Starting as a Wallfacer, his defection to the Three-Body Problem shocked the world.

Chapter 296 The Building Still Stands Tall

"I've heard of this underground party member named Xinghuo."

After reading the information sent by Lin Xuan, veteran Ding Cunxu couldn't help but light another cigarette for himself.

"No, it's not just that I've heard about it. I even joined them for a time, but I chose to leave later because I disagreed with their ideas."

Upon hearing this, everyone became interested and turned their attention to the veteran.

"This underground party has not only appeared within the territory of Mechanical Earth, but also on Mind Earth. In earlier years, its scale was even very large, so much so that the Divine Realm had to send troops to sweep it away before it was finally able to suppress this momentum."

Lin Qi, who was standing to the side, seemed to be deep in thought upon hearing this.

"Now that you mention it, I think I do have a vague memory of it, but it was a long time ago. I was still in school then, and the school did a few special educational campaigns on this topic, but then I heard nothing more. So my memory of it is a bit hazy."

The veteran nodded slightly.

"Yes, that's roughly what happened around that time. It caused quite a stir back then, but it was all bark and no bite. Before this underground party called Xinghuo could make any new moves, the Divine Realm suppressed it directly. I didn't expect that after so many years, this underground organization would still be around!"

"Any idea?"

Lin Xuan looked at Ding Cunxu and found that this veteran not only had the highest overall combat ability among the team members, but also never disappointed him in terms of understanding the enemy.

"This underground party called Xinghuo was originally an extremist organization supported by Gene Earth, which was responsible for carrying out sabotage and espionage missions behind enemy lines. In terms of purpose, they are somewhat similar to us, but their methods are more extreme. They achieve their goals by developing believers to carry out indiscriminate destruction."

"Its characteristics are that it is a terrorist attack that is disorganized, undisciplined, and without a mission."

"This is consistent with the usual practices of Gene Earth. After all, for them, as long as the goal is achieved, that's all that matters. As for the means to achieve it, they can be as extreme as they want."

"I see!"

Lin Xuan nodded slightly. In that case, everything that was happening in the city now made sense. He had been thinking, how could such an extremist organization have developed so rapidly without the support of other forces behind it?

Now, everything seems to make a lot of sense.

But the veteran changed the subject.

"However, this underground party member named Xinghuo was abandoned by Gene Earth seven or eight years ago."

"The three-party parliament has been strongly condemning Gene Earth's actions. Under pressure from public opinion, they should have cut off their financial support to this underground party long ago."

The Tripartite Parliament is a platform for exchange and communication established by the three Earth civilizations, and its function is similar to the early Earth General Assembly.

Its nature leans more towards diplomacy.

Although there is an almost irreconcilable clash of civilizations between the three Earths, diplomacy must still proceed normally.

"So what's going on here? A terrorist organization that should have been disbanded years ago is still alive and kicking?"

Lin Xuan looked at Simothers lying on the ground and kicked him with her foot.

"Hey, stop pretending to be dead. Say something, or you'll really die soon."

"Shock level from Himothers +21!"

Himothers opened his eyes and glared fiercely at Lin Xuan and the others.

"Hmph, what do you want to get out of me? Let me tell you, give up on that idea. Although I don't know how you guys figured out my identity, my faith in the organization is unbreakable, and I will never betray it by even a single word!"

"Type 1 and I'll extend your life!"

"Is it true?"

Himothers, who had been resolute just a moment ago, changed his expression instantly upon hearing Lin Xuan's words.

Indeed, no matter how strong a person is, when they truly face death, they will not choose to give up as long as there is a glimmer of hope.

"Fake!"

"Shock level from Himothers +66!"

Simothers fell silent.

Dude, are you out of your mind?!

I'm about to die, and you still have the mood to mess with me?

Not only Simothers, but the rest of Team Thirteen were also somewhat unable to hold back after Lin Xuan's words.

At that moment, an idea popped into their minds almost simultaneously.

I must never offend my captain in the future; he's just too cunning!

But just like before, Lin Xuan had his reasons for doing this; he was definitely not simply trying to get some shock from the other party.

It's not hard to tell from the information provided by number three that most of the members of this extremist organization have been brainwashed to the point of being completely insane and unable to communicate.

Lin Xuan orchestrated this whole thing to find out if this guy was genuinely fearless or just pretending. If he had been brainwashed to the point where he was no longer afraid of death, then he would most likely have killed him without hesitation.

Since the other party is still afraid of death, there is at least room for negotiation between the two sides.

Lin Xuan took out an immortality potion from her pocket and injected it into Himothers's buttocks.

"what!"

Himothers, who was lying on the ground on the verge of death just a second ago, sat up abruptly from the pain after Lin Xuan pierced him with a needle.

"Bear with it, this medicine is a bit expired. I don't know how much of its potency is left, so I can only give you an injection!"

Upon hearing this, Himersones' face, which was already pale from the pain, turned even paler in an instant.

"Expired? How long ago did it expire?"

Lin Xuan pondered for a while.

"Well... probably a few hundred years ago. I exchanged this during the Crisis Era. I don't know how long the shelf life is, but it's been so long that it should have expired by now."

"How many?"

Upon hearing Lin Xuan's words, Simothers' face turned green.

Although he didn't know what the Crisis Era was, he still felt a chill run down his spine when he heard the other party say that it had expired at least several hundred years ago.

This is hardly an expired product. Why don't you just say it's an antique?

Seeing that Simothers looked even worse than if he had swallowed a fly, Lin Xuan smiled and comforted him.

"It's alright. You were going to die anyway, so even if the medicine is expired and has side effects, it won't matter, right?"

Simothers: ? ? ?

You know how to comfort people!

