Chapter 82 Beishan Town - 3 Tang Bufan listened attentively...
Tang Bufan listened attentively and roughly understood the division of these three forces.
"The peacekeeping faction is the political circle, the new business alliance is the business circle, and the Academy of Sciences is the science and technology circle?" Tang Bufan asked.
“Yes, but the three circles interfere with each other. For example, the chairmen of the New Business Alliance and the Academy of Sciences are both members of parliament, but they are both neutral.” As Lu Yi spoke, he drew his finger in the air, and Evelyn projected photos of the three humans into the air.
The photo shows two men and one woman, each identified as a leader of one of three factions.
Tang Bufan sat up from the sofa and looked at the information on the three leaders with Lu Yi.
“Yu Fen, the current chairman of the peacekeeping faction, is 53 years old this year. The peace treaty was signed by the peacekeeping faction on behalf of the humans in the East District Underground City. Although the chairman is democratically elected on the surface, the entire faction was taken over by the Yu family more than a hundred years ago. Now, the Yu family members account for as much as 70% of the high-ranking members of the peacekeeping faction, and the chairman has been a member of the Yu family for nine consecutive terms.” Lu Yi said to Tang Bufan while looking at the information.
Tang Bufan found it strange: "An entire party has been taken over by a family... Isn't that the style of a mafia?"
The Italian Mafia and the Japanese Yamaguchi-gumi are examples of political parties centered around families.
“Back when the world was in chaos, in many places, gangs were indeed equivalent to the government,” Lu Yi said to Tang Bufan, but then looked at the middle-aged man in a suit and tie: “But the peacekeeping faction is not to the level of a gang. The New Business Alliance and the Academy of Sciences can check and balance it. It’s just that it is responsible for most public services in the underground city, and it is also responsible for the annual handover of prisoners with the Orc Federation.”
Therefore, the arrest warrant for Tang Bufan was issued by the peacekeeping faction, but this does not necessarily mean that the Rebooters organization was backing them. It is also possible that the New Business Alliance or the Academy of Sciences used their own connections.
Tang Bufan understood and his gaze fell on the woman in the middle. She was a beautiful woman with big wavy hair and red lipstick, wearing a white Chanel-style suit. Her features were bold and sharp, and she looked more like a female celebrity than a leader.
"Fang Yue, the new business alliance chairman, is 37 years old..." Tang Bufan looked at the woman's information on the virtual screen and said in surprise, "She's so young, and why is her surname Fang?"
“The New Business Alliance is an alliance of tens of thousands of companies.” Lu Yi understood what he was wondering: “The Pei family’s company used to rank in the teens. Now, although its capital has risen to the top, it is not an all-powerful entity in the New Business Alliance. Fang Yue was elected by hundreds of other companies. She was probably chosen to counterbalance the Pei family.”
"But isn't she a bit too young?" Tang Bufan asked doubtfully. As the chairman of one of the three major forces, she was indeed too young. "Is her family also very powerful?"
“No, she is an orphan.” Lu Yi raised his hand and clicked on the virtual screen in the air, and Fang Yue’s detailed information popped up.
"She used to belong to the Education and Culture Group, which, like the peacekeeping faction, was a pro-beast faction. So, at a group meeting 24 years ago, the Education and Culture Group was attacked by the resistance faction. The entire venue exploded, killing 95% of the senior staff and destroying the Education and Culture Group. Fang Yue was 13 years old at the time. She escaped the center of the explosion because she took her younger brother to the toilet, but they were trapped under the rubble for two days before being rescued. Her brother's right hand became necrotic and had to be amputated. Her parents, grandparents, and maternal grandparents all perished in the terrorist attack. Later, her brother suffered from post-traumatic stress disorder and committed suicide in his room, leaving her an orphan."
Tang Bufan listened with a sigh, looking at the woman in the photo with a graceful smile, finding it hard to imagine how she had gotten through that time.
"Later, she joined the New Business Alliance and used her parents' inheritance to start a food company. She started selling products through live streaming and gradually grew the company. With the accumulated funds, she entered the construction industry and produced fully enclosed eco-friendly container houses. Because the environment in the East District Underground City has deteriorated significantly, her fully enclosed eco-friendly container houses are selling very well. She is now the 16th richest woman in the East District Underground City," Lu Yi continued.
"Wow, this woman's life is so inspiring." Tang Bufan was full of admiration and roughly understood the intentions of the many companies in the New Business Alliance who voted for her to be the chairperson, because compared to other families, she, as a woman, was not as threatening.
“Actually…” Lu Yi looked at Tang Bufan sitting opposite him and honestly told him, “My purpose in going to the Eastern Federation was to find her.”
Tang Bufan was stunned and looked at him.
“Her eco-friendly container houses can be used on the ground,” Lu Yi said. “She was also the one who negotiated with the Eastern Federation to build a new human surface base. When she became the chairman of the New Business Alliance, the Asian earthquake had already occurred. At that time, the Eastern District Underground City was in chaos due to the earthquake. Her election declaration was to lead humanity back to the surface.”
Tang Bufan understood. He looked at Lu Yi through the virtual screen and asked, "You also want to bring the humans from the West District underground city up?"
“I need to take a look at her cabin and her new human base construction plan first,” Lu Yi said, turning to look out the desolate window. “The ground environment isn’t ready for humans to live normally yet. If we send humans up here without thorough preparation, they will start to weaken and get poisoned, just like the teacher.”
The orcs' reproduction depends on humans, and if humans encounter problems, the orcs will also fall into difficulties.
Tang Bufan looked at him with satisfaction, thinking that his Lu Yi was indeed cautious and capable.
