ATDIWR Chapter 105

Chapter 105: Desperation and Threat

At R Base, shops were closed, workers were on strike, and Power User teams marched on the streets carrying R Country flags. As they walked down a street, many people would join, forming a vast procession of tens of thousands. So far, R Base only had a population of over a hundred thousand.

The procession arrived at the entrance of the command department and stopped. The leader was a high-level Power User named Takano Hideki.

Takano Hideki held the R Country flag and shouted, “We want to see Commander-in-Chief Kashiwabara Ichiro! We want to talk with the Commander-in-Chief!”

The Power Users behind him followed suit, shouting repeatedly, “We want to see Commander-in-Chief Kashiwabara Ichiro!!!”

Takano Hideki shouted again, “Please, Commander-in-Chief Kashiwabara Ichiro, give us a response! We only want the truth!”

“Please, Commander-in-Chief, give us the truth! We have the right to know the truth!”

Kashiwabara Ichiro stood by the window of the command headquarters, looking down. He could see the people marching outside holding flags. Kashiwabara Ichiro had just hung up a video call with Dwyte, who threatened that he must quickly obtain Jing Shi Base’s core technology, or they would attack R Base. Kashiwabara Ichiro didn’t know how M Country would treat their Base if they couldn’t get Jing Shi Base’s core technology, but he knew that such a punishment was definitely something R Base couldn’t withstand.

Now, his own Base residents were staging a march, which was simply suffering from both internal and external threats.

Kashiwabara Ichiro was anxious and angry, cursing, “A bunch of wastes who can only make fertilizer, they can’t help me, they only cause trouble! If we don’t get Jing Shi Base’s core technology, everyone will die! They’re not thinking of a way to get the technology, instead they’re marching!”

The Deputy Commander-in-Chief immediately echoed, “The residents in the Base are just too comfortable.”

A fierce glint flashed in Kashiwabara Ichiro’s eyes. He said, “Where are the high-level Power Users in the Base? It’s time for them to be useful!”

The Deputy Commander-in-Chief said, “This, this won’t do. There are too many people in this march. If it really gets chaotic and too many people die, especially at this critical juncture, I’m afraid people from Jing Shi Base might take advantage of the situation, sow discord, and then everything will be over.”

Kashiwabara Ichiro said, “I didn’t tell you to actually kill people, can’t you just scare them!”

The Deputy Commander-in-Chief quickly said, “I will arrange it now.”

Soon, a group of high-level Power Users rushed out of the command headquarters. As soon as they came out, they released their abilities in mid-air, displaying their combat power, trying to scare away the marching people.

However, the marching Power Users were not afraid at all. Instead, they were angered by the attitude of the people from the command headquarters. Takano Hideki said angrily, “What does the command headquarters mean by this? Is this military intimidation Kashiwabara Ichiro Commander-in-Chief’s intention?”

“We just want to know the truth!”

Takano Hideki said, “If blood and death are required to have the right to know the truth, I, Takano Hideki, am willing to sacrifice myself, just so that the residents of the entire Base can get the truth!”

Tens of thousands of Power Users behind him shouted in unison, “We are also willing to exchange our lives for the truth, we only ask for the truth!”

“Only ask for the truth!”

“Only ask for the truth!”

The Deputy Commander-in-Chief saw that the marching Power Users were not afraid and that a battle was about to break out. He immediately ran back to find Kashiwabara Ichiro.

Kashiwabara Ichiro was at his wit’s end. He roared, “If they want to die, then let them!”

The Deputy Commander-in-Chief immediately said, “Commander-in-Chief Kashiwabara Ichiro, now is not the time for impulsive actions. If we clash with them now, the situation will be irreversible. Too many people are participating in this march, there are tens of thousands.”

Kashiwabara Ichiro sneered, “There is no one in this world who is not afraid of death. Kill a few people for them to see, and they will know fear. A bunch of reckless fools, they will naturally disperse then.”

