They traveled through time at the same time, but the villainous scientist

Chapter 320 Lighthouse Reform Plan
Upon hearing Zhang Qi's words, "The Light and Shadow Society will cease to exist," Charles's face drained of all color.

He couldn't understand, much less accept, such a thing...

"You...what did you say?"

"What gives you the right? The Light and Shadow Society is the cornerstone of the Lighthouse, the faith that sustains everyone's survival! You're trying to destroy the Lighthouse!"

Charles staggered to his feet, his eyes bloodshot, staring intently at Zhang Qi, his voice sharp and shrill from extreme anger and disbelief.

He roared, like a wild beast driven to the brink of despair, and charged toward Zhang Qi without regard for anything else.

However, in Zhang Qi's eyes, his movements were as slow as a still frame.

Zhang Qi didn't even move his feet; he simply raised his hand casually, precisely gripped Charles's forehead, and with a forceful push of his five fingers, forced Charles to the ground.

"boom!"

Charles's head made intimate contact with the cold metal floor again. This time, the impact made him see stars and he completely lost the strength to resist.

Mo Cheng stepped forward whistling, and with practiced ease, took out a pair of high-strength alloy handcuffs from his waist. With a "click," he firmly locked Charles's hands, which were tied behind his back.

"Your Excellency, no, former leader, please don't get excited. Getting excited can be bad for your health."

Mo Cheng grabbed Charles by the collar, lifted him up like a dead dog, and easily escorted him out the door.

Outside the door, the once quiet corridor was now filled with hunters holding weapons.

With solemn expressions and efficient actions, they were escorting one by one the well-dressed, pale-faced high-ranking members of the Light and Shadow Society out of their respective rooms.

These people, who usually act arrogantly and domineeringly, are now like a flock of lambs waiting to be slaughtered, with only fear and confusion in their eyes.

The crowd gathered, and led by Zhang Qi, this special group walked through the long corridor and headed straight for the city lord's hall.

The atmosphere inside the city lord's hall was so oppressive it was almost frozen.

Mark's tall figure stood in the center of the hall, facing Morgan, who sat on the throne of the city lord.

His voice, like thunder roaring from his chest, echoed in the empty hall.

"...Sending innocent girls into the Golden Hall just to satisfy the selfish desires of certain high-ranking officials! Tampering with gene matching data, treating human lives as bargaining chips! Even using the Three Laws as weapons to suppress dissent!"

Are you truly unaware of all these crimes, one after another, one by one?!

"Or are you simply turning a blind eye to all of this for the sake of so-called stability?!"

Mark threw the evidence on the ground, questioning Morgan...

Upon hearing this question, Morgan fell silent, his cloudy eyes revealing a bottomless weariness.

He didn't look at the documents on the ground, but simply stared quietly at the young man he had personally promoted.

"Mark, what do you think becoming the city lord means?"
Is it glory, or power?
No, it's a responsibility, a choice. Do you know how much energy and resources are needed every day to sustain the 7,642 people at the lighthouse?
Do you realize how much pressure even the smallest increase in population can put on the entire system when resources are extremely scarce?

Morgan didn't ask directly, but instead asked Mark a question in return.

Faced with this series of questions that went straight to the heart of the matter, Mark was momentarily speechless.

As the leader of the hunters, he was only responsible for bringing back the necessities for survival from the ground. He knew very little about the complex operation and resource allocation inside the lighthouse.

His anger stemmed from justice and emotion, but it seemed somewhat pale in the face of cold, hard data.

Just then, a calm and clear voice came from the entrance of the hall, breaking the deadlock.

"The Lighthouse has a permanent population of 15284, including 2462 Upper Class citizens and 12822 Lower Class citizens. The daily basic living energy requirement is equivalent to 180,000 standard energy units, and the food consumption is equivalent to about three tons of nutritional paste. With the current resource reserves and acquisition efficiency, the upper limit for safe population growth is 0.3% per year. If this threshold is exceeded, the Lighthouse's energy and ecological cycle system will face the risk of collapse within five years."

Everyone looked in the direction of the sound and saw Zhang Qi slowly walk into the hall. His voice was not loud, but he accurately reported the data of the lighthouse.

Upon seeing Zhang Qi, Mark's tense nerves finally relaxed, and he couldn't help but breathe a sigh of relief.

Morgan was speechless for a moment, his expression quite complicated.

Just then, Charles, who had been escorted in from Mexico City, saw Morgan and, as if grasping at a last straw, screamed hysterically:
"Father! Quickly order the city garrison to arrest these traitors! They're trying to destroy the lighthouse! They've gone mad!"

Upon hearing this, Morgan's eyes twitched almost imperceptibly, and for the first time, his gaze towards his son revealed undisguised disappointment.

The city defense army? Those soldiers who spend their days maintaining internal order at the lighthouse and have barely even seen a few Devouring Beasts, are going to fight against a group of hunters who have fought monsters on the ground and crawled out of mountains of corpses and seas of blood?
Whether in terms of weaponry, combat experience, or pure combat power, the two are not even in the same league.

His foolish son, blinded by power and a sense of superiority, couldn't even see this most basic balance of power.

Morgan took a deep breath, shifted his gaze from Charles, and turned back to Mark and Zhang Qi, who were standing side by side.

"What...what exactly are you trying to do?"

“I have already handed over the position of city lord to Mark, why at this time, in this way…”

His voice was filled with exhaustion and confusion.

"I'm sorry, Lord City Lord."

"This is a choice we had no other choice but to make."

Mark met Morgan's gaze without flinching.

As he spoke, he subconsciously glanced at Ran Bing, who was standing quietly behind him, a fleeting look of tenderness and lingering fear crossing his eyes.

