Chapter 270 The deepest hidden thing is...
Temporary evacuation?
In the laboratory, both sides were restrained during the confrontation, and only some fragile glass test tubes were shattered.
Ulrich and the others paused slightly, their expressions somewhat subtle.
After learning the general story from Connet, they were not surprised that the other party chose to withdraw.
The question is, once they leave here, can the Torch Organization still suppress them?
At least, it is unlikely that any quarantine zone will be created.
Cornett ignored everyone's thoughts and said in a deep voice, "Time is running out. You all should probably pack up your things. We will send someone to assist you."
"Wait, where is the evidence you just mentioned?" Seeing that Connit was about to cover up the matter, Ulrich immediately interrupted with a flickering look in his eyes.
Cornett's expression subsided, "Follow me."
A few minutes later, in the small conference room, the virtual imaging device kept switching between various images, and the printed materials were distributed to everyone, who passed them around to look at them.
Ulrich's eyes were filled with wonder, and he was secretly surprised. He took a quick look at the relevant evidence about Deyes. Most of them were closely linked, and some contradictions could be explained away by the "mysterious methods of the great mechanic."
Li Ming noticed that the Torch Organization also deliberately concealed a lot of evidence, including the mechanical pocket watch, probably because they did not want to leak more information about Deyes.
"The Torch Organization suffered heavy losses this time, no wonder they are so angry, but..." he pondered in his heart.
The others didn't care much about this matter. They took a few casual glances and soon dispersed.
On the way back, Sandro was still muttering, "Could this Deyes really be hiding inside the Torch Organization? If he tries to do something else, we'll be in great danger."
No one paid any attention to him. They all returned to their rooms and subconsciously locked the door. Li Ming lay on his back on the bed.
"Cornet is quite suspicious."
He guessed that Connet might become suspicious in the face of all the evidence, but he didn't expect that the other party would come to test them directly without even having time to recover from his injuries.
However, he managed to outmaneuver him, so the matter was left unresolved.
"The evidence that Deyes is collaborating with the enemy is not false..." Li Ming shook his head. He was not afraid of lies, but he was afraid of nine truths and one lie.
Ninety percent of the evidence is true and can be verified within the Torch Organization base.
Even if the audio files have been recompiled, it is still a lot of work to find one or two false statements among the real conversations.
In this situation, Cornett still wanted to put the blame on him. It was not just that he was suspicious by nature, but he was simply paranoid.
Li Ming was packing up his things casually when his eyes suddenly flashed. "No, I'm thinking wrongly. He's not necessarily suspecting me, he's suspecting everyone."
"On the surface, I seem to have the highest level of skills, but I'm also quite mysterious. If anything bad happens, I'll be the first person they think of."
Shaking his head, of course, the personality that one displays to the outside world is not completely without benefits.
At least the other party has to think twice before taking action.
Deyes has disappeared without a trace, and the sublimator has not yet fully completed the remaining parts and still depends on him.
Whether it is testing or suspicion, it can only be suppressed temporarily.
Not long after I finished cleaning, someone suddenly knocked on the door. It was Theo, wearing a neat black suit, thin and gloomy.
Li Ming was surprised and asked him to come in. Theo nodded slightly.
After closing the door, the two sat opposite each other. Neither spoke at first, and the atmosphere was quiet and silent.
Finally, Theo spoke first, expressionless: "Do you think Deyes really has that kind of ability and means?"
"Maybe." Li Ming remained noncommittal. "This shouldn't have anything to do with us. The losses are all attributed to the Torch Organization."
"But with Deyes's disappearance, the production of the sublimator has reached a bottleneck." Theo stared at the master mechanic in front of him with gloomy eyes. "I wonder if Your Excellency Qinglong has given any thought to the next step in the production process."
"So what if there is one?" Li Ming tapped the table carelessly. "So what if there isn't one?"
Theo was silent for a moment, then added, "I don't think the Torch Organization's plans and ideas will succeed."
The topic seemed to jump a bit, and Li Ming grinned and chuckled, "Sir Theo, if those people from the Torch Organization heard this, it wouldn't be good."
"That's the truth," Theo said solemnly. "The Torch Organization only operates in the Silver Star Cluster. Calling them a regional resistance organization is flattering them."