“But…” The Deputy Commander-in-Chief wanted to persuade Kashiwabara Ichiro a few more words, but Kashiwabara Ichiro was already furious. He roared at the Deputy Commander-in-Chief, “If I tell you to go, you go! I will be responsible for anything that happens. I am the Commander-in-Chief here!”

“Yes!” Although the Deputy Commander-in-Chief felt that military suppression was not feasible, he did not dare to persuade Kashiwabara Ichiro further. He took the order and went down to convey Kashiwabara Ichiro’s command to the Power Users at the command headquarters.

These R Base warriors immediately attacked the marching Power Users.

The command headquarters’ warriors launched their abilities quickly and fiercely. Takano Hideki and the other marchers did not expect the command headquarters’ Power Users to attack them without any warning. By the time they reacted, many of their companions had already fallen.

This action by the command headquarters was like dropping a drop of cold water into boiling oil. The entire marching team exploded immediately. The Power Users within the marching team immediately counterattacked, and the two sides engaged in battle. The scene was chaotic for a time.

There were more people in the marching team. Although their ability levels were not as high as those at the command headquarters, they fought with disregard for their lives, thinking that killing one was worth it, killing two was a profit. They desperately fought the Power Users from the command headquarters. Soon, the Power Users from the command headquarters fell into a disadvantage, fighting and retreating, and were about to retreat back into the command headquarters, while the marching Power Users were unrelenting and continued to fight, about to charge into the command headquarters.

The Deputy Commander-in-Chief found the situation uncontrollable and could only return to the command headquarters again to report to Kashiwabara Ichiro. Kashiwabara Ichiro cursed angrily again, “Useless! What else can you do right? I just told you to scare them! And those Power Users are also useless, they can’t even defeat a bunch of disorganized fighters, what else can they do!”

The Deputy Commander-in-Chief nodded sheepishly, not daring to speak, but was frantically complaining in his heart, “I told you this wouldn’t work in the first place, wasn’t it you who forcefully issued the command!”

“Commander-in-Chief Kashiwabara Ichiro, the situation is completely out of control now. To prevent those marching Power Users from breaking into the command headquarters, please go down and appease them personally!”

Kashiwabara Ichiro cursed loudly, “What’s the use of me raising you useless bunch if you can’t do anything right? You’re not even as good as raising a dog, at least a dog can wag its tail at me when it sees me!”

Regardless, to prevent the Base residents from charging into the command headquarters, Kashiwabara Ichiro eventually appeared before the marchers.

“Stop fighting, stop fighting! Commander-in-Chief Kashiwabara Ichiro is here! Commander-in-Chief Kashiwabara Ichiro will answer all your questions and give everyone a satisfactory response, the truth!” The Deputy Commander-in-Chief shouted several times in a loud voice, and the two sides gradually stopped fighting.

At this time, blood flowed like a river in front of the command headquarters, bodies were scattered everywhere, and the plaza in front of the command headquarters was blasted with deep pits.

After Kashiwabara Ichiro came out, he changed his expression as if he had learned Sichuan Opera face-changing. He immediately put on a look of deep sorrow and bowed deeply to everyone, saying, “I am very sorry, I came back late, which led to the situation escalating like this and caused such a serious bloodshed.”

Takano Hideki was not deceived by Kashiwabara Ichiro’s feigned performance. He questioned, “Commander-in-Chief Kashiwabara Ichiro, do you mean that the order to attack us just now was not issued by you, but was the personal action of the Deputy Commander-in-Chief?”

“Yes.” Kashiwabara Ichiro replied without hesitation, as if that command to kill and intimidate really hadn’t been issued by him.

The Deputy Commander-in-Chief was dumbfounded and wanted to explain, but was glared back by Kashiwabara Ichiro with a fierce look.

“Then, since this Deputy Commander-in-Chief issued such a command privately, causing so many of us to die and be injured, does the Commander-in-Chief need to give us an explanation?” Takano Hideki pressed aggressively.

