Forty-nine rules of the end times

Chapter 316 A Snake Swallowing an Elephant: No Risk

Located in the tropics, An Tai State borders the sea to the south.

After the Kingdom of Sakura moved here, their ships also sailed to this sea area.

As a former island nation, shipping and shipbuilding have always been Sakuragi's advantageous industries. In the past, these industries were also the country's pillar industries, generating a large trade surplus.

However, after the earthquake, almost all of Yingqi's factories and industries sank along with the island. Although some of the talent in related fields was transferred, it was not easy to start over on a new land with nothing.

This is not a problem that only Sakura Inori needs to face. Even powerful nations like Soroma and Beixing have experienced widespread industrial decline in the post-apocalyptic era.

Yes, it's a decline, not progress.

People around the world generally believed that, faced with the threat of the apocalypse, at the moment of human survival, humanity would invest all its resources in scientific and technological research and development, resulting in some kind of technological explosion.

The result was the opposite.

Scientific and technological research and development is not like playing billiards, where brute force alone can produce miracles.

In the field of scientific and technological research and development, it has always been said that 99% of perspiration is not as valuable as that 1% inspiration.

In these industries, more people do not necessarily mean faster research and development. On the contrary, more people can lead to more trouble than help, causing numerous project management problems.

Moreover, the bigger problem is that scientific research requires a stable external environment, which is precisely what humanity currently lacks.

Every so often, the Firebringers would release a new apocalyptic rule. Given the unknown nature of the rules, it was difficult for humanity to prepare in advance. Each time, they would only scramble to find a solution after the rule was released.

This makes it difficult for many people to focus on their work.

Just like in peacetime, only those with stable property have stable minds.

Those without stable assets, living in uncertainty about the future every day, are more inclined to lie down or do some day-wage work, taking it one day at a time.

Researchers are human beings too, and they are no different from other human beings in terms of weaknesses.

Living in constant fear of the rules, how can one concentrate on doing solid research?

Beixing is in a better position in this regard, as one of the purposes of establishing the Countermeasures Research Office is to solve this problem. The research office mobilizes national resources to protect its members, so that highly skilled professionals in various fields can focus on their research and spend less time on rules.

Sakuragi, once a major shipbuilding nation, has now lost the ability to build new large ships and can only barely keep the few remaining vessels, and cannot even perform regular maintenance.

If the ship encounters problems in the future, it will either have to sail to the ports of Solmar or Beixing for repair assistance, or it will have to be decommissioned and scrapped.

"Fortunately, time hasn't been too cruel to us yet. You agree, right, Dr. Kurokawa?"

Yuzawa Jun sat on the deck, gazing at the stars in the night sky, and said.

He was wearing a felt hat, which covered most of his face.

Behind him stood a man in a long gown, also wearing a black fisherman's hat to conceal his face; this was Kurokawa Koshi, the technical lead of the gene-editing experiment.

“Your enemies will find this place sooner or later,” Kurokawa said. “This land in Antai Bang is not large. They have not found anything elsewhere, so they will definitely suspect the ocean… But you are right, time is on our side.”

"The mass production experiment was a success?"

"We can initially achieve a yield rate of 1:120."

"Only one out of more than a hundred can be controlled, that's a bit low."

"The main problem is the quality of the materials," Kurokawa said. "If I may be frank, if we used only Ascended materials, the yield rate could be controlled to 1:10. Most ordinary people are too physically capable to withstand the pain of the transformation process, but staying conscious throughout is a necessary condition for successful transformation."

"...In terms of the number of Ascended beings worldwide, there are still more in the Northern Star region, at least in the tens of millions."

"Yes. Tens of millions of Ascended Beings outnumber the total population of other countries."

Misawa Jun looked north, towards the direction of the North Star.

"If I were the decision-maker of Beixing, I would have already conquered the world with this power. But unfortunately, the people of Beixing are complacent and lack ambition... The arrogance brought about by this power will bring them destruction. They can only see the most superficial things in the end."

"Yes," Kurokawa sighed, his tone tinged with regret.

"You purchased weapons from Soroma just to lull Beixing into a false sense of security. In reality, the 'Snake Slave Army' is your true weapon, and Beixing is completely unaware of this... Unfortunately, that 'shadow' has uncovered a corner of the secret."

The two originally planned to conduct the experiment in secret until it was completely successful; this was the first stage.

The second stage is to lie low and wait.

A direct attack would be unwise. Even if the Serpent Slave Army were to take shape, it would still be at a disadvantage against the advanced modern weaponry, army, and large number of Ascended Beings of the Northern Star.

So we have to wait, until the Fire Stealers issue a rule that will cause serious chaos within the North Star—that will be the best time to attack, the start of the third phase.

In Misawa Jun and Kurokawa Koshi's plan, it was unrealistic to swallow Hokusei, the elephant, like a snake, because Hokusei was simply too big a prey.

But once you take one piece, you can gradually nibble away at the business.

Utilize the population advantage of Beixing to create more snake slave soldiers.

Like a snowball rolling downhill, it will only be a matter of time before it completely engulfs Beixing.

At that time, with the vast population of Beixing, whether driven into battle or transformed into a snake slave army, they undoubtedly possessed the power to conquer the world.

However, this perfect plan was flawed because of the shadow.

"The exposure of the gene mixing experiment must have alerted the top management of Beixing," Kurokawa said. "That's why Beixing strongly pushed for an investigation team to come here and find out the truth."

