ATDIWR Chapter 115

Chapter 115 Mecha and the Punishment of Li Mo

On the day Rielwe was brought back, Ji An and Gu Jinsheng live-streamed the immigration online. There was no grand welcome ceremony, but it was solemn and dignified.

Rielwe and his family were draped in the national flag and solemnly swore an oath to the national flag.

“I, Rielwe, voluntarily join the nationality of Summer Country today. From now on, Summer Country is my motherland. I voluntarily fight for my motherland, shed my blood, protect my motherland, and protect my compatriots.”

The scene of Rielwe and others standing under the national flag and swearing allegiance went viral online through the live broadcast, and Charles also saw this scene.

Charles’s single eye bulged with anger, like a toad.

Rielwe’s family was an old noble family in Country M, and quite famous. Charles knew the Rielwe family. He never dreamed that the Rielwe family would immigrate. Looking at Rielwe, draped in the national flag and swearing allegiance to another Summer Country, Charles wished he could tear him into a thousand pieces through the screen.

Rielwe’s joining caused a storm both online and within the HSD Base. Many old families began to seriously consider the issue of immigration.

Some families who were relatively close to the Rielwe family contacted Rielwe privately.

“Why did you suddenly immigrate?” asked old friend Kritchev.

Rielwe smiled and said, “Kritchev, I don’t regret immigrating. On the contrary, I regret not immigrating sooner. You don’t know how developed the Jing Shi Base is now. Compared to the HSD Base, this place is simply paradise. Before I came, I never thought the Jing Shi Base would be so prosperous. After I came, I suddenly felt like I had returned to the days before the apocalypse descended.”

Kritchev said, “Rielwe, you’re not lying to me, are you?”

Rielwe said, “No. I can only say that everything good you see about the Jing Shi Base online is actually less than one-tenth of the reality in the Jing Shi Base.”

Kritchev said, “Okay, I’ll take your word for it. But even so, that shouldn’t be your real reason for immigrating. Rielwe, we are old friends. Can you tell me your real reason?”

Rielwe lowered his eyes, pondered for a long time, and said, “Alright, I’ll tell you the truth. If you believe it, think carefully about the future. If you don’t believe what I say, just pretend I’ve gone mad and said some nonsense.”

Kritchev nodded.

Rielwe said, “You should have seen the fate of Country R Base. Country R no longer exists, and now the entire island has become a base for clones.

It’s no secret why those clones in Country R were created; everyone knows now.

Country R has always been, if not a colony of Country M, at least a lackey of Country M. I don’t believe that Country M had no hand in Country R manufacturing clones.”

Kritchev said, “So you are afraid that one day, Country M will follow the old path of Country R.”

“That’s one reason. The second reason is that Summer Country’s scientific research and economic strength are already at least a hundred years ahead of Country M, but Charles doesn’t think about befriending Summer Country and keeps looking for trouble with Summer Country. Eventually, Summer Country will lose patience, and a great war is bound to break out. By then, I’m afraid Country M will lose completely.”

Kritchev asked, “Rielwe, are you that optimistic about Summer Country?”

“It’s not that I’m optimistic, but that Summer Country now has this strength. You are not in the Jing Shi Base, so perhaps you can’t feel it. When you are in this environment, you will know how stable and prosperous it is.”

Kritchev looked at Rielwe and said, “I will seriously consider this matter.”

Many small bases in Europe saw that even old noble families like Rielwe had joined the Jing Shi Base. These small bases had indeed run out of supplies and couldn’t survive on their own, so they all requested to join Summer Country.

As long as Summer Country could feed them, they were willing to be Summer Country people and willing to defend Summer Country.

For a time, the Jing Shi Base welcomed an immigration boom. People from all over the world requested to join Summer Country.

The Jing Shi Base had to expand to accommodate so many immigrants, which led to some bases on Summer Country’s territory seeing that even Europeans were eager to join the Jing Shi Base, and felt that as Summer Country people, they should join the Jing Shi Base even more.

