Chapter 176: People Will Die if They Do the Wrong Thing
In the meeting room, Marina sat restrained, peering to the left and right every now and then. These two are the big shots who can influence the world situation, so she couldn't help but be very careful to deal with them. She remembered the rumors she had read on the Internet about Dr. Lingus's greed for beautiful women, perhaps he was a little better to talk to than Quattro?
"Forgive my rudeness, Queen Marina." Char's voice interrupted her unwarranted association, "Can you really represent the Kingdom of Azadistan? As far as I know, the number of princes and Queens in your kingdom is relatively … considerable, so considerable that even I often misremember the numbers."
"I can't represent all of them, but at least I can represent some of them." Marina replied honestly, "This visit was also officially permitted, and specific written documents should have been submitted before."
"Your Highness, I understand that you are a kind person, so I will say it frankly." Char leaned back comfortably on the back of the sofa, his middle and index second fingers tapping lightly on the low table by his hand, "Your country refused to join the Federation from the very beginning of its establishment, and frankly speaking, you have not contributed anything to the development of human civilization."
"But that's not what I did," Marina explained hastily, "I will—"
"'But that's not what I did, and I'll try to change that,' is that what you're trying to say?" Char laughed derisively, "It's all the policy of the predecessor, nothing to do with me, pretty standard politician speak. Queen Marina, it looks like you have a talent for politics."
Unable to find a defense, Marina looked to Ade for help, who said nonchalantly, "Dr. Minovsky is said to be killed by the fanatics of the Zabi family, and there is another rumor that he was actually killed by the terrorists in Azadistan, for which your country has so far given no convincing explanation. "
"The murder of Dr. Minovsky was also investigated in the country, but there was too much resistance from the radicals to eventually investigate it." Marina said excitedly, "I admit that Azadistan does have a radical faction for reasons of faith, but most of the people are good and moderate. Your opinion is prejudiced, our country is by no means all terrorists!"
"Yet this rhetoric has been used in your country for over a hundred years, from A.D. all the way to U.C., and the radicals have never been eliminated, or is it simply not wanted or not possible to be eliminated?" Ade bristled disdainfully, "To take a step back, even if aid was really given, how much of it could end up with the people after layers of exploitation by the royal family?"
Marina was speechless.
"Then let me put it bluntly, the Federation has no humanitarian aid obligations to your country. You're essentially asking for an investment, and the Federation sees no return on that investment." Char looked teasingly at Ade, "Your country has no value to the Federation, perhaps there is a value to others?"
"What are you looking at me for?" Ade glared back in displeasure, "What value could she possibly have to the moon?"
Ade had no doubt that Char was recording their talks at this very moment. As long as he dared to say anything "malapropos", Char would definitely make use of it.
"It seems that the charm of the Queen is not enough to make Dr. Lingus help you." Char indifferently waved his hand, pointing in the direction of the door, "Please go back."
"Is there really no way out?" Marina reluctantly gathered her fists, and her eyes were full of determination, "Is there really no point in aiding Azadistan in the eyes of the two of you?"
"Let me be honest, not only was Azadistan not saved, but it deserved to die." Ade frankly met Marina's stunning eyes, "It's an institutional problem. If you don't tear the palaces down and kill the entire royal family, there's no point in giving you more money. Mone of them will get in the hands of the poor people if you don't solve this problem first."
Char looked at Ade playfully, picked up the cup, and lowered his head to take a sip of water.
"I can say this perfectly well on behalf of His Highness Loran, unless your country has found figured out the murderer who killed Dr. Minovsky, the Moon will never consider establishing diplomatic relations with your country. As for how much resistance there is from the radicals, that is none of my business; if there is resistance, just eliminate it." Ade also pointed to the door as Char usually did, "Please go back, Your Highness, we'll get down to business."
Marina bit her lower lip and got up without saying a word. Only when she left, Char slowly spoke, "I can't imagine that Lingus is actually interested in exporting ideology to other countries? Really worthy of being a model among scientific researchers."