"Alright, don't waste our time. I'll only ask you one question, and then we'll leave."

What exactly caused this riot?

The thugs had said that the riot was because Enwan Technology was going to send the entire planet's inhabitants to be taken prisoner, which obviously didn't make sense. Now they had figured out who had started the riot, but they still knew nothing about the specific reasons behind it.

Seemingly afraid that Lin Xuan would continue to torment him with all sorts of strange methods, and also to prevent his physical and mental health from being further damaged by this guy, he answered quite decisively this time.

"Envan Technology has dispatched a special force of cyber hackers to support the fight against Mind Earth."

Lin Xuan was somewhat puzzled.

"What does this have to do with you?"

Upon hearing this, Simothers looked at Lin Xuan, his tone becoming somewhat heavy.

"Enwan Technology's cyber hacking force is mostly composed of children as young as twelve or thirteen. Sending these kids to the battlefield is utterly inhumane. We must stop them no matter what!"

Lin Xuan shrugged and looked at the charred buildings around her.

"So your method of stopping them is to cause as much destruction as possible in the city?"

Upon hearing this, Himethos was speechless for a moment.

"This destruction was not Xinghuo's intention. Someone took advantage of the riot to loot, vandalize, and burn in the streets and alleys. Even Enwan Technology's own troops were targeting the city's residents."

"So, you're being used as pawns?"

Simothers remained noncommittal.

"I can't say for sure. In order to expand, the underground party of Xinghuo absorbed a lot of idle people into the party group. This led to the expansion of the underground party, but it was also a mixed bag. It's impossible to say that this riot has nothing to do with us. I can only say that the current result is definitely contrary to our original intention."

Upon hearing this, Lin Xuan's face showed a rare, gentle smile.

"Actually, you just lack a leader."

He reached out and pulled Himothers up from the ground.

"From today onwards, we are comrades!"

The effects of the immortality potion took hold quickly, and Himothers' wounds began to heal little by little.

As expected, anything produced by the system is of the highest quality. Even after hundreds of years, the immortality potion can still perform its intended function.

"My name is Bai Bing. If you find it troublesome, you can call me Captain Bai like they do."

Simothers didn't speak, but compared to before, he wasn't as resistant to Lin Xuan and her group anymore.

Hearing Captain Bai introduce himself directly, Lin Qi hesitated and wanted to offer a word of advice, but was stopped by a look from the veteran beside him, who signaled him not to interfere.

Lin Qi understood the veteran's gaze.

The White Team has its reasons for doing things, and all we need to do is offer our unconditional support.

After Simothers' wounds had mostly healed, the group resumed their journey, continuing towards the city center.

This time, with Himothers leading the way, even nanobots weren't needed.

"You seem to know this city very well."

"Of course, I've lived here for almost seven or eight years."

“Back when I was about four or five years old, I didn’t live on this planet. At that time, the place we lived was only about two or three planets away from the central star.”

"That's why the officials were kind-hearted and couldn't bear to see the poor cry. Back then, Enwan Technology was willing to allocate houses to us poor people. Although the houses we were allocated were all dilapidated old buildings, at least we had a place to live."

"But later, the war became increasingly intense, and Revelation 3, as a frontier planet, needed to be constantly populated, so it became our final destination."

As Simothers spoke, his expression grew increasingly complicated.

"Weren't you just wondering why this underground party still exists even though Gene Earth cut off funding to Earthfire a long time ago?"

"That's because the emergence of Spark was itself a choice of the times."

"In other people's eyes, we are a group of terrorists, and Spark is an extremist organization. But only we know that what we are doing is a war waged by the people at the bottom of society against this damned capitalist society!"

"As long as the company exists, as long as the end producers exist, Spark will exist forever."

As they spoke, the team had already arrived in the city center, which was the limit of what ordinary people could reach.

If you continue walking, you will enter the wealthy area, which requires not only paying a huge fee but also passing a verification of funds.

Contrary to expectations of chaos, the riots here have been suppressed.

On the streets, riot police were densely packed with people clearing out the remaining Spark members.

Squads of armed guards blocked the road completely.

But none of these were the most important. What truly made Lin Xuan and her companions stop and look was the Enwan Building, located in the city center, in the distance!

At this moment, the holographic advertising billboards above the Enwan Building were still playing continuously. The building remained as magnificent as ever, the most prosperous building in the city. Its existence seemed to have remained unchanged despite the riots below.

When Lin Xuan and the others looked over, a smiling face was projected onto the billboard of Enwan Building.

The smile held a hint of sarcasm, directed directly at the Spark members below who had been subdued by the riot police, as if mocking the overestimation of these ants' abilities.

No matter what efforts Xinghuo makes, giant enterprises will always exist. Even if Enwan Technology collapses, new capitalists will take its place.

As long as the final producer lives, this cycle will never be broken.

"Let's go."

Lin Xuan knew there was no need to stay there any longer; the outcome of the riot was entirely within his expectations.

"Take us to see where you live. There must be more people from Spark than just this many, right?"

This time, Himothers did not refuse.

The city's overall planning is very interesting; the closer you get to the city center, the higher the elevation.

On the contrary, the suburbs of the city are lower in elevation.

The main reason for this design is to take into account the city's sewage system.

The sanitation in the affluent area is the best in the entire city. The streets are cleaned three or four times a day. At the strictest times, if someone litters, the trash must be cleaned up within five minutes.

However, this puts a lot of pressure on municipal sewage systems, requiring many waste and wastewater treatment plants to meet the daily needs of the wealthy.

These factories, of course, cannot be built in wealthy areas.

Nearly 90 percent of the city’s factories and processing plants are located in the slums.

The government even euphemistically called it providing more job opportunities for these poor people.