The population of the Jing Shi Base saw its first surge. Fortunately, the Jing Shi Base now had many factories that needed a large number of workers, so all of them were accepted.

After Li Mo from Z Base was brought back by his parents, he was arranged to live within the Jing Shi Base like other stranded personnel.

Initially afraid of Gu Jinsheng’s retaliation, Father Li and Mother Li kept their presence to a minimum, acting as if they didn’t exist. After living peacefully in the Jing Shi Base for more than two months, Father Li and Mother Li started to become restless, wanting to return to Z Base to reunite with Li Mo.

Z Base was a thousand miles away from Jing Shi Base. It was unrealistic for Li Mo’s parents to walk back. After discussing it with Li Mo, they actually went directly to the Command Center.

“Commander-in-Chief Gu, my husband and I have been bothering your base for so long. It’s time to return to our own base. Do you think you could provide a hovercar to send us back, or open up an air route so our son can come pick us up?” Perhaps because Gu Jinsheng and the Jing Shi Base had not made things difficult for the couple since bringing them back, they made this request to Gu Jinsheng with quite a sense of entitlement.

Gu Jinsheng tilted his head and looked at Li Mo’s parents. He recognized the couple at first glance, but Gu Jinsheng deliberately pretended not to recognize them and asked Zhou Qin, “Who are they?”

Li Mo’s parents were a bit awkward. Zhou Qin said, “They are the parents of Commander-in-Chief Li Mo from Z Base?”

“Z Base?” Gu Jinsheng was confused.

Zhou Qin cooperatively said, “That’s the base commander-in-chief who took our base’s core technology, then tore up the contract and gave it to Country R in exchange for his family.”

Gu Jinsheng said, “That traitorous commander-in-chief, hasn’t been dealt with yet?”

As soon as Gu Jinsheng uttered the word “traitorous,” Li Mo’s parents’ hearts pounded several times. A sense of ominous foreboding struck the two old people’s hearts. Li Mo’s parents immediately defended their son, saying, “Why do you say my son is a traitor? My son was just being filial, trying to exchange that technology to get us old folks back. At most, he was just selfish, absolutely not a traitor.”

Father Li said, “If you had told my son clearly that your Jing Shi Base had such powerful hovercars and could easily rescue us hostages, my son wouldn’t have been so desperate to exchange our lives for the technology.”

Zhou Qin was almost amused by the shamelessness of these two. “If your son was so capable, you should have asked him to rescue you in the first place. Why did you shamelessly take our Jing Shi Base’s hovercar?”

Mother Li stubbornly said, “We are also Summer Country people!”

“Since you are Summer Country people, you should know how important that technology is to Summer Country. There’s no reason to be Summer Country people when there are benefits, and betray Summer Country when there are none,” Zhou Qin sneered.

Li Mo’s parents wanted to argue more, but Gu Jinsheng had already opened the public channel.

Now the Jing Shi Base was the leader of the entire Summer Country, and all bases were silently paying attention to Summer Country. Even without prior notification, when Gu Jinsheng’s face appeared on the public channel, all bases knew immediately.

Gu Jinsheng said, “Commander-in-Chief Li Mo of Z Base betrayed Summer Country’s interests for his personal gain, taking technology belonging to the people of Summer Country and exchanging it for the lives of his parents, completely disregarding the interests of the people and the country. This is an act of treason.

The Jing Shi Base, both as the leading base of the entire Summer Country and the base possessing the mental scanner technology, has the right to hold Z Base accountable.

I, Gu Jinsheng, Commander-in-Chief of the Jing Shi Base, hereby officially initiate accountability against Z Base in the name of the base. In the coming days, my base will dispatch power users to arrest the traitor Li Mo.

After the person is apprehended, a Summer Country internal meeting will be held to decide how to deal with the ‘hostage’ (referring to Li Mo) by vote among the commanders-in-chief of each base.”