"All right, don't talk nonsense, get down to business." Ade ignored his sarcasm and cleared his throat, "I've seen the written report submitted by Amuro and the video recording of the cockpit, and the Gundam pilot's voice pattern is identical to that of the Britannia wanted criminal, Setsuna·F·Seiei. "
"The final target of the angel is roughly the headquarters building we are in now." Char said and pointed to his feet, "It has been thoroughly checked, there is no trace of suspected 'Adam' present, and Amuro didn't find any angel-like thing here."
"Was E.A. Ray involved in the construction of the building?" Ade pursued, "It's possible that he did it. If it was him, with your level of investigation, you can't find out a thing."
"Then you can find out what's going on?" Char sneered, "Not only the headquarters building, but all the military bases that have existed since the beginning of the federation are all using the positioning system designed by Dr. Ray. In other words, he can do tricks to all of them. Do you want to check them one by one?"
"I will if I have to," Ade said rightfully, "and I have the right to do so under the three-countries agreement."
As long as a second angel appears, he believes that with his ability and the information he has, he will be able to find out the truth about Laplace and the pattern of the angels' appearing.
"The Tree-countries Agreement …" Char hummed with a smirk, "In addition, in order to deal with the appearance of angels, A-Laws intends to set up a force with NTs as the core. Commander Bright Noa will be the nominal commander-in-chief, and I, as a senior NT, will personally guide the front line. Does Dr. Lingus, as an expert in the 'Unknown Frontiers', do you have any good suggestions and opinions?"
"So you're making the human crisis your own ascent of power?" Ade clasped his hands, "What a 'senior NT', I really admire it."
"I'm still far interior to the 'former senior NT', Dr. Lingus, who is at the apex of power in the Three-countries Agreement." Char returned a salute like Ade did before, "According to Captain Amuro's report, conventional weapons are ineffective against AT-field, nuclear weapons are untested but we may not have the chance to use it, so it will be reserved as the ultimate reserve. What is known is that NT has the ability to break through AT-field, and angels will be exceptionally vulnerable after its AT-field being broken through."
The NT is able to ignore the AT-field, a setting that Ade was not expecting, but on second thought, it makes sense. So is it possible to say that the nature of NT induction is an anti-AT-field, and NT is a human evolutionary angel-like creature in order to get rid of Lilith's clamp?
Even Mineva's ability to cross his AT-field was explained — set so that he didn't have any special feelings for the little girl above that of a father and an adopted daughter. Well, that must be the case.
"So a special force with NT as the core was formed, it makes sense." Ade pulled out a data disk from his pocket and put it on the table in front of him, "This is the information I have compiled about angels, and out of the obligation given by the agreement, it is now provided to A-Laws at no cost."
"Thank you very much for your cooperation." Char extended his hand, "Then I will—"
"But." Ade pressed hard on the data disk, Char pulled hard twice and couldn't pull it out, "According to the agreement, I want a portion of the angel's corpse for research on the 'Unknown Frontiers'."
"No problem, take your pick." Char replied with a smile, "Also according to the contents of the agreement, A-Laws request support from Anaheim for NT-dedicated MSs to protect humanity, I want… you guessed it, Unicorn Number One and Number Two."
"I thought the core of the special forces was Amuro?" Ade lightened his strength a little, "You think someone other than Amuro can handle Unicorn? Don't tell me it's you?"
"That's not for you to worry about, I will be responsible to find the right person." Char slowly drew out the data disk from Ade's hand, "Besides, these two machines were originally the property of TITANS, and now that TITANS was reorganized and merged by A-Laws, it is considered to be returned to its original owner. As for the battle reports from now on, they will be sent to you as an advisor at the first time, and you can always give your 'reasonable' opinion."
"Adam is a serious issue that concerns the death or survival of all mankind." Ade said, word for word, "Char, don't play with fire."
"Char is dead, and my name is Quattro. I don't understand what you're saying." Char pocketed the data disk, took out his phone in passing and glanced at it, then put it back into his pocket, "That's it for today, I have an important meeting later, my secretary will talk to you about the specific handover. Also, Captain Amuro is looking for you, I'm sure you'd like to have a chat with him as well."
