Chapter 232: Crossing the River, Through the Mountains
Wang Liu Mei picked up the cup and took a shallow sip of the black tea, keeping a smiling look on her face.
"Then I'll be straightforward, I don't believe in any Ark Plan at all, so I won't be foolish enough to pay sky-high prices to build myself a coffin." The slender fingers wrapped by silk gloves gently rubbed the porcelain in her palm, "How much the Vist family has paid is their business, I don't care, but I can tell you clearly that the Wang family won't pay a single penny."
"Why?" Ade pushed the information in front of her that had been pushed back by Wang Liu Mei across the room again, "I think I've explained very clearly. Then what's the reason for your suspicion?"
"You yourself." Wang Liu Mei pressed her teacup on the stack of papers and winked playfully, "As we are now speaking Chinese as a matter of course, I have always had the feeling that, although you are a moon person, you think as if you are from the same country as I do. And in our worldview, an import like Noa's Ark was never the first choice. But now, you seem to have it all figured out, showing no frustration at all of being forced to settle for second best."
Ade tried to keep his face straight, but he sighed in his heart. Why are women in this world so smart? Why can't all the cute girls be like Ple?
"The Wheel of Angels is definitely not some kind of ark for escaping, but a complimentary piece of work that you are confident to solve the problem once and for all. I don't care a word about scientific principles, this is a judgment made out of my knowledge of you personally." Wang Liu Mei proudly patted the silk fabric that was held up high on her chest, "Dr. Lingus, am I right?"
Ade's face remained unchanged throughout, "No comment."
"You also know that many families and consortiums are suspicious of our close cooperation, they are waiting to see what I choose. If I refuse, then I think it will be difficult to raise the start-up capital of the Wheel of Angels in place." Wang Liu Mei twisted the ponytail on the right side and played with it at her fingertips, "Dr. Lingus, it seems things are not good?"
Ade had to admit that she hit the nail on the head of his biggest fears. The amount of money needed for the Wheel of Angels was astronomical, and it would be difficult to get it off the ground without a foolish and wealthy capper. He also wanted to slowly eliminate these capital assholes, but what he lacked most was time.
After repeated calculations and checks by him and Ayanami Rei, the Wheel of Angels must be started within this year at the latest, otherwise, it will not be in time for the best time to cut the Earth. The next such perfect timing is after five hundred years, and the Forerunner's Halo Array will not wait for him five hundred years.
He even thought of using force to forcefully rule the world, but that would cause devastating damage to the world, and the Wheel of Angels would likely be unable to complete in time. He never wanted to take such a risk before the last moment.
"These greedy families and consortiums will only contribute money and effort when they are trying to stay alive for themselves, so the Ark Plan is a very appropriate choice. I guess you also want to take this opportunity to cash in more wealth into capacity, and by the way, achieve some ulterior motives in the distant future?" Wang Liu Mei covered her mouth and laughed lightly, "Oh, I guessed right again? Will I be killed and silenced?"
As Wang Liu Mei said, if even she refused, then the attitude of others would be worse. Ade thought it was time to start seriously developing a plan for global unification. It is not that Ade doesn't want to evolve peacefully, but this group of self-righteous calabash even doesn't give him a fulcrum …
"What you need is probably just a fulcrum." Wang Liu Mei keenly caught the fleeting look of surprise in Ade's eyes and could not help but smile even more happily, "As the head of the Wang family, I am one of the few people who have the ability to give you this fulcrum."
"Do you think I would believe that?" Ade asked rhetorically, "Something as absurd as Miss Wang being an individual who has betrayed her own class?"
"It was hard to get to where I am now, and the world has been turned into this way by you, what's the point of not living according to our own preferences?" Wang Liu Mei narrowed her eyes, "Three times the start-up capital you asked for just now, plus I personally used the Wang family's reputation as a guarantee to lobby other forces. Your Wheel of Angels will certainly be able to start construction as soon as possible."
"And what's the condition?" Ade was secretly on guard.
"For a moment just now, I'm afraid you were thinking about something terrible? I actually produced the illusion that what was sitting in front of me was not a human, but a beast, which made me very … " Her pink tongue licked her lips," Well, interested. After all, I have also reached this age. Props are good, but I still want to try a living—"
"I refuse." Ade said categorically, "I can't betray them."
"'Betray', 'them', I really don't understand how you justify linking those two words together, or does Dr. Lingus actually think he's rather innocent?" Wang Liu Mei put up a finger to her red lips, "One day, I'll buy you a day with everything I just said. Dr. Lingus, grab the chance. You snooze, you lose."
The satisfaction of personal moral purity and the saving of all human lives are placed on opposite ends of the scale. Which is more important?
"When is …?" Ade closed his eyes in resignation.
The sound of silvery laughter mixed with the "clatter" of heels hitting the floor was particularly harsh, and a few seconds later, there was an extra weight of one person on his body. Soft, elastic objects pressed against the chest through the clothes, and warm, long exhales rustled around the ears.
"Now."
Ade snapped his eyes open and the monotonous street scene outside the car window was sweeping backward. He raised his right hand and rubbed his brow hard, trying to dispel the bad memories from his mind.
"Ade, Ade, you're awake!" Alice's cold touch came from the palm of his hand, "I went my way over from Dakar and found the location of her home server, but I tried several times but couldn't hack into it. Well, she probably used a lot of resources to protect those videos and photos."
"Forget it, then." Ade sighed, "With her caution, there may be an isolated physical backup. Even if we deleted the things on her computer, it wouldn't work."
"Ade, Ade," Alice put her arms around him, "So many mangas I've read have similar plots, will Ade turn into a meat stool at this rate?"