Gu Jinsheng made this brief statement on the public channel and then turned off the live broadcast.

But this single statement caused every base in the entire Summer Country to react as if an atomic bomb had been dropped.

Li Mo’s parents immediately collapsed to the ground. “You can’t do this, you can’t treat Li Mo like this! He just wanted to be filial to us, what’s wrong with that?”

Gu Jinsheng stood up, looked down coldly at Father Li and Mother Li, and said, “What virtue or ability do you possess that makes you worthy of Li Mo using the interests of the entire Summer Country’s people to be filial to the two of you?”

Father Li and Mother Li opened their mouths, wanting to argue but not knowing how.

Gu Jinsheng said, “First, keep them under guard. After Li Mo’s verdict is decided, then release them.”

Zhou Qin immediately said, “Yes, Boss.”

Zhou Qin dragged Father Li and Mother Li out. The two kept pleading with Zhou Qin. Zhou Qin smiled and said, “I should thank you for reminding the Boss about this matter. Otherwise, our Jing Shi Base is too busy and might have forgotten about Li Mo.”

Father Li and Mother Li now wished they could slap themselves hard. Why did they go to Gu Jinsheng? Weren’t they living well in the Jing Shi Base? If they hadn’t appeared, maybe Gu Jinsheng would have forgotten about this matter all along.

The feeling of a thunderclap was also experienced by Z Base, just like Li Mo’s parents.

Li Mo didn’t expect his parents to return safely, but now the Jing Shi Base was going to hold him accountable.

Li Mo became enraged with shame, but inside, he was even more panicked. He said, “What does Gu Jinsheng mean? The people have been brought back, and there was no loss, so why is he still pursuing this?”

The deputy commander lowered his eyes, not knowing what he was thinking. Li Mo could only ask, “Now that Gu Jinsheng wants to attack our base, what good ideas do you have?”

Several deputy commanders remained silent. Finally, one of them stood up and poured Li Mo a glass of water, saying, “Commander-in-Chief, drink some water and calm down.”

Li Mo took the ice water and drank it in one gulp. Perhaps he was too nervous. Instead of feeling calm after drinking the ice water, he felt dizzy.

Within seconds, Li Mo couldn’t hold on and fell onto the table with a thud.

“You, you…” Li Mo trembled and pointed his finger at the deputy commanders. “You drugged me?”

One of the deputy commanders wiped his face and looked at Li Mo, saying, “Commander-in-Chief, don’t blame us either. When you wanted to exchange the Jing Shi Base’s technology for your parents, we deputy commanders disagreed.”

Li Mo glared at these people. At that time, several deputy commanders indeed disagreed, but Li Mo had never taken these people seriously. He didn’t expect them to dare to team up and drug him today.

“Commander-in-Chief, it’s useless to hate us. This can only be blamed on yourself. You should have known from the beginning that Gu Jinsheng and the Jing Shi Base are not to be provoked. Even if you successfully exchanged your parents back, our base would definitely not have a good outcome.

You are the commander-in-chief of the base, and you don’t have to go through these things, but what about the power users in our base? Some will definitely have to go to the front line. Gu Jinsheng’s Thunder Dragon is so powerful, who knows how many power users will die. We can’t just use the lives of countless power users in our base to make up for your parents’ two lives!”

“You are too selfish!”

At this moment, Li Mo’s brain was too heavy to process anything. He closed his eyes and fainted.

Several deputy commanders looked at each other and, simply not wanting to stop halfway, directly crippled Li Mo’s ability.

When Gu Jinsheng led people to attack Z Base the next day, Z Base directly hung a white flag on the city wall. Several deputy commanders immediately pledged allegiance to the Jing Shi Base. From then on, Z Base completely disappeared.

When Li Mo woke up again, he was on the execution ground, and someone was announcing his crimes in his ear.

Before he could react, rotten vegetable leaves and rotten eggs were thrown at Li Mo’s head one by one. Everyone looked at him with righteous indignation, excitedly cursing him, “Traitor, you deserve to die!”