"They are accustomed to taking advantage of the situation under the pressure of the Itlan civilization, and perhaps they think this action is similar to many previous ones."
"But in reality, they don't have the right to take advantage of the situation this time. The Xingyuan Empire has already intervened. If they insist on going their own way, they will only bring about their own destruction."
Is this referring to the Torch Organization or me?
Li Ming narrowed his eyes and asked, "So, in your opinion, what should the Torch Organization do to survive?"
"The Xingyuan Empire's intervention is just a broad concept. In essence, it is still two forces fighting each other. The Itlan Civilization is one side, and the Torch Organization can completely choose the other side." Theo said in a deep voice.
Let him choose? Li Ming held his chin with one hand, looking nonchalant. Theo continued:
"After all, this is within the Xingyuan Empire's sphere of influence. If we really confront the Xingyuan Empire, is there any hope of survival?"
Li Ming pondered for a moment, then suddenly asked, "Is it really Grand Duke Gu Ya behind you?"
Theo's face changed slightly. He was playing a riddle well, but it was suddenly put on the table. This made Theo a little uncomfortable, but he quickly adjusted himself and asked, "What do you think?"
He didn't think Li Ming would tell on them. They were all in the same boat now. Anyone who wanted to jump ship would be seeking his own death.
Li Ming smiled slightly and then asked, "What do you want me to do?"
Theo hesitated for a moment before saying, "Make the sublimator, and then help me get this thing. Apart from the sublimation source crystal, you can choose anything else."
"Tsk..." Li Ming mused, "Sounds like the conditions are similar to those of the Torch Organization. Really not very attractive."
Theo frowned and wanted to say something, but was interrupted by Li Ming: "There's no rush for this matter, let me think about it."
He stood up, as if he was seeing the guest off.
Theo frowned slightly. He thought that after letting Sandro convey his wishes last time, Qinglong had given it some thought and had a tendency in his mind.
There's no need to be so hesitant now. Seeing that time is running out and the manufacturing progress has come to a standstill, Theo couldn't help but feel anxious.
Seeing the other party's obvious intention to send him away, his eyes turned slightly cold, and he said with a cold face, "I hope you will consider it carefully." Then he left.
The Torch Organization is also very anxious and will definitely increase the price to let Qinglong produce it.
Although the two were on the same front not long ago, jointly dealing with the threat from the Torch Organization, it was not for anyone, but out of their own interests.
Therefore, Li Ming has no intention of helping Theo now.
He doesn't care who gets the sublimator. What he cares about most is whether it is in his own interests.
"You'll make mistakes if you're hasty." Li Ming shook his head.
Next, it is time for the Torch Organization to prepare for evacuation. It is obviously impossible for such a large organization to be completely evacuated in a short period of time.
In addition to the large number of staff and the cleaning of various instruments, there is even the temporary sealing of the dimensional cracks.
It's called an emergency evacuation, but it won't be done in less than ten days or half a month.
Things have their priorities, and it is obviously impossible for Cornett to wait until the last group of unimportant staff have been packed up before leaving.
They would naturally be the first group to head towards the Red River Star Stream as quickly as possible.
There wasn't much to carry, basically just the entire core laboratory emptied out, plus some necessary supplies.
In order to avoid any accidents, Li Ming only used [Shadow Sting] to go out once in three or four days, mainly to inquire about the evacuation of the warehouse where the dimensional crystals were stored.
What surprised and reassured him was that those dimensional crystals would follow Connit and the others onto the main ship and head to the vicinity of the Red River Star Stream.
When Li Ming first heard the news, he was very surprised, but then he thought about it and understood. In his opinion, this was a valuable item.
But in the eyes of the Torch Organization, these things are weapons. They will face the battle for the core ruins next, so they naturally have to take these weapons with them.
After confirming this, Li Ming felt relieved.
Two days after the laboratory standoff, Ted was reporting to the main base's senior management on the relevant evacuation work.
"The overall retreat plan is divided into five phases. The first phase is entering its final stages. The Conil and its affiliated fleet are ready and can depart at any time."
"The withdrawal of the second batch of experimental personnel and mid-level core personnel is also on track..."
