Chapter 195 Undercurrent
Su Wanqing put away the drawings, carried the jade bracelet and the energy core, and just walked to the door of the main control room when she heard a noisy sound coming from the public area in the distance.
Someone was shouting, the pace was rapid, mixed with the quarrels of the crowd. She pulled the surveillance screen and saw that a group of people had already gathered outside the blind spot of the surveillance. There were people in both corners, and the hall was filled with black people.
Lu Zhao leaned against the wall of the main control room, looking down at the USB flash drive. A short voice came from the intercom nearby: "Zhou Ming is gathering a crowd to cause trouble. There is a meeting in the hall."
Zhou Ming stood on a makeshift table, his voice drowning out the noise in the room.
He held a megaphone in his hand and said word by word, "We are not stupid! Everyone should know clearly what is happening outside and what is happening with the supplies! Why are the resources being distributed less and less these days, and the situation outside the barrier is only reported by a few people? If it is transparent, why do we have to change the tone even about the food quantities?"
The crowd around them murmured in agreement, their emotions clearly unstable. Someone followed up with a loud shout: "Why should we wait to starve? How many days can the base last?" Some survivors gathered in the front row, holding homemade placards that read "demand the truth be made public" and "participate in decision-making - everyone has the right."
The voices were mixed, the atmosphere was cramped, and there was almost no gap.
Xiao Ran hurried over, stood in the middle of the field, and grabbed the megaphone. He pressed the corner of the table and cleared his throat: "The situation has changed rapidly recently, and everyone can see that resources are tight. Our leadership has been trying to find a solution, and we are definitely not hiding it from you. If you have any questions, please raise them, and we will answer them if we can."
Someone in the audience took the lead and asked: "Do you have any latest external news that you haven't announced yet?"
Another sharp voice came over: "How many days can the barrier last? Is it about to collapse?"
Before Xiao Ran could speak, Zhou Ming held up the megaphone and continued to shout: "Can you provide all the real data, especially how much medical supplies and food are left? Distribute according to population, and we are almost starving now."
Xiao Ran took a breath and explained: "The public data is written on the main control information board every day. It's not that we don't tell everyone, but it changes every day--" Before he finished speaking, the crowd suddenly burst into questioning.
"You only released half of the information! How is the basement surrounded by the military? Who are the surveillance cameras for? Are we about to become trapped beasts?"
Questions came one after another, and some people directed their questions directly to Xiaoling.
"And that little girl, what is her identity? Why are some supplies preferred to your experimental area? Did something unexpected happen, and all these privileges were given to you?"
Xiao Ran's face turned cold, and he didn't directly answer Xiao Ling's question. He lowered his head and looked at the ground, stopping the volunteers behind him.
Zhou Ming saw the opportunity and pressed the spearhead of his questioning even harder: "Captain Xiao, why can Xiao Ling use special medicine when she is in trouble, but ordinary people like us can only endure our illnesses? If you don't give us an explanation, everyone will be fair in the future-"
Xiao Ran lowered his voice: "Everyone is given medicine according to the list, no preferential treatment! Xiaoling's special situation is all due to the experimental regulations, and has nothing to do with individuals."
His tone became stronger, silencing the other person behind him.
The crowd did not quiet down. Some impatient people rushed to the front of the stage, waving their arms and demanding to pull out the material bills and the actual remaining numbers for verification. The hall suddenly became stuffy.
Several people started pushing and shoving each other, and some tried to tear up the account books. The volunteers worked together to block the crowd, and the air was full of restlessness.
Xiao Ran spread his hands and called a few key members to maintain order. He scratched his forehead and stepped back while comforting: "If all medical and material data are made public today, how can we prevent accidents? It's not that we don't trust you, but there must be a minimum bottom line to hold on. If everyone comes to grab, no one will be able to save anything in the end."
As soon as he finished speaking, another survivor stood up and shouted angrily: "Can you control the people in your team? So many medicines were lost from the medicine warehouse, why didn't anyone find out?" Four or five people directly started a tug-of-war with the management team members.
Xiao Ran raised his hands to block in front of him, his brows furrowed, the situation was critical.
Just as the situation was about to break out and Xiao Ran had barely finished speaking, a volunteer ran to the sidelines and shouted, "Brother Xiao! The main control is calling urgently!"
Xiao Ran squeezed past the crowd and took the intercom. It was Lu Zhao's voice, low and urgent: "There is an abnormal movement in the southeast corner surveillance. The military has dispatched three giant devices to emit high-frequency energy waves at the barrier. The energy fluctuation just now was obviously unstable."
Xiao Ran pursed his lips, squeezed out a path, and whispered: "Understood, I'll ask Su Wanqing to go to the observation point immediately."
He lowered his body and walked towards the back door of the hall, while turning back and shouting: "Everyone go back to your rooms first, the data will be disclosed later! I have to deal with an emergency! Zhou Ming, come to the main control, keep an eye on me if you have any questions!"
After that, he walked quickly to the experimental area and found Su Wanqing, saying in a hurried tone: "Lu Zhao just sent a message that the military has mobilized three giant devices to scan the military frequency band at high frequency. The barrier can no longer hold up."