Traitor? Li Mo had never thought these two words would appear on him. He suddenly realized that his actions back then were indeed selfish, exchanging the interests of the entire Summer Country for his personal gain.

Li Mo gave a bitter smile. It was also difficult for these people in the apocalypse, where supplies were so scarce, to still find rotten vegetable leaves and rotten eggs for him. How much they must hate him.

Only at this moment did he clearly understand that his decision seemed to benefit no one but himself among the base’s residents, and instead would bring disaster to them.

Li Mo smiled bitterly. Now, using his single life to exchange for the peace of the entire base’s personnel was not entirely his evil doing.

Finally, a bullet pierced Li Mo’s forehead. Li Mo was even somewhat relieved that the base didn’t throw him into the zombie horde.

Father Li and Mother Li fainted from crying after learning of their son’s death. They had longed to return to Z Base, but Z Base no longer existed, so they could only stay in Jing Shi Base to continue living. In an instant, they seemed to have aged ten years.

If only they had advised their son back then, even if their son was willing, they wouldn’t have agreed. They didn’t expect Gu Jinsheng to be so strong-willed and actually pursue his son’s responsibility.

It must be said that Gu Jinsheng’s move truly frightened many bases. Those bases that had originally considered using the mental scanner to gain benefits immediately gave up the idea. If they really couldn’t survive, they obediently joined the Jing Shi Base.

Since then, the Jing Shi Base became the largest base in Summer Country, with only a few bases remaining unconquered.

The reputation of the Jing Shi Base was not only great within Summer Country but also renowned in Europe. While everyone used to fear Country M Base the most, now they trembled just hearing the formidable name of the Jing Shi Base. As for the grievances between Country M and Summer Country, these bases dared not participate, feeling like mere mortals caught in a fight between gods. They all retreated as much as possible, determined not to get involved.

Ji An rested for a period of time and then dedicated himself to scientific research again.

At this time, due to the joining of various bases, Ji An received many uninfected animals and plants. As he had anticipated, the space successfully upgraded to include an ocean, and at this point, the space was a complete ecosystem. Except for humans, all other organisms already existed.

The spirit spring water, as the source of life, nurtured all things, and many animals were living in pairs within it.

Because of the success of the hovercar, Ji An’s mental ability had advanced by a small rank. Later, because the spirit spring water completely evolved, it led to his own advancement by a large rank, reaching Tier 6 Power User.

Gu Jinsheng had reached mid-Tier 6, and only needed two more small ranks to reach the maximum level.

The improvement in mental power allowed Ji An to see through things. Problems that were vague and incomprehensible before could now be easily understood, as simple as one plus one, requiring no excessive thought; it was common sense.

At the same time, Ji An could vaguely feel a mysterious power, or perhaps a magnetic field.

That feeling reminded Ji An of the presence with an unclear appearance that appeared in his consciousness when he was unconscious.

Whenever Ji An thought carefully, his mind seemed to touch a barrier, preventing his brain from thinking further. Ji An vaguely felt that if his mental power evolved a bit more, he could definitely break through that barrier and ponder the deeper mysteries of the universe.

However, the primary issue at hand was not these, but the ongoing experiment. This experiment was currently the most important. As long as he could complete this experiment, he would no longer have to worry about Country M’s provocations.

After Ji An’s mental power successfully advanced, the experiment became smoother and smoother, progressing rapidly.

Initially, everyone estimated that weapon research would take ten years to complete, but it successfully turned into three years, then shortened to one year, and finally became half a year.

Finally, as another New Year was approaching, the experiment succeeded.

The moment Ji An came out of the laboratory, all the researchers were so excited that they knelt down under the national flag.

Han Yaokun was in tears. “We succeeded! I did not become a sinner of the era, did not hinder the development of the era, I will not be forever nailed to the pillar of shame!”

