensure the safety of those who still wanted to live. I know you've controlled the underground river for a long time. A blind search would yield nothing. That's why I had no choice but to arrest you."

"No one can judge your life except yourself. Similarly, the decision you want to make now is up to you."

After saying this, Shengxia put Bud's man's chin back into place. The man's eyes gradually became blurred and distant as Shengxia spoke. It seemed that he saw many people and also saw himself when he was young.

Time passed by anxiously, and Shengxia quietly turned her head to face the wall, giving Bud's men enough time to make a decision.

An unknown amount of time passed. When everyone's breathing seemed to cease, Bud's men spoke again, their voices low and hoarse: "It's too late..."

As soon as these words came out, everyone frowned and looked at him, and Shengxia began to speculate that the sentence "It's too late" was referring to the current situation of the underground river. Maybe someone would be crazy enough to want to blow up all the melting caves?

Sure enough, Bud's men raised their bloodshot eyes and stared at Shengxia blankly, their tone showing a sense of exhaustion after the struggle: "The micro-explosives are all installed. They will be detonated at the appointed time and will destroy two districts. It's too late... too late..."

midsummer:……