He then stepped forward and walked up to Morgan.

"Moreover, I think Ah Qi is right. The lighthouse really does need to change."

Mark's eyes became incredibly clear.
“Like a cold machine, strictly adhering to the three laws, suppressing all humanity, just to survive… can we still be called human?” Mark continued. If saving Ran Bing alone would disrupt the survival of everyone in the Lighthouse, then he would choose to take her away from here to fend for herself on the surface.

However, Ah Qi gave him another option.

A choice that allows everyone in the Lighthouse to regain their dignity and freedom as human beings...

Thus, the hunters, who possessed absolute military power, quickly brought the situation under control. In order to save the overall situation, Morgan finally ordered the city's defense forces to disarm.

Some soldiers loyal to the Light and Shadow Society wanted to take up arms and resist, but they were quickly suppressed by the elite forces of the Hunters.

Just one night later, the transfer of power over the lighthouse was completed without any major incident.

The next morning, Zhang Qi immediately used the Lighthouse's public address system to expose the Light and Shadow Society's many misdeeds over the years. The dirty deals and evil deeds that had been covered up under the guise of a "sacred mission" dropped a bombshell in the hearts of all the upper and lower classes.

The final trial for Charles and his associates was not an execution.

Given the extreme labor shortage at the Lighthouse, they were stripped of all privileges, reduced to dust people, and forced to perform the most arduous labor.

This may be a punishment more profound than death—making them personally experience the lives of the common people they once despised and oppressed.

Immediately following was the formal ceremony for Mark's inauguration as the city's lord.

As a legendary leader of the hunters, he brought back massive amounts of supplies for the lighthouse with every expedition, accumulating unparalleled support among the people.

Therefore, his appointment was actually supported by the vast majority of people.

The first decree issued by Mark after taking office was to completely integrate the military forces of the Lighthouse. The city defense army was directly incorporated into the Wilderness Hunter system, and experienced Wilderness Hunter veterans were responsible for training and management. The armed forces of the Lighthouse were united as one as ever before.

Meanwhile, with the downfall of the Light and Shadow Society, the residents of the Lighthouse, especially the Dust People, lost their long-standing spiritual pillar, and a sense of confusion and emptiness began to spread.

To fill this void and to inject new hope into this lifeless world, Zhang Qi chose to bring them the gifts of the old world.

Music, games, movies, books, comics... these entertainment activities, which were once considered taboo by the Lighthouse and believed to "corrupt people's hearts," are now distributed to everyone's personal terminals through a central system.

When the first stirring symphony echoed through the residential area, when the first colorful film was shown on the public screen, when the dust-loving people saw images of "food" for the first time, in addition to cockroach cakes and nutritional paste, the impact was revolutionary.

"These are just the tip of the iceberg of the splendid civilization that we humans created in the old world."

In the future, there will be more. One day, we will reclaim our land, rebuild our homes, and everyone will truly enjoy it all.

Zhang Qi timely announced to everyone, along with the news of the successful development of the first generation of cultured meat using [Aiblon Cells].

This amazing cell structure can directly absorb electricity and proliferate rapidly on a large scale.

Although the taste of the first batch of products was only so-so, for the people who had been eating cockroach cakes for years, these soft, warm meat cakes containing real meat fat and fiber were already a supreme delicacy.

When the steaming hot meat patties were distributed to every mortal, those who still held onto a last shred of hope for the "Lord of Light and Shadow" completely betrayed him.

They began to wholeheartedly praise the new city lord Mark and the Minister of Scientific Research Zhang Qi.

Simply put, the meat pie and all the entertainment were just too delicious...

Hope is the best catalyst.

The enthusiasm of everyone at the Lighthouse was mobilized like never before, and everyone put in 200% effort into production and construction.

Returning to Earth and rebuilding human civilization—this grand goal appeared in the hearts of the people of the Lighthouse for the first time.

Once the food problem was initially solved, the bottleneck for development became population.

Although the three laws have been abolished, population reproduction remains under strict control.

What the Lighthouse needs now is not blind expansion in quantity, but a higher quality population.

Therefore, in addition to upgrading the hunters' equipment, the [Artificial Womb] and [Coordinator Project] were given the highest priority.

Thanks to the world's already advanced biotechnology, the relevant equipment and technical data were quickly retrieved from a buried Old World research institute on the ground, guided by the coordinates.

After intensive debugging and preparation, the first production experiment of the [Adjuster] officially began.

However, the result left everyone puzzled.

When the first batch of babies were taken out of the transparent artificial womb nutrient solution, they had perfect bodies and their physiological indicators far exceeded those of ordinary babies. However, they were like exquisite dolls, without crying, without emotions, and without even the most basic self-awareness.

Their eyes were wide open and empty, as if they were just two pretty glass beads.

After repeated testing and analysis, Zhang Qi stood in front of the huge cultivation chamber and fell into deep thought.

He eventually came to a hypothesis: that in this world, the birth of a biological soul requires a source of life essence.

A naturally born baby can obtain the most primal life essence from the union of its parents, like a seed of life.

This seed will absorb nutrients as the organism grows, gradually sprouting and growing stronger, eventually nurturing into a towering tree called "self".

However, artificial wombs cultivated entirely by machines and nutrient solutions skip the "seedling" step.

It can perfectly replicate the physical body, but it cannot create the most essential "seed" from nothingness.

This means that he urgently needs a device that can precisely inject "life essence" into the embryo.

Lighthouses don't have this kind of equipment, and there's a complete lack of related research data.

But just because this world doesn't have it doesn't mean... other worlds don't...

(End of this chapter)