As Cornett listened, the scars on his skin had almost healed, and the bloody hole in his left eye was wrapped with white gauze.
Keweisi leaned on the sofa, his head tilted back in a strange posture.
After finishing the report, Ted hurried away. As soon as he walked out of the door, he ran into Pierre who was walking quickly. The two passed each other and nodded slightly.
"Chief, Your Excellencies..." After entering, Pierre greeted them and quickly reported:
"According to the leader's previous orders, my colleagues and I from the Internal Affairs Department have compiled the timelines of all the Grand Mechanics and Class A lifeforms during this period."
"According to analysis, the timeline of Zog and the others being hypnotized does not match up on several occasions, as he was in the core laboratory at the time."
"Oh?" Ke Weiss looked up, interested. "Is there anyone whose timeline matches perfectly?"
"Yes." Pierre nodded and said, "Theo, Ulrich, Huber, Sandro, Brot..."
"Neither of them are master mechanics?" Corvis frowned. Cornett subconsciously asked, "No Azure Dragon?"
"No, there was a time when Zog was hypnotized and the surveillance footage clearly captured him walking down the corridor."
Pierre hesitated. "Except for the fact that his mechanical body wanders the corridors every day, that's all."
"Theo..." Fernande looked unhappy and felt an inexplicable chill on the back of his neck.
"I think he has the biggest problem. He was able to get so close to us without being detected. I'm afraid it won't be difficult for him to sneak into the main base."
"Or maybe Brot... He wasn't dead yet." Corvis shook his head. "The problem now is that Deyes is dead. Now it seems that Qinglong is the only one who can take over the manufacture of the sublimator."
"He seems to be a bit passive, waiting for the right price."
Fernand frowned, glanced at Pierre, and waved him off. After the door closed again, he said in a deep voice, "Even if the sublimator is built, we don't have any sublimation particles to use."
Cornett put his hands behind his back and said, "The most urgent thing is..."
He was interrupted by the ringing of the video terminal. "Chief, Master Mechanic Benny wishes to meet with you and the other two Excellencies."
"Benny?" The three of them looked at each other.
Not long after, in the small conference room, they saw Benny, who was hunched over, with his pale yellow skin full of wrinkles and age spots.
"Sir Benny..." Cornett asked him to sit down. Corvez seemed indifferent and Fernand had a sullen face.
Among the four great mechanics, Qinglong is the most mysterious, Deyes contributes the most, Jessia is an A-level mechanical modified body, and Benny's presence is very low.
"Hey guys..." Benny gave a helpless smile, "The production of the sublimator has been stagnant for several days. If we don't think of a solution, we might not be able to catch up with the tide period."
"Why did we invite you here?" Fernand said rudely. "If Deyes disappears, you can't do anything?"
Cornett shook his head and said calmly, "We understand what you mean and will deal with this matter as soon as possible."
"No, you don't understand." Benny's expression became restrained. He looked around at the three people, his face becoming unpredictable. "Mr. Corvis is right, but even if the sublimator is manufactured, can you use it?"
"Huh?" Cornett was quite surprised to notice Benny's different attitude.
"You..." Fernande looked at Benny in surprise and suspicion.
Benny smiled and said leisurely, "When any civilization collapses, it will always leave behind fire, its core technology, its core people, and its core culture."
"Some may be lost in the interstellar space, but some will always exist..."
"Okay." Keweisi interrupted and asked with interest: "You mean, you are a remnant of the Ascendant civilization?"
"I remember them not looking like this, right?"
"Unfortunately, you guessed wrong." Benny shook his head, "I'm not a survivor of the Ascended, but I can contact them."
The room was silent. Cornett stared at him. "No wonder you agreed so quickly."
Then, his expression calmed down. After Deyes's "baptism", his psychological endurance had improved a lot. He said solemnly: "You or what do they want? I can't give you the Sublimation Source Crystal, but we can discuss other things."
Benny maintained his good-natured smile and asked, "Even if you get the Sublimation Source Crystal, can you use it?"
"Another genetic verification mechanism." Ke Weisi had guessed it and sneered, "Only the Ascendant Clan can use it, right?"
"You could say that, but it's more than that." Benny smiled grimly, "Actually, we can cooperate."
(End of this chapter)
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