Ade raised his hand and hit her head hard, "Where did you learn these words? Don't read those messy things!"
However, the girl's silver hair didn't even move, and issued a "thump" of a crunch.
Aker, who volunteered to be the driver in the front row, glanced in the rearview mirror and decided to pretend he hadn't heard anything.
Ten minutes later, the limousine pulled up at the front door of the Prime Minister's residence, and Ade got out with Alice in tow, nodded to Aker, who offered to open the door for him, and then walked straight into the interior of the residence as if no one was there.
"Dr. Lingus." Marcenas cautiously followed behind Ade, "Please come with me to the parlor for a moment, you came in such a hurry that I didn't have time to prepare."
"It's time to get ready." Ade gave him an indifferent glance and walked himself to the second floor, "His Excellency is old, it is better to make preparations early."
From just now to now, the invisible aura had been forcing Marcenas breathing difficulties, and now this cold glance almost made his heart defense instantly collapse. His mind only left the most instinctive biological desire to survive — this was Lillith's most precious gift to her children to protect them.
"Korozo Ronah, it's Korozo Ronah!" Shuddered Marcenas, shouting that name, "He intends to plant Mufti's identity on Hathaway Noa, then trick Bright into signing the verdict, and then clamp down on you by controlling your daughter!"
"Why would he do that?" Ade asked softly, "There has to be a proper reason."
"Because, because …" Marcenas swallowed hard. In a life-and-death situation, he finally exploded with all his wisdom and potential, "Because he is Mufti, and in order to hide his identity, he must frame others! Dr. Lingus, I never thought there would be such scum in the council! Execution! He must be executed! Major Aker, please arrest Korozo Ronah immediately!"
Graham Aker gave Ade an enquiring look, finding that he didn't object, so Aker took his leave with great interest.
"Time is hard to pass after retirement, His Excellency, you'd better prepare more hobbies for yourself." Ade turned his head to Marcenas with a slight smile, "There are also some people in the council who will retire too, maybe you can start a bridge club?"
"Yes, that sounds good. The bridge is very suitable for us." Marcenas nodded repeatedly, and his back had completely drenched in sweat.
Ade didn't answer, but suddenly stopped at a door. Alice waved her hand casually. Marcenas only felt a flash of silver light before his eyes, and the door, which should be locked, was pushed open by Ade without resistance.
The single ponytailed girl was sitting curled up on the sofa with her legs in her arms. When she heard the noise, she lifted her face from between her knees and looked at the door. Her big, round eyes immediately became watery. The young girl didn't even bother to put on her shoes and rushed to the visitor and threw herself into his arms and cried out with a "wow".
"Okay, okay, it's okay, it's okay." Ade gently stroked her head, with the illusion that what was in his arms was a ten-year-old Mineva magnified twice over.
"Mineva, Mineva, she …" Ple craned her neck and wiped her tears, "Mineva was taken by a NewType I don't know."
…
"There's a feeling of nostalgia." Char glanced at the young girl in the passenger seat beside him with his afterglow, "I thought of the time when I rescued you from Haman's watch, it was just like now."
Mineva supported one hand on the car window and didn't speak, just silently looking out of the window. The SUV had been in the desert for a long time, but Mineva could not see any change in the surrounding scenery.
"Actually, my betrayal was also in Nunnally's plan, right?" Char gleefully met Mineva's stunning eyes, "Luring out potential enemies of the Federation Council in advance, giving Lingus a reason to cleanse the Council, and getting rid of me as a destabilizing factor in the process. Very smart plan, that's that woman's usual style."
"Since you know that, why are you still doing it? Are you that confident that you can outsmart everyone?" Mineva looked at the blond man in front of her with confusion, "Dad, I don't understand."
"Absolute power leads to absolute corruption, and the person who saves the world is most likely to destroy it, so someone must always be on guard against Lingus, or even be able to check and balance him and replace him, which Nunnally clearly cannot do. Not only her, but Bright, Haman, and Diana all failed to do so. Nonetheless, they even became the mass of this twisted black hole themselves." Char said in a deep voice, "Mineva, this is not a healthy way for this world to function."
"And in what capacity did you say the above statement?" Mineva turned her head to look out the window again, "Casval Rem Deikun? Or Char Aznable?"
"The vengeful undead are long dead." Char smiled blandly, "I am Edward Mass now, was and will be."
Mineva sniffed and let out a soft sigh, "Daddy, do you really love me?"
"Of course, otherwise, I wouldn't risk my life doing such a thing." Char rightfully replied, "I have planned it for you, Marcenas is bound to step down after Lingus conducts a major purge. And after his step down, the best option left is the Vist family's second son, Banagher. This person is indecisive and is the best entry point to destroy the Vist family and Lingus' alliance …"
Char was still droning on, but Mineva didn't want to hear any more. There was nothing strange about what he was saying, rather it fit perfectly with who he was, but what was scary was that he actually thought he loved her and was convinced of it.
"It's because you know that you can't get it anyway that you have such twisted emotions, right?" She stared blankly at the sand and thought in a borderline manner, "Sister Nunnally, what do you think?"
With the last illusion, Mineva decided to interrupt Char after long hesitation, "Dad, when I was under house arrest by Marcenas, only Beargguy and my cell phone were taken away, I was not searched."
"What?!" Char slammed on the brakes, and with that came yellow sand flying in the air, "Do you still have the device on you that can send messages to Nunnally?"
"Well, this is it." Mineva pulled a trinket out of her pocket, "Suzaku Kururugi might be on his way, is it too late for me to throw it away?"
Without hesitation, Char opened the passenger door lock, "Mineva, you get out of the car first, I will come back to save you in the future! "