"...The shadow has indeed caused me a lot of trouble. But what worries me even more is that traitor." "You mean Orochi?"

“She is no longer worthy of using the name ‘Yagi’.”

Kurokawa quickly realized the reason: "Are you worried that she will use her bloodline abilities to compete with you for control of the Snake Slave Army?"

"Yes."

Both of their abilities are related to their bloodline, and Misawa Jun knows that Uehara Yukari's bloodline ability is called "Oro" on the terminal panel.

In the legend of Sakura Inori, Orochi is a hero who severely injured Orochi.

Mizawa Jun initially recruited her and renamed her "Yagi" partly to use her, and partly to study her bloodline abilities in depth to see if they would restrain him in some way.

He originally planned to deal with it after the gene mixing experiment was fully successful, but unexpectedly, Shadow intervened and rescued the person ahead of time.

This disrupted his original plans and left him with a vague sense of unease.

"Please don't worry," Kurokawa said. "As a superior in mental power, you can easily suppress her, who is inferior."

Mizawa Jun nodded slightly.

That's true. He knew Shang Yuanzi's mental strength value very well, and there was a certain gap between them.

"In short, we need to speed things up. I'll have more materials sent to the ship. Beixing is already on guard, and dragging this out is not good for us. Besides, the parasitic phenomenon after this rule ends is a good thing for us."

Yu Zechun's lips curled into a smile: "There must be a huge number of parasites inside Beixing right now, like ticking time bombs. Without external threats, the Beixing authorities might be able to continue suppressing them and slowly defuse the bombs, but once the external environment changes..."

Kurokawa's eyes lit up: "I see. You want to refer to the situation in the Black Flag Kingdom and use parasites to disrupt Beixing."

"No matter how powerful Beixing is, it cannot win two wars at the same time. Besides us and the parasite, I think Soro will also be eager to make a move... Being too powerful is not always a good thing, because others will be watching you, just waiting for you to make a mistake."

"...I understand, I will speed up the process."

……

On January 3, at a certain location in Banzhen.

Silver Fox opened the data sent from the research lab on the tablet and showed it to the group.

"This is the result of an overnight investigation by the intelligence support department. Based on satellite video footage, the large ship we are looking for, where the laboratory was moved, is very likely this one."

The screen showed a large, silver-gray cargo ship with the words "Yun Jia" engraved on its hull.

"According to intelligence surveillance, several containers have recently been delivered to the Yun Jia ship by Sakura Inori. However, Sakura Inori currently has no export products, which means the containers are not filled with cargo..."

“It’s a person,” Shangyuan Zi said solemnly, “a person who was used as an experimental subject.”

Silver Fox glanced at her and nodded, saying, "The intelligence department also speculates that this ship might be the target we're looking for."

Guan Tong looked at the pictures on the screen: "Didn't you capture any guards or anything like that?"

"No. The people on the ship seem to be aware of this, and they rarely go out. Even when they do go out, they are all dressed in thick clothing and wear hats to cover their faces, making it impossible to identify them."

“In that case, let’s go there,” Guan Tong said, then added, “I’ll go investigate myself first.”

"What do you mean? Do you want to take the risk all by yourself?" Shangyuan Zi immediately disagreed.

Silver Fox shook his head as well: "We are a team, and we need to act as a team. Of course, Xiao Na can stay."

"What! I don't want to! I want to go too!" Chen Na immediately retorted, not wanting to be left alone.

Guan Tong said in a deep voice, "I don't intend to take the risk alone, but I have the ability to conduct remote reconnaissance. We don't know the situation on the ship right now, and landing directly would be a reckless act."

"Moreover, my goal is simply to confirm that this ship is indeed the experimental vessel. Once confirmed, I would like to ask the research lab to coordinate with the North Star authorities to deploy warships to carry out this cleanup operation."

Since this operation is a collaboration with the authorities, why bother bringing a few people along to take the risk?

If she were alone, it would be fine, but with others around, especially Chen Na, Guan Tong didn't want to act rashly.

Ultimately, with his abilities and the right tools, he's more than capable of protecting himself, but not of protecting others.

For example, if he encounters danger, he can teleport away instantly. But if he wants to take someone with him, he has to first summon the Page Refuge, then let the person he wants to protect go inside, then recall the Page Refuge, and then use Teleport again... The process is several steps more complicated!

When it really comes down to it, there won't be enough time for him to finish all that.

With the help of the North Star authorities, once the experimental vessel is identified, the safest approach would be to deploy multiple warships to crush it, provided there is a legitimate reason for the operation.

Furthermore, Guan Tong, as an independent individual, couldn't handle the aftermath of the victims' deaths; it had to be coordinated and arranged by the official departments of Beixing. Deploying warships would conveniently allow them to receive the victims and transfer them to safe locations after the suppression was completed.

After Guan Tong explained her thoughts, everyone agreed.

Silver Fox looked at him with newfound respect: "I thought you would try to solve this all by yourself."

“I’m not Superman. Besides, safety is the most important thing. I don’t want anyone on our investigation team to be in danger.”

"Brother Guan is right!"

“Let’s do it that way then,” Silver Fox said. “I’ll communicate with the research lab. As long as we confirm that the ship is indeed an experimental vessel and have evidence, deploying warships shouldn’t be a problem.”

"Okay, I'll go find the evidence."

(End of this chapter)