Kashiwabara Ichiro nodded, “I will give you a satisfactory response.”

After saying this, without giving anyone a chance to react, Kashiwabara Ichiro suddenly struck at the Deputy Commander-in-Chief. He launched an ability quickly and fiercely, directly blasting the Deputy Commander-in-Chief’s head, without even leaving the opponent a chance to argue.

When the Deputy Commander-in-Chief died, his eyes were wide open, as if in disbelief, unable to rest in peace.

It has to be said that Kashiwabara Ichiro’s action was effective. It appeased the angry and distraught crowd and completely distanced himself from the matter. It seemed as if he really hadn’t known about it beforehand, and everything was done by the Deputy Commander-in-Chief privately.

Kashiwabara Ichiro bowed to the crowd again and sincerely apologized, saying, “I am very sorry that my lateness caused the escalation of this incident. The Base will be responsible for the treatment of all injured people. As for the deceased Power Users, I first express my deep regret here. The Base will be responsible for all their posthumous affairs. For those with families, the Base will also provide compensation. I wonder if you are satisfied with this outcome?”

Takano Hideki and others were also deceived by Kashiwabara Ichiro’s performance. He said, “Your Excellency Commander-in-Chief, none of this is your fault, it was all this person’s own doing, we don’t blame you.”

Kashiwabara Ichiro immediately said, “I am the Commander-in-Chief. As such a thing happened in the Base, I should be responsible no matter what.”

“May I know why you are marching this time, Excellencies? As long as it is something R Base can do, I will do my best.”

Takano Hideki took out a terminal, tapped on it, and a light screen appeared in the air. Takano Hideki said, “Before, Jing Shi Base posted online that they had developed nutrient agents only seen in interstellar sci-fi movies, one dose of which can keep you from being hungry for a day! They said such nutrient agents are very cheap, only a dozen Jing Shi Base credit points per dose, and that a month’s supply of nutrient agents is only equivalent to a day’s wages.”

“They also left messages online, saying that Jing Shi Base now has spatial storage items, which have the same function as Space-type Power Users’ spaces, but can be used by anyone, including ordinary people and children.”

“People from Jing Shi Base also left messages, saying they have treatment pods that can treat severed limbs that even healing-type Power Users cannot heal due to combat.”

“We had asked the command headquarters before whether these things were true or if the people from Jing Shi Base were bragging. At that time, the command headquarters gave us a very firm answer, telling us that all of these were fake. We believed it!”

Takano Hideki said, “Later, people from Jing Shi Base successively posted online that their Base had developed mental scanners and holography, all of which were denied by your command headquarters. We believed it, we believed our command headquarters, we believed our Base. We even mocked the Xia Country people greatly online, saying they were dreaming in broad daylight. But now, Jing Shi Base’s aircraft dropped terminals on our Base, proving that holography is indeed real. So, were those things that were previously completely denied by the command headquarters actually real? We only want the truth!”

Before, Jing Shi Base’s network was an independent internal network and was not connected to the outside world.

With the appearance of terminals, Jing Shi Base opened up its network, connecting with foreign countries, and online messages were visible to everyone.

So, when the Xia Country people left messages online about one magical invention after another, cross-era inventions, inventions that existed in sci-fi movies before the apocalypse, the first reaction of the arrogant R Country people was disbelief.

They did not believe that the stupid Xia Country people could come up with such cross-era research and such amazing inventions, things that the intelligent, noble-blooded M Country people had not developed. How could the Xia Country people develop them!

These R Base people inherently denied this fact, so when R Base’s command headquarters also publicly came out to deny it, they became even more convinced that those online messages were all just boasts from the Xia Country people.

Even though there were videos and evidence everywhere online, the R people seemed blind and couldn’t see them. They only believed what they were willing to believe, only saw what they were willing to see.