"No wonder the humans in the West District Underground City like you," Tang Bufan said with a smile. "Because you genuinely care about them."
Lu Yi looked away, his face slightly flushed from Tang Bufan's praise. He said shyly, "I haven't done anything for humanity yet."
"Didn't you already improve the criminal allocation system?" Tang Bufan continued to praise him, "And the preliminary investigation of the plan was also quite important."
"It's a pity that the Rebooters have interfered now." Lu Yi sighed, "If the mutated poison people become rampant, even if the box houses and the new base are useful, humans won't be suitable to come up here. What is that organization thinking?"
At this moment, Evelyn suddenly spoke up, "Louis, the Western Federal Research Institute recently discovered that those mutated poisonous humans mixed with plant genes are extremely suitable as soil fertilizer. Their corpses decompose rapidly, and the microorganisms produced during this period will consume pollutants, achieving a certain purification and fertilization effect on the soil."
Lu Yi and Tang Bufan were both stunned.
"You mean... those mutated poison people can purify the polluted soil?" Lu Yi asked in surprise, his eyes brightening slightly.
“These are their corpses,” Evelyn said gently. “But they are not easy to kill, and they are very aggressive towards orcs. Their genes have been inserted with sequences that are sensitive to orcs.”
Just like acrophobia and claustrophobia, what we dislike and fear can be influenced by genes.
“In that case, I can understand why they allowed the mutated poison people to proliferate…” Lu Yi said solemnly.
Tang Bufan, who was standing to the side, was filled with mixed emotions as he listened. "That organization is doing what they think is right... but what about me? What is the purpose of the experiments on me?"
“Madam, the success of time travel itself has historical and scientific significance,” Evelyn said.
"..." Tang Bufan remained silent, then muttered strangely, "Don't call me 'Madam' like Anderson did, just call me Little Tang."
Evelyn is a female character, so it feels really strange for Tang Bufan, a man, to be called "Madam" by her gentle female voice.
“Okay, Tang.” Evelyn then gently changed her address.
Lu Yi raised his hand and swiped the virtual screen again, returning to the photos of the three people. The chairman of the East District Underground City Academy of Sciences was a 73-year-old man named Yuan Xiao. Compared with Fang Yue, whose background was full of hardships, this old man's information was very standard. He had climbed up the ranks little by little through scientific research achievements and seniority.
Lu Yi specifically searched for his scientific research achievements. The old man mainly studied plants and did manage to fight against the mutated poison people to some extent, but his focus was on hydroponic production of food. He developed many hydroponic genetically modified fruits and vegetables, which greatly improved the food self-sufficiency rate of the underground city. He was a gentle and kind old man who was well loved by the residents of the underground city and did not seem like someone who would support radical resistance factions.
But the Rebooters must be backed by some bigwig in the dungeon. Who could it be?
The two pondered for a long time, but neither could be sure. However, they both felt it couldn't be Fang Yue, because her entire family had been wiped out by the resistance faction.
At this moment, the clouds in the sky gradually thickened, and Tang Bufan gradually smelled a faint burning smell, the kind of smell that comes from burning fields. He had smelled it when he was a child and stayed in the village with his grandfather. So, out of curiosity, he leaned out of the window to look around.
The RV was still driving on the abandoned road. The large poplar trees on both sides were fewer, many of them had been cut down, leaving only thick stumps. Sure enough, large fields appeared on the plain ahead, divided into irregular sections.
Tang Bufan spotted several figures. The snow here was less than in Beijing, and the temperature was higher. The coldest month of January was almost over, so the orcs were probably preparing for spring planting.
But the smell of burning food didn't come from the fields, but from that small town at the foot of the mountain in the distance.
"Lu Yi! We've arrived!" Tang Bufan called out to Lu Yi, who then stuck his head out of the window.
The mountain was short and stout, with snow on its summit and darkness at its base. The town itself was also dark, hidden in the shadows of the mountains and the snow, making it difficult to see clearly.
Dozens of plumes of black smoke rose high into the air, connecting the town to the sky. They were not ordinary cooking smoke, but smoke from workshops.
"Did Wan Bing ever mention what his hometown is like?" Tang Bufan asked Lu Yi curiously.
Lu Yi didn't quite remember. His eyesight was better than Tang Bufan's, so he could see more clearly that the smoke coming out wasn't from a factory, but from earthen kilns built with mud, each with a large chimney.
“I forgot, but the one emitting smoke is an earthen kiln,” Lu Yi told Tang Bufan. He had seen the figures of low-level beastmen, dressed in tattered clothes, carrying hoes, walking along the abandoned roadside.
The orc also heard the sound of the RV moving, so he turned around, a look of surprise on his dark face, and then deliberately climbed over the highway railing to the side.
"Teacher, please pull your body back." Lu Yi was a little worried. Some low-level beastmen were very bold and would try to snatch things from people through the car window.
And there was a table right next to their car window.
Tang Bufan nodded, also noticing the growing smell of burning in the air, and pulled himself back.
Lu Yi closed the window, and the two of them entered the driver's seat one after the other.
The mountain looked close, but it was farther than expected when we drove there. And because people started walking on the road, Kai slowed down.
As dusk approached, the town was dimly lit due to the lack of electricity. Tang Bufan and Lu Yi were stared at curiously from behind their vehicle. The lowly beastmen were amazed when they saw their appearance, but they were all honest and kind people, with simple smiles on their weathered, dark faces.
Soon, the RV arrived at the entrance of the town. Actually, Tang Bufan felt it was more like a village than a town. Several orcs were gathered on both sides of the stone pier, chatting and playing cards. When the RV appeared, they all turned to look at it.
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