Nuo Boyu patted Han Yaokun’s shoulder and said, “Don’t say that. Correcting mistakes is more important than anything.”

The research project this time was truly terrifying. When they first participated in the experiment, no one expected it to succeed, or they thought success would take a hundred years. No one expected that after Ji An returned, the experiment’s progress would advance by leaps and bounds. Later, after Ji An’s mental ability upgraded, the experiment’s progress was like a rocket soaring upwards, with frighteningly fast progress every day. Sometimes, they themselves hadn’t even reacted, and the experiment had already succeeded.

Gu Jinsheng heard that Ji An had finished his seclusion and rushed to the laboratory with a group of people, then saw the scene of all the researchers kneeling under the red flag with tears streaming down their faces.

Zhou Qin was startled and asked in panic, “What’s wrong? Why are everyone kneeling?”

Ji An waved his hand and said, “The experiment was successful. Everyone is excited.”

Zhou Qin was puzzled, not knowing what kind of experiment could make everyone so excited.

Zhou Qin couldn’t wait and said, “God Ji, what is it this time? Quickly take us to see it. We really can’t guess your experiments.”

Ji An nodded and said, “Okay, you can come into the lab with us.”

Zhou Qin and others followed behind Gu Jinsheng and Ji An, eagerly entering the laboratory.

This laboratory was very messy, with metal-like parts piled everywhere. However, with Gu Jinsheng’s eyesight, he couldn’t identify what kind of metal it was; it seemed more like a new type of metal.

They continued to walk inside, reaching the innermost room of the laboratory, and then everyone was stunned.

A three-meter-tall robot stood here. The robot’s shell was polished to a brilliant shine, reflecting light.

Zhou Qin swallowed, saying, “A robot?”

Although the robot was made very majestic and imposing, it was still just a robot, somewhat not meeting Zhou Qin’s expectations.

If someone else had created this robot, Zhou Qin would definitely praise it, but it was Ji An who created this, and Zhou Qin even felt a bit disappointed.

Wan Xueying had the same feeling, but she was more cautious and didn’t speak.

She always felt that Ji An couldn’t have spent so long just creating a robot that was of little use in the current situation. There might be something else going on here.

Moreover, if it were just an ordinary robot, the researchers outside would definitely not have lost control to that extent.

Ji An didn’t immediately answer Zhou Qin’s question. Instead, he said, “Jinsheng, what do you think this is?”

Gu Jinsheng looked deeply at Ji An. He closed his eyes, as if he already had the answer in his heart, but that answer was too earth-shattering, and he dared not speak it.

Gu Jinsheng said, “Mecha, is it a mecha?”

This statement was more serious than the consequences of the Earth exploding. Zhou Qin and the others all gasped collectively, looking at Ji An, their eyes filled with shock no different from someone telling them right now that aliens actually existed in this world.

Compared to Zhou Qin and the others, Han Yaokun and the others looked at Gu Jinsheng with even more astonishment.

These inventors still somewhat couldn’t believe that the first mecha was born from their hands, yet Gu Jinsheng had already accepted it.

If Ji An hadn’t first asked Gu Jinsheng to guess, they would have thought Ji An had already told Gu Jinsheng.

This couple was indeed not ordinary people. One dared to research it, and the other dared to guess it.

Ji An nodded. “Congratulations, you guessed it. It is indeed a mecha.”

“Really? Really?” Zhou Qin felt like he was about to faint.

Ji An said, “It’s true, you can try it.”

Zhou Qin immediately rushed up. He touched the mecha’s thigh. The mecha was too tall, so Zhou Qin could only touch its thigh.

At this moment, the mecha’s red eyes flickered, and suddenly it moved its leg, moving two steps on its own, avoiding Zhou Qin’s touch.

“There is a difference between male and female. Please be respectful and do not touch me like this. If you dare to flirt with me again, don’t blame me for taking action against you.”

Zhou Qin’s eyes were dull. He foolishly asked, “Who is speaking?”