It wasn’t until Jing Shi Base dropped terminals into R Base and they witnessed the existence of holography with their own eyes that it directly shattered the self-deceiving fantasies of these R people. A part of the clear-minded R people began to realize that perhaps they were never deceived by the Xia people, but by their own people, their command headquarters, their Base.

The dropping of terminals was random. Some terminals were seized by R people. These R people, overcoming various difficulties, finally managed to log in to the terminals and found that they could engage in real combat in the holographic world. They wanted to flex their muscles and beat the Xia Country people until they cried out, letting the Xia Country people know how powerful the R Country people were.

But reality taught them a lesson. R Country people were beaten so badly they cried for their parents. They discovered that the mental power of the Xia Country people, especially those from Jing Shi Base, was extremely strong.

It was so strong that even their mental-type Power Users found it difficult to mentally invade ordinary people.

At this point, they had to open their eyes to the world and admit their ignorance. They had unknowingly been left far behind by Xia Country in both economic and military power.

The R Country people, who had always been arrogant in front of the Xia Country people, could not accept this result. They pushed everything onto R Base, believing that the Base’s concealment caused everything that happened today.

Kashiwabara Ichiro didn’t dare to admit it before because he was afraid of causing the current situation, afraid that these ignorant residents would force them to buy those things from Jing Shi Base. They had no idea how difficult Jing Shi Base was to deal with.

But with things escalating to this point, Kashiwabara Ichiro had no choice but to admit it. Kashiwabara Ichiro could only brace himself and say, “We also only recently investigated and clarified the truth of the matter, and were about to inform everyone. The research results mentioned online are true, but they are not as exaggerated as rumored online.”

This was R Base’s usual tactic, to suppress Jing Shi Base’s image among their own residents.

For some technologies, they would deny their existence. If they couldn’t hide it anymore, they would say that those technologies were not that advanced, and that everything was just the Xia Country people exaggerating, turning children’s toy-like playthings into the greatest and most cutting-edge technology.

But this time, their usual successful rhetoric did not work. Because they held the real terminals in their hands and personally experienced the magic of holography, even finding that holography was more magical and powerful than what the Xia people described online.

So, how magical would the nutrient agents, treatment pods, mental scanners, and spatial storage items, also highly praised by the Xia people, be? Would they really be as magical as the Xia people claimed?

Takano Hideki and the others felt that they had been deceived. Thinking back to the things they had said online repeatedly criticizing the Xia Country people for dreaming, it only exposed their short-sightedness and ignorance. The R Country people felt a burning sensation in their faces.

Takano Hideki asked, “Why did you deceive us? Why didn’t you tell us the truth?”

Kashiwabara Ichiro immediately said, “When the Base discovered the online messages from the Xia Country people, we immediately contacted Jing Shi Base. However, the people from Jing Shi Base were arrogant and rude, and were unwilling to establish diplomatic relations with our Base. Ultimately, after overcoming various difficulties, we finally investigated and found out the truth of the matter.”

“Of course, after learning the truth, we immediately planned to inform the Base residents. The date had also been chosen, it was three days from now. We just didn’t expect such a regrettable incident to happen today.”

“However, here I can guarantee with my integrity that while the Xia Country people do indeed have those things, they are absolutely not as magical as they described online.”

Takano Hideki and the others once again believed Kashiwabara Ichiro’s words. Although they had been deceived by the Base and the command headquarters once before, compared to that, they found it even harder to accept that the Xia Country people had really developed so well.

While they were still unable to eat their fill, while they were still worried about whether they would have food tomorrow, the Xia Country people were already not worried about the issue of food. They were already eating nutrient agents that only existed in interstellar movies.

Kashiwabara Ichiro successfully appeased Takano Hideki and the marching people and promised high compensation. The matter thus passed.

On the other side, within the Xia Country street in R Base, some Xia Country people gathered together to talk. Some of these Xia Country people were there for tourism, some were visiting relatives, and some were stranded there due to business trips or visiting friends and couldn’t return.