After listening to this, Su Wanqing only said one sentence: "You control the hall first, I'll go over now."
She clutched the jade bracelet, stuffed the energy core into her pocket, and hurried toward the observation point.
The atmosphere in the monitoring room was tense, and Lu Zhao projected the monitoring screen. On the screen, at the southeast corner of the fortress, three large devices were aimed at the surface of the fortress, and thin bands of light were constantly shining on the surface of the barrier.
The color of the barrier visible to the naked eye has turned a strange gray-blue and is no longer stable.
The energy channel is a mixture of green, blue and purple, and the ripples at the edge are sometimes fast and sometimes slow.
"The frequency is irregular. The barrier fluctuation value has increased by 25%. We will soon be unable to hold on."
Lu Zhao pointed at a few jumping values and reported them to Su Wanqing.
Su Wanqing clutched the jade bracelet and whispered, "They are beginning to test the weak points of Eden's barrier."
She looked at the changing color of the barrier and placed the jade bracelet and instrument in her hand on the monitoring panel.
In a moment, there was a slight vibration in the palm of the hand, and the symbols on the inner wall of the jade bracelet moved linearly, in sync with the energy fluctuations.
She took a deep breath, closed her eyes and concentrated. The vibrations transmitted to her consciousness from the jade bracelet became stronger and stronger, and a dangerous resonance squeezed her eardrums.
The wavelength of the barrier changed from long to short. Su Wanqing clenched her teeth and calculated the current consumption rate and energy pressure.
The estimated time on the screen kept refreshing, and finally stopped at "74 hours and 37 minutes".
"Lu Zhao, if this area continues to be attacked, the military will be able to break through in three days."
Su Wanqing's voice was always calm. She pressed the instrument and asked, "How much defense supplies can the experimental area team mobilize?"
Lu Zhao glanced at the data and said, "The energy reserves have not been completely exhausted, but the hourly consumption is 40% higher than before. The supplies can only last for two days and nights." He glanced at Su Wanqing's expression and did not give any extra explanation.
Su Wanqing used the jade bracelet to rescan the output surface of the barrier. The data stream was fed back and the pointer jumped rapidly, unable to grasp the limit of fluctuation at all.
"All we can do now is to delay and try to hold out for three days before finding the second core. Otherwise, the barrier will definitely be torn apart."
She put away the jade bracelet, recorded the most dangerous area in the southeast corner from the monitoring screen, and entered the energy corresponding to the barrier into the security database.
The gathering at the other end of the hall was far from over. Zhou Ming saw Xiao Ran leave, and continued to pursue the rights defenders with a group of people: "You dare not make it public, are you hiding something? Is the military secretly communicating with someone?"
More and more survivors gathered to watch, and the group grew larger. Many people agreed that everyone should "raise their own supplies", and some even wanted to form a team to manage themselves.
Some people even shouted Xiao Ling and Lin Che's names in dragging voices, criticizing the privileges and distributions. The scene was extremely depressing.
In the medical room of the experimental area, Lin Che lowered his eyes and rested his right hand on his knee.
Xiao Ling sat upright at the head of the bed, pinching her sleeves with her hands, and muttered to the air: "Uncle Golden Eyes said that the strange creatures are getting closer and closer to us, and he wouldn't let me go out. He also said...well, 'You have to stay with your brother to be safe.'"
Lin Che rubbed his temple and said to himself: "Ye, what's wrong with you?"
The deep part of my body was as quiet as a pool of stagnant water, without any echo.
He was a little annoyed and looked down at Xiao Ling: "Who are you talking to?"
Xiao Ling slowly raised her head and mumbled vaguely: "Uncle is here. He said he will wake up after the danger is over."
Lin Che was silent for a moment, feeling strange, but could only bite the bullet and ask, “What else did he say?”
Xiao Ling whispered: "Uncle Golden Eyes said that we must find the 'fragments of the stars'. Only when we find all of them together can the fortress be safe.
He also said that time was running out." After that, the girl yawned a little, lowered her head and grabbed the corner of the quilt without saying a word.
Lin Che frowned and pondered Xiao Ling's words, his mind still a blur.
He felt that his body seemed heavier than the previous two days. Xiaoling's mention of "fragments" reminded him of the fluctuations in his own powers - was it related to Xiaoling? Why did Ye suddenly fall asleep? Was there anyone else who could contact Ye?
At this time, Lin Che heard the noisy voices outside and became upset.
He just wanted to recover quickly so he could go to the main control area to check on the condition of the barrier himself.
Outside, Su Wanqing and Lu Zhao were still worrying about the data in the main control room.
The data refresh rate is getting faster and faster, and the barrier energy consumption and resonance risk almost halve the reserve time.
The shouting from the hall came through the loudspeaker clearly, and the atmosphere in the control room became oppressive.
Su Wanqing adjusted her cuffs, put away the energy core and jade bracelet, and looked at the main control screen.
As time passed, she was still thinking about how to temporarily delay the attack of the three giant devices.
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