"I will." Ade stood up and looked deeply at Char, "Bye."
"Bye." Char said goodbye to Ade with a subdued smile on his face, waited until Ade closed the door, and then waited a moment longer before taking out his phone again and dialing a number, "Hello, Miss Lacus Clyne, this is Quattro Bajeena."
…
"I'm sorry, I'm afraid you have the wrong number." Lacus said in a cold voice, "This is Lacus Lingus."
"You deserve to be Siegel's daughter, dare to do such a thing in the Earth Federation's headquarters." Char gave a light laugh, "Say hello to the former Knight of the Round Table, Setsuna·F·Seiei for me. He didn't look too stable mentally yesterday, I wonder if he's getting better?"
"You're not qualified to mention that name!" The hand that Lacus was holding the phone looked a little pale from the excessive force, "Just speak your purpose."
"There's no need to rush, Miss Clyne, Lingus is catching up with Amuro, we can spend some time talking about something else first." Char had a laid-back tone, "Might I guess that you and Ribbons Almark are in cahoots? To be more aggressive, you have replaced him? And the one beside you is one of the few loyal men you have, otherwise, you wouldn't have taken such a big risk."
At this moment, the two are in a restaurant booth. Lacus was standing by the window with the phone. Setsuna on the seat looked at her with worried eyes, and Lacus smiled at him and waved her hand, indicating that she was fine.
"Lingus obviously doesn't know the reason for the angel's appearance and suspects that Reborns Gundam is the culprit. In other words, everything you do now is hidden from him, and there are reasons why it must be hidden from him." Char laughed indulgently, "I would love to see Lingus' face when he learns that his wife was behind this attack."
"Don't tell him!" Lacus said in a panic, "Please, please don't tell Ade, he's all I have …"
"Lingus has too many women and is busy with work, so he rarely has time for you, right?" Char suddenly changed the topic, "How about this, we help him to relieve the burden of work, and let me worry about the world peace for him, so he can have more time to focus on family. Mrs. Lingus, what do you think?"
"I will not betray him." Lacus said in a firm tone, "Instead of betraying him, you should just reveal me."
"No, no, no, you misunderstand, I have no malice towards Lingus. Mineva likes him so much, how could I hurt him? Not to mention that now that humanity is at stake, his knowledge and eyesight are very important." Char said in a good-natured tone, "I just want to contain the harm within a manageable range, and by the way, alleviate the resistance to my career, and for that, we might as well try to cooperate."
"Like what?" Lacus raised the tone of her voice slightly, showing some expectation.
"Why doesn't Mrs. Lingus show a little sincerity first?" Char finally showed his true intention, "Tell me the time and place of the next angel's appearance."
"… deal." Lacus swallowed hard, "I'll hang up now. I must get back early or …"
"I understand very well, so good luck with our cooperation." Char smiled impishly, "Goodbye, Miss Clyne."
Lacus put away the phone and let out a long sigh. Her face was full of depression. Seeing this, Setsuna hurriedly came forward and asked worriedly, "Miss Lacus, what's happening?"
"It's okay, I'll take care of it. You just recovered your memory, you need to rest well, don't worry about these messy things." Lacus gave him a reassuring smile, "It's just another Reborns, there's nothing to worry about."
"Good." Setsuna nodded honestly, "Miss Lacus, I want to go back to Kurgis for a few days."
"Good, but be safe, you're a wanted man now." Lacus thought for a while and added, "By the way, remember to say thank you and farewell to that Miss Marina, thanks to her for saving you."
After Setsuna made a solemn promise, he found he had nothing more to report, so he bluntly said goodbye to Lacus, put on his hood, and turned around to leave.
Lacus returned to her seat and looked out the window with her hand on her cheek. The beautiful long pink hair fell down to cover half of the face, and a cold, murderous intention glint in the eyes under the shadow.
"I would have endured your existence for the sake of Ade and Mineva." She muttered to herself, "Since you want to die so badly, then let me make it easy for you."