Now they were gathered together, discussing intensely, “The online messages are all true, our country has really developed those magical research results.”

A man who had immigrated to R Country decades ago and changed his Japanese name to Matsushita Hon rolled his eyes and said, “Didn’t you hear Commander-in-Chief Kashiwabara Ichiro say that although those research results exist, the technology is not mature at all and is not as magical as the online messages claim, it’s just like children’s toys?”

Gao Wanli, the representative of the Xia Country Guild in R Base, said angrily, “Matsushita Hon, don’t forget which country’s blood flows in your veins just because you’ve taken an R Country name.”

The other Power Users immediately glared angrily. Matsushita Hon said defiantly, “It’s no use looking at me like that, this is the truth. The truth is that Xia Country cannot win against M Country at all. M Country has always been far ahead in the field of research. If M Country hasn’t developed something, it’s impossible for the Xia Country people to develop it.”

“I’m just telling the truth, being realistic. It’s no use even if you stare me to death!”

Gao Wanli immediately said, “Then how do you explain holography?”

“The facts prove that holography exists. Jing Shi Base, to allow us Xia Country people stranded abroad to obtain holography and train through holography to improve our combat power, giving us a greater chance of surviving in a foreign land during the apocalypse, didn’t hesitate to spend a lot of manpower and financial resources to freely drop a large number of terminals!”

Gao Wanli said, “Isn’t this kindness worth our gratitude?”

Matsushita Hon sneered and pouted, “Feigning sincerity. If Jing Shi Base really cared about you as much as they show, they would take you away!”

“You…”

“Forget it, forget it, don’t talk to him. He is no longer a Xia Country person, he is just a dog of R Country now.”

Several Xia Country people pulled the furious Gao Wanli away. After separating from Matsushita Hon, Gao Wanli and the others sighed, “If only Jing Shi Base could really come and pick us up, I really miss home. If I had known the apocalypse would come, I wouldn’t have gone abroad to study. I wonder how my family is doing now?”

Everyone fell into silence. Gao Wanli looked around at this time, and seeing no suspicious people nearby, he said, “Perhaps we can really go back soon.”

The eyes of several people lit up instantly. Among them, only Gao Wanli had managed to get a terminal. Everyone looked at Gao Wanli, “What did you see in the holographic world?”

“Jing Shi Base has a special post for Xia Country people stranded abroad. The Commander-in-Chief of Jing Shi Base personally responded yesterday. He said he will find a way to take us who want to return home, but we have to be patient for a while longer, but he promised that the day will not be too far away.”

“Really, was it really the Commander-in-Chief of Jing Shi Base who left the message?”

“Yes.”

Several Power Users were excited. Their hearts were pounding, almost jumping out of their chests.

Inside Jing Shi Base, Gu Jinsheng asked Ji An, “How confident are you in bringing back all the people stranded abroad?”

Ji An said, “Seventy percent.”

“The difficult part is not picking them up, but how to gather the people together, and how to take them away without alarming the local command headquarters,” said Ji An.

Zhou Qin nodded, “That is indeed the main problem. Now, every Base wants our Base’s technology. Once we show our intention to bring back the stranded Xia Country people, those Bases will not release them easily and will definitely demand our technology in exchange.”

Wan Xueying said, “Ji Shen, how is your research going now?”

Wan Xueying didn’t know what Ji An was researching, but had a vague idea that it was related to this pickup plan.

Ji An said, “This one is not difficult, it’s already in the final stages.”

Just then, a staff member knocked a few times in a panic, and then, without waiting for Gu Jinsheng and the others to reply, he pushed the door open in a hurry. The staff member’s face was pale with fright. He said, “Commander-in-Chief Gu, Vice Commanders, it’s bad! Please go and see, Kashiwabara Ichiro is live-streaming on the public channel, demanding that we hand over all core technology, otherwise he will kill the people of our country who are